New SFM Members

The Scale Flyers has three new members who landed and contributed to the last meeting.  They are;

Ahmed Bassal, a scratch-builder of scale models and sailplanes.  Ahmed immigrated to the USA in 2007 from Egypt.  “I now have a man cave.”  He started his modeling career in free-flight and placed 1st and 2nd in Egyptian national competition in 1986 and 1987, then changed to RC scale in 1990 when RC became available in Egypt.  Ahmed is a very talented and innovative designer and scratch-builder but he says, “I can build them, but I can’t fly them.

Pedro Restrepo, is a native of Columbia.  When he was a kid, “there were no kits in Columbia, but lots of balsa wood.”   So he grew up on CL.  He scratch-built a Boeing 707 in high school.

Brandon Archer,won 2nd place at Watts Over Owatonna this year with his detailed Corsair.  He is a rep for plastics.  He has offered his knowledge of styrene, foam, and other plastics.

Don Dreskovich, has a talent for detailing ARFs.  Welcome aboard, gentlemen!

Don Dreskovich presented his Top Flite FW190 ARF.  It was purchased via RC Universe from its builder in Colorado.  Currently has 7 flights flown by Dan Stahn.  DLE 55RA.  Don described adding vinyl rivets, hatches and a sliding canopy from IFLYTAILIES.

Cockpit detail and other details were added from photos taken at an airshow.   A heat shield was added between the DLE 55’s carburetor and exhaust to prevent excess heat in the carburetor.

Our ever creative Joe Niedermayr showed his scratch-built original Dornier 217K.  Custom vacuum-formed cabin by Keith Sparks at Park Flyer Plastics www.ParkFyerPlastics.com from Joe’s plugs in upper and lower halves.  Electric powered at 150 watts/lb. “String and spring” retracts - single servo in the fuselage pulls them up via a string, spring lowers them.  Nacelles are modified stock Park Flyer nacelles.  Joe reshaped the spinners by adding filler and sanding.

The plane would nearly stop on final when power was shut off-the drag of the stopped props was too much.  The problem was solved by setting the minimum RPM to a slowly rotating idle.  The plane flew so well that Joe is designing a larger version.

New R/C Innovation ... Wow!

I'm confident there's sexier technology being used by our armed services ... but it can't be shared yet.  To date, the "X-47B " is the most sophisticated Unmanned Combat Air System ... this 1st first flight must have had a huge Pucker Factor!

Dick Steine’s, Kondor Model Products “Val” ARF weighs 15 lbs, G26 engine, 80” span.  Dick added a pilot figure and maybe will had cockpit detail.  No ballast required to balance.  The Chino air museum has a flyable Val.  It is a big as a P-47.

Ahmed Bassal’s fifth-scale Tucano was scratch built by Ahmed after a Brazilian design. The all-composite airplane required 18 molds, including the wing.  The structure is HRV honeycomb and fiberglass.  The nose is carbon fiber. Canopy is ELET 0.05” plastic which Ahmed says form more easily than polycarbonate.

Air-up and spring-down retracts proved to be unreliable. The down-locks didn’t always actuate. Air-operated door cylinders move too quickly, so he has replaced them with Hobby King Turnigy electric door actuators.

The narrow nose requires a 4-inch prop extension. Vibration was expected so the initial flights were flown with an onboard video camera monitoring the prop shaft.It revealed severe sympathetic vibration at 40-50% throttle.  The solution is to transition quickly thru this throttle position. 

Ahmed's Tucano 3rd Flight

Pedro Restrepo showed his latest vacuum-forming box.  He recommends butyrate plastic heated in a 350 degree oven until it sags.  His canopy plug was carved pine covered with smooth Klass Kote primer.  Pedro asked the group several questions which led to a group discussion-how to fix delaminating wing skins, choice of molding material, etc..

Brandon Archer (brandonarcher83@gmail.com) promised to bring his award winning Corsair to the next meeting.

Meanwhile he showed how to cover a foam ARF with thin styrene using his P-47 as an example. Apply and roll while applying CA.  Don’t use kicker because it will melt the foam.  Use small panels on compound curves. Sometimes apply heat.  If wrinkles appear, sand smooth and apply filler.  Rivets can be installed with the tip of a solder iron, then sanded to uniformity.  He showed how to use Glad Press‘n Seal for panels and masking.

Minnesota Aviation Writers

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