(quote) Fact, July 1962:
The boys of the Chicagoland Radio Control Model Club Including World Champ Ed Kazmirski, use a locally manufactured wheel brake, It has a single cam leading shoe in phenolic resin of the internal expanding type with drum. It is very light and certainly small.

Cees,I have followed this thread for awhile, mainly because the Taurus is not only a major part of RC history, but also a part of my introduction to RC. I'm usually reluctant to comment because it's been such a long time. However, the club you are referring to (I believe) is perhapsthe Radio Control Club of Chicago; I was a member of that club from about 1972 through the mid eighties. It was known as RC3 by the locals. My first visit to their field was circa 1963-64. I have memories of visiting Eddy Kaz's work shop with my Dad; I believe it was in Calumet City, Illinois (altough we also went to a house in South Holland, Ill. too). If my memory serves me, they competed in Free-Flight events in the fifties, although by the late fifties Kaz had movedmainly into RC planes. I do recall going to meets upat Bong Field (?) in southern Wisconsin to be the "chasers" (shaggers really) and retrieve the models (Vikings, Playboys, Stardusters, etc). Well, I was lucky enough to score a NIB Taurus awhile back. The kit is in pristine condition, I doubt the plans have been unrolled more than a few times. I find your thread interesting, informative, useful, and again interesting. Just thought I'd throw my two-cents in because the last post awoke some old memories. Thanks for your efforts here.
Hook (Mark)
AMA 63845
SPA 384

Mark,

Thanks for your kind words. It gives me the feedback to (careful) continue my thread, just as some e-mails I already did receive from readers.

You write: “Just thought I'd throw my two-cents in because the last post awoke some old memories.”

For me your post give me names to continue my search for details of the history and maybe I find more pictures or data of the Oldest Taurus on Earth, so thanks for that.
Anything you write I will handle with care because it is all remembered from long time ago. I will “double check” when using it.
The club name you write, I will have attention for that because the name Chicagoland Radio Control Model Club I only did find in one old article and maybe the club name is not correct.

Bong Field ?
I do read a question Mark and I don’t like that (LOL).
Before people think you did go to an airfield with a bad airplane touchdown reputation I did try to reconstruct a little part of your (maybe forgotten) history, you only have to check if I am right or wrong.

Picture 1,
The American “Ace of Aces,” Major Richard Ira Bong, in his P-38.
This Medal of Honor winner fought against the Japanese in the Pacific Theater in WWII and is credited with 40 air-to-air victories
There was an airfield named after this famous aviator:

Picture 2 (1960)
Richard Bong AFB, Burlington, WI
42.63 North / 88.15 West (Southwest of Milwaukee, WI)
If you have been there in the past you will not find it back!

Picture 3 (2000),
Richard Bong State Recreation Area.

Fact: As a young boy Richard was a model airplane builder too!
Question: Was that an airfield with a bad airplane touchdown reputation?
Answer: No because it was never in service!!!!

Were you there Mark?

Good luck with the Taurus kit and if you have to make a difficult decision.
If I were you I would copy all the parts of the box to make me a Taurus and keep the kit complete and plan undistorted as a valuable part of history.

Thanks,
Cees

Gents,

It started with a question in the thread about Perry pumps and regulators, and after that it is transferred in the question to show how I mount a tank in a Taurus.
To stay on topic I will answer that here because we already did talk about bicycles in this thread.

The Taurus, bicycle and Sherman


When your bicycle is destroyed in an tank-accident there rest a lot of useable material and that’s we are gonna use, also to stay on topic this time.

In the past, in the old history, some of the engine room of the Taurus we did find back between the firewall and the backside of that good old K&B 45 RC engine. The central feed through of fuel and air line could take place there.

What to do when trying to mount a big tank ( 24 cu inch(9,8 oz?) / 390 cc) and a big 0.60 OS Max 61 FX, or MVVS 10 ccm?

