The cover of the June issue said 'Airborne Early Warning with our in-flight Nicad monitor'. Wow, I thought this should be good. I turned to the contents page and yes, sure enough, there it was again, 'Build this airborne nicad monitor' so there couldn't be any mistake.
I quickly turned to page 20, anxious to find out just what revolutionary principal was involved. There it was again, 'This neat little airborne nicad monitor'. I raced through the article, but whats this, no instructions?
Surely now Alec, having whetted our appetites, you are not going to keep us waiting until next month to find out how it is used are you? The idea is so good and I cannot imagine just how it can be possible to use it to check your battery condition while the model is actually in the air.
Lets leave aside fatuous suggestions involving the use of a long ladder mounted on the back of a lorry, or a trained budgie being sent up to look and report back.
Well yes, it could be used on slope soarers in a really stiff breeze when the model could be made to hover alongside you for a moment and it could be used on helicopters. However, if the use was so restricted, surely it would have said so in the article rather than leading us all on so badly.
No, it must be something really revolutionary and, like all good ideas, probably very obvious once you know.
Of course it is just possible that what they really mean is on-board nicad monitor.
It seems that Gordon Counsell builds the wings first. So do I, or at least I used to. The problem is that I like building wings, am much less enthusiastic about building fuselages - especially the front bit - and loath tail units. So, I build the wings and then come to a grinding halt.
Having come to terms with this situation, I evolved a system of starting with the tail, moving onto the fuselage and only building the wings when they were absolutely essential to complete the fuselage. I did on one occasion have three models which were all complete - except for the front end!
Our common acquaintance, Tom Jolley (me and Gordon's, remember?), likes building bodies (fed up with typing fuselage) and not wings. He is now domiciled back in the UK for a while so perhaps we can come to some arrangement - I saw him first!
Anyone out there like building tails?
Talking about building, have you noticed the same change in trend that I have? Many years ago I was constantly amazed at how light some people managed to make their models. Curiously enough many of my acquaintances regard me to be a light builder, but while I do occasionally produce a fairly light model, my average seems to be about average - if you see what I mean.
Over the last few years the trend seems to be creeping steadily upwards and I have recently seen models which their owners proudly regard as being very light yet which to me feel like they are built out of sheet lead!
I don't think my perspective is changing since I know my own models are tending to follow the same trend. One of my recent efforts was a vintage C/L stunt model which, despite using every trick in the book to reduce weight came out at exactly the advertised weight of the original design. Thirty years ago I built at least three and they all weighed less without any special efforts.
One other distressing personal trend is that the recent model took some 7 months to build whereas all the earlier examples took less than a week!
This train of thought was prompted by another item in the June issue where a 'Whiplash' and a 'Mini Eros' were quoted as weighing 26 and 20 ounces. Back in the good old days of half-A pylon racing, without the benefit of mini radio gear, we used to build all sheeted two channel models and needed to carry ballast to meet the 20 ounce minimum weight rule.
I was recently shown a vintage Mercury 'Matador' with two channel gear and an OS 25 which with iron-on covering and all the other vintage bits weighed some 4 pounds. Or, as the owner put it, "only 4 pounds." Well sir, mine was built in 1957 and with Mills 1.3, Galloping Ghost and loads and loads of batteries, relays, et al plus much reinforcing sheeting weighed 2.5 pounds and everyone thought it was very heavy!
Any leaky church roofs around your way?
Having started off this month by taking the mickey out of a recent article, I shall now neatly contradict myself (it's all the rage) and tell you about a device which will actually perform the seemingly impossible task of giving an airborne test of your battery state.
Perhaps I should point out here that many of the modern PCM (whisper it) sets incorporate such a device. What we are taking about here though is a 'low-tech' add-on unit.
Some years ago the American 'R/C Modeler' published a construction article for what they called a 'model protector'. This was installed between the receiver and the throttle servo and closed the throttle if your battery voltage dropped below a preset value. Not very revolutionary, you may feel, but the clever bit was that you could override it by means of another channel, i.e. the retract switch.
So, you could either fly around waiting for your throttle to close and then flick the switch to regain control for landing, or leave the switch in the off position and operate it occasionally to see if your batteries were OK.
I was into electric flight at the time and it soon dawned on me that the unit could be used with a servo operated motor switch to turn the motor off, thus allowing the radio to be powered by the motor battery.
A batch of half a dozen units were built and have saved several models from destruction due to battery failure apart from being used in electric models. It was my intention to offer the device for sale but, strange to relate, no-one was interested. Before its time, I suppose.
Some years later, certain members of the vintage movement became aware of the unit and expressed interest. Sensing the approach of a fast buck, I gave two units away to noted personalities in the field - both magazine columnists, by the way.
One of these gentlemen was involved in the production of RPV's and fitted the unit into one, ignoring all my careful instructions in its use. Yes, you guessed, the battery voltage went low and operated the device which opened the throttle (he didn't tell his pilot about the over-ride) and SPLAT!
The other gentleman still has not tried the device.
On second thoughts, I'm not paranoid - they really are out to get me!