MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

AROUND THE CLUB

>Last month I promised pictures and a write-up on the nicest flying field I have ever visited or flown at—SMASH (Small Model Airplane Society of Harlingen) Field. Let’s start with the runway.

Believe it or not, there was about a quarter of the runway behind me as I took this picture. That 100 foot square pavilion has a concrete floor, BBQ (this is Texas), storage cabinets (for the charcoal etc.) and a transmitter impound/frequency control station. Airplanes are carried out to the starting tables that are very similar to ours, so there is no taxiing even close to the pits.

Note the solar cells on the roof of the pavilion. They have large storage batteries and an inverter to supply limited AC power as there is no commercial power into the site. The big white blocks are the work tables—solid concrete!!!! Pilot stations are behind the near fence and there is an additional fence protecting the pits. The helicopter pad is across the parking lot behind the pavilion.

This is from the pavilion looking down the pits on this side. Note the wide concrete work area and convenient parking.

>I attended one of the SMASH club meetings and they also have a crash of the month trophy presentation. I guess these folks must be running a destruction derby as there were about 10 that admitted to having a crash and I was told there were several more that did not confess. The club president won the award for having made "only a small hole" in the rock hard adobe surrounding the runway.

>Are these the ravings of a mad Englishman or is there a modicum of wisdom here?

In the last few years aeromodelling has acquired a somewhat bizarre vocabulary. I thought that model cars were 2D devices & once you left the ground you were into 3D whether you liked it or not.  I & many generations of engineers are under the illusion that KV meant thousands of volts. George Westinghouse about 100 years ago thought that brushless motors were AC motors & he has fooled many generations since. And what on earth is a Speed 400 motor, why abandon the term Watts? I can usually determine the power needed for a model but I have no method of determining the motor size except by a somewhat unreliable, in my experience, bush telegraph. Apart from the batteries, which oddly enough come in engineering terms, all the tools we need were invented around the time of Marconi & that includes the glow engine (called at the time a hot bulb engine) where the power is usually expressed for the present, in horsepower. The big boys are even going to KVA for these. Just try designing a power system for a four engine model off presently available data; even the makers can't tell you & you can spend some silly money finding out.      Lew Creedon. 

> It’s been so windy I took my daughter to the field
to fly her kite. I wonder if anyone has built anything
like a cross between a kite and an RC plane. Maybe a
plane on a string with RC gear. As you might guess I
am suffering from RC withdrawals. Randy Calkins

HINTS, KINKS, AND STUFF

>I have mentioned the magazine RC REPORT before, but I cannot get over the difference between this publication and its more popular competitors. Model Airplane News and RC Modeler seem geared to product sales with never a negative comment in their product reviews. The balance of the content appears directed at slick sensationalism with lots of color pictures and little meat.

In contrast, Gordon Banks delivers lots of print on mostly newsprint paper with some black and white and a few color pictures. He personally has written all the radio system reviews I have seen and lists all the errors and omissions in the system instruction manual. The other product reviews always list the manufacturer’s claimed weight and measurements plus the actual measurements. Then they have a section called Cheers for the good stuff followed by Jeers for the bad stuff. The rest of a typical review follows the product instruction manual with good and bad discoveries as the unit is assembled, controls set up, CG sorted out, and flying qualities.

I have several old issues that I will bring to the next meeting so you don’t have to rely on my ravings. By the way, the RC Report web site is www.rcreport.ws.

AERONAUTICAL JOKE

MEET THE MEMBERS

I have been featuring our club officers for the last several months and have published all I have received. This includes Anliker, Calkins, Hanke, and Henley. I’m sorry, but there is no Life Story for this month as none were received.

EDITORIAL

The injured person passed out on the way to the hospital, possibly from blood loss as I’m told there was a big bleedy mess on the concrete the next day—it was a very near thing. It turns out that the fellow doing the mowing had a "small" stroke only a few hours later—a very close call for all!!! If the timing had been just a little different, there could have been two dead bodies to greet flyers the next morning.

We have had our share of hands in the props, although none as severe as the SMASH event. It just seems prudent to me that we should adopt a 2 man rule for our field no matter what kind of planes are being flown. SMASH does have a 2 man rule and the guys are careful to follow it, but it did not work well in this case. Perhaps the 2 man rule should be interpreted as 2 in the pits. I also think this should apply for the protection of the person(s) mowing our field.

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.

MANEUVER OF THE MONTH (MOM)—Outside Loop

An outside loop places the cockpit on the outside of the loop, thus the name. I do not recommend attempting this with a flat bottom wing, although some folks are able to get away with such rash flying. If your airplane is pretty happy with inverted flight go ahead and try for the loop.

Most folks have a problem with the initial attempts because they tend to slam the stick to full down elevator only to have the plane fall or roll out of the loop toward the bottom of the maneuver. The answer is for you to fly the airplane through the loop instead of making the poor airplane do all the work!

Enter the maneuver from level flight a couple of mistakes high, parallel to the runway. Roll inverted, level the wings (and keep them level throughout the loop), and put in enough down elevator to fly a nice big loop, completing it at the same spot you started the loop. Notice that initially the plane is flying away from the dreaded terra so firma, so there is nothing to make you nervous. The low point of the loop is where you started from which is a couple of mistakes high, so that is not threatening, either. If you increase down elevator as you near the bottom of the loop you risk falling out, but that is why we are 2 mistakes high, isn’t it?

MEMBER BUSINESS ADVERTISEMENTS

The Board has approved allowing club members to place small ads in the newsletter at no charge. The ads will be included in the newsletter so long as the newsletter editor receives a monthly request for each one.

A professionally written manual to introduce all aspects of the RC hobby from getting started through intermediate aerobatics. Download order forms, order on line, or view the Table of Contents at www.thercflightmanual.com

Petersen & Granger, LLC

Pete Granger

granger@olypen.com