John Glezellis


Install a Smoke System in your RC Airplane

Install a Smoke System in your RC Airplane

At full-scale and RC airshows alike, watching aerobatic aircraft equipped with smoke systems adds greatly to the appeal for both spectators and pilots. Experienced pilots will make the aircraft all but disappear within the smoke during torque rolls, tail slides, and so forth. Simply put, SMOKE is a pure attention-grabber! I recently decided to upgrade […]
RC Model Aerobatics: Conquer the Three-turn Negative Spin

RC Model Aerobatics: Conquer the Three-turn Negative Spin

In the early days of aviation,  spins were often fatal because most pilots did not understand how to properly recover from a spin. While in an upright spin, the pilot would pull back on the elevator stick in an effort to save the airplane (and their life!) and only make the situation worse. Since the […]
Landings with a Twist — Master the Inverted Approach with a 1/2 Roll

Landings with a Twist — Master the Inverted Approach with a 1/2 Roll

For the extreme aerobatic enthusiast, there is nothing like performing hotshot maneuvers inches off the ground. One unexpected way to take the crowd by surprise is to add aerobatic moves to your landing. During a normal landing approach, the airplane is in upright level flight and flies downwind parallel to the runway, turns 90 degrees to […]
Fly a reverse Cuban-8 with half rolls

Fly a reverse Cuban-8 with half rolls

  When I first started aerobatic competition, symmetrical maneuvers that combined various elements were of the most complex to perform both precisely and consistently. Let’s take the loop, for example. While it may be fairly straightforward to perform a single loop, try flying a vertical 8, which is an inside loop followed by an outside […]
Development of the Hangar 9 Ultimate Biplane, Designer Mike McConville Shares his thoughts.

Development of the Hangar 9 Ultimate Biplane, Designer Mike McConville Shares his thoughts.

While putting together the October 2012 “Let’s Talk Giant Scale” column discussing Flying Wires and Wing Struts, columnist John Glezellis discussed the need for functional rigging with RC aircraft designer, Mike McConville.  Mike developed the very popular Hangar 9 Ultimate biplane which, unlike most biplanes, doesn’t require flying wires. Let’s see what Mike did during […]
The Need for Tail Bracing

The Need for Tail Bracing

Some aircraft have built-up tail surfaces, which need tail bracing wire. The AMR 42% Super Decathlon shown in the photo, has a built up tail like the full-scale Super Decathlon, and tail bracing is needed! First, check with the instruction manual of your aircraft if tail bracing is needed. Otherwise, if you feel that there […]
Two grommets are being used for the ignition cables as well as the red sensor lead on my Comp-ARF Edge 540's DA 120 Engine.

Ignition and Electrical Component Safety!

When I build an airplane, I always spend extra time to ensure that all internal components are installed properly and well-secured, whether I am building a .25-size glow-powered model, or a 170cc giant-scale aerobat! This time, we will take a look at my ignition installation on my 2.6m Composite-ARF Edge 540. This is an all-composite […]
Linkage Safety

Linkage Safety

Now, let’s talk about proper linkage setup. Many advanced airplanes take advantage of ball-links to attach given pushrods to a servo arm, control horn, etc. Using ball-links in these areas guarantees to improve linkage geometry and allows a given surface to move freely.  While using a clevis works if servo and linkage geometry are correct, […]
Control Surface Deflection Accuracy

Control Surface Deflection Accuracy

In my 22 years of flying radio-control airplanes, I have learned that time must be taken when both building and setting up your aircraft. For example, let’s talk about control surface deflections. Over the years, I’ve seen some cases at the flying field where pilots simply “eyeball” various control rates and often blame their aircraft […]
Safety First: Electric Airplanes

Safety First: Electric Airplanes

Safety First: Electric Airplanes Nowadays, it is quite common to see many different electric airplanes at the local flying field, and with their increase in popularity, I would like to discuss safety. On my electric powered models, I use a feature called “Throttle Cut”. With the flip of a switch, the motor can become deactivated. […]
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