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 Previously I posted the first part of a
story about two 1980s-vintage bicycles I bought from a guy off craigslist. That
was the complete teardown and restoration of
Melanie's Columbia
Commuter III, 3-speed women's model. This page has photos from doing the
same thing to my
Huffy 3 Timberline, 3-speed men's bicycle. One important aspect worth repeating
is the use of Krud Kutter for removing all the oil and grease. The stuff is amazing.
I soaked all the parts overnight that would fit in a bucket filled with a gallon
of it. Upon removing even the grimiest and greasiest components like the gearbox,
bearings, and the chain, I discovered they were squeaky clean. A toothbrush removed...
 Being
a long-time fan of John T. Frye's "Carl & Jerry" technodrama™ series, I
have been intending to attempt a contemporary version which has a Ham radio theme.
Its purpose, as with "Carl & Jerry," is to encourage young people to adopt electronics
as a hobby and even as a career, while using Amateur Radio as an enticement. Ham
radio offers practical experience in electronic theory, fabrication, and operation
in an environment that encourages community service, mentorship, camaraderie, and
self discipline. In the U.S., there are approximately 760,000 licensed amateur radio
operators; worldwide, the estimated number is around 3,000,000. The American Radio
Relay League (ARRL) and the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) track these
statistics. This title of the series is, for now anyway, "Calvin &
Phineas Hamming It Up," and the first adventure is called, "The Phantom QRM."
Call signs are fictitious, chosen to hopefully not step on someone's real call sign.
The boys' names derive from my grandson's name...
 You might wonder why an article entitled
"Winning
the National Radio Control Meet" for model airplanes would appear in the ARRL's
QST magazine. The answer is that back in 1940 when it was published, a
Ham license was required to operate a radio control (R/C) transmitter. There were
no license-free bands for hobbyists as there are now. In fact, it wasn't until 1976
that the FCC suspended their requirement for registration as an operator, which
has returned in the form of an FAA "drone" (aka USAS) pilot directive. The author,
William (Bill) E. Good (W8IFD, W2CVI), was the twin brother of Walter (Walt) A.
Good (W3NPS), both of whom held doctoral degrees in and physics, and were referred
to as "the fathers of radio control." The photo of Bill shows his station...
 Often when I see photos of some of the
early
radio control gear for model airplanes, I have a simultaneous reaction of aghastness
and marvel at the crudity and ingenuousness, respectively, of the electromechanical
devices - the same kind of reaction I have to stories about early surgical procedures
and equipment. In 1940, when this article appeared in the ARRL's QST magazine, successful
takeoffs and landings were considered notable events not so much because of pilot
ability (or inability), but because of the low reliability of available electronic
and mechanical gear. Vacuum tubes with attendant heavy, high voltage power supplies,
and heavy metal gears and shafts required large airframes to support...
 American Modeler magazine published
stories on many forms of modeling including airplanes, cars, boats, and rockets.
A lot of attention was paid to teenagers in order to encourage a pursuit of careers
in engineering and science. In case you don't know, the U.S. Navy used to sponsor
the AMA Nationals specifically to attract young modelers into the service. This
1957 edition reports on the activities of James M. Blackmon, Jr., who was the nation's
youngest rocket builder to receive national recognition by the
American Rocket Society.
He built in his basement a 6' tall liquid-fueled rocket...
 This November 1961 installment of American
Modeler magazine's "Sketchbook
- Hints & Kinks" column has a very interesting alternative to the traditional
"stooge" that is used when a helper is not available to assist in launching a control
line airplane model. The drawing is a bit confusing, but what's going on is the
flyer starts and holds the model at a point just outside the dashed line circle,
and the pole is set midway of the diameter of the circle. That gives the airplane
half the circle to take off before it is free of the pole. Then, it is flown normally.
I can see where, as the inventor states, the process could be a spooky until the
flyer has gotten used to it...
 "Delta Air Lines and JetZero are partnering
to develop a
commercial blended-wing-body (BWB) aircraft that would be 50 percent more fuel
efficient than those in current operation, the carrier has announced. The development,
which builds upon a Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) investment
in the BWB technology, comes as Delta continues to focus on its goal of net-zero
emissions by 2050. BWB aircraft received a boost in 2023 for its BWB aircraft when
the U.S. Air Force awarded it $235 million over four years for the development and
production of a full-scale demonstrator. The aircraft is to take its first flight
in 2027..."
