Model Airplane News August 2022

TOP GUN: THE BATTLE RAGES ON! In this issue, we celebrate the 34th annual Top Gun Scale Invitational. Top pilots from around the world converged on Paradise Field in Lakeland, Florida to compete for over $25,000 in cash and prizes in eight categories, including the sought after title of “Mr. Top Gun.” Model Airplane News is proud to have been a part of this prestigious event since its inception. In this year’s expanded coverage, we get up close and personal with even more planes and pilots, from the winners to the details that set these scale machines apart. From World War I warbirds to modern turbine jets, these planes are the ultimate in scale realism and inspiration. After you’ve read this issue, set your online flight path to ModelAirplaneNews.com for even…

EMAIL ENTRIES TO: MAN@AIRAGE.COM SPERRY MESSENGER Jeff Fiscus, Portsmouth, Rhode Island This scratch-built Sperry Messenger is ⅙.7 scale with a 35.5-inch wingspan. Jeff notes that it’s “a rather interesting plane as the full scale was designed to be hung from a hook on the bottom of a blimp and used to carry messages to the ground and back. But then radios came along!” The wood model is covered with Sig Koverall and Poly-fiber paint and is powered by a Rimfire 10 with a 35A speed control. Jeff adds, “Scale details were kept to a minimum; just a simple dummy engine made of cast resin. She hasn’t flown yet, just waiting better weather but looks like she will be fun to fly.” KAOS 90 Jim Halvorson, Camino, California Jim built this modified Kaos from Model Airplane News…

COLOR-CODE When working on a project that requires both imperial (inch) and metric Allen wrenches, it can be confusing to identify them and keep them apart. I color-code my wrenches with heat shrink to help keep the two groups separated. I use red for the imperial sizes and blue for the metric. Jim Harris, Springdale, Arizona DIY STARTER This homemade chicken stick works well when starting glow engines. Use a Dremel cutoff wheel to remove the end of an old screwdriver, leaving a 1 ¼-inch stub. Carefully drill a 3/16-inch hole in a 3/8-inch hardwood dowel. Epoxy the screwdriver stub into the dowel, then epoxy a piece of PVC air hose (3/8-inch inside diameter) to the dowel. This chicken stick is very sturdy, and the hose provides enough cushion for the propeller. Rick Rader, Brooklyn,…

Glider pilots love flight modes because they allow us to configure the wing camber and elevator trim precisely for specific flying conditions. Picture a glider with flaps and ailerons on the wings. You can have a flight mode that sets the elevator trim a bit up, the flaps a bit down, and the ailerons neutral and call that “launch mode.” Flip the switch to launch and your settings are optimized for a winch or high-start launch. At the end of the launch, flip the switch and maximize lift with thermal mode, in which the elevator is centered, the flaps are down a few degrees, and the ailerons are both down a few degrees, changing the camber of the entire wing. This maximizes the ability of the glider to fly slowly…

Helicopters have four main flight modes: normal, idle-up 1, idle-up 2, and throttle hold. Each mode has a curve controlled by the throttle stick that sets the main blade pitch and throttle response to the stick position. Idle-up modes allow you to add throttle from half stick and below at the same time the blade pitch goes negative, so you can hover and do aerobatics inverted. Conversely when throttle hold is activated, the throttle is driven to idle while the main blade pitch is still controlled by the throttle stick allowing you to auto-rotate the model for fun or to remove torque so you can land safely if there’s a tail-rotor failure.…

One of the most basic uses of flight modes involves configuring elevator compensation for flaps on a fixed-wing aircraft. This applies to jets, scale, and other flap-equipped sport aircraft. You start by creating three flight modes, using the flap switch to control the flight mode. Then set your elevator trim from common to single flight mode. In flight, you can then adjust the elevator trim for the correct amount of up- or down-elevator as required to trim out each of the three flap positions. If your radio allows you set the transition time between flight modes, and most of them do, set the transition time to the match the speed of your servos. (Note: Spektrum radios use a slick flap menu that matches the flap speed to the elevator trim, so the…