-REMINDER!!!-

If you have not paid your AMA or SCRC dues for 2005, please pay them ASAP! You cannot fly at our field without a current AMA card!  

-The March Meeting-

  The meeting was called to order on March 1st by Pres. Jim Rhodes at 7 pm. There were 21 members present. Our new member at the meeting was Charlie Bricker, who used to be in the club several years ago. Welcome back!

 1. Minutes - The minutes of the February 1, 2004 meeting were approved as written.

 2. Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer George Gurney reported paying $500 for rent on the flying field. He also reported $90 expenses associated with insurance and re-chartering the club. The report was approved.

 3. Old Business – there was no old business.

 4. New Business

George Gurney reported that he has filed the currency report for the 5th year for chartering the club. The club has received pins and patches that members can have to recognize that achievement.

 George Gurney announced that he is selling SCRC logos for $6. Take the SCRC logo to T’s Custom Printing at 116 S. Pugh St. (237-2726) and they will put it on your own shirt for $1, or you can buy a shirt there and they will put it on for free.

 5. Announcements

Jim Rhodes announced that he will be looking for input to schedule the summer activities at the April meeting. These activities include the club picnic, the picnic with another club, and the summer air show. He also asked Hugh Zinsmeister, our safety officer, to give a safety report for the year at the May meeting including any safety issues that exist.

 Al Niessner reported that Ben Pipenberg won the Technology Student Association Regional Contest at Park Forest Middle School. His plane has a 50cm wingspan, a 12cm wing chord, and weighs 7.5 grams. That is the maximum wingspan and chord allowed and he had to add 0.5 grams weight to get to the 8 gram minimum. His flight time was 1 minute, 37 seconds. Another club member, AJ Jaffe came in second with a time of 1 minute, 4 seconds. Congratulation to both Ben and AJ!

 Al Jones announced that he was traveling to Toledo, OH for a RC show. He will leave around 7am Friday 4/1/05 and get to the show about noon. He’s planning on returning Sunday. Anyone wishing to travel with him can contact him at 237-2284.

 6. Program – Will Coder had planned to give a soldering demonstration at this meeting, but was unable to attend. 

 7. Show and Tell

Daryl Allen showed a 30 year old plane that his father learned to fly on that was in remarkably good shape. It is a Senior Falcon from Carl Goldberg that Daryl has restored. He had to replace the nylon fittings, add new ailerons, straighten the wings (with steam!), and other minor repairs. It’s powered by an old HP 61 engine that he cleaned and is now running fine. We look forward to seeing it fly this year.

Here is a photo.

Jon Polay showed the HMS Halifax, a model sailing ship. The hull is double planked and he had to hand taper and bend every small plank to the proper position. The rigging also had remarkable detail and the ship looked very nice.

8. 50/50 Drawing

The 50-50 raffle was won by Ben Pipenberg, who split $21 with the club.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 pm.

-Other Interests-

  We in SCRC know each other as people who have a passion for R/C aircraft models, but we all have other hobbies and interests as well. Jon Polay’s sailing ship model is testimony to this fact. Jon also rides motorcycles, as do Woody Struble, Will Coder, Charlie Bricker, and myself. I own three bikes, including two vintage Hondas; a 1975 CB360, and a 1962 50cc Cub.

   Jeff Favuzza owns a rare “Smokey & the Bandit” edition Firebird Trans-Am (1978?), and has owned numerous Corvettes.

    Leo Lang showed me some photos of his N gauge model railroad layout. (If you think detailing R/C planes is tough, try working in 1/160^th scale!)

    Henry Loewen is a musician. I saw him playing tuba in the State College Municipal Band, oom-pah-ing his way through “The Stars and Stripes Forever”.

    Before I got into R/C, I built plastic model cars, and have built a few, and restored some that I still have from the 1960’s.

     We all love R/C, but I think it’s good to have a diversion now and then. Another plus is that some skills from other hobbies can be valuable to our R/C experience. For example, now that Jon Polay has planked the hull of that ship model, he could use the same technique on a compound curved model plane fuselage. How about a DC-3, Jon?

   I’m sure many of you have skills and hobbies that I don’t know about. Let me know about them, and I’ll continue this list in future newsletters.

-A Personal Note-

   I want to thank SCRC for the donation to Grace United Methodist Church in Centre Hall in memory of my mother, Polly Stitzer, who passed away on March 2. She was 89 years old, was admired by all who knew her, and was healthy and independent up to the last day of her life. I pray that I am that fortunate! Thanks to all of you.

    That’s it for now. Spring is here, even though it’s snowing as I write this. The snow will soon melt, and the flying season will begin! I’m ready!

 Sam Stitzer  814‑364‑9530

     samstitz@yahoo.com