 Website visitor Tom A. wrote to ask me to
post this "Baby Biplane" article
from the October 1971 edition of American Aircraft Modeler magazine. It
was one of the For the Tenderfoot models that the magazine published almost
monthly for many years. The Baby Biplane uses a very simple structure but as with
any biplane of any size, the extra work of building a second wing and adjusting
it to fly properly take a little more work. Using the modern trick of printing a
colored patter on the Jap tissue prior to attaching it would make Baby Biplane look
really spiffy...
 Estes does not sell the D-13 engine line
anymore, but it does sell a D-12. The D-13 produced 9 pounds of thrust according
to this article and the 1971 Estes catalog (p94), whereas according to the 2014
Estes catalog the D-12 produces only 7.4 pounds (p79). If you want similar performance
with readily available
rocket engines,
you will need to get them from a company like Aerotech, which makes an F30FJ-6 model
that produces 9 pounds of thrust. With that solution you're look at about $12 per
launch. I believe that with modern materials like graphite for spars and/or leading
edges, and the lightweight airborne systems, the flying weight could be significantly
reduced, and a much lower thrust (and cost) engine could be used...
 Here is a detailed account of
American model aviation magazines, presented in chronological order of their
founding, including publication date ranges, editors' names with their tenures where
available, and a description of each magazine's purpose and target audience. These
titles - spanning from the early 20th century to the present as of February 2025
- reflect the evolution of model aviation from rubber-powered gliders to modern
RC drones. The data is drawn from historical records, enthusiast archives, and trends
A conceptual timeline follows, imagining the overlapping publication spans, though
an image isn't generated here - envision a horizontal chart from 1915 to 2025 tracking
these magazines' lifespans...
 Low-wing airplanes had not quite caught
on with the flying public prior to World War II, so Aeronca had an uphill battle
in gaining acceptance of its "Model-L" series of
planes. It ended up being a complete success. The article has an interesting tale
of salvaging partially-complete airplanes during a flood in Cincinnati in 1937 using
techniques that would never be allowed in today's highly regulated and monitored
world. Interestingly website visitor Glen M. sent me a photo of an Aeronca
LC on floats - the "LCS" model the author of this American Aircraft Modeler
magazine article suggests might have never been built. To be fair...
 As of
February, 2025, when this is being written, several major
artificial intelligence engines are publicly accessible through free tiers,
temporary free access, or subscription-based models with broad availability. I have
been evaluating ChatGPT-4 (OpenAI) and very recently, Grok 3 (xAI). I requested
from both ChatGPT and Grok, tables of comparison and contrast between the two, based
on "Aspect" criteria I provided. Those results are presented below. They seem to
be mostly honest assessments. Perhaps not surprisingly, Grok 3 often invoked
the name of its founder (Mr. Musk) during my interactions with it on wireless
communications topics. I will reveal more on that later...
 "September 30 marked the end of the FAA's
fiscal year and with it, the annual conclusion of the annual 12-month tracking of
fatal accidents among experimental category aircraft. The preliminary numbers
from the agency received late last week appear to present an excellent snapshot
of safety over the past year. While the final totals are still being tabulated,
the initial total of 37 accidents is well below the FAA's not-to-exceed figure of
46 for the period. That includes 29 fatal accidents in homebuilt aircraft. More
details will be available in the coming weeks as the FAA's annual total of GA activity..."
 Hi Johnson was a well-known designer
and manufacturer of model airplane engines in the middle of the last century. His
series of throttled engines was widely used in the early years of radio control.
A lot of research went into producing the engines to produce long lifetime, easy
starting, and consistency of operation. The
Johnson
35 R/C, which is the subject of this 1962 American Modeler magazine
article, was one of the first to used dual ball bearings on the crankshaft, contributing
mightily to the accomplishment of the aforementioned goals. The state of the art
for all types of model flying had advanced to where pilots could expect...
 With all the news lately about AI (artificial
intelligence) and whether the good it can do offsets the bad, I decided to ask both
Grok 3 (X.ai) and ChatGPT (OpenAI) to compose short essays on a few model aviation
related topics. While that will not settle the aforementioned dilemma, it will provide
a peek into the "good" side of what AI can do. I have been using ChatGPT for a few
months, and just recently Grok 3. Here is a side-by-side, unedited comparison
of the results of submitting the exact same query to both AI beings. Note that the
content for both Grok 3 and ChatGPT is fairly brief, not long-winded treatises
that would fill a book. Having used both for a while, it seems when you hear about
students using AI...
