Free Flight: Duration
I HATE TO ADMIT IT, but this was my first Nats in almost 20 years and my first contest at the AMA Muncie site. Compared to the Navy Nats of my youth, this was a much smaller contest, without the three-ring circus atmosphere of Control Line and RC being flown at the same time. As with any Free Flight contest, the best part was the opportunity to see old friends and make new ones. The AMA staff was helpful and the museum provided a delightful break from the day's flying. If you haven't been, you need to go. Rather than do a blow-by-blow, day-by-day account, I've jotted down some observations:
Free Flight: Duration
LIGHTWEIGHT TIMERS: As flying fields shrink, the need increases for accurate, reliable timers to dethermalize (DT) the model after it makes the max, but before it gets to the trees or corn. A fuse DT works every time, but the accuracy can leave something to be desired. The clockwork timers used for power models range in weight from about 12 grams to more than 20-too much for light models such as Coupe and P-30. The lightest alternative is the Badge timer from Wheels & Wings. This is a small, and very light (1.2 grams) device made from black Delrin plastic. It's really quite simple. Instead of an escapement and gears to regulate the speed, it uses a rotor turning in a viscous liquid sealed inside the timer body.
Free Flight: Duration
For almost two decades, aluminum-skinned balsa has been the dominant wing construction method for F1C Power models. The first use I can document was by Soviet flier Eugene Verbitsky at the 1977 World Championships in Denmark. Actually, the models were proxy-flown by Igor Ziljberg for a (literally) snake-bit Eugene. At least one other Soviet modeler, Sergey Sharron, also had aluminum-foil-covered wings. But I don't believe this was the first use for aluminum. Back in the early 1960s I remember seeing a Wakefield by the late Jim Patterson that used thin aluminum covering over a solid balsa wing.
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.)
