PHOTOS: JOHN DONELSON
John Donelson scaled up a Mike Nassise plan from the FAC newsletter to get this well-crafted but rare Avia B-135 Bulgarian WWII fighter (above left). Insignia was provided by Callie Graphics working from a scan of plans and reference sources and output on an ink jet printer. The cannon protruding from
and contain 17 sheets of balsa, 11 rolled sheets of meticulous drawings, a formed canopy, a decal sheet, strip wood, rolled tis- sue covering, and a hardware package. At the time of this writing, there were fewer than 50 kits left. Those interested need to contact Rob Kone at 2152 Turquoise Ridge St. #113, Las Vegas, NV 89117 or by e-mail at
robberoo1031@hotmail.com for pricing and details.
Scaling up scale Over the last several years, Mike Nassise,
who turns out the always-interesting Tail- spin newsletter and journal of the FAC Bay State Squadron, has become a primary source of excellent rubber scale plans. Most of these plans are in the 16-inch Dime Scale range, but beg to be enlarged or reduced to suit the needs of the builder. Mike has also contributed plans to the Flying Aces Club Newsletter, and scarcely a month passes that someone doesn’t send me photos of a Mike Nassise design they have built and successfully flown. This month, reader John Donelson has
graced us with a very well-crafted but rare Czech Avia B-135 that he scaled up from a Mike Nassise plan in the above-mentioned FAC newsletter to compete in FAC WWII Mass Launch events. The model spans 24
the spinner (above right) proved to be the most difficult building challenge of John’s Avia B-135 fighter, according to its builder. Just getting it to center without wobbling as the prop turned was a problem, but well worth the effort judging from the photo. Certainly a unique and interesting model.
inches with its color scheme taken from William Green’s The Great Book of Fighter. The Bulgarian insignia was on the origi-
nal plan which John copied with his ink jet printer. The Avia company logo on the tail was taken from an earlier Avia biplane fighter and then sized on the same printer. John then sent the entire insignia set to Cal- lie Graphics
www.callie-graphics.com, a company we mentioned several months ago, and had them turned into transfers that re- ally dress up the model. John says the only changes he made in the Nassise plans were to use the “cracked rib” method of wing construction, and to enlarge the stabilizer just a bit. Exhausts were made from McDonald’s soda straws, and according to him the most difficult part of building the whole model was to get the cannon mount- ed in the center of the spinner so it didn’t wobble.
Readers who would like to take advantage
of Mike Nassise’s talent and future plans will want to subscribe to the Tailspin by sending $12 USA ($20 international sub- scribers) to Mike Nassise, 22 Greenfield Street, South Easton, MA 02375.
An even better DT system With each new flying season, master mod- eler and world-class illustrator, Tom Hall-
man, refines and improves the DT system that he began pioneering several years ago to keep his beautiful models out of the clutches of Hung, the thermal god, and still flying to- ward one of his many, many FAC first place awards in all classes of competition. Last year he refined the dethermalizer on
his Waco YKC, and this year improved the balsa key and slot areas of his 20-inch Sci- entific Fairchild 24, which allows the stab to pivot upward on its .009 guitar string pop- up wire without flopping around. As Tom notes, the system “uses a .009 guitar string wire for the spring, about 2 inches long and bent in the middle. That DT wire slips into a pin hole on the double thickness top stringer of the stab unit”... and lifts it quick- ly to a 45 degree angle. The DT line runs through a weightless grass stem/tube for leverage and then connects to a simple .012 wire pigtail mounted under the stab. The ex- tra tail weight is a very acceptable .38 gram with another .72 gram for the DT button up front. Thanks for sharing the results of your work, Tom! Now that we know we can bring even the
most exquisite models back safely to earth, we can comfortably wrap up this month’s segment and scurry off toward the work- bench in order to have something new to throw into the air. Spring is coming!
PHOTOS: TOM HALLMAN
Tom Hallman used his newest project, a classic Scientific Fairchild 24, to refine his scale dethermalizing system (above left) for the upcoming contest season. Highlights of the system are the use of two balsa keys in twin slots to keep the
FLYING MODELS
stabilizer from flopping around in the DT model. Also, the use of a tube made from a nearly weightless grass stem helps keep the overall weight of the unit from being a problem (above right).
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