Radio Control: Giants
THIS COLUMN almost didn't make it! The trusty, rusty computer in my office needed major surgery. Its hard drive literally died, and the death rattle sounded as if someone had dumped rocks in a garbage disposal and flipped the switch! Happily I have a friend, Bill Bellingham, who's a computer whiz. He confirmed my diagnosis and installed a new hard drive in my machine in a couple of days. Although I know how to work this infernal device, its innards are a complete mystery to me. Having a friend like Bill is really great when it comes to chips and cards and computer circuitry.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
TO EACH HIS OWN: Give five skilled RC model builders a set of enlarged three-view drawings, and you'd expect to see some differences in their finished models. That's what happened when some of our club members decided to construct propeller-driven versions of the Grumman F9F, an early Navy jet fighter. What stunned us, though, was just how wide the disparities were. Although all five birds shared the same hot-wired foam wings, their fuselages were built in totally different ways.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
SURE THEY'RE BIG! That's the name of the game-Giant Scale. Fuselages are massive, and the wings seem to go on forever. Building a Giant model poses a space problem that won't quit. Normal sized workbenches tend to restrict the Giant Scale modeler and hangar rash is the inevitable result. It's rather frustrating when your model develops nicks and dings even before it's covered, painted, or flown! I more or less solved the space problem early on. It was relatively simple to build a giant workbench that seems to have solved the space problem. With an electric drill, some plywood and other easily-acquired materials, it only took about half a day to construct an efficient work space. Here's how to do it.
Radio Control: Giants
THE DIVE is steep and the Giant Scale model is picking up airspeed. Faster and faster-it's time to pull out! The flier tugs gently on the transmitter's right stick, and the model begins to level out. A bit too much up elevator and then it happens. The wing folds and the tips clap hands. Gravity takes over, and what was once a beautiful flying creation becomes a random collection of shattered balsa, split plywood, and stripped servo gears strewn in disarray on the ground.
Radio Control: Giant Scale
AH, THE GOOD OLD DAYS. Would you believe that in the Thirties and Forties you could buy a model airplane kit for a nickel? A tube of glue went for the same price. If you really wanted to splurge, you might plunk down a dime and get a rubber-powered kit that produced an 18-in. wingspan Scale flier. If you really wanted to go first class, fifty cents would get you a Cleveland Dwarf (1/2-in. scale) kit. That was two week's allowance for some kids-a young fortune! As time passed and gas engines came into vogue, you might save up your pennies and invest $16.50 in an Ohlsson .23 to power your allbalsa Jim Walker Control Line Fireball kit that cost all of $10. With the advent of real radio control, the engine of choice was the K&B Greenhead .45 that'd set you back a staggering $27.95 at the hobby shop. It was just the engine to power your $24.95 Scale Spitfire kit in the mid-Sixties.
