We all know we should be careful around spinning props, that is obvious, even so people are injured every year. There are many other modeling dangers that are not so obvious. That is what this page is all about.

It almost goes without saying that small children and models do not mix. You can say one thing about almost everything involved with modeling. " It can hurt a small child or a small child can hurt it."

Fuel of any kind, glue and cleaners are poisonous to children and others. Children have been known to drink bleach and eat the purple stuff out of baby food jars so they will drink or eat anything. On the other hand if you think hitting that pine tree at full throttle did a lot of damage, try leaving your model with a three year old for a few seconds.

Even older children, we are talking teenagers here, might mistake "flying" alcohol for "drinking" alcohol . While I was in the Navy some sailors that were old enough to know better, got into some alcohol used for testing boiler water. I believe one died and another went blind. True, if you ever got a mouthful of glow fuel while pressure testing a fuel tank you know that you would never swallow the stuff, but teenagers are a different breed, some say a different species. They might mix it with soft drinks and or think if it tastes bad it must be good stuff. Make sure all fuel bottles are marked clearly as poisonous and mention to your kids of all ages that it is deadly poisonous and not drinkable.

"BFO" (Blinding Flash of the Obvious) Fuel is flammable ! It will burn, not only that, Glow fuel is almost impossible to see burning in sunlight!  Smoking around fuel of any kind is a no no, around gasoline fuel it is suicidal. Storage should also be a   concern, although glow fuel is not dangerous in the bottle you don't want to spill it near an ignition source. Treat gasoline fuel for your airplane just like you would treat the gasoline in any fuel can, Don't store it in your house, garage or near any ignition source.

We all use chemicals to build, fly and clean models, almost without thought, in general they are safe and can be used that way. We are exposed to many chemicals, many times with out harm, however some modelers become hyper sensitive (allergic) to some chemicals. The most likely cause of problems are CA (cyanoacrylate) (super glue) and epoxy adhesives. You might use them for years with out any problems, but over time your body can became hyper sensitive to them. The adhesives can cause symptoms like breathing, vision problems, rashes and flu like symptoms.

There are easy effective preventive measures you can take to avoid this happening to you. Buy some latex gloves and use them to avoid skin contact with glues unless you are allergic to latex too! You can buy them at any paint store. Don't chew off the dried CA from your finger tips. I know it is one of your favorite snacks, but don't. Removing glue with solvents like acetone from your body is also a bad idea. Solvents remove the glue, but also mix with it and thin it enough that it can pass through the skin.

Try not to breath the fumes from the CA. A small fan can be used to blow away fumes from adhesives or a special filter mask that uses activated charcoal can be used. However these masks are expensive and the filters do not last long. The cheaper paper masks are useless for this, but will protect you from breathing balsa dust when sanding. They also make an odorless CA glue, but it is expensive too. You can try to use more of the carpenters type glue it is nontoxic and has no odor. Although it is just as strong as the other glues it is very slow to cure, messy and hard to handle.

You may find this humorous, but I have heard of several people doing the same thing. (which is the only reason I mention it) I had a blob of dried glue on the end of the nozzle of my CA bottle. I was already holding the parts to be glued together with my other hand. SO I bit the dried glue off the end and got a shot of liquid CA in my mouth. It fortunately did not glue anything together in there, but I was spitting out bits of glue for the next two days.

Another thing you don't want to do that is really dangerous, is to try to get some glue out of a bottle that has a clogged nozzle by squeezing hard on the bottle. The glue can easily spray out far enough to hit you in the eyes or body. Avoid getting CA in your eyes at any cost, it could damage your sight!

Warning the average modeler to wear safety goggles is a waste of web space. Fortunately if you wear eyeglasses this would normally be enough protection against most modeling hazards. If you don't wear glasses you may be able to find a pair of safety glasses that look like regular glasses, they are more comfortable to wear then goggles so you might be more likely to wear them. Well I had to try anyway.

Another problem with CA is that when it cures it generates heat. Normally this is no problem at all, but if you use the spray accelerators with thin CA and get them both on your fingers it can cause second degree burns. Thin CA is hard to feel and see on your skin. It is very easy to have some run on to your hand and then when you give what ever it is you are gluing it a shot of accelerator get that on your hands too. The glue cures instantly on your hand and you cannot wipe the now extremely hot glue off ! After you stop swearing be very careful removing the cured glue, your burned skin may come off with it. I have burned myself this way more then once, so I guess I don't learn very easy.

We all use batteries thinking that they are safe. For the most part they are, but If you abuse anything it can cause problems.

As modelers we normally use rechargeable nickel cads that can store a large amount of electrical energy. You can not get electrocuted, but you can receive other injuries. When a battery is charged or discharged heat is generated. Electric fliers are well aware of this. Some RC car racers use fans to cool the batteries while they are being cycled or charged. This waste heat is normally not a problem with transmitter and receiver batteries as they are not discharged or charged quickly and are relatively small.

Nickel cads of any size however can explode or leak if charged too quickly or the polarity is reversed. If they are shorted they can explode or easily get hot enough to cause a fire.

