January 2012

Volume 2, Issue 1

Special Expanded New Years Edition

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IN THIS ISSUE

Carl Goldberg -

Mr Modeling by Rich Kacmarsky

Mouse Racing

Part 1 by Paul Gibeault

Ernst Udet’s

BF-109 Racer

by Rich Kacmarsky

The Little Brother

Across the Pond

By Den Saxcoburg

Kids Having Fun

By David Nyce

What’s Happening Down Under

by Warren Leadbeatter

Our Readers Models

October 2011

Volume 1, Issue 4

Page 4

Page 23

Page 17

Page 15

Page 7

Page 25

From the Editor

With this issue we

launch the second year

of the Half A Flyer, and

it is jam packed with great reading.

For starters we learn about Carl

Goldberg, a member of model

aviation‟s Hall of Fame and the creator of many iconic designs.

A model of the famous Udet 1937

Messerschmitt racer shows that scale

aircraft don‟t have to be big to

contain loads of detail.

For those feeling the need for speed Paul Gibeault starts a three part

series on mouse racing.

And David Nyce writes about his

project to bring control line flying to a

great bunch of kids. Read this one

well. If we don‟t bring the youngsters into the hobby, there won‟t be much

left of control line in a few years.

Just look at the ages of the people

you see in the magazines if you doubt that!

And finally we have a plans feature

and reports from our colleagues in

the UK and Australia. Enjoy!

- Rich

On the Cover:

Carl Goldberg, model builder and model manufacturer

The Half A Flyer is published quarterly in January,

April, July, and October by Black Hawk Models. Copies are available in print and electronically. For

subscriptions or to place an ad contact Larry Rice at

larrytheredbaron@aol.com or call (562) 728-5661

Page 12

Page 19

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Carl Goldberg - Mr Modeling By

Rich Kacmarsky

Dubbed “Mr. Modeling,” by American

Modeler magazine, Carl stands as the

shining example of the expert model designer and builder who successfully

turned his passion for his hobby into

a successful career. Yet unlike many

of the other legends of model

aviation whose manufacturing and marketing efforts overshadowed their

modeling pursuits, Carl never lost his

enthusiasm and remained an active

participant in the hobby he loved.

Like many of his contemporaries, Carl

began building airplanes as a boy.

His first effort at age 13 did not fly. He saw this as a challenge rather

than a defeat and proceeded to

design a better ship – an attitude

that he exhibited throughout his life.

Two years later he flew a single propeller pusher for about 65 feet.

In 1928 he attended the Nationals

flying a twin pusher and received an

honorable mention for his efforts. From then on there was no stopping

him and Carl participated in every

Nats thereafter until his death.

Taking an interest in the indoor models that he saw at the Nats, Carl

devoted his designing and building

talents in this area. Several years

later, he was rewarded with a first place in this difficult event at the

1934 Nats. Carl‟s open class C indoor

record plane posted a duration of 23

minutes and 29.3 seconds.

Never a showman like Jim Walker,

Carl let his innovative designs speak

for him. In 1930, he introduced

polyhedral wings to replace the

traditional vee-dihedral universally

used up to that point in model

airplanes. 1931 found Carl attending the University of Wisconsin. To earn

money, he founded a business selling

microfilm solution, rubber lubricant,

and brown rubber via mail order. He also designed and sold two 10-inch

all-balsa models.

Carl left college in 1934 and moved to Chicago where he opened a small

hobby shop with his Mother‟s

assistance. Although now in the

workplace, he remained devoted to his model building. Continuing his

interest in indoor models, Carl

became expert in creating microfilm

planes and in 1937 was the national

indoor champion flying three-gram rubber-powered models.

During the summer of 1935, Carl became one of the founders of the

Central Gas Model Plane Society and

also formed the Chicago Aeronuts

club. In an era when modelers tended to be secretive about their

designs and techniques, Carl was an

advocate for the sharing of any

information that promoted the hobby. He was an experimenter and

The Zipper

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innovator and happily taught others

how to get more out of their efforts.

Carl did not display the flamboyant

personality associated with other

notables of our hobby, and it was his

models that took the limelight. In 1936, he designed the Valkyrie. This

10-foot wingspan free flight was his

first gas-powered model and

introduced the widespread use of a pylon-mounted wing. Carl credits the

concept to Alvin Anderson, but he is

the one who popularized the design

through his series of beautiful models that ultimately replaced free flight

cabin models. Interestingly, one can

still find disagreement today between

those advocating performance-

oriented pylon mounted wings and those promoting more scale-like

cabin designs.

In 1939 after several years running

his hobby shop, Carl became the chief designer for Comet Models. He

worked at Comet for six years and

produced a series of successful

designs such as the Clipper and the record-breaking Zipper free flights

plus several control line designs. It

was noted that Carl‟s designs always

looked as good as they flew. During World War II, Comet contributed to

the war effort. Carl designed and

developed a classroom wind tunnel

and also made the plans and kits used by modelers to create

identification models used for

training. They also made the master

patterns for the black plastic-injected identification models that were used

for at U.S. bases around the world.

