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REMOTE CONTROL BY BOB YOUNG Modellers with dedication; Pt.2 This month, we will look at the work of one of the most dedicated, versatile & highly skilled modellers I have ever had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of, in a lifetime of active modelling. For personal reasons he has asked me to withhold his name so I will henceforth refer to him only as John. I first met him when I was operating out of my father’s newsagency at Tempe back in the mid 1960s. At that time, he pur­chased a 10-channel reed system from me for a model yacht. Over the years our business relationship grew into one of those friendships that thrives for a time only to diverge for a period and then comes back to life, and always with the feeling that no real time has elapsed since our last meeting. During those years I have watched his interest in modelling grow and mature, with his work now at what I consider to be the level of a master craftsman. The staggering thing about John is the diversity of his interests and This model racing semi-trailer tractor, built to a scale of 1:12, has an incredible range of radio-controlled func­tions, including windscreen wipers, all lights & the horns. 84  Silicon Chip the intensity with which he pursues them. When he decides upon a course of action it is carried out to the most unbelievable levels of achievement and excellence. The photo­ g raphs accompanying this article attempt to show how diverse are his interests but they don’t do full justice to the excellence of his workmanship and that is a great pity for the final products are a joy to behold. Model railroads Possibly his most abiding interest is in model railroads. His home is a stunning testimony to a lifetime of non-stop mod­ elling work. His HO (1:87) scale layout, on which he has been working for over 25 years (in between other projects), occupies a large building dedicated to this layout alone. It is the only model railroad layout I have seen which features an electrical storm complete with a sequence of lightning, thunder and (get this) torrential rain, over a section of the track. My close involvement with John came about as a result of our mutual interest in model and full size aviation. Again, he never did things by halves and John’s Airforce, as we jokingly referred to it, featured over thirty very elaborate R/C aircraft, mostly true to scale and all built to a level of excellence that would put most R/C modellers to shame. Our midweek flying ses­sions live on in my memory as some of the most interesting and enthusiastic periods in my modelling career. The energy of the man was infectious and all of us in the group at that time worked like demons, constantly competing to turn out better and better models. However, by the early 1980s business life was becoming very tough and family and business commitments pulled us apart once more. During this time the airforce was retired and sold off and John’s son developed into a world class R/C car driver and thus lured John into the international world of competitive high performance R/C cars. Again, nothing was done by halves and during this time John set up an engineering section home workshop that is enough to dumbfound even the most blase modeller. Actually, I have seen professional engineering shops that were nowhere near as well equipped as John’s playpen. They certainly are not as neat, as well lit or as well laid out. The work that comes out of this workshop is first class. Possibly my favourite is his model of a semi-trailer, complete with working everything! Constructed totally from scratch from aluminium stock and sheet, this model really is a work of art. It is powered by an O.S. 40 4-stroke engine and really has to be seen to be believed. Essentially, it is a model of a racing car transporter, the trailer being fitted with working model racing cars and a workbench complete with a working model vice, a 44 gallon oil drum with working pump and a contingent of mechanics, drivers and various tyre-kickers. A close-up view of the 16-channel radio control transmitter built by Silvertone for control of a racing model semi-trailer. It looks as though it might be easier to drive the full size machine! Racing truck cab In his spare time as a lark, John built a racing truck cab but the concept of model truck racing has never really caught on. Shown in one of the accompanying photos is the custom 16-channel Silvertone transmitter which I built especially for the Semi Trailer project. The channel logos give some idea of the complex­ity of the finished model: steering, forward and reverse gear shift, throttle, brakes, blinkers, horn, fog lights, high and low beam headlights, parking lights, hazard lights, windscreen wip­ ers, engine sound and one spare auxiliary control. I had to design and build a relay switching unit which worked directly from the receiver servo outputs for the lighting circuits, the receiver being a custom built Silvertone 16-channel AM unit. This racing truck was demonstrated several times at model gatherings but now holds pride of place in a static collec­tion of models that range from HO scale tableaus, through to R/C models of yachts, This view of the racing model semi-trailer shows the cab tilted forward to reveal some of the radio control gear. The engine assembly of the model semi-trailer has a radia­tor & a belt-driven fan. Note the servos at the rear for forward/reverse selection of the gear box. August 1994  85 battleships, tanks, cars, trucks and aircraft. However, the piece de resistance in his home modelling complex is his garden layout. Here is a backyard designed to give the maximum pleasure to John and his modelling friends. The centrepiece of the layout is an R/C car racing circuit with 1:22 scale cars around which runs an LGB railroad layout. Battery power Radio controlled models coupled together with sound effects have a heightened sense of realism. The R/C racing circuit has crowd sounds coming from the pavilion & merry-go-round sounds from the fairground behind. This general view of the layout shows the car racing track in the centre surrounded by the LGB (1:32) scale railway layout. The locomotives are battery powered & radio controlled. LGB rolling stock is built to Scale 1 (1:32) and has a track gauge of 44.5mm. The locomotives are battery powered (essential for outdoor operation) and operated by radio control, as are the sound systems. The latter are housed in enclosed wagons along with a fair sized speaker to give good bass repro­ duction. The sound system responds to the locomotive speed and throttle settings, and horns and whistles are included. The overall effect of the entire layout is breathtaking when fully powered up. I have never fully appreciated sound effects in models, particularly model trains, but used skilfully they add a new dimension to modelling and to my mind they are now a must in any good modelling installation. John uses sound ef­fects in a way that I have never encountered before. They include the sound of a helicopter warming up on the helipad, the roar of the crowd in the stands, music from the merry-go-round in the fairground, the chuff of the steamer climbing an incline and the burble of a diesel loco waiting at the level crossing. All of these effects add a sense of life and drama to a model complex that is busy in the extreme. Future plans A view inside on of the goods wagons coupled to a diesel locomo­tive. The wagon contains the battery packs & radio controlled sound system. 86  Silicon Chip John’s one complaint with his layout is that the points are manually operated at the moment, so true to form he has commis­sioned Silvertone to design and build a 20-channel R/C points control system. I hope to present the details of this system in a future column. However, enough of my account. The photographs presented tell the story more effectively than any amount of prose. Next month I will present the story of John and his son and their successes in the field of national and SC international R/C car racing.