Conference vmszoo::rc

    
    
    		I was pleased to get a LEGO toy plane with a note attached.
    My lady ordered me a  Walt Mocha 1/4 FLYBABY for Christmas.  However
    they aren't shipping them yet.  I should have mine by the end of Jan.
    That means that I have to get the Aurora finished so I can focus 100%
    on getting the flybaby build.  I've taked to Walt before about this
    kit.  It was on my Christmas list but I know I'll have to do some
    re-engineering when