Wow! Time flies! I can't believe how long it's taken me to accomplish what I intended for this column, and I'm less tha half way.

So, here's what I have.

The Demon is my second attempt at covering with what Laminator Warehouse describes as PET Standard Laminating Film. The product I used is 1.5 mil thick and came on a roll 15" wide and 500' long. It was a closeout I bought for $26.00 including shipping. They carry this product in 500' rolls in widths from 9" to 27".

The first model I covered with this product was a Voodoo. Because I was unfamiliar with the product, I covered the tips separately to be certain I would not end up with wrinkles. This turned out to be unnesessary. A bit of trial and error showed that the best way to achieve the silkspan-looking finish was to stand on a ladder so I could hold the spray can of Rustoleum white primer about 20" from the surface and spray a light mist coat on the adhesive side. I let this dry for about 10 minutes, took it to the model, then laid out and sprayed the next piece of covering so it could dry while I ironed on the first piece. I found I could simply iron the material on even though I had lightly painted the adhesive side. I was careful to leave as few wrinkles as possible when I covered the model.

With that said, these are probably the worst possible tips to cover without using a separate piece of covering. I was amazed at how easily the rather large wrinkles on the tips shrunk away with low heat from my heat gun. There is no paint on this model. The red in the center is some very old low temperature film I bought decades ago. The black trim is EconoKote. The booms and stab are covered with the clear film. The engine mount is finished with slow cure epoxy smeared on with my finger. The ancient technology model flies very well and could be used for speed limit combat with the addition of an engine safety cable and an external shutoff. The covering can be found at: the Laminator Warehouse website.

I am fortunate enough to have the original magazine article for the Demon. The most interesting thing in the article to me was Riley's view on how the slow combat rules should be written. This was before there was an AMA slow combat event. Riley proposed that the event should allow regular combat models, and the speed of those models should be limited. Boy do I wish the AMA competition committe had listened.

Fun with combat

I was invited to do a talk on combat at the annual Western Oregon Control-Line Flyers club meeting this year. As part of that talk, I assembled this group of models. You will note that they include various kind of sport models including some board wing 1/2As. I noted that combat isn't just for high performance models and highly skilled flyers. Anyone can have fun flying combat. Make up your own rules. To start, don't even allow loops. Just hang some streamers with long strings on the back of some board wing 1/2As and have fun. As you progress, keep the rules restrictive enough that you don't destroy your models. The idea is to have fun.

Basswood fuselages for fast

I have built my first three fast models using basswood instead of poplar for the fuselages. So far, there does not seem to be the problem with the motor mount compressing as the models using poplar did. Now it's time to build some using the laminating film for covering. If that all works out, I should be able to build a fast combat model less engine and shutoff for under $7.00 each. If you add my labor at the slow pace I work at $5.00 per hour, that works out to about $67.00 each. Only a bit more than I can buy them from Yuvenko for.

ASP engines

I am now the proud owner of one of the latest version of the ASP .25 engines. The one with the remote needle assembly. The first thing I did with it was removed the backplate and hosed the inside out with hot water. That left what appeared to be some crap in the front of the crank bore. I wiped that our with a paper towel, the dried everything and oiled it up thoroughly. I replaced the backplate, and removed the head. I noticed that the combustion chamber looked a bit rough, so I polished it with some rouge on a felt wheel with my Dremel tool. Since I was too lazy to make a venturi for it, I put a short piece of aluminum under the barrel cam screw for the carburetor and tightened it down to lock the carburetor at full open. I have six flights on it using 10% Sig Champion fuel, a K&B 1L plug, and a Master Airscrew 9x5 prop. With the needle set for full power, this works out to 80 mph mounted on a Dogfighter. So far, I have not had any problems and the plug still looks like new. there is a lot more power available, and a noticeable weight reduction, by making a proper venturi insert. If I ever get around to that, I'll report the results.

More miscellaneous stuff

I got the carbon fiber 1/2A props from Eliminator Props to test. After about two hours to sand off the flashing and balance them, I've lost my enthusiasm for trying them. The APC 4.6x3 and the Yuvenko Green props both work very well with none of the work.

Interest seems to be growing for what Ken Burdick calls Graffiti Combat. Some of the Texans are building models and the event is being held at the Southwest Regionals. I'm looking forward to hearing results from that contest. Their rules seem to be substantially different from those of the Canadians.

Time for me to get back to the garage and start building again.

-- Gene