Simple Method for Drawing Small Angles
AT ONE TIME or another, most of us have tried to draw our own plans for a model using published drawings. All too often, incidence and dihedral angles are given in degrees. This is especially true in the case of 3-views of real airplanes. These angles are almost universally small, from 1º to 4º, rarely ever large. To draw such small angles accurately is practically impossible using the small protractors most of us have. The following method was developed for drawing small angles simply and accurately. At first glance, the process may seem involved and complicated. However, try it out a few times on scrap paper on several small angles, and you will find that the procedure is quite simple and accurate.
The Ryson Cloudster
THERE'S AN OLD adage that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. A few years ago, aviation pioneer T. Claude Ryan, the man "who built the company that built the Spirit of St. Louis," as Lindbergh described him, discovered the old adage to be quite true. Ryan's aviation and business career has been well detailed in William Wagner's fine book, "Ryan, the Aviator." It particularly emphasizes the long, hard years that Ryan worked as president of the Ryan Aeronautical Company, from the late 1920's until 1969 when he sold his company to the Teledyne Corp., and retired.
How to Sand Wing Tips
FOR THE MODEL builder, the emery board that m'Lady uses to file her fingernails, is a handy, versatile tool. In case you have not been introduced to these little sanders, they range in length from about four to almost seven inches, have fairly fine sandpaper glued to both sides of thin, flat wood. They taper slightly, and the long ones are about 1/2 inch wide. Usually they have two finenesses of sandpaper on them. Six in a package cost about 35 to 40 cents in most drug or department stores. They may be used for many sanding jobs, especially for flat surfaces. I have found them to work well in making the wingtips on some of my scale models conform to the airfoil shape of the wing.
SWG..The Magic Letters....and What They Mean
FRIEND, there's a really big model contest coming soon, and being an eager model builder, you're gonna build four models at one time for this contest. You've collected dozens of model airplane drawings from all over the world, and you have painstakingly and finally sorted out four beautiful scale models to build in your spare (?) time. They're really knockouts, and will dazzle the judges and wow the other contestants. They are all good-looking models, have good flight proportions, plenty of details, and should fly well. The adrenalin has got your enthusiasm to fever pitch. The next step is to assemble the required supplies, and no long-time modeler like yourself who is worth his salt is ever low on supplies. But somehow, brother, this time you are, and how! So you grab all your favorite local hobby shop and mail order catalogs and start making up a good size list.
Grumman G-164D Turbine Ag-Cat
'TIS AN UNFORTUNATE fact of life, friends, but we Free Flight Scale modelers who use rubber for power have a problem. We've got lots of problems, but this one is a biggie. It's with what is called the "center of gravity," and it is all because we must stretch our horsepower from the nose of our crate all the way back to almost under the stabilizer, or suffer shorter motor runs.
