monoline

[Dave Nyce]

I've heard of a "monoline" control line setup.  Does anyone here know how that works?  How is the plane controlled?

Dave

[Bill Little]

HI Dave,

A very quick and simple synopsis:  The *Handle* has a rod going through it that is a very coarse thread, along with a slider.   When you move the slider it twists the single control wire running to the plane.  There is a control system that goes in the wing consisting of gears which convert the twist to a linear motion.  A definite advantage was that the lines never got wrapped up!

I believe it is still popular (along with some modified versions) for speed events.  It seemed a little problematic for most when it came to trying to fly  pattern with the set up.

[don Burke]

Monoline as was produced by Stanzel uses a twisted wire.  It is a two handed system. The handle has an about 30" long double twisted heavy gauge wire with a bearing in the handle to take the load.  The twisted wire has a "button" on it that twists the wire as it is pushed back and forth.  In the airplane is either a worm gear type cam or wire scroll that is driven by the twisted control wire or in the modern speed airplane a "torque unit" that has a horn similar to an elevator horn connecting a pushrod to the control surface horn.

Speed flyers use them for the lower drag of the single wire.  Although the required wires are larger per engine size than for two lines the drag is still lower.  For Stunt and even at one time combat, the advantage is that full control is maintained regardless of whether the line is slack or not.  This allows flying on VERY long lines if you have the space.

At one time the speed flyers were using a geared type handle that was one-handed.  Pictures of monoline stuff from the early days of FAI speed can be seen on Pete Soule's F2A/F2C web site.  Here's a link to get started going in that direction, click on the SOCAL SPEED square.

  http://www.microair.info/SCAR/

I was at Whittier Narrows recently, Dale Kirn's (mister monoline) son Joe was flying a PA monoline equipped airplane.  He had no problem doing the entire pattern.  When I asked him if he saw any difference between monoline and U-control he said, "I wouldn't know.  I never flown a U-control airplane."

[don Burke]

Last sentence shoulda been, "I never FLEW a u-control airplane."

[Willis Swindell]

A picture is worth a thousand words.
Willis

[Dave Nyce]

Thanks!

Dave

[Dave Nyce]

Thanks Ty.  I'd be interested to see the article, if it's not too much trouble.

Dave

[Dave Nyce]

Which other thread was that?  I didn't see it.

Dave

[George]

If you watch someone fly monoline you will find that sometimes the wire will retain some twist and you need to re-center for neutral. Either Dale or Joe Kirn mentioned it when flying a demo.

George

[Jim Kraft]

What happens is every time you do a loop the control spool moves one twist on the twisted control shaft. If you do 7 or 8 loops in one direction, the control spool will need to be spun back to the center of the twisted control shaft. This is done while the model is in level flight.

[Dave Nyce]

Thanks again for all of that helpful info.

Dave

[Dave Nyce]

Thanks Ty.  I received the Flying Models article that you sent me about monoline.  It was very informative.  Now I understand it better. 

From the photos and description, it seems to me that several revolutions at the control-end of the monoline would be required in order to input a strong "up-input", for example.  Some wind-up would be needed to reach a desired torque, plus the position change of the control surface.  So, it seems to me that the monoline would introduce some play in the controls, as compared to a two-line system.  Is that right?  And if doing a loop, the loop would be taking away one turn, so I suppose that would have to be compensated by the control input.

Dave