The Official Newsletter of the Dusters RC Club. Dusters News

Transcription

1 The Official Newsletter of the Dusters RC Club Dusters News The Sun sets on an intrepid group of fall flyers, all displaying an unnatural affinity for the flying qualities of the Piper Cub. Dan Lurvey, Terry Criswell, Tom Thomasian and Bob Hoover, shown with a gaggle of good sized Cubs This affliction has infected a number of area flyers this year. I am sure there are many letters addressed to Santa, this year, that begin: A Yellow Cub Nothing like a stick and rudder machine like the Cub to develop, then keep, good flying skills. Look for several Cub Events this summer. Wow.. This issue of the Duster s News marks the beginning of my 3rd year bringing you this newsletter always a challenge, but I haven t missed one yet, thanks to the help of so many of my fellow club members. This is also the first month in my memory, that I did not get out to the field, and that is a damn shame. As you will see however, there was plenty of activity at Duster Field, (as usual) despite my absence and in between the record setting rains of November. I admire and am jealous of those of you who managed to find the time to get some stick time in this month...keep it up!! My stick fingers are twitchin!! -jay Kevin Miller submitted this photo of either: A: The best Halloween Costume of the year. B: Kevin s version of the ideal companion. C: The fruit of too many hours spent in the building room. D: Our new Field Mascot, Duster. This Reminder Box sez: Don t miss the November Club Meeting, financial Conference Room On Pacific Hwy in Woodburn. Get update information on the Dusters Web Site Cubs fill the evening sky at Duster Field Inside: Meeting Notes Flying Mustangs Club Pics

2 The Official Newsletter of the Dusters RC Club Pg 2 Meeting Notes The Executive Board meeting of the Dusters was held October 23 at Nelson Financial with 6 members present. Minutes of the September meeting were read and approved. Dale presented another YTD financial statement and detail. Among things noted was: The heavy influx of dues monies at year end last year over previous, most likely influenced by prize incentives. The purchase of a $2,000 CD at 5.3% interest. Expenses approved for web page. Meeting notes cont. Various possibilities for a theme were discussed for our fall flying event, or perhaps an additional event this year. Members are invited to propose or discuss proposals for events this year at upcoming meetings. The meeting was adjourned at 8 PM. Ladies: the Pastries were excellent. It was reported that club membership now stands at 83 members, with another on the way for 84. The field roller has broken and is ibn need of some Steigman TLC. We are sure he will say, Get it over her and I will take care of it. One of the field benches was stolen. It was decided to replicate our January Dues Incentive this year, Terry will investihgate the availability of a prize. The board agreed that a.46 size two stroke engine would be most suitable. This years Big Bird event in June will be an AMA sanctioned event. Terry Criswell has been certified, and is the named Contest Director for the Dusters. Look for us in the AMA publication, Model Builder. The club is contemplating a Sunday family picnic day in Lieu of the September barbecue on election night. Perhaps it is time to include family members in a club sponsored event that included food, flying activity and perhaps other social events such as drawings,. January Meeting Dues Payment Sweepstakes This is it Gentlemen, a brand new OS Max.46AX engine. Jewel like,. Precision casting and machine work results in the most popular, high performance.46 on the market today. Members with their 2007 Dues paid by the conclusion of the January mweeting are automatically included in the drawing held at that time.. Odds are about 1 in 50, and this year, in a matter of special attention, members paying their dues twice will automatically be entered a second time!! Don t miss out on this awesome opportunity!!

