No Action??????

[Chuck Feldman]

WWWARBIRD  says there is not enough posts. So I am going to write a post about something.

Number one is that this is the best Forum and I believe the leaders are doing a good job.

Heres a question for you boys.

Did any of you play with swing gliders as a kid?
Whats a swing glider? It is a balsa glider with a washer on one wing tip and a string on the other. Now you would just swing it around. It was a good toy, was fun to make and it was cheap to make. They where good wind fliers.

[Andrew Hathaway]

Never did anything quite like that, but I did go through a short phase involving Peck ROG's...  Nothing quite like flying an ROG outside.  Got to retrieve it off of at least three different roofs.  Also I put together a small extremely overweight glider out of scrap balsa.  With about 2oz of lead in the nose it would really sail if you got some momentum in the launch.  Think I gave up on that one the first time it sailed head-on into the side of the garage.  I'll never forget the sound of 2oz of lead hitting siding.  I goofed around with a lot of stuff in the backyard growing up.

[Jim Thomerson]

There is an article in an old MAN , Threadit,  about making a CL swing airplane flown on a loop of thread.  The thread goes through lead tubes on the wing and back to a toothpick piece stuck through the elevator for a pull-pull.  Make the loop about the length to the floor with you hand above your head.  No handle , just hold the end of the loop around your hand and do figure 8's, loops and inverted.  I have accumulated various dime-store gliders with the idea of making threadit's out of them, but they are still NIP .  I think this would be a fine way for a new CL flier to learn how to do various maneuvers real cheap.

[Tom Dugan]

When I was young, all we could afford was the washer and a piece of string.  Neither glides very well and hurt like he!! when my sister took it from me and hit me me with it.

Long ago I had a toy helicopter similar to a vertibird but a bit more elaborate.  It was made by Marx or Hasbro.  It was tethered by a counter balanced rod.  The Pilot controlled its up, down, forward, or reverse motion by two control sticks (collective & cyclic).  It even had an operable hoist for those emergency rescues. 

I have never seen one since except the cheaper Vertibird.  I believe this toy caused my interest in flying which led me to control line, Hueys in the Army, and now back to control line.

Thomas

[L0U CRANE]

Chuck,

I have occasionally flown some whip-powered models - which are just a bit more complicated than what you describe.

Might have been AJ once offered a whip-control model. There've been plans for these in magazines. I think there's an F84 semi-scale plan at Dave Fritzkie's site.

With a short dowel (24-36" with a line guide) to extend 'reach', these can be flown on surprisingly long lines, and with elevator control, can be purt-near fully aerobatic.

[john e. holliday]

Blackhawk Models has several whip control kits.  I have one ready to go.  DOC Hollliday

[Paul Taylor]

Yes I have made a few swing gliders. But we call them whip-its.

Both my boys had them also. I think I saw one laying in the garage the other day, still on the fishing pole.