1945 saw Carl start the American

Hobby Specialties company along with Mike Schlesinger and Sid

Axelrod. Their main product was the

line of Top Flite and Power Prop gas

model propellers. This prompted the eventual change of the company

name to Top Flite Models. During his

tenure there, Carl created the Zing,

Cumulus, Trainer, Glo-Bug, and Rascal. He also launched the famous

series of Jig Time beginner kits.

With a good deal of deserved success

and recognition now under his belt, Carl went into business for himself in

1955 with the opening of Carl

Goldberg Models. With the help of

his family, he started with a line of inexpensive sheet balsa kits and

expanded his line of kits to include

such well known designs as the

Blazer, Ranger, and Swordsman 18. By 1960 his company had fallen on

hard times when in true Carl

Goldberg fashion, he turned things

around with another successful design, the famous Shoestring

Carl and one of his original Zippers in 1963

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Stunter. His company grew from

then on offering such noteworthy

planes as the Falcon 56, Senior Falcon, Eaglet, Eagle, Sky Tiger, and

Junior Tiger.

Carl moved to California in 1976 for a well-deserved retirement, but still

kept in contact with the company.

He remained involved in all of the

new product developments and personally designed, built and test

flew the prototypes for the Gentle

Lady two-meter sailplane. Carl

followed this by obtaining a full-scale glider pilot‟s license in 1981.

Carl‟s contributions to model aviation

cannot be overstated. His designs

are still being produced today and his

ideas, willingness to help others, and humility in giving others credit for his

own success are legendary. So too

are some of the stories surrounding

Carl‟s competitive exploits.

Dave Thornberg relates such a story

from 1938. “Carl Goldberg, after

winning indoor again, came skipping onto the Wayne County field just 10

minutes before the final bell in open

gas. He had under his arm a curious

little plane with a Dennymite up front. It looked dangerously

overpowered. According to legend,

the design came about as the result

of a bet that he couldn‟t fly “60-60” – a .60 engine in a 60-inch airplane.

The Dennymite was only a .46, but

the model had just 46-inches of wing.

If it flew, he’d win the bet with 10

inches to spare. For reasons that

soon became obvious, Goldberg

dubbed the final version of the

strange-looking airplane the Zipper.” Model Airplane News magazine

editor, Charlie Grant continues the

story. “One of the most remarkable

flights was made by a little six-foot

model which literally tore off the ground and spiraled itself vertically

upward at an angle of about 60 to

80-degrees. Actually, it acted like a

helicopter, the propeller pulling it nearly vertically. It climbed to an

elevation of about 600 feet before the

motor cut.” Carl won his bet!

Charles I. Kilvans remembers Carl for

his mentoring skills. “I remember

him most as a teacher. We would

meet in the Gage Park Field House

regularly before being caught in the draft (for World War II). Either the

members were too young or had

exemptions, which soon ran out. At

the time, Carl was married and probably over age. He would start

the meeting with an aerodynamics

lesson then we would have a low

ceiling hand-launch glider contest with the winner receiving good balsa

wood (a rare commodity during the

war years - RJK). You had to throw

the glider so it flew in the rafters without hitting. Over 22 seconds

usually won.”

In 1960, Goldberg Vikings planes

swept free flight gas at the Nats

Carl launching his Valkyrie

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being held that year in Dallas, Texas.

This feat was repeated in 1961 at the

Nats in Pennsylvania. One Viking returned to earth via dethermailzer at

7:10 in the evening following a noon

launch – a flight of over seven hours

in the stormy Pennsylvania skies! Another Viking, flown by Carl‟s son

Bob, tied for first in class A Free

Flight with a perfect 15 minute flight.

It is no surprise that in 1968 Carl

Goldberg was the first inductee into

the AMA Hall of Fame. The purpose

of the Model Aviation Hall of Fame is to highlight outstanding leaders of

the hobby and their contributions to

model aviation, and Carl certainly

deserved this recognition.

In July of 1981, Carl underwent

open-heart surgery. One of the things

we take for granted today, the

testing of donated blood, was not being done in those days and Carl

acquired an HIV infection during a

transfusion. Although he battled the

disease for 4 years, he finally passed away on January 21, 1985 and a

great designed, teacher, and

competitor was gone.

Mouse Racing - Part 1

By Paul Gibeault

It is the purpose of AMA Class 1

Mouse Racing to fly up to 3 models in

direct competition in 50-lap

preliminary heat races leading up to a 100-lap feature (final) race. A

minimum of 1 refueling pit stop is

required in the heat(s) & 2 pit stops

in the final. The winners are those with the best scores (times) in the

feature race. The engine requirement

allows any reed valve engine with an

integral tank. This means 99% of

racers use some form of a Cox Black Widow .049. It has always been a

favorite of mine because no

machining equipment is required to

be competitive.

