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SkyWriter

Chartered Club #970
Skymasters R/C Club Newsletter - January 2000
See Skymasters on the Web at www.geocities.com/~skymasters

President's Message

On behalf of the Skymasters officers and BOD members I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year! If the doomsayers were correct, you may be reading this letter by candlelight. However, my faith in Detroit Edison runs a little deeper (but just in case I did charge up all of my airplanes before the end of 1999!). I would like to start off my column by introducing myself, my name is Gary Weaks and I am proud to be the Skymasters president for 2000. I got started in this hobby when I was still in high school. Back then Kraft radios were popular and Monokote was just starting to overtake silk-span and dope as the choice covering technique. I moved to Troy from the east side five years ago and that is when I joined the Skymasters. I slowly became more involved with the club first as an instructor and then as vice president for the past two years. My wife, Phyllis, upon learning of my newest position was quite happy for me until she learned that the presidential residence that I share with her is also the repository for several large boxes of official Skymaster stuff!

As my first official act as president I would like to thank my predecessor, Joe Finkelstine, for two years of service and leadership to the club. (Cheers!) Lucky for the Skymasters and me in particular, past presidents don't actually disappear, but continue as active members of the BOD. So the club will still benefit from Joe's leadership and wisdom. Of course this now gives me a chance to get back at him with a little scripted teasing, but we'll save that for another day. I would also like to recognize Graham Overton's contributions as Treasurer for the past year and a half. Graham departed office early due to mounting demands on his time, but he remains an active club member dazzling us all with his flying skills.

Continuing, then with the role of officers, we did a little shuffling last year to fill the treasurer's role with Ross Hardy who moved from the secretary's position and Steve Patterson who volunteered to be the interim secretary of 1999 and stayed on as secretary for 2000. Bill Wood stepped up this year to fill the role of Vice President for 2000. Along with the officers we have a long list of volunteers who keep this club running all year long including ten flying events, student nights, a huge swap shop, newsletters, a web site, and a video library. Thank you to all who keep the Skymasters flying!

We will have some new events for 2000. The Chet Brady Memorial Mammoth Fly-In will be discontinued for now due to dwindling participation over the last few years. I must say that this is one of those rare occasions when the honoree out-lives his memorial! A new event will be added to our schedule that will involve the other end of the spectrum, that being small scale, electrics and gliders (Details to come later). Another fun event will be our Slowpoke-A-Mania. We have over 50 kits distributed within the club membership and with all of the creativity out there, this should be a lot of fun. I'm trying to figure out how to get the wings to fold on mine!

This is the time of year we spend a lot of time planning for the up-coming flying season. To help us get and keep everything straight, please renew your Skymasters membership as soon as you get your 2000 AMA. When you renew we ask that you fill out a 2000 renewal form so that we are assured of getting information to you as early as possible. Of course the best way to renew is in person. Participate in the hobby year-round by attending the Skymaster's winter and spring meetings. They are fun and informative and a show and tell automatically enters you in the drawing for a gift certificate that night.

All for now. Fly safely and happy landings!

Gary Weaks

From the Editor…

Welcome to the January 2000 issue of Skywriter! Happy New Year!

An expanded edition to start off 2000 - lots of information on Skymasters events, other area events, and a Slow-Poke review by Terry Overton as many (over 50) of you are looking at building one for Slow-Gun next year!

Well, so far it seems the impact of Y2K was minimal - my PC is still working and letting me getr this Newsletter out… I spent the evening at work watching the rollover from Europe through the US. This was after a morning of flying and eating Fredericks' chili at the Krazy Snow Fly!! This continues to be one of our most popular events with over 30 dedicated (??) pilots and families showing up… An event report and pictures should be in the next issue.

I have a couple of requests for some of you for the new year. First to the Event Directors - Please try to get me your event reports within one or two weeks of the event. The earlier the better, especially for mid-month events to get the information out in the newsletter in a timely manner. Most of you did very well this past year, but there are one or two reports I am still waiting for… Next a new request to the Instructors - I would like to ask that you let me know about students that get signed off (or any other accomplishments of note!) I would like to recognize these in the newsletter as we go through the year.

I do have printed copies of our roster as of early December, as well as Field Rules, Bylaws and Constitution, and Membership Packet. They will be at our winter meetings (or see the article on our Webpage updates). As you renew for 2000, we ask that you fill out a new application so we can verify and update our records!