 As with most things these days related to
model airplane components, extensive research into materials, structure, and functionality
have been thoroughly researched and engineered to the point where the modeler has
little more to do that install parts into his craft. Parameters have been thoroughly
analyzed using computers over a wide range of input stimuli to determine the optimal
configuration. The effort dedicated by author Wayne Schindler to design and conduct
an experiment to determine the optimal dimensions and shapes for a
ducted
fan propulsion system is nothing short of academic. His efforts produced a list
of design parameters to consider when building a ducted fan-powered model airplane.
The net result in Mr. Schindler's case was an amazing 325% thrust improvement...
 "A
study from Canada has found a 26% annual chance that space debris will re-enter
the atmosphere and
pass through a busy flight area. The chance of space debris hitting an aircraft
is very low, but the research from a team at the University of British Columbia
highlights that the potential for uncontrolled space debris to disrupt flights and
create additional costs for airlines and passengers is not. The research is published
in Scientific Reports. In 2022, a re-entering 20-tonne..."
 The
Gloster E.1/44, presented in this 1948 issue of Popular Science magazine,
was a British experimental jet fighter developed in the 1940s as a potential single-engine
counterpart to the twin-engine Gloster Meteor. Designed by the Gloster Aircraft
Company to meet Air Ministry Specification E.1/44, it was powered by a Rolls-Royce
Nene turbojet and featured a sleek, straight-wing design with a tricycle landing
gear. Initially conceived as a simpler and more economical jet fighter for the Royal
Air Force, the project faced numerous delays due to shifting priorities...
 During
World War II, Americans, Britains, Frenchmen, and other civilians were seriously
engaged in helping to defend their homeland. Those who were not in the military
gathered bottles, tin cans, tires, and clothing to use in the war effort. Others
volunteered at the Red Cross, veterans' hospitals, and USO offices. Some stood guard
at their nation's seashores and land borders, both as armed sentries and as troop
and aircraft spotters. As part of the civil defense effort, listening devices were
built to help detect the sound of approaching airplanes. In patriotic tradition,
magazines like Popular Science published many articles to assist the population
contribute. Here is a plan for a "Homemade
Plane Detector." It used a horn "antenna" that...
 As a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics
(AMA) since around 1971 (AMA # 92498), I have witnessed a lot of change in the organization
as well as in the model industry. When I first joined as a teenager, AMA headquarters
consisted of rented office space in a Washington, D.C., building, Richard Nixon
was president, and the war in Viet Nam was on nightly news. AMA headquarters moved
into a brand new building, which included museum space, on purchased property in
Reston, Virginia, in 1983. A growing AMA membership and the desire to consolidate
national competitions to a central location resulted in
establishing residence in Muncie, Indiana, where the 25,000 square-foot Frank
V. Ehling Complex celebrated its grand opening in 1992. Since then, an additional
25,000 square feet of space...
 I did not bother to look up what the
world record endurance flight length is for an R/C glider as of this writing,
but in December 1956 when this article appeared in the first edition of American
Modeler magazine, a team of three modelers did 8 hours, 34 minutes and 21 seconds
at Torrey Pines, California. That would be an amazing accomplishment with today's
equipment, but these guys did it with a vacuum tube receiver and an escapement mechanism
driven by a twisted rubber band - rudder-only! No elevator control, no flaps or
speed brakes, no gyroscopic stabilization, no proportional rudder deflection. It
was left, center, or right...
 This is the earliest known photo of me with
a control line airplane - a Cox PT-19 Trainer.
I'm guessing it was summer of 1969, when I would have been 12 to 13 years old (my
birthday is August 18, so it could have been before or after). I remember that 1969
was the year because it was the year that Hurricane Camille tore up Biloxi, Mississippi
(where I would many years later be stationed for electronics training in the USAF)
and the rains even in Mayo, Maryland, where I lived, were torrential. It is the
airplane with which I first learned to fly control line. There was another Cox control
line plane that I had prior to the PT-19 Trainer, but I cannot recall...