There is no restriction on aircraft type

other than it must be able to take off

from the ground (ROG) with a fixed

landing gear. It's cheap to fly but oddly enough, cubic dollars have little

to do with how you place in

Carl Goldberg in 1975

Happy mouse race finalists from the 2010 Northwest Regional C/L Championships. L-R: Mac Ryan & Todd Ryan (Team Ryan), Paul Gibeault (aka Mr. Mouse), John Thompson & Mike Hazel (The Nitroholics)

8

competition. The deceptively simple

looking Cox .049 engine has been

known to stump even the most experienced modelers, causing great

frustration. The following article

represents much of what I have

learned in my 35+ years of competition in this event. It is my

hope that those wanting to fly with

high performance Cox reed valve

engines will find it useful. We will

start with the engine.

Crankshaft & Crankcase Assembly

Problem: When pushed really hard Cox .049's are prone to breaking the

crankshaft. Usually the crank pin

parts company from the crank throw

web.

Solutions: The use of the Cox “race

car” crankcase assembly reduces this problem as the crank throw web is

noticeably thicker on these variants;

but they are noticeably slower so

that's not so good. Davis Diesel cranks can work BUT you really must

bench run them first! The reason is

due to tolerance mis-matching, many

DDD cranks run very slow & give

very poor starting & running

characteristics. It's a real gamble.

The safest bet is to use Cox “Killer

Bee” cranks, for greatest longetivity & speed. However there is one

provision. You must use a 5-40 prop

stud screwed all the way into the

crankshaft. You will then need a Cox (or equivalent) spinner to hold the

prop on. If you use the standard 1"

Cox prop screw, the crank will shear

off at the spines later on down the road. The fitting of a prop stud

seems to have cured the crank

shearing problem (see photo).

Using a modified crankcase with a

bronze sleeve bearing in the

crankcase is a gamble. Unless the clearance honing is perfect, it can be

noticeably slower than stock. My

experience has shown that Cox's hard

anodizing makes for a very good bearing surface, and so the stock

Killer Bee or Venom set up is more

than adequate. It‟s a good idea to

lay some 400 wet/dry sandpaper over a piece of glass, and with the addition

of some oil sand the back of the

crankcase. This will remove any burrs

The recommended prop stud attach method for Killer Bee crankshafts

The Cox Silver Bee, Golden Bee, Black Widow, and Venom (shown with Galbreath head) can all be made to work well in AMA Class 1 mouse racing - keep engines

pristinely clean for maximum power and reliability

9

that might otherwise prevent a

perfect seal with the fuel tank. It's

also useful to use a 2-56 TPI bottoming tap on the crankcase holes

as extra threads in that area help. It

is very useful to disassemble the

crankcase assembly. Thoroughly clean everything, and then polish up

the crankshaft with 600 fine

sandpaper to remove any nicks

scratches or baked on oil that may be present. For re-assembly, use a 5-40

socket head cap screw & an old prop

to draw the crank squarely into the

drive plate. When re-assembled clean and dry, give it a spin. It

should be really free with no binding

whatsoever. On the best examples,

the crank throw will even rock back

to the bottom. The best engines have less than .015" end play on the

drive plate.

Integral Fuel Tanks

Problem: The stock fuel tanks can

be slow and sometimes short on

range. They also may have trouble

holding a consistent needle valve

setting due to leakage.

Solutions: Use one of the larger 8cc

stunt tanks for the greatest range.

These are commonly found on Golden

Bee, Super Bee, Black Widow &

Venom engines. Since the stock needle valve w/ spring arrangement

is prone to leaking, modify the needle

valve assembly as follows: 1) remove

the needle valve; 2) discard the spring; 3) install a #4 flat washer,

and add a piece of medium silicone

fuel tubing. Inspect the tip of your

needle valve to make sure it's not bent. Re-install the needle valve and

you now have one cheap, but

air tight needle valve assembly (see

photos).

With the tank and tank back

together, check that the venturi size is .082" I.D. If not, drill out the tank

and tank back inlet venturi to .082”,

(this is what the record holding

engine used). Drilling out the venturi larger than .082", sometimes

produces an rpm gain, but often your

engine won't run as steady and your

range will be less. To me, it's just not worth it. Next, sand the metal

tank back flat over glass (again with

the 400 paper), as some tank backs

are warped a bit & do not sit flat

Simple parts required for a leak free needle valve assembly

A bent needle valve tip like the one on the

left gives much trouble

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when bolted to the firewall. If you

wish, you can use a Dremel tool to

grind away the screen holder from the venturi area of the tank back. It

looks racy, but I doubt that it makes

any difference.

The fuel pickup must absolutely be

located at the outboard corner of the tank. The normal neoprene tubing

arrangement is prone to moving out

of place & giving an unstable engine

run, so I bend a piece of 3/32" O.D.

soft aluminum tubing & make the pick-up one solid piece. I file a

chamfer at the bottom of the pick-up

tube so that it fits perfectly into the

back plate. Attach it to the tank back with a short piece of tight fitting

silicone tubing. The net effect will be

that the pick-up stays perfectly

positioned. You will notice greater range & stable running from your

engine, with a properly positioned

fuel pick-up tube (see photo).

