John B. :"This is the glowire site:
http://www.glowire.com/rcairplanes.htm And likey what has been mentioned here. It consists of a small transformer box and is operated by a 9v radio battery. Duration is not a problem as it will last many hours. The luminescient plastic tube is about one eighth inch in diameter and is flexable can be had in a number of colors."
Night flying can be a lot of fun. My club hosts an annual night fly and we have a ball. Lots of good "Pot-Luck" food, and lots of spectators plus pilots. One visitor puts on a lighted helicopter show that is just absolutely awesome!
Now, I tried the "Glowire" last year with two different radios and set-ups, one being a 72 MHZ JR radio in an OLD RCM 60 trainer with ST .60. During daylight testing, once the model passed about 200 ft. away, it became almost uncontrollable. In several attempts, I was lucky to regain the model into the landing area. I then used my old ST 40 powered Tower Trainer, proven over 4 years of starting beginners and some to solo, with an Airtronics radio. The AT handled the glowire a bit better
but not good enough even though I did do one flight after dark. Scary and DUMB!
Well last Spring I had checked out the Spectrum 2.4 GHz in my old RCM 60. I glo-wired it up this year with the Spectrum and it was ROCK-SOLID.
Using clear tape, (RCM is fabric covered and clear-doped) I taped glowire (using 2 systems) around the wing leading and trailing edges of the wing and both horizontal and vertical stab, plus top and bottom of the fuse. The aircraft's outline was visable for as far as I cared to fly. Using some glow-sticks and a $-store small flashlight taped to the landing gear, it was fully visable in all attitudes. I only tried loops, rolls, immelmans, and split-s maneuvers along with the regular traffic pattern flying but it was real fun.
We had several guys with the mini-light systems installed internally that were fantastic. One large profile doing hovers and such, one GIANT size Lazy-Bee with a full internal 2-color system that could be switched on and off, all contributing to a very much fun-filled evening.
Yes there was laughing -- but not AT, just WITH as we all not only enjoyed things but just seeing the different creations brought the modeling aspect back into the sport, that sometimes seems to slip away in the normal daily chores.
Edited to add: A person once told me, "The ship
LEFT the
PORT." Even I can remember that!!