 Mr. Bill Gaylord has been gracious enough
to allow me to post photos and information about his fine
Guillow's free-flight
model airplanes that he
converted to electric powered R/C. The level of craftsmanship is incredible
both in the frame-up and the covering and finish. You can find lots of photos and
details of the build on the RCGroups bulletin board. I do not see whether he has
ever flown any of these models. My guess is that with the structural beefing up
required to support the motor, battery, and R/C gear results in a high wing loading.
I personally would never dare risk these models by trying to fly them! They would
all spend their days as hanger queens - display only...
 It is kind of amazing that as recently as
1950, aircraft manufacturers were still using
radial engines on new aircraft. This 1950 issue of Air Trails magazine
reports on the Navy's P2V-4 Neptune, the latest model of Lockheed's patrol bomber,
which is powered by two 3,200 horse power Wright Turbo-Cyclone radials. In-line
engine formats are definitely more streamlined, but from a maintenance perspective,
being able to change out a single cylinder rather than an servicing the entire block
was definitely handier. Having only ever ridden in one airplane having a radial
engine (a Ford Trimotor), I can't say...
 1963 was five years since America's first
communications satellite, Echo, was placed in orbit. Echo was a passive, spherical
reflector that merely provided a good reflective surface for bouncing radio signals
off of. By 1963, when this
Eavesdropping on Satellites article appeared in Popular Electronics
magazine, the space race was well underway and active communications satellites
were being launched at a rapid pace. Spotting and tracking satellites has long been
a popular pastime with two types of hobbyists: amateur astronomers using telescopes
and binoculars, and amateur radio operators using antennas and receivers...
 The other night Melanie and I were watching
an episode of the old Gilligan's Island television show titled "Wrongway Feldman,"
which was about a long-forgotten, famous aviator who took a wrong turn during a
race and ended up being stranded on the same island as seven famous castaways. The
"Spirit of the Bronx" airplane featured in the show was referred to by Wrongway
as a Krieder Reisner KR21. It is a right nice looking biplane. I immediately hit
the pause button and looked it up on Google. The KR-21, according to the EAA AirVenture
Museum's website, was manufactured in the 1929-1930 timespan, had a 22'-7" wingspan,
and a 125 hp Kinner B5 (R-440), 372 cubic inch, 5-cylinder radial...
|
 This is not just another vintage Comet Model
Hobbycraft, Inc., F−86D Sabre Jet from 1952. What makes this kit unique is
that it has the signature of well-known (at the time) Comet draftsman Gerald J.
Blumenthal on the box cover. John Zawiski was the designer. The f-86D Saber has
a wingspan of 13-1/4" and a length of 15-1/16". The model was meant to be flown
either as a free flight glider or attached to a tether line where the pilot drags
it around in a circle. A few of these have sold recently on eBay for around $20-$30,
so they can still be found. This particular kit, provided by Mr. Steven Krick,
is going to be offered as a donation to the AMA's National Model Aviation Museum
in Muncie, Indiana, because of the signature ...
 Here are a few more photos from the
1959 AMA Nationals,
in continuation of coverage in the July and August issues of Model Aviation
magazine. Some are behind-the-scenes shots rather than just flight line action.
Vintage unbuilt kits of a lot of the airplanes you see in these pictures are selling
for a small fortune today on eBay. BTW, this series of Model Aviation is completely
different than and precedes the current incarnation of Model Aviation that
followed the American Aircraft Modeler and American Modeler titles.
Its size is just 8½" high by 5½" wide, and were typically only about 20 pages. The
February 1959 issue has about twice as many pages because it also contains the 1950-1960
"Official Model Aircraft Regulations Governing Sporting Model Aviation in America."
I have all 12 issue from 1959, and don't know if others are available...
 It's hard to imagine a time when radio control
was such a novelty that contests included events where models were steered around
on the ground to weave through obstacles, as was the case when this 1957 American
Modeler magazine article was published. The thing is, when I got my first R/C
system, an OS Digital 3−channel set, I had not yet learned to fly so I "drove" my
S−Ray around the yard and in the street in front of my house. The noise from the
OS .20 engine and the RF interference on television VHF channel 5 annoyed the neighbors
at times. My transmitter was at 27.195 MHz, and the harmonics fell squarely
into the RF and audio bands. My best friend back in the day had one of the Smog
Hogs referred to in the article. In 1957,
radio systems only approximated proportional control, so smooth
maneuvers were not easy to do. Receiver tuning was necessary between flights for
a lot of systems, and interference from other users in or near the 27 MHz band
was a constant threat to models...