The Taurus was never designed for that, even Ed did never try that!
For that I did have to find a solution already a long time ago!!!!!

Bicycle recycle

Glow the brass tubes for 30 seconds above a little burner, guide an old bicycle brake cable through the tubes an bend them as shown on the picture and drawing. After that pull the cable out of the tubes.
The positions of the tubes near the firewall you can determine on the plans and dimensions of the engine. After the tubes have the right position, solder (NOT SILVER!!!) a piece of your old destroyed bicycle over the two tubes to fix that position, for my tank this is 47 mm, see the drawing.

Drill the holes through the firewall on positions you also can reach when the engine is in place!!, so for me it’s above the wooden engine bearers.

Pack the receiver battery in a few sheets of plastic and wrap tape around it. Fill the other room beneath and above the tank and besides the battery with two pieces of foam to create a “floor” and walls for the tank.
Push a piece of foam in front of the tank compartment below the tubes so the forward position of the tank is blocked.
Take care of the battery cable near the bulkhead F3 so the tank does not destroy it, cut away some wood of that bulkhead.

Wrap tape around the tank on the positions that maybe will make contact with that bulkhead (F3?)

When the fuel line is new and long, mounting is no problem, push the lines through the firewall, connect the tank and after that push the tank in the nose while guiding the lines back through the fire wall.
When the fuel lines are already shortened I use two bicycle spokes, see the yellow lines on the picture. Push the spokes through the wall and tank compartment in the radio compartment, than fuel lines over the spokes and they will guide the line through the tank compartment and firewall while pushing the tank in place. After the tank is in position the tank retainer will keep the tank in place.

Also when the engine is mounted I can replace a tank when needed, in case of emergency I always can remove some spokes from a bike I find(?) nearby.

Cees

Cees, yes, that is the Bong Field (?? LOL here too)I made reference to; and yes I was there. We were there in the early Sixties and I have somegreat memories of chasing those free flights! I think it must be the memory of those old Holland Hornet engines screaming away as my Dad lit the fuse on the "de-tharmalizer" and then launced them vertically. Also, I did know that it became a recreation area, butI did not know that it was never used as an airfield.
I am fairly certain that "<u>Chicago</u>land <u>Radio Control</u> Model <u>Club" </u>is the old "Radio Control Club of Chicago". Perhaps the writer in that article just got the name crossed/wrong. The Radio Control Club of Chicago flying site was taken over by the old Chicago Model Masters Club (which can be found on the web). They were primarly control line flyers that eventually gravitated into RC. That flying site is located in Harvey, Illinois at the Kickapoo Woods Forest Preserve.
As for my Taurus, I'm not really a collector, and I am now just two kits short of having all the planes that I had/flew/or planned to fly in 1978. I am considering copying the plans, making parts, and building it that way thus preserving this kit. I'll be watching the thread and if I come across anything that might help I'll post it. Thanks.
Mark

Mark,

In the Netherlands the Holland Hornet say, "Before the facts become rusty, dose them!". see the Pope brake.

You did show me a double check of Kickapoo Woods, read post 563 of Ed Kazmirski’s Taurus thread:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7880064


Just a couple comments: First, about 20 years ago, I competed in one of the last Chicago Model Masters C/L events, held at Kickapoo Woods, near Riverdale, Illinois. Toward the end of the event, someone mentioned that Ed Kazmirski was flying in the adjacent R/C field.

Now, Ed hadn't been too active flying R/C, since proportional gear came out. He claimed he could never get used to it, and preferred the old reed transmitters.

I walked over, and he was flying a Taurus pattern ship with a venerable K&B 45 engine, but with a whale of a baseball-bat thick wing. Between flights, he commented that he was experimenting with a 33% wing thickness!

I began to spout Carl Goldberg's teachings, of which he was well aware. He explained that he wanted to try a setup with LOTS of drag, to slow down the airplane, especially in nose-down maneuvers....



I will spend some time with the club names of Ed, but first, the next post:

Dethermalizer? Did your father trade in miracles?.

