Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
YOU'LL probably be reading all about the RC F3A World Championships in this issue and will be as disappointed as I am about the results. Since our team finished third, and only one of our individual fliers was in the finals, it makes me wonder what happened. I hate to say, "I told you so," but I did in my September column. Apparently, the situation was even worse than I had feared. We had expected that virtually all of the European fliers would be flying airplanes powered by two-cycle engines, since reports from contests there indicated that virtually no four-cycle engines were being flown. We also expected that the Japanese would fly two-cycle engines exclusively. So, where was the surprise?
Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
EVER SINCE the Nats article was published in the November 1985 issue, hardly a flying session at my club field or a contest goes by without someone asking me why I chose not to identify the brand of radio which was involved in my radio-interference-caused crash at the 1985 Nats. The truth is, I did identify the brand of radio in the manuscript which was sent to Model Aviation. The Associate Editor chose to alter my words in order to avoid any potential legal problem with the radio manufacturer. The same brand and model of radio was involved in all the Channel 40 FM crashes, and I thought that it was more than coincidence. It was not as though I hadn't been warned about flying this brand of radio on FM, either.
Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
ANSWERING the mail is my first order of business. The September 1985 column contained a section about "Pattern sandbaggers," the guys who don't move up to the next class after accumulating 100 points in their class. I received an interesting letter from Del Rykert (Batavia, NY) who said in part: "I have seen what I suspect is sandbagging during my five years as a Pattern competitor. I started in what was called Novice (now called Sportsman, RVP) and the best I placed was third at one contest, and that was the only trophy I saw before earning my 100 points and moving up to Advanced. I realize that sandbagging has helped contribute to my frustration at not winning, but let's examine another side of the problem as I see it.
Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
A FEW DAYS ago, I got a telephone call from Bob Pinkus (Dayton, OH) who wanted to talk about the use of aerosol after-run oil. I had mentioned in previous columns that I like to use it because the engine runs on it and distributes the oil throughout its parts. He said that he didn't understand why its use wouldn't also cause corrosion, because one of the chemical by-products of combustion is water. That set me back for a while. I didn't have an answer for him except to say that I hadn't experienced any bearing corrosion since starting the use of aerosol after-run oil (moisture-displacement lubricant). Two days later it struck me-when you burn the after-run oil, the exhaust never gets to the bearings! The part that burns is exhausted from the engine. It's the lubricant that's in the crankcase that gets distributed to the bearings. It works.
Radio Control: Sport and Aerobatics
STANDING corrected. I received a long distance call from Bob Hunt of Flying Models magazine who pointed out a couple of errors in the caption for the picture of Dean Pappas' Maya aircraft which was in the May column. The first error was in identifying the Maya as having all-balsa construction. Bob claims that major parts of the airplane are cored styrofoam which was covered with balsa. He should know because he did the styrofoam work for Dean! The second error was in identifying the radio as a Futaba PCM, when actually he flies a JR PCM. Now that I look more closely at the picture, he's right: the Futaba PCM won't lie flat on the pavement the way Dean's radio in the picture does. Sorry.
