A Message From Your New President
By Walt Pierzchala
At the April meeting of the club, Bob Sudermann resigned his position as President of the Valley Forge Signal Seekers. Bob advised that "due to his extensive job related travel, it was impossible for him to continue as president." I volunteered to take over the position until the end of the year. I am confident that many club members will assist me during my term as president.
Toledo Show
By Walt Pierzchala
Joe Weizer, Joe Yalove and myself, made the trip to
Toledo in Joe Weizer's van, traveling on routes 476,
80, and 75 which took us to the show. Our travel time
totaled ten hours.
The Toledo Show is about twice the size of the WRAM
Show. We saw a large flea market and the static airplane
display was awesome. A quarter-scale Boeing 757 with
all the trimmings of a UPS cargo plane caught my eye.
Mark Frankel exhibited his quarter-scale T34 Beechcraft
Mentor. We heard later that Mark placed first in his
class. A beautiful WACO biplane and a big Lockheed
P38 were also remarkable. The number and quality of
the display aircraft was outstanding!
We also attended a couple of seminars. The first was a ni-cad battery seminar presented by an individual that had done extensive research on various batteries. Some of his recommendations were:
1. To determine the size of the receiver/servo battery
required by an aircraft - add the weight of the plane
in pounds and add two zeros. Example - 6 lb. plane
plus 00 = 600 mah.
2. Using a 5 cell - 6V receiver battery will give
you 50% more energy (but shorter flight time).
3. Summer heat can produce almost 40% heat loss in
batteries, use light colors for cooling. If the airplane
is exposed to the sun, cover it with something white.
4. When your airplane is home, always keep it on
trickle charge. Depending on how many flights one
has during the day, when you get home charge the batteries
for several hours, then maintain them on a trickle
charge.
The second seminar concerned the application of Monokote:
Prepare plane for covering by first spraying wood with
water to bring up "fuzz". Then sand wood
using fine sandpaper, finishing with #600 grit.
Next, using MAB wood filler, apply thin coat of filler
with a sponge or a rag on the entire plane surface.
Let dry and sand until most filler is removed.
Use a vacuum to suction sanding dust off airframe, followed
by a "tack rag". (Note: Open tack rag from
package and roll rag several times before using.)
Using a "Woodpecker", go lightly over entire
wood surface. Finally spray or atomize the wood surface
with Monokote Trim Solvent, allow to dry then cover
with Monokote.
The speaker recommended that the Monokote film be applied
as tight as you can. Do not use a heat gun to shrink
the film. If the film is applied right, the heat gun
is only used to touch up a loose area. By following
this procedure you will never have to worry about the
film getting loose on a hot day. Also recommended
was the use of a cotton cover on the iron shoe and
adjusting the iron to a maximum setting.
The auction at Toledo was held on Saturday evening. I would estimate a crowd of at least 1500 people attending the auction. The cheapest bid was $75 for a Goldberg Eagle airplane, no engine or radio. Prices escalated for quarter-scale models from $500 and up. Disadvantage of the auction - you could only view the airplane at the stage as it was auctioned off. No prior viewing, as we do when we have our auction. To keep children interested, all children under 12 were given tickets. During the auction the auctioneer would stop, call a ticket number and the child holding that number would receive a model plane, etc. One prize was a crisp $50 bill!
Club Calendar
Tuesday, May 11.......Monthly meeting at the Church.
8:00 PM
Saturday - Sunday, May 15 -16....Quakertown, PA.
19th Annual Giant
Scale Fly-In.
Buc-Le Aero Sportsmen.
For info or directions:
Tom - (215)256-4450
(Evenings)
Walt - (610)709-0443
(Evenings)
Saturday - Sunday, June 5 - 6..........Reading, PA.
World War II Weekend
at the
Reading Airport.
Saturday, June 12.....Valley Forge Signal Seekers,
1st Fun-Fly of 1999,
Club Field
Come on out and bring
an air-
plane and fly with
your fellow
club members.
Thank you
I want to take this opportunity to thank the members
of the Valley Forge Signal Seekers for their good wishes
and especially for the many cards, email, and the
very big fruit basket. Although my surgery was six
months in preparation, it went well and I was able
to return home in less than a week. Now I just have
to take it easy for a little while, and then I will
be out at the field flying and joining you in ribbing
the first guy who makes a less than perfect landing.
Until then, "Thanks again." ...........Ed
Snead
Club Equipment
The club is trying to find some of their lost or forgotton equipment that was used by its members. If you have a sound meter, walkie-talkie, coffee pot, etc. please notify Walt Pierzchala so he can put together an up-to-date list of equipment.
Signal "Shorts"
The field was rolled on Saturday, April 10th and appears to be in good shape. This very important item was taken care of by Dennis DiBonaventura. Seems he had a friend who "owed him one" and rolled the field at no cost to the club. Did a thorough job, too! Thank you Dennis for your help in smoothing out the field!!
