The News Flash climbs for altitude after about 300 winds (at left). With the rubber relaxing a bit, the NewsFlash levels out (above) yet still climbs in a counterclockwise pattern.
warps should the ship encounter any early morning dew. I then built my power with the included Tan II rubber. There is a length of about 18 inches included. This will get you started and will help trim the model or keep it closer if you are flying from a small field. The prop was checked and to my surprise
only required a small amount of sanding to be balanced. Prop and shaft assembled, I used the tried and true method of the square knot, and broke in the motor as well as added some Peck Polymers rubber lube. I as- sembled the wing and glued the stab and tail to the fuselage. The wing is mounted to the fuselage frame with the included rubber band. With the model assembled I next checked for warps and the center of gravity. The News Flash was ready for some testing. The night I finished the News Flash, the
air was calm thanks to the mid-summer evening. The included motor was wound about 50 turns. Standing in front of my apartment into the open courtyard, I held the News Flash in my right hand, holding the prop with my left. Releasing the prop and al- lowing it to get some speed, I slowly pushed the News Flash forward and released it. The News Flash maintained an altitude
equal to that in which I had released it and slowly turned left and glided down a few yards in front of me. A short flight but one that made me wish for a larger field. Subsequent flights yielded similar results
that evening and with trimming complete, the News Flash was ready to pack in more winds. My wish for a larger field would be granted when I was sent to cover the events in Geneseo, New York a few weeks later. Fortunately at FLYING MODELS, one does
not have to wait long to make a flight of any kind of model. I arrived at Geneseo to cover the FAC Non-Nats event and I brought along the News Flash to take advantage of the large expanse. The bright yellow fuse- lage and blue wings would be easy to spot in such a large expanse. I was fortunate enough to have my pit area next to Dennis Norman, someone who is no stranger to the FAC or Scale freeflight models. Dennis is very familiar with the original Comet Phan- tom Flash and even makes pre printed tis- sue in various designs for the original 16- inch Phantom Flash.
FLYING MODELS Dennis saw my larger News Flash and we
soon struck up a conversation. I put a few trim flights of about 100 winds from the original power. From there Dennis recom- mended using a 36-inch strand of ³⁄₁₆-inch rubber for longer flights. I went to my pit and assembled and lubed the motor, and in- stalled it in the News Flash. Starting with about 300 winds, I found
the plane would fly nicely out of my hands, assume a nice left hand turn but then start to dive and land while under power. Dennis found that the left wing panel had some wash-in and so some trimming was in order. After a suitable amount of wash-out was
added to the offending wing panel, another flight was in order. I packed in 400 winds and walked to the center of the field. Re- leasing the News Flash was akin to releas- ing a wild bird. She took off almost vertical then leveled off and under power started a beautiful climb in a counterclockwise turn. I stood there, eyes locked, jaw dropped in a dopey pose 100% fixated on this simple yet elegant flying machine. Fortunately for me, such a pose is not only acceptable among the FAC brethren, but nothing out of the ordinary. The model lev- eled out a few hundred feet above me and started its descent east bound. Over the pits, over the cars, past the hot dog stand and fi-
nally landing next to a full scale Navion. For a brief instant, I was a kid again, chasing the wooden and tissue creation as it made its flight path. I want to thank Dennis and some of his companions, for the help they were to me that day. With the suggested mo- tor and trim, I made many more successful flights with the News Flash that day. I wonder if Joe Konefes ever thought his
simple design would enjoy such a long and successful life. Retro RC has seen the stabil- ity of the design and has not only reproduced this 24-inch News Flash, but also the origi- nal Phantom Flash in 16 inches and an R/C version called the Radio Flash for the small ultra micro electronics. All three kits are very complete and the quality of balsa is ex- ceptional. I encourage you to look up Retro R/C on the web at
http://retrorc.us.com/. While the 13-inch TV has been replaced
with a flat screen color, the Red Sox still play and the warm breeze fills the work- shop. Some things never change; however, they do improve. So is the state of the News Flash. While the design at its core has not changed, the improvements made in mater- ial and laser cutting take a good thing and make it better. I thoroughly enjoyed build- ing and flying the Retro RC News Flash and being transported back to a simpler time of my youth.
Building the model per the instructions will result in a great flying sport model. It would be wise to apply your name and address as out of sight flights are not out of the question with this model.
55
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76