In a letter to Roger Schroeder some years ago, Clarence Mather described the origin and philosophy of the A6 model:
"The San Diego Orbiteers held their meetings in a small recreation center gym and decided to do some indoor flying after the business meetings. A couple of us had some indoor experience and most of the other members felt overwhelmed by indoor models and did not participate. I decided to create a model that used materials familiar to everyone and was small, simple to build, and sturdy enough to survive most of the banging around that would occur. No special indoor materials were allowed.
"Thus 1/16 square strips and 1/32 sheet were the minimum sizes to be used. The "A" part of the name is from the old Academy of Model Aeronautics Class A model of 30 square inch maximum wing area. The span was not limited so that some experimenting could be done. A high aspect ratio might be efficient but would weigh more because of the longer spars required. Similarly the tail boom length was not limited. AMA rules limit stab area to 50 per cent of the wing's or it must be counted as wing area. Perhaps it would have been better not to limit the area of the stab. Tandems might be fun to experiment with. The added weight of the large second wing might cancel out the added lift because the rear wing cannot produce as much lift as the front.
"The flat sheet prop blades made the prop easy to build. The prop shaft and tube sizes specified, produces an easily built, smooth working front end. The six inch motor stick and prop diameter produces a well proportioned model. The wire wing mounts are not required. I use them on the plan so that trimming a model could be done easily-- balance point position (center of gravity), incidence, and wash-in can be adjusted with no cutting or gluing.
"I built and tested a model before we announced the event. Then plans were included with our newsletter. Fudo Takagi and I agreed to provide rubber for anyone who wanted it and we came with several sizes. So, a modeler could have a model to fly with little effort and cost. And it can be carried in a small box. The event meets our goals very well and flies three or four minutes in a small gym. That is long enough to be rewarding."
Apparently not rewarding enough, as A6 has since been felled by the "Easy" B virus.
Bob Clemens
(Donning my hard har, awaiting the inevitable brickbats)
Received on Sun Feb 12 2012 - 08:17:04 CET
This archive was generated by Yannick on Sat Dec 14 2019 - 19:13:46 CET