Graham Knight seen here at Halton
2001
is the Raynes Park MAC Secretary
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Graham Knight seen here at Halton
2001
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is the Raynes Park MAC Secretary
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As the aim of this article is to introduce complete newcomers, and those whose previous experience has only been in the field of R/C, to the mysteries of Free Flight and Vintage aeromodelling, I think it best to explain how I came to be here myself.
I started building model aeroplanes in the late 70s, around the age of 7 or 8, my first models would have been the old Sleek Streak rubber powered sticks, progressing fairly quickly to the simple KeilKraft and Veron kits (rubber and glider), and then on to the small scale models by the same manufacturers, all this with rather mixed results!
At the age of 11 I acquired my first engine, a second hand 0.75cc DC Merlin diesel, over the next couple of years, as my only engine, this flew in a variety of models, F/F and Control Line which was something new to me. Eventually I got a bigger engine, a Mills 1.3cc diesel, again second hand, I started to build bigger models and to think about the possibilities of R/C. I had a friend who was also interested in model planes, the trouble was he was an awful builder, but his family was considerably better off than mine and one Xmas he was given a set of single channel radio, MacGregor I believe, and he was anxious to do something with it.
I was in the middle of building a F/F Veron Deacon for my Mills and he persuaded me to put his radio in it. We both learned to fly R/C with this model and later progressed to a KeilKraft Super 60 with two channel radio and a bigger engine, a 2.46cc ED Racer this time.
I spent the next decade building bigger and better R/C models of all types, scale models were always my favourite though and I especially liked the WW1 types with their slow flight and mild aerobatic abilities. They became more and more complex, expensive, and time consuming to build, this was fine as I had always enjoyed the building process as much as the flying.
Then came a big turning point for me, I was at the Old Warden Scale Weekend in 1983 when I saw something that really caught my eye, an old guy flying a very old looking design with R/C. The old guy turned out to be Ben Buckle, one of the pioneers of the UK Vintage movement, and the model was his latest plan, the Long Cabin, a 1930s American cabin model designed by a chap called Long, hence the name.
This instantly whisked me back in a sort of time warp to the days when I flew much simpler models, yet somehow I remembered it being much more fun back then. It had all become too complex and serious now, the loss of a model in a crash represented many months work, sometimes more than a year, and often several hundred pounds investment, I suddenly got the urge to go back to my roots.
I went and had a chat with Ben who had a stall there that weekend, the Long Cabin at 84" span was too big for me at the time, I was driving an MGB Roadster back then and would have had problems fitting such a large model in it! I settled on the KeilKraft Junior 60, which was the predecessor of the Super 60 that I had built years earlier, and I bought the plan there and then.Less than a month later it was finished, covered in Vintage white Solartex, 3 function R/C fitted, and an old Enya 19 up front. It flew like a dream! I loved the way I could take my hands off the controls once airborne and just sit and watch it circling away on its own. I caught the odd thermal with it and just cut the engine and let it glide, but always having the luxury of R/C to bring it back to my feet at the end of the flight, and also to allow me to fly it at the local R/C field which was too small for F/F.
I soon realised that I never used the elevator so I removed the servo and fixed the surface, a while later someone gave me an old ED MkII 2cc diesel, I fitted this instead of the Enya and removed the throttle servo too. Around this time I was introduced to Chobham Common, an area big enough to fly it F/F and out came the rudder servo, Rx, and batteries, and back came something I had forgotten about, exercise!
I had completely forgotten about retrieving F/F models and how much hard work it could be, but after a few months I got used to it again, it became fun and I actually started to feel the benefits, I hadn't realised what a couch potato I had become flying R/C!
At Chobham I met more people flying Vintage F/F, was introduced to many more designs, engines, materials and construction techniques, and most importantly SAM, the Society of Antique Modellers, a worldwide organization dedicated to the preservation of Vintage model aircraft. The rest, as they say, is history.
Nearly 20 years on 90% of my modelling is Vintage F/F, I have gone back and re-created many of the models I built as a kid, but being a better builder now they came out much better and are more successful fliers. I've also re-created those first R/C models, the Deacon and Super 60, as close to my originals as I can manage.
Inevitably I found certain types of Vintage model suit me better than others, and I have come to specialise in Spark Ignition (of which more later) and pre-1930s rubber models from the days before Balsa was common in this country. I turn out models faster now than I used to in my R/C days, and it costs less too, even taking into account the occasional purchase of Vintage engines which often cost a couple of hundred pounds apiece (don't worry, you don't HAVE to spend this much!).
To me, much of the fun of Vintage flying lies in tracking down obscure designs that haven't been built for decades, half forgotten classics from a bygone era, and materials and building techniques almost lost in the mists of time. It's all about history, and it's a living history, not just some dusty old model sitting in a glass case in a museum somewhere, but real flying models doing exactly what they did well over half a century ago when the hobby was young.
I hope this short story manages to convey something of the attraction of Vintage, enough perhaps for some of you to give it a try. I think you will find it a rewarding experience, and will probably discover many skills that are applicable to other fields of aeromodelling, building and trimming techniques especially.
In time I will expand on this article and cover some of the specifics, which organizations to join and how to contact them, where to find obscure materials, plans, engines etc… and where to meet other Vintage modellers and fly at some of the biggest model flying events in the world.
~Some modelling books and magazines from the era~
Article by Graham Knight the Raynes Park MAC Secretary
and member of SAM35 & 1066
22th October 2001
We would like to thank Raynes Park Model Aircraft Club
for some of the pictures used in this article
