The April Meeting

 Filling in for Chuck and Curt, Al Jones called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM on April 1^st.

 1.   The minutes from the March 4th meeting were approved.

 2.   The Treasurer’s report was read and approved. Expenditures included AMA club charter dues and rent for the flying field. Al Jones read a list of names, people who have been removed from the membership roster because of unpaid club dues for 2008. Al Niessner suggested that we do an e-mailing to these people to encourage them to re-join. Al Jones agreed to handle this.

 3.   Old business –

 ·         Woody Struble will reinforce our broken frequency board with channel iron. If this works, there will be no need to organize a work detail, thanks to Woody. He will advise the club president if the fix works.

 ·         Al Jones, Al Niessner and George Gurney reported on field search efforts. The Whitehall Road property for recreational development officially belongs to Ferguson Township now so we will pursue that opportunity this summer. Sometime in April, the committee will take a look at property owned by Joe King. This site is more isolated than the other ones along Route 64 and could be a good location for us. George made plans to meet with a man from a Baptist Church which owns property near Route 322 and Mt. Nittany Boulevard. Al Niessner showed us an aerial view of this site in Boalsburg. It may be too close to homes and businesses but Al and George will check into it.

 ·         Al Jones still has the iron-on SCRC shirt patches available for $6.00 each.

4.   New Business –

 ·         The Wings of Williamsport R/C club will host a Fun Fly on Saturday & Sunday,May 17th & 18th. Al Niessner has posted a notice with details for this event on the SCRC website.

 ·         The U.S. Scale Team is holding a fund-raising raffle. There are 50 prizes still available. If you are interested in taking a chance and supporting the team, please contact Al.

 ·         We received a brochure from Horizon Hobbies. They are promoting a special offer on Spektrum and JR DSM radios. Buyers can get up to two free receivers. For details and a listing of eligible products, here is the link:

http://www.spektrumrc.com/giveaway/?utm_source=rcg&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=rcu_sw&utm_content=GreatDSMSwitchover

 ·         We discussed volunteering for the air show committee but due to low attendance, we decided to wait until the May meeting.

 ·         Daryl Allen motioned to discontinue collecting and saving the signed ticket stubs from the monthly 50/50 drawings. He believes that the stubs would be useful only if members were not required to be present to win banquet door prizes. Motion carried. As discussed, by the next winter banquet, we should devise a different way to distribute the door prizes, perhaps a method that includes only the names of banquet attendees. Other than that, the post-meeting monthly 50/50 drawings will remain the same.

 The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM.

 5.   Programs –

      ·         Al Niessner showed pictures of a Russian air show, mostly action shots of full-scale jet aircraft. There were some great shots of hair-raising maneuvers. Compared to the USA, they get away with a lot more in the way of safety precautions, even if means putting the crowd in peril. 

·         Al Jones gave a presentation, which included a PowerPoint slide show, on the Basics of Aerodynamics. Al dispelled some myths and explained theories and equations. A very informative program, expertly done and well-appreciated by everyone in attendance.

 6.   Show and Tell –

 ·         George Gurney showed his new Parkzone Cessna, an electric-powered model that is very light (18 grams!) and small enough to be flown indoors. It features rudder, elevator and throttle control.

 ·         Al Niessner brought along his electric ducted fan jet model and revved it up to demonstrate its impressive amount of thrust. He also showed his Hobby Lobby Miss 2, an electric-powered trainer type model.

 ·         Daryl Allen displayed his Sig Kadet LT-40. Modifications include dual aileron servos instead of torque rods, bolt-on wing instead of rubber bands, tail-dragger gear, a slightly larger rudder and decreased dihedral. At the February meeting, the nearly framed-up kit and a new ST45 engine were donated by Jenny Edmonson in memory of her late husband, Seth, with the wish that someone would complete the model and fly it. Pictures of the finished model were sent to Jenny. She and her two young sons are anxious to see the LT-40 fly before they move away in June.

Here is Daryl’s Kadet with faux military markings. Nice!

 

 John Werner won the 50-50 drawing, splitting $12.00 with the club.

Aerotowing Video

Here’s a link to a neat video shot by some of my son Mike’s fellow club members in Lancaster County. They used an electric powered Senior Telemaster to tow up a two meter glider. There are views from both the glider and tow plane. Aerotowing with models must be very difficult to do, but these guys seem to have no trouble getting good tows and great flights!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH0eX_49lPI

 

That’s all for now. Let’s fly!

Sam Stitzer  814‑364‑9530

samstitz@yahoo.com