Hear Ye!

The official newsletter of the :
Valley Forge Signal Seekers
Radio Controlled Model Airplane Club
February, 1999
No. 381

Annual Awards Dinner at Camelot,
425 Mill St. Bridgeport - February 9 at 7:00 PM
Ron Strobel to Show Videos of VFSS Flyers
WRAM Show - Saturday, February 27th

In this issue:
Prez Sez
By Bob Sudermann

VFSS. . . . . 1959 - 1999

That's right! Valley Forge Signal Seekers is forty years young. I have to say young because I recently hit the big "Four-Oh". And although my kids make me feel old, this hobby helps me keep a young attitude.

I have only been around this club for about 10 years and have seen many changes take place as we attempt to guide the club into the next millennium. I look forward to take part in and see what changes our hobby has in store for us. As the Board prepares for a summer full of flying activities, please help us come up with a unique way to celebrate this Anniversary. Talk to any Board Member and pass along your ideas.

Thanks to all who brought out their current projects at the January meeting: 1/4 scale Tiger Moth, multi-engine DC-3, gyrocopters. . . . That's only a small sample of what will appear in the Spring when we all bring out our new creations.

Remember the next meeting will be our Annual Banquet at the Camelot Club in Bridgeport. The Doug Davidson and Technical Achievment Awards will be presented along with a few "Special Awards" which cannot be divulged at this time. Ron Strobel has put together a video of our activities and we are planning a special presentation. I hope to see you all there!

As I write these notes I am preparing to leave for Puerto Rico on business. It would be nice to try to find a local flying site to visit while there.

Oh. I almost forgot - GO BRONCOS! ! ! ! !

Annual Awards Dinner

On Tuesday, February 9th, instead of our normal monthly meeting, we will be at The Camelot enjoying a delicious buffet dinner. This annual get-together at the Camelot has always been a great evening. This year, in addition to the awards, Ron Stroble will be showing a video he had photographed last summer at the club field. So come on out and see if you're one of the "actors" in this film!
Dinner is scheduled for 7:00 PM. We'll start off with a salad, then the buffet will include: sliced turkey, beef in mushroom sauce, sweet potatoes, vegetable, and pasta. Dessert will be ice cream and coffee or tea.
The ladies may enjoy a complimentary glass of wine and soda is free. Beer will be available at $1 a can.
If you have not done so already, you must have your reservation in before February 3. The cost for this fine evening is $5 per person. If you would like to attend but have not purchased your reservation yet, please call Walt Pierzchala at (610) 356-6507.
For those who have never been to Camelot it is located at 425 Mill St., Bridgeport, and is about 2 blocks from the intersection of Routes 202 North (Dekalb St) and 23 (E. 4th St.). From this intersection, proceed East on Rt. 23 (4th St.) to the first traffic light which will be Mill St. Turn right on Mill St. and you should see The Camelot ahead. There is a large parking lot on your right, in front of Camelot. (See accompanying map).

From the Editor

One of the difficulties of being editor of a club newsletter is how to make it interesting to most of the members. What is interesting to me may be of little or no interest to someone else. So you try to find topics or articles or stories that are diverse in the hope that the majority of club members will enjoy the contents of the newsletter.
With this in mind I continuously search the Net, read several aviation/model magazines and scan a few other club newsletters for ideas.
However, articles submitted by our club members are still preferred. If you have an idea, or something to say, or a model-related story to tell, send it to me.
Who knows, maybe we have another "Hemingway" in our group!!

Event Calendar

February 9 (Tuesday).............Dinner at The Camelot
425 Mill St., Bridgeport, PA.
Time: 7:00. Deadline for
reservations, Feb. 3rd.
Enjoy good food, jawing with
fellow club members and watch a
video produced by Ron Strobel.
Several trophies to be awarded.
See map for location.

February 11 (Thursday)...........Winter R/C Auction,
Presented by the Bucks County
Radio Control Club.
Location: Lenape Middle School
313 W. State St.
Doylestown, PA.
Time: 7:30 PM
Admission Fee - $2.00
For more information contact:
Bob Paris - (215) 348-7480

February 27 (Saturday)...............WRAM Show
White Plains, N.Y. Annual bus
trip to largest R/C show in the
East! Bus to leave King of
Prussia at 8:30 AM SHARP!
See map for location of bus
pick-up. If you haven't made
your reservation yet, call Joe
Weizer (610) 446-3982.
Cost is $30 and includes ad-
mission to the Show.

