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hether you are a beginner, try- ing your first kit, or an old vet- eran of F/F chases, now looking into R/C, you need to attend the


AMA Nationals. The field at Muncie may be a bit far from Long Island, Florida, Texas or California but you can do almost as well by watching Alan Abriss’s DVD of the 2011 F/F Nats. It runs 115 minutes and covers just about everything you can imagine that took place at the country’s premier modeling event. Meet the flyers and designers, discuss their models and their flight innovations and results, watch some absolutely stun- ning flights and a few that just didn’t come out as planned. I have watched Alan’s DVDs for years and this is certainly the best yet. When I watched the first one, several


years ago, I particularly enjoyed seeing what some of the competitors looked like. I was surprised to find they looked just like me. Older, wrinkled and slow moving but no long beards to indicate their great wisdom. These guys are certainly experienced and with Alan’s interested attitude, they de- scribed their models and flights with the kind of detail that we all want to hear so we can design and build a bit better each time. Contact Alan at a.abriss@verizon.net or alan@alanabriss.com or call or write him: 917-885-2772, 94-20 66th Ave., Suite 1G, Rego Park, NY 11374. The DVD is $20.00 plus $4.00 S&H. Make checks payable to Alan Abriss. Credit cards can be used for se- cure online ordering from http://www.home growntv.com. Readers, I’m running very low on materi-


al for this column. I usually have to choose between many pictures and stories each month but the larder is getting empty. Please send me pictures of your favorite models with as much info as you want to


by don ross You can reach Don Rossat 817 Ames Hill Drive, Tewksbury, MA 01876, or via e-mail at flywords@comcast.net


PHOTO: CRAIG LINDER


Craig Linder’s SE-5a has lots of scale detail and yet is very light. He is already turning in flights of 1 minute and hopes to add more rubber to increase times.


share. Span, weight, covering, power, prop, colors, trim scale details and flight adjust- ments are the fodder of your fellow flyers and can help the new ones decide on kits, materials and methods. I’m told more than a few readers were able to improve their models’ performance with stuff they read in this column sent by other readers. So help me out a bit guys. I’ve shown you some of Curtis Moss’s work


before. Now take a look at one of his bright ideas for scaling models up and down. The


art board patterns shown are for a 50-inch version of the Cracker Jack. Curtis says this method saves a lot of scaling and plan draw- ing. Apparently, he uses a photocopy method to reduce or enlarge the patterns, then cuts them out. This allows him to trace the outlines later to draw wings, tails, etc. and add ribs and formers. To show Cutis’s versatility, here’s his Grandma a 66-inch span, 3-channel model with an OS .10 engine. Curtis says it’s a neat model with which to introduce visitors to


PHOTO: ALAN ABRISS


You simply can’t go wrong with Alan Abriss’s DVD of the 2011 Nats at Muncie (above left). It covers the entire F/F spectrum with flight details and interviews with the contestants. If you could not make it to Muncie this past year, this is the


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PHOTO: CURTIS MOSS


next best thing. Details galore and great flying video. Curtis Moss uses art board patterns to set up his plans (above right). He can enlarge or reduce the patterns easily, then use the outline to draw in ribs, formers, etc. in any size.


JANUARY 2012


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