Radio Control: Sport-Aerobatics
ONCE IN A while a new product or technique comes out that really shakes up the RC hobby. The development of digital proportional was one such advancement. Still other new products or techniques may not be quite so earthshaking as that, but promise to be a solid advancement with far reaching effects. What I call the Giezendanner potentiometer wiper assembly is one of those. This new potentiometer wiper was developed by Bruno Giezendanner from Switzerland, who was the RC aerobatic world champion in 1969 and 1971. Precision aerobatic competition requires extremely accurate and reliable servo operation in a severe environment which is characterized by high vibration levels and heavy "g" loadings. Most pattern fliers have discovered that servo potentiometer wear is one of the biggest problems they must contend with in maintaining their competition airplanes. When the potentiometer wiper or element begins to wear, the servo gets nervous and centering is unreliable. Some pattern fliers have found that they must clean and lubricate or replace potentiometer elements every ten flights or so in order to remain competitive.
Radio Control: Sport-Aerobatics
DID YOU ever have one of those years when it seemed like you were ready to break through in competition, but it never quite happened? So far this year in my pattern event (Advanced) I have managed to finish in fourth place not once or twice, but four times. The result is that I haven't yet earned a single advancement point in 1977. The final blow occured when a competitor approached me at the New Orleans contest in October (where I finished fourth) and asked me when I was going to move up and make some room for others to win. Talk about frustration! Apparently, we don't know all that we'd like to about nickel-cadmium batteries. I have been using a high-rate charger for the past couple of years and used to plug it in before bed, and unplug it just before going to the flying field the next afternoon. That usually meant that my batteries were charging for 12-14 hours at a time. Recently I began to detect deteriorating cells in my transmitters and airborne systems.
Radio Control: Sport-Aerobatics
IT DOES all of us some good to be called on the carpet once in a while. It was my turn on the carpet when I received the following letter from John Banas (Warren, Mass.): "As a mechanical engineer and avid student of aerodynamics, I am writing because of your comments on aileron differential in the Sept., 1977 issue of Model Aviation. "Pattern aircraft which do not roll axially are a problem to all of us at one time or another; but this non-axial roll has been in many articles and in many flying field discussions erroneously attributed to the phenomenon of adverse yaw. By some loose definition it could be called `adverse yaw', i.e. (1) it is yaw, and (2) it is adverse in that it is not helping in any way.
Radio Control: Sport-Aerobatics
ANYONE involved with RC was probably as surprised as I was over the recent emergence of 1/2A airplanes. Ace Radio Control has long been known as 1/2A RC headquarters, predominantly because Ace sold a lot of small airplanes to complement their line of small, light-weight, pulse radio equipment. However, pulse radio has never really caught on the way digital proportional has and it is usually considered a curiosity at most flying fields. Recent miniaturization of digital proportional equipment has made it possible to put up to five channels of control in 1/2A-size airplanes. Consequently, 1/2A RC has come of age, and there are a lot of outstanding airplanes and accessories available. Among the best known of 1/2A-RC airplane manufacturers is House of Balsa, which markets a line of airplanes that are extremely well designed and produced. I am impressed with the quality of the wood in the kits, and with the beautifully detailed, multi-page plan books which present photographs of step-by-step construction details. Most impressive of all is that all the parts fit; if two parts don't fit together, they aren't supposed to.
Radio Control: Sport-Aerobatics
I ENJOYED the articles on Foam Techniques by Bill Evans and Max Lester. They are well written and will make it a lot easier for beginners in foam wing fabrication. The prospect of constructing that first foam wing is pretty scary; it seems that every step in the job is new and very different from "normal" wing construction. Things are really not much different now than they were when we first started putting together foam wings. It must have been in 1965 or 1966 that I first heard about them. Rumor had it that Ed Izzo started the technique and I've never heard anyone dispute the rumor.
