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Sm Tall alk W


ell guys, I’m happy to report that you’re paying attention, but what I’m not happy about is the fact that I blew it! In the De- cember issue I included a photo and contact info for the Flying Clown. I’m not sure exact- ly how I did it, but the model is actually the Flying Fool.


As soon as it came to my attention—from several e-mails from readers—I went back and checked my source and found that the mistake was mine—all mine—so would like to clarify it here and now. I apologize for the incorrect information, and hope the fumble didn’t cause Jan any undo heartburn. Mean- while, I will try a little harder to be sure the information passed in the future is accurate. I would also like to offer a big “thank you” to all who were kind enough to drop in and bring this to my attention. Your diligence is very much appreciated.


Okay, let’s move on. Here in the desert southwest we don’t have trees... well not great big tall airplane eating trees anyway. Craig Dieter is one who does fly freeflight in the vicinity of large trees though, and as a result of trying to retrieve models from those airplane eating giants, he has come up with a nifty method of shaking them out with as little damage as possible.


There are a lot of methods available for re- trieving models from trees that include things from long polls to good old fashioned climbing, or throwing things at the model. Unfortunately, any time direct contact is made with the model, there’s going to be damage involved.


Craig’s process is a good bit safer, involv- ing a bow and arrow and a whole bunch of light rope. The idea is to send the rope up by shooting the arrow over the offending branch, allowing it to fall free giving the re- PHOTO: CRAIG DIETER


PHOTO: MARK HATFIELD


Mark Hatfield built his 35-inch Tiger Mothfrom the Dumas kit. The lightly built model flies beautifully using the recommended GWS IPS drive system on a 2S Li-Po battery.


triever the opportunity to shake the branch, free the model and allowing it to fall either out of the tree altogether, or at least to the next branch down where the process can be repeated until the model makes its way back to terra-firma—preferably undamaged. A word of caution though; sometimes there can be unintended side effects that re- sult from methods like this. It’s like a few years ago when the serious freeflight guys here in Albuquerque were chasing their models across the prairie on dirt bikes. It turns out that they had so much fun tearing across the wide open spaces at break-neck


speeds that many of them gave up chasing models altogether and took up riding as their primary hobby. After all, you put a bow in some poor unsuspecting modeler’s hands, he might like it and might just become the next William Tell or Byron Ferguson.


Hobby shops


We got some nice response regarding full line hobby shops this month too. First up, Joe Hass resides in southeastern Michigan. Joe’s dad owned Wayne Hobby Center in Wayne, MI for 25 years, so Joe knows a good hobby shop when he sees one. The first men-


by pat tritle You can reach Pat Tritle at 10313 Snowheights NE, Albuquerque, NM 87112 or via e-mail at patscustommodels@aol.com


PHOTO: TONY LEWTON


Craig Dieter has been plucking models out of tall trees for a long time and has come up with a terrific method of launching rope over the high branches to shake the model out with often little or no damage. The idea is to send the rope over the branches using a bow and arrow. Note the ball (at left) at the end of the arrow to prevent accidental injury from the falling arrow. Tony Lewton built his Aeronca Chief (above) from the 1:8 scale PCM Short Kit powered by a Hacker A20-20L outrunner motor. The model flies beautifully, but as with any Aeronca airplane, judicious use of the rudder is required to overcome the typical aileron induced adverse yaw.


40 FEBRUARY 2014


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