Henry R. Carstens


president and publisher carstens@carstens-publications.com


Frank Fanelli editor


Jim Wiggin associate editor


Maureen Frazer production editor John A. Earley


vice-president and director of advertising


Pieter W. Uptegrove advertising manager George Riley


director of marketing Larry Deitch


advertising production manager


Tammy Havens advertising production


Phyllis M. Carstens assistant to the publisher


Otto Vondrak webmaster Chris Lane


book acquisitions manager Lynn Good


customer service


Cathy Streeter dealer service


FLYING MODELS (ISSN 0015-4849) Incorporating FLYING ACES and R/C Model Boating, is published monthly by Carstens Publications, Inc., 108 Phil Hardin Road, Fredon Township, Newton, New Jersey 07860. Phone: 973-383-3355. FAX: 973-383-4064. Visit our web site at www.flying-models.com, or e-mail us at: carstens@carstens-publications.com. Henry R. Car- stens, President; John A. Earley, Vice President, Phyllis Carstens, Secretary / Treasurer. Periodicals Postage paid at Newton, NJ 07860 and additional mailing offices.


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Contact Flying Modelsat (973) 383-3355 Voice, (973) 383-4064 FAX, or e-mail us at frankf@flying-models.com


here are old model designs that never seem to fade away, to para- phrase the apothegm about old sol- diers. Make a list and I’ll bet you see versions of them right down to the pres- ent day. All you have to do is go take a look at Mike Myers’ Old Timer Topics, or Bob Noll’s Vintage R/C respective columns. The good models from decades ago still thrive. And it’s not with just the devotees of nos- talgia. There are droves of kits these days of the Ugly Stik design that set some pretty impressive standards for good flying. Betcha there are a lot of designers who copy those magic “numbers” that Phil Kraft originally concocted to make a plane that’s a Stik in some thinly disguised clothing.


My train of thought was easy to come by


since we have an article this month that sort of resurrects a venerable, if not well known design. Just two months ago, we had anoth- er, the R/C version of Jim Walker’s Intercep- tor 404 that Pat Tritle enlarged for R/C. This time round, David Fortuna decided


to recreate the model that brought him a lot of enjoyment when he first got into modeling back in the 1960s. The two specific models he remembers fondly were the Thermic 50 and 50X kitted by Jetco Models. Jetco Mod- els was Frank Zaic’s company and he chose good flying models. I can attest to that my- self since one of my first successful freeflight models was the Jetco Lark.


In Dave’s case he built those models for freeflight and he quickly found out what OOS meant. But good memories like that persist, and almost nag you into doing it again. So that’s exactly what he did, this time creating a slightly enlarged version of the Thermic 50X.


But like I said, those memories persist, es- pecially the ones of watching a favorite plane fly away. So this time there would be no flyaways since he put some of the new mi- cro R/C gear into it. Nice to have the oppor- tunity to enjoy something over and over again. And since he had such a good time with it, he decided to share it with us. The same is true in a similar vein of Darryl Miller’s review of the Retro RC Radio Flash. A quick look across to the next page would probably provoke the comment: “Hey, that looks like a Phantom Flash.” But it ain’t.


Mark Freeland, who started Retro RC not so very long ago, has successfully traded on the fact that there are a lot of nostalgic de- signs out there that deserve reincarnation either as a freeflight or an R/C ship. The Radio Flash that Darryl presents is just one such example of that company’s direction. Thanks to the really micro R/C gear in the diminutive R/C foam planes that Great Planes and Horizon Hobbies have intro- duced, the Radio Flash is a pretty nice flying airplane for calm weather outdoors and standard indoor flying. You’ll find that it is a good kit to build and fly.


Speaking of those micro R/C planes, I “persuaded” Larry Kruse to do a comparison


between two recent Flyzone models, the Nieuport 17 and the deHavilland Tiger Moth. Both of these very small bipes had an illustrious history in their full-size rendi- tions and I thought it might make an inter- esting article to compare the scale model of the WW I Nieuport to the classic British mil- itary trainer, the Moth. Perhaps the flying characteristics of one reflected the nimble agility of a dogfighter versus the more se- date stability of the trainer. It’s up to you to see what Larry discov- ered. All you have to do is turn to page 48 and find out.


The subject of trainer was just mentioned and there has been a never ending quest for the ultimate R/C trainer plane, whether it be a recipe for airfoil, moments, high or shoulder wing, glider or more conventional configuration, etc., etc. And now with all the electronic technology filtering into our hob- by in the form of stability systems, and telemetry, one more factor in the equation has been added.


The quest more and more often has be- come the foolproof trainer, the one that al- most guarantees initial success for a com- plete uninitiated novice without the benefit of buddy box or experienced help. Sam Briseno, a total but willing novice,


agreed to be the test subject for just such a trainer. It’s the E-flite Apprentice S 15e. In addition to Spektrum’s AS3X (artificial sta- bilization, 3-axis) onboard to dampen re- sponse to turbulence, this new Apprentice also incorporates Spektrum’s new SAFETM (sensor assisted flight envelope). If the plane gets out of the pilot’s control, SAFE lets you hit the “Panic” switch and the Apprentice re- verts to straight and level flight. And this new trainer also offers three lev- els of responsiveness that complement the pilot’s learning curve. It may not be the ab- solute fool-proof plane but it comes very, very close. Let Sam tell you all about it. Have to welcome another newcomer to these pages, Dave Surry. British by birth, but transplanted to Canada, Dave has a very impressive modeling resume. He’s rep- resented Canada in F/F FAI events in the past and also has some interesting profes- sional credentials.


He’s not competing now but still enjoys tweaking a model to get the best out of it. That’s what he did with the popular Hitec EasyStar. Even though Hitec has released a new, more powerful version, Dave found ways to extract just what he wanted from his older EasyStar, turning it into the EasyStar Lite. You might like his mod too. The bottom line is coming up so I better not forget to mention Will Hubin’s coverage of Brodak’s annual Fly-in. What’s that about saving the best till last?


Almost every year Will has trekked there, and spent the time capturing the wonderfully festive atmosphere with some great photos. This year I think he raised the quality level a notch more. Hope his article inspires you to join the fun next year. –FRANK FANELLI


SEPTEMBER 2013


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