Electric Country Boy
IN THE COURSE OF covering powered Free Flight for Model Aviation during the 1979 Lincoln Nats, I described Electric Power as an event trying to find itself. That comment was not meant as a criticism but rather as a positive note on the state-of-the-art-implying that Electric Power, unlike many other Free Flight events, has a refreshing amount of room for technical experimentation and aircraft design development. For example, among the trophy winners in electric power at the 1979 Nats were an .020 replica Valkyrie by Bill Stroman, a converted Unlimited rubber Stratowake by Bill Baker, and the model presented here, the Electric Country Boy, a development by Bill Jenkins based on Jim Clem's 1/2 A-A design. Obviously the event is in its embryonic stages with a tremendous latitude yet available for originality and refinement.
Two Trainers for Tenderfeet
I WAS READING an article the other day about the great Jim Walker and his many contributions to modeling over the years. I got to thinking about how he had touched my life as a young boy. While I was growing up I became a devoted fan of Jim Walker's AJ Aircraft Company. At one time or another, I probably owned every model they came out with, from the American Junior Hornet, to the Ceiling Walker Helicopter, to the immortal Fireball. Some of my favorite AJ planes were the little Hand-Launch Gliders that sold for a dime and the little Catapult Gliders that, as I remember, went for a quarter. (Remember the Catapult Glider with folding wings? It was a mechanical marvel for 49¢.)
1982 AMA Nats: FF Indoor Duration
COMMENTING on this portion of the 1982 Nationals is analogous to the story of the preacher who spent the better part of his sermon complaining to those few members of the congregation who were present about the large number who were absent. The bulk of the fliers who typically make the trek to West Baden and other Indoor meccas apparently chose to attend the `82 Nats disguised as the empty seats of Pershing Auditorium.
1982 AMA Nats: FF Indoor Scale
FOLLOWING THE LEAD of Indoor non-Scale events, Indoor Scale at the Nats took on distinctly biblical overtones this year. As Dave (VTO) Linstrum observed, like ancient Egypt's plague of locusts. Pershing Auditorium was beset by a veritable plague of Laceys and Fikes. Bob Peck's kitting of Butch Hadland's Lacey, for all practical purposes, made Scale a one-design event. While it was nice to see many of the younger modelers participating in Scale events, it didn't take long for boredom to set in. Judging 20 essentially identical aircraft for scale fidelity had to be a real ho-hummer for Bill Pepin and company.
1982 AMA Nats: FF Outdoor Scale
ORDINARILY PLAGUED with wind gusts, driving rain, or some other nasty trick played by Mother Nature. Outdoor Scale day dawned beautifully calm-with only a wisp of haze that burned away by 10 o'clock. The previous two days had been buffeted by southerly winds in the neighborhood of 15 knots, but apparently a front moved through early that morning and left almost ideal flying conditions in its wake.
