Club 2067 F Ribcrackers Model Airplane Club We re on the web! http:/www.ribcrackers.org Thunderbolt February 2013 Editor s Note: Ray Field LAT: 42.5062 N LON: 83.5987 W Hopefully there is only one more month maybe two of tough winter weather left. January gave up only a few suitable flying days at Ray Field for those hearty winter flying members. Now is that perfect time for diligently working on those new planes that you are working on and plan to take out to the field w h e n t h e weather is suitable. In this is s u e G r e g Gordon has posted an update on his progress of the Dauntless that was reported here in January s Thunderbolt. Next month there will be a repot on a unique project completed last month by Prez Cruzan on how to make a viable flying plane out of components from previous crashes. Dennis Robbins completed an in-thebones Aichi to hang in his workshop while contemplating what new project to begin. Alas, my Thunderbolt is still on the work bench, and if only I could put together eight hours, it would be completed. So what are you working on? How about sharing them here with your fellow club members? Call me. It was gratifying to read in the February Model Aviation about former Rib cracker Mark Freeland conducting a FF seminar for AMA employees. Also, Ribcracker honorary life member Keith Shaw receiving a Carl and Beth Goldberg Vital People Award, good stuff for RC. Some Ribcrackers attended the DAM swap meet recently held at the Yankee Air Force s new facility at Willow Run airport. Good work guys, it is always good to support other clubs with their events, and visit our local hobby stores that support our hobby/sport in a huge way. See you at the club meeting. Don February Club Meeting Monday, February 4, 7:30 pm Livonia Senior Center 5 Mile & Farmington Road
Ribcrackers January Meeting Minutes January 14, 2013 January Meeting started promptly at 7:30 Treasurer s Report: Dues are continuing to roll in. Budget will be presented at next meeting. Secretary s Report: 10 to 20 people have renewed their membership so far. Don t forget that your membership must be renewed by the end of the March meeting to avoid late fees. Vice President s Report: The field looks good. The porta-pottie was upright and ready for business. No concerns for people flying on Saturday. Everything looks good. President s Report: Getting the key to the Senior Citizen s Center appears to be a challenge: The key must be picked up between 12:00 and 5:00 on Monday afternoon and then dropped off after the meeting. Scott wished to apologize for the confusing meeting shift to a later date. Don t forget to renew your AMA and Ribcracker membership First flight 2013 goes to Gerald Klose. Hank will provide trophy at next meeting Thanks to Leon for organizing the Christmas Party Thanks to Errol for donating back his Raffle winnings to the club last month. We need to find ways to increase our funds. The following are some suggestions: o Warbird fun fly with better advertisement and open to other clubs o An official swap meet/fun fly with proceeds/percentage going to club Other ideas to increase community awareness and hopefully garner new members o Do presentations for Scouts, schools, or model air shows either flying or static at malls, schools, etc o Do a student day on the weekend o Have a sign at the street while we are at the field advertising our existence o Have the meeting at another location where there might be more incidental exposure such as at the Wintergarden. o Have the meeting at a hobby shop such as Nankin or Prop Shop. Any other ideas to improve the field o Dennis Kirkwood would like the field rolled at least twice a year o Keep in mind that any improvement cannot be anything permanent. Model of the Month Roger Wilfong brought in a Mini-Vapor and a rebuilt Super Sportster EP. Rebuild was required after motor and Firewall parted ways from the rest of the aircraft. It is powered by a Monster Power 15 running on 3 A123 cells Ron McHale demonstrated a Co-axial Skywriter UFO. Very cute. Raffle Winners Blue Ticket Ron HcHale Dennis Carpenter picked up the Concept 30 Glow powered helicopter Scott Cruzen won a couple of servos and, Marshall won the Balance Machine which he promptly donated back to the club Scott brought in a book that covered the P51 and Corsair in gorgeous detail and offered to lend it out on a rotating basis to any club member interested. Gerald Klose
The build is progressing fairly well. DAUNTLESS SBD-3 Ziroli Plans Balsa USA Laser kit Wing Span 100 Length 78 Wing Area 1750 sq in Weight 30-40lbs Engine BME 116 twin There are many details to the build to this point that I could talk about but I will only bore you with the so called highlights of the construction. Center Wing Panel Before I forked out a ton of money on pneumatic retractable landing gear I did a ton of research on multiple manufactures. When the dust settled I chose the Sierra retracts over the Robart system because of its increased cylinder capacity that will allow the landing gear to raise and lower every time. However, the retract system is larger in size than what the plans call for so it required some extensive modifications and maintaining the wings structure had to be considered. I also purchased the scale (6) inch wheels from Sierra for a considerable discount and man they look great. I decided to build the bottom features such as the bomb trapeze after the fabric covering is applied. Wing panels The anti-stall features located near the wing tips are something I have only seen on the Dauntless and required a lot of patience when forming each slot opening. With some time consumed I think they came out pretty good. I also wired navigation lights in the wing tips that will double as an ignition indicator light. For once I came up with a good idea. I also pre-mounted the outer wing replica 500lb bomb releases but I removed them for now to ease the covering process. The rest of the wings build up such as the wing tube, servo mounts, flaps, ailerons, and sheathing went without any surprises.
