New Hobby???? Free Flight.....

I didn't feel like mixing up my own lube so I bought a tube of rubber lube from the hobby shop.  I have 20 turn and 5 turn winders, and 1/4 pound boxes of 1/8" and 3/32" of rubber.  I also have lots and lots of building supplies I bought at the old hobby shop where I used to live.  It's an old hobby shop, and no one's bought the FF stuff on their back wall in a long, long time, so the items were still marked at 30 year old prices.   I bought enough stuff to build FF planes for the rest of my life.

The Lazy Mark

Hi all. Still here. Lol.

I have been busy lately so no major updates. Got a few more cross pieces installed in the fuselage. Then the other day, while looking at the bones of the plane, I decided the model room needs a cleaning. Yes, before finishing this. So I have been taking my time with the cleaning as well as doing a couple of small mods to my 3D printer and doing a few small things that need to be printed. Then to put the preverbial 'icing on the cake', I got news late last week that a friend and co-worker had passed that night. So things have just been on a little down for the past few days. But I am hoping to slowly pick back up shortly here.

Plus the other week, I also 'inherited' a bunch of older modelling things. That took a couple of evenings to go through and sort out. But that will be a new thread shortly here....... Will need a bit of help identifying at least one thing.

What kind of duration is typical for a peanut? My son built a MicroX Bebe Jodel D9 and it's getting ~30 seconds, which seems OK. Still stalls on launch so we're playing with it. Cold is coming soon, though.

We had his first build, a Guillows L-19, flying pretty well, even if it was heavy, until it landed in a parking lot and got run over. A HiFlyer Bellanca Rocket does OK. Guillows 16" Mustang is pretty miserable. I may build something this winter. I have a Sig Monocoupe kit which was one of my first builds 30 years ago.

He's also been flying an RC Telemaster scaled to 36" span and doing well.

is this what ur looking for ? >> Note: These are 1969 Peanut Scale rules and were amended slightly for contests.

Models must be built-up reproductions of actual man-carrying aircraft.
The maximum permitted wingspan is 13 in.
The minimum permitted wingspan is 10 in.
Motive power must be furnished by rubber band(s).
Models will be hand-launched.
Timing will commence upon release and will stop when model lands.
Any flight of six seconds or more will be counted as an 'official'.
Three official flights are allowed, and total will be contestant's score.
Peanut size model is defined as having either a maximum wingspan of 13” inches, or a maximum fuselage length of 9” inches. These sizes are recognised by the Federation International Aeronautique (FIA), which is the international governing body of model aeroplane competition.

sooo much about this thread excites me.

Yes, I fly Free Flight
Rubber and some 1/2A

no, I stink at trimming but I am learning

yes, old guys KNOW stuff.   The Don Ross books are fabulous - an old guy recommended it to me.
As a member in good standing of the Oakland Cloud Dusters,   I highly recommend finding a local club if ya can
https://www.oaklandclouddusters.org

Guillows P40 colors? - look at the source???
https://www.guillow.com/p-40warhawk-2.aspx

LOVE LOVE the scratch built.
IF you really wanted a kit?  I cannot recommend the Guillows Arrow enough.   Easy to build, great flyer right off the board.  One of the FEW Guillows kits I've had massive success with - little more expensive, but now LASER CUT!   for super fast assembly
https://www.guillow.com/arrow.aspx


in an attempt to stay relevant, Guillows spent a LOT of money updating their old "Die-Crushed" balsa to laser cut.
SURE - the price is a heck of a lot higher... but?   $20 - $50,   and you cut NO ribs, no sides,  you just clean and sand  
My time is worth that



AND!   I found out, by sneaking around their website,  you can buy replacement sheets - someone cheap,  and make a "short kit" out of it,  works even better if you already have the older kit.

Example:  for the Arrow  Kit 702
if you bought JUST the lasered up rib sheets:
https://www.guillow.com/702kitparts.aspx
sheets 4-2, 4-3, 4-4?  ya out $15 plus shipping    and now have an Arrow short kit.


Before I conclude, have any of you seen the Electric RC conversion videos of the Guillows Lancer?
im not an electric guy,  OR a RC guy
but this is cool
https://youtu.be/yUFVyLOdV3c?si=vy1KIb464Js0GsLz



Me?  I'm currently working on a 1/2A Starduster resurrection with a TD.049
and a goldRush 30" tip launch glider

I want em up in the air

Getting me inspired to have at least one rubber powered FF in the hanger …. I think we all had fun with them as kids in some form or fashion….Again for me when my kids where little…... I had parts of Commando pictured above completed so time now to finish it up!… Maybe the grandkids will like it

[quote="gkamysz"]What kind of duration is typical for a peanut?



According to the Flying Aces 2018 nats? Scale peanuts reported times of 120!!
but I am thinking 30-60 is probably realistic and average?

https://www.flyingacesclub.com/Results/2018nats/FAC_Peanut_Scale.pdf

FAC Newsletters are FULL of plans, and lots lots of info on Peanuts, scale and embryos

rdw777 wrote:
For just about anything you would ever want to know about rubber powered models, This book by Don Ross covers it….

I initially thought that this book is a few decades old, as it's full of esoterica on rubber power models.  But looking at the flyleaf shows a copyright of 2008, so it's only 15 years old.