So more to come and success with the Taurus!

Cees


Edit:
Have attention for that K&B 45, that was mounted in the Taurus.
Probably still the original K&B 45 of 1961 and the crate picture and of course mounted with that engine mounting plate!
Lowest weight of engine and fuel!

Cees,
AndI still have that Holland Hornet too! She must be close to 50 years old at least.
That is the same Kickapoo Woods, it was actually located in Harvey, Illinois but Riverdale was directly acrooss the mainstreet (east). I had though the Chicago Model Masters Club had mostly stopped control line flying in the early to mid eighties, but perhaps thay did continue for awhile longer.
About that de-thermalizer thing (device), I may have the moniker/name wrong, but it was a cotton fuse (wick)that was stuck between rubber bands at the trailing edge of the stab (it held the trailing edge down). When it burned through the rubber bands another set of rubber bands pulled the trailing edge up at a fairly large angle. The effect was to that the free-flight model would lose somelift in a thermal due to the high nose angle or AoA; I suppose that's why they called it a de-thermalizer. If you can find pictures of the old Starduster X or the Viking, I recalled we used on those free flight models. At least that's what my 6-8 year old brain at that time recalled it as!
Mark

Mark,
Be patient until I open that little red box!
Remember we did talk about the kick up devices!

Carpenter, electrician, mechanic, electronic engineer!
Who's next, the Fireman?

Cees

Mark,

Your brain remembers well. DT's are often electronic now, but they do the same thing.

If you caught a real boomer, the DT was useless. It just went OOS a little more slowly

Andy

Hah Andy, I think Pops and his Free-Flight pals knew that too well; that's why they brought us yung-uns along. We would run, watch, run, wait, watch, run, and run to retrieve those planes. Probably not all that far really, but when you're six it seemed like it. Also seemed as if they really enjoyed those Hamm's and Shlitz beers too! I think my brother might still have a 1/2A Viking or a Starduster X in the attic, I'll have to check.
Waiting on the red box too Cees!
Mark

Mark,
This thread is about the past, the history and the facts that are forgotten. I read a lot about the clubs of the past and for example Ed was for 12 years member of the “Chicago RC Modelers club”, probably your “Radio Control Club of Chicago”.
Les Fruh was the member of the “Chicagoland RC Modelers” and that's important for me to know.
More to come, there are too much names so it takes some time to reconstruct.


The dethermalizer Mark, you did write:

Waiting on the red box too Cees!

Carpenter, electrician, mechanic, electronic engineer. Who's next?

What about the clock and watchmaker,
The content of the red box and maybe you already did know this model and forget? Yes? Reconstructed!! see the pictures.

And that Fireman? No, of course not, read!

Even Ed did need such a kind of device to prevent his free flight model airplanes did fly away. We still can read now. Later he did start RC modeling for that reason, because he did not have the needed shaggers I think and did not want to burn down the Kickapoo Woods.

Do you think there was another specialist to realize that badly needed kick up device? Carpenter, electrician, mechanic, electronic engineer, clock and watchmaker?
Yes, there is another one, think about that, or did you forget him too? The pxxxxxxxxxxr !

More to come also about the club names.

I'd have to guess, the "plumber".

So you have one of the timers, it's beautiful and in pristine condition too. The ones that we used had red labeling or screen printing, but theylooked exactly as the one from your "red box". These were actually used to cut the fuel to the engine as I recall, correct? The spring actuated arm pinched off the surgical tubing used in the fuel line. This awakens some great modeling memories/moments with my Dad, I wish I could share that and this thread with him; but alas, a major stroke took care of that four years ago. But I do show him the pictures and that brings a smile and a gleam to his face; and it has led me to be involved in modeling or aviation for most of my life so far! Thanks Cees.
Mark

Ah ha. I was excited to see the timer and didn't even look at the printed instructions. I do remember them being used that way, but also as a shut-off for the fuel too. Very well done there Cees, thanks for bringing it to life again.
Mark

Mark.
"My pictures are paid with a valuable smile", thanks and say hello to your father!

