Where Will “New” Giant Scale Plans Come From?

Several months ago we sent an email to a few top R/C designers asking just a few questions about the future of scale plans, ARF proliferation in the hobby etc.  Nick Ziroli responded and his comments were included in our December 2010 Newsletter.

In August of this year Roy Vaillancourt of Vailly Aviation, 19 Oakdale Ave., Farmingville, NY 11738 - 631.732.4715 ... got back to us with his thoughts on a few of our discussion points.

Roy Vaillancourt's responses are highlighted in Gray Lettering.  Roy thank you for taking time away from your projects to share your thoughts and options within our SFM Newsletter!

SFM Questions:

1.) Has the digital age taken away your incentive to publish new aircraft designs/plans?

Not at all.  I have slowed down mostly due to other interest.  Like old car restoration.  But I can tell you of my experiences with “digital” plans production.  I draw all my stuff by hand.  Even though my engineering career was heavy CAD based I prefer drawing by hand. It gives the design / drawing life. CAD is so cold....  Anyway, when I first started selling plans we duplicated them on the old Diazo machines.  This is a process where the master and the copy paper are laid on top of one another and passed thru a “light” machine where the light passed thru the Mylar original and burned an image onto the copy paper.  This copy paper was then exposed to ammonia to “develop” it. This process produces an “exact” copy of the master. Unfortunately this method has gone the way of the dinosaurs and nobody does this anymore.

It is even hard to get parts etc for the machines.  The modern XEROX or copy machines have taken over.  In the digital age there are two problem areas. 1)  The first is that if a drawing was done by CAD and stored as a file when it is printed it is subject to the distortion of the printer.  There is no printer made today that will give you 100% exact sizes on long sheets of paper. I’m talking about 8 to 12 feet long.  2) When a hand drawn sheet is scanned into the computer to be stored and reprinted later this scanner / printer error can happen twice.  Once when it is scanned and then again when it is printed. And it happens every time you print out a new sheet.  To complicate things this error will be different on each sheet of the set. Now what you have is a set of drawings that you can no longer guarantee the fit of the parts that will be cut from it.  It gets worse... Now suppose you bought a set of plans that were originally hand drawn, scanned into a computer and then printed out. You get this printed out version as a customer.  Then you decide you want one of the many kit cutters to cut you a kit. So you send them this print out that you have and they in turn scan in that version. Here is another possible error.  In the end what you get is a part that looks like what the designer had in mind but it is nowhere near the right size.  Consequently parts do not fit and the designer or the kit cutter gets the bad rap ... where in fact technology has let them down.

When I build from my own plans I still run a set off on a Diazo machine.  Then when I build, if I get a part that does not fit I KNOW for sure I did not draw it right.  So I then correct it on the master.  No guess work here as to where the error came form.  This is also a reason I never have a prototype cut from a laser guy.  I cut all my own parts etc. for the same “verify fit” reasons.

2.) What should Scale Enthusiast who doesn’t have your drawing/design skills, while desiring something different on the flight line do?

Find a buddy that has these skills and likes the same plane as you. Then do it as a team effort and build two.  Or.... start with a design that is close to what you want and do some modifying to get what you want.

3.) How do you feel we could deepen the Scale interest of the Top Model Magazines and encourage them to go beyond ARF’s.

Unfortunately I don’t think this is going to happen.  Magazines are in the business to make money, Not promote the hobby as you might hope.  Whatever the general public wants is what they will promote.  Even though there is still interest in scale the scratch builders are diminishing.  Yes, there are still those guys you see at Top Gun,  etc ... but these are the minorities of this hobby.  With the modern way of life of limited time and the desire for instant results the old school ways are fading.  There will always be those guys that start by growing the tree first.  But they are a small group.  They do it for the love of it and for them the time needed is worth it!