Hello and greetings,

I just got back from the Davison Hill Toppers WWI & WWII scale contest where my Fokker D VII came out on top in the WWI category. (Congratulations! Ed.) One of the great things about southeast Michigan for our hobby is that during the warmer months you can find a contest or event almost every weekend at one of the many local clubs. Flying at different club fields and in contests helps to sharpen your skills. In addition you pick up a lot of good tips for your latest model or things you would like to see at our field. It is likewise important to take care of our visitors at our field during Skymasters open events. Make sure our visitors feel welcomed and know who to talk to in case it is their first visit and they need to understand the field procedures.

I hope that you were able to attend the annual field closing party last month. We sure picked a good day weather-wise this year for our festivities with above-average temperatures for late October. The field doesn't actually close, it is available to members and their guests all year long. It is just our way of saying so-long to summer.

As the warmer months give way to winter our field maintenance will be ending soon. Please join me in thanking Al McGee for all of the grass mowing this year. He certainly had a challenge this year keeping up with the fast-growing grass on the runway. But the field has never looked better. The great field conditions are also due to the work put in this spring and summer with fertilizing and Milkyspore grub control coordinated by Bill Wood, Randy MacInness, and Mark Smith. Thanks for the smooth runway!

November is election month, not just for the country but also for the Skymasters. To put a new twist on some old sayings: Ask not what your club can do for you, but what you can do for your club! Your club needs you! We will be having elections for officers during our November Larson School meeting. Each year we elect a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer to one-year terms. If you are interested in one of these positions for the up-coming year or would just like to know more about what the position requires, see any of the current or past club officers.

Plan now to attend the annual Skymasters' Holiday Party. This will take the place of our regular agenda for our December Larson School Meeting. Bring a plane and be in the drawing for prizes.

Lastly, the BOD is working on programs for our winter meetings at Larson Middle School but we need your help! If you have any ideas or subjects that you would like to so a program on please the club officers know. We are planning on having a real treat for our January 24^th meeting; It will be a scale symposium with George Mairorana, Skip Mast, Dave Pinegar, and Steve Suager, four world-class scale modelers with numerous contest wins to there names. Plan to join us as these great scale modeler share their stories and talents!

That's all for this month. Fly safe and happy landings.

Gary Weaks

Welcome to the November issue of Skywriter - a little later than normal. Still catching up from a week in sunny California!

Flying activity has dropped off a bit. Those of us that need to work during the day are finding it dark to early to fly evenings any more. Those able to take advantage of days have had some nice ones recently.

My helicopter is now flying! It completed three flights with me at the controls this morning - obviously not going far from the ground - after a test flight by Dave Palechek. That gives me about 6 flights on helicopters - still along way to go. There are some obvious differences one must adjust to between planes and helicopters… If you get in trouble with a heli, don't cut the throttle! It is the only thing keeping you in the air!!

Our annual elections are at the November 8 meeting! Are you interested in serving as a club officer?? Talk to any BOD member for information about any of the positions. There are 4 elected officers: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. These four plus all past Presidents make up the voting members of the BOD. Appointed positions (by the new President) include Newsletter Editor and Chief Flight Instructor.

Please send me any input you may have for the newsletter. Please send mail to GMCardillo@att.net, or to my address on the back cover…

Location: Larson Middle School

• None

• October 20^th -- Field closing party -- after sundown Friday night
• Hunting season is approaching. In the event of good flying weather, remember that our agreement with the DNR requires hunters to be at least 400 yards from the field and cannot shoot towards the field.
• Gary Weaks is looking for 2001 winter program ideas. Contact Gary with your suggestions.
• Bill Dezur is looking for volunteers for October 13, 14 & 15^th to be involved with the Boy Scout Jamboree at the Romeo Airport. The Jamboree is based on an aviation theme. This will include taking scouts up for flight demonstrations and model airplane flight demonstrations.
• Skymasters are invited to fly at the Seven Lakes Park in Holly for Float Flys on Saturdays. Please contact Chet Brady, who is the coordinator.
• Greg Cardillo announced that he gave a presentation to an elementary school class in Oakland Township. The students were invited to the field to fly the plane they built and it was very successful.
• Joe Hass has confirmed Wednesday, January 24^th as the date he will bring in world class scale builders and flyers. See newsletter for more information.
• Paul Zabawa announced that Family Hobbies in Flint is going out of business.