 The
1955 Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) National Model Airplane Championships,
held at the Los Alamitos, California, Naval Air Station was by all measures a smashing
success - "the best run Nationals competition in history." Extensive coverage of
the event appeared in the Annual Edition of Air Trails magazine. Free flight
and control line model airplanes were there, but no radio control types attended;
the technology was not yet within reach of enough hobbyists to warrant inclusion.
A look at the photos makes evident the amazing quality and variation of models,
both scale and non-scale. Take a look at the F4U Corsair with the folding wings,
the Ford Trimotor, Fairchild C-119, and the Fokker DR-1 triplane. Speaking of quality
models, two of the feminine kind were on-hand to award trophies. Hillevi Rombin,
Miss Universe of 1955, and movie starlet Marla English, are pictured with two lucky
winners..
 For some reason I was never big into building
model cars,
although my teenage years best friend, Jerry Flynn, was. Jerry and I flew lots of
model airplanes and rockets together, but he was the car modeler. Jerry had a bit
of an artist's touch with models and would build top fuel dragster models from scratch
using plastic sheet stock. He won a couple contests back in the 1970s at the big
hot rod show held in the Washington, D.C., Armory. As a body-fender repair shop
technician and eventually body shop owner, he could repair dents so perfectly that
you couldn't tell the repair from the original. The models shown in this 1963 American
Modeler magazine are not too far removed from the kinds of car models on the store
shelves when I was a kid. A lot of the models can probably be bought today on eBay...
 Cox is undoubtedly was the world's largest
manufacturer of ready-to-fly control-line model airplanes. Nearly all used some
form of their equally famous .049 glow fuel engine. A couple used the .020 engine.
Back in the 1960s through probably the 1980s, most kids who learned to fly control
line did so with a Cox model - most notably the Cox PT-19 Trainer, which is the
one with which I learned to fly. The other contender for control line flyers was
Testors, famous in its own right for model dope, enamel spray and brush-on paint,
and glow fuel, also produced a few ready-to-fly control line models. Both Cox and
Testors used molded plastic construction. This advertisement from a 1949 issue of
Air Trails magazine pitches a stick and tissue free flight kit for a
Piper Cub Super Cruiser model. That 25¢ price in 1949 is the equivalent of $2.97
in 2022 money (a 12x increase), with is still way less that you would pay for a
kit of that type today...
 S.C. Smith's cover drawing for this
1956 issue of Air Trails magazine is an enhanced version of Wayne Schindler's
ducted fan Saab Draken 210 free flight [semi] scale model airplane.
Back in the day, there were no commercially available ducted fan units, so they
needed to be designed and fabricated by the builder of the model. The computer optimized
ducted fan units we have today are matched to the powerplant, which much more often
that not is a brushless motor. I don't know if anyone makes a ducted fan for glow
fuel engines anymore. This Saab Draken 210 used a Cox .049 Thermal Hopper glow engine,
which was capable of turning 10,000 rpm. 1956 is the year Cox introduced the
Babe Bee .049 was introduced, but might not have been available at the time. It
could do 13,500 rpm on 15% nitro fuel, so could have added significant thrust
to the ducted fan unit. The six-blade, three-inch diameter fan was not enclosed
in a tightly fitting duct like modern fans are. This new 50 mm diameter (~2")
electric ducted fan (EDF) puts out 770 g (1.6 lb.) of thrust on a 3-cell
LiPo battery...
 The [George Ellery]
Hale 200−inch telescope saw first light (first official observation)
atop Palomar Mountain, in southern California, on January 26, 1949. That was a decade
after this early report on its planning appeared in a 1938 issue of Boy's Life
magazine (the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America, BSA). It held the
title of the world's largest telescope until Russia commissioned its 605 cm
(238 in.) BTA-6 in 1976. As of this writing, the telescope with the largest
light collecting capacity is the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) on Mount Graham,
in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona. When using both 330 inch mirrors,
the LBT has the same light-gathering ability as a 464 inch single telescope and
the resolution of a 897 inch wide one...
 According to the About Us page on the
RipMax website, "In 1949 Ripmax first opened its doors as a Toy &
Model Shop based in Camden Town. Focusing on the popularity of Radio control, the
co-founder, Max Coote, decided to concentrate on design and sale of exclusive lines
of modelling goods, primarily accessories for model boats. 'Everyman's Model Shop'
as it was known soon became recognised as the 'Radio Control Specialist', and it
wasn't long before Max was looking at manufacturing and supplying to the model trade
direct." One of the most popular items RipMax exported was the Jetex line of
rocket / jet engines manufactured by Telasco ...
