SEN-392 March 25 2000
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News and Reports 2000 - First half
SCAT Electronic News 25 March 2000 issue 392
"SCAT - 40 Years of FAI Free Flight Competition"
Table of Contents
===============]==
Stop Press - CIAM
RDT = A Question of Facts - Cowley
Profile Publications - Moniot
Numbers and Wigglers - Ruyter
ICAREX - under a bushell - Abad, Mitchell and Summersby
F1b Trim - Woodhouse
Color me old - Ramrod250
Color me visible - Jahnke
Stop Press
==========
Stop press news from CIAM meeting
- 2001 FF World Champs awared to USA Final vote 19/14 USA / Roumania
- RDT for F1A/B not passed - but some questions remain
- One of the chnages passsed to permit longer rounds in fine weather
- General Rule passed to require 4 years advance notice on rule changes.
- Other Ff related submissions did not pass.
RDT = A Question of Facts
=============
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Remote DT - Let's get the Facts:
Emotional issues aside, can any SEN reader (Ian Kaynes ?) answer the
following questions so that we can evaluate the real-world practical
results of more than a decade of experience in using this technology ?
Remote activation of DT has been permitted under the FAI Sporting Code
rules since at least 1989, and reads as follows:
3.3.2 ..."models may use radio control only for irreversible actions to
restrict the flight..."
Question 1) Was 1989 the first year RDT appeared in the FAI Sporting
Code ?
Question 2) In the decade plus that RDT has been permitted under FAI
rules, how many documented cases have there been of this rule being
abused, or being the subject of a protest at a contest ?
Question 3) In the event that RDT is denied for F1A and F1B (G, H or J
?) will the current rule allowing it's use for F1C be revoked ?
[Martyn
My understandingis that a FF model cannot ahve any
active radio 'control' , including D/T equipment on board.
Een if the conteants does not use it or has his transmitter
empounded. ... Ian ? ]
Profile Publications
====================
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I saw this note and thought I'd drop a line. I have about 300 of the red
cover profile publications for all different types of aircraft and haven't a
clue as to what they are worth. I have had them since I was a kid, and they
are all in very good to excellent condition. Any info you could provide me
would be appreciated. I am not looking to sell them yet, I just want to know
what I have on my hands.
David J. Moniot, AIA
Work e-mail "This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it."
Home e-mail "This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it."
Number and wigglers
==================
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Roger,
One question, will it be possible to give SCAT Electronic News beside the
date an issue number? So you know if you missed an issue for any reason.
[how does 392 sound ?]
Second, I like to comment the issue Rex Hinson brought up, March 22,
concerning VP props and WW. My experience is just the opposite. I fly
fixed pitch without a WW to get my model fast out of the ground turbulence.
The principle is based on torque and rudder efficiency by high speed,
burst. One position rudder and tailincidence during the burst.
The set-up I use is, right side thrust (about 2-3 degree) and compensate
the (extreme) right side thrust with left rudder until the model go
straight up during the burst. After 4-5 sec. the stab. into the glide
position which slow down the model and the rudder become more efficient
during the cruise than the side trust. The result is, model straight up
during the burst and after 4-5 sec.the stab. in glide position a tight
right spiral turn nose up) which become wider at the end of the motor run.
At the end of the motor run the rudder get into the glide position (right
turn).
By the way this set up will also work with VP props.
Pim Ruyter
-----------
Subject : Re: [SCAT Electronic News 22 March 2000]
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Roger-It's a little overwrought, but you get what you pay for...
Tom
After the rules and building techniques, the contests and fellowship, comes
the most important thing: Aeromodels in Free Flight! This is a little maudlin
message of restoration, a little thanksgiving offering for having been given
back my life sport.
Last summer on a mountain far, far away, this weekend warrior was hotdo=
gging
and running down a steep sandy slope in a way that should have been left
behind 20 years before, and in an instant, life was changed. A sudden "thunk,
thunk resonated through my left leg as the knee hyper-extended and
dislocated, severing the anterior cruciate ligament and blowing out the aft
horn of the medial meniscus. As I tumbled down the hill, I prayed in fevent
supplication, "Not like Parker!. After the MRI a month later, I satin my
car in the hospital parking lot and cried, knowing what I had dreaded wasa
certainty.