• October 11^th – Aviation Art Theme
• October 25^th – Mark Smith will give a demo on foam cutting
• November 8^th – Paper airplane contest. ELECTION NIGHT
• December 13^th – Christmas Party
• December 31^st – Krazy Snow Fly

• Gary Weaks led a Powerpoint discussion on building scale planes from scratch. He presented many tips and tricks on how to convert drawing into scale models.

• Herm Grief -- $10 gift certificate

• Don Patterson -- Ticket # 899033 -- $22.00

• Ross Hardy brought in a ¼ scale, Stinson Reliant Spacewalker ARF, powered by a YS 91.
• Joe Hass (Chris's airplane) brought in a Hobby Lobby Graubner, which weighed in at 19 ounces and is powered by a speed 280. It has a 3:1 ratio with a Pixi 7 speed controller.
• Herm Greif shared his Extra 3.25 from Lanier, which is powered by a Magnum 30.
• Paul Zabawa brought in his Trainer Twin, manufactured by MEN. It will be powered by two 15 Thunder Tiger GP.
• Pete Foss (Sam's plane) shared a LT-25 on floats, which weighs 5 lbs and is powered with a 25 FP.

-------------------------------------

Date: October 11^th, 2000

Location: Larson Middle School

• None

• October 20^th -- Field closing party -- after sundown Friday night
• SKS video is available to purchase. Please call 1.800.988.6488 if you're interested.

• October 25^th – Mark Smith will give a demo on foam cutting
• November 8^th – Paper airplane contest. ELECTION NIGHT
• December 13^th – Christmas Party
• December 31^st – Krazy Snow Fly

• Aviation Art by Ed Kaminski; MILITARY ART GALLERY, 57 Macomb Place, Mt. Clemens, MI 48043 Phone: (800) 362-8567 or (810) 463-9466; Website: www.milartgl.com

• Joe Hass

• Dick Freiwald -- $16.00

• Gary Weaks presented several of his oil paintings.
• Bud Howard presented a painting of the bomb group he was assigned to in 1944. He went on to become a group navigator.
• Mike Fleming presented his airplane drawing .
• Greg Cardillo brought in a Sig Wonder, which he powered with an O.S.15 FP.
• Greg Cardillo also brought in a helicopter powered by an OS 60.
• Joe Finklestine brought in the plans for a Scout Bomber Douglas (SBD) Dauntless. It is a Jerry Bates design and should weigh between 18 and 25 lb with 5-inch diameter wheels. He will use century jet retracts and power it with a Saito 300.
• Joe Hass shared several items with the club. These items included Chris's indoor electric plane, powered by a 6V capacitor, a picture of his father's Cherokee Archer, a B24 painting from his father's collection, a leather helmet and goggles, a soldier's banner, a picture from Oshkosh (Wisconsin) and a Course Air taken from Oshkosh. He also brought in his son David's Blue Hawk Goldberg Ultimate ARF, powered by a YS 120 4 stroke and weighs in at 9.5 lbs.
• Grey Lane brought in an Extra 300 ARF by Hobbico, powered by a 91 four stroke.

It was a little breezy, but other than that we had great weather for the Ojibwa District Boy Scout Camp-o-ree held at the Romeo Airport, Romeo, Michigan on Saturday, October 14^th. This was an aviation theme event featuring airplane rides, display aircraft (including a vintage BT-13 WWII trainer), and many aviation-related activities. Members of the Skymasters along with the Romeo Skyhawks were invited to display model aircraft in booths on the midway and talk about our hobby to interested scouts and leaders. We also were given an hour in the afternoon during which they closed the airport to full-sized aircraft and allowed us to put on an R/C flying demonstration and let four scouts who won a raffle try their hand at R/C flying with buddy-boxes and trainers. We demonstrated a variety of aircraft including gliders, scale, sport, and training airplanes operating from the paved East-West runway. An estimated 700 scouts were in attendance throughout the day and most were seated at center stage for our show. They all got to take an AMA cub kit home with them after the camp-o-ree. This was great exposure of our hobby to many future R/C modelers. Thanks to Greg Cardillo, Mark Smith, Dan and Laura Devine, Grey Lane, Steve Fredericks, Greg Charbeneau, Bill Dezur, and Gary Weaks for a busy day!

