Rudy
Olson showing
 his
Scale Flyers of Minnesota Club spirit
gave away a bunch of great
aircraft stuff - floats, wheels, fuel
tanks, etc. Many Thanks, Rudy! |
Bernie
Kolbilka was present and renewed his
membership. He began building RC at t he
age of 80. He is now 93 years old and
is building yet another Space Walker.
His next birthday is Feb 26.
Happy Birthday,
Bernie! |
|
Next
local
event: It's that time again! The
TCRC Annual Auction will be held on
February 12, 2011 at Crosspoint
Church. The church is located near
98th & France in Bloomington. For
more details and auction time ...
read more
Tri-Valley News: Members are
automatically re-enrolled for 2011. A
field search continues. Rich Valley RC
has capped membership at 60 due to the
closing of Tri-Valley field in
Rosemount, 8 miles away. But this limit
has not yet been filled. Schaar’s Bluff
Park fee is now $40. Pilots are warned
that no safety procedures are in place
for Schaar’s Bluff.
Chris
Launer is a Lockheed Martin
employee who has worked on a UAV project
in Eagan. That project was a twin-boom
fiberglass pusher with tricycle landing
gear and a wingspan of 16 feet.
 Chris
built a balsa & Monokote quarter - scale
model of the UAV as a canard in order to
prove the concept of how the UAV could
carry more weight. The motor is an AXI
outrunner, Thunder Power 11.1v LiPo
battery and the vehicle weighs about 3
lbs. He is now working on an 8’
version, which will refine the attitude
trim. The model has differential twin
rudders that move outboard more than
inboard to compensate for adverse yaw.
Dennis
Baty discussed his first serious
scale project as - “a learning
experience." His
Top Flight P-47 has an OS 91
4-stroke and weights in at 9½ lbs dry.
Model Aero Products
servo-operated landing gear. Modeled
after photos of his
uncle standing beside a P-47 during
WWII. He learned how to “precurve”
sheet balsa prior to sheeting. The wing
filet was time consuming, having never
done it before.
The “real
challenge” was glassing. Online videos
were very helpful. Probably sanded too
much but he was “pleasantly surprised”
with the result.
Chartpac panel lines pulled off some
of the glass - “should have primed
before applying tape.” Learned
that silver is a difficult color - tried
6 different kinds of rattle cans before
finding a good one.
ProMark dry transfers are hard to
apply without dimpling the surface.
They must be clear-coated (to be fuel
proof) but the clear coat dulls the
silver paint. He discovered that it is
better to make the guns removable - or
else it's too easy to damage in
handling. Very well done P-47 Dennis
... especially for your first scale
model!
David
Andersen our tireless Newsletter
editor will be moving to his new home in
a month or so. All of you that
help with those pesky boxes, models,
building boards and drawing tables -
should expect a cold soda or beer and
maybe a good deal on one of his scale
aircraft if you accidentally dropped it!
Oops! |
|
 Scott
Russell showed off his 1/5th scale
Skymaster F-86. Powered by
JetCat P160.
It's 42 lbs dry and 55 lbs wet.
With 18 servos Scott said “Way too much stuff in
it” but
“flys extremely well ... best jet I’ve flown so
far.” Moveable leading edge slats coupled
to flaps but can be articulated separately.
Scott mentioned that it “slows down really well,
with no trim change when flaps & slats are
actuated". It also has a sliding canopy
and air brakes.
The wing has a wood
structure but the glass surface is added while
the wing is in a mold. Elevators per early
versions of F86, not ful l-flying
stab as per later versions. 130 MPH. Fuselage
disassembles
in the center. Removable tail. The first
flight resulted
in a wheels-up
landing due to an air system failure that Scott
attributes to the complexity of the connectors.
So Scott has since replaced the air and
electrical connectors in the wing with a set of
built-in
Dreamworks Model Products connectors in
the wing roots that engage when the wing is slid
in place.
Jeff Micko
presented a 1/5th scale P-51B Mustang with a
fiberglass fuselage originally designed by Tom
Lazar of Classic Glass
(Wisconsin, USA). A DLE 55cc engine
is p lanned.
Jeff obtained some plugs and molds of this
airplane, in addition to a ME 109 fuselage mold
after Tom went out of business. Both are
derived from Dave Platt plans. Jeff developed
formers from 3-views from the Russian web site:
Чертежи Послевоенные истребители.
Jeff pointed out that the tailwheel retracts
forward and he asked for ideas on how to do
that. Brian Crossley suggested
using a mechanical nose wheel retract installed
backwards.
Speaking of
Brian Crossley he's b een
immortalized by Michael Brent of
Mike Brent Art.com.
Mike took photos of Brian's head and transformed
them into ... what some might say is a beautiful
piece of artwork for Brian's aircraft.
These figurines' are carved from balsa and make
a wonderful addition to anyone's aircraft.
If you have a Warbird - that's OK, Mike can do
that for you as well! Feel free to contact
Mike through his website.
Also, our
Web-Editor Jon Bomers contacted Mike -
who's a great guy by the way and a new supporter
of SFM ... and he offered for a
limited time to SFM
Members and site visitors
FREE Shipping!
(the shipping offer is for
USA shipments only) Sorry Brian no
refunds ...
J
Jon Bomers
has developed a relationship with
Amazon.Com in
an effort to bring meaningful products at a
significant savings to Scale Flyer Members as
well as our website visitors. The products
will be listed and available through our home
page, located on the right hand side. The
availability of the products will change from
time to time so check back often and see what
kind of offers/savings are available!
One example current
up on the Home Page are
"100 No.#11 Scalpels for only $15.00" As
many of us know, Scalpels are sharper and
generally stay sharper longer than regular X-Acto
blades. |