Last year I was watching a pilot land an electric glider, he made a sort of hard landing, but, did not break anything. As I waited for him to clear the runway, I was amazed to see him suddenly break into a dead run toward his plane. When he got to it he started to tear the plane apart. I thought "gee it was not that bad a landing". Then I saw the smoke! When he landed the flight battery pack shifted and shorted out melting the wiring and catching the plane on fire, even though the pack was almost drained from the flight.

Another dangerous activity is to put your glow starter in your pocket. If it shorts out on your keys you could have a hard time flying your plane and batting out flames in your shorts. If for no other reason just think how long it will be before you live down having to dump a soft drink in your pocket. Find some other place to put the glow starter or keep the safety cap on it.

There is also safety for the environment, when that battery pack dies make sure you dispose of it in the right way RECYCLE! It is not only the right thing to do, but it is unlawful to just throw most batteries away in most communities.

Never dispose of any battery in a fire they will explode. Make sure the battery you are trying to charge is a nickel cad. Many single cell nickel cads look just like alkaline batteries, but alkaline batteries can explode if you attempt to charge them.

Knife blades can be a dangerous surprise in the garbage. When you are done with a blade put a piece of masking tape around the entire blade before throwing it out or better yet keep a tin can with a plastic top on your workbench push the used blade through a slit cut in the top then dispose of the entire can when full.

When using knives like Xacto or razor blades make sure you never use them to pry. These blades are very brittle and can snap in half with one end flying with enough force to stick in your skin. One more reason to wear safety glasses.

The handles on most hobby Xacto style knives are usually round and will roll, tape a small piece of wood to the handle to keep it from rolling. I once had a knife roll off the workbench and stick in my foot right through my shoe and sock.

Propellers:

Most of us understand that a prop spinning at 10,000 RPM can do a lot of damage, but even one that is stopped can cause you problems. Make sure you sand off the sharp edge on plastic props, just turning the engine over to fill the fuel line can give you a nasty cut. Make sure of course that you balance the prop after you sand it.

Always check your prop as part of your preflight check list. Any chips deep scratches or cracks can weaken the prop enough that it can fly apart. Not real good in the air and doubly so on the ground.

Painting white tips on your prop will make it much easier to see when it is spinning.

Never stand in line with a rotating prop. Four strokes and even some two cycles have been known to back fire and kick the prop 20 feet or more, you don't want to be in the way. This always amazes me every time I see it happen.

Everyday hazards:

Everyday hazards can be enhanced by our hobby.   Name one other hobby where you are required to stand in an open shade-less field on hot windless days and stare into the sky.    Heat exhaustion and sun stroke are real possibilities (along with wives having you committed)   On hot days "keeping your cool" is an necessity.   Drink plenty of liquids, water is best, do not take salt pills or eat extra salt, your body loses much more water then salt and you end up with too much salt without adding more.   Wear a hat with a wide brim and cool light colored clothing.  Stay in the shade, if any, when not frying, I mean  flying.

Sunglasses are a great help with glare and bright sky's.  They can also help protect your eyes from bright sun light.  They will not however protect them if you are looking at the sun trying to find that little dot in the sky.  Even very short exposure to direct sun can damage your eyes.  So avoid flying near the sun always a good policy in any case.

Even looking away from the sun can be a problem if the sun coming from behind you reflects from the inside of your glasses into your eyes.  You might not even be aware of this happening, but you can damage the retina of you eye this way.

Exposure to sunlight also can cause sunburn as you well know.  Repeated exposure to sunlight can cause skin cancers so it is best to avoid exposure if possible.    Sun block applied to skin exposed to the sun, will keep the skin from burning and provide some protection against skin cancers.  Clothing is the best protection so keep your shirt on and wear a hat.  

Hot summer days also bring the danger of lighting storms.   Standing out in the middle of a field in a storm is not too wise, but the little buildings found on most flying sites are not much better.  The best place to go in a lightning storm is your car.  If struck the metal of the body will conduct the lightning around you. 

Remember  most of the lightning in a thunder storm is around the edges of the storm so you will see a lot of lightning as the storm first reaches you and then it will end when the storm is over head. When the storm moves away the lighting will return.  It is a little like the eye of a hurricane.  This is important to know because you are likely to experience lightning before the storm reaches your location and again when the storm seems to be over.

Looking for lost airplanes in the woods can expose you to additional hazards in addition to extreme aggravation.  Ticks are probably the biggest problem at least here in North Carolina the tick capital of the country.  Anytime you are in brush or even high grass you might find ticks on your body.  It takes a tick several hours to bore through the skin so you have time to get rid of them before they can do you any harm.   The best way to do this is to look for them in the shower. They will try to find places in folds of skin under arms, between your legs or in your hair to dig in for supper.  If you find one you should remove it gently by pulling at it slowly you don't want to break off its head inside you.  If it is just crawling around on you there is no danger of infection, but if it has dug in you need to remove it and then keep the tick in a little bottle of alcohol.  If you should come down with a tick born disease the doctor may be able to use the dead tick to determine the disease you have.    

The above are only some hidden dangers. There is always something you have never thought about, that will reach out and surprise you someday. Be ready for it.

"The most dangerous thing that can happen to you is to become so used to doing something that you act without thinking."

If you have run into something or something has run into you, that you would like to warn others about, please drop me a note and I will be glad to add it to this page. I won't even put your name on it if you would rather remain anonymous.

John W. Wenzelburger                wenzej@bellsouth.net