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Aviation History
1912
1912 - 1184.PDF
[fjjGHf DECEMBER 14, 1912. duration, distance, and speed over (say) 100 yards. Each club to furnish drawings and particulars as to weight, pitch of screws, number of strands of rubber, &c. (or type of motor if a rubber one be not used), and an important factor—the conditions of the air, when the test was carried out be noted. The times, distances, to be signed by two witnesses, not competing. These tests would give interesting data as to type (loaded elevator, &c.) and efficiency of planes, propellers (if number of turns be stated slip percentage can be obtained) and of the most efficient typs i>f machine in general. R.o.g. models should double all results and single propeller machines add, .say, '25 of the results. The foicgoing is, of course, only a sort of summary of the scheme, and model club members would no doubt be able to add to the details. Mr. B. Dennis (Hampstead) writes:—The scheme of standardising a model is just what is wanted. If all the best results were brought together and a reliable model establi hed, I think it would be the means of reviving the enthusiasm of many a model maker who is sick of repeated failures. The Souih-Eastern Model Aero Club, Mr. A. B. Clark, writing to thank us for the notice in-erted in last week's issue, says that as a result they have already got together a good number of supporters, viz , about 30—which, amongst other things, is a proof of the vivlue of FLIGHT as an advertising medium. Mr. Clark thinks there are still others in the Bromley (Kent) and Beckenham district who might like to join, there l)eing especial facilities in those neighbourhoods in the way of good open spaces, and suitable sheets of water. Some Points About a Modjl Workshop. By II. SIBI.EY. A decided advantage about model aeroplane building is that the tools required are neither expensive nor mtny. A small vice, a fret-saw, a chisel, a small plane, a hand drill, a soldering-iron, hammer, pair of cutting pliers, and last but not least a small pair of scales, being all that is practically necessary, betides which there is great scope for the inventive faculty, and up to the present there is no hard and fast rule as how to do this or that ; it is left to each aeromodellist to work out his own ideas. This is, to my mind, one of the failings of model clubs: that is the incentive to copy ihe member's model that performs the best. Howoflen you find that in one club one type predominates, and in another some other. The first necessity in a model workshop is tidiness ; there is no excuse for an untidy heap of rubbish, tools, &c, scattered in all directions, model parts lying about the floor, aero- nautically speaking, a bois cassi. It is a good plan to hang up model parts on the walls, as this will make the walls of the work shop useful, and it will tend to keep the floor from becoming a general rubbish heap. I wonder how many models have finished their career through being accidentally trodden on. I must confess in my early flying days many of my own models suffered in this way. I now keep my propellers (neatly arranged) on one part of the wall, planes on another part, fuselages on yet another part; if any reader has not tried this method, he does not know how well it improves his workshop. The workshop should also have its designing department. Personally, I derive much pleasure in always making plans and sketches of every model turned out, and I think that is why so many models are badly constructed ; it is due, in the first place, to lack of thought being given to designing and thinking out each part separately. Some of my fellow modellists spend hours in explaining how such and such a thing is going to be made, when a well drawn plan and a few sketches would show up certain errors, which without such would not have been apparent until much time and labour batf been lost. Plans are also very handy for future reference bSSides giving one some ides of the work accomplished. It is advisable to always have a gcod supply of materials, for it is very irritating, just as you are getting on with the model, to find you lack this or that which for the time being puts an end to your work. It is almost needless to say, always have the best materials that is within reach of your pocket. In this direction it is surprising how many ithings can be adopted for models from household odd ments. Never scamp the smallest part of your work ; the old saying, " The more you put into a thing, the more you will get out of "it," applies probably more to the making of model aeroplanes than to anything else Model Flying In America, scale drawings and a brief account of We give this week Mr Armour Selley's model—which is stated to have made a duration of 158 sees, at the Oakwood Heights Aviation Park last October The chief particulars are : Length of fuselage, 37 ins. ; main plane, 30 in?, by 5 ins. ; elevating plane, 14 tns by 4 ins. Both planes are covered with silk, and entirely made of bamboo ; twin propellers, 12J ins. diam., 36 ins. pitch ; speed, 450 r.p.m. ; DURATION MODELL 155 Sf-CS. 14 strands of \ in. flat rubber ; weight of model, motive power, 5i ozs. The Model Aero Club of Summit held a contest on October 20th last, in which there were contests for duration (hand-launched), distance (hand-launched), duration (r.o.g.), and distance (r.o.g.). The secretary of the club, Mr. G. F. Forster, sends us the following results: Distance (hand-launched), 1st, W. Lauder, 1,153 ft.: 2nd, A Selley, 1,027 ft- Duration (hand-launched), 1st, W. Lauder, 143 sees. ; 2nd, A. Selley, 127 sees. Distance (r.o.g.), 1st, G. A. Page, jr., 953 ft. ; 2nd, F. Schultz, 720 ft. Duration (r.o.g.), 1st, C. Myers, 73^ sees. ; 2nd, A. Selley, 65 sees. The details of Mr. Lauder's machine are : —Length of fuselage, 40 ins. ; width at rear, 12 ins. ; rear wing, 27 ins. by 7 ins. ; forward wing, 12 ins. by 5 ins. ; propellers (two), 12 in. The spines are oval in cross section and taper from \ in. the centre to \ in. at the forward end, and f\ in. at the rear end. The tip-angle of the propellers is 44°. The power consists of 14 strands of £ in. flat rubber. The weight of the model, including the rubber motors is 4! ozs. " Rubberine " was used to lubricate the rubber. The club has not made many hydro-aeroplanes, but expects to next spring. The records of the club are as follows :— Hand-launched: Distance, Carter Tiffany, 1,964 ft. ; duration, W. Lauder, 143 sees. Off the Ground: Distance, C. Myers, 703 ft. ; duration, C. Myers, 73J sees. Hydroaeroplane off water—W. Lauder, 18 sees. Single propeller tractor model—Hardee Johnson, 259 ft. At the present time there are few, if any, models of the single stick type in use in America, where model aviators all seem to believe in the triangular fuselage. Commenting on Mr. Forster's interesting communication and the apparently remarkable scries of records which it exhibits, We desire to know more about the nature of the ground at or on which thBSS St&tthng records were made. Whether it was (as at Greenford or other model flying grounds round London) a, practically speaking, perfectly level ground or the top of a hill ? Such terms as Oakwood ' Heights," " Summit" Model Aero Club, certainly suggest such, as also do the results. Presuming this to be the case, it only remains for some English aeromodellist to go up to the top of the Blackpool Tower (about 500 ft.) and launch one of our best duration 'flyers' Irom it to set up another " world's record." Unless we know full particulars—including the nature of the ground on which such records are made—wc must respectfully decline to publish such in future, as the whole thing becomes in our opinion a mere farce. In the English distance official records deduction is also made for wind velocity. If the American records were made on flat ground then we must indeed congratulate them on the results. 1184
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