 Flying Aces magazine had a regular feature
of aviation humor entitled "Wisecrack-Ups." You can tell from the gag lines and
topics that it reflects a very different time that was the 1930s. December 1939,
when this issue was published was, was very shortly after World War II had
begun in Europe, yet one of the comics has an enemy observation balloon, Sopwith
Camels, and Fokker D7s, left over from World War I. Most of the content is
uncredited, except for the artwork. Mention is made of the G.A.R., which is not
familiar to me. The best thing I could come up with for it given the era is maybe
the Grand Army of the Republic...
 Some companies
have expressed an interest in being able to target Airplanes and Rockets via the
Google
AdSense program. Yes, it is possible to do that. As you might expect, finding
the exact information on the Google AdSense website is a bit difficult. This short
video does a good job summarizing exactly how to implement the "Ad Targeting" option,
then "Placements," and then add "Websites." Just enter airplanesandrockets.com
. There are other settings to optimize your advertising campaign with keywords (both
included and excluded), pricing, scheduling, statistical data collection and reporting,
etc. If you are currently using Google AdSense, then please consider this method,
and if you are not using AdSense, now would be a good time to look into it. I have
had reports from some companies that experience great results using AdSense (not
just on Airplanes and Rockets)...
Some companies
have expressed an interest in being able to target Airplanes and Rockets via the
Google
AdSense program. Yes, it is possible to do that. As you might expect, finding
the exact information on the Google AdSense website is a bit difficult. This short
video does a good job summarizing exactly how to implement the "Ad Targeting" option,
then "Placements," and then add "Websites." Just enter airplanesandrockets.com
. There are other settings to optimize your advertising campaign with keywords (both
included and excluded), pricing, scheduling, statistical data collection and reporting,
etc. If you are currently using Google AdSense, then please consider this method,
and if you are not using AdSense, now would be a good time to look into it. I have
had reports from some companies that experience great results using AdSense (not
just on Airplanes and Rockets)...
 If you became involved with the Academy
of Model Aeronautics (AMA) and its annual Nationals Aeromodeling Championships (Nats)
contest anytime after 1995, then you never were part of the crowd that chased the
venues around the country from year to year. Although AMA headquarters had been
located in Washington, D.C., and then Reston, Virginia, prior to then the Nats organizers
attempted to hold the contest in East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast areas. Doing
so helped to spread out the hassle involved in packing up models and equipment and
traveling all the way across the country every year. The current Muncie, Indiana,
location was chosen specifically to provide a centralized spot with easy access,
relatively decent weather, and with real estate cheap enough to procure a very large
parcel of land. The
1974 Nats was held in Lake Charles, Louisiana...
 While perusing the local Goodwill store, Melanie
and I happened upon this old
gooseneck
lamp. Unlike most of the newer models found in places like Walmart, this one
is made of heavy stamped steel, and the gooseneck part is very sturdy with no plastic.
When you bend this lamp into position, it stays exactly where you put it without
reflexing back a little. It was just what Melanie needed for use on her sewing table,
so we bought it as a fixer-upper. As can be seen in the photos, the original condition
was useable, but not ...
 Materials and methods for free flight aeromodeling
have changed significantly since this "Free
Flight Action" column appeared in the January 1975 issue of American Aircraft
Modeler magazine, but the enthusiasm has not. Carbon fiber tubing now constitutes
a large portion of modern free flight duration model airframes, electronic timers
have replaced mechanical wind-up timers (and even dethermalizer fuses), electric
motors have joined (but not replaced) glow fuel engines, and lighter and stronger
covering has supplanted tissue and/or silkspan and dope. More efficient airfoils,
and wing, empennage, and fuselage planforms combine to produce new record flights
in all competitive classes. Even modern weather detection and forecasting is being
used to predict the best moment for launching. You've come a long way, baby...
 In my zeal to procure some of the items
I remember having or using as a kid in the 1960s and '70s, along with some of the
things Melanie and I had when we first got married back in 1983, I ran across this
Sears Electric Clipper Set
(#7934) on eBay. The seller was only asking about $10 for it, so here it is. As
you can see in the photos, it is in mint condition, and even the original box shows
only minor wear and tear from sitting in someone's closet for more than half a century.