3 The Official Newsletter of the Dusters RC Club Pg 3 Flying the P-51 Mustang One of the exciting benefits of living in this ARF age, is the access to, and the opportunity to fly, so many different airplanes.. A fine example of this exists with the seemingly unlimited number of P-51 models available. Not so long ago, the Top Flite P-51 kit was the best, and almost only chance you had to get in the air with a good P-51,..provided it was built light. This was known as a builders kit. A great many of those kits were purchased, many less were ever completed or flew. Today however, Mustangs exist in any scale or derivative...warbirds, Reno Racers, Air show Planes, even a Trainer are on the market and can be flown within days of purchase. Electrics, Two stroke and Four Stroke powered planes are all available. Over the last few years, I have had the good fortune to fly a good many of these, and even own a Hangar 9,.60 size version In addition to my experiences, I have compared these lessons with others who have flown Mustangs. It is remarkable to me, how most of them exhibit the same characteristics in flight. As with the full scale Mustang, the take-off is the most skill intensive part of the entire flight. This isn t a slam the throttle and yank the elevator kind of plane One must apply throttle slowly, to about a third, and start paying attention to the way it wants to swing, In most cases, it will begin to veer right. SMOOHLY, apply a touch of right rudder and HOLD IT, because now its time to start paying attention to the tail lifting. Mustangs inherently want to bury their nose into the runway, and will do so quite quickly if it s unexpected. The challenge is to correct with just the right amount of back pressure to hold the tail level, without over rotating and taking off.maybe a bit too quickly. Once the tail has started up and it looks like you can hold the fuselage level, apply the rest of your power.you ll be holding some right rudder and after the engine comes to full power, you can start thinking about leaving the ground Mustangs require just a touch of elevator to get them to rotate, and when they do, BACK OFF. If you are trimmed, you will get a steady, straight climb out and a chance to catch your wits, as the tricky part is past. The only task at this point is to flick the gear switch so we can watch the gear retract on climb out. A Mustang, at speed, in the air, is a simple pleasure to fly.they are honest, with no unwanted snap tendencies anywhere. The controls are balanced and the wing has enough dihedral to provide a very stable flight. It is always a good idea to stay away from the slow speed stuff, until you get a little time on the individual plane. Mustangs do have a tapered wing, and will stall sharply when forced. They will back slide, whip stall, Hammerhead, snap roll or fall into a spin with ease...but again, it has to be forced, and the pilot who knows what to expect can expect some good looking stall maneuvers out of a Mustang when desired. However, because of the dihedral so cleverly hidden in this design...rolls are never axial. The Mustang likes to roll around a point instead of on a point, and, to me, this is a beautiful characteristic of Mustangs...quick aileron rolls look like a mini barrel rolls, and barrel rolls of any size are easy. My favorite is to bank left, pull a little elevator and as it starts to climb, roll right. Attempting to hold one G on the airframe as it rotates to its sides while relaxing the backpressure and letting it fall through the top, then pulling up level at the bottom. Voila..A Barrel Roll Frontal and rear views of the Barrel Roll, or Roll Around a Point

4 The Official Newsletter of the Dusters RC Club Pg 4 (Mustang Cont.) Do a tight one on a 45 degree upline, after a swoop down to the runway, and you have the classic Mustang Victory roll. One roll for each victory. Of course, all this activity does consume a critical commodity, FUEL, and all too soon, it is time to set up for the landing. A Mustang is very stable in glide, as long as the plane is TRIMMED to glide. After establishing the plane on the downwind leg of the pattern, pull the power back, leaving about 1/4 throttle on. Dial in a little up elevator trim to establish a steady sink rate. Too often, pilots just pull the power back and perform a roller coaster approach. By the time it is time to flare, they are so frazzled that they are relieved to just let the plane plop onto the runway. Once the steady sink rate is set up, a pilot can concentrate on flying the approach and not trying to control the airspeed and sink rate with the elevator only. Properly trimmed, elevator controls the speed, throttle controls the sink rate. On turning final, most Mustangs glide with the nose about level. Should it appear that it is sinking too quickly, smoothly add a little power to arrest the sink rate and a little up elevator to bring the nose up and slow the plane down. Conversely, if the nose is too high and the speed too slow, add a little down elevator to pick up the speed. Once you reach a point about 15 feet over the end of the runway, its time to begin holding the wings level with the ailerons and steering the nose of the plane with rudder. It is important to hold the rudder input long enough to effect a change in heading if that is what is required, such as correcting for a drift towards the edge of the runway. Again, throughout this phase, hold the wings level with aileron and steer with the rudder, all the way to touchdown. At touchdown, one can simply throttle all the way back and just arrest the descent with elevator for a wheel landing, or hold the plane off the ground as long as possible for a full flare landing. Either way, and the Mustang does both well. However...you are not done yet. Above all else, a Mustang must be flown until the wheels stop turning. I have found that after touchdown, release the back pressure of the flare, but watch for any sign of a nose over, as this is also an inherent characteristic of the breed. Steer straight down the runway and let the tail settle on its own. This will take a little while, but it is much easier to hold a straight roll out without that tailwheel in the grass. You will be surprised at the amount of rudder input you will use to keep this one straight down the runway. That s it. Too soon a flight is over, and if you are a normal RC Pilot, you will be anxious to do it again. Just do it, and remember that nothing but practice will make you a better Mustang Pilot. Bryan Brinegar

