Hear Ye!

The official newsletter of the :
Valley Forge Signal Seekers
Radio Controlled Model Airplane Club
May, 1997

May General Membership Meeting At The Field
Tuesday May 13th At 6:30

In This Issue:
*From The President
*Think Safety
* How To Cut A Perfect Circle In Balsa
*From The Net
*May 13TH Will Be A Learning Experience
*Like Watching Grass Grow

From the President
By Warren Barrick

April Meeting The April meeting at the church was as usual well attended and a great success.

Top Gun came to V.F.S.S. in the personage of Dave Malchione of Kennett Square, Pa. The Malchione family of southern Chester County have long been expert builders, flyers and world class competitors.

Dave brought his F/4 from last years Top Gun competition. It was the highlight of a very fine meeting. We were all amazed at the high degree of craftsmanship displayed in this aircraft. Dave kept the group spellbound for the better part of an hour as he shared with us his experiences as a scale builder and competitor at Top Gun. We are most appreciative, Thanks Dave.

Jim Meyers enlightened us with a presentation about the Hale- Bopp comet and it's orbit/trajectory through our corner of the universe.

Tony Szczur unveiled new electronic gadgets and shared Show'N Tell with Art Rothstein who showed us his brand new Ultra Sport 60. Tony has a new pattern ship which was a gift from his son. Thanks guys!

May general membership meeting will be in the park. Rom Boutin and the training instructors will be in charge of the evening's presentation. There is no raindate for this meeting and we cannot use the church on this date. Flying is encouraged before and after the meeting, come early, stay late!

June's meeting is also scheduled for the park. We will have a speaker from Devcon Adhesives. If weather threatens we can use the church at the usual time of 8:00 PM. Show'n Tell and the Raffle will be held but only at the church.

July membership meeting will also be in the park. The Park service will provide us with a speaker for the evening. Flying will again be encouraged before and after meeting. If foul weather prevails we will have our meeting at 8:00 PM at the church and follow our usual procedures.

BOG will meet in the park on May 20th at 6:30 PM.

June 28th will be our first fixed wing Fun Fly of 1997. Mike Estock and Joe Weizer will coordinate the event. Refreshments will be provided for all club members. Mark your calendars and join us for a really gala occasion!

Think Safety
By Miles Bowman

Hi Guys, well I took a day off from work and went to the field, saw some of the guys and had a real nice time, except for having one of those safety lapses that might serve as a good reminder for you all - hence my letter.....

I got nipped by a prop for the first time - luckily at idle - with a "dull" wooden prop - that doesn't weigh much so the inertia was less - and I swear the Saito .45 4-stroke must have been on the compression stroke - because although it smashed my fingernail and bled real impressively, there wasn't any real damage.

So here I was, proud of my restraining chord around the plane, having been the club safety officer a few years back, I'm always b*tch*ng about safety - and I stuck my hand in the prop while removing the plug wire....yea, right - a real smart guy! Nothing like some of the other sights I've seen before, but still very painful, and now I get to watch the smashed fingernail fall off.....

So be careful out there guys, think safety, keep your hands away from the damn prop - and stay in back of the plane, check your batteries, do a field check, and fly within your limits (because crashes don't impress anyone, and we all know that most of those equipment failure excuses are really BS, don't we?).

FLY SAFE and keep the sound down, See you later,

Miles Bowman

************************************************************

IF YOU HAVE NOT RENEWED YOUR MEMBERSHIP BY THE MAY GENERAL MEETING (MAY 13TH) Then this edition of Hear-Ye is the last you will receive until you are paid up. It was noted that as of the April meeting, many 1996 members had not, as yet, paid their 1997 membership dues. Since the renewal deadline was March 11th, continuing to mail newsletters to non current members is financially irresponsible, not to mention, unfair to members who are paid-up. ************************************************************

How To Cut a perfect circle in balsa
By Rob Caso

1) With a compass, plot the circle on your balsa or rubber cement a pre-drawn template to the balsa.

2) Tape two pieces of masking tape to your jig saw table, to the right or left of and on line with the blade.

3) For an outside circle, rough cut the outline within a 1/2 inch or so. For an inside circle, do not rough cut, but drill a small hole close to the edge of the circle on the waste piece large enough to fit your jig saw blade.

4) For outside circle cut the wood with the jig saw stopping so that the blade is now at the farthest right or left edge of the circle. Turn off saw. Take a pin and push it through the center of the circle into the masking tape on the jig saw table. Turn on the saw and rotate the balsa into the blade. The saw cut should follow the outline if the center of the circle is perfectly in line with the blade.

5) Inside circle is similar only that you will have to remove the blade from the machine temporarily and slide it through the hole in the balsa (step 3). Then continue as in step 4.

All this is easier to do than it is to type!

From The Net
Courtesy Of Michael Myers

From: A314APilot@aol.com
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 18:18:08 -0400 (EDT)
To: mhmyers@netaxs.com
Subject: Hear Ye

Just recently discovered your site. Very impressive. Let me take this opportunity to invite any of your members who may enjoy flying seaplanes to join me and my club for our semi-annual Fun Float Fly at Manahawkin Lake in Manahawkin NJ on May 17 & 18. It is a sanctioned AMA event, listed in MA

Art Thoms CD

May 13th Will Be A Learning Experience

After the formal meeting being held on 13 May at the field, training staff personnel will be available for technical, flying, etc assistance to all club members. Instructors, associate instructors and technicians, well versed in building, start up, flying and club rules will await your individual interest for help... we have a person that can help you... check us out..

