Several Remarks on the RC History

I do not intend to write about the RC history in general. I would only like to mention something about the RC history of small and light models.

The conditions for RC of small and lightweight models have been created with the discovery of the first transistors. I followed this development and some materials which are very interesting from the today's point of view have remained in my archives. I would like to present them now, on my www site with a hope that they can inspire someone to the construction of old timers at the level of up-to-date possibilities. I hope that the reading about the small RC models from the years 1963 and 1972 can be interesting for many model builders. I have included also an article about the first RC model with a drive with an electromotor which proves that neither the beginnings of the models with an electrical drive were simple.

In the second half of the 1970s Fritz Mueller and I were working a lot on the perfection of the small direct-amplification receiver "Micro Albín" and its magnetic actuator, which were developed by American rocket model builders for RC space shuttles. Fritz has achieved excellent results with magnetic actuators and he is a high authority for today's Birds. The full single-channel control system at that time used to weigh some 8 to 10 grams. Nick Leichty and others prove through their work what the current possibilities are.

Antonín Alfery, an excellent Czech modeler, built in the year 1983 a remarkable CO2 RC Peanuts Thomas Morse S4C and Aero A-18 with my motors, receivers and actuators. The S4C model weighed 28g, the weight of the model A-18 was 30g. Model Morane Salnier A-1 was built in a scale of 1:20, its span was 405mm and its weight was 32g. The models have exceeded all expectations.
In the year 1983, Antonín Alfery built a Bloch MB-200 model with a span of 1200mm. The RC equipment of the model weighed 80g at that time. The model was driven by two modified and light-weight motors supplied by Modela. Every motor had 2 tanks (5ccm) and after filling, the tanks were interconnected with a special double-action valve controlled by compression. The total weight of the model was 285g. The model could weigh 185g today.

With a great nostalgia I remember those days, and I am fascinated and very encouraged by the fact that today the CO2 RC Peanuts at the same level of perfection can fly as fully controlled with a weight up to 35 grams. The medium-size CO2 RC models at a scale of 1:20 can fly as fully controlled with a weight of 50 to 60g.

I think that it would be very good to complete this information here with interesting documents describing your work and results.