Fuselage The tail wheel and the rudder mechanisms are all hidden within the fuselage. The mechanisms to control each function needed to be precise to create a nice smooth movement. So to help with this I used Sullivan push rods with plastic sleeves and 4-40 steel rods between the servo arm and the control horns. The tail wheel came out fantastic with very little drag. The rudder was a bit more difficult because of the scale like hinges that made the construction a little more challenging. The actual pivot arm is constructed from an aluminum rod that goes through a couple of drilled wood bushing. This combination made it very difficult to create a smooth movement. If I had to do it all over again I would have used plastic bushings because when assembled I discovered some resistance in the pull direction. I m using a high torque servo to combine these functions and I don t feel it will be an issue but I will evaluate this condition after the servo is installed and operating. The most difficult job of the build thus far was sheathing the fuselage. First of all where do you start? The plans call for sheeting the top and covering toward the bottom. OK front or back first? I decided right or wrong to do my own thing by covering the sides first starting at the front. I pre-soaked the sheeting with a diluted alcohol solution to help the sheets form around the shapely fuselage before applying. It was also recommended to place one sheet at a time on each side to prevent the fuselage from twisting. So I followed this plan but when applying the last sheet to the rear of the body I noticed a twist at the back. Great job! NOT! Once again more work and time wasted fixing a mistake. If this is the only mistake I make then I am doing pretty well but it s still early in the build. The rudder and elevator were next on the list to be built. Integrating both parts to the fuselage went well setting them in a perfect alignment to the center section wing both vertically and horizontally.
The Dauntless SBD had six different versions before retiring the plane in 1944. My intent was to build the SBD-5 version. The only reason for this is because the SBD-5 version would maximize the air flow across the motor that would exhaust a portion of the heated air out the ventilation ports located on the fuselage just behind the cowl. Even though by appearance you would think the SBD-5 would have less flow. Well it came to the point in the build that I needed to fit the cowl to the fuselage. So when I got the cowl out for the first time since I purchased it a month or two ago I noticed that I unknowingly purchased a SBD-3 version of the cowl which has a distinctive snorkel on the front. I did not know what to do. I had a version 5 fuse and version 3 cowl this really sucks for me! My first thoughts were the majority of people probably wouldn t know the difference. However I couldn t let it go and it drove me nuts for weeks so I finally decided to tear down the ventilation ports and rebuilt them to SBD-3 specs. This was going backwards in a long build process but the final result was pretty good. SBD-5 version (vent ports) SBD 3 version (vent ports) Well this is all for now. Overall I would say the balsa kit was complete with a mix of premium wood. It did fall short with the amount of sheathing strips required to cover the plane but the laser cut pieces were right on which made for less aggravation when fitting or sanding hundreds of parts during the assembly process. There are many hours already into the build to many to count but I enjoy it during the cold winter months. It gives me pleasure seeing where I began and how I got to where I am now. I will try to keep you posted next month thanks for reading about my Dauntless Build. Greg Gordon
MODEL OF THE MONTH Roger Wilfong demonstrating his Mini Vapor. Roger s second plane was a repaired, recovered, re-everything. The original ARF had weak glue joints (what s new) at the firewall and you guessed it, the motor and firewall parted company with the plane. The plane is powered by a monster Power 15 running in 3 A123 cells. Covering were odds-n-ends from former projects. Ron McHale flying the Co-axial Skywriter UFO. Look closely for the horizontal blue lines.
Supporting Area Club s Swap Meets Some Ribcrackers attended the January 6 swap meet put on by Detroit Aero Modelers. Ex. Prez Warren Wells and Gus Dabringhaus along with Ex. Veep Hank Wojcik attended along with Ken Hilton and Matt Jerue - photographer. A big bonus was the opportunity to view the new hanger facility that replaced the fire damaged old one. The spectacular planes always make the event worth the time and effort to get there. Beautiful restored Stinson Reliant Imagine hitching a ride in this Beechcraft!
UPCOMING LOCAL EVENTS Feb. 4 Ribcrackers Club Meeting - LSC Feb.10-Mid Mich. RC Swap Meet Chesaning, MI March 4 Ribcrackers club Meeting LSC Check out the details of local flying events on page 158 of Model Aviation, February issue. REMINDER Re-up your Ribcracker Club Dues membership now. The club treasurer is developing the operating budget for the upcoming flying season and needs to know how many members to plan for. Also, remember that there is a late fee charged after the March club meeting. Send your dues and work assessment fees to Club Secretary Matt Jerue @ 40453 Guilford, Novi, 48375 Ribcrackers 2013 Board of Directors Club Positions President Scott Cruzen 248-275-3416 scruzen@me.com Vice President / Field Marshall Dennis Carpenter 248-881-3243 Dennis.carpenter@bcarp.com Secretary Matt Jerue 248-348-5948 mdjerue@mi.rr.com Treasurer Dennis Robbins 248-661-3562 drobbins421@yahoo.com Librarian Ken Hilton 248-877-1670 Thunderbolt Editor Don Unsworth 248-348-0961 dunswrth@sbcglobal.net Safety Officer Alex Alexopoulos 248-909-6869 Alexopoulos24@yahoo.com Chief Instructor Matt Jerue 248-348-5948 Minute Recorder Gerald Klose 248-582-1803 Raffle Coordinator Marshall Stern 248-661-8286