The Tale Spinner
Newsletter of the Tri-Area Flyers
http://www.triarearc.org
(AMA Charter Number 4063, Radio Controlled Model Aircraft Club)
June 2003, Volume 4, Issue 6
|
Position |
Name | Phone Number | Term Expires |
| President | Arvin Wylie | 360.379.0701 | December 31, 2003 |
| Vice President | Pete Granger | 360.379.3185 | December 31, 2003 |
| Secretary/Treasurer | Bill Anliker | 360.385.0558 | December 31, 2003 |
| Safety Officer | Ken Oaks | 360.437.9699 | December 31, 2003 |
| Web/Newsletter Editor | Bruce Pyles | 360.437.8109 | December 31, 2003 |
| Director, Position 1 | Grant Smith | 360.437.2162 | December 31, 2004 |
| Director, Position 2 | Dick Benjamin | 360.379.9851 | December 31, 2003 |
| Director, Position 3 | Randy Calkins | 360.437.0706 | December 31, 2005 |
Meeting Minutes: (Next Meeting: June 10, 2003, Excapees RV Park)
Minutes of the 5/13/03 Meeting of the TriArea RC Flyers
The meeting was held at the SKP clubhouse at 7:00 PM. Attending were: Wylie, Anliker, Pyles, Fitch, Oaks, Stuck, Greene, Granger, McIntyre, Benjamin, Henley, Moffett, Waaga, G. Smith, Allen, Mollerus, Lee, Ryder, Allred and Hanke. Also attending were prospective members Lonnie Phillips and Bill Craighead and guest Don Smaltz.
The Treasurer’s report showed assets of $3193.96, comprised of $3031.96 in the bank and $162 in fuel inventory.
Lonnie Phillips was welcomed into the club as a new member. The club membership is now full at 45 members.
Web Master Pyles reported on his progress with the web page. He wondered if we wanted the club roster on the web page; however, the general consensus was that we did not.
B. C. visitor Don Smaltz donated $20 to the club. Five members signed up for name tags.
The status of the club trainer was discussed and it was agreed that Henley should use it for a while to save wear and tear on his big Cub.
A discussion of future programs indicated a lack of interest in getting involved at the Fair. On August 12th we will have a Show-and-Tell program at the SKP clubhouse.
Safety Officer Oaks was unable to get his plane safely over the neighbor’s fence and received the Crash-of-the-Month Trophy for his effort.
The meeting was adjourned and Granger presented a discussion on the historical development of RC flying. Cookies were provided by Granger, Moffett and Wylie.
Bill Anliker, Sec./Treas.
Lonnie Phillips: Lonnie joins our club via a recommendation from President Wylie. He is retired and moved to our area from Redmond, WA with many years of model flying experience already under his belt. Although it has been a few years since his last flight we are all confident that with the quality instruction he will receive and a few hours under his belt he'll be back to the "old ways" in no time..... (is that a good thing?)! He has a Tower Hobbie trainer and a lot of enthusiasm to share with the club. Lonnie lives in Port Townsend and can be reached by phone @ 385-5221 or via email @ lphil81661@aol.com. Be sure to say "hello" to him at the field and make him feel welcome.
Don Smalts: "Our friend from North of the Border". Don visits us during the month of May each year and is a welcomed "quest" of the club. This year he was so "welcomed" that he accepted this Canadian Crash Trophy as a results of pilot error. Don, happy trails and good flying; we all look forward to seeing you again next season.
Kit and RC Product Reviews and Comments:
by: Pete Granger
MINI LASER “PARK MODEL”
This Belgium kit features laser cut parts, a motor and gearbox, prop, and spinner. The wheels are already installed on the landing gear! Of course all the wood and hardware is metric and some of the control hookups are very different. The plans are on slick, heavy weight paper, but have no information beyond parts identification. The instruction book is well illustrated, but the actual instructions are very brief—to the point of being confusing at times—because they are in 4 languages. I did a lot of study and thinking to figure my way through this one.
I was disappointed in the fit of the laser cut parts. I have built die cut kits that had closer fits. The kit employs typical laser “egg crate” type construction in the wing and body, and in all fairness the thing came out pretty straight.
THE BONES
The control surfaces were too thin to slot for CA hinges and I ended up using some sewing ribbon from Swains glued on to the surfaces U-control fashion. Likewise, no covering material was specified and I was not able to find a satisfactory lightweight covering. Soooo I used Monocote out of the scrap box. I was very concerned that this would cause warps in the light structure. I covered both sides of a surface before shrinking out wrinkles and then I worked both sides of each area to equalize the stress on the structure. This worked out OK and I ended up with a straight airplane.
READY FOR FLIGHT
I took the unflown plane with us on a short RV trip with friends and found a nice, softball diamond sized area for the test flight. The space was surrounded by trees and power lines, but since the plane was a “park flyer” there should be no problem---WRONG!!!!!! The first flight was a handful as the plane was very “squirrelly,” even though I had the CG between FUN and EXPERT. I put it down as quickly as possible, duct taped a couple of screws to the motor, and went back out to try it again. The takeoff run was much longer this time and the plane was very sensitive in the roll axis while going like the proverbial bat out of Hades. Clearly this was no park flyer and I was in big trouble. While trying to position the plane for landing I turned the wrong way and an airplane hungry tree grabbed it. I was able to move the control surfaces and get full thrust on the motor, but the tree held on to the plane about 50 feet up. It was decided that the afternoon wind would blow it down, but that did not happen. The next morning it had dropped to about the 30 foot level and I was back at the RV trying to dream up a rescue method when a local came up with it. He had climbed the tree and shook the plane out. He said, “It landed kind of hard”
THE PATHETIC REMAINS
Editors Comments: This "event" took place this month, and although Pete was flying away from his home field he was man enough to step up to the plate and admit there was an accident. I know that the Crash Trophy is pretty much already spoken for however there is something to be said for someone who has a difficult time flying a "park model".... Pete do we need a special trophy for this situation?