Free Flight: Duration
A few months back, we featured some photographs of Matt Gewain's new "Smart System" electronic timer for F1A towline glider (see Model Aviation, November 1996). Now it is noted Ukrainian glider flier Victor Stamov's turn. After the Team Selection Finals at Lost Hills, Victor was letting several American glider fliers test-fly his new electronic-timer-equipped model. From the outside, it looked much like his familiar mechanical-timer model. The only giveaway was a tiny disc, mounted vertically at the rear of the tailboom. This disc is actually the rear pulley of a pull-pull cable-actuated control system that moves the stab to its various settings for tow, bunt, and glide. (Matt Gewain's system uses a carbon-fiber pushrod to move the stab.)
Free Flight: Duration
GIL'S BOX: In my Nats coverage in the December issue, I remarked about some of the grossly oversize and overweight flight boxes that some Power fliers use. I also showed the remarkably small and portable "box" that Gil Morris uses, and I promised to follow up with plans. Well, here it is. So if you are tired of lugging a giant box around, build Gil's. The "box" isn't a box at all; rather, it's a simple triangular frame that holds everything in place and in the correct position. It consists of a triangular center piece that contains the power panel, and holds the starter, battery, and switch. A second, folding triangle steadies the unit and holds a fuel bottle and plastic box for spare parts. It is light and portable, yet holds everything you really need out on the flightline. (You don't really need two dozen 12 × 6 props when you are flying 1/2A.)
Free Flight: Duration
"As the mother of a former Junior Free Flight Team member, I would like to encourage Junior modelers, their families, and their fellow modelers to become involved in this program. This program has so much to offer kids: terrific role models, healthy competition, skill-building, friendship, family activity - it's hard to find a reason not to be involved. "When Jody became a member of the program at age 13, Jim Bradley and others took Jody under their wings (so to speak). Obviously, Jody benefited greatly from the attention, as well as their modeling expertise. Our family put time and effort into building, practice flying, and traveling to contests together. We have memories of a lot of special weekends with friends; we even look back with smiles on those escapades involving models stuck in treetops!"
Free Flight: Duration
WHERE TO BEGIN? As a writer, that's often the hardest part of putting an article on paper. And for someone interested in Free Flight, exactly how to get started can often be the toughest question. Just as there is no one right way to start a story, there often isn't one correct approach to Free Flight. Choosing the type of model to begin with will depend on a lot of different factors. Let's take a look at a few of them: ( How much experience do you have in modeling or related activities? Someone who has been building RC gliders, or even plastic display models, could attempt a more-difficult first project than someone who has never held an X-Acto knife.
Free Flight: Duration
INNOVATIONS: Free Flight, like most other sporting endeavors, is fueled by the desire to win-to prove that you and your model can fly better than the competition. We try to win in many ways: by designing better models, by improving engines and propellers, by trying new construction materials, by trimming our models more carefully, and by flying smarter than the other guys. Often the improvements are incremental - slight changes made over years and many models - each one, hopefully, a little better than the last. Sometimes the changes are so subtle that it takes a very close look to see any change at all. But the cumulative effect, over time, of a series of small changes can be marked. Other improvements are more dramatic, or even revolutionary. A major development, such as the glow plug or the pylon, can change the game of Free Flight forever.
