FocusY
ou saw a piece on the Switch R/C train- er in a previous issue. It looked good
enough for me to immediately order one and I sure didn’t make a mistake. The model is
securely packaged and very well engineered, particularly for the beginner. Assembly is fast and simple, about ½ hour. Stab halves are braced with carbon fiber and seated firmly with magnets. Landing gear is solid and strong enough for lots of beginner land- ings. Control is very positive. This was my first aileron model and it has taken me a while to
stop over controlling on turns. There’s plenty of power in the mo- tor for loops from level flight and easy rolls. So far, I have only flown the high wing version. I think the idea of having high and low wing versions in the same box is great and I hope to be ready to switch soon. Flyzone, distributed by Hobbico, PO Box 9021, Champaign, IL 61826, 217-398-3630,
www.flyzoneplanes.com.
man was looking for a Swami plan and couldn’t find a good one. (BMJR’s Swami had not come out yet). So, Don sort of bashed a Lancer plan from Al Lidberg to make a Sorta-Swami. Here are both models pow- ered by Gmot CO2 engines. Don’t you just love that Swami wing ? I’ll ask Don for flight notes for a later column. Al Lidberg Plans, 1030 East Baselimne Road, Suite 105, Tempe, AZ 85283. Mike Moskow is a very winning rubber
PHOTO: DON BUTMAN
Can’t find a plan for the Swami? Then kit bash a Lancerfrom an Al Lidberg plan and you get a Sorta-Swami. Don Butman now has a nice pair of models for CO2 power (above). The Bonzo (below left) is one of the hardest models to flight trim for rubber power due to the short wing, no dihedral and high power. Tom Moore had some troubles getting smooth flights and solved the problem with adjustable ailerons. Mike Moskow has switched to R/C finally after about 50 years of rubber F/F. He chose the Miss Tiny(below right) which was a great flyer in F/F gas and, I’m sure is just as good in electric.
PHOTO: TOM MOORE PHOTO: MIKE MOSKOW
power competitor. He used to meet with us at Galeville and Pine Island for our “One De- sign” contests and, I think, placed in the top three every year. Now, at 86 years old, Mike has begun to opt for electric R/C (no long chases). His Miss Tiny from 1946 or ’47, spans 46 inches, with about 2 square feet of wing area. It uses a brushless motor, a 7- inch prop and, with a 350-gram flying weight, gives a low 6-ounce per square foot wing loading (should be a floater). Mike flies mostly SAM now and must still be the fear- some competitor he was back in the day. I’ll finish with another great kids photo.
bare bones of his Daphne which is quite sim- ilar to the Whitman Tailwind. The reference was a small Indoor Model Supply plan and I wanted to show the structure which is “well engineered” as I have discussed above. Curtiss says his wing structure is “light and strong but warp resistant”. I would agree. Note the use of thinner wood that we might choose but many diagonals for a rigid struc- ture. Yes, Curtiss, we caught the missing stab diagonal. I’m sure many of you, like me, have collec-
tions of Model Builder magazine. Now, you can get the entire 295 issues, 35,000 pages from Vol. 1, No. 1 to the last issue on DVD that can be printed out on your computer, in- cluding a searchable index of plans. Price is $75.00 postpaid world-wide from: Roland Friestad, 1640 N. Kellogg Street, Galesburg, IL 61401;
cardinal.eng@grics.net. Who doesn’t like the Whitman Bonzo? I
have built a couple in peanut scale that nev- er really flew well. Now, Tom Moore sends us his detailed story of the 24-inch span Bonzo he built. I should mention that the Bonzo is a really short span airplane so it seems to come out pretty heavy. Tom’s weighs 170 grams and at 150 square-inch
FLYING MODELS
wing area, the wing loading is a high, 1.13 grams per square inch, which is pretty high. Anyway, Tom’s Bonzo is from 1938 and
was developed from 3-views by D.W. Carter drawn in 1966 and featured in the book, Racing Planes and Air Racers by Reed Kin- ert. All model dimensions are to scale except horizontal stab (increased area 10%). Prop is balsa plywood laminate with a 10-inch di- ameter; length is 30 inches. Wings are wood dowel mounted and removable. Tom reports that he lives at 5000 feet altitude which cer- tainly doesn’t help in glides. First flight tests resulted in 2 or 3 axial
rolls to the right (odd, torque would suggest a left roll). The model has no dihedral, rud- der offset, wing incidence and zero down or side thrust. Tom was wise enough to build with adjustable ailerons which solved the roll problem and produced a nice, fast, steep climb and several neat circles followed by a safe, wheels landing. Tom carved the pilot bust from cork which allows for nice skin texture. With wire glasses you have a real- istic pilot adding little weight. I find that modelers are extremely inven-
tive people and manage to solve some tough problems with simple methods. Don But-
This one from Ed McGugan up Canada way. The kids are from Ed’s Summer Adventure Workshop. Ed says the kids were amazed at how well a rubber model could fly. (We must remember that in the olden days we would see rubber models flying in almost every park or empty lot. Now they are a rarity.) I count some 17 kids in the picture. Looks like half or more are girls. I sure wish we had more guys like Ed who can stimulate a bunch of kids about model airplanes. Note the foam P-51 models the kids are holding. They are scaled down from a plan by my old friend, Art Collard, and are great, almost in- destructible flyers.
PHOTO: ED MCGUGAN
Kids, kids, kids. Ed McGugan in Canada runs a Summer Adventure Workshop which includes building a rubber powered model and flying it. Ed chose Art Collard’s foam P-51 for the class which gave them some exciting flights.
47
PHOTO: OCTAVIO DURAN
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