I disassembled the clippers and did a thorough cleaning (not much there) and oiled
the moving parts with a bit of 3-in-1. Everything seems to be in great condition.
Even the power cord is supple and unscathed. One of the plastic blade attachments
was included, although the instruction sheet shows four types. Judging from other
similar clippers for sale on eBay, the set only came with one, and the other styles
must have been available for purchase separately. If you have any you can bear to
part with, please let me know...
 Here is another sailplane that, like the
Aquila, really appealed to me back when I first saw it in the August 1974 edition
of American Aircraft Modeler magazine. The
Astro−Jeff's 12'−7" (151")
wingspan and 1370 sq. in. of wing area, was too much for my 16-year-old wallet.
The cost to build and cover it, and then the launch system needed was way more than
what I was accustomed to paying compared to my Standard Hi-Start and 72" and 99"
gliders (the 2−meter class hadn't been created yet). I had forgotten about the Astro−Jeff
until a few years ago when I ran across a re-kitting of it by Mr. Jim Ealy of Vintage
Sailplaner. He offers a short and full kit of the Astro−Jeff with a fiberglass fuselage.
Maybe now that I have a lot more money (don't I wish), someday I probably will finally
build one of my own...
 These
model aviation themed comics appeared in the September and December
1962 issues of American Modeler magazine. I am scanning new model aviation
comics as they become available - and as time permits. If you have editions of any
of these old magazines and would either scan the comics and e-mails them to me,
or perhaps send me the magazine (I'll pay shipping), I'll be glad to post them ...
 There is currently a big shift from internal
combustion engines to electric motors for powering model vehicles of all sorts -
airplanes, helicopters, boats, and cars - and of all control modes - autonomous
(free flight), radio control, and control-line. The state of motor and battery technology
has passed the point where the weight and thrust available with electric power meets
or exceeds that of engines for most applications. Costs are pretty much at parity
as well when you compare engine vs. motor and fuel vs. battery acquisition and cost
of ownership over the life of the power system. All sorts of useful
electronic peripheral equipment has been developed for use with electric motor
power: programmable electronic speed controllers, motor cutoffs based on altitude
and/or elapsed time for free flight, motor timer/speed controls for control line,
and even engine noise generators to give life-like sound to otherwise eerily quiet
war birds and commercial transports, to name a few. These devices had made the switch
to electric power nearly seamless for most flyers...
 You
might wonder why an article entitled "Winning
the National Radio Control Meet" for model airplanes would appear in the ARRL's
QST magazine. The answer is that back in 1940 when it was published, a
Ham license was required to operate a radio control (R/C) transmitter. There were
no license-free bands for hobbyists as there are now. In fact, it wasn't until 1976
that the FCC suspended their requirement for registration as an operator, which
has returned in the form of an FAA "drone" (aka USAS) pilot directive. The author,
William E. Good, was the twin brother of Walter A. Good, both of whom held
doctoral degrees in and physics and Ham licenses, and were referred to as "the fathers
of radio control." The photo of Bill shows his station identification (W8IFD) displayed
on the transmitter enclosure, as required by the FCC. They were born in 1916 and
won the R/C championship in 1949, at the age of 33. In the early days, R/C operators
built (and often designed) their systems, including the electronics and mechanics.
They were the pioneers that took the figurative arrows while forging the frontiers
of this hobby. A couple notable items mentioned in the article are the needing a
QSA "5" level signal (the highest quality of reception) in order to assure reliable
control of the aircraft, and of how Hams helped advance the design of small internal
combustion engines. Also, Fig. 4 shows the rudder escapement located in the
vertical fin, with the wound rubber there as well...
 Prior to the advent of the Internet, receiving
information on foreign modeling activity was pretty much limited to what the U.S.
publications like American Modeler and Model Airplane News decided
to print. Even that was limited to things like flying events and not to specific
products. Before a few years ago, I had never heard of PEP engines, a product of
Electronic Development, Ltd., of Surrey, England. This full-page advertisement from
a 1960 issue of Aero Modeller magazine promotes PEP's line of diesel engines.
Along with the English spelling of words like "aluminium," it mentions a type of
metal called "Mehanite" and another called "Hiduminium." Another advantage of the
Internet is the ability to look up unfamiliar terms like that which would never
be found in the Webster's Dictionary on my bookshelf. Mehanite ... |
