Olympic VI

When I started my website, one of my ambitions was to include Bob Gialdini's 'Olympic VI' article from the 1963 American Modeler Annual. This article had a huge and lasting effect on me and I still think it is the best I have ever read. Some of the facts in it fly directly in the face of current opinion. This is the article that advocates slop in the elevator linkage, among other things. My carefully hoarded separate pages from the magazine are in poor condition and it was now or never. All of the scans of the images and pictures are way below what I hoped, but the essence is there. If anyone wants larger (and more readable) scans of the plans, email me and I will do my best. Putting them on the site would have used about 7Mb. Here's the link:
http://www.iroquois.free-online.co.uk/olympic.htm

Alright!!

Just sanding away here in the early morning hours (probably won't be the most popular guy around here tomorrow), when up pops this link to an article I've looked forward for some time to obtaining and reading - a substantive edition to an already excellent site. Thanks much for making it so accessable. You and Tony are doing great!

>essence is there. If anyone wants larger (and more readable)
>scans of the plans, email me and I will do my best. Putting
>them on the site would have used about 7Mb. Here's the link:
>http://www.iroquois.free-online.co.uk/olympic.htm

And from the article:

>Dad-gum! Forgot the control system and . . . oh, yes . . . she weighs >in at 59-oz. Guess that tonnage will just about kill me in Nordic.

Amazing. 59 oz with a Fox 35. I wonder if that was a typo.

My thanks for making the article available. Your site is a treasure trove of information and articles all too rarely seen.

Probably an HONEST weight! :->

I too remember this great article. I remember reading it as a sophomore in high school and wondering what it would be like to have such a fabulous model airplane. (We were flying 1/2A "wings"..)

And I'm not sure that conventional wisdom is dead against slop in the elevator link, opinions vary (as for so many issues).

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"The foolish and the dead are the only ones who never change their opinion."

Hi Larry,

You are so correct in the variance of opinions. One gentleman in the NE area does, AFAIK, is still a supporter of "slop" in the linkage.

59 oz. ??? ( I have the article, but I have to believe that was a typo!) Also, I am afraid that many of us are a little too "anal" about weight. A good "straight" plane that might be a few ounces over the "design" weight can still fly very nicely, right?

Bill <><

>
>59 oz. ??? ( I have the article, but I have to believe that
>was a typo!) Also, I am afraid that many of us are a little
>too "anal" about weight. A good "straight" plane that might
>be a few ounces over the "design" weight can still fly very
>nicely, right?

Bill;

As always, the line determining "anal" is subjective. But, I think 59 ounces with a Fox 35 gets anyone out of the "too anal about weight" classification... 59 ounces is a lot for a Stunt 35 to pull.

I can build straight and relatively light. However, get a ship over 45 ounces with an unmuffled Stunt 35 and I have a real challenge on my hands. 59 ounces is almost a pound heavier. There is only so much thrust you can get out of Duke's pride and joy - even with all of the mods available for the Stunt 35 these days.

30 years or so ago, Al Rabe put an extra pound of weight in a Mustunt II or III to see if his airfoil could generate the lift necessary to keep the ship in the air. It could, but if I remember the article correctly the Stunt 35 didn't last very long and it made square maneuvers very interesting.

Did any of you guys even consider that 59 ounces just MIGHT be a joke? For the record, I won the UK Nats in 1969 and 1971 with a 60 ounce T'Bird Mk II (modified) and the Merco 35 was more than adequate.

Hi Dave,
Yeah, my point wasn't so much the actual weight of the Olympic, but that a plane can do a very good job even if it "IS" overweight.

Bob
Of course there is a weight limit on what any design/power train can perform well. I was merely alluding to the efforts to remove two grams from the overall weight when the pilot is still in the lower stages of pattern flying. A Twister built at XX oz., the lightest one can be built, by Expert "A" will do quite well if Intermediate "B" builds it straight, has a good engine/prop set up, and works on trimming and flying it even if it is 4-5 oz. heavier.
I could build one of The Man's P-47's and make every attempt to match his weight of 47 oz. But if I hit 50 oz., it will be more than outstanding for me. Make sense?

Bill <><

John D'Ottavo flew his "J.D.Falcon" and "Jerseyan" at 57 to 58oz with a Fox .35 and won everywhere he went.

The secret is proper trim, added to an excellent pilot and also we didn't know that they were "too heavy". The lines would bow in the wing over, but it always came back at the bottom of the maneuver!

We used to feel that a 42 to 46 ox .35 ship was great and that under 40oz there were too light in the wind!

Today we are "smarter", but the main difference is the power available for us today, and better controls. That is why so many of the "Classics" are great airplanes.

>Amazing. 59 oz with a Fox 35. I wonder if that was a typo.

It was just a joke. I finished reading the article last night, and believe from context (forgot control system, nordic) that tongue was firmly planted in cheek. He had earlier alluded to such "problems" jokingly in the text, although he did mention an actual, large weight gain from refinishing.

Dave,

Many thanks for posting this!

I started flying C/L in the late 50's with a Firebaby, then graduated to Baby Flite Streaks, then larger planes. My primary influence was Carl Mealy, our high school principal (Horicon, WI). Carl maintained a small hobby shop in his house and got a number of us going in the hobby. Carl was a personal friend of Bob Gialdini and talked Bob and Mario Rondinelli into giving flying demonstrations in Horicon. The image of Bob putting his Olympic through a pattern stayed with me and certainly influenced my return to the hobby in 1991.

Since my return to the hobby, I have had the pleasure of Bob judging my flights at the annual Milwaukee Circlemasters' contest.