A CASE FOR LARGER FF MODELS
By Tom Hallman | maxfliart@hallmanstudio.com
I’M GOING TO DISCUSS big model airplanes and a few that turned my head on the flying fields in 2023. If you’ve never built anything larger than a 24-inch wingspan model, you should start pondering a project that falls in between 36 and 54 inches. The experience and the challenge will quickly change your modeling life for the better.
More than any other, large rubber-powered Free Flight (FF) models capture the essence of flight. Their slower flight patterns come closest to the scalelike speed of the full-scale versions, allowing us to experience the nostalgic beauty of a passing Bellanca CF, for example, while keeping our feet on the ground.
Large models are easier to trim because they tend to do whatever you ask of them. The effects of even minor adjustments become quickly apparent but in a gentler fashion. With their slower pace and, in many cases, lower wing loading, the risk of damage upon landing is minimized. Sure, they use more rubber, but you only live once. It’s another reminder to use the good wood.
The big aircraft made a strong appearance at the 2023 Flying Aces Club (FAC) Non-Nats in Geneseo, New York, with the sky brightened by some of the best that the FAC members have to offer.
One of the showstopper moments had to be the spontaneous mini mass launch of Chris Starleaf’s 64-inch B-24 alongside Vance Gilbert’s 49-inch Vickers Nene Viking. Both launched majestically into the cloud-filled sky for long, soaring flights and the approval of many along the flightline.
Modelers with large airplanes tend to gravitate toward each other on the field. They’re magnetic. It’s almost as though they’re sharing a secret known only to those who have ventured into the realm of big balsa FF.
With the wind generally lower, the late-day golden hour tends to bring out the larger models, especially at Geneseo, where the July evenings allow us to fly beyond 9:30 p.m. The fliers are able to test-fly their models without the fear of a thermal-induced flyaway or damage because of strong wind. Combined with unusually high grass this year, it became the perfect scenario to catch the giant models soaring above.
Perhaps the most beautiful 54-inch wingspan model ever made, Dave Mitchell’s Bellanca CF took to the sky one evening, capturing the romance of the Golden Age with a circling pattern that lasted nearly two minutes. If not for the silence of the flight, broken only by the chatter of those watching from below, one could have believed that the Bellanca was
the full-scale aircraft cruising about, preparing for a grass runway landing.
That flight was followed by another large model, Vance’s 37-inch wingspan Martin XB-51, which has a massively long fuselage of 55 inches. The rubber motor within
routinely powers the model to an easy 75 seconds on trim flights. Surely the model is destined to reach the two-minute mark in future competitions.
Other models of note were Doug Beardsworth’s beautifully detailed
36-inch Northtrup Gamma and Duncan McBride’s sleek de Havilland DH.88 Comet twin. At 54.5 inches with a black finish, it quickly grabs your attention while circling above.
Personally, I had given a lot of airtime to the second largest model in my fleet, the 44-inch wingspan Boeing 306 C twin-pusher flying wing. I’m pleased to report that the model has exceeded my expectations by flying much longer and in a more stable manner than I had ever imagined.
While I was building the model, I thought that if it flew a complete circle a few feet above my head, the project would be considered a success, but on its seventh flight during the first trim session, the Boeing flew for 70 seconds with a couple of buzzards joining the formation, proving to me that it had the potential as a Scale Duration model and not simply as one that was satisfied with a quick up-and-down flight. It has since flown for nearly two minutes.
This project began as a whim, but the model has become one of my most memorable experiences since I started building, not only for the challenge of the framework and scale detailing but also for all that I have learned and witnessed visually at the trim field. Along with all of the other large models featured, the Boeing is majestic in the air and grabs the attention of anyone who is fortunate to be on the field with you.
Dream, ponder, build, and inspire, but most of all ... fly.
SOURCES:
Tom Hallman’s MaxFliArt YouTube Channel
www.youtube.com/user/maxfliart
National Free Flight Society (NFFS)
www.freeflight.org
Easy Built Models
shannon@easybuiltmodels.com
www.easybuiltmodels.com
Volare Products
(269) 339-9795
www.volareproducts.com
