An Official Publication of Genesee Valley Aero Modelers, Ltd. www.gvam.org Editor: October 2009 Glenn Crocker 21 Highview Trail Pittsford, NY 14534 Balsa Dust NEXT MEETING DATE: Thursday, October 8, 2009 LOCATION: East Bloomfield Town Hall TIME: 7:30 p.m. Max Sez I was reading Model Aviation Magazine the other day and I came across something that caught my attention. It was an article about the Joe Nall RC Fun-Fly. It mentioned that the only radios that could be used were the new 2.4Ghz ones. No 72Mhz radios allowed. Now I realize that the Joe Nall is different than most meets. It has several flying sites within a short distance of each other and the 2.4 radios take care of any frequency problems. As a matter of fact, when I was out at the AMA headquarters last summer there was a meet going on there and the only place you could use 72Mhz radios was at the main field. All other fields were restricted to 2.4 radios for the same reason. Now my fear is that many clubs may decide over the next few years to only allow 2.4 radios at their meets just to make it easier to manage the event. No frequency board, no radio impound area and no need for a volunteer to man it. Will this actually happen? I don t know. But it s something to think about. I m not trying to alarm or scare anyone, but just make you aware of a trend I have noticed. I personally think 2.4 radios are a great new product for our hobby but like most of us, I don t like the idea of being forced to change. I personally have decided to start switching my equipment over to 2.4 this winter starting with the planes that I am most likely to take to a meet not because I have to but because I want to. You can make up your own mind of what is best for you. Max Balsa Dust* - A collection of refuse possibly containing turkey droppings, and other bits and pieces, possibly retrogressive to your alleged mind.
G V A M Balsa Dust October 2009 At The Field by Glenn Crocker Flying season will be winding down shortly. This season will not go down as one of the better flying seasons. The spring and early summer was windy and wet. The latter part of the summer was a little better. A number of events this summer were washed out, including our club picnic. We got to eat the hotdogs and hamburg s on Thursday nights. We hope for better weather next year. I would like to thank our members for respecting the Masci s request not to fly during their daughters Wedding ceremony on the 5th. This goes a long way with neighbor relations. This year was my first year with gas engines. I chose to use Coleman fuel rather than gasoline. From what I have read you can use this fuel if the engine size is less than 2 cc. Tuning these engines is a little different than Glow engines. When we thought they were running lean they were actually running rich. I am not used to the price or size (18 inches) of the props needed. I also stumbled onto a fantastic prop made in the Czech Republic. It is a carbon fiber 18x8 and was perfectly balanced out of the box. The engine noise is much less and it has quite a bit more pull that the wooden 18x8 prop. I don t know why I didn t make the change to gas sooner. This year I have been spending more time with the afternoon shift. The Polish Falcon has been seen flying glow engines this year. His electrics will be getting jealous. Henry is still trying to tear the wings off his stick. He has also been spotted flying a couple of new planes. He starts out being easy with them but after a short time he is running a stress test on the wing. I guess he can t help himself. The devil makes him do it. Don is still flying his electric Telemaster. He is very comfortable with the plane. New members George Keller and Ken Haemsch have been up getting in their flying time. Congratulations to Pete Donk If you take Model Airplane News, the November 2009 edition references one of our members. Pete Donk s Iron Butterfly is the Model Airplane News Pilot Project of the Month winner. The write up and photos are on the Model Airplane News web site (modelairplanenews.com). You may have seen the plane at the April display of winter projects or at the field. The plane is a scale model of an Ultralite. Pete scaled down full size plans, modified the engine and formed the tubing and aluminum stock. The plane looks great and he said it flies like they say the full scale does. The article and photos he submitted are very detailed and interesting. Take time to read the write up. Congratulations Pete. Titusville Terror Alert This is the annual Titusville Terror alert for the Florida folks. Tom Brown, aka. The Titusville Terror will be heading for Florida the 28 th of October. He has spent the summer making our lives just peachy keen wonderful with his quiet observations and comments. We tried to get him into the air but he kept breaking his plane before he got it in the air. He said it was an accident but we know better. We did all that we could to make him a Sweet Senior Citizen but he is beyond help. You guys are on your own. We really did enjoy his company this summer and will miss him when he heads back. My mother made me say that! Take advantage of the good weather while we can. You know what is coming. - 2 -
G. V. A. M Balsa Dust October 2009 Thank you Mowers I would like to thank all of the mowing volunteers for their efforts this year. With the wet spring and early summer, keeping the field in good shape was a challenge. Next year I plan to roll the field more often. The North South runway has really gotten rough. We have considered the repairs to the mower a success. Tom has mowed twice since the mower was repaired and was not able to put it out of commission. 20 yrs ago and he brought it with him in the plane and it sat under the A380 all week. There were many interesting Forums. A three hour air show was held every day and planes were in the air from the time you arrived until the time you left. Some real neat stuff! As one person said; this is Mecca for an aircraft enthusiast. T 28 for Sale Thank you Abe Again this year Abe has mowed the high grass. We appreciate the time (4-6 hrs) it takes for each mowing and the equipment preparation that goes into each mowing. The field always looks like a park each year. Oshkosh Report I spent the week at Oshkosh again this year. There were many changes to the grounds and it took a couple of days to reorient myself. Buildings were relocated. Things like the Fly Market were moved from one side of the grounds to the other side. There appeared to be more vendor space and once you sorted it out it was easier to get around. As in Florida, where people are always washing and waxing their RV Buses, the owners of planes at Oshkosh do the same thing. PS. The cleaning crew does not come with the plane! There was a Sea Plane that was carried on a trailer and could be towed by a car. It would be launched like you would a boat at a marina. The Aero Car was there as well and periodically during the day the wings would be extended. A Predator UAV was on display and there was an interesting story on what they had to go thru to fly it into Oshkosh. Burt Rutan s White Knight Two was on display and made some flight demonstrations. This is the plane that will launch Spaceship Two and take civilians into space. They are also looking into making satellite launches with it. The Air Bus A380 flew in on Monday. It made a few passes and for a plane that large it is extremely maneuverable. The A380 pilot flew his home built to Oshkosh - 3 -
G. V. A. M Balsa Dust October 2009 Max and his RV 4 at the District 2 fun fly at Olean. I believe this is a Top Flight B 25 at Olean A Lysander at Olean Quite a decorating scheme on this plane. Lou and Jim are looking very warm. It s only July in Upstate NY. The gruesome twosome (Jim & Max) at Olean. - 4 -
\ G. V. A. M Balsa Dust October 2009 A sky crane named Elvis at Oshkosh putting on a water drop demonstration. Air Bus A380. There was a two and a half hour wait all day for 3 days on each side to go thru the plane. A Predator at Oshkosh. An interesting discussion on how they had to fly it in. I thought this was a different color scheme for an Avenger, Burt Rutan s White Knight Two. This will be the Launch platform for civilian space rides and possibly satellite launches. I finally got a decent picture of the wall of fire. - 5 -
G.V.A.M. Newsletter c/o Glenn Crocker, Editor 21 Highview Trail Pittsford, NY 14534