Has someone put together a page of line attachment methods for control line?  I know of:

• "When we were kids", "plain ol'", etc. -- i.e. just loop the leadouts through the bell crank and have at it.  It works well for beginners because the plane will crash long before anything wears out.
• "Brickhaus's Doghouse" -- brass tubing over the leadout loops, protecting the leadouts from the B.C., and the B.C. from the leadouts
• The two-layer bellcrank thingie, where you have two thin sheets of hard stuff (aluminum is what I've seen) sandwiching end-grain balsa or other soft, light material.  The leadouts get little teardrop-shaped bushings that ride on 4-40 or similar sized bolts that go through the hard stuff.
• "Button" style -- I know about this from glancing in the rule books, but couldn't sketch one if my life depended on it.

Are there others?  The middle two ones both seem to depend on keeping the leadouts stationary with respect to a bushing, which then provides a nice bearing surface for the bellcrank (or pin).  They both look like great trades for work committed vs. longevity gained.  The 'button' style is used by combat fliers who don't use leadouts, per se, at all.  The "plain ol'" style is a good way to get a plane in the air quickly, and to save money on materials costs in kits.

Randy:

Got pictures?

Tim,

At home somewhere. I scout around later.

Well, hurry up about it. We're all waiting.

The last few planes I built all used a bellcrank/leadout setup from Tom Morris products. Leadouts go through brass tubing then the tubes get bent through the BC in a "U". I guess it's close to the Brickhaus style. Looks pretty bulletproof to me.

Oddly, the NoblARFs have a rather cute little wire dingus that connects the BC to the LO's. It could be easily improved...and who knows about the quality of the materials they used? What I envisioned (before the NoblARFs hit the market) was 1/16" wire with a pigtail aimed toward the LO guide. An eyelet and copper wire would fix the "clip" and LO into a unit. This would prevent flexing of the cable and prevent the clip from hanging up on ribs and stuff.
  Steve

Randy,

Fantastic wing structure and craftsmanship! The way I build, I would have started that wing ~5-6 times...after being stumped on  . When it comes to finesse, I am an elephant in a Yadro shop That is why combat is so easy to me. Line up 10-15 planes and build. Don't have to be pretty. But I droll when I see you guys and your masterpieces. Makes me want to do the challenge more so than Combat ( no creativity, just flying) Kudos 

hi Tim,

It seems that most either use a method like Tom Morris, or like Brett's.  The most I have seen were the "Morris" type.  It is sufficient for anything that will last say, oh, 200 years...........

Solid .032 run through the nylon bellcranks do not wear after about 500 flights. (that's the most I personally know of).  There was absolutely no evidence of either wearing at that point.

The major problem was in the old unbushed Perfect, Veco, Fox, and early Brodak bellcranks where stranded wire was run through them.  The wire would either saw through the aluminum, or the aluminum edge would wear the strands, either way causing a catastrophic failure.  The new molded BCs have almost eliminated that, and running stranded wires through the brass does eliminate it.

The problem these days is terminations causing stress risers which fatigue and break the wire.

Big Bear