CL Combat
OF LATE, I have been running some of my older equipment just for the fun of it. What was once state of the art has become filler for the old-engine drawers. My once-potent SuperTigre G-21-35s and C-35s are looked upon with fond and sometimes frustrating memories.
Fond because they powered our all-balsa models to victory and another bowling-league-type trophy. Frustrating because these engines would occasionally let us down when they shed the folded-over tabs on their bearings and sent them up through the bypass so they could jam between the piston and the cylinder wall.
Another source of frustration was when the crankshafts had had enough of the spinning Rev-Up 9 x 7 or 9 x 6 propellers and, without warning, fractured, splintered, broke in two, or went sailing off with the front bearing, drive washer, propeller, prop washer, and nut. The more nitromethane you had in your fuel, the more likely you were to see this happen.
The Combat pilots of the once-famous Redwood City Condor Legion, under the leadership of Norm McFadden and Rich Brasher, were notorious for having fire-breathing SuperTigres. I remember one season when Norm went to three straight Western Associated Modelers (WAM) contests and proceeded to blow three engines. WAM did not allow the use of a spare engine or a spare model; when your equipment broke, you were done for the day.
If you were one of the local hobby-shop owners who catered to Combat pilots, you loved these guys coming in Monday afternoon to buy new SuperTigre parts.
Yes, you read correctly; there were hobby shops that carried supplies for Combat pilots. Joe White of J&M Hobbies in San Carlos, California; Ron Sheldon of Sheldon's Hobbies in San Jose, California; and Pat Alassandro of Pat's Hobbies in San Francisco, California had standing orders to World Engines for SuperTigre engines. They carried Combat kits and all of the attendant items so that a novice did not have to shop all over the globe to get a model in the air.
Ron Sheldon went out of his way to provide extra services for the Combat pilots since he himself was known to put a "Winder" on the end of a set of lines and do battle with other local pilots or even an occasional seagull. Ron would chrome cylinders and fit pistons with the equipment he kept in the back of his shop.
I miss that part of the good old days. I guess that is why I have been running my old engines. They still run and start easily and are fun to fly. I saw a new SuperTigre G21-25C Combat engine with a price tag of $125 at the year's AMA Convention in Pasadena, California; I kept walking.
These past couple of months I have been running all my old SuperTigres on some mild fuel, just to get the crankcase cast oil from the 1970s out of their systems. There are four G21-25s and two C-25s, which were regular contest attendees. They all start very well and are steady runners on 10% nitro fuel with an L synthetic oil.
I had forgotten how much those engines shake when they run. Those steel pistons running on steel cylinders shake the entire model and almost numb your hands.
After three or four runs apiece, each engine gets a new baggie and a large gulp of 6-3-in-1 oil along with a tag that tells when they were run, then they go back to their old engine drawer. It might be another 10 years before they go out for another run around the block.
Mike Willcox is now a resident of Southern California and is sharing a house with Pete Athans. Mike moved from Texas in January and is interested in pursuing a career making videos. I hope Mike will be a good influence on Pete and teach him how to properly build models in large quantities so that there are enough to attend competitions on a regular basis.
We will do our best to make sure that Mike gets plenty of Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) practice to be ready for the upcoming Control Line World Championship in Senitz, Germany in July. There is no substitute for flying many practice matches to sharpen one's reflexes.
Since FAI is the Europeans' main event, it is important that we be well practiced. Our main event is Fast Combat, and it actually works against the skills needed in FAI.
In Fast Combat the objective is to sever the string (called "kill") that attaches the streamer to the model as fast as possible, and in FAI the objective is to get as many little cuts of the streamer as possible. Another popular event is 1/2A Combat; it also uses a kill format.
In the FAI event, severing the string early in the match is usually a sure way to lose. It is almost impossible to run from an opponent the balance of the match without having your model's streamer cut.
The two sets of rules differ enough to cause problems in the heat of a match. Most of us do not plan a strategy for our opponent, but rather fly by instinct and react to what we see. For me, as I get older, I find it more difficult to think on my feet and to get out of old habits.
Most of the pilots in Southern California are gearing up for the 2002 Top Gun triple-elimination Fast Combat contest in Tucson, Arizona the weekend of March 16-17. I suspect we will see mostly glow-powered models with a few of the GRS-imported Fonz pulling home-built foam models or Ready-to-Fly Russian-style designs.
The Top Gun contest signals the start of a new Combat season. It is usually the time when those new projects come out of the hangar for the first time and are really put to the test.
Russ Graves, Bill Maywald, Don and Chris Jensen, Chuck and Mark Rudner, Pete Athans, and I have been testing our Fast Combat equipment and making certain that everything is trimmed out. I like to go to a contest knowing that all of the small details have been taken care of. I like to have plenty of balanced propellers ready to go and fresh blades. This way I can spend more time joking and telling lies with some old buddies.
There are several newer sport Combat pilots in regular attendance at our Whittier Narrows, California practice field. These guys are having a ball with older engines or Ready-to-Fly models. Some have state-of-the-art FAI engines and just like to fly for sport. There is no pressure to get them to put streamers on the ends of their models. The Whittier Narrows regulars are ready to lend a hand to younger model starters or rookies.
Vince Calibbo has been teaching his grandson to fly Cox-powered Combat models with great success. He loves working with old Tee Dee engines and has been having fun rebuilding them and testing homemade glow heads.
The mixture of serious and sport fliers has made the typical weekend outing more fun.
Many serious Combat pilots like to use the O.S. Max RC needle-valve assemblies mounted remotely to control the fuel mixture on a high performance engine. I have seen all sorts of mounts to hold the needle-valve assembly. Some have been specifically machined from aluminum, and others are crudely cut from sheet aluminum then drilled to fit the mounting pattern of a particular engine.
I like to keep things simple and cheap. Nylon bushing clamps made by Du-Bro (part number 285 or 289) adapt quite easily to this application. You must first drill the nylon straps so that the needle-valve assembly can be screwed in. Then you need to decide if you want the needle-valve assembly attached to the engine in a backplate screw or if it is to attach to the engine with the engine mount bolts. I have used both methods successfully.
The O.S. Max units give you precise control over the fuel mixture and have the added advantage of keeping your fingers away from spinning propellers. At one time I was modifying control horns for this purpose. They worked very well, but were much more work to make.
A cheap form of insurance for your fingers is a starting glove. I like to glue a piece of spruce to the top and bottom of the middle glove finger, then wrap it with duct tape.
I have put a wooden dowel inside the glove while performing the procedure, that way I could make sure I could get my finger into the glove. I had to learn that trick the hard way. The first time I did it I did not put anything inside the glove and wound up not being able to get my finger inside the glove.
The spruce sticks will absorb a blow from the propeller and keep your finger safe and healthy.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
