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Editor: Glenn Crocker
21 Highview Trail
Pittsford, NY 14534
The Prez Sez . . .
The frozen finger fun fly was another great success. We had more members there
than on a nice Thursday evening in the summer. Explain that? Several planes made
it into the air and down again with only one minor incident reported, yours
truly included. Breakfast at the Skillet restaurant afterwards was a good time
for all. I’m sure Glenn will have some pictures to prove all of this.
The deep freeze and the snow just keep on going. It’s hard to believe our
frozen finger fun fly would seem like a Florida vacation by comparison. The only
good thing about the cold weather is that I’ve had time to work on my latest
project. As you can see from the picture, a lot of progress has been made, but
there is still a long way to go. The wing needs to sheeted on the bottom, and
the rudder needs to be built. The fuselage is coming along. I am purposely
leaving the bottom open until the inside is finished. Since I am building the
Hawker Hurricane from plans only the layout of controls inside is left to the
builders discretion. I’m still trying to work this one out.
Don’t forget the February meeting on Thursday the 12th.
Happy Landings,
Max
Meeting Change Proposal Adopted
At the December meeting we agreed to start our formal inside the building
meetings in October rather that September.
If we work this right we might get our meeting schedule to one meeting every two
years to elect club officers.
The reason for the change was the same reason we ended our meetings in April
rather than May. The weather was too nice this past September on meeting night.
Wendell Coye
If you haven’t already heard or been told, Wendell passed away just before
Christmas. He suffered another stroke.
In remembrance of Wendell the club has made contributions to "The Hospeace
House" in Naples and to Nette Coyes scholarship fund.
For those of you that did not know Wendell, he was very involved in aviation and
supportive of our club activities. Even after his first stroke he would sit in
his yard and watch us fly. He especially enjoyed Thursday night when there was a
lot of activity.
We will miss him.
At The Field
By Glenn Crocker
Another Frozen Finger Fly has come and gone. We had an excellent turn out with
an unofficial headcount of 25 (Dave and I kept coming up with different
numbers). There was no snow this year but the wind let up so there was quite a
bit of flying.
Charlie set his plane and chair in the North/ South flight path and was
wondering why the planes were giving him a haircut. He really didn’t want to
move the chair. We know Charlie does not like Change.
Max flew his trusty electric with an out of sight down wind landing. I don’t
think there were any other electrics flying due to the wind not being quite low
enough from the day before.
After about an hour everyone started to migrate to the cars for the descent to
"The Country Skillet" aka "The Funky Chicken". Everyone
enjoyed their meal and conversation. The noise level was noticeably lower as the
last person left.
Max found a new RC Magazine and sent me an article of a third scale electric.
The plane was scratch built even to the extreme of carving the propellers. You
may cringe at the unique storage method used with this plane. The article is on
page 7. The magazine is new and is called "Fly RC". It contains a
large number of reviews, with a lot of them on ARF’s. It looks like a good
magazine.
I got a call from Tex. Our Tuesday flying at Macedon had to be put on hold. The
fireplace needs some repair work so they won’t be flying until repairs are
made.
If you do decide to fly at the field watch out for the snow snakes and…Walt!
Calendar of Events
Spring 2004: Batavia hosting a Mega Swap Meet. More details when I get
them.
June 5-6: Ray Edmunds Memorial Fun Fly at North Hampton Park.
August: GVAM Family picnic.
Aug 21-22: Great Electric Fun Fly-Bolling Field.
The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
Fuel Fool News
If you were wondering if I was going to place fuel order this year; I most
certainly am!
In past years we have scrambled to get orders in before the price increase which
usually happened in February. Then the price increase started happening the
first of the year and after a couple of years of scrambling around the Holidays
I said what the heck, why rush, so this year I will be taking orders at the
February & March meetings so the fuel will be here for the April meeting.
I know this will take some of the enjoyment out of Eric’s life because he will
not be able to watch the truck slip and slide and struggle to get up the hill to
his place in the middle of a snow storm.
Fuel prices have increased this year. When I initially checked Red Max
web site they had not updated the price list so I thought we would make out. WRONG!
I have included prices for what 99% of the club has ordered in the past.
The lubricant we have ordered is 20% consisting of 18% synthetic and 2% castor.
They will make up any blend you want.
% nitro Price
2 or 4 cycle 10% $12.25
2 or 4 cycle 15% $13.40
I will start taking orders at the February meeting. If you can’t make the
meetings you can give me a call to place an order.
Dues are past due
If you have not paid your 2004 dues, I am still accepting payment. The dues for
senior members is $45.00 and is $1.00 for junior members (19 years or younger).
Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter.
Are You Older Than Dirt?
Count all the ones that you remember, not the ones you were told about!
And no fudging.
1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed bottles
5. Coffee shops with table side jukeboxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with word prefixes (Capital 4-4374)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S&H Green Stamps
16. Hi-Fi’s
17. Metal ice trays with levers
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulb
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers
0-5 = You are still young
6-10 = Getting older
11-15 = Don’t tell your age
16-25 = You’re older than dirt
From The Pilot’s Log
Fort Worth Thunderbirds R/C Club
Charles Osborn, editor
Fort Worth TX
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| This is the group
of crazies on New Years Morning 2004. Twenty five in all. |
Frick & Frack;
I mean Charlie and Tom getting prepared for the required flight. |
 |
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| Dave trying to
convince his plane it really wants to fly this morning. |
Dave is trying to
convince his plane to come on home. It’s up there somewhere. |
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| Jack and yours
truly discussing Charlies flying technique. |
Eric and Jim
discussing the stealthy snow. It’s really there but it’s hiding from
Tom. |
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| Dana Booth with
his low wing monster. It survived the morning and will be ready to go some
more in the Spring. |
Ned Holmes
looking for some white stuff but will have to be satisfied with wheels
this year. |
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| Scott Doser,
Charlie and Carl Burns debating who should use the chair. |
The group is
getting anxious to head for the "Funky Chicken". Since there is
no snow, eating is more fun. |
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| Here are the
happy faces doing what they like best. That face at the far left isn’t a
stranger. It is a Bruce Bonino. |
The very
senior council. Jack, Dick and the Titusville Terror. |
( I would like to thank MaxWright for his
efforts to scan this article and get permission to include it in our Newsletter)
Jim Collin is no stranger to large RC
projects. He is well known in the San Francisco Bay Area for his giant
one-of-a-kind scratch built models. Jim has been well rewarded for his efforts
at local and regional contests, and is seen here with his 1/3 scale Kreutzer Air
Coach. This little known prototype was built in 1928. In 1929, the prototype was
just the fifth trimotor design certified by the US Department of Commerce. Jim
has faithfully reproduced that same original Kreutzer prototype-the only one
still flying.
