ILLUSTRATIONS: JIM NEWMAN
This 1952 Play Plane plan by Dick Struhl (at left) was provided by Jim Newman as part of his general correspondence correcting a captioning error in the July 2012 issue. It is a dimensioned drawing and would make an easy-to-build sport project for a Cox Baby Bee or for an electric power system. Jim submitted an original sketch (above) of his version of Dick Struhl’s Play Planewith a full fuselage and floats. Jim found it to be an enjoyable and long-lived model.
speak to the specifics from a first person standpoint, and says, “Having served briefly in Northern Ireland with the RAF, I am well aware that Short had (sic) an aircraft facto- ry in Belfast which was owned jointly by them and the ship builder, Harland and Wolf.
“On the other hand, all of S.6 series boats, such as the Golden Hind, were built at Short Brothers’ factory in the county of Kent in the
UK...at Rochester some 30 miles east of Lon- don’s center on the River Medway that dis- charges into the River Thames estuary.” I certainly appreciate the geography les- son, Jim, and your taking the time to correct the error. It’s not often that history has a first person spokesman!
Also, as part of our correspondence in the context of seaplanes and floatplanes, Jim forwarded plans for a simple sheet balsa Play Plane bipe, originally published by Dick Struhl in the March of 1952 issue of Model Airplane News. He also sent along an origi- nal sketch he did of his full-fuselage version of the plane mounted on floats, flown for a considerable amount of time. The plane was intended for a Spitfire .049, but might do
rather well on a Cox Baby Bee. Enjoy both as your first freebies of the New Year!
The beauty of simplicity Arizona reader, John Rodriguez, sent in two photos of his very nicely-crafted Pacific Ace, which I assume is from the Schlueter kit, now produced by Penn Valley Hobbies. Several neat features are apparent, begin- ning with the profile pilot figure that can be seen peering out the side window. John built up the windshield area, making it much more pleasing in shape than the flat panel original and used grommets for the rear rub- ber motor peg. He also installed a Gizmo- Geezer prop assembly for easy thrust adjustment.
Probably the most important feature to the model’s longevity is the button-type viscous timer mounted unobtrusively in the bottom of the aircraft. It is hooked to a pop-up tail as- sembly, and it also has a shock absorbing fea- ture with the use of a rubber O-ring which will dampen the effect of the tail popping up and not let the assembly jump off its mount. All in all, it’s a very striking model and has re- finements that improve it considerably.
Time to get it on!
Jerry Rocha, the honcho of the “Jimmie Allen” team for SAM 27 in Napa, California has thrown down the gauntlet for the umpteenth time, challenging someone to knock the SAM 27 team off the throne they have owned as far back as I can remember. The particulars are that any SAM chap- ter can form a team of three individuals flying any of the “Jimmie Allen” designs within a prescribed time period set by each year’s rules. The most popular and the eas- iest to build design seems to be the BA Cabin since more flyers opt for that plane than any other. For those wanting to par- ticipate, send a large self-addressed stamped envelope to Jerry Rocha, 3583 Ruston Lane, Napa, CA 94558 for the 2013 Jimmie Allen Championship Contest rules and regs.
And with that challenge we have run out of both space and time. Winter is still camped just outside our door here, so we have another month or so before we’ll need to have a new plane ready to throw into the Spring air. Back to the workshop and on to the future!
PHOTO: DC MAXECUTERS
PHOTOS: JOHN RODRIGUEZ
Earl Stahl holds his P-51 Apachedesign (above left) rendered in RAF livery by British modeler, Lindsey Smith. Earl designed and published the model in Air Trails magazine in 1942. One of the earliest photos of Earl shows him flying the original model at the time of its publication. Reader John Rodriguez not only built a neat and well-crafted Pacific Ace rubber powered model (above
FLYING MODELS
center), he added touches that make it even better. Details in the text. This well-thought-out DT system on John’s Pacific Ace (above right) provides a reliable return mechanism for thermal flights, and when the dethermalizer actuates, the rubber washer buffers the shock of the tail popping up and keeps it on the stab platform.
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