And that’s a part of the answer too, the answer for that question; next person who could help us was the photographer , the self timer of his camera is also used to make the timer for the free flight airplane.
(Not the plumber of course, he was for the right location of the CG!)


I am glad Ed only did modify his camera’s to make better pictures and not completely destroy them to make free flight timers! The result is, we still have a lot of high quality pictures of his modeling period. After that period Ed did make pictures all over the world and was also awarded for that too.

A picture Mark, not by Ed, the right one? :
It is Lee Campbell with his Starduster in 1963, the year Ed did go to Genk Belgium, so “on topic”!

I am going to spend some time with the clubs now.

Cees

A snapshot of the past Cees! Sorry I didn't see it sooner, but work got in the way. We had many of those Stardusters andours were all in red tissue and dope. That one is probably red too, just fadedfrom the picture's age. Thanks again Cees.
Mark

Mark

I did want to see one of your planes to make the story complete and did find the picture.
Free flight I never did myself, started with a boat to prove my radios and one control line model, after that one glider I still have without the stab and canopy, and after that “bang bang” radio.
Enjoy the modeling

Cees

Reconstructing the history, a little update to archive.

Frank Myers pilot is duplicated and distributed many times and not all the details we still can see any more these days. Sometimes I can see the fun the modelers did have in the past, and probably too much beer? By a study of the handwriting FROM FROM Frank, I think this was the original image, see the first picture.

The plane on the background was originally also on the plans, just as the promotion Taurus on the Top Flite Taurus plans, but disappeared complete. No problem to put the plane back on drawings again!
Steerable nose wheel (picture2), Taurus plans, brakes, all to make a little money and fun.

More to come.
Cees

Gents,

Can some one give me the real dimensions of the pivot blocks of the original steerable nose wheel of the Taurus, so the Kazmirski steersble nose wheel.
I show the drawing of the system I use now. I want to compare the dimensions and like to use the original dimensions in the future.

Cees

Gents,

While waiting for data, an important moment to announce!

The Oldest Taurus on Earth Hanna Approved Cat Version (rev 0) is ready for use, see picture 1


With the Cat version I can study more details as, painting scheme, engine mounting, position of details, shape of the parts etc. The rev number will increase with any detail.
The result we can compare with the Taurus Construction and Flying Schedule.

As example a first simple check of the mounting level of the engine position, and side and down thrust, see picture 2.
.
More to come.

Cees

Gents, Computer Added Measurement

Now we, of Classic RC Pattern Flying, are on the same (sub)level as RC Pattern Flying it is important to show the world we also do have interesting stuff, so; “How many side thrust were they running?”
(See: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9558918 )

Part two of the side thrust of the K & B 45 RC in the Oldest Taurus on Earth.

Description:
After relocating the engine more backwards in the Oldest Taurus on Earth Hanna Approved Cat Version (rev1!), I could compare the side thrust for the first time.
(The engine is not exactly on the right position yet, see the bleu dashes.)
The “degrees dashes” with the right scaling, are integrated in the Hanna Cat drawing, the yellow line is made on the crate picture and indicates the engine “out of line” position.
The two white squares are important to have the yellow line of the engine in the centre of the Cat CAM degrees scaling. They must be symmetrical positioned around the yellow line as showed.

Results
Any down thrust is not (yet!!) measurable, the engine seems to be “in line” with the top axle.
After positioning the Oldest Taurus on Earth Approved Cat Version on the right location in the crate, we can read between 3,5 and 4 degrees side thrust!


More to come,

Cees

Gents,

Hanna wanted a better, scaled engine to do the measurements of the position, side and down thrust, etc.

So, here it is, the (Hanna CAT CAM) K & B 45 RC first example, sun power to RPM transformer, our “dummy” of the engine that was “shown” on all the Taurus plans.
The dimensions of the engine that are important for measurements are “scaled”, the less important are “look alike”.

