A look at WWI subjects

Model Airplane News, Jun 1998 by Leu, George

I became involved with flying R/C model airplanes because of my interest in history and my desire to fly WW I flying machines. I thought that if I could not fly the real thing, then why not fly a miniature replica? Over the years, my thoughts for new scale projects have often led me back to WW I models, and lately, it seems that I am not alone in this way of thinking.

A trend has developed in which scale WW I models are showing up in scale competition and doing very well. Kim Foster, Wayne Frederick, Ernie Harwood, Dick Hanson, Denny Deweese, Gary Parker and Tom Polapink are just a few of the well- known national competitors flying WW I subjects. These early vintage airplanes are also showing up at noncompetition warbird events. But why?

By talking with my flying buddies and various manufacturers at trade shows, I discovered an agreement that WW I subjects are on the increase. The answer to the "Why" question, however, is not easily defined by one specific reason.

WW I aircraft are certainly not fast subjects in the air. I would guess that 50mph is an average speed for most of the 1/5- to 1/3-scale models. Compare this to the average speed of a WW II fighter or jet model subject, and you see a large differential in the flight relaxation aspect alone.

One of the problems I remember from my early days of flying WW I aircraft involved what to do if the engine quits. Most of the earlier models were about 1/6 scale and were powered by .60-size glow engines turning 14-inch props. Most problems occurred when (not if) the engine overheated and died at an inopportune time, like when turning downwind or going around after missing a landing approach. Drag from the flying wires and blunt nose shapes usually meant a model glided like a brick and fell out of the sky like an elevator car.

Today, this is not the rule. Advances in engine setup and reliability of both glow and gasoline engines have given the WW I modeler encouragement to build that "drop-dead" scale subject. Propellers are also now available in many combinations of diameter and pitch sizes, making it hard not to find the correct prop for your engine/model combination. The benefits here are better climb performance and less overheating. Compared to 30 years ago, the WW I modelers I talk to today are a lot more relaxed when they fly.

KIT MANUFACTURERS

If you look, you'll see that there are quite a few kit manufacturers out there making WW I projects available to the modeling public. Some sources are: Proctor Enterprises*, which also offers the old VK line of WW I models and the 1/4-scale S.E.5a designed by Duncan Hutson; Glenn Torrance Models*, with its 1/4-scale Fokker D-VIII; and Hobby Supply South*, offering the Flair line of WW I aircraft kits. Plans and short kits of Mike Reeves designs are offered by Bob Holman Plans*. There are so many kits and plan packages available now that I think designing and scratch- building your own WW I design is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

ADVANTAGES

By design, earlier airplanes are much simpler to build, and there is very little fiberglass work to do other than the engine cowl. Other good points are that construction is basic wood-spruce, ply and balsa-and there are no retracts to install. Fabric finishes, while not as easy to apply as iron-on MonoKote, are a lot less labor intensive than duplicating a metal finish complete with rivets. Another important factor to consider is that it simply costs less to build a WW I model than it does to build a WW II fighter or a jet. Once you buy the plans or kit, there's little else to buy, excluding scale machine guns and vintage tires. I know my WW II fighter projects seem like bottomless money pits with all the gadgetry and mechanics needed to finish them.

Competition flyers are finding that judges are becoming more knowledgeable about WW I aircraft characteristics. Static judges understand that the original airplanes were not very well maintained and that colors do fade and that wrinkles in fabric were common. (I'm not saying you can be sloppy in your covering application-far from it; it is best to say that the typical WW I finish was not perfect.)

DOCUMENTATION

Also compared to when I first started building WW I models, scale documentation is now much more readily available. Two sources that come to mind are Squadron Publications* and Windsock* Data Files. These provide good color and markings documentation prints and 3-view drawings for many previously difficult-to-document aircraft. Even the esoteric designs of the era can be found at such places as Scale Model Research*, and having this information makes it easier on the judges-a good thing! With a little work on your part, it is possible to offer just as good and complete a documentation package as it is for someone competing with a contemporary subject.

When it comes to flying a vintage model in competition, flight judges do realize that a full-size Fokker triplane did often ground loop on landing and that most older aircraft needed to dive to gain sufficient speed to complete a loop or a roll. I think that this proper understanding by scale judges that a Fokker doesn't fly like a Phantom is a very important factor in this increased attention to the older birds.