San Gabriel Valley Radio Control League

Can you believe that it’s July already? We are well into the hot summer months of our flying season. July the 28th we are scheduled to start the slurry coating on the runway and pit area. The field will be closed until the 30th. We should be finished by the end of the 29th but there may be some striping and other painting chores to complete. There will be signs posted at the flying field to remind you. I noticed that the grass had been mowed where it was about two feet high around a broken sprinkler. I hope they repaired the sprinkler and not just mowed the grass.

We had the club fun fly this month. If you missed it then you missed a lot of fun and crazy flying. Also there was an all you can eat BBQ. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad and chips. We had some very good helicopter flying. Those guys make it look easy. The red flags at the rifle range wall are getting sun bleached and torn. We’re in the process of getting them replaced.

A new frequency pin holder will be going up at the flag pole. This is for the 2.4 users. When you are ready to fly you will need a field frequency tag/pin to put there. If you do not have a field tag you will have to get one from Mr. Meade or other qualified club members.

You may wonder why we are asking for a frequency pin to fly on 2.4 since it has no affect on other fliers. Well the park requires all fliers to have AMA insurance. When Mr. Meade makes a frequency pin for you he will always ask to see your AMA card. If you have a pin up when you are flying then we know that you have AMA insurance. If you are flying and do not have a frequency pin up then we can only assume that you have no AMA insurance and are in violation of the park rules.

Well that’s about it for this month. See you at the club meeting Tuesday.

Jerry Swaim – Field Marshall

It’s hot. So what else is new? $5 Gasoline? $20 fuel? 2.4? That’s all old stuff! Well not really but it’s just part of the ongoing changing scene at the field that we see over time. The new 2.4 GHz systems are really taking hold. I haven’t heard a complaint about one failing in months. A recent AMA magazine event article said that they had 49 RC models in the air at once. All on 2.4. Apparently all operated trouble free. So when nobody else is on your “channel” (because you don’t have your own channel (s) on 2.4) how are you going to blame your recent crash on interference? Is that part of the changing scene too?

Hi! By the way, really excellent reading is the July article in the AMA magazine about the Airtronics 2.4 system. It will really help in understanding all of the 2.4’s, even the other brands. Read it if you want to understand why I can say you don’t have your own channel on 2.4!

Part of the long term changing scene of ARF’s and the routine fact that every one that I’ve looked at is built pretty darn straight and warp free. After a while we take it for granted. You put a new one in the air and all it needs is a click or two. All models are straight, right? Uh- Huh! ARF’s assemblers these days don’t even need to own a straight edge. Or a Square, when they really should have several! The pre -fabricated parts are usually fool proof to the most extent. Neat! The bad part is, without the tool, how are you going to verify a model is straight? And why know what parts should be aligned to one another? I often used something common as a square, like a piece of cardboard backing off a writing pad. Stuff like that is everywhere and easy to use so there’s no need to run down to buy another tool.

On a car we all know that the wheels must all be aligned for minimum wear and drag on the tires. Aerodynamic Drag is extremely important in a model too. Most is inherent in a design. Some is induced by surfaces being “crooked” requiring an opposite surface offsetting when they should or could be straight. That’s where the tools come in. Build it straight! ARF’s are fine but there are a few of us who still build. That’s when the straight edge and square stand out. You get used to ARF’s being straight, so for kit builders all you have to do is stick it together. UhHuh. We had a recent case at the field of a nice looking finished model. But the kit apparently was an old one and the die cut lite ply wood in it had developed unnoticed warps. Only upon final assembly was it noticed. Noticed? Well, actually the warps stood out like sore thumbs. Bad. Sad too. It could have been caught early with simple tools.

After Tai’s A123 Lithium battery article I’ve been following the A123 news. The following comment pertains to everything mfg in China and A123’s are made there too. A company in China called CBAK is making the cells for A123 and building a huge new plant. Prices may follow, I hope. Quote; “CBAK’s main competitors are Japanese and South Korean, both of which have substantially higher labor costs. The average wage in Japan is $2,700 a month and $1,500 a month in South Korea. But the average salary for a CBAK factory worker is around $160 a month. Hmmmm. How long can that last?

That’s a 10 to 1 labor cost advantage over the nearest low cost labor! No wonder ARF’s are cheap here! How long can that last too!