Special thanks also to Walt Pierzchala for his continuing maintenance of the club tractor mower. Last fall he removed the battery and stored it at home for the winter. Recently he had a charge put on it and reinstalled the battery in the tractor. It was then that he discovered the tractor had a flat tire. Seems the tires are getting old and beginning to crack. An inner tube was inserted and it should be OK. Walt also changed the oil last fall and greased the fittings. It won't be long before it's needed to cut the grass. Thanks again, Walt for your work in keeping our tractor "alive'.
A new "porta-potty' was installed early in April and it wasn't in place 2 days before it was pushed over by some unknown morons. With help Paul Davis straightened it out and it's back in use. Thanks Paul, for getting one that's brand new. It even has a mirror inside! (I can still remember Buz Klein making a pitch to the BOG to have a porta-potty installed but most of us thought it was a luxury that we didn't need. Try to do without it now)
From the "I'll try anything to cover this airplane department", comes Todd Klinect on the rc.air net. He says he used "Tyvec" (a strong fabric-like sheeting used to wrap new houses) to cover his Agri-Duck. Says he used Sig Stix-It and 3M77 rubberized spray and that the covering looks good. Someone else said it could be also be shrunk using a heat gun. However, it must be painted because it is printed with logos. Nice to know that we still have experimenters out there.
Just finished a new plane? Don't forget to put your name, address and phone number somewhere inside the model. A couple of months ago Walt Pierzchala lost his model "over the hill" and couldn't find it in spite of several searches. Much later he received a telephone call from a Park visitor advising Walt that he found his model and he even brought it to his home. This is also an AMA requirement, so don't forget!!
Sound Levels
By Dennis DiBonaventura
At our March meeting, Bud Klopp, one of our members
and an AMA Associate Vice President, gave us a very
interesting presentation. He spoke of many things
in his role as AVP. One subject he spoke of was the
lack of concern regarding the noise levels at flying
sites. He spoke of one site that had asked him for
help in a situation they were having and wanted his
interaction with local officials. Another item was
a club that had no sound measurement policy. Another
club chose to fly with no mufflers at all!
Well, guess what? They lost their flying sites!!
We of VFSS have a sound policy which is very practical. Please do not feel that, if you are approached for a sound check, it is a personal affront, but one for the betterment of the club. If you have any thoughts that your engine does not meet our sound level policy, please contact the Chief Field Marshall Ed Moore for a sound level check. This is your field and we must make every effort in this day and age of urbanization and the loss of possible future sites to construction, to maintain our relationships with all our neighbors.
Club Raffle
The raffle for our May meeting is shaping up to be one of the biggest we've ever had and includes the following items:
Futaba Skysport 4 Channel Radio
Goldberg Tiger 2 .40 size Kit
2 Gallons 10% Glow Fuel
5 Pc. Metric Ball Driver Set
Tite-Bond Glue and 30 Min. Epoxy
Canopy Glue and Thin CA Glue
Glow Plug Ignitor
700 mah Receiver Battery
3 Rolls Monocote
These items were purchased from Penn Valley Hobby Center in Lansdale. So come on guys, come to the May meeting and pick up a few tickets!! There's a lot of stuff up for grabs!
Radial Engines
By Russ O'Brien
Why do rotary and radial engines have an odd number of cylinders in each row? The answer is revealed by following one piston through the four strokes of the Brayton cycle:
(1) Intake
(2) Compression
(3) Power and
(4) Exhaust
Each stroke is a trip of the piston from Top Dead Center (TDC) to Bottom Dead Center (BDC) or the reverse direction.
Two revolutions of the crankshaft are required to complete the cycle. Similarly, it takes two revolutions for all the cylinders to fire once. Ignition occurs nominally at the TDC point where "stroke 2" ends and "stroke 3" begins. All cylinders have their pistons reaching the ignition point at different times. Assume a 7-cylinder radial engine.
During the first revolution, cylinders 1-3-5 & 7 fire. During the second revolution, cylinders 2-4 & 6 fire. Note that the next cylinder to fire is always two away from the previous one that fired. In a radial engine with seven cylinders, this keeps everything in balance, since equal spacing is maintained between successive cylinders as they fire.
When the last odd numbered cylinder has fired (No. 7), it is a 2-step jump to cylinder 2, then 4, then 6. This is the end of the cycle for the 7-cylinder group and the timing skips No. 7 and starts with No. 1 again. The next cycle starts and the engine runs smoothly with the evenly spaced power strokes chasing the crankshaft around in circles.
If you substitute an even number of cylinders, you run
into a trap; the transition from the first revolution
to the second would not be equally spaced. After firing
all the odd number cylinders during the first revolution,
it would be a 3-step jump to start firing the even
cylinders. At the end of firing the even cylinders,
it would be a 1-step jump to switch back to the odd
cylinders. This would require a complex valve and
ignition timing plus introducing a "hiccup"
in the flow of power pulses every revolution.
There is a lot going on in a radial engine. What is
amazing is that the rotary concept was developed and
built in 1911. The entire engine spun around while
the crankshaft was bolted to the frame. Radial and
rotary engines were used because of their high power-to-weight
ratio and air cooling which eliminated the cost, weight
and complexity of liquid cooling.
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