Next published update will be after the "renewal season". Remember to renew before the end of February to avoid paying an additional $10. (Of course you did renew your AMA, right???)

2000 State Park Stickers will also be available at our meetings.

Lots of swap shops in the area over the next few months. A couple of clubs trying a swap shop for the first time. Good luck to Midland R/C Modelers Club and St. Clair County Propbusters (see flyers in this issue.) Of course, ours is on February 24. Thanks again to Gary Walling for coordinating all of the swap shop activities. Linda Walling's due date is rather close to our swap shop though - so he may not make the big event (meaning the swap shop of course!) I've offered to fill in as needed that night "just in case."

We also have a full slate of presentations for our club meetings for the next few months - see details inside.

Remember, it is the time of the year when Mother Nature may affect our meetings. If weather is questionable, please watch the local news. If Troy schools cancel after school activities (or are closed), we are cancelled as well! Hopefully this can save many last minute phone calls!

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…

 

Skymasters on the Web

Some of you may have noticed our web site had gotten a little behind. Well, I'm glad to say we have caught up now… All past Skywriters are now out there, and current event information (of course the 2000 schedule will be added once finalized in early February…)

Pete Foss will be continuing as Webmaster, but will have some help. Greg Cardillo and Steve Patterson will be pitching in to assist in preparing Newsletters, Event Flyers, and Event Reports for publication to spread the workload and hopefully keep the information as current as possible. Other contributors are welcome - just talk to one of us. (Someone else did call me, but your message was unfortunately lost - I know you are out there, just don't know who you are!)

Several additions to note:

  • The full AMRCC schedule is out there (also to be updated in early February).
  • A new addition of a "Member's Only" section for information we don't want on the public website. (For those familiar with Geocities, now Yahoo, they do not permit these types of pages at their location, so it is hosted by AT&T Worldnet.) When you follow the link to the "Member's Only" page, your browser will prompt you for an ID and Password - and also tell you the ID to use is "members". The password is the gate combination to our field, and will change when the field combo does in April/May timeframe.
    What can you find there - for now - includes:
  • A Full Roster (name, address, phone) of all members
  • A single link to email all Skymasters or the BOD that you can use instead of maintaining your own DL
    (It takes just a few moments to fill in the TO addresses - and that's on a slow processor…)
  • Downloadable and viewable copies of our membership manual, field rules, etc. (most of this will make its way to our public website).

Also (as referenced elsewhere in this issue) a map to our Winter Bull Sessions.

Please let us know what additional information you would like to see!

Meeting Minutes

December 15, 1999

Location: Larson Middle School

NO BUSINESS MEETING - CHRISTMAS PARTY!

(See Christmas Party pictures below! Ed.)

Skymasters Events

Bull Sessions Return!

Members click here for a map
(Password required)

Winter Meetings!

 

January 3, 2000 Skymasters Retirees and Wanna Bees Breakfast – Denny's Rochester

714 Main Street at north end of Rochester. Join us for breakfast the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month starting November 1st! Throw a plane in the car if the weathers nice, the group has been known to migrate to the field after breakfast. Contact Bob Burns for more info at 248-628-4666.

January 8, 2000 Skymasters Bull Sessions Return - Steve Fredericks' shop 9:00 AM

See Flyer above!

January 12, 2000 Skymasters Meeting – Larson Middle School, 7:30 PM

To start out the new year, Skymaster Grey Lane will give a presentation on Ultralights – See flyer above!

January 26, 2000 Skymasters Meeting – Larson Middle School, 7:30 PM

Indoor R/C and FF with Dave George - See flyer above!

February 9, 2000 Skymasters Meeting – Larson Middle School, 7:30 PM

Engine Clinic with Art and David Adamisson - See flyer above!

February 23, 2000 Skymasters Swap Shop – Larson Middle School, 7:30 PM

See flyer below!

Swap Meet!

Our annual swap shop will be help on Wednesday 25-Feb-1998 at Larson Middle School. Set-up time is 6PM with general entry at 7PM. Raffles will be drawn at 7-45PM and 9PM. The 50/50 and door prize will be drawn at 9PM too.

