Pikes Peak Radio Control Club Newsletter

Transcription

1 Pikes Peak Radio Control Club Newsletter Volume 39 / Number 11 AMA Club Number 179 / 2616 Glen Arbor Dr. / Colorado Springs, Colorado Phone: / Website: Club President Mark Gus Grissom / Club Vice President Kevin Kinzel / Club Safety Officer Rick Paquin / Club Treasurer Adam Heffington / Club Secretary Ryan Dillon Club Web Master Ryan Dillon / Club Newsletter Editor Keith Davis Next PPRCC Meeting: 7:00pm / Nov 7 th (Mon) Pikes Peak Public Library on Union Local RC events happening this month: Last Month s Minutes... (October) Meeting Started: 7:00 pm Meeting Adjourned: 8:00 pm Members Attended: 31 New Business: 1) Club President Gus Grissom, staying updated with FAA and AMA correspondences, have not heard any news about any proposed changes to RC jet operations due to the recent Massachusetts individual incident. 2) Club member Gus Gustafason, who is the PPRCC point of contact for the Denver Wings Over the Rockies RC event, received a letter from the Denver event coordinator. The event will take place next year, February 25th (Saturday) If interested in going, contact Gus as soon as possible. Read the complete letter on page 9. 2) Gus then reminded everyone about the upcoming Colorado Springs Cool Science Festival taking place on October 15 th (Saturday) Gus hopes to see some of our members participate in the one-day event. 3) And finally, Gus said that last month s guest speaker Billy Crisler, is still planning on having several USAFA cadets visit our flying field this month. Airplane Funnies... Submitted by Ima Gonna Old Business: 1) Club President Gus Grissom, updated everyone on the latest club purchases; a storage shed (15 L x 8 W x 8 H) to store club equipment. The shed should be in place this month. The second item purchased was an Asphalt layer. The bids to repair the runway cracks were anywhere from $ $ So it was decided buying the asphalt layer and do the work ourselves, would be more cost effective. Oh no, my Dad is going to kill me! He told me never to fly his rare, autographed by Hermann Goering, 1930 Eindecker kit, or else! PPRCC Newsletter 1

2 Show & Tell Item - I Romi Lucus Refurbished P-38 Lightning Snow in September? By Keith Davis Snowed covered Pikes Peak viewed from our flying field and it s only September. This could be a long winter! Indoor Flying sent in by John McGrath Indoor flying coordinator John McGrath, is back in town and has posted the latest schedule for indoor flying, Free Flying (FF) and Radio Controlled (RC) at the Colorado Springs City Auditorium. Here is the schedule for the remainder of this year: Oct 5 th Free Flying Oct 19 th Radio Controlled Nov 3 rd Free Flying Nov 16 th Radio Controlled Dec 7 th Free Flying Dec 21 st Radio Controlled If interested, get with Dan Brunson at Pikes Peak Hobbies, for exact times and directions! Romi decided to bring in his P-38 Lightning that has been rebuilt and recovered several times. He hopes that this will be the last time! It is powered by two.32 electric motors and has a 71 wingspan. No winds to worry about when flying indoors! PPRCC Newsletter 2

3 Daryl s Museum Visit By Keith Davis Pictures by Daryl Lloyd Show & Tell Item - II Tom McCallum s Top Flite Cessna 182 Last month club member Daryl and his wife Jane, went on a vacation and drove along the west coast pacific highway. On the way, they stopped at the Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook Oregon. Daryl wrote - The Museum is in an old air ship hangar, it's 800 feet long and 253 feet high, they conducted air ship patrols on the west coast during WWII looking for Japanese Submarines. I was disappointed that some of the cool fighters were not there, like the Corsair and P-47, you can get your photo taken in any of there aircraft for $ If the Jug or Corsair had been there I would have done that. The Tillamook Air Museum is home of the one and only Spruce Goose. The museum also has the honor of owning a very rare and flyable Japanese Ki-43 Oscar. Tom is the proud owner of a new Cessna 182. He said that it has a 84 ws, powered by a Magnum.91 four stroke engine and weighs about 15 pounds. He hopes to fly it before the winter gets here. PPRCC Newsletter 3

