CARBON FIBER DISCUSSION

[Piotrsko]

If you know ALL the tricks the pro people use, everything is easy. I SANDED the tips on a foamy spitfire once (wont do that again) back in the '70s. The sheeting looked like poop but the profile was dead on.

Yes we had foamies back in the '70s. For people that had more money than brains annd didn't care what they looked like. Have a still flying Spirit of '76 glider all foam.

 

[Zoom Master]

If you know ALL the tricks the pro people use, everything is easy. I SANDED the tips on a foamy spitfire once (wont do that again) back in the '70s. The sheeting looked like poop but the profile was dead on.

Yes we had foamies back in the '70s. For people that had more money than brains annd didn't care what they looked like. Have a still flying Spirit of '76 glider all foam.

Foamies in the 70s ? Didnt know they had foamies back then....did you guys have electric foamies ?

 

[Thomas B]

Foamies in the 70s ? Didnt know they had foamies back then....did you guys have electric foamies ?

Sure did. Quite rare but electric was being done with a little activity in foam aircraft. Carl Goldberg made a 42” span foam trainer called the Ranger 42. This was my first electric circa 1975.

Intended for glow, but a few folks converted to electric. An Astro 05 brushed motor was a perfect press fit in the engine cutout area. Flew nicely with a Cox 6-3 or 6-4 gray prop and the 6 cell Nicard battery that came with the motor.

Would ROG from pavement. Would loop and rudder roll from a gentle dive.

No ESC. You turned on the motor with the included toggle switch and flew until the planes would no longer stay up. (Nicads didn’t mind being completely discharged.)

 

[L Edge]

In the 70's, had a Cox Sportavia glider with a TD 049 that had enough umph!! to go to about 300 ft above ground and after it shut down, got some good thermals and had a ball during the hot summer days.

In the late 70's, foam was being tested on Pattern plane's wings for problems ranging what type and shapes of foam to use, what temps to cutting at, and how to fiberglass the wing to handle many G"s and keeping the weight low. One of the grandfather's of foam usage was president of Timex and spent a fortune building foam models and use to pull the stuff out of his RV in the evenings (2 day pattern meets) and share with us his experiences. Used some of his ideas to rework pylon planes for greater strength and reduce weight which made them faster.