This particular model weighs 44 pounds and spans nearly 17 feet! Remarkably, it
is powered with three AstroFlight 40's and just 32 cells. Jim has an interesting
approach to powering his large birds. Instead of loading up on cells and running
standard model-sized props as recommended, he uses larger scale-sized
propellers, and reduces the cell count to keep the current in check. AstroFlight
recommends up to 24 cells and a 16x10 prop for a single cobalt 40 with a
Superbox. This should give a current draw of 29 amps, (at the max continuous
power of 750 watts to each motor) which results in about 6,000 RPM at the props.
Instead, Jim used 32 cells in all - wired-in series-equating to just 10.67 cells
per motor! A matched set of 28x24 props were carefully hand-carved from
basswood, and provided a 30-amp load for the motors. This gave about 960 watts
in, (32 volts multiplied by 30 amps,) or about 22 W/lb. This is substantially
below what the 50 W/lb. traditional thinking might desire, especially when you
consider the effort involved in such a product.
Despite the seeming lack of power, Jim's formula is very successful. The large
props move a lot of air at their 1800 max RPM, and the Kreutzer rumbles down the
runway with the utmost of realism. After an appropriate distance, it lifts
gracefully into the air, looking like its full-scale inspiration.
Those slow props have another benefit. They do make noise, but not in an
annoying "toy airplane" kind of way. They make the most seductive yet
completely appropriate "swishing" sounds as they push the air. You
have to hear them to believe! The only thing missing is the rumbling bark of the
prototype's three 100 hp Kinner radial engines.
At a recent giant scale event there were 436 planes, with just four being
electric. Jim's Trimotor was singled out and featured on the evening news.
This project has a sad, yet interesting, twist. It was built as a follow-up to
an equally successful 1/4 scale version, and Jim expected it would become a
favorite model. Unfortunately, after a short series of test flights and only a
few public outings, Jim felt forced to retire this aircraft. He cites space in
the shop, the effort required to take it out to fly, and the paucity of suitable
sites as reasons for its decommissioning. Not having the resources of one Mr.
Hughes, Jim found a more modest final home for his "Spruce Goose" - A
single Hefty trash bag!!!
For those of us who had the opportunity to see this gem in the air, the memories
will never fade. For those less fortunate, I offer these few images. Jim still
has the 1/4 scale version, and it continues to bring applause and smiles
wherever it flies.
Reprinted from the March 2004 Issue of Fly
RC magazine. For information about Fly RC magazine, call 1-800-898-5499, or go
to www.flyrcmag.com.
TOPIC: ARREST AT KENNEDY
email from Walter
At New York's Kennedy Airport today, an individual later discovered to be a
public school teacher was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession
of a ruler, a protractor, a setsquare, a slide rule, and a calculator.
At a morning press conference, Attorney General John Ashcroft said he believes
the man is a member of the notorious al-gebra movement. He is being charged by
the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.
"Al-gebra is a fearsome cult," Ashcroft said. "They desire
average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in
search of absolute value. They use secret code names like "x" and
"y" and refer to themselves as "unknowns," but we have
determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with
coordinates in every country.
"As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, there are three sides to
every triangle," Ashcroft declared.
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had
wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us
more fingers and toes.
"I am gratified that our government has given us a sine that it is intent
on protracting us from these math-dogs who are willing to disintegrate us with
calculus disregard." Murky statisticians love to inflict plane on every
sphere of influence," the President said, adding: "Under the
circumferences, we must differentiate their root, make our point, and draw the
line."
President Bush warned, "These weapons of math instruction have the
potential to decimal everything in their math on a scale never before seen
unless we become exponents of a Higher Power and begin to factor-in random facts
of vertex.
"Attorney General Ashcroft said, "As our Great Leader would say,
"Read my ellipse." Here is one principle he is uncertainty of: though
they continue to multiply, their days are numbered as the hypotenuse tightens
around their necks."
Cheap CA Blaster
From RCM for what it’s worth column
While in the middle of building a wing, I ran out of accelerator fluid for CA.
Remembering that one filler substance for a was baking soda, and that it works
very nicely, setting up the CA quickly, I mixed up about 1/3 teaspoon of baking
soda in about 2 ounces of water. I found a "spritzer" in my junk
drawer and filled it with the solution. A quick experiment trying to join two
pieces together showed that I had a very good substitute. It worked great! I
happily spritzed and glued away successfully with a bonus. The greatest bonus is
that it’s FREE. Also, if you don’t have a " spritzer", you can use
a brush dipped in it and give a light brush to the surface where needed.
Submitted by Harold Marenburg, Orlando FL.
G.V.A.M. Newsletter
c/o Glenn Crocker, Editor
21 Highview Trail
Pittsford, NY 14534
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