The next step is to prevent the

integral tank from leaking. This is a

must if you wish to hold a consistent

needle setting, and have the engine shutdown properly. In some cases it

may be necessary to wrap a piece of

1/2A Dacron line around the entire

peripheral groove of the tank to help

seal it. Hold the Dacron thread in

place with saliva or oil for final assembly. It may help to lap the

metal tank & tank back joint instead

of using thread. The use of a thread

gasket is not necessary if you‟re using one of the newer nylon tank

backs. However it should be noted

that the metal tank backs are much

more durable & will often survive a crash without breaking. The newer

nylon back plate is more fragile and

will often be damaged the very first

time you crash. Metal back plate fitted engines finish more races

whenever flying incidents/accidents

are involved. Remember, in order to

finish first...you must first FINISH!

High-Power: The original Cox

copper/beryllium reeds tend to 'float' at ~17,000 rpm & so they are not

optimal for top performance. In a

reed valve engine, top performance is

only attainable by using the clear Mylar reed. I find the cross shape

better in tanks that use a 'G-Clip reed

retainer wire and the rectangular

ones better in the tanks using the

nylon retaining cap. This last production change allows reed

engines to be on par with “TeeDee‟s”

in performance! My test bench

results indicate that 24,000+ rpm is achievable for steady-state running

with such reeds.

What about 'other ' reed materials &

shapes? Cox engine designer Larry

Renger prefers the Cox stainless steel

reed over the Mylar reed. My main concern with the steel reed is that it

wears the anodizing right off the

mouth of the venturi tube, although

the rpm seems to be the same. I've

Custom fuel pickup

11

tried other reeds made of thinner

steel, floppy disc material, etc. and

so far haven't found anything better. One Australian made metal reed was

indeed 300 rpm faster, but it broke

away after only a few minutes of

running. Teflon reeds may or may not work as well. I've not found

them to be any faster, and

sometimes worse. Attaching a piece

of tubing to the tank venturi & sucking on it does the final reed

sealing check. A proper fitting reed

will hold the pressure & not leak.

Final Assembly: Clean the 2-56

tank screws with thinner. Final

assembly is done using blue Loctite® thread-locker. Every time you tear

down the engine, replace both the

paper tank gasket and the venturi o-

ring. This may seem like a waste, but $2.00 worth of new gaskets now

is $100.00 worth of reliability in the

racing circle! If you really hate

paying a paltry few bucks for new

gaskets, they can be home made.

Cut from the tank gasket from thick vellum paper and thinly slice a piece

of silicone tubing for the venturi o-

ring. Once assembled, applyan RTV

type silicone sealant over the tank screw head area. The tank screw

heads are a major source of leakage

& this really seems to help.

Removing the sealant is very easy if

you need to remove the screws later.

NOTE: Some Cox engines have been supplied with screws that are up to

.115" longer than normal. Often

these engines will have the tank leak

& come loose during running! Bottom taping the crankcase screw

holes can help here or use the proper

length screws in the first place. It

took me an awful lot of wasted time, lost races, and loose leaky tanks

before I found out what exactly was

going on here.

2011 Musciano Event Results

This issue was supposed to have the results of the 2011 Musciano events held

all over the country, but we flat ran out of room! A complete report will be in the next issue. For now, here are some „teasers‟ of things to come.

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Scale Projects – Ernst Udet’s

BF-109 Racer By

Rich Kacmarsky

When someone mentions the famous

BF-109, thoughts automatically turn to the air war over Europe and the

battles fought between this aircraft

and Allied fighters. Less known is the

notoriety gained by this aircraft as a racer.

General Ernst Udet was the second-

highest scoring German flying ace of World War I. One of the youngest

aces at age 22, he was the highest

scoring ace to survive the war. His

62 victories were second only to the

famous Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen. Following Germany's

defeat, Udet spent the 1920s and

early 1930s as a stunt pilot,

barnstormer, and light aircraft manufacturer.

He joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and

became involved in the early

development of the Luftwaffe, eventually achieving the rank of

General and serving as the head of

the Luftwaffe's Technical Office.

Although a competent pilot and officer, Udet‟s straightforward nature

created conflicts between him and

other high ranking individuals. After

the debacle of the Battle of Britain, Hermann Goering made Udet the

scapegoat for the Luftwaffe's failure,

and he was forced to commit suicide

in 1941.

In happier times, Udet‟s piloting skills

gained him notoriety, specifically

during the 1937 Zurich Air Meet. For

years Germany had ignored the Versailles treaty that ended WW1.

