PHOTO: TOM HALLMAN PHOTO: JERRY MURPHY To answer one of the questions about E-
36 power sources and components, Don in- forms us that by the time you read this, there may be a one-stop-shop for all of your E-36 needs, provided by Hank Nystrom at Texas Timers
www.texastimers.com. It is Hank’s intent to stock the excellent Chi-
nese “1806n” 2500Kv electric motor, as well as matching ESCs, servos, chargers, and connectors. When coupled with the Texas Micro E
timer he already stocks, that will let any as- piring E-36 flyer put the entire power/timer package together at one convenient on-line location. Check the Texas Timer web site to see if the items are in stock at this time. Given a two- to three-month lag time be- tween when this is being written and when you read it, chances are good! To provide inspiration to get in the air
with your own E-36, Magnificent Mountain Men sparkplug, Jerry Murphy, was kind enough to send us a shot of Dan Berry launching his neatly done Super Pearl 202E at the Southwest Regionals in Eloy, AZ this past January. Reports are that it has the climb of the original Bill Chenault classic. The photos of Tom Hallman’s semi-cov-
ered Fairchild 24 run last month begged for a shot or two of the completed model. This month, Tom has favored us with exactly that. The first photo shows how really un- obtrusive and almost invisible the mecha- nism is on the completed plane. The second one shows the very effective 45-degree an- gle the tail reaches in its popped-up state— all with no chance for damage by the tail section flopping around and hitting the fuselage as the beautifully rendered model settles to the ground. Another feature of the model worthy of comment beyond its craftsmanship is that Tom chose the radial engine version of the Fairchild, not often seen in renderings of the full-scale airplane. The difference in its looks without the long inline engine Ranger nose sticking out in front of the windshield is quite remarkable, and gives the model a wholly different character. You may want to add it to your list of “must builds”, even if you’ve built a long-nosed Fairchild 24 in the past.
FLYING MODELS
Dan Berry completed his Super Pearl 202E from the Don DeLoach kit just in time for the 2012 Southwest Regionals in Eloy, AZ and readies it for launch (at left). Dan was pleased with the power pattern of his electric version of the classic Pearl design. These swatches of light blue and darker green tissue (above) show how effective a Copic Multiliner SP pen is at rendering neat panel and control surface lines on both light and darker shaded tissue. Additionally, it is readily available and in several tip sizes and ink colors from art supply stores.
Aging iron-on covering Most of us have gone to some form of iron-
on covering for our larger competition pow- er models and tend to keep the planes around for several seasons. I have several ships covered in that manner that I can pull out of the box at the beginning of each new contest year with reasonable expectations of them performing fairly well, with a need for only a little bit of re-trimming. At the same time, we’ve all had the odd airplane that had a history of stellar perfor- mance for a number of years and then sud- denly decide to go totally bonkers for no ap- parent reason. Modeling friend, George Avila, had just such an experience with his big NosGas Texan, normally a plane he could count on to perform in a reliable manner. On the second flight during a meet late
last fall, the plane suddenly laid over, to- tally off pattern and came down in less than an acceptable fashion, cracking the pylon in the process. No other damage was evident. However, as George flexed the wing it be- came evident that at some point in time the covering had come loose from the structure and was only adhering to wood fibers, and not to the structure itself. Attempts to re- attach it by re-ironing it were not success- ful because the covering adhesive was still doing its job—but only with the fibers from the ribs and spars and not the ribs and spars themselves. Just exactly when the covering became
an unattached bag containing a wooden structure was not clear, but certainly a harder than normal DT, or an abrupt stop in the glide path could have caused enough flex in the flying surfaces to cause the cov- ering to separate. The message is, of course, that George has discovered another hidden reason for models to go off on their own and do their own thing. The well- known “bad launch” or “a gust of wind must have caught it” may have nothing to do with a formerly reliable plane going off pat- tern. Checking to make sure the covering is actually bonded to the main framework is a good idea before the beginning of each sea- son and a reasonable thing to do in prepa- ration for each contest outing. Thanks for sharing, George!
Perfect panel lines One of the finishing touches that makes a
scale model really stand out from the crowd is the perfect execution of panel and control surface lines that appear to be integral to the aircraft structure and not just laid over the top of the covering—or worse yet, slop- pily applied. Favorite methods of applying those lines range from tissue strips, to Pig- ma Micron pens, to fine-line Sharpies, and to the old-school Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph drafting instruments. We are indebted yet again this month to
Tom Hallman for discovering another alter- native for creating panel lines at a very rea- sonable price. As most will know, Tom is a world-class book-cover illustrator, and while he was gathering ink and supplies for his Rapidographs, he spotted a display of Copic Multiliner SP pens in a variety of widths at an art supply store. He purchased one with a 0.3 tip and tried
it on some scrap tissue. He was so impressed with the results that he used the pen for the panel lines of his latest under-construction project, a Mig-DIS. He found that it takes al- cohol fine and ends lines with a minimum of “puddling”. According to Tom, it also looks like it belongs on or even in the tissue, not floating above it. As he notes, “It’s not a deep glossy
black...more of a matte feel at about 80–90%
black...and perfect to give the essence of a panel line.” The photo he sent along shows how really effective the Copic marker is on light as well as darker backgrounds. The pens are so generically available, a
simple Google search will get you started by just typing in “Copic Markers”, without the quotes, of course. If I play my cards right, my search for the markers will be even less involved. My wife, who is an avid scrap- booker, had mentioned how much she liked Copic markers for her scrapbooking projects and had purchased a full set in a variety of tip sizes and colors. I’d like to write more about this topic, but I need to stroll down the hallway to her craft room and see if my wheedling skills still work. Next month we’ll have more great reader
photos, some new sources for free plans, and the usual good tips on building better mod- els. In the meantime, toss something into the spring breeze!
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