Hear Ye!

December, 2001
No. 415

From the President,
Warren Barrick

VFSS had a belated Veterans' Day observance on 11/13/01 when we had a
presentation by one of our many veterans, Bob Schaaf.

Bob, with the assistance of his lovely daughter Lynn, regaled us with
anecdotes of his tour of duty as a B-17 waist gunner of the 8th Air Force
during WWII. Bob had board displays with photos of fellow crew members, his
aircraft, medals and even his original leather flight jacket. He completed
30 missions in 11 months at the ripe old age of 18!

He told us of his training with .22 rifles, shotguns, skeet shooting, and
his gradual progression to heavy caliber aerial machine guns and the strong
emphasis of firing weapons with "short bursts."

Bob's first mission was over Schweinfurt, Germany, with a ball bearing
factory as the target. As Bob related his exploits, Lynn would read from Bob
's meticulously maintained diary. Thanks, Bob and Lynn, for a wonderful
presentation.

Pat Taggart is our newly elected Vice President. All the other officers for
2002 are the same as 2001.

Dennis DiBonaventura chose not to run for re-election, as his busy schedule
proved to be too demanding. Dennis did a super job in handling our field
maintenance in the spring. He will remain on the BOG and, as always, will be
a real presence at the field. Thanks, Dennis.

December's general membership meeting is planned for members to make
nominations for our two special awards, Doug Davidson and Technical
Achievement.

The Doug Davidson Award has been given annually to a member of the club who
has "done outstanding service for the club and shown devotion to the club
and hobby."

Technical Achievement is given to that member who has displayed a great
measure of mechanical ability as manifested in a model or project.

Please think of these criteria and plan to nominate your choice at the
December meeting. Elections will be held at the January meeting and winners
will be announced at the Banquet in February.

Applications for memberships and renewals are included in this newsletter.
Late fees will go into effect after the March membership meeting. You must
present your AMA card for 2002. New members can only sign up at membership
meetings.

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FIRST ANNUAL VFSS FLEA MARKET
By Ed Snead

Considering it was the Club's first Flea-Market, conceived and implemented
on short notice, it was a reasonably successful event. Not a great event,
but having all the essential ingredients of being one.

There was Club interest, participation and oodles of goodies for sale.
There were 20 vendors whose tables were loaded with all types of R/C
equipment and a few non-R/C items. (I bought a Bearcat Scanner and a "Home
Interior" scented candle) How about a New In Box (NIB) Surpass 70 for
$85.00 and a OS91FX NIB for $100.00?

There was Frankie Morris's Grumman Widgeon "in the bones" with 2 Magnum 52-4
stroke engines, an Airtronic radio system, molds for engine nacelles, and
the stand for mounting the model - all for $200.00! Yeah, that's right -
$200.
Frank Morris was a master builder and although the HUGE model was just about
complete, there was still a lot of time and effort remaining to turn it into
the masterpiece it was meant to be.

During and after the Flea-Market, comments were solicited from the attendees
as to what they thought of the event. The general response was that it was
a good Flea-Market with adequate attendance considering the short time there
was to prepare, just not enough buyers. It was noted that in making their
remarks most said, "Next year when we have the Flea-Market.."

There is a definite interest in continuing with the event in the future and
the thinking is that with proper preparation and advertising, it can be a
major event in the Club's calendar of yearly activities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

STUDENTS SOLO

Soloed students for September and October include the following:

Student - Instructor
Sanjeev Arjungi - Jim Myers
Joseph Petragnani - John Bragitikos
Stan Pressman - Carl Sutton

Congratulations for your achievements!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEOPRENE TUBING

Miles Bowman found another source for the neoprene tubing that deflects
exhaust & reduces the dB-A sound levels for 2-strokes.

He has 2 sizes, one that will fit .20-.30 and another that fits .40-.65.
This is the flexible thin-wall black tubing, not the thick silicone (which
doesn't reduce sound levels).

He has a bunch for 75 cents a foot (covers the price and shipping - less
than a quarter of what the others cost). See him at the field or wherever
and let him know if you want some.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PARK FLYERS
By Russ O'Brien

The BOG had some discussions on the potential problem of our planes being
"shot down" by the new Park Flyers which may show up in abundance after
Christmas. The AMA was contacted for assistance, especially for the loan of
the District 3 Frequency Analyzer which displays all the radio frequencies
that are on the air in our bandwidth. Anything that matches our model
airplane channels could cause our planes to crash. The following response
was received from AMA Headquarters.