A123 cells as of today are apparently the rechargeable battery for the future. But they have some not so good aspects too. Size and weight for a given capacity are obvious. Since the type is recent, how long after coming off the production line will they last? All cells deteriorate with time. Some Ni-Cads hold up really well. Some! I’ve seen 10 year old packs still hold a charge. Maybe not full capacity, but a charge. A123 has only been producing cells for 3 years or so and just recently in volume. How are they going to hold up over time? We will find out! You can easily keep up with the A123 news too. Set up Google “Alerts” and they send an Email with links to any news that is published. Neat!

Like a lot of us, my eyes still glaze over when I read about brushless electric motor specifications. Maybe we can talk Tai into trying to clarify the situation. He seems to have a pretty good understanding. First there’s the motor brand name, then the in-house part number. Does its number have any relationship to its abilities? Like a “40″ alcohol motor is always a .40 Cubic Inch. Or a “40″ gasoline motor is Cubic Centimeters.

By the way, converting CI to CC in easy. A standard common size fuel motor is a .61 CI – or 10 CC. So a 40 CC motor is .61 times 40 or 2.44 CI. So the next time you hear that a new model is running a gas “75″, multiply in your head times .61 for a conversion to Inches. Easy, right? I’ll have the answer next month – I hope!

Actually I would round off the numbers. .61 to 6 and 75 to 7. Six times seven = about 4.2CI rounded off! Close enough but if you are pickie, add 6 more times the remaining 5 from rounding off. Six times Five = 30 but we left off a decimal before the 6. Stick it in and we have 3. Plus the 42. 75 CC = 4.5CI! Ummm. I forgot the .1! Buy a calculator!

73 (Best Regards)
Ken Meade WA6IVD

I hope you made the June meeting; the 12 inch to the foot AT-6 was great. Stuart McAfee landed and taxied up to the Administration Building at the airport at 6:15 PM. We got a real close up look at that bird. Frank Walther who had won the ride in the AT-6 was there in his orange shirt ready to fly. Stu explained to Frank how to get out if they had any trouble, put him in the parachute and the seat belts. The big radial engine came to life and they were off to the end of the runway. That engine has its own sound and it doesn’t sound like any flat 6. They were gone for a 45 min. flight.

Frank said it was great with some easy aerobatics, and he got to take the stick and fly it. When they got back to the airport Frank was one big smile. Stu was not able to stay for the club meeting as a guest speaker. He wanted to get back on the ground at Van Nuys before it got dark. I think we can get Stu to come to a club meeting and tell us more about the AT-6. Thank you to Lee Von Der Hey for making this flight possible.

We have signed the contract with the Paving Co. and the runway resurfacing will take place on July 28th and 29th. The field will be closed for those 2 days to get the work completed. We can be back flying on Wednesday, July 30th. I know it is about time, I have been messing with this project too long. It is my fault; I did my best to have this project done in the correct way. I’m sure it will work out fine, and we will have a good runway for the next couple of years. We know that it will have to be done again in the future. Maybe by the next time we need to resurface it we can move it and get away from the rifle range. I guess we should start now finding a source or sources for money to keep our runway up, it doesn’t look like we can get much help from the park.

Did you get a chance to read the July Model Aviation magazine? Congrats, to our racing C.D. Lee Von Der Hey who was the big winner at the February Phoenix Q-40 classic. He was first place out of 74 pilots from 16 states and 7 countries. They flew 8 rounds in the two days, which is a lot of heats, like one every 5 min. all day long.

In the same magazine was a nice article by Jim Feldmann on flying from the water. If you have never tried this please join us at Legg Lake the second Monday of each month. Thank to Paul Moren’s effort we are able to fly on that Monday morning. Kenny has been watching the frequency control at the field, and there has not been an incident of interference. I know some people have to work on a Monday morning. If you can get a morning off come join us at the lake. The club has a plane on floats and you are welcome to come and fly it. There are a number of pilots at the lake that would be glad to help you get your feet wet. (No pun intended)

Thanks to Earl Haymond for donating two exhaust fans, and Larry Chapman, and Paul Carothers for installing them. The two wind turbines that were removed will be put in the second container. That should drop the temperature in the containers a number of degrees.

The race that is planned for Oct. 4th and 5th has been changed to the NMPRA Q-40 Championship race. It should attract pilots from all over the US and several countries. Lee thinks we could have as many as 70 pilots. This will be the biggest race that has been put on at Whittier Narrows in a long time. Please plan to set time aside to come out and help, we will need you. To run that contest correctly it takes 30 people working each day to make it run smooth. Lee said that he is going to plan a one day Q-500 race to replace the one lost by the Q-40 race. Keep the rubber side down on landing!