Our December meeting fell on a cold Minnesota evening just after Christmas.  Christmas Cheer was still  warm Friday November 24th when Cal Branton called the 37 members and friends to order at 7:01 pm and set the mood with another knee slapper of a story.

It is always impressive to see how many members can break away from the family festivities to share their projects and experiences!

Treasurer Larry Sorenson reminded everyone that it is time to pay your $10 for this season.  If you were not at the meeting you can contact Larry via e-mail to pay your $10.00 before the next meeting.

Thanks to everyone for a great meeting ...

Photos Courtesy of Scott Anderson

Brandon Archer’s Cessna 170 Project

Brandon was able to bring in his Cessna kit-bash project based on a Guillows Kit.  Brandon has been building it with the plan to convert it to a small scale r/c aircraft.

He has modified it so the wing are removable.  It will be controlled by a Parkzone/Spektrum micro radio with the 2 channel brick for elevator and rudder and separate servos for the ailerons and flaps.

He’s powering it with a small Parkzone brushless motor powered by a 2S Lipo.  He’s not sure what to cover it with.  He’s thinking of Poly-Span and the hinging may be a challenge. He's considering stitched hinges.

The current weight of the model is 2.6 ounces and his goal is a finished weight of less than 3 ounces.

http://www.guillow.com/cessna170.aspx

Roy Maynard’s FliteLine Models B-24 Liberator

Roy had purchased the electric B-24 from Motion RC and says he continues to be pleasantly surprised by the quality of the foam model. It does not look like a foam model at first glance. It has a 78” wing span and it powered by two 4S batteries.  The inner motors run from one ESC and the outer motors run from another to ensure balanced thrust should one battery run down sooner than the other.

Roy tells us it took longer to apply the water transfer & vinyl markings then it took to assemble the aircraft.  We were reminded that FliteLine Models has partnered with Callie Graphix for all their markings so you can get custom marking for your model.

The Liberator comes with grass field capable landing gear and optional larger wheels (without the nose gear doors) as well as (2) magnetic noses for the D & J model B-24’s. The nose and upper turrets are moveable and provided with installed tiller arms so you might connect them to servos!

https://www.motionrc.com/collections/new-airplanes/products/flightline-rc-b-24-liberator-olive-drab-2000mm-pnp

https://www.motionrc.com/collections/new-airplanes/products/flightline-rc-b-24-liberator-silver-2000mm-pnp

Cal Branton’s  1/5th  Scale Bates’ Macchi 202 Build

Cal brought in his nearly completed Macchi 202 built from Jerry Bates Plans.  It’s one of Bates’ recent designs as we have not yet seen another built.  The kit was Laser Cut by Holman.

He is using Sierra Giant Scale Retracts and Quinton Burcar 3D Printed details such as the engine intake.

The paint is latex house paint and the graphics were made by Callie Graphix. Cal wants to finish detailing it before he starts to add the weathering details.

We did get to weigh the Macchi at 28# as it is shown.

https://www.jbplans.com/products-page/macchi-202-folgore-15th-scale/

Scott did a nice walk around of Cal's Macchi 202 for those of you who couldn't make it to the meeting.

Larry Sorenson’s ESM 1/6th Scale F8F Bearcat

Larry brought in another shiny blue Navy aircraft to go along with his F9F Panther, an ESM 1/6th scale F8F Bearcat powered by a Saito FG60-R3 gasoline radial engine.  He is building his own scale exhaust for the radial using a KS exhaust kit.  The Saito is camouflaged by (6) 1/6th scale Williams Brothers Cylinders mounted to the Keleo plywood cooling baffle.  The look is quite good!

Larry is using Sierra Giant Scale landing gear for the mains and has chosen to use hidden linkages for his rudder and ailerons. He chose to use a pull-pull for the tail-wheel to keep the weight down in the back. He expects that he’ll need to add 1# to the nose to get it to balance giving an overall weight of about 21#.

Larry did not like the looks of the ESM aluminum wheels so he designed and 3D printed scale hubs and brake covers.

The 1/6th scale Bearcat looks small next to the 1/6th scale F18!

https://vqwarbirds.com/product/esm-f8f-bearcat-s/

Zach Geragi shared his Fly Eagle

Jets 1/6th Scale F-18 Turbine Project

Zach brought in his latest project, a 1/6th scale F-18 ARF from Fly Eagle Jets Model Factory, Taiwan. 

http://www.flyeaglejet.com/pd.jsp?id=258#_pp=0_362_55_-1

The photos show the aircraft as Zach and Ahmed had assembled it from the crate that morning.  The landing gear is a work of precision engineering, assembled and installed.  The aircraft has a wing span of 86” and a length of 120” and weighs in at 43lbs straight out of the crate with an expected RTF weight of 51lbs.

Zach is building it as a single turbine using a Jet Italia 170 class turbine. (http://www.jet-italia.it/)

Joe Niedermayr’s JU-52 scratch project

Last year Joe shared his plans for a scratch build project for a JU-52 Transport. At the December meeting he brought the finished project to share with his fellow scale enthusiasts.

Joe chose the size of the model based on which propeller looked most correct for the size.  He liked the FMS Henschel propeller at 9” diameter so he designed the aircraft for that size giving him a 74” wingspan model swinging (3) 9” diameter propellers on electric motors.  He estimates that he’s get 94 watts/# using a 3S battery and 150 watts/# using a 4S battery.

The aircraft is covered in corrugated plastic that Joe had molded to the correct depth and No.# of corrugations per inch.  There are (3) different corrugations on the model.

Joe had to add about ½# (250g) to the nose to get it to balance.  Joe says the maiden flight will have to wait until the weather gets warm again (June?).