Come participate in a Paper Airplane Contest. Paper will be provided for your creation and Darrell is sure to come up with some interesting events..
Annual election meeting for 2001 Club Officers.

December 13, 2000 Skymasters Christmas Party – Larson Middle School, 7:30 PM

Our annual holiday party! Bring the family and a plane or two! Look for more info as we get closer. Santa is planning on flying in with some gifts for the kids! Those bringing planes will be entered in a drawing for some R/C related prizes.

December 31, 2000 Skymasters Krazy Snow Fly – Scripps Road Field, 10:00 AM

Our last flying event of the year on the last day of the year! Will we need wheels or skis (or floats)?? Come on out and brave the weather - enjoy some hot chili and hopefully some flying!

Join us for BREAKFAST and MODEL AIRPLANE GOSSIP at DENNY'S 714 MAIN ST., ROCHESTER MI.

9 A. M. 1st and 3rd. MONDAY'S of each month

EVERYONE IS WELCOME - STARTS NOVEMBER 6, 2000

Contact Bob Burns at 248-628-4666

Swap Shops take a break for the holidays. The only activity I have info for is the return of Indoor Flying:

Oakland Yard is again opening for indoor flying. Dates for this year:

Saturday November 25 9pm-1am

Saturday December 9 9pm-1am

Tuesday December 26 FUN FLY

(FF adult 5-7pm; RC 8-11pm; FF kids 6:30-8pm)

2001 has 2 days per month through April with a February date in Silverdome being scheduled for a national event!

Partially built or built Goldberg Floats (not finished). Call Joe Hass at 248-601-1541.

Just to remind you the Skymasters R/C Club has quite an extensive video library at your disposal. Attached to this months Skywriter is a complete list of titles currently available. I will usually have the complete set of our approximately 135 videos at each club meeting. If you need to make special arrangements to acquire a video, feel free to contact me at 248-588-5261.

The video collection will be expanded this year and I am looking for any R/C related title suggestions you would find interesting. Of course, donations will also be accepted.

Please check-in or let me know of any videos you may be holding which are property of the Skymasters collection so the inventory may be properly completed.

Contact George T. Dzendzel at 248-588-5261.

Skymasters field is located within the Bald Mountain State Park (see map). State Park Permits are required and can be obtained from the Park Headquarters located on Greenshield Road or at club events. Flying is permitted from 10 AM to 8 PM. The noise limit for 2000 is 94dBa at 10 feet - this noise rule is strictly enforced.

Wednesday evenings during the summer is Student Night and there are usually instructors around all afternoon. Student night is also 'pot luck' buffet night so that you can fly-n-feed (though not usually at the same time). Students are encouraged on other days and weekends. It is a great idea to come on Wednesday, meet the Instructors and arrange for more instruction time together. Our Chief Flight Instructor is Greg Brausa.

From June to August, Club Meetings are held at the field on the first Saturday of the month at 12 Noon - a great chance to fly and gossip too! Winter meetings (September to May) are held at Larson Middle School (on Long Lake just east of John R - see map) on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 7:30 PM. Show and Tell, coffee and donuts, and model-speak are the order of the evening. Come along - they are fun.

The Skywriter newsletter is sent to all members, local hobby shops and other local R/C clubs. Any and all contributions are welcome, please pass any articles to the Editor. If you know of anyone who may be interested in our hobby (friend, relative, neighbor, colleague or acquaintance) - please give them a copy of this newsletter or a copy of an AMA magazine - it may spark their interest and get them into our hobby!