Now, rubber powered models seems like a dying hobby and I didn't feel that there would be a huge demand for this book.  I figured I'd get a book that's been sitting in a warehouse for a while as Amazon said only four left in stock.  I ordered it on November 4th and it arrived on the 6th.  The last page shows the print date:




Surprised I didn't burn my fingers from it being hot off the press.

The AbstruseMark

My copy is from ‘98….. Original publish date was 1988 as indicated in the Publishing Data on the same page…. Still not that old considering the long history of rubber power….

Yes, rubber FF is not as popular as it once was due to the advance of technology and large open areas less accessible than they used to be…. I think there will always be a little core following just because it’s so fundamental (quick, cheap, easy) with model airplanes ….
For me recently, Just for nostalgia  

A couple years ago, I bought a copy for my son off amazon or somewhere. Ex-library copy and they made it a hardcover.
He's almost done with this Euler DII. https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=12376 It's done except for wheels, engine, and prop. Wheels he'll be making following RDW777 recent post. Engine will be lasered in balsa. The plan shows a double row, but photos of the airframe indicate it was a single row. The plan deviates from the 2 photos we found online of the plane, but not much, not surprising all things considered. It's a good looking airplane. Photo when were done.

That’s pretty cool Greg, Yes would like to see a photo when it’s complete…. I could see myself building scale Peanuts if/when I can’t see r/c…

Robert

That is a cool looking FF Bi plane , yes photo when done

New’s and others recent threads on rubber FF inspired me to finish up “Commando “ that had been on hold for awhile…The blue and yellow is India ink, The prop is covered with brown Esaki tissue…
The graphics are from Keith Morgan’s coroplast PT-19 trainer…There is a softball field in the city park I will try and fly it in …. Not a competition model, Just a few lazy circles

Now that is way cool. In regards to the setup on the prop, is that what is known as a Montreal stop?

The Commando looks good and different to me . and using Indian ink is unusual too / where or what gave you that idea ?

It is very interesting and good idea to use china ink on covering.

I used wide chisel pointed permanent marker on balsa sheet. It is lightest coloring technic for balsa sheets.

https://www.sharpie.com/markers/permanent-markers/sharpie-permanent-markers-chisel-tip/SAP_1927322.html

Thanks Ken, It’s just a gadget to let the prop freewheel after the motor runs down…. The spring pushes the shaft forward as the rubber has less tension until the drive pin pops out of its socket…The loop on the front of the shaft can also be used for winding…The rubber bands to the nose block just help to hold it tight to the fuse so any shims used for trimming don’t move or fall out….

I saw the ink in a craft store Eric and it sorta reminded me of some of the old pre colored kits or ready to fly’s from a long time ago so I thought I would give a try… It didn’t add hardly any weight…. Applied with a cotton ball the yellow went on great… Had to be more careful with the blue, It seems to show overlaps and glue seams more… Also part of the experiment was a clear spray sealer meant for sealing pencil drawings…

The markers are a great idea too Levent…One thing you can try with that method is mark your color borders with a ball point pen directly on the wood…The ink from the pen will keep the dye from the marker from crossing…. I’ve got a couple of catapult gliders I did like that….

Sorry again for no new pictures just yet, but fuselage is now mostly done. Just got to make the front 'nose' yet. Too much other stuff going on right now that hobbies are not my number one priority, but try to do even a little if I can.

Pictures not worthy of my latest mistake......

So last night, I went to make my noseblock, and that required me cutting out a small square of the 1/16" balsa from the nose and gluing it to a 1/4" piece of balsa to trim for the final shape. The plan was to use the piece cut out as it would fit perfectly, as well as for the noseblock to sit square and 'lock-up' to the nose. Very easy and simple process, right? Well, I was able to single handedly mess that one up in rather good fashion! Cut the piece of 1/4" oversized so I can cut to final shape when the small 1/16" piece is dry and I can line it up and mark it. Easy, peasy! Take the piece of 1/4", rough mark the location for the smaller 1/16" piece. Done! Apply a small amount of wood glue to the 1/16" piece and set on the marks made on the 1/4" piece. No sweat! Think for a second that my clamp *may* leave a mark on the outside of the 1/4" piece, so I put a small piece of hardwood on the face of it. Well, today, I went to work on it and cut out my noseblock. To my horror, when I unclamped it, I was proud of myself for putting the hardwood piece as it did not damage it at all. When I flipped it over and saw the backside, the 1/16" piece was I think less than 1/32" thick now with the added cross grid marks also embossed from my clamp! I sure did not think that it would have been such a problem. So I just cut it off and made a new piece. Clamped and glued, hardwood protection now on both sides as well as a clamp that is not as strong as the previous one. Lesson learned!

Over in the Vintage and Old Timers section of RCGroups they do a build-off of some sort each half of the year. The second half of 2023 was for designs published in AeroModeller magazine or one of its subsidiaries, and at last 50 years old. I only found out about this at the end of November, and decided I'd give it a try. I knew I'd not have a lot of time, and I plain just have too many models hanging around. So, i picked a simple free flight model. I chose this one because it has moveable wings, tail, and nose so that I could use it to learn more about trimming free flight models. Here's the build thread on RCG:

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4456583-Mini-Tutor-for-MagMan2-Finished-and-flown!


The Old Tyme Mark

Nice going, Mark. This is the first time I saw a photo of a PBJ sandwich as part of the build.

Looks really good Mark… All sheet are tough little birds…I’ve built a couple of things with that group before… About the same folks in the FF forum, Friendly and very helpful…. Enjoy trimming “Tudor” out …. I’ll bet it will fly really good …