Radio Control: Giant Scale
Fooling us, again! Bob Hanson started the flurry of converting nonscale Giants into good-flying Scale subjects. Bob, as you may recall, modified a Sig Senior Kadet to represent Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. We've heard from Wilbur Todd (Richmond, VA), who looked at the same kit and came up with an entirely different Scale bird. Wilbur "saw" a Stinson Voyager 165 Station Wagon and proceeded to build it. He increased the wingspan to 90 in. to maintain the proper proportion to the fuselage length and then designed Stinson-like tail feathers and cowling. His other wing mods included reducing the chord to 13 in. and cutting the dihedral in half. For power, he's using an OS. .61SF, which should be adequate for the nine-pound model. He added wing struts and wheel pants, and voila! A Stinson Station Wagon. It's amazing!
Radio Control: Giant Scale
'TWAS our good luck last September to attend the National Championship Air Races in Reno, NV. Things certainly have changed since I first attended the National Air Races back in 1938. That year Tony LeVier won the Greve Trophy flying the Schoenfeldt Firecracker, and Roscoe Turner triumphed in the Thompson in his Pesco Special. Today, there are four classes of pylon polishers compared to the two of '38. The F1 racers most closely approximate the racing aircraft of yester-year since they're primarily home-builts and are powered by a common engine. The other Reno classes include the racing bi-planes, AT-6s and Unlimiteds. The later attain speeds that regularly exceed the 1938 World Speed record. The winner of this year's Gold Race among the Unlimiteds was Rare Bear, a modified Grumman F8F that tore around the nine-mile-plus course at a staggering 469 mph!
Radio Control: Giant Scale
"Complex problems require complex solutions," someone once said. Whoever that someone may have been, he certainly wasn't a Giant Scale builder. While there are some Giant Scale designers who adhere to the line that complicated is better, happily they're in the minority. After all, most airplanes (model or otherwise) have two things in common. First, under their skins they have basic structures that tie wing, fuselage, stabilizer, and rudder together into their proper relationships. This load-bearing structure is where the strength of the airframe lies. It need not be complex to perform its basic function. Second, the skin of the aircraft gives it its character. It's where we Scale modelers add the detail that makes a Mustang a Mustang, or a Cub a Cub. Too often, though, we'll go overboard and add nonfunctional weight to our models in an attempt to duplicate the prototype.
Giants at No. 36
This year's roundup of Giant Scale models at Toledo included some that were about as close to perfection as can be attained by mere mortals. THE GRANDDADDY of RC trade shows is 36 years old. He lives in the magnificent clutter of the Toledo, OH Sports Arena. He's visited by thousands of his grandsons and granddaughters in early April each year. The Weak Signals RC Club sponsors the visits - and makes sure that there are literally hundreds of exhibitors to tantalize, amaze, and delight "the grandkids." The exhibit in question could be none other than the Toledo RC Exposition. The 36th annual event ran from April 6-8, 1990. It was my ninth visit to the northwestern Ohio city, and as usual I was totally fascinated.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
WELCOME BACK! It's great to be writing once again. After a month off to make space for extended Nationals coverage, Giant Scale continues to proliferate. I'm glad that you're a part of it! In the interim, yours truly observed a seemingly minor incident that draws an important moral. Our RC club had scheduled a fun fly, but the wind and weather were against us and the event was called off at the last minute. As always, there were several fliers who decided to challenge the elements and fly anyway. Zack Fassman had his Giant Extra 230 assembled and ready to go. Like many of us, he made a thorough check of the model and was satisfied that it was ready for flight. With a helper he cranked up the SuperTigre 3000 and soon had it purring like a kitten. One might expect that the next thing to do would be to taxi the model to the runway. But no!
