Free Flight: Old-Timers
SIMPLE JIGS for fuselage alignment were the subject of some photos in one of my recent columns. These reminded me that Ed Lidgard had sent some photos quite a while ago. Two of Ed's photos I selected for this month show his very ingenious and effective use of cardboard to hold parts in place. In future columns I will show some more of his photographs as space permits. Ed Lidgard is known as the designer of the Hi-Ho, Eugene, and Sparky, to name a few of his more popular designs. He was a member of the U.S. Wakefield team several times. His ability to wind a rubber motor (without breaking) with more turns than anybody else was legendary.
Free Flight: Old-Timers
BACK in the May 1989 edition of my column, I featured a photo of a pretty Rubber model called Miss World's Fair. It stimulated more letters than any other single item I have used, with many people writing for information about where to get plans-and several to point out my error as to the designer of that model. I had stated that it was a Frank Zaic design. I was wrong. Even Frank Zaic wrote to tell me so, and I also heard from Herb Greenberg, who did design this model and several others for Scientific, including the Red Zephyr and the Oriole.
Free Flight: Old-Timers
COME ON-make my day! It makes my day when I hear from you. I love to get something in the mail other than bills and advertisements. I will make an effort to answer questions that are accompanied by a SASE (a postcard will often do). Anyway, this month's column is the happy result of some recent mail. But first a confession! In one of the photos in my September '89 column, I identified a model wrong. C.J. Gordon's plane is a Modelcraft Black Bullet, not an Earl Stahl design. (Well, I guess that's one . . .)
Free Flight: Old-Timers
FRUSTRATION! The time delays involved in magazine writing drive me up the wall! As I write this it is not yet Halloween, and when you read it New Year's Eve will probably have passed! It does make it hard to be timely, and if I also take into consideration that I only get to write for every other issue (with time out for the Nats and maybe other special issues), I come to the conclusion that I cannot do contest plugs or reports. With such precious little space each year, maybe I can be forgiven for not doing obituaries. My mail indicates that what you want is "where to get it," and "how to do," and that is what I am going to do as long as I can.
Free Flight: Old Timers
Oversight was what it was. In my most recent column (February 1990) I told you about some of the fine Old-Timer kits available from Hobby Horn (you'll find their ad elsewhere in this issue, if you want the address). I forgot to mention the Thermic 100 partial kit that is listed in the Hobby Horn catalog but not yet in the ads. As with the other partial kits, this one consists basically of ribs and plans - and in the case of the Thermic 100 there are lots of both. The wing spars have been strengthened enough for RC purposes, and the fuselage is shown in both the pre WW II pod-and-boom version and the built-up fuselage version which appeared after the war. I know that there were many of you who, like me, in your youth stared longingly at the photos and ads for the 100 and then bought the Thermic 50. Now is your chance to really do it!
