Well Stated. Chris
> -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Benchmarks? RADS? Refinements? Designing? > From: "Harley Michaelis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Thu, November 29, 2007 4:23 pm > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > > I'm sitting here with nothing to do while waiting on some supplies. I've > been reading the current batch of messages and wondering how to make > some meaningful contribution. > > A little history. . . I've been involved in modeling since age 6 when > Lindbergh's flight to Paris got me inspired. When the big Depression hit > shortly thereafter, money for discretionary spending became > non-existent. For building materials, I cut up wood apple boxes, cedar > shingles, fence posts, bamboo rakes, lumber yard scrap and cedar cigar > boxes. Balsa? . .what was that? Glues were leftover paste and mucilage > from school and oh yeah, Lepage's 48 Hour Iron Glue. Covering material > was common tissue paper. I later discovered modeling tissue, banana oil, > silk and aircraft dope to make free flight stuff. I never heard of a kit > until I was in high school, but who had cash for those? Well, I did save > my pennies for a year and once spent $3 for a rubber-powered "cabin > model" kit. It had a folding prop and flew out of sight one day on a > thermal. Bummer. > > My point is that to have a model, it was necessary to be resourceful and > creative. I have since continually experimented and learned things, > always doing original work. The joy and satisfaction of making new > discoveries is as compelling as it ever was. > > After high school, college, the military, family and my then wife's > resentment of models, I got sidetracked from modeling for 20 years.. I > picked it up again in the mid-1960's after hearing about some guys in > California slope soaring with accompaniment by eagles. RC was in its > commercial beginnings. Knowing rudimentary design I started doing my own > RC stuff and soon began offering construction articles to the magazines. > With RC kits a rarity, these went over well and all total some 17 > original design construction articles were published. Some of you may > remember the older ones such as the Duoflex, Tri-Belle, Miskeet, Hi-Pro, > Mod-Pod, Spirit of Freedom, Atrix, Keetah, Buzzbat, Jouster, etc. All > were different with many innovations. Modeler-builders built these ships > from scratch. Other modeler-designers contributed to the magazines and > ideas freely flowed through the pages. > > I see Dodgson Designs often mentioned with affection. I attended many a > contest where virtually all would have one. I'd have an unkitted > original.By virtue of superior numbers, whether Dodgson or other kits, > kitted designs became prominent in competition circles. Well, sure. They > are what was being flown the most and by capable fliers. > > After a season ended up here in the NWSS, Bob would run ads pointing out > that our Season Champ flew some Dodgson design, which was rightfully > good publicity. An amusing instance took place in 1990. I was Season > champ in both Open and 2M flying my Jouster, the predecessor to the big > Genie and the 2M version. It did not go over well with Bob that I was > Season Champ. Of course, had I been flying a Dodgson Design, it would > have been just fine. BTW, I did build and fly a big Maestro a few times, > but sold it, preferring my own stuff. > > As sailplane kits became abundant, guys went for them and things began > to change. The magazines no longer wanted state-of-the-art > scratch-builder construction articles. Capable designer-builders gave up > and quit contributing. The magazines began dumbing down airframe > development content. With the advent of the ARF, this trend has only > been exacerbated. > > I see comments to the effect that only minor refinements have been > offered to ARF designs, but nothing really new or different. I agree. > Stagnation has taken over as the creative capabilities of those who used > to be real builder-modelers have been left to wither away from lack of use. > > I may be one of very few who remains motivated to do original thinking > about scratch-buildable airframe design. As ever more sophisticated > ARF's have appeared, I keep finding ways to make my designs simpler, > lighter, stronger, prettier, more practical and more capable. > > In case you haven't noticed, I do not offer airframes for sale. My > thrust is to encourage and support whose who want to learn to scratch > build sophisticated airframes that can compete with the ARFs. Build one > of mine for starters and you will have acquired knowledge and techniques > to design and build designs of your own. Go to my website > http://genie.rchomepage.com. Different features? Read the file "What's A > Genie?" Look at the pictures in the Gallery. Look at File 12 and get > busy building a Smooth Genie Pro. > > Since mentioned about a month ago that Genie line plans could be viewed > on line at my website, over 1600 new views have occurred. Interest in > scratch building is clearly evident, but a mere handful has responded. > What's the hangup? Indolence? Intimidation? Lack of confidence? Anybody > who can follow instructions can do what I do. Even I follow my instructions! RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