I have been busy trying to organize the event and now need to call on our club members to help me by volunteering some of their time to help out during the evening. There are various jobs to be done, some light work and some heavier - but there will be jobs for all. Bill Dzure has accepted the daunting task of organizing the kitchen and so both of us will need some help. I have divided the event into 30 minute slots and would like people to sign-up for a given slot (or slots). Please consider helping out since it spreads the load and lightens it too. Note that we need people from around 5PM to help carry things and set-up the tables and afterwards to help clean-up.

Please call me and I’ll pencil you in !
Gary Walling

Upcoming Programs/Events

Skymasters events listed elsewhere in this issue!

Sunday, January 9 DAM Swap Meet, Farmington, Tom Weedon 734-697-0875

Saturday, January 15 Oakland Yard Indoor Free Flight and R/C, Waterford 10:00 PM-1:00 AM

Sunday, January 16 St Clair County Propbusters 1st Annual Swap Meet, County Fairgrounds, Goodells,

Doug McLaren 810-395-2098

Saturday, January 22 Midland R/C 1st Annual Swap Meet, Freeland, Dave Schmelzer 517-496-9154

Sunday, January 23 MMMA Swap Meet, Larry Dalrymple 734-722-2489

Saturday, January 29 Oakland Yard Indoor Free Flight and R/C, Waterford 10:00 PM-1:00 AM

Sunday, January 30 RCCD Swap Meet, Kenneth Sulkowski 810-751-2525 ksulkowski@home.com

Sunday, February 6 Flying Aces R/C Club Swap Meet, Flint Baker College, 810-635-9392

Saturday, February 19 Oakland Yard Indoor Free Flight and R/C, Waterford 10:00 PM-1:00 AM

Sunday, February 20 GDSHS Sno-Fli, Art Slagle 248-477-2228

Sunday, February 20 Chesaning R/C Swap Meet, Owosso, Paul Binkley 810-639-2711

*See additional information for these events in this issue of Skywriter!

Event info from mailings received, AMRCC, and Michigan RC Flying Times

The "Super" Slow-Poke as built and flown by Terry Overton

(Over 50 Sloe Poke kits were handed out at our Christmas Party. Terry Overton has already put one together and provided the following for the benefit of those building one. Thanks Terry! Ed.)

The Great Planes SLOWPOKE goes together pretty easily with only one or two minor glitches in the instructions which I have listed. I really don't know why Great Planes put this kit out in 3-channel form without ailerons since with modern radios and lightweight servos ailerons can be added with very little weight penalty. The improvement in control response and much increased range of aerobatic potential which the addition of ailerons provide is well worth while.

I decided to build my first version of the SlowPoke pretty much as per plans with the addition of ailerons and a few minor modifications to the structure. (The ailerons measure 22.25 sq.ins each to comply with the 45 sq.ins. rule) I used Bob Smith's CA glues for all joints. The front end was coated with epoxy for fuel proofing.

Construction Notes

Going through the manual here are the notes I made on the way:-

Page 8 - build the rudder – You need to cut a notch in the L.E. for the elevator joiner. I added another piece of 3/16 X 3/8 balsa behind the rudder L.E. to provide reinforcement at the notch.

Page 10 - Before assembling the wing, drill or punch holes for the aileron servo leads. I used a mini servo in each wing and installed plastic tubes to feed the servo leads to the center of the wing.

Page 12 – (a minor point) I prefer to drill the landing gear blocks at this stage before adding the sheeting. Follow the instructions and you run the risk of drilling through the top sheeting.

Page 15 – item 26 position of wing tip. The front edge of the die-cut wing tip should not be further back than the rear face of the sub leading edge, otherwise when you sand the leading edge to profile you will end up with a hole in the leading edge! (guess how I found that out)

item 27 - Tip Braces – I replaced the 1/8" braces supplied with ¼" , the 1/8 just looked too flimsy. I also added some balsa fillers to the front of the die cut tips to blend the transition between the tip and the L.E.

Page 17 - Item 2 – fuselage doublers. In my kit the doublers did not match the fuse sides well and needed trimming. It is important that they match where the formers slot into the fuse sides.

Page 18 – item 12 – Servo tray – check cut-outs for actual servos to be used, it is easier to do it now before installing the tray. I did not like the arrangement shown on the plan and so I cut away the ply between the rudder and elevator servo slots to form one wide slot which accepted all three servos.