5 The Official Newsletter of the Dusters RC Club Pg 5 From the Fertile Mind and the Benches of Earl Cox I call it an xdst-rc (x for experimental, ds for downspout, t for twin, and -rc is recycled cub). Fuselage is a length of PVC downspout; wing was donated by Wally Tiff from a Great Planes ARF Cub; tail feathers are Goldberg Cub, part mine and part donated by Gary Worthington. Nose gear, landing gear and engines were salvaged from my twin engine pusher canard which never got off the ground. First flight was eventful. Takeoff was fine, but the plane wanted to climb, climb, climb at any power setting above idle. Lacking a degree in aeronautical engineering, possessing only an imagination, (some may say wierd), I assembled the plane with the wing, tail feathers and engines level. The first landing was a real "oops." There was some minor damage. I repaired the damage, put some downthrust in the engines, and about 3 degrees of positive in the tail feathers. The plane now flies very stable and actually quite fast. The engines are 46 Thunder Tiger Pro s. Wally helped me on one of my successful flights. After picking up the plane, he commented that I must have a brick in it. I told him no, actually I have two in there. Dry weight is 12 lb. Wet weight is 13 lb. In my first mad creation, the pusher/puller downspout was quite heavy; this one is also. If I lose an engine, I'm hoping the big Cub wing will supply enough lift to glide back to the runway. If not, I'll pick up the pieces and come up with some other weird idea! Kevin Kennedy brought out this new one for first flights in November. While I don t have many details, I do know Kevin scratch built it from a set of plans he blew up. It is powered by a new OS 120 AX. with Robart retracts. It features sheeted foam wings and is no doubt a popular design from the 60 s or 70 s. Every thing went well on the maiden flight, however landing gear problems prevented a second flight. Good work Kevin!!

6 The Official Newsletter of the Dusters RC Club Pg 6 Bill White, Oregon City had a Giant Scale Plane stolen from his Clackamas home. I am urging all of the giant scale modelers out there to be on the lookout for my 100" Ziroli Stuka, that was stolen as a result of a break-in while I am on Vacation. The theft occurred approx. 11/5/06. The plane was hanging from the rafters, in an out-building, on my property, behind my home in Clackamas, Oregon. (Near Portland). The plane was very well built, and finished. It had the German WW2 "straight line" cameo, olive drab paint on the upper surfaces, and the light colored undersurface paint, with yellow rudder, and elevator, and cowl. It has a ZDZ 60, engine. I also installed a "balsa products" highly detailed cockpit, w/a fully uniformed pilot. There is no tail gunner. (Similar to Aircraft Shown) If anyone sees this their field, or elsewhere (hobby shop, etc.) I urge them to contact me ASAP. Relive the Drama and Destruction at Pearl Harbor Days Duster Field, December 10, 2006 This is an Annual Charity Event, conducted by the Portland SkyKnights Club. $5 (or any further contribution you wish to make), an airplane and an AMA card are the only requirements to allow you to fly with randomly chosen combat teams. These are timed, competitive events, flown in a Charity for the Childrens Cancer Fund. Bomb Drops, Spot Landings and a Limbo are a few of the maneuvers attempted in a Titanic Battle for Supremacy of the Oregon Skies. This is a fun, spectator friendly event, rain or shine and guaranteed to provide you with astounding entertainment. The Duster Deli Crew is present to provide warm liquid aids and foods, to see you through the day. The fun starts at early, with the Official Events staring about 9. Thanks to all for your indulgence Bill White I can be

7 The Official Newsletter of the Dusters RC Club Pg Dusters Officer Roster President: Terry Criswell Secrtry/Newsltr: Jay Penninger trcjsc@aol.com Vice President: Bob Hoover Safety Officer: Cliff Farnham Treas/Membrshp: Dale Nelson dale.nelson@raymondjames.com Field Maintenance: Gus Opall Webmaster: Terry Criswell R.C. Modeler N.W. November % off already low sticker price on any in stock airplane ARF or KIT. Must present club membership card. Look for December special next month. (503) R.C. Modeler N.W. December % off already low sticker price on any in stock Radio system, gas engine/electric motors, and helicopters. Must present club membership card. Look for January special next month. (503) For Sale: Tiger Moth Bi-plane: Full kit 66" inch wingspan both wings. 54" long size 2 stroke, or equivalent 4 stroke Premier Balsa Products, Southminster, Essex, England. I have seen other kits by this outfit, and they, like this one, are kits that build into beautiful, wonderful flying aircraft. $ and willing to discuss price. It would be a shame to not see this kit built!! Roger Weeks