I have never made a secret of the fact that I have a weakness for gadgets.  One gadget that can be very handy to a Control Line aeromodeller is a `Stooge’ or remote release for those perfect flying days that you rock up to the field and find that you are the only one there.  In those circumstances it is indispensable.  Over the years I have seen a variety of devices and methods used by (sometimes desperate) modelers to self launch C/L models.  Most of them were quite adequately safe and reliable, but I have seen a few that were distinctly risky.  Such as restraining the plane by standing the glow plug battery in front of the tail unit and using the handle to jerk the model sideways for release.  That can work, but there is also the risk that the plane will be on it’s way before you reach the handle.  It is much better to make a purpose built reliable stooge.

Here are a few details of mine, which I have just discovered was a lot simpler to conceive, make and use than it is to describe.  I am mainly going to rely on the fact that a picture is worth a thousand words and that you, like all aeromodellers, will need only a general idea.  I have a couple of photos of the machine and a pencil sketch of remarkable crudity to show a cross section as if the thing had been sawn in half.  You can just ad lib the rest using whatever bits you have laying around

This is a top view of the stooge with the trigger loop dropped over the line rewind handle.  At the bottom left you can see the alloy tubing release handle which is clipped to the side for storage and on the bottom right the U shaped tops of two of the three fixing stakes slid into their storage holes in the body.  Those stakes are put through the three skewed fixing holes in the body and pushed into the grass to secure the release for use.  To use once the release is firmly fixed to the ground behind your plane, the trigger loop is swung off the rewind handle, the release handle is unclipped so that the spool can rotate and the line taken out to lay next to your control handle.  The trigger loop is then dropped back over the rewind handle. When the release line is pulled it tries to turn the spool anticlockwise, and the rewind handle actually operates the release by using the trigger loop to slide the spring loaded release rod out of engagement with the fixing to the model.

Here you can see the stooge dismantled.  The spool is sitting on top and the release line can be seen.  I used pink builder’s line even though it is a bit stretchier than I would like, it was chosen for it’s high visibility.  There is no trouble finding it against the grass.  At the front can be seen the 1/8 inch piano wire release rod with the trigger loop silver soldered underneath it.  The trigger loop is not only used to actuate the release, but it also serves as a stop for the release rod and for the spring to push against.  When the release is operated, the release rod is fully withdrawn from the two support plates on the left hand side where the aircraft attachment loop is held.  This guarantees a certain release.

This is the `sawn through the middle’ cross section.  The saw cuts made across the bottom of the body before the base is glued on provide a storage space for the piano wire hold down stakes.  .  The dimensions are not critical.  I used a 4 1/2 inch disc of wood with a 5 1/2  inch disc of laminex on either side to make the spool which is set into the wooden body.