SFM Newsletter Nov 2007

SFM News Letter

February 2009

by: David P. Andersen

The next meeting of the Scale Flyers of Minnesota will be Friday, February 27, 2008 7:00 p.m. at the American Legion Post, 6501 Portland, Richfield. East entrance, downstairs. Guests are always welcome. Come early and dine in the non-smoking restaurant. (Directions)

At the last meeting ...

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

Roy Carrigan presented a Pica Mustang previously owned by Jeff Quesenberry. Roy added covering which was finished with Bare Metallic latex and Krylon clear overcoat. He used Robart retracts and Aerotech Models sliding canopy frame. Power plant is a DA 50 engine.

Roy also brought along a pair of prototype wheels he designed for his 1/4 Scale Thunderbolt project.

	Dave Andersen described his method of selecting and enlarging 3-views for scratch building while pooh-poohing other well-known and proven methods. He emphasized the importance of comparing candidate 3-views to photos and how to make corrections. He showed how to enlarge a drawing without exceeding the standard 36” printer width. Then he described how to use the result to trace and fill in structure. He illustrated these steps by covering the walls of the room with drawings of a 1/4th scale Mitsubishi Babs. He also gave a history of the Babs that was so preposterous nobody believed it!
		Mark Prokop announced a new raffle scheme. When 5 tickets are purchased, a 6th ticket will be saved in a separate container for a season finale grand prize. This will start next season.

	Cal Branton showed a quarter-scale, 102” span Me-109 partially built by Opie Logue and completed by Cal with help from Kirk Hall and Jeff Quesenberry. The Desert Wind kit was damaged in transit so it had to be repaired. The kit is a copy of the Meister kit including the flat-bottom airfoil deviation. The landing gear was too far outboard and angled so Cal redid it back to scale position, using Shindin Retracts. To make the wheels fit in the wing he added scale, functional wheel blisters. Very complicated moveable radiator and flap mechanism “took a tremendous amount of engineering” that required sequenced operations to prevent jamming plus 6 flap servos. Only one bolt attaches the wing but 4 more are required for the radiators. Uses a Sacs 4.2, with a Sierra back-plate, decal graphics by Cal-Grafx www.cal-grafx.com , Warbird Colors paint applied thick (cream or heavier) at 45 psi. Nicely done detail.

Recommended Reading

“True North—Exploring the Great Wilderness by Bush Plane”

by Minnesota author George Erickson.

Excerpt:

“With my ears monitoring the engine’s roar, my eyes constantly measuring the height and distance of the oncoming trees and my muscles evaluating feedback from the Cub, I weave back and forth within the confines of the river’s spruce-topped banks. I’m a surfer in the Banzai pipeline—the roaring surf my engine, the speeding surfboard my wings. Whipping up and down the breaker’s face, I arc through three-G turns, living on the edge while excusing myself with Robert Burns:

If there be life after death, he lies in bliss;

If not, he made the most of this.”

For Sale: 42% Scale GR-7 Formula Racer (USRA Legal)

Interesting Notes