MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

Minutes of the 06-13-06 Meeting of the Tri-Area RC Flyers

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm at the SKP Clubhouse. Attending were: Anliker, Austin, Benjamin, Berson, Cooks (2), Creedon, Dantzler, Davis, Fitch, Granger, Greene, Hanke, Henley, Kampmann, Marken, Maupin, Moffett, Nodell, Oaks, Olson, Ryder, Smith, Tolpin. Visitors: Tom Cochran & Ole Kanestrom.

The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. The Treasurer's report showed the following: $1106.95 in the checking account, $435 in fuel inventory and $4068.94 in a CD for a total of $5610.89. The Treasurers report was approved.

Old Business

1. T-Shirts & Sweatshirts. Pete Granger says he will notify you of the price & when he has them by email. T-shirts should be around $10.
2. Website - discussion that the weather station is down in Chimacum, the weather site is now using the Blue Heron School in Port Townsend.
3. Fun-fly - Pete Granger is the CD. We will have a potluck. Prizes include free crash trophy tickets & 4 gallons of fuel.

New Business

1. Richard Nodell has rejoined the membership.
2. Tom Cochran and Ole Kanestrom are visitors applying for new membership.
3. Moffett requested that the roster be updated & sent quarterly.

Crash of the Month Trophy went to Ken Oaks due a propeller problem? The trophy was modified by Roy Greene and looks so good that everyone wants to take it home (sorta).

Show & tell was Bob Kampmann's Quick Junior & Mini-Bee. Then Pete Granger showed us his scratch built Minnie 30, which is a mid-wing slick sport plane. Thanks for the presentation, guys!

None of us starved since cookies were brought by Pete Granger & Roy Greene. A mystery person brought some incredibly edible brownies. You should have been there...

Submitted by Cindy Cook, Secretary

AROUND THE CLUB

>May 30 was the first really pretty day we had in weeks, so naturally I headed for the field. I got there at 9:30 on a warm, sunny morning with wind that could best characterized as "air movement." I was expecting a pretty shaggy runway, but it and the pits were freshly mowed, much to my delight. I got in one flight before folks started showing up. Jim Tolpin got in some nice flights with his hand launched gliders—he snagged some good lift on 2 of the flights and was up for quite a while. Lou Creedon and Grant Smith helped me make noise and bore holes in the sky. Lou said he had been out several times recently and found the weather very flyable.

>Saturday June 3 the sun lured me back to the field. I arrived at my usual 9:30, and had the place to myself. It was not long before John Fitch showed up closely followed by Lou Creedon. Pretty soon Gary Austin made the scene with his big Bird of Time (?) powered glider. David Henley and Bill Anliker completed the crowd, but they did not bring airplanes.

>6-6-6 did not have the predicted disasters, but it did have near perfect flying weather.

Ken Oaks and Chuck Dantzler having fun. That’s Nate Moffett in the background actually flying. Jim Tolpin and Lew Creedon were also flying as was ye olde editor.

HINTS, KINKS, AND STUFF

>I went to the North Olympic Peninsula Modelers Society show and contest at Ft. Worden June 3. I was disappointed in the presentation of most of the models (I expected more dioramas) and the way the models were crowded together. They had plenty of space that was not being used, so I really don’t understand the crowding. Most of the models exhibited incredible workmanship. Check the panel lines on this 1/48^th scale plane.

>I have not been able to e-mail Bob Reinach (box full or unknown) or Brian Anderson (unknown). If you see either of these folks, please let them know. I suspect that Brian has a new address.

FUN FLY NEWS

Something new is being added to the Fun Fly prize list. Remember the old Get Out Of Jail Free card in the Monopoly game? Well, one of the Fun

Fly pilots is going to win a FREE CRASH TICKET that will enable the holder to avoid being awarded the dreaded crash trophy one time. In addition, our fuel Czar is going to pony up 4 gallons of fuel for the prizes.

Instead of the club furnishing chow we are going to a potluck feed this year. This should provide better labor distribution and the right quantity of food. We will fire up the club BBQ so you can grill dogs, burgers, or whatever.

We will select this year’s events at the July meeting. Since I, as the CD, want to accommodate as many types of winged wonders as possible, my personal selection criteria will be focused on events that can be flown competitively by trainers, electrics, and most other planes. I do think we need to insist on landing gear for both landings and take-offs. I also want to avoid any events that appear to be "airplane breakers." Finally, I will be looking for events that induce a bit of luck so the less skilled pilots have a fair chance of winning. Sooo, you select the events, and I will dream up event rules that fit my criteria. Those rules will be published in the August Tale Spinner.

SPARKS

This is the first installment of a short series I will be doing as I upgrade my electric powered equipment. I have been studying the move to LiPoly batteries and brushless motors since last fall, and have finally assembled my detailed shopping list. I will share it with you this month along with some of the rationale/logic that went into these particular choices. The follow-on installments will be based on my experiences as I install, check out, and use the goodies.

My starting point was charger selection. Russ Petersen and I spent a lot of pleasurable time last winter debating this issue. In the end I chose the Great Planes Triton charger (Tower internet price as of June 2 $89.99) because of its versatility and the data it is capable of providing. Randy Calkins changed his mind about selling me his because it had greater capability than his new charger!

I wanted a brushless outrunner motor that was good for at least 200 watts output. Once again I consulted Russ who said he is having excellent results with the Hacker A30-28S motor and it fits my power requirements very well. He also pointed out that Hacker had a matching ESC (X30) that was available as a combo for a better price. Stevens Aeromodel knocked $5.00 off the price of the ESC, so the motor was $69.99 and the ESC was $59.99.

