At 7:00 PM Meeting called together by President Cal Branton.

20 Members were present at the Church under Minnesota COVID19 gathering rules.  Yes, everyone was wearing masks & social distancing.

After 3 months of Zoom Meetings, the membership voted to have in-person gatherings again.  This 26th of February meeting is the first since our October 2020 meeting.  We will be meeting in person again on the 26th of March.  We Look forward to seeing you there!

Roy Maynard shared his Balsa USA ¼ Scale Fokker DR-1 build.  The kit was purchased in 2009.  Framed up by Dick Steine and the engine/cowl mount done by Kirk Hall.

Modeled after Jasta 11 Werner Steinhauser.  Covered in Sig Koverall.  Two coats of nitrate dope before colored dope applied. A “Best Pilot” in the cockpit with a DLE 40cc twin for power.

Roy will use a JETI radio with Aura 8 gyro.  The bird has a functional tail skid and MKS 69HV servos.  JETI Li-ion Rx battery, A123 battery for ignition.  Roy mentioned it balances without lead and estimated the weight at 21lbs.

Joe Niedermier shared his Freewing T33 comes from Motion RC ($399).  It has 51” wingspan, 80mm EDT run by 3658-1900kv motor with a 100 amp ESC.

It needs the voltage of a 6 cell battery and the model weights 7 lbs ready to fly.  The finish on the foam is very nice; it has flaps and real hinges and a sprung retractable landing gear.

Joe could have gone without buying this plane but the German paint job and his memory of the real plane in the seventies made it hard to resist.  At that time he worked for a company that was supporting aerospace and was working on a solution to save the Space Lab.

The Space Lab had failed to deploy half of its solar array and was going to crash because it could not produce the power to prevent it from overheating.  He was making a gold metalized half mill Mylar sheet blanket to use as a temporary solar shield until the solar array could be fixed.  NASA phoned urging us to pack the prototype small as they were sending a jet to get it at the Lakeville airstrip.   A T33 came with a single pilot in it and he delivered and secured our 18” x 20” x 12” carton in the cockpit.  Since there appeared to be all that extra space in the T33 why the need for the compact packing we asked?  Well, - the pilot answered: “ On the way home the commander said to stop in New Ulm and pick up some Schell beer.”

Kirk Hall shared the progress on his Me-163 Komet.

Kirk said he thought it would be a cakewalk to finish it.  It was not an easy build but mentioned that I could not have done it without Ahmed’s help and could not have programmed it without Cal Branton’s help. They are both very invaluable to this hobby!

Kirk's Me-163 Komet Overview

• Komet is from Infinity RC made by Ahmed.
• It’s the first one he made.
• He bought it from Joe Grice.
• Started it in November 2020.
• Should be painted and RTF by April 2021
• Servos are MKS 1220-life with 400oz torque (8)
• Batteries are A123 (2) from Electro Dynamics, One for flight and one for the smoke system.
• 80-ounce smoke tank.
• Sullivan smoke pump.
• 4-liter fuel capacity
• Spektrum Ix-20 radio with a 12 channel receiver with dual redundancy.
• Spektrum 3000 Gyro
• Powered by, Kingtech 210 turbine
• Weighs 34 pounds dry with UAT full of fuel.
• Balanced perfectly without lead.

Kirk has another Komet  he is willing to sell if someone would like to try build a composite Me-163 Komet; Price is $500 US

It was so great to see everyone again!  Next month were hoping restrictions will be eased a bit so more members can attend!  Please check my email blasts for updates ... Stay Healthy & Build Scale!

Chris O’Connor shared his 1/4-Qtr Scale Beechcraft Bonanza build. This is a quarter scale model of a 1958 Beechcraft Bonanza J35 V-tail with a 100-inch wingspan.  The plans were drawn by the master designer, Dave Andersen using an actual 1958 J35 that Chris was fortunate enough to be partners in and some plan information and accessories from the Mark Frankel's T34. 

With Mark's permission and the included in the plans are the foam wing and tail cores, a cowling, stinger tail cone. corrugated surfaces, gear doors from Mark's quarter-scale T34 accessories.

The plane will be powered by a Zenoah GT80 and scale retracts made by Robart.

Wings and tail will be sheeted balsa and or ABS plastic corrugated skins to simulate the full-size aircraft surfaces.  All parts are hand-made, including wing step, handle and radio antennas .  The radio equipment will be a Spektrum DX20 tx and servos with a 20 channel power safe RX, Cortex gyro

Chris’ Mark Frankel T34 is a wonderful flying plane, with the same wing and tail he expects the Bonanza to fly equally as well.  Finished weight should be around 45 pounds. The GT80 spinning a 22-10 prop using Avgas and will have no problem powering the Bonanza. Hopefully in the Summer of 2022 we will be flying this nostalgic piece of aviation history.  The V-Tail is very identifiable in the air!  This model will be built by Chris O'Connor but owned/flown by Nathan O'Connor.

Ahmed Basal shared his latest version of his Sukhoi SU-57.

This version is a twin turbine, again with thrust vectoring and is about the same weight as his single-engine prototype.

After getting feedback from Ali Machinchy at Florida Jets, Ahmed spent 3 months detailing the new molds to get them up to Top Gun status.  The Thrust vectoring for the twin-turbine exhaust is something to see!  Ahmed had (2) designs fail due to backpressure or thrust restriction before he came up with a concept that worked.

New for this model is a twin drogue chute ejection system for landing with a safety feature to disengage if accidentally deployed.  Ahmed plans to finish it in the Russian gray camouflage scheme. The first maiden will be some time this spring.

Ahmed's 28.5% Scale SU-57 Specs

• Wing Span: 2 m
• Length: 2.5 m
• Weight: 52.5# dry
• Power (2) KingTech K120 turbines
• 23 High voltage High torque servos
• Electric Retracts with Ahmed’s custom CF struts

Chris Launer displayed some of the custom ordinance that he has been designing and 3D printing in 1/4 scale, 1/5th scale and 1/6th scale aircraft during the COVID-19  lock-downs.

He is not making them for sale. His Vietnam-era ordinance for the Skyraider is incredible!

Chuck Hamilton, a friend and TOP GUN competitor is building one of David Andersen's designs ... a Quarter Scale Hawker Hurricane Mk II.  Chuck was kind enough to share his progress and thoughts on YouTube prior to painting his scale color scheme he is planning for competition!  Beautiful detail ... Check it out.