March 13 (Saturday)......Central Penn Aeromodelers
Association. 19th Annual Radio
Control Flea Market.
Time: 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
Place: Lebanon Fairgrounds,
Cornwell Rd. and Rocherty Rd.,
Lebanon, PA. Admission $5.00
For more information contact:
Dick Sickmon
102 Charles St.
Carlisle, PA 17013

two maps

Biplane Comparison
By Jim Myers

(Continued from last month)
The Skybolt's symetrical airfoils make it easier to perform outside loops. It does inside-outside Figure 8's, in addition to Cuban 8's. I did not connect the ailerons on the top wing for the first several flights; I taped them at neutral. The Skybolt has two aileron servos, both located in the lower wing. In the last row of the table (shown last month) , "yaw-roll" refers to the coupling between yaw (commanded by rudder) and roll (commanded by ailerons). This is also called "induced roll" due to sideslip. In any trainer aircraft, and most 2-channel sailplanes, there is a strong coupling between these two motions, due to the rather pronounced wing dihedral. What this means is that if the plane goes into a sideslip for any reason, the dihedral will automatically correct its roll attitude, tending to make the plane fly straight with wings level. Also, by holding rudder deflection, the plane will automatically bank in the direction of the turn. You can get a feel for the amount of yaw-roll coupling a plane has by flying it straight and level and moving the rudder stick from side to side. The plane will always yaw, but if it also banks from side to side, you have yaw-roll coupling.
The Skybolt has less yaw-roll coupling than any other plane I have flown. This makes it easier to fly on knife edge! Just roll that plane 90 degrees, then add opposite rudder, and a slight correction to the ailerons. The yaw induces very little corrective rolling moment, so it is easier for me to hold the knife edge position. Now I can think of ways to use rudder-aileron mixing (which my present radio does not have). I would set the mixing so that rudder input gives just enough opposite aileron to prevent rolling.
In conclusion, I like flying the Skybolt better than the Aeromaster, mainly because of its superior ability to perform outside loops and knife edge flight. Most other maneuvers are done equally well by either plane.

Tech Tips
from the NET

What is the difference between the new Futaba S-3003 servos and the older S-148 servos?

"Red" Scholefield replies: The S-3003 relation to the precision performance servos one associates with the 3000 series is only in family name. With the same general mechanical configuration as the popular work-horse S-148 I was curious as to just what these were. A call to the manufacturersolved the mystery. The S-3003 is a completely new servo designed for total automated assembly. The design target was to meet the performance and weight specifications of the S-148. They came close. Per spec., the S-3003 speed is .23sec/60 degree versus .22 for the S-148. The S-3003 is 0.25 oz. lighter and has 2.8 oz./in. more torque than the 41.6 oz./in. of the S-148. The listing in a popular 1996 mail order catalog calls the S-148 "Standard Precision" while the S-3003 is designated "Standard". In this same catalog the "Precision" is $1.00 more than the "Standard". The manufacturer was non-committal when asked if the S-148 would eventually be phased out. "It depends on the market".
In the testing of these servos I could find no perceivable difference between them. Only lots of field experience will tell if these can equal the success of the S-148's.
There is one small difference and that is in the mounting pads. The S-148 has "open" holes whereas the S-3003 has closed holes. The spacing between the holes is slightly different. The holes on the S-3003 are .072 in. closer together on the long dimension and .008 in. farther apart on the narrow dimension. This means they are not directly interchangeable in systems set up for the S-148 and will not fit the Futaba servo trays that came with your system that had the S-148s shipped with it.

Ni-Cad Batteries - The primary deterioration in ni-cd batteries is oxidation of the nylon separator. The rate of oxidation is temperature dependent. Lower temperature retards the oxidation process and extends the life of the battery in storage. It makes absolutely no difference what state of charge the batteries are in when placed in storage.

B.O.G. Review
By Dee Messina, Secretary

The Board of Governors met January 19, 1999.
Meeting called to order by Bob Sudermann, President
at 7:05 PM. Seventeen members present.

OLD BUSINESS
1.) Banquet food selection discussed. Combination buffet selected.
2.) Looking for a club member to be a Master of Ceremonies at the Banquet. Any interested party, contact a Board Member or Club Officer.
3.) A non-smoking environment has been requested
for the Banquet.
4.) The Board approved a professionally edited video
of 1998 VFSS members to be shown on a big screen TV at the Banquet.

NEW BUSINESS
1.) The 1999 Budget has been approved and is in place.
2.) The first Fun-Fly is scheduled for June 12th. Mike Estock will be the Event Director.
3.) An Entertainment Committee is now forming (see Walt Pierzchala) for the purpose of finding people and suitable topics to present at club meetings. If you know of someone, contact Walt.
4.) A model engine machinery show will take place on Jan. 31 at the Leesport Farmers Market. See Alex Patson if you are interested.

Business concluded. Meeting adjourned at 8:35 PM.
Respectively submitted,
Dee Messina.


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Michael Myers, Webmaster


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