4 Another PPRCC AMA Celebrity! AMA article sent in by Milt Woodham. We have another PPRCC member that made the AMA magazine this year. This time it s Milt Woodham and his GWS Tiger Moth. Milt s airplane made the September 2011 AMA magazine and his grand daughter Shelby-Ann, proudly displays it for him. Nice job Milton! So, What is this Airplane? By Keith Davis Larry Laughlin s F-18 Hornet made the January 2011 AMA magazine and it was posted in the February 2011 club newsletter. Clue #1: This seaplane still holds the world record of being the only seaplane to exceed Mach 1. (Even though it was completed in a shallow dive.) Clue #2: During the 1950 s, the U.S. Navy was designing plans to build a submarine capable of transporting and launching three of these seajets. But the idea was later dropped. Last month s helicopter was a Russian Kamov Ka-50 Black Shark. I got no correct answers on that one! Do you have a story, article or a picture that you want to share with the club? Get it to me at: Lkdavis03@hotmail.com Keith Davis PPRCC Newsletter Editor Support Your Local Hobby Store! PPRCC Newsletter 4

5 The Skinny on A123/LiFe Batteries By Mike Weidner Gents: I ve converted all my planes receiver flight packs large and small/jets and props to a pair of A123 batteries over the last year or so. All of mine were harvested from new dewalt 36V power tool packs that I sniped off of ebay. Unless I know the servos in a particular airframe will be unhappy seeing the 7+ Volts from the 2S pack, I run them unregulated. Needless to say, I do not worry any more about dreaded brownouts during flight. (Heck, I ve even re-upped a bunch of other flight line gizmos and support equipment on A123s as well.) However nice, forgiving and stout these batteries might be, you have to be careful *not* to run them down close to the final discharge knee of their curve. And, yes, they are more temperamental/less forgiving than other Lithium chemistry based packs if the cells are not balanced fairly close. You have to watch over them! Going to some of the usual sources to mine more information, I found this resource on line from NoBS Batteries (where I buy a lot of the stuff needed to fabricate my packs): s_faq.html Within that page, I stumbled onto this little dealybobber called a Balance Buddy unquestionably its capabilities would solve all my 2S balance/charge questions and challenges. The problem is they are not gratis they are nearly twenty bucks plus shipping. I suppose if you are not inclined to light off a soldering iron and take care of business on your own, the $20 is a reasonable solution. I have a soldering station and know how to use it. So I built my own functional equivalent with stuff I had laying around for less than five bucks it s almost a dead ringer for the NoBS item. If any are interested in pursuing this easy way to enable effective/painless care and feeding of A123 2S packs, I ve attached a file of background info for my solution. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. PPRCC Newsletter 5

6 Show & Tell Part - III Keith Davis ESM T-28 Trojan Show & Tell Part - IV Duane Zinke s Hanger 9 Cessna 182 Keith talked about his 10 month old Trojan. It has an 81 ws, weighs about 20 pounds and flies pretty fast with a Moki 2.10 engine. The two pilots are 12 G.I. Joe figures. He hopes to get more flight time on the plane next year! Duane acquired this Cessna 182 from a fellow club member. It needed some repairs but Duane wasted no time in making the fixes and installing an O.S..61 two stroke engine. The plane has a 61 ws and weighs about 7 pounds. PPRCC Newsletter 6

7 All About Military Birds By Keith Davis The Lun-class (Harrier) Ekranoplan (NATO reporting name Duck) was a seaplane designed by Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeev and used by the Soviet and Russian navies from 1987 to sometime in the late 1990s. This ground effect aircraft used the extra lift generated by its large wings when close to the surface of the water (about four meters or less). The Lun was one of the largest seaplanes ever built, with a length of 73 m (240 ft), rivaling the Hughes H- 4 Hercules ("The Spruce Goose") and many jumbo jets. The Lun also had the nickname the Caspian Sea Monster. The only aircraft of this type ever built, the MD-160, entered service with the Black Sea Fleet in Eight Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofans were mounted on forward canards, and each produced kn (28,600 lbf) thrust. She had a flying boat hull with a large deflecting plate at the bottom to provide a "step" for takeoff. missile. It was equipped with six missile launchers, mounted in pairs on the dorsal surface of its fuselage, and its advanced tracking systems mounted in its nose and tail. Another version of Lun was planned for use as a mobile field hospital for rapid deployment to any ocean or coastal location. Work was about 90% complete on this model, the Spasatel, but its military funding ended, and it was never completed. The only MD-160 completed is now sitting unused at a naval station in the town of Kaspiysk, Russia. In 2007 the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation decided to resume its production after a detailed examination of this Ekranoplan. This is planned to happen in Until then, upgrades will be made. At present, relevant government orders has been received by Alexeyev Design Bureau. General characteristics Crew: 15 (6 officers, 9 enlisted) Capacity: 91 tons (200,000 lb) Length: 73.8 m (242 ft 2 in) Wingspan: 44 m (144 ft 4 in) Height: 19.2 m (63 ft 0 in) Wing area: 550 m 2 (5,900 sq ft) Empty weight: 286,000 kg (630,522 lb) Max takeoff weight: 380,000 kg (837,757 lb) Powerplant: 8 Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofans, kn (28,600 lbf) thrust each Performance Maximum speed: 550 km/h (340 mph; 300 kn) Range: 2,000 km (1,243 mi; 1,080 nmi) Service ceiling: 5 m (16 ft) in ground effect Armament Guns: two 23mm Pl-23 cannon in a twin tail turret and two 23mm Pl-23 cannon in a twin turret under forward missile tubes Missiles: six launchers for SS-N-22 Sunburn antiship missiles The Lun in dry dock for a major overhaul. The aircraft was equipped for anti-surface warfare, and it carried the P-270 Moskit (Mosquito) guided Three-plan view of the Lun. PPRCC Newsletter 7

