What!? Another No-Cal? And a Scale catapult-launch glider? Well, folks, isn't this the era of CHANGE?

We liked the Miles Messenger plan for the tips it offers and its general high quality, barely a square inch of wasted space and lots of tips. A fine job of drafting and design by Jim Newman, and our thanks to Dave Livesay for making the plan available to us. The military and civilian color schemes are shown as well as cockpit detail, the latter mainly for kicks. But who knows, there might be a good three-dimensional fuselage plan out there somewhere. Go to Plan

The Akrobat scale glider is another attempt in behalf of our club to come up with a successful catapult-launch glider. We liked this plan, taken from the Scale Staffel newsletter, because it's by Bill Hannan and offers trimming instructions, which Bill provided at our request. With these attributes, the odds are more favorable for success. We hope. The stripes are red, and color photos indicate the background color is probably white, but clear dope will save weight. Following are Bill Hannan's trimming instructions, to be followed after the balance point shown on the plan is achieved. Go to Plan

"Adjustments made with clay ballast are safest, since their effect is virtually constant regardless of speed, as compared to surface bending, which causes distinctly different effects with speed changes. Ideally, the model should be flown with the elevator at zero degrees in relation to the wing. However, this setting allows almost no margin for error in launching. That is to say that the model will be unlikely to pull out of a steep dive at low altitude. On the other hand, if too much up elevator is warped into the tail, the model will simply loop and not gain enough altitude for good duration flights. Therefore, we suggest starting with a small amount of up elevator. Bend the trailing edges up perhaps 1/16" or so, then, as test flying and launching practice proceed, the trailing edges may be lowered slightly. A direct relationship exists between the amount of nose ballast required and the elevator setting. More up elevator means more nose weight (assuming the model is already correctly balanced) As the elevators are lowered, a slight amount of nose weight usually can be removed. In order to achieve consistent results, test flying should be performed on a calm day. Once the launching and adjustment techniques are learned, the model can be flown in wind also. If possible do test flying over grass or weeds.

"You may want to experiment for best results, but our system is as follows. The catapult is a hardwood dowel 10 inches in length, 3/8" diameter. To the dowel tie both ends of a piece of 1/8" rubber about 16" long. Our model is adjusted to glide in a gentle left circle by means of wing tip weight or very light left rudder bending, or both. The model is launched in a fairly steep banked attitude to the right and upward at perhaps a 30-degree angle. The model is gripped directly above the tail wheel with the right hand, while the launching stick is held with the left. Pull back and release. Not pulling back far enough can be hard on the model until it has been adjusted, since it may stall at low altitude without time to recover. Conversely, if the model is badly out of adjustment, too hard a launch may cause it to loop over and into the ground at balsa-crunching speeds. Try for a happy medium at first and increase the amount of stretch as you go along. A banked model may loop horizontally, which is less apt to do damage than the same model launched with wings level. When flying on windy days, we have had best results when launching across the wind, rather than directly into it."

Editor: It's a real pleasure to hear it from a modeler who has certainly "been there, done that." And be aware that much of this advice applies to our powered models as well. Our thanks to Bill Hannan, and we do wish him a happy retirement, although he will be deeply missed in our free-flight hobby.