LiPoly batteries are current limited in that the batteries are damaged if they exceed some multiple of their capacity, with capacity expressed in milliamp hours (mah) or the letter "C". The batteries are discharge rated as a multiple of the "C" rating in amp hours. That means if you have a battery with 2000 mah capacity rated at a 15C discharge you could safely pull a maximum of 30 amps out [15 x 2000 /1000 = 30]. My ESC is rated at 30 amps, so I need to acquire batteries of at least 2000 mah capacity if they are rated at 15C discharge. Sorry about the math, but it is necessary if you are to make intelligent electric choices. In addition, I want my batteries to have cell-balancing capability so the cells can be kept in balance for a longer life. The Polyquest battery line has a unique (as far as I know) safety feature in that they have a gismo that plugs into the charge circuit that will PREVENT overcharging any cell in the battery—and that is the main source of the home fireworks horror stories that you have all heard. Hobby Lobby has Polyquest 1800mah batteries with a 20C discharge rating, which makes them good for up to 36 amp discharge. The batteries are $63.90 each and the safety gismo referred to above (called a PCM guard) goes for $13.90.

EDITORIAL

This is really not an editorial so much as it is a message of welcome. Jim Tolpin has volunteered to write a regular soaring column for the newsletter. His first effort follows the editorial section for this month only—next month we will move him up to an earlier position. I am delighted to welcome Jim and his regular contribution and I hope all of you will give him a pat on the back. This will fill a void in the newsletter that I can’t satisfy as my glider guiding experience is zip even though I admire the grace of the airplanes and the skill of the pilots as they chase lift or trade altitude for distance.

Jim Tolpin launches his "old-timey" Olympus II sailplane in front of its namesake in the heart of the Olympic Mountains--an annual ritual!

I decided to write this potentially regular column with the hope of inspiring some members to try out (or to come back to) flying sailplanes. Though it will be a glider-guy’s eye to flying model airplanes, I will try to address topics that would have useful relevance to everyone in the club. Potential topics are: the peculiar meteorology of Chimacum valley that affects our ability to fly (and especially to soar); the effect of CG (center of gravity) trim on wind penetration and on stability in turbulent air (with a treatise on the pro’s and con’s of the infamous "dive test"); why digital servos are almost essential for high-speed flight and whatever else seems appropriate (including whatever members ask me questions about). I’ll also likely insert news items such as new model reports from the glider crowd; contest results if any of us glider-guiders attend one; and travel reports if any of us should try out new sites for slope soaring (such as the little clearing way above the Seven Cedars Casino—more on that later!)

Speaking of slope soaring sites: How bout a Sloping Safari? Pete Hanke and I have been talking for the last few years about organizing a trip to San Juan Island on his tour boat "Glacier Spirit" so we can fly the incredible slopes at American Camp on the South end of the island. There’s plenty of room to take along spouses who I’m sure would love to hang out in Friday Harbor while Pete takes us "slope-aholics" via van to the incredibly scenic south end of the island where we will get to experience flying in a world-class slope environment that works in nearly any wind condition while offering good landing zones—a rare combination. Even if you’ve never flown slope before, this would be a good place to start—or at least to watch the action (that is, until your fingers itch so much you just won’t be able to stop yourself from trying it out. To that end, we would bring along a few extra "foamies" that bounce pretty good for beginners to try out.

For now, though, I’ll conclude this first column piece with an attempt to answer the question: "why do I glide?" The fact is, I’ve always been a glider pilot since my first RC model in the early 80’s—the infamous Goldberg "Gentle Lady". Not really knowing what I was doing, however, my flight times were embarrassingly short. So after a hiatus from flying RC through the 90’s, I decided to get back into flying with electric powered planes in order to get more airtime and to jumpstart my flying control skills. Over the last 5 years I’ve gone through the gamete of power planes: from little trainers to scale war birds to 3D foamies to adrenalin- producing hot liners (WAY over-powered motorized sailplanes.) I found, however, that my psyche could only handle so much adrenaline and about a year and a half ago I got the urge to go back to pure sailplanes. Right about this time DLG (discus-launched) gliders had become available and after trying one out at the birthplace of DLG (60-acres field in Renton) I discovered that this was the kind of flying that really captured my imagination. For me, it was the perfect combination of an art, a hobby and a sport—of building and flying beautiful airframes high in the sky while learning to use my body in a relatively athletic way. It’s kind of like developing a good stroke in golf. In fact, my flying buddy Ole calls DLG "sky golf"!! If you haven’t seen a discus-launch, you might be surprised just how high you can throw a super-light weight (but super-strong) 5-ft. wingspan airframe built of Kevlar and carbon. More on this later too!

Glider quote of the month: "Gliders fall through lifting air"—Orville Wright

FOR SALE OR TRADE

If you want to list an item, just send me the details including your name, phone number, and asking price or trade-for item. Low pixel count digital pictures are also acceptable.

>FREE—Dot I old-timer with plans. I have gotten the oil soaked areas cleaned up, and repaired most of the broken bits, but in the process I had to remove much of the silk and dope covering from the body and horizontal stabilizer. The wing looks very good. This was one of the last planes Wylie flew and it flew well on a 26 four-stroke engine.

Pete Granger 379-3185

MONTHLY MEETING 7:00 July 11 at the SKP Clubhouse

The club tee shirts and sweatshirts will be available for those that ordered same. Our program period will be taken up with heated debate over the merits of the various Fun Fly events. Do bring ideas for awarding the Free Crash ticket. Come on out and join the fun even if you do not plan to compete.

Pete Granger

granger@olypen.com