Giant Scale Aerobatic ARF Building Tips - 2005/05
BUILDING A GIANT Scale aerobatic
model from a kit can take upward of 300
hours from the time you first open the box.
What if you could use the last 10% of that
time—say, maybe 30 hours—to complete a
model, and spend the other 270 hours flying?
We’d all probably become better pilots,
right? That’s exactly what’s happening as
today’s ARF aircraft become increasingly
popular.
RADIO CONTROL SCALE AEROBATICS - 2004/07
ONE OF THE clubs I belong to asked me to give a presentation on
IMAC and competing in Scale Aerobatics. The members were
interested to learn about the scale and precision aspects of IMAC,
but many of them were also interested in learning about 3-D flight;
3-D is not scale but is often performed in the IMAC Freestyle event
with our Scale aircraft.
RADIO CONTROL SCALE AEROBATICS - 2003/11
IN THE PAST several years I’ve flown in and/or helped with
a fair number of Scale Aerobatics (SA) contests. Many of them
were run extremely well, and when that happens everybody has
a lot of fun. But I’ve also been to several that were poorly run
and frustrating to fly in. You’ve probably been to some of
those: contests that start late, pilots’ meetings that don’t tell
you much, dead time in which no one is flying, long waits
between flights, “local” rules, and poorly trained judges, or
even judging bias.
RADIO CONTROL SCALE AEROBATICS - 2005/04
ONE OF THE most overlooked—no, forgotten—steps in building a
new model and getting it ready for competition is trimming it for
precision flight. I don’t mean adjusting the aileron and elevator trim. I
mean tuning your airplane to fly to the best of its ability. I’ll admit it;
I’ve never fully trimmed one of my airplanes. I usually end up buying
or building the next big thing! Maybe all I needed to do was spend a
few days out at the field getting it dialed in just right. Trimming is a
forgotten art by many modern competitors.
Radio Control Scale Aerobatics - 2004/05
RIGHT ABOUT NOW most Scale Aerobatics (SA) enthusiasts are
starting to dig out our flying equipment from a long winter’s
hibernation to begin another season of practice, competition, and fun.
But don’t just charge the batteries and pump the airplane full of gas,
and expect it to fly like it did last year. Now is the perfect time for an
annual inspection. Heck, even if you’re lucky enough to be able to fly
all winter, right now, at the beginning of a new contest season, is a
good time to check all the equipment.