8 Show & Tell Item - V Milt Woodham s 1930 s Brooklyn Dodger Altitude Hobbies by Garret Hultgren Attention area clubs, I am the owner of Altitude Hobbies, a brand new online hobby store based in Fort Collins, CO. We offer a wide selection of quality & performance RC motors, ESCs, servos, adhesives, and other accessories. All orders within Colorado ship FREE with next-day delivery in many areas of the state. We offer local pickup as well in the Northern Colorado area, and will extend a 10% discount to all club members who arrange pickup. We would greatly appreciate it if you would include the attached ad in your next club newsletter. Thank you, Garret Hultgren AltitudeHobbies.com Milt purchased this fee-flight plane through an auction. It s called the Brooklyn Dodger and is completely silk and dope covered. The plane weighs about 4 pounds and is GWS electric powered. PPRCC Newsletter 8

9 Wings over the Rockies By Randall Eaker It s that time of year to once again start thinking about your clubs participation in the 8 th Annual Wings Over the Rockies Model Expo that will be on February 25 th 2012 and we hope that your organization will once again participate in this great event. One thing that we are doing differently this year is that we will be sending out wrist bands to each club in advance of the event. This will allow a quicker and smother entry into the museum. Thus, I will need a club count of your participating members by Dec 15 th. Only those with wrist bands will be allowed free entry into the museum. I ve enclosed a letter of invitation to share with your clubs; The Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver CO would like to invite your club members to participate in the 8 th Annual Aero Modeling Expo which will be February 25th from 10:00am to 4:00pm at the museum. The purpose of the event is to raise community awareness of all the unique aircraft at the museum, as well as a fund raiser to help with the day to day operations of the museum. demonstrations and outside the museum we had an R/C jet engine start up and taxi demonstrations. Also outside was an area set up for control line airplane demonstrations. In addition to the clubs there were several different hobby shops and other aviation groups. The event was promoted by Fox channel 31 with a live morning show broadcast and was also featured with a live broadcast from 1430 AM Rick Crandall show. Club members organizing this event and working with the museum belong to several different Denver Metro AMA model clubs. Our vision is to see the continued support of the Air Museum as well as bringing public attention to our great aviation hobbies. It is a Win Win for everyone! If your club is interested in participating in this fun modeling event or if you just have more questions then please contact me. It s a chance to hang out with fellow modelers to talk aviation and to just have fun during a cold winter month. So sit back and have fun! Randall Eaker Aurora Mile Hi R/C Club Reaker@newsamerica.com Your club participation would involve models set up for static displays. Club members bringing models for the event get free admission to the museum with wrist bands that will be sent to the participating clubs in advance. We would like as many people and models that your club would like to bring. This is a chance for your club members to show off to the public the high level of model workmanship that goes into building a flyable model. One change that we are making from previous years is that if your club or organization wants to sell any products or is anyway receiving money than your organization will be charged the same vendor fee as the vendors are charged. Last year we had over 300 models from 28 different clubs and organizations. Inside the museum we had electric airplane and A few of the PPRCC members that has participated in Wings over the Rockies Model Expo before Rick Paquin, Keith Davis, Greg Banas, James Murphy and Gus Gustafason. If interested in being part of the 2012 Wings over the Rockies Model Expo, get with Gus Gustafason as soon as possible. He needs names by December 10 th PPRCC Newsletter 9

10 Upcoming RC Events: Nov 7 th (Mon) 2011 PPRCC Meeting Dec 6 th (Tue) 2011 PPRCC Meeting Jan 1 st (Sun) 2012 PPRCC Frozen Needle Valve Fun-Fly Jan 3 rd (Tue) 2012 PPRCC Meeting PPRCC Newsletter 10