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John Antholz
purchased his Yellow P-38 Lightning from a guy
in California who “was too afraid to fly it.”
It has two US 41 engines, doors, flaps, brakes,
Yellow retracts, 100” span, 40 lbs. Thomas
McQuire colo r
scheme. Jo hn
re-hinged the elevator because “it was
sloppy.” He converted the radio to 2.4
MHz--“miles of wire.” He will add a gyro but
will avoid engine sync because “there are
problems with synch for gas engines.”
Mark Wolf
showed his Balsa USA quarter-scale Cub.
Beautifully done, exquisite detail. 108” span,
Quadra 35, 18x8 prop. Wayne modified the
firewall for the bigger
engine. Stits covering.
Letter Tech Graphics (St. Paul, MN "Frogtown").
Scratch-built gas cap, tail braces, jury struts,
windshield. 1/8” O-ring bungee chords, 5 each
side. His mother sewed the bungee chord
covers. Rib stitch tape from
Scale Rib Stitch. Stits polyester paint is
the consisten cy
of water but run-resistant. He used Stits
primer followed by two coats of silver (just
like the f/s), two coats of yellow. Roof
window was tinted with a thin coat of Testers
Candy Green sprayed on the underside only. John
described how he fitted the windshield using
fiberglass cloth attached with wood screws.
Roy Maynard
presented his Me 163 Komet (Sunshine Models of
Germany, imported by
Vogelsang Aeroscale), a scale model of a
rocket-powered interceptor, the fastest airplane
of WW2. 36 lbs thrust
Evojet Turbine wit h
smoke.
KlassKote paint and dry transfer markings.
Dolly take-off requires full throttle and long
run. One gallon tank for 8 minute flight. Skid
landing, steerable tailwheel. Elevons move up
only.
Aluminum hatches.
“Absolute great flyer…I handed the transmitter
to Joe (Grice) and he never gave it back until
after it landed.” Roy described Joe Grice’s
modification to the kit--he removed the wing
tube inside the fuselage and supported the tube
ends with formers. This allowed the turbine to
be moved for ward,
saving several pounds of weight. Roy plans to do
the same mod. Painted screens and extra air
scoops under the wing provide air intake for the
turbine. Three flights so far. “Very, very
easy to fly.” 43 lbs dry. But structure is
“old fiberglass”—crude with no foam stiffeners.
Glass is much thicker than Byron or Yellow
kits. Requires “hours and hours” of body putty,
especially mating wings to fuselage.
Recommended reading: Top Secret Bird. |
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Karen Johnson
reported that she and Tim will host a
fly-in at the Owatonna field on New
Years Day.
 |
Jon Bomers who works with
composites in his modeling wanted to
share (virtually) an old idea applied in
a new way.
In the 18th century, Giovanni Battista
Venturi discovered that when compressed
air is forced through a restrictive
nozzle, its velocity increases and the
air is compressed and when it exits the
nozzle, it expands and |
has the ability to create a vacuum.
This
amazing concept can be used to Build Your Own
Vacuum Press to generate vacuum
efficiently and economically for modeling.
If you have an air compressor you can build your
own high
quality and very powerful vacuum press device,
which will rival electric vacuum press’s costing
$400 to $500. This design also cycles on
and off when the (Hg) falls below your desired
vacuum setting.
A good
vacuum press is a very powerful tool that is
capable of producing over 1700 pounds per square
foot of pressu re
at full capacity. The actual formula is 1"
of Hg equals
70.56
lbs per square foot. I pull my composite
parts at 24Hg and if I’m sheeting a foam core
wing, I adjust the settings to 12Hg to 15Hg
depending on the thickness of the foam cores.
As you can see in the photo, I also use a
"Floating Bench Top" bench that allows me to
re-flatten the top just before I work with a new
wing.
The best part is that the vacuum spreads the
pressure
evenly
over the
parts and with composites it allows me to use
less epoxy and lighter weight cloths to produce
lighter, stronger parts. Another component
is that after trying several epoxy
brands/systems out in the market … I strongly
recommend “MAS Epoxy” the quality, flow and
sand-ability are superior to many of the name brands
that you’re probably aware of.
The press I built isn’t pretty but it holds the
atmospheres to the desired settings I want and
only re-engages when the system falls below the
set Hg. I put it together for around $150, plus
a few hours to build. For more information and
parts/building diagram go to
JoeWoodWorker.com
Cal Branton
discussed how his friend Nick Lensmier built
WACO gliders during WW2. Now Nick is building
yet another WACO glider in Eagan. It is very
large, half wood and half metal. Tours are
available - just contact Cal. Nick is also
looking for volunteers to complete the project. |
ed
on the Minnesota Scale Classic contest.
Contestants came from as far away as Milwaukee.
One contestant forgot the wing tube for his
Cub. His wife observed that the aluminum tubing
in his lawn chair appeared to be the same
diameter. So he cut a section of tubing from
the lawn chair with a hack saw. It fit and he
flew two rounds. John especially enjoyed
watching Tim Johnson and his son Corey Johnson
competing with each other. Both flew very well
despite the wind. John plans to CD the
Minnesota Classic again next year. Well done,
John.
closing
of the TriValley field in Rosemount. It closed
at midnight on Halloween after 30years. Lots of
good memories. Sniff.
or
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