Outside the circle control system ?

[Allan Perret]

Several years ago I remember seeing an advertisement for a "remote" c/l control system which allowed pilot to control plane sitting in a chair on outside of circle.  Trying to determine if that system is still available or not.  Anyone have any info on this or know if it was ever proven reliable ?

[Randy Cuberly]

Several years ago I remember seeing an advertisement for a "remote" c/l control system which allowed pilot to control plane sitting in a chair on outside of circle.  Trying to determine if that system is still available or not.  Anyone have any info on this or know if it was ever proven reliable ?

I'm not entirely sure if it's still available but seriously doubt it.

The guys that designed and marketed it brought one to Tucson many years ago to demonstrate it.  It did indeed work and several folks here including yours truly tried it.  It was set up for 1/2 A only at that time but the guys said they planned to develop a larger one that could take the pull of larger airplanes.  While there was some interest among the CL fliers here in Tucson the comments tended to be negative that it lost the direct contact feel that most CL fliers desired and was just kind of a gimmick!  Personally I had no interest in it but thought it would be interesting to kids etc. outside the CL community.  It seemed marketable but still had some minor bugs that needed to be worked out.

Oddly enough they went away and I personally never heard about it again.  Someone in the club  (Cholla Choppers MAC) said they had seen an ad for it and that's the last it was discussed here. 

All this occurred at least 10-12 years ago (possibly considerably longer than that).

They also discussed the possibility of "Liability" being a problem and seemed to be a bit troubled about that!

Randy Cuberly

[Allan Perret]

Not for me personally, but we have several older types in our club who are either not mobile enough or have issues with getting dizzy.  That system if still available might be their only possibility of ever flying c/l again..

[peabody]

Young Daniel has one....it's an antique and he has flown larger planes with it.....Mayhaps Palko or Dennis M will fill us in?

Have fun!

[eric rule]

The outside the circle system Randy mentioned was later recreated into a full size stunt system. The company was called P3 Models and was located in Corona, CA.

I had the opportunity to work with the two brothers who owned P3 on a number of projects. Got to fly my Jamieson on the full size system a couple of times. It actually worked quite well as I was able to complete the OTS pattern with no problems at all.

Initial flight had a tiny bit of delay in control input. Upon investigation we found that this was caused by one of the rollers between the pylon and the ground had bad bearings. This was causing drag on that control line. Once we changed out the bad roller the delay disappeared.

The idea did not catch on because they only sold 4 of the systems. Unfortunately one of the fellows died a few years ago and the other brother decided to close the company.

Eric Rule

[Mark Weiss]

When I sought to get CL added to the Joe Nall Week, I was asked to prepare a CL airplane that could be flown on a pylon by radio. I did that and we flew it at the Nall 5 years ago. I still have that P3 system from California. I can use it either way, by handle or by RC with a specially prepared airplane.

Mark Weiss

[Jim Carter]

   Hello Allen!  Yes, it was called Spin-Less by Marcrist Industries and I can tell you it works.  I believe they were producing two different systems but I purchased the 1/2A variant.  It was fun and easy enough to use.  My kids are now grown and moved away and there's no grandkids in the area or other little ones to work with so I'll pack it up and ship it to you for $45 delivered, if you're interested.  I don't believe you'll be disappointed 

[Skip Chernoff]

I've seen Danny use the system you were referring to and it works. It's a real antique,and very cool.

[Jim Carter]

   Greetings Allen!  Here's some pics for you.