The allies did not enforce the treaty

provisions which eventually allowed

Germany to re-arm. So at this prestigious air meet, Germany

displayed examples of the new

Luftwaffe. While some of the exhibits

were obviously military aircraft, five of the entries were civilian versions of

stripped down and unarmed war

machines. Although Germany always

purported the planes to be stock

racers, they were in fact highly modified versions of the

Messerschmitt Me-109. One of the

favorites was Ernst Udet‟s plane

which was developed from the Bf-109D-0 and featured a high

performance DB 601A engine. His

red number 6 was the favorite at the

start of the event. In the end, things did not work out well. During

the first race Udet dropped out due to

engine overheating problems. In the

next event, a high-pressure oil line failed shortly after take off forcing a

WW1 Portrait of Ernst Udet

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crash landing. Although Udet walked

away with few injuries, the plane was

split in half behind the cockpit and was a total wreck.

I had decided to enter an ME-109 in

the Semi Scale competition at the

Michigan Musciano Fun Fly this year

because I like the design of the plane

and how it flies. However since I had entered a restored 109 in the 2010

event wearing the desert camouflage

scheme called for in the original

Scientific kit, I wanted this model to be different. When doing research I

discovered Udet‟s 1937 racer and I

decided that was the plane to build.

Besides the bright red paint scheme, I wanted scale landing gear, scale

graphics, and a fully detailed cockpit,

and a full cowl.

Starting with a BHM BF-109 kit, I hollowed out the fuselage to

approximately a 1/8 inch wall

thickness to save weight and make

room for the cockpit. The nose was left at a 5/8-inch thickness for weight

distribution and to provide a solid

engine mount. The interior walls of

the fuselage in the cockpit area were

finished with light filler and sanding. The rear cockpit bulkhead was made

from 1/64-inch plywood to add some

structural reinforcement and define

the cockpit area. The majority of the interior components including the

floor, instrument panel, seat, and

rudder pedals are made from cereal

box cardboard. This material is lightweight, easily bent to required

shapes, cuts cleanly when treated to

a couple of coats of thinned clear

dope, and takes paint on the glossy side without the need for multiple

heavy primer layers. Balsa was used

to create the center tunnel and side

consoles which were covered with

very thin glossy cardboard to provide crisp edges and eliminate the need

for filling and sanding. Except for the

instrument panel, the interior was

finished in light gray enamel with an over spray of Top Flite® flat clear to

even out the tones and ensure fuel

proofing. The instrument panel was

painted matte black. J‟TEC® instrument faces were reduced in size

at the local copy store to produce half

A sized items.

Before and after pictures of Udet‟s 109 racer

Completed cockpit with a penny for size

comparison

14

These were sprayed front and back with Top Flite Crystal Clear® to lock

in the printing and make cutting

easier. Two applications of thinned

white glue to the faces followed by a coat of Top Flite Crystal Clear® form

the instrument ‟glass‟. A few dots of

paint applied with a round toothpick

simulated various indicator lights and completed the assembly.

The pilot‟s harness was made from

double thickness of masking tape cut

into strips and painted olive drab with silver buckles. Bits of fine piano wire

topped with blobs of white glue and

slices of round toothpick that had

been colored with black Sharpie® formed the various levers, latches,

and dials. All components were

treated to some light weathering with

some brushed on pencil lead scrapings to add depth. When all the

components were in place, the

cockpit floor was added from below to

seal the cockpit from the remaining

building process. As one of the final

touches, a cut down Stuka canopy was installed over the finished cockpit

to allow the judges to appreciate the

fully detailed interior.

Next on my list was replicating that

angled ME-109 landing gear. I prefer

to ROG scale planes, but I knew the

scale gear would never take the punishment of a take off and landing.

My solution was to install brass

tubing in the fuselage and create two sets of „plug-in‟ landing gear. The

scale set had small diameter wheels

and gear doors. The flight set had

larger wheels and were longer to provide prop clearance. Placing a

Udet‟s 1937 racer

The plane is equipped with both scale and flight landing gear

Brass tube receptacles allowed use of removable „plug-in landing gear

15

slight kink in the wire where it fit into

the brass tube held both sets in

place.

The cowl began by wrapping a

soaked strip of 1/64th plywood over the forward fuselage. Balsa blocks

were attached to this and then

carved to shape. Once the outside

appearance was satisfactory, the inside was hollowed and the various

openings for the cylinder, needle

valve, and fuel filler/overflow were

added. The fit is so tight that the cylinder must be removed to install

the cowl.

The plane was painted using Top Flight LustreKote® Missile Red and is

decorated with black striping tape

and graphics cut from white trim film.

A coat of Top Flight LustreKote®

Crystal Clear protected everything

and added a nice sheen. I think the

result was well worth the effort.

The Little Brother

The following was received from Dick

Sarpolus

Hi Larry.

