Radio Control: Scale
PHOTO Documentation: Knowledgeable contest judges, given a choice between details or shapes shown on a 3-view drawing and also on photos, will usually take the photo as the more reliable information source. Having been fooled by 3-view drawings on numerous occasions in the past, we cannot help but agree with their choice. Unless there are hard dimensions given for a feature, or the model is being designed from dimensioned detail drawings used for the prototype, the modeler is helpless to determine to any degree of exactness the shapes, sizes and positions that will produce a superior plane. Planes that suffer most from inexactness, whether kit or scratch-built, are those that are familiar to everyone. A famous racing plane, for example, that has been photographed profusely during its lifetime will be quite familiar to most modelers and judges. When it is obviously off-scale in some respect, such as having too short a landing gear, wheels too small or too wide apart, or engine compartment undersized, these faults will be painfully apparent to anyone with a good sense of proportions.
Radio Control: Scale
CONTROL Reversal: The subject of instability was explored in a recent column. We touched on the treacherous situation in which the control stick needed to be pushed, rather than pulled, to regain flying speed and stop the model's descent. Having to do this is a manifestation of the phenomenon called control reversal. Scale models are particularly susceptible because they often have low power relative to their weight. With throttle open and flying at full speed, if we apply up elevator, the nose will rise and the plane will climb. If this process is repeated several times with additional up elevator, we soon reach the point where the nose comes up but there is no climb because there is insufficient power available to maintain speed. If up elevator control is moved further, the nose will again rise but the plane will begin to descend in a mushing condition. At this point we see the effect of control reversal. Up elevator has caused the airplane to descend!
Radio Control: Scale
INSTABILITY Revisited: The model is a splendid example of scale beauty, the culmination of a year's earnest effort, and this is the moment the builder has awaited. The excitement builds as engine is started, needle valve is set to the optimum, and it is checked again to be certain all controls are functional. The plane is taxied to take-off position, the throttle opened, it accelerates down the runway, lifts off too early, flips on its back, and with a sickening sound returns to earth with parts scattering. Why? What happened? Was it pilot error or a hidden flaw in construction? Radio problems? Probably none of these was the real culprit here. Too often we hear of models that are difficult to handle whether they are kit or scratch built. The complaint most heard involves a tendency to snap-roll, usually during takeoff, landing, or turning maneuvers-and the kit designer or producer gets the blame. Numerous faults in construction or balance can result in the destructive snap-roll. Warped wings caused by working on a warped work bench or by too tight covering material can result in a condition known as wash-in, where the angle of incidence increases toward the wing tip. This error results in the tips stalling before the wing root. The cure is a flat working surface or the use of low shrink covering materials and dope.
Scale World Championships
THE United States team consisted of Team Manager George Buso, Bob Underwood, Bob Wischer, and Steve Sauger for Radio Control; and Roland Baltes, Ray Smith, and Dan Osdoba for Control Line. The team was accompanied by 20 supporters. It was recognized before we departed from home that the Control Line Scale event would likely not be conducted because of political problems, but tickets had been purchased and plans made by the team, and they made the trip with their models in hope that some nations would do the same. All three RC team members had been on previous teams. The living quarters at Liverpool University, where everyone stayed and had meals in the large dining room, encouraged friendly communication between teams, with no evidence of the political nonsense. Regular meetings for our team members, conducted by George Buso, kept us well informed of our duties and the schedule of events. There were also discussions on our presentations and the all-important meeting with judges previous to static judging.
Radio Control: Scale
PUNCHING LOUVERS in sheet metal: A louvered engine cowl, at first glance, may seem an impossible task to reproduce in miniature. How many scale projects have been postponed or permanently shelved because this problem emerged during the planning stage? Numerous early planes and even some later types had engine cowls covered with ventilation louvers numbering in the hundreds. Without these conspicuous details the plane loses character even as a sport-scale model. Louvers can easily be puched into hard .010" thick aluminum. The preferred material is printers offset aluminum sheets used by many local small newspapers. The sheet is usually the size of an opened newspaper. After using the sheets to print an edition, they are discarded as scrap, a virtual bonanza of minimum cost material (usually 25 or 50 cents per sheet). The residue of printers ink can be easily removed with the modeler's universal solvent, dope thinner.
