The next meeting of the
winter season of the Scale Flyers of Minnesota
will be held on
Friday, January 25, 2013 at the
American Legion Post-6501 Portland, Richfield.
Come early and dine in the restaurant.
(Meeting
Directions)
At the last meeting ...
Dick
Steine presented his Kawasaki Ki
45 Dragon Slayer (allied code name
was “Nick”) twin-engine interceptor
and ground attack aircraft. Framed
up on its wheels. “This is the
quick part - putting the wood
together.” Time spent cutting out
wood parts: 20 hours.
One of
three prototypes being built by
three different people from Dave
Andersen plans and Jeff Micko molded
parts. 118” span, two Zenoah G45
engines. Expected total weight
40 lbs.
He used
roofing flashing sheet metal for the
cockpit deck to simplify painting.
Dick described his plan for cockpit
detail “Better have something in
there when it’s this big.”
Rudder servo in the tail
beneath the rudder requires a 4-foot
cable - not a problem with modern
radios. Jeff’s
fiberglass parts “fit really
nice.” Dick covered the tail with
Sig Koverall but “didn’t like
working with it.” Composite Express
1.6 oz cloth was easier to lay
down. Epoxy resin used with glass
cloth is harder to sand than
polyester. The huge wing filet was
constructed in 3 sections using
1/16” balsa, polyester &
micro-balloons and spackle. Dick
substituted 3” aluminum wing bolts
for the 3” bolts specified on the
plans.
Dick
Galash, visiting from Naples,
Florida, described R/C in his area of
the state. Small clubs. Scale
“not popular.” Mostly little ARFs.
As he gestured toward the giant-scale
airplanes and their pilots in the room
he said “You don’t realize how lucky you
are to have this.”
Cal
Branton displayed his 1/5th scale
102” span Ziroli Dauntless built by
someone in Canada but revised by Cal.
50 lbs—“flies heavy” but stall resistant
due to wing slots and washout. Fine in
the air but “fairly slow.” Needs lots
of runway. Flies well with flaps down.
GT 80, Behr paint. Operational dive
brakes. Futaba mixer for JR flap servos
melted, curling smoke out of the wing.
Kirk
Hall & Cal Branton showed the
fuselage frame of their joint project, a
half-scale Fokker Tri-plane. 100 lbs
final weight. 12 ft span. 275 cc
radial engine and 40” prop (scale
diameter is 52”).
Glenn Torrance Plans & Kits. Kit
had some parts missing. Plane is being
built for the 100th anniversary of the
start of WW1 to be flown in Dayton OH in
2014.
Internal
construction is the same as the full
scale except 80’ of hardwood dowels
replace metal tubing. Gussets are
carbon fiber cross braces and pins.
Will have scale internal cross wire
bracing. Wings are also scale
construction, with box spars. Basswood
laminate rudder frame. 14” bicycle
wheels with fabric covered spokes.
Editor’s comment ... notice that the
projects discussed at this meeting each
involved two or more collaborators. Is
this a trend?
Flying at Over 200mph!
Dave Villwock is an
avid scale modeler and IMAC competitor living in
the "Great Northwest". He's fierce in IMAC
competition and also worked with Dennis at
Carden to improve the overall performance of his
favorite IMAC bird ... the Extra 260.
Dave's other hobby/job is driving or should I
say flying ... Unlimited Hydroplane's and just
happens to be the all-time winningest driver in
the sport’s history. He has been at the
wheel of some
of
the best boats around - PICO American Dream,
Miss Budweiser and currently the U-16 Ellstrom
Elam Plus (Qatar). While driving the Miss
Budweiser, he won 37 races, four Gold Cups and
six National Championships. As the PICO American
Dream’s driver, he claimed first-place in eight
races, taking home one Gold Cup as well as
another National High Point Championship. All
told, David has 64 career victories under his
belt!
You can only imagine the stories Dave tells from
time to time at the flying field and inspires me
to make my rolling circles looks like one.
If you happen to be in the Seattle area during
the
Seafair Event, you can see Dave fly at over
200mph and witness one of the best Air Shows put
on in the United States!
PS: Yes there's lots of
Warbirds!
Seafair Opens July 27th, with the Hydroplane
Races and Airshow happening on August 2nd thru
the 4th. If you can't make it ...
Check-out the onboard video!
Mr. Andersen received this email written by an expat
American scale modeler in China:
“Though much R/C stuff is made here,
I see no clubs, retail outlets, or
flying fields. Space is simply too
limited. 1billion people! So,
my flying time is nil. I am aware
some people get together and use
whatever road they can find. In
city areas, this is too risky for
me. I appreciate a real flying
field, club, and insurance.
Everything I see here is ARF Stuff.”
To Our
International Visitors ...
Thank you for
checking into our website from time to time.
We appreciate your desire to keep Scale & Giant
Scale R/C planes flying everywhere!