Item 16 – Before drilling holes on the punch marks check for the correct location against the actual servos to be used. I used Hitec 425 servos and the holes were too near the servo tray for correct alignment of the pushrods.

Item 17 – The photo labels are incorrect – former F4B is actually F3 and former F5 is shown the wrong way round.

Item 19 – I added 2 cross braces from 3/16" square to the fuse bottom to stiffen the 1/16" balsa.

Item 20 – In my kit, the former F1 was narrower than shown on the plans, but I used it as it was anyway.

Item 21 – CHECK the size of the slot in F2 for the wing 'dowel' and trim as necessary for a neat fit before installing F2.

Page 19 – item 3. A personal choice this, but with such a short fuselage the method of wing alignment shown does not work too well. I used a rafter square along the center line of the fuse and the wing spar.

My Modifications

Wing Center Section

I sheeted the whole center section (i.e. between dihedral breaks) from the Leading Edge to the MAIN spar. This produces a very rigid structure by creating a "D" tube with the spar webbing.

Dihedral breaks

I epoxied 2 oz. fiber glass tapes at the joints, since they would be stressed more than the original with the installation of ailerons.

Stabilizer Incidence

The plan has the stab set parallel to the flat bottom of the wing. This in effect gives the wing with a flat bottom airfoil positive incidence. This may be OK for a lower powered version, (.10 to .15), but for a .25 powered model I felt would produce some undesirable effects. I therefore increased the incidence of the stab by packing up the leading edge by 3mm (1/8" in Stone Age measurements) When measured with a Robart incidence meter I then had both wing and stab at +2 degrees. This should improve pitch stability and allow greater forward speed for better penetration and controlability in windy conditions.

Ailerons

I decided to angle the hinge line both for appearance and to maximise the control effect by placing as much of the allowed aileron area as possible towards the wing tip.

After completing the wing construction as per plan, I marked out the ailerons and adjusted the hinge line to get a total area of just under 45 sq. ins. Of course I could have generated a sophisticated computer math program to calculate this but instead I traced the wing tip outline onto squared paper and then counted the number of squares within the proposed aileron outline! (Yes, Darryl, I have the copies!)

I then marked lines on the wing tip trailing edge 7mm in front of and behind the hinge line, and cut right through the T.E. on these lines. Next, strips of 6mm balsa (actually ¼") sheet were glued to the trailing edge of the wing tip and the front of the ailerons. The L.E. of the ailerons were bevelled above and below the hinge line which was set 2 mm below the top surface.

!/4" servo rails were installed between the first 2 ribs of the wing tips to suit my mini servos, and 1/16" sheeting with slots for the servos added to that bay. The servos are installed up-right in the wing and just drop through the slot onto the rails. The bottom sheeting of the aileron was cut out and the ¼" L.E. rebated to accept a 1/8" birch ply horn mounting plate. Goldberg ½ A horns were used with 3/8" #2 screws into the ply plate.

The servo arms were angled about 30 deg forward (with the servo and aileron at neutral) to provide about 50% differential between up and down aileron movement. Because the wing tip section is very thin at the trailing edge tip I used CA hinges. (I normally prefer the pin type)

The Slowpoke was covered with 21st (will it be called 22nd next week?) Century fabric as I had enough left over from previous models. Although it is not as easy to work with as my favourite iron-on, Ultra-coat, I do like the finished effect.

Just one point if you use this material, you have to work more slowly and allow time for the heat to penetrate through the fabric to ensure good adhesion. Do not use a higher iron temperature than specified or you will damage the painted surface.

Power

I used the OS 25 LA with the stock muffler, straight out of the box. Tank is a 6 oz. Dubro which fits nicely in the available space. Prop is a 10 X 4 APC and after the first flights I feel that is a good choice. I would of course have preferred a 4-stroke, but at $40 the OS25 was too good a deal to turn down!

C of G location.

My plane weighed in at 3# 12 oz dry with a standard 600 mAh battery (located as far forward as possible, under the tank), standard Rx, 2 standard BB servos and 3 mini servos (Kyosho, now obsolete but about 0.8 oz each)

The C of G came out about 3/4" behind the plan location. However, it seemed to me that the location given on the plan was too far forward, at least for an experienced pilot, so I compromised and installed a Heavy Hub for the prop nut, Which moved the C of G about 3/8" forward, but still about 3/8" behind the plan location.