K & B first did make the Orion famous in 1960 and later the Taurus in 1961 and 1962.
The 45 RC engine was still used by four European members during the World Championships 1963 in Genk Belgium.
One of them flew with a Taurus, I did mentioned him before, Mister Miliani from Italy, with his enlarged rudder, placed 38 of the 39 competitors.
The other two Italian members were placed 19 (Mister Corghi) and 26 (Mister Mantelli) using the ST 56.

More to come.

Cees

Gents, for who is interested, part 4,

To practice with the measurement of engine position I exchanged the VECO with the K & B 45 RC for a while, no problem because the engine already did draw, see the combined picture.
This probably was the first position of the VECO 45 RC in the plane as we could read in Mr. K goes to Africa. The crate has many secrets and hidden background information which I only can find by doing these kind of measurements.
Measurements of engines will going on for a while with, for me, a lot of pictures with added centre lines, dashes, etc. Not interesting to show them all. I only archive the results.

More to come.

Cees

Gents, I did receive a question, but I show the answer here, because more people are building a Taurus..

The paint scheme of the bottom side of the wings?
I show a pictures of the bottom side of the wings and there are not many examples.
These are not the wings of the MAN / Top Flite pictures of the magazines but I think the MAN / Top Flite Taurus did have this same scheme on bottom side of the wings.
So, same scheme as on top side but not the small red dashes and also no characters.

Cees

Gents, Easter Engine Part Five


When it looks like an egg, it’s not always an egg!!

Reconstruction of the Oldest Taurus on Earth was a matter of milimeters, fractions of inches, but also tradition, Dutch tradition.

An example of the process that is still going on.

With such a detailed picture of the crate with the Veco 45 RC I did have an ideal tool to check the picture x – y dimensions (and one of the vanishing points of the engine).
The result is, the Hanna Cat Cam Veco 45 RC engine fits exact in the picture and later also with a propeller with a diameter of 11 inch.
This computer added measurement engine again is only, but exact, scaled for important dimensions and after that traditional Dutch Easter colored by Hanna.

So again a detail of the trip of our Mister K. when he did go to Africa. He probably did fly the “heavy” Taurus with the Veco 45 RC engine equipped with an 11 inch prop.

What will be the end of the process? At least I already know a lot about the Oldest Taurus on Earth engine also!!!
More to come.

Cees

Gents,

A little update about the Orion.

Wheel wells are prepared, also the mounting of the ailerons.
I am going to use the existing frise ailerons again to keep the plane more Orion.
The wingtips I could reuse and the wings are clipped now, (total 6 inch).

Third photo one of the repaired spars.

I did replace the bottom spar, it has the normal Orion position now and not the forward position of a Taurus wing. This is much lighter because I do not need the double bottom spars anymore.

In the pneumatic system, see the last picture, I use two capacities , one main air tank in one of the wings, 4 bar with a restrictor in the outlet, after the restrictor and before the valve I have a little second capacity and restrictor.
This little capacity is to unlock the mechanical systems of the two main lags with full pressure. Unlocking and retracting are more or less separated this way. The result is I can use low pressure and a little main air tank but still have much unlock power. 6 times retracting is possible during one flight this way.
This way of unlocking only is possible when using one main retract cylinder and piston, nothing to synchronize.

The “locking levers?” of the new mains are 40 mm, 1 ½ inch, and are rotating/positioned in front of the spars.
Distances between the main pivots of the main axles of the legs is 50 mm. (2 ") Main axles are 6 mm diameter (1/4")
So the forces are distributed in the fat D tube of the wing

The whole system is only possible in the 19 % thick Orion wing even with the aileron servo in the centre section.
What is my goal? Using retracts on any surface I want to fly of.

More to come

Cees

For who is interested,
In the past I did make this drawing of the principle.
I only add a restrictor between second capacity and the valve to limit the speed of unlocking.

Cees