We are childern of technology; we take for granted those things that a f
ew
short years before were dreams of the highest order in transportation,
communications, and of course, medicine. Even in our sport, breakthroughs
last year are commonplace this year, making free flight more interesting, more
complex, and more satifying; thus it was an easy decision to undergo
reconstructive surgery, replacement of the ACL. Why would a middle-aged o=
ffice
slob on the far side of the bell curve do something like that, risk a yo=
ung
man's operation? Because if I didn't, I would hobble away from F1A f=
lying,
that's why. So after waiting for open enrollment to get out of my HMO =
and pay
a lot more money for the privilege of non-coverage in a PPO, I limped int=
o the
Santa Monica Orthopaedic Group on January 11, 2000 to let one of the best=
surgeons in L.A. do his best work an give me my knee back, and eventually=
, my
sport. And even as the anesthesia evaporated my world and the long month=
s on
the launch line watching my son fly, I started the countdown till I could=
once
again pirhouette under my own ship. =
On a cool and breezy Saturday afternoon of the Isaacson Winter Classic, =
less
than 5 weeks later, my trusty zoomer "Chuda (Russian for "Miracle=
) rose from
not my hand, but Stephen's, as I tentatively towed up to full line heig=
ht and
walked around under it, looking for lift. =
I think a lot of other guys my age would have taken the risk rather than=
chuck any further life as an active individual (as some of them have done=
), if
they had lived a life on the business end of a towline. This arcane fand=
ango
is the horizon, the hope, the reason why every step I take is another
challenge, a little faster, a little more powerful, and a bit more painfu=
l. =
Because out there on the horizon is another contest, a little stronger
performance, maybe a bunt launch, maybe a downwind tow, maybe a "down the
pipe, and on to endless October and the Finals. And all the way, looking 50,
500, 1000 meters skyward at my ever-circling carbon/electronic wonder an
reveling in just being there!
So the moral of the story is this: Be thankful for what you have. You =
only
realize its value when it is yours no more. And if you love it, you'll=
pay
the price to get it back.
Subject : Web site
Author : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Dear Roger,
I recently changed servers and lost my address book. Do
you know the web address of Don Vetter? He had a very
complete web related to F/F about a year ago.
Sincerely, Bill Lovins
No Toys are UZ here ?
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Printed on System : aeromodel dot com for scat
FYI, the winning manufacturer in F1J at the SCAT Annual was the Augustus
Model Works of Zinc Spur Idaho, USA. The winning model, "Rhinestone
Cowboy," contains 968 parts (excluding the engine), 962 of which were
fabricated au chateau.
Bruce
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Subject : Re: SCAT Electronic News 19 March
Hey guys, How can I get one of those notorious RCDT's if I promise faithfully n
ever to use one in a contest ? Don Ross
ICAREX - under a bushell
======
Author : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ICAREX
======
Author : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
> My thanks to Phil Mitchell and Roy Summersby for their help. I think this wil
l
> interest more people.Has anyone tried different colours on top and under the
> wing, would that require a wide overlap? Is Icarex more puncture resistant th
an
> Micafilm?
Javier Abad
Spain
> From
>
> Hi Javier ,
>
> Regarding application of Icarex I have used the following method in
> covering F1A wings.
> 1.If you are using Icarex P31 its important to cut the material so that the
> rectangle pattern in the material runs with the longside of the rectangles
> spanwise and not across the cord. This helps with shrinkage.
>
> 2.Cut the material to suit.If you wish to change the colour across the chord
> join the material with thinned out contact cement(just enough thinners to
> make it brushible).Allow approx 10mm overlap.Coat both surfaces , allow to
> dry , then join.
>
> 3.Coat all surfaces on the underside of the wing with two coats of thinned
> contact cement (allow drying inbetween coats).You can just brush the outside
> of sheeted flat surfaces say 5mm wide.
>
> 4.Lay the Icarex across the wing (undercamber first) and heat activate the
> glue through the Icarex over the complete structure.I use about 1/2 heat on
> my covering iron.
>
> 5.Repeat for top surface only applying glue to outline and joins.
>
> 6.Once covered shrink at 3/4 heat till taught.
>
> 7.To glue the thread turbulator I run it through the glue , allow to dry ,
> brush a thin line of glue along the wing at the desired location , allow to
> dry , the press together.