Control surface settings

As usual I ignored any advise given in the manual and set elevator and rudder deflections to my normal sport settings with lots of movement. (I set my rate controls to 50% just in case) I suspected that elevator control might be a bit on the sensitive side with that very short coupling, so I also dialled in 20% exponential.

Flight Performance

First flight was at the "Crazy Snow-fly" event on Dec 31.

The tank was filled with YS 20/20 fuel and the 25 started easily for the first time. The needle was tweeked, idle point adjusted on the transmitter (JR 1083) and the SlowPoke carried out to the runway.

Take off was easy, the 25 has plenty of power for this plane, in fact she will go vertical from level flight for quite a while!

I found I was having to hold the nose up so some up trim was dialled in and then I was able to try a few basic aerobatics.

Roll rate was reasonable and response to all controls was good. The model was surprizingly fast at full throttle but could be slowed down to a walking pace at low throttle. At idle and full up elevator, the plane refused to stall, with the tail waggling up and downas the plane descends slowly almost hovering in the light breeze.

Full control was available at speed without ailerons, just steering it around on rudder. In mode one you have to do it all just with the left thumb. I am extremely right handed so my rudder only circuits were not very precise! When slowed right down, I found myself steering with co-ordinated rudder and aileron which gave positive control down to stall speed, which is really slow!

Knife edge or side slip required full oposite aileron and just a dab of rudder, which was to be expected with that amount of dihedral.

Inverted flight was a surprise, the SlowPoke required very little down elevator to maintain level inverted. A spectator asked if it would do an inverted loop, so I did one, from straight and level inverted, easy!

An avalanche was also possible and almost a Lomcevak! Spins were fairly slow with instant recovery as soon as the controls were neutralised. Climbing flat spins however will be left to the "Pink Lady" (MorrisTop Cap)!

The next day, Jan 1 2000, I replaced the heavy hub with a Dubro Spinner nut which looked neat in anodised blue to match the engine and covering (almost). This moved the Cof G back again. The two flights I had this day were OK, with perhaps a slight increase in aerobatic potential with no adverse effects, although the gusty wind made fair comparison difficult. The stall was still almost non-existent and on ocassion the plane appeared to be flying backwards in the wind. The gusty wind with a lot of turbulence near the ground made each landing tricky, although rivalling Matt's helicopter landings for vertical descent. The roll out after touch down into wind was measurable in millimeters!

Conclusions

The SlowPoke turned out to be a much better flyer than I had expected!

The OS25 LA performed flawlessly right out of the box with lots of power and a good reliable idle.

I would strongly recommend anyone building a SlowPoke to install ailerons.

The C of G position shown on the plan is too far forward unless all you want to do is chug sedately around the sky in calm weather! Maybe that is what the Slowpoke was intended to do, but believe me, it is capable of much more!

I think that if it can be built to around 3#, which is possible if the heavy wood in the kit is replaced with selected light balsa, light weight radio gear and a light weight covering is used, the SlowPoke could really perform like a fun-fly with unlimited pure vertical on the 25 LA, while still retaining the super slow stable flight for those balmy summer evenings!

The SlowPoke is definitely a light wind craft, anything stronger than a gentle breeze will exercize the pilot's skill as it really gets tossed around by turbulence on the landing approach.

(Terry is continuing to experiment with CG. More to come later… Ed.)

Other Area Events

St. Clair County Propbusters 1st Annual Swap Meet

Midland R/C Modelers Club 1st Annual Swap Meet

RCCD Annual Swap Meet

Flying Aces Annual Swap Meet and Static Competition

(I only have the static flyer at the moment… Ed.)

Skymasters Christmas Party


Santa arrives at our party while Alyssa Cardillo looks on.


Skymaster Tony Devine trys to tell Santa he has been good! Do we believe him Dan and Laura???


Bill Leppard's F4 Phantom built from Great Planes kit was part of the static display.


Skymasters receive the Slow Poke kits for Christmas!

Skymasters Information

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 1998 is 95dB 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. Assistant Chief Flight Instructor is Graham Overton.

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!


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