Rom Boutin, Chief Instructor

Like Watching the Grass Grow.....?
By Jim Myers

A few weeks ago, one of my friends at the field mentioned that someone asked him some questions about R/C gliders. He could not really advise this person very well. Although my friend flies plenty of R/C power planes, he admitted that watching gliders was like watching the grass grow that is, unexciting. I responded to his comment with some information that comes from my experience in flying both types of aircraft. He suggested I should write a Hear -Ye article so that newcomers could find out something that may help them get into R/C flying with a bit less expense and quicker learning time than required for powered R/C.

Gliders/sailplanes are to powered planes as sailboats are to power boats, and as bicycles are to motorcycles. In each case, I believe the fun is in the participation, not just the watching. The experience of flying a sailplane has its unique pleasures and challenges, which take time and practice. The casual observer will not see or appreciate all that goes into a good soaring flight. Our club has a number of experienced glider pilots to help you get started.

I will mention that I received my first R/C flight instruction on a sailplane. I learned to control the plane in flight, make launches on a High-Start and winch, and land the model after maybe 6 or 8 Sundays of practice at the VFSS field. Yes, for those who do not know, Sunday mornings are restricted to sailplanes and electric- powered planes until 1:00 p.m. EST throughout the year. (That's 2:00 p.m. during daylight savings time.)

A High-Start acts like a giant sling shot: a novice/sport version consists of 100 feet of surgical rubber tubing, one end anchored in the ground, and the other end tied to 400 feet of monofilament fishing line. At the end of the line is a small parachute with a metal ring attached to the top. After you stretch the line at least 100 feet or more, you slip the metal ring over a hook on the belly of the sailplane. Be absolutely sure that your transmitter and receiver are both turned on before you hook up! You may then walk backward, stretching the line even more before letting the model go. It will immediately start climbing straight up like a kite. You must control the rudder and sometimes the elevator during the launch. As the plane gets higher, the tension in the line decreases, and the trajectory arcs over as the plane slows its climb and levels out. Finally, you apply a little down elevator, which allows the line to become slack. As the parachute fills with air, the launch ring slips off the belly hook and the plane is now in free flight, about 500 feet above the ground.

Then, you steer the plane generally into the wind, and look for some telltale motion that indicates that a thermal, or updraft, is acting on your plane. This may be indicated by one wing or the nose suddenly lifting, even though you did not move the control stick in a way to make that happen. Detecting this and acting on it is what takes time and practice in flying sailplanes. When you find a thermal, try to steer the plane in a very shallow turn so that the plane rides in the thermal, reaching higher and higher altitudes. Those who watch Red Tail hawks and Turkey Vultures call this kettling. On some good days I have seen six to ten R/C sailplanes kettling in a single thermal. More often, especially at first, you will not notice these subtle indications. In this case, the plane slowly descends, and you start looking for a good place for a landing.

Electric winch launches usually propel the model to higher altitudes before releasing the tow ring. Also, if available, a retrieval winch drags the line back, so that on a good day, we can launch one plane per minute at our field. Once you've soloed, you'll appreciate rapid launching capacity, until you learn to find those thermals to make your flights last longer.

A typical flight without thermals lasts two or three minutes. Beginners can expect to spend a good portion of time walking to retrieve their models. Learning landings is fairly easy, because these planes glide so slowly. As you progress, you will experience lots of landings. Just be sure to keep the wings level and head the model into the wind. Try to avoid cross wind landings; you don't have to line up with the runway.

It's quite a thrill when you find your first thermal and manage maybe a five-minute flight. You realize that your plane is not totally at the mercy of the wind and gravity. You are actually controlling its path so that it stays for some time in a rising air current. As you make more flights, finding the thermals becomes easier. Eventually, some day you will guide your plane to higher and higher altitudes, until the plane appears to be a tiny speck in the sky. Did I mention that your eyesight better be checked and corrected to 20/20 or better? This is true for flying any R/C models, but with sailplanes, extra sharpness in your vision is essential.

Some good novice kits: Gentle Lady, Olympic 650, Olympic II, .... Try to find a kit with polyhedral wings and three basic control functions: elevator, rudder, and spoilers. At first, you will never need the spoilers, but as you try to make spot landings spoilers become useful. They are also useful if your plane has attained a super high altitude and you want to help it descend safely. A nose dive is not really recommended, because the plane could reach considerable speed, and your pull-out may break the wings. Even simple model sailplanes can do loops and rolls. Just be sure you have plenty of altitude before trying these tricks.

For advanced sailplane designs: see Radio Control Soaring in any issue of Model Aviation; order a catalogue from Northeast Sailplane Products; see some in action at VFSS field. These planes usually have flat wings with flaps and ailerons instead of spoilers. Some of the most advanced computer radios on the market were developed specifically for these models, to permit mixing control functions in various ways. These planes, usually fiberglass with vacuum-formed wings, are strengthened with carbon fiber, Kevlar, and other high- tech stuff. The airfoils are designed by Ph.Ds (e.g. Professor Michael Selig and others).

I am willing to fly my (non-high-tech) sailplanes on colder and windier days than I would fly my powered models. I enjoy the quiet, friendly competition of searching for thermal activity, trying to increase my personal best time to more than 30 minutes. Sometimes on a windy day, it's fun to see that plane just seem to hover in the air, as I rapidly move the stick through large angles to maintain control and stability. On cold days, I fly with gloves on. The nice thing is there is no cold fuel to mess with. On hot summer days, a good long thermal flight may induce me to sit down, or even lie down on the ground to keep my neck from getting stiff. Really long, high flights are rare enough that they remain treasures in my memory. In my opinion, it's MUCH better than watching, or mowing, the grass!


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Michael Myers, Webmaster


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