Nostalgia and memories are a great part of this hobby. In your latest

issue, no. 4, of your Half A Flyer,

page 18, in the article on C/L flying in

Australia, I was surprised to see a

photo of the Little Brother, a 1/2a sheet balsa profile stunter. That was

designed by my son and I, and was

published in the British Aeromodeller

magazine in 1977. Long time ago. It was one of the few all sheet balsa

profile C/L models that had working

wing flaps, although as I recall the

flaps didn't make it fly much if any better than those models did without

the flaps. At the time, my son was a

big admirer of Bob Hunt and his

Genesis stunter, so this 1/2a stunter

has styling based on Bob's Genesis.

Dick

Building the Little Brother

By Larry Rice

I spoke to Dick Sarpolus about the

location of the Bellcrank and the push rod passing through the wing. He

said “If I was doing it today, I would

put the bellcrank on the top of the

wing.” Prior to starting, decide what engine you will use and the location

of the controls. When I build a model

I prefer to have all of the parts cut

out before I start. Trace the parts that need to be cut out on a piece of

paper then glue it to card stock; this

will give you a simple reusable

pattern. (Continued on Page 18)

An Overview of Free Flight in the UK – Part 1

Hi from the UK

This time I‟m going to talk about the

Free Flight scene in the UK….‟what

has this got to do with Half A?‟, I

hear you ask, but bear with me, all will be revealed. Before I start, its

necessary to stress how small the UK

is compared to the States, I mean its

really small, no big open spaces here. This has always had a bearing on

Free Flight activity in the UK, as other

than competitions, which are held on

airfields, club type flying fields are

tiny. Typically a UK club field will be 200 x 100 yards with hedges all

round and trees dotted here and

there just to spice things up.

So with space at premium it follows

that large Free Flight models have

never been popular with sport flyers in the UK. Also the trimming of Free

Flight models has been brought to a

fine art, to keep the flight within the

confines of the field. The most popular UK Free Flight models are

typically high wing cabin types with

an engine size of about 049….there‟s

the half A connection at last!

To give you an idea of THE typical UK

sport Free Flight design I can do no

better than show you the „Tomboy‟ pictured here. The plan for this 1950

design has sold more copies in the

UK than any other and is still

massively popular today both in the

UK and in Australia. Part of the attraction is designer, the late Vic

Smeed who was one of the iconic

aeromodellers after the war on this

side of the pond. For those interested, a tribute to Vic can be

found at:

and is well worth a read. Although

the „Tomboy‟ is certainly typical,

there have been many other popular UK Free Flight designs and they

http://modelenginenews.org/people

/smeed.html

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include biplanes and low wing as well

as unorthodox. For example this little

low winger is called Lola and is the last design that Vic Smeed produced.

I mentioned Free Flight trimming; some of you may not know what I

mean by that. It involves finely

adjusting the CoG, elevator, rudder

trims, power output and duration of

engine run. The aim is to get a predictable circling flight under power

and safe glide each and every time.

This requires patience and skill but

the rewards are very satisfying. The sight of a well trimmed Free Flight

model circling above your head on a

fine summers evening is hard to

beat.

The eagled eyed among you will spot

that the „Tomboy‟ in the pictures has

rudder and elevator RC control.

That‟s a modern variant and I will discuss that and other RC assist

developments in due course. But next

time I will tell you more about one of

the engines that is commonly used for sport Free Flight in the UK.

Bye for now…….Den

Building the Little Brother

(Continued from page 15)

I like to start with the stabilizer and

elevator; sand the parts and glue the

hinges in place. Next cut out the

fuselage; a router can be used to make the wing slot. Insert the wing,

with the flap wire joiner in place, into

its slot. Use a triangle to square up

the wing to the fuselage then glue it in place. Drill a hole into the leading

edges of the flaps for the joiner wire

to fit into. Glue the joiner wire into

the flaps and the hinges in place. When this is done add the wing tips,

bellcrank mount, lead-out guide and

the wing weight. Adjust the motor

mounts to fit your engine and glue

them into the fuselage then glue the doublers to the fuselage. Glue the

stabilizer into the fuselage, checking

that it is aligned with the wing. Glue

the fin, dorsal fin and sub fin to the fuselage, and then add the rudder

offset to the right ¼”; note that the

rudder must have a notch to clear the

elevator. Test the elevator and flaps for freedom of movement.

After painting your model, add the

controls, engine and the fuel tank.

The bellcrank and control horns are

sold by Sig Mfg; the ¾ oz fuel Tank is from Brodak.

To fly this model, use .008 to .012 stranded cable control lines of 35 feet

to 40 feet. The Little Brother will fly a

very good stunt pattern.

Full size plans for the Little Brother

are available for $6 (postage

included). E-mail Rich Kacmarsky

at cdrk3@comcast.net to order

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Kids Having Fun!

by David S. Nyce

I had not flown a control line plane

for many years, when I learned of an

orphanage in my home state of North

Carolina. It‟s still commonly called “the orphanage”, although it is now

legally termed a foster care center.

Fond memories of my own control

line flying days as a child led me to

start a program for teaching the kids at the center to build and fly half-A

planes. After meeting the

management staff and allowing a

background check, I started visiting the kids there on a regular basis in

2005, and have continued since then.

