Henry R. Carstens publisher
carstens@carstens-publications.com
Frank Fanelli editor
Jim Wiggin associate editor
Maureen Frazer production editor
John A. Earley director of advertising
Pieter W. Uptegrove advertising manager
Larry Deitch advertising production manager
Tammy Havens advertising production
Phyllis M. Carstens assistant to the publisher Customer Service: Lynn Good Dot Schmidt
Dealer Service: Cathy Streeter Harold H. Carstens
Founder, Carstens Publications 1924—2009
FLYING MODELS (ISSN 0015-4849) Incorporating FLYING ACES and R/C Model Boating, is published monthly by Carstens Publications, Inc., 108 Phil Hardin Road, Fredon Township, Newton, New Jersey 07860. Phone: 973-383-3355. FAX: 973-383-4064. Visit our web site at
www.flying-models.com, or e-mail us at:
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Contact Flying Modelsat (973) 383-3355 Voice, (973) 383-4064 FAX, or e-mail us at
frankf@flying-models.com
t’s hard these days to define any one specialty that grabs just about every- one attention. Technology that seems to advance at an exponential pace has
created a dazzling array of niches that were never more than a brief and faint daydream not too many years ago. As an example I cite one of my daydreams
that was borne from the frustration of not being able to fly radio control during those cold winter months in the Northeast. As I sat looking out the window at the snow cov- ered ground I thought how nice it would be if you could fly R/C indoors. Now you can, with so many good choices
around that you could spend a whole year flying inside. And the daydreams of others have been realized just as much with things like helicopters and airplanes that fly back- wards, real jet engines, monster planes, diminutive ¹⁄₇₂ scale R/C models, electric power.... Bet you can add a few more to that list yourself. In simpler modeling times there was one
radio control model specialty that could gar- ner more than the lion’s share of attention, and if you go back as far, or more than I do, you’ll remember that Pattern was king. Just about everyone knew the names of the top contenders and the planes they flew. Taurus. Banshee, Cutlas, Curare, EU-1A, Maya, Dirty Birdy, Magic, XLT.... Ring some bells? It was these planes that drove the ad- vancing technology of radio control. Retracts appeared, engines with tuned pipes turned up, transmitters with servo reversing, even dual rates! The demands of Pattern made it all happen. One of those illustrious Pattern designs
was the Phoenix series designed by Don Lowe. In all there were eight. Hangar 9 chose to honor Lowe by introducing the Phoenix 7, the next to last. It acknowledges the renewed interest and nostalgia found in Special Interest Groups like the Ballistic Pattern Association, the Vintage R/C Soci- ety, and the Senior Pattern Association. So I asked Frank Granelli, who for the
long time that I’ve known him, has been a devoted Pattern flier, to review the Phoenix. He did so in great fashion and persistence. He also added the insight of all those years of competition flying as added value to his article. He has high praise for the way Hangar 9 has preserved the superb flying qualities of the plane. Oh, by the way, just to prove Frank’s ac- quaintance with this design, I’ve got to let you know that he has kits of almost all in the Phoenix series. This issue is pretty eclectic so after look-
ing over the table of contents I decided to tell you next a little about Will Hubin’s ar- ticle on the latest C/L gathering in Carmichaels, PA. I think any devotee of C/L will recognize that this is the place where the Brodak Fly-in takes place every Father’s Day. It’s the East Coast’s shrine to planes that fly in a circle.
Will has graciously and very expertly cov-
ered this event for many years and his pho- tographic journal of this very large gather- ing has gotten better and better each year. And that’s a very good thing because Brodak has generated the same firestorm of enthu- siasm as the Vintage Stunt Championships held each March in Tucson. Brodak, as it has come to be called, con-
tinues to grow each year. More importantly, the spirit there, like the VSC, also continues to grow. In his article, Will alluded to it as the brotherhood of the rings. Sounds like it’s one of those must-attend events you need to place on your to-do list. This month we welcome Bob VanTassel.
He’s a long time modeler and did us a big fa- vor. We scheduled a review of BP Hobbies Bucker Jungmann and the original review- er ran into some family problems. He sug- gested Bob as a stand-in to get us the arti- cle on time. That Bob did and despite a little trouble
with the wording in the manual reports that this is a great sport scale model, and a good choice for someone looking for a mid-size, different model. His review is very good and we hope Bob will join us some more in the future. Last month Jim Wiggin gave an excellent account of this year’s FAC Non-Nats. We fol- low up this month with a report from Roger Willis on the western equivalent of the FAC Geneseo happening. WESTFAC III was a gathering of many of the rubber freeflight devotees who live on the other side of the U.S.
They had a difficult or impossible time
getting to Geneseo so Roger, the spark plug guy, got WESTFAC going so western mod- elers would have a chance to share the FAC fun the eastern guys did. It happened in Col- orado this year and you’ll see that it’s grow- ing more and more. As an addendum to Dave Lockhart’s se-
ries on indoor foamies we turn to Daniel Walton’s review of the
e-foamy.com Edge 540. As he begins the article, the plane was chosen in an “act of desperation associated with the usual lack of time and other press- ing issues.” That might have been the end of it, but he chose to elaborate on all that mod- els of this caliber are designed for. It opened his eyes to a different approach to modeling that could have implications for more tradi- tional ways. Now we get to Pat Tritle, someone most of
you look forward to seeing here in these pages every month. This time around he shares his Gull II. If you look across at the facing page you may notice it bears a strik- ing resemblance to the Comet Gull II. Well, it does because it’s a 50-inch span enlarge- ment of the venerable Comet kit, and de- signed for 3-channel R/C. You’ll have to read Pat’s narrative to find
out the raison d’etre for doing this. As he says, this isn’t a model for vertical flight or aerobatics. It’s a lazy, gracious flyer you’ll find is very relaxing. –FRANK FANELLI
DECEMBER 2011
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