F/FSport G
by david mitchell You can reach David Mitchellat 230 Walnut St. NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20012, or via e-mail at
davedge@me.com
reat Scott, it flies! In the January issue I mentioned Scott Richlen’s after-school model building class, and promised an update. In Janu- ary, Scott brought one of his students, young Alex Friedman, to the Maxecuter’s Indoor Fly-In at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. It was a pleasure meeting this young man, and watching as he and Scott worked on sorting out Alex’s Z-15. The Maxecuters
www.dcmaxecuter.org fly a vari- ety of events at this unusual venue, includ- ing one for this design. Featuring a similar building process as the Delta Dart but being larger and more advanced construction-wise, it’s an ideal second model for beginners. Af- terwards, Scott sent me this follow-up. “We started with nine kids last October and are down to two, but they are very en- thusiastic and our teacher/sponsor (who has been learning to build right along with the kids) has really jumped into it. Next week we’ll have an ‘interest meeting’ to sign up students for another round. I’ll continue to work with my two ‘graduates’ and build No- Cals while the new students build a Delta Dart, guided by their teacher. I added the Z-15 (full-size plan published in FM Oct. 2011) to our building curriculum on the ad- vice of John Murphy, who said it was a good flyer (and proved it by flying a 1-minute, 6- second flight with his and winning the event!) and would be the perfect follow-up to the Delta Dart. He was right. “We start by building a Delta Dart from a kit and then a scratchbuilt Delta Dart. The students learn to use a balsa stripper to make their components, use their nose piece from the kit and cover it with tissue paper from the local craft store. They use the same process for the Z-15. I did make a couple of jigs to use for getting the correct dihedral and for gluing the pylon onto the wing. It would be very hard for them to do that without these jigs. Plus, this introduces them to jig/fixture making. “In the next build, the Yard Ranger (CD396, FM6/10), they have to make their own jigs for setting dihedral. When we do our No-Cals, we’ll be making laminated tips, rudders, etc. and also making a motor tube. I figure that once they can do that, they are on their way!”
PHOTO: SCOTT RICHLEN
12-year-old Alex Friedman prepares to launch his Z-15 at the DC Maxecuters’ National Building Museum contest in January. Originally a Frank Zaic design dubbed the Slow Poke S-15, this neat sport flyer had all but disappeared before being resurrected in 2011 by Jim Lueken.
Scott continues: “Alex’s Mom, and his Aunt and Uncle, also came to the NBM to watch him fly and were very impressed. They had no idea what indoor freeflight was like! I think his high time was 33 or 34 seconds. He was thrilled with how well the plane flew. Two weeks ago when we flew it in their school gymnasium it almost got caught in the ceil- ing girders, and he didn’t want to fly it again for fear of losing it. But Sunday was Z-15 day and he flew it over and over again! “At my encouragement he went around to the other guys flying Z-15s and introduced himself and talked Z-15 with them. Pretty cute since most of them are old enough to be his Grandfather…or Great Grandfather...or Great Great Grandfather [Hey! Let’s not get carried away!–dm]. The guys were all very helpful and delighted that he was flying with them. I can imagine him telling all his classmates about flying on Sunday. He real- ly had a great time.”
That is what it’s all about! Kudos to Alex and to Scott for keeping the freeflight spirit growing!
Lueken good
Jim Lueken is good friends with Bill and Joan Hannan, long-time stalwarts of the
freeflight scene (check out a quick bio of W.C. Hannan at
https://www.modelaircraft. org/files/HannanBill.pdf). Bill and Joan wound down their seminal Plans & Things business over the past few years. You know the old saying, “you never miss your water…? Well, I know I was one of those guys racing to put in a “last order” to make sure I filled the gaps in my Hannan library. For those of you who did not, and find yourself now thirsting in the desert, I have some very good news for you.
From Jim: “I should have my new busi- ness up and running soon. The name is Plans and Things and will be found at
www.plansandthings.com as soon as the website is finished. I’ll be selling all of Bill Hannan’s plans and books along with the re- maining Zaic books and who knows what else in the future. Bill is a long-time family friend. He and his wife, Joan, have been very helpful in getting this project together. It’ll really be neat to sell the plans I watched Bill draw while I was a kid!”
Venture forth
Okay...reread that last sentence, and con- nect it with the lead-off story. Perhaps young Alex Freidman might someday be
PHOTOS: PETER KAITERIS
Peter Kaiteris is scratchbuilding an own-design FW-190 (above left) for the 2014 FAC Nats D-Day Commemorative event, coming up in July. The
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burgeoning business end (above right) of Peter’s FW-190. Serious character building is going on here.
MARCH 2014
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