It has been fun helping the kids to

learn how to develop their own abilities to build things, as they

develop memories that will hopefully

be as wonderful as those I enjoy from

my childhood.

I started the program by bringing a

squadron (i.e. about 20) of half-A

planes for the kids to fly. Some of

the aircraft were dug out of the attic and repaired, and others were planes

I built to get ready for this program.

A lot of time was also spent in getting

my old engines running again. All of the planes were powered by Cox

Babe-Bee or Golden-Bee engines,

because they have the fuel tanks

attached, and are easy to mount. About 15 to 20 kids usually show up

for a flying session.

At first, my planes had no landing

gear installed, and we hand-launched, because that‟s what I had

done as a kid so that the planes

would fly better. But the kids kept

asking why there were no wheels. So

then, I added landing gear to all of

the planes. We use a fold-up table

for a runway, with an extension

added, which connects to the main table by means of a large magnet at

the edge, and a brace underneath.

With beginner pilots, I hold the handle for take-off, as another child

releases the plane down the runway

at my signal. I hold the outside of

the handle, while the child places their hand into the normal holding

position. After going a few turns

around the circle together, I let go of

the handle so the child is flying the plane on their own. With a small

child of four years old or so, I hold up

the child and we control it together.

After a typical day of “flying”, I return

home with a few planes still in flyable condition, but most in several pieces.

Take-off (oops!) from a folding table with

extension attached

Repair station

20

Then I start the rebuilding process to

get ready for the next time. Several

times per year, we build half-A planes with solid wings and a profile or

hollow log fuselage. The planes that

the kids build also use Cox Babe-Bee

engines (which luckily, are still available from Cox International).

Incidentally, a lot of people seem to

call them Baby Bee engines, but I

think the actual name is Babe-Bee. When we build, we usually have

about 20 participants, and each child

gets to build and keep their own

plane (see photo below).

We‟ve built the Brodak Basic Trainer

a few times, several Musciano-type

carved fuselage kits from Black Hawk Models, some Sig Skyrays, and a few

others. When we were building some

Stunt Masters from Black Hawk

Models, one of the kids wondered if the fuselage could be shaped a little

differently. I explained that

sometimes people will buy two or

three kits and swap parts among them to arrive at a design that they

like. Or we could modify the parts

contained in a single kit. He asked if

we could take our kit and make a different shape for the fuselage. So I

said that I‟d work on that and bring

back a plane with modified fuselage

for the kids to see. If it worked out well, they could all try doing that on a

future build. That first plane actually

flew very well, probably due to the

reduced weight. I thought it would be appropriate to show here how that

one was built, so I‟ve added some

photos showing a modified Black

Hawk Models Stunt Master. The modifications included changing the

fuselage and rudder/vertical stab

shapes, and changing the

construction technique regarding the

elevator and hinges. Implementation of these changes included several

steps:

1. Hollow out some of the fuselage

from the inside, to reduce overall weight and tail weight.

2. Cut down the fuselage width to

reduce weight and drag, and

providing a smaller firewall. 3. Cut down the fuselage along the

top, producing a modified contour

with aft cockpit, and reducing forward

weight.

4. Embed the wingtip weight for improved appearance (and slightly

less drag).

5. Cut two pieces of sheet balsa into

the elevator shape, then join with hinges mounted in-between the

sheets.

The sequence of fuselage

modifications is important. When the fuselage width was reduced first, it

was difficult to clamp the modified

fuselage into the milling machine for

further hollowing it out, because the thinner walls made it too flexible for

Black Hawk Stunt Masters in progress

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firm clamping. This problem was

eliminated by doing the hollowing-out

first. An end mill was used in a small milling machine, but alternatively, an

end mill could be used in a drill press

if the fuselage is clamped in a vise

that can be moved in a line while milling.

After milling-out the inside of the

fuselage, a pencil line was drawn to show the desired shape for cutting

down the height at the front of the

fuselage (Photo 1). The cutting was

done on a small band saw, such as are inexpensively sold at large home

improvement stores. The fuselage

width was also reduced by drawing

cut lines along right and left sides

and then cutting with the band saw.

The final shape of the fuselage was achieved by carving and sanding.

Photo 2 shows a counter bore into

the underside of the outboard end of the wing, for recessing the tip

weights (two washers). A washer is

shown next to the first counter bore.

A second counter bore was formed below the first, then the washers

were epoxied in place. After the

epoxy cured, the area was coated

with spackling compound and sanded.

The two-piece elevator was replaced by one full-length elevator. To make

the elevator, two pieces of 1/16”

balsa sheet were cut to shape. Three

small hinges were super-glued in place on one elevator half. Sigment

glue was liberally applied on top of

the balsa and hinges, with the second

elevator sheet then placed on top. This assembly was clamped in a vise,

and left overnight to cure (Photo 3).

