Radio Control: Scale
MY TRIP to Indiana last summer was a lot of fun. In Indianapolis, I spent a Friday afternoon with Bev, Jimmy, and Jim Goad of ISC International-distributors of Tartan, Zenoah, GMS 2000, Asp, and Tiger Shark engines. The rest of the weekend was spent at the RC Scale portion of the National Aeromodeling Championships in Muncie. My visit with the Goads was fun and informative. They run a very healthy RC distributorship; it's pumped full of quality products and unparalleled customer service. Instead of just selling RC products, these folks also design, engineer, and fly many of the products they sell. You can find Jimmy Goad on the flightline at Madera and Houston; Jim Sr. spends most of his time in the company's research-and-development rooms, inspecting, refining, and doing whatever else is needed to assure modelers will receive the perfection they've come to expect from the engines ISC handles.
Radio Control: Scale
RCHTA SHOW: The Radio Control Hobby Trade Association's National Model & Hobby Show was recently held in Rosemont, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago). This show is always packed with innovative new products for every category of the hobby industry. I promise to have photos and descriptions of many of the best of them for you next month. Industry News: There is already a long list of new products that have been recently released, so here are a few items to whet your whistles and prime you for the Rosemont show:
Radio Control: Scale
Thefollowing news was received by Model Aviation's editorial department, and perhaps it can help you. The US Air Force has recalled its Pre-1954 Still Photo Collection. It was on loan to the National Air & Space Museum (NASM) until it could be permanently placed at the National Archives. The NASM is no longer processing orders for photos from this collection, and is performing only limited residual reference support. The collection will be closed until the National Archives completes its acquisition process, expectedly before the end of December 1996.
Radio Control: Scale
IN JANUARY, Southern California hosted two major hobby expositions: The International Modelers Show (IMS) was in Pasadena, and the Endless Horizons Expo was in Long Beach. It was fun for me to attend these shows as a member of the press, and not as an exhibitor locked into a booth, as I had always been. I saw these shows as the consumer saw them. Endless Horizons had a full-line mix of exhibitors; there were airplane, car, boat, train, and plastics manufacturers of every size and description. IMS was more of an airplane modeler's show, although there was a solid cross-section of hobbies. The weather was fantastic, and the Southern California hospitality and dining were first-rate (thanks, Barbara, Roy, and Susan). The only negative aspect was that both shows took place during the same four days, which put a terrific burden on exhibitors and consumers. I spent two days at each event, but that's not convenient for exhibitors, who must either choose to attend one show or bear the costs of participation in both.
Radio Control: Scale
SPITFIRE BUILD-ALONG: If you haven't purchased your Dynaflite Spitfire kit yet, but are planning to join me in the build-along, there's good news. Great Planes purchased Dynaflite last year, and one of the first improvements made to Mark Smith's excellent 81-inch Spitfire was to create a quality construction manual. The original typed and photocopied pages are replaced by 16 pages of clearly written step-by-step instructions and detailed CAD-drawn illustrations. I intended to begin construction of the Spitfire's fuselage in time for this month's installment, but after examining the Great Planes kit I felt that it would be more prudent to see what changes have been made - especially since so many more of you will be working from the new kit than from the original. If you are building the original Dynaflite model, there is nothing to worry about; nothing in the Great Planes version renders the original obsolete. A large number of fine Spitfires have been built from the Dynaflite kit.