>
> I hope this helps
> l
From:
"Roy Summersby"
Dear fellow modeler
I have been using Icarex for three years now ,on FIC my friend on FIA . we use
thinned contact cement in the same manner as you would micaflim.It is easy to a
pply
and will stay in place with finger pressure till you apply the iron. I don't no
the
temperature of the iron but the setting to stick to the frame I use 2 and to sh
rink
about 2.75 (Taiwan covering iron)
If I can help any more please contact me.
Roy Summersby. Australia.
[If you have a reply to a question -and decide to reply directly
to the original author - please copy us to because there are with
out doubt many lurkers out there who would like to hear what you have to
say.]
F1b Trim
========
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>A technical discussion that I would like to see revisited is the classic
>Wakefield "S" at transition time. I have observed that a good transition
>from burst to cruise requires a large amount of wing wiggler deflection.
>If the model does not have variable pitch, and is set-up for a pitch low
>enough to provide a good cruise, it will go too fast during the burst
>for very much wing wiggler. Therefore the transition will be bad. Planes
>with variable pitch seem to use the high pitch setting, not as a means
>of the best burst climb, but really to slow down the burst climb to
>allow a larger wing wiggler deflection without a disastrous left roll or
>left turn during the burst, thus making a good transition possible as
>the pitch comes down, and speed goes up.
>If this makes any sense, I would like to have some comments.
How much VIT are you using? I find that I need a lot of movement to
avoid the swing. The large movement requires a vertical throw which I
find is less sensitive to swinging. I aim to go vertical and fly over
the top the wiggler helps steer the model and the tail comes in as the
angle for the rest of the climb is reached.
Michael J Woodhouse
Color me old
============
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I have used the red Design Master floral spray (from the Michael's craft-store
chain)to good effect on Mylar, and heavily thinned Sig red butyrate on Polyspan
(per suggestion from Bruce Augustus--thinned about 8:1 or so). Weight is nomin
al and color is very good, at least with red.
If you don't want to mess with an airbrush, try the Preval sprayer, available f
rom CST and Ace or True Value hardware stores. This is a butane-type propellant
that pulls paint from a glass jar attached beneath the unit. Quite inexpensive
--less than $10--and reusable. I use it primarily for spraying colored epoxy on
the front ends of F1Js, but the coverage is very good on Polyspan open-bay cov
ering too, especially if you fog on a couple of light coats to get the shade yo
u want (rather than trying to blast it on there in one wet, heavy coat).
Old news to many, perhaps, but still valid.
Jim Haught
Color me visible
=============
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Roger,
Some notes on model coloration.
Spray paint is heavy but not if it is used as a mist on surfaces. Though I
agree with those who advocate dyes for spectrum colors, flourescents offer a
distinct visibility advantage. On my F1B, F1G and P-30's, I sparay the tip
of each wing, rudder and stab in a mist of flourescent. The wings are
tissue or polyspan covered and the tail surfaces have clear mylar. I have
checked the weight before and after the spraying and found that on a wake or
coupe stab a mist of flourescent adds no more than .07grams. In the air and
on the ground mylar takes on the translucency of tissue. When the color
fades, as it will quickly do the mylar surfaces can be cleaned with acetone
and resprayed.
I don't think its a good idea to cover the botom surface one color and the
top another unless the covering is opaque. In the air the colors will
merge, often turning two colors of high intensity or high contrast into one
neutral color, i.e. black and white equal gray. Instead cover the sections
of the wing most visible from below in dark on both sides and the tips,
which stick up when the model is on the ground in flourescent. Flourescent
color seems to work well in the sky and on the ground.
Dyes are the most fragile colorants and fade quickly. It is a good idea to
test the permanence of colors before they are used on a model. I have seen
the color of a model change in one day at the flying field because of the
fugitive nature of the color used (the color was brighter under the rubber
bands!). To test colors, apply them as you would on the model, either spray
or brush, to a peice of white cardboard. Tightly cover half of the colored
area with another piece of cardboard which is opaque so that bith light and
air can not easily get to that area. Leave it in a sunny window (not one
glazed with UV blocker) for several weeks. When the cardboard cover is
removed observe the difference in the exposed and unexposed areas. If there
is little or no change it is suitable, but if the color change is dramatic
you might want to avoid using it on a model.
Dr. Lewis Roussel and I did a study, published in the 1998 sympo, of color
and visibility in which about sixty people (modelers and non-modelers) were
asked to rate the visibility of eight commonly used colors. If anyone wants
a copy I can send it via snail mail.
Ross Jahnke
.....
Roger Morrell