Please contact your District Frequency Coordinator, John Cottle, regarding
the loan of a Frequency Analyzer. His address is 1012 Wyoming Avenue, Forty
Fort, PA 18704, Phone 717.287.8970.

Park Flyer transmitters can have the same power as other model aircraft. I
have included some additional information below:

RECOMMENDATION FOR AMA CHARTERED CLUBS IN PARTNERING WITH PARK FLYERS

Be aware: Determine potential flying sites for park flyers within a 3-mile
radius of your club's flying site. Examples might be parks, parking lots,
playgrounds, farm fields, ball fields, etc. Keep in mind that the greatest
threat comes from those flying who have no prior experience with Radio
Control models. Knowing this may help in qualifying potential sites.

Be pro-active: Establish a committee of club members to keep track of
activities taking place at the locations determined to be likely park flyer
sites. These committee members must be willing to devote the time and
effort necessary. They must be members who exhibit good people skills; i.e.
diplomatic, polite, courteous, and understanding.

Be a source of assistance: Your introduction of yourself should be followed
with an offer of free assistance for the new flier. This assistance should
take the form of an offer to check the aircraft for airworthiness, getting
the aircraft in the air successfully, and distributing information pertinent
to flying Radio Control aircraft - all in a safe environment. Encourage
questions and be prepared to give clear, concise, and easily understood
answers. Do not treat park flyer pilots as anything but equal.

Be a partner: Contact the hobby shops and offer the printed information
provided by the AMA to hand out to each person purchasing a park flyer.
Also provide them with printed information about the club, which includes an
invitation to the club field and the offer of assistance in learning to
enjoy a new park flyer. A clearly drawn map to the club field is necessary
part of this handout.

I hope the above information will be helpful to you. If you have any
additional concerns or questions please don't hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,
Ilona Maine
Administrative Assistant
Special Services Department
Academy of Model Aeronautics
(765) 287-1256 ext. 251

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOVEMBER VFSS BOG MEETING
Submitted by Dee Messina, Secretary

November 6, 2001
14 members present, 2 guests
Quorum Presided

The meeting opened at 7:15 PM by President Barrick

This meeting is primarily to select BOG officers for year 2002. The results
for 2002 are as follows:
President: Warren Barrick
Vice-President: Pat Taggart
Treasurer: Carl Sutton
Secretary: Dee Messina

Incoming BOG Members for 2002 are as follows:
Frank Butta Tris Colket
Rudy Forst Nathan Marks
Alex Primas Bob Sudermann
Pat Taggart Steve Trabosh
Joe Varallo John Williamson

Thanks to the following BOG members who will complete their term as of
December 31, 2001:
Ferenc Bakay Miles Bowman
John Bragitikos Ron Brown
Jeb Bushell Jim Chubb
Gene Gifford Mel Jones
Dan Natale Bill Sunick

No other business was conducted at this month's meeting. The meeting was
adjourned by President Barrick at 7:45 PM.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DECEMBER RAFFLE
By Joe Yalove

These are the prizes for the December raffle.

1. Great Planes two-drawer field box kit with detachable auxiliary power
station with a manual fuel pump included. Kit goes together easily and
holds a lot of field support supplies. Just paint or put some polyurethane
on it. Optional power panel and infamous 12 volt battery.

2. Six-piece multi-tool kit in a wooden box. 2 Sheffeld Multipurpose tools
with three pen knives and a flashlight, plus a pouch to stuff all this into.

3. Ryobi electric sander. This has the design to go into corners and will
save many hours of laborious hand sanding.

4. Ryobi 6-inch 2-wheel grinder. Great for sharpening drills and wire,
especially landing gears.

5. Record bench vise. This vise is great. I have one. It is a composite
material and can be removed from the bench very easily. It has rubber jaws
and can hold with tenacity onto whatever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CLUB CALENDAR

Tuesday, December 4th -
BOG Meeting at the church at 7:00 PM. Planning for Banquet and other
activities.

Tuesday, December 11th -
General membership meeting at the church at 8:00 PM. Gene Greatti will
bring his new turbine and answer all questions about cost and operation of
same.Nominations will be accepted for Doug Davidson and Technical
Achievement awards. Raffle and Show-N-Tell as usual.

Friday, December 14th -
Flea Market at Bucks County R/C .at Lenape Middle School in Doylestown at
7:00 P.M. Call Bob Paris after 6:00 PM.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ADDRESS CHANGE?

Contact Rudy Forst, Membership Chairman, at rkforst@msn.com

Feedback or comments to: Marilyn Ayres , HearYe editor
Michael Myers, Webmaster

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