Hints & kinks

Model Airplane News, Aug 1999

QUICK-CHANGE ARTIST

A clip-on frequency flag made out of a Formica sample, stick-on vinyl numbers and a clothespin is convenient because unclipping the flag allows the antenna to fully collapse. It also allows you to quickly change flags, if you have a synthesized transmitter module and want to change channels.

Dave Kovensky, Albuquerque, NM

BRIGHT IDEA

Cycle your glow-plug Ni-Cd, too. A Radio Shack no. 272-1174 prefocused bulb is rated at 1.2 volts and 250mAh and will take to 4 hours to fully discharge a 1200mAh Ni-Cd cell. When the bulb is extinguished, the cell is ready to be recharged. Chris Home, Atlanta, GA

MUFFLER FIX

Muffler screws tend to be soft, and they break easily. A strong, simple solution to this is to use a length of threaded rod with a plain washer and an all-steel (no nylon insert) locknut on each end.

David Will, Fairhope, AL

LONG-NOSE CA

Extended glue tips can reach into deep recesses. Force fuel line over your glue tip, then tightly push the line into a spare plastic glue tip. When you do this, wear eye protection and keep the tip pointed away from your face. Nyrod tubingworks for this. too.

Pete Amirato, La Mesa, CA

BLUNT BLADE HOLDER

Don't throw your blunted knife blades in your shop trash can. Instead, push them through a small slit in the plastic cap of an empty CA "kicker" container or a large pill bottle. [Author's note: when my container is full, I pour the dregs of epoxy mixes onto the blades to safely encapsulate them ... a tip learned from this column.]

Randy Boyne. Berwick LA

DO THE TWIST

If you lose the plug to your fuel tank filler tube, you can use a sheet metal or machine screw. As it is twisted into the fuel line, the threads will make a fuel-tight seal.

Chris Jacobsen, Murray, UT

SLIP YOUR BIC

A ballpoint pen is a useful aid when you slide rubber tubing over a clevis.

Place the tubing onto the pen, unscrew the pen, butt the clevis up to the pen body, then slide the tube over the clevis. A smear of dishwashing liquid on the pen helps.

Dave Crisman, Banks, OR

AN OLD FLAME

Cramped cowls in small models make it difficult to use a regular size Nyrod and clevis on the throttle rod. Nylon monofilament weedeater line, held with forceps and heated in a "soft" flame, can be formed to a Z-bend, then installed in the small nylon tube used with braided cable controls. Adjust the monofilament by bending a V in the servo end of the line, then open or close the V.

Bob Gamble, Bowie, TX

ROCK FAN

Servos in large models can rock back and forth (a), resulting in sloppy pushrod motion. Attach a stabilizing link to a solidly mounted cross-member (b). Make the link out of a 4-40 screw (c), a ball link (d) and a 1/2-inch (13mm) servo arm screw (e). A spacer (f) might also be required. The servo arm will still rotate, but the servo will not be able to rock.

Dariush Zand, Issaqua, WA

A SOFT TOUCH

Jack makes sanders of various radiuses that are ideal for sanding fillets and similar inside curves. Fold and CA tack-glue various thicknesses of sponge foam, then fasten self-adhesive sandpaper to the pad.

Jack Dundas, Ridgeville, Ontario, Canada

INSIDE INFORMATION

Jay puts his canopy framing on the inside. He cuts narrow strips of painted covering material, then glues the strips into place with a clear-setting canopy glue. The result is a sharp-edged, colored framing that you won't snag as you clean the model.

Jay Beery Brownsburg, IN

PANT

HANDLING

Cut this gadget out of corrugated cardboard, then jam it inside each wheel pant so that you have a useful handle while spray painting. The hole in the handle allows you to hang the pant up to dry.

Norman Franzino, Royal Palm Beach, FL

SEND IN YOUR IDEAS. Model Airplane News will give a free one-year

subscription or one-year renewal, if you already subscribe) for each idea used in "Hints & Kinks." Send a rough sketch to Jim Newman c/o Model Airplane News,100 East Ridge, Ridgefield, CT 06877-606 USA BE SURE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS ARE CLEARLY PRINTED ON EACH SKETCH, PHOTO AND NOTE YOU SUBMIT. Because of the number of ideas we receive, we can't acknowledge each one, nor can we return unused material.