Free Flight: Duration
RE-ENTRY VEHICLE: For most of us, Free Flight is a lifetime hobby and sport. We get hooked in our youth, perhaps drift away for a while, and then return. Statistics, and a look around the field at any contest, will show that many of us are well into middle age. As often as not, the beginner in Free Flight isn't really beginning, but picking up where he left off some 20 or 30 years earlier. The memories and experiences of youth were, hopefully, one of the things that pulled this middle-aged "beginner" back to Free Flight. Certainly many of the techniques and skills learned years ago will come in handy. But it is important to get up to speed on the new tools, materials, and methods we use today. Where to start? Unfortunately, a visit to the average hobby shop is going to be next to useless. Sure you can pick up some balsa, new X-Acto blades, and some of that new instant glue, but you probably won't find much else. Free Flight has become almost entirely a mail-order proposition. So the first step to get back in to free flight is order some catalogs.
Free Flight: Duration
SHOW OFF PART TWO: Last month this column featured three-view drawings of Frank Ehling's Show Off 1953-vintage FAI Power model. It's an attractive design that looks like it could make a potent Nostalgia model. To find out a bit more about the model, I went right to the source and sent a letter off to Frank. Here's the reply: "Dear Louis: "My name is Joe Harris, and I am so happy to answer your letter to Frank because I was at Norfolk VA, competing in FAI with my good friend Carl Wheeley. I remember it well because this was the first time I ever met Frank. The Show Off was vastly under powered with the Cub. But the glide was so good (like a Civy Boy) that it truly was the best at that elimination. Frank was USA-minded, so he only wanted a US engine. The only other .15 engine that was available was the Thimble Drome car engine that had to be modified for aircraft use. There was one there owned by Darrel Dalgner. He lost it on an overrun. Frank just missed making the team.
Free Flight: Duration
JUNIOR TEAM: This month, four young free flighters will be representing the United States at the Junior World Championships in Poland. The contest will be held near Krakow from the 17th through the 23rd of August. The team members are David Ellis of Guilford, Connecticut, and Allen Porter of Fresno, California, in F1A (Nordic Glider); Dorothy Fee of Oceanside, California, and Tim Sessums of Simi Valley, California, in F1B (Wakefield). The team manager is George Batiuk. For previous Junior World Championships, the United States has fielded full teams of three fliers in each of the three events (F1A glider, F1B rubber, and F1C power).
Free Flight: Duration
FAST FIXES: Field repair is one of those inevitable by-products of flying free flight. A moment's inattention readying the model for flight, a bad launch, or a rugged retrieval can result in the same thing: a broken model. If you are really prepared, you simply pull out one of your backup models and keep on flying. After all, you can do a better job of fixing things back home in your shop. But sometimes you need to repair the model and keep on flying. Here are some suggestions to speed the process: ( Carefully gather up all the pieces when you "plant" a model. Before you leave the area, inventory the model to make sure that nothing is missing. It's amazing how far parts can fly. ( Handle the model carefully to avoid any further damage from loose parts flapping in the breeze. This is especially important if you are retrieving on a motorcycle.
Free Flight: Duration
SYMPO '96: The Symposium of the National Free Flight Society, better known as the Sympo, is an annual publication that combines technical and practical articles on all aspects of free flight design and construction. The 1996 Sympo, the 29th, was edited by Bill Bogart and is available from NFFS Publications Director Fred Terzian, 4858 Moorpark Ave., San Jose CA 95129-2132. The cost is $20 for NFFS members, $24 for non-members. Postage is $3. Some of the papers in the 1996 Sympo are: "Playing with P-30 Models" John O'Dwyer traces some of his experiments with his popular P-30 rubber class.
