Hear Ye!

April, 2002
No. 419

From the President,
Warren Barrick

The March general membership meeting was moved to the classroom building because of the efforts being made by the Valley Forge Presbyterian Church to provide shelter for the homeless during the month. Church members and volunteers from Montgomery County brought homeless people to the church and provided them with overnight lodging, a meal and box lunches for the next day. The Signal Seekers contributed their "February" rent to the church to help in this effort. Normally, we don't pay rent in February as that is our banquet month and we don't use the facility. We salute the church for their efforts.

Many new members came to our meeting and quite a few older members came to avoid the late fee applied to our dues after the March meeting.

Vice President Pat Taggart and Chief Instructor Joe Pasquini spoke to the group about instruction and flight safety. Both emphasized our great safety record and the use of common sense and courtesy in all our activities at the field.

Russ O'Brien, Rob Caso, Rick Bruce and Miles Bowman contributed to Show-N-Tell. Russ displayed his latest landing gear innovation and a concealed spring-loaded "pull" for his flight box. Rob showed us again his prolific skills in an electric powered Ascender which weighed only 8 ounces and was covered in Monokote. Rick Bruce told us mostly everything about

his Stafford Models "Bird Dog", a very nice job and delightful presentation. Miles Bowman had "kit-bashed" a Decathlon. He is concerned about the C.G. The plane was beautifully "set-up" and painted with Rustoleum. Thanks, guys!

The Hear Ye is becoming an expensive proposition for the club. The BOG recommended earlier this year that computer owning members "download" the newsletter from Mike Myers website. The response to this request has been negligible. If you choose to do this inform Rudy Forst so that address labels will not be printed and the club can save postage and printing expenses.

To further save printing/mailing expenses I am ordering that former members who have not renewed their memberships by March 12th be stricken from the Hear Ye mailing list. The newsletter will only be sent to current, up to date dues paying members! We are doing our darndest to avoid an increase in annual dues!

Warm weather is fast approaching and we must all get ourselves prepared for another safe, fun-filled flying season. Many of use have been able to take advantage of the remarkably warm, practically snowless winter which is fast retreating. We probably have most of our gear in working order. To those of you who have not been out since Fall or who are just beginning a few words of advice:

1) Thoroughly check all of your equipment; batteries
of all kinds, engines and aircraft.
2) Check linkages in aircraft.
3) Range check your aircraft.
4) Check all controls before even attempting to
fly. Ask someone of experience to double
check for you.
5) Remember and follow the field rules about
flying the "pattern" and staying in the box.
6) Be courteous to our visitors, many of whom
are from distant places and countries.
7) Show respect to your fellow fliers.
8) Remember, above all, you are members of the
Valley Forge Signal Seekers and flying in the
finest facility in the United States as a guest
of Valley Forge National Historical Park.

Tapering Trailing Edges
( The following article was noted on the
newsgroup "rec.models.rc.air")

What is the best method of finishing the trailing edge of ailerons, elevators and rudders? Do you leave it square? Or do you sand it rounded or taper it to a knife edge?

"Tapering an edge to nothing (knife edge) is different than rounding the edge off. When you round the edge, the curve of the rounded bit is the problem. Air is not able to follow this curve (at speed) and so breaks away randomly and creates large volumes of turbulance (depending on the size of the control surface, speed, etc.). With a square trailing edge (TE) there is a cleaner break-away at the edge, so there is less turbulence. The same thing applies to a TE which is tapered to a knife edge. There is no sudden deviation in the path the air has to travel as it leaves the TE, so less turb-
ulence is the result. Of course, it's still not totally efficient, nothing is, and you will eventually end up with flutter if you go fast enough, but the speeds can be much higher if you have a 'tight' system, no hinge gap and a solid control system with no slop".

April 2002 Raffle Prizes
by Joe Yalove

1. CRAFTSMAN 7-1/4 INCH 13 AMP CIRCULAR SAW RATED AT THREE HP INCLUDING A CARRYING CASE. Great for cutting up the remnants of planes that go back to the tree.
2. PHILLIPS DIGITAL TUNER RADIO/CD WITH 30 PRESETS STATIONS. This unit is CD-RW compatible. Great radio for the shop.
3. FUN P-51 KIT. Quick building profile kit that gets you into the air quick. Nothing fancy but can be lots of fun.
4. COMBINATION PRIZE-Monocote woodpecker tool to prep balsa prior to covering and the Monocote Smart Stripe cut and knife gift pack, which includes a knife handle and extra blades.
5. SAE SCREWDRIVER SET IN A POUCH. All the small sizes we need in this hobby.

Club Calendar

Tuesday, April 2nd
Board of Governors Meeting at the Church,
7:00 PM.

Tuesday, April 9th
General membership meeting at the Church,
Summer schedule to be announced.
Speaker, Raffle, Show-N-Tell.

For Sale

Hanger 9, Ultra Stick 40 ARF..............$100
Balsa USA, Phaeton 90 Kit....................$80
Perry Pump, VP-20...............................$25

Please contact Alex (Uncle Al) Primas if you are
interested.

Words to Live by........

If it takes full throttle to taxi back to the pits, you forgot to put the gear down.

If the birds are walking, leave the model in the car.

It's a Four Cycle hobby: Buy, Build, Fly, Crash.

Hot metal looks like cold metal.

Sharp stabby-things rolling off the bench always land stabby-end down, usually on your foot.

Pre-taxi mantra:
Roll right, raise right (aileron).
Pull up, pop up (elevator).
Right turn, right side (rudder).
Push for noise

Hear Ye Newsletter Editor Taken Ill
By Warren Barrick

Marilyn Ayers, our Hear Ye Editor for the past fourteen months, is as of this writing in Chester County Hospital in West Chester, PA. She is recovering from an imbalance in her normal blood chemistry, which weakened and eventually hospitalized her. She is much improved and regretful that she was unable to carry out this months editorial chore.

Any articles sent to Marilyn by members for the April edition are still on her computer and we are sorry that they cannot be included in this abbreviated edition. If still viable they will be placed in the May newsletter.

Al Campana, a BOG member and former president as well as newsletter editor has agreed to put together the April edition. Thanks Al, we appreciate your help. Is this not a great club?

Safety Bulletins

Be careful if you own a Futaba 8 channel FF8 trans-mitter. There have been several reported cases of intermittant signal failures. It has been attributed to the pins that the RF module plugs into. The pins can break away from the circuit track and cause a loss of control. The mechanical flexing of the antenna going up and down is the main cause of this. Anyone who owns an FF8 should either take the back off and check the board for cracks around the pins or get a qualified person to check it for you

Mike Gretz of Sig Mfg. Co. offers the following safety note concerning Sig plastic motor mounts:

Never use sheet metal screws to to mount your engine.
Never drill and tap Sig plastic engine mounts for bolts.

The factory recommended and safest method is to:

1. Drill a clearance hole for the bolts.
2. Use bolts that are long enough to go all the way through the mount.
3. Use a nylon insert locknut on the bottom.

Feedback or comments to: Marilyn Ayres , HearYe editor
Michael Myers, Webmaster

Read another Hear Ye! | Back to Valley Forge Signal Seeker's Page | Back to Radio Control Airplanes