Notice:

The January meeting is a week later than usual, since the first Tuesday of January is New Year’s Day! Happy 2008!

The December Meeting

The Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM. No visitors, guests or new members were in attendance.

   1. The minutes from the November 6th meeting were approved.

   2. Al Jones read the Treasurer’s report which was approved by membership. For those wishing to pay, club dues for 2008 and payment for the winter banquet were accepted.

   3. Old business –

·         From the responses received so far, Curt tallied up the favorite dinner selections for the banquet. The baked ham and the stuffed chicken breast ($17.50) will be available, as well as the prime rib for $19.50 per plate. The responses seem to favor carrot cake as our desert of choice. To break a tie, we voted and the garlic smashed potatoes beat the baked potatoes by a landslide. Curt moved to set the cocktail hour at 6:00 and dinner at 7:00 on the 19th of January. Motion carried.

·         Al Jones updated us on the progress of the field search committee. A Ferguson township meeting with the zoning board took place and the proposal to designate new recreational lands was turned down because the law states that no parks are to be larger than ten acres. This means that is it now up to the township to decide whether or not to pursue a law change. Al also advised that there is interest from the owners of the Penn’s Cave property in having SCRC move to that location. Due to the lack of possible new sites, this may be worth a closer look. The drawback is that this land is also close to an airport. Henry Margusity will check into a possible site near his home and Al asked all members to please keep their eyes and ears open for any other opportunities.

   4.  New Business –

 ·         Curt read the slate of officers:

Chuck Paulson (president)

 

Curt Buergin (vice-president)

 

Al Jones (treasurer)

 

Daryl Allen (secretary)

 

Sam Stitzer (newsletter editor)

      As there were no new nominations for 2008 offices, a motion was made to accept the slate as is.

      Motion carried.

·         Curt brought up the subject of banquet door prizes and this was discussed by the members. Al Jones made a motion to appropriate $200 from the treasury to purchase prizes and to also encourage donations from club members. Motion carried.

·         Al Jones presented Nathaniel Rice with a new, blue SCRC name tag designating him as one of the club’s flight instructors. Congratulations, Nathaniel!

·         Curt reminded us that there are books still available for sale after the meeting. These are the books that Diana Coder donated at the last meeting.

·         Show and Tell

·         Henry Margusity showed a model of a VT13 Voltaire that he recently completed. This plane was framed-up when he got it from Woody and Henry applied the attractive military colors in Ultracote. It features a K&B .61 glow engine, remote needle valve and remote glow connector so no cutting of the radial cowling was required. Sleek-looking bird, Henry!

·         Nathaniel Rice brought his new Helicopter–a Miniature Aircraft Stratus 90. This is a state-of-the-art model with many composite parts. It features an O.S. 91 engine, all digital servos and a personalized custom paint job. He says that it is fast and a great performer. It sure looks like its worthy of Nathaniel’s capabilities!

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM and Daryl Allen won the 50-50 drawing, splitting $18.00 with the club.

In the Bleak Midwinter

  Well, another year has flown by! Winter is setting in and the flying season is done. For those who like to build their models instead of buying ARF’s, this is the time to get started. There’s no better way to pass the time on a long winter night (Hmmm, let me think about that one!).

  This is also a good time to look over the planes you flew all last summer. Look for damage like holes in the covering, loose hinges, bent landing gear, etc. There’s no hurry to get the plane back in the air this time of year, so take the time to fix the damage right! 

   You might even want to give your old plane a makeover this winter. Maybe you’ve patched the covering many times and it’s looking a little shabby. This would be a good time to apply some new covering – maybe a whole new color scheme. While you have the covering off, look for any damage. A couple years ago, I recovered an old wing to use on a new electric glider and found a cracked spar and a loose dihedral joiner! That would have caused a catastrophic wing failure! The repair was easy while the wing was uncovered.

  Equipment upgrades can be done now, too. Santa might bring you that new radio or engine you’ve wanted, and you can install it in the old bird this winter!

    Another winter activity is to turn on your radio and do some “Hangar Flying”. Do some pretend flying to exercise your servos and drain the radio batteries, then charge them up again. This keeps them in shape so you won’t get a nasty failure in the spring. Do this about once a month, at least.

    If you have a computer flight simulator, the winter is a good time to practice flying to keep your skills sharp for next spring, and to relieve the cabin fever that often happens! Try that aerobatic maneuver you were afraid to do last summer, and perfect it on the simulator. Then you can amaze us all at the field in the spring!

   The final option is to keep flying through the winter. There will be some winter days that will be perfect for flying with skis, or even floats on snow. A plane taking off on skis with a cloud of snow blowing in the propwash is a sight to behold, and it’s fun!

  So let’s not hibernate this winter! Spring will be here before you know it!

Dues and Don’ts

Don’t forget to pay your 2008 SCRC dues - $50 this year

Don’t forget to pay your Winter Banquet fee. The banquet is January 19^th at the Old Fort American Legion Hall.  There will be good food and door prizes!

 

That’s all for now. I wish you all a joyous holiday season!

 

Sam Stitzer  814‑364‑9530

samstitz@yahoo.com