Photo 1- Cutting line drawn onto fuselage

Photo 2 - Inletting the wingtip weight

Photo 3 - Elevator in vise

Photo 4 - Elevator & stab

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Photo 4 shows the elevator (top) and

the horizontal stabilizer (bottom).

The horizontal stab is supplied in the kit as 1/8” balsa. A hinge slitter tool

was used, as shown in photo 5, to

form slits into the stab trailing edge

for inserting the elevator hinges with Sigment glue. In all hinge-gluing

operations, care was taken to prevent

glue from binding the hinge.

In the spring, I‟m planning for some

of the kids to move up to the next-

larger sized plane. I‟ve bought some Sig Akromaster kits for use with a .15

size engine and some Skyray .35s

and Twisters for a still larger engine.

We‟ll see how it goes!

I‟d like to thank the many people and

companies who have been able to

help with obtaining kits, engines, and supplies for the kids. And thank you

to the following companies who have

helped by providing discounts on

their products for this program:

Black Hawk Models, Long Beach, CA,

www.blackhawkmodels.com

Brodak, Carmichaels, PA,

www.brodak.com

BJM Enterprises, Kernersville, NC www.bjm-home/models.com

Cox International, Prince George,

British Columbia, CA

www.coxengines.ca

Sig Manufacturing, Montezuma, IA

www.sigmfg.com

Tim Wiltse, Half-A Works, Charlotte,

NC

www.halfa-works.com

THE END RESULT Modified Black Hawk Models Stunt Master with Tim Wiltse red-anodized Cox Babe-Bee engine finished with Aero Gloss red and

clear dope What kid wouldn‟t love to fly this plane!

Photo 5 - Hinge slitting tool

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by Warren Leadbeatter

MAAA:14782

Gidday from Australia. It looks like I d up a bit of a hornets nest with at

least one of my comments in the last

Half A Flyer issue. ie “1/2A control

line flying here [in Australia]

unfortunately is pretty much dead and there is very little interest in it.”

Since writing this I have discovered

many people who still fly and play

with 1/2A Control Line models. Just because there aren‟t too many

competitions going on doesn‟t mean

people don‟t do it anymore! Most do

it just for fun or a laugh.

Just like my good mate Humphrey

who converted a couple of RC flyers

to CL using a SIG Deweybird with a Cox Babe Bee 049.

Humprey‟s mate, Stehl bought the already built Dewey Bird off eBay and

the seller cut it up to post it and

included a Brodak 049 which didn‟t

want to run.

At our annual Veterans Gathering this

year, Humphrey put the model back together and I suggested rather than

play around with the Brodak engine,

(that we somehow had to mount and

find a tank for in the field), we should

just put on a Babe Bee 049, one of which I just happened to have in my

box of goodies.

This little engine hadn‟t been run for

who knows how long, but after 3 or 4

short burps we had it running and singing like a babe bee.

I test flew it first because the guys

decided I was the best control line flyer to do it because I fly F2B

aerobatics. How little do they know!

It flew well from a hand launch, with

no mods needed. I was worried about the size of the elevator and the small Stehls SIG Deweybird after we fixed it

Me and Humph getting the lil bugger going

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throw it appeared to have, but it

worked fine in the air.

So next up was it‟s owner, Stehl, who

had never flown CL before. None of

us could be bothered standing out there in the middle with him so we

just said, you‟ve seen it fly, you‟ll get

the idea! So away he went and he

flew it well.

Next up was Stehls RC flying mate

Laurie, from Warialda (google it).

Same deal, had never flown CL

before so we decided to just let him go too, for a laugh! He flew well but

became dizzy very quickly. He

wanted one of us to take the handle

but we couldn‟t because we were too busy laughing. When the model

landed he fell over!

Next up Humphrey had a fly and then

I had another fly to see if it could do

a loop, which it did with ease!

These two blokes will be at our next

years vets gathering. Laurie will have

his own control line model too. Not sure what it is yet but I can‟t wait to

see it.

The Sig Deweybird can be purchased from Sig of course, and from anyone

who sells Sig products. The company

website is www.sigmfg.com

Next time I will be writing about the

Mouse Racers from Queensland, who

I just recently discovered. These guys

do actually hold and run Mouse Race

competitions and from what I have seen they use the AMA Rules.

So until next time, Seasons Greetings

and a Happy New Year to all from Downunder (Australia) I hope you all get what you wish for from Santa!

Stehl on his first flight! Looks like a pro going

Look at Laurie (from Warialda) go!

Sig Deweybird in flight

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Henry Werner‟s Custom Special Frank Carlisle‟s Autogiro

Bill Lee‟s Songbird George Ellison‟s Challenger

Rich Kacmarsky‟s ME-262

Jim Malloy's Waco Biplane

Our Readers’ Models We at Black Hawk Models are always proud to show what our customers have done

with our kits. Each issue we will feature some great craftsmanship!

If you would like to see your handiwork displayed in this magazine or on the Black

Hawk Models website, e-mail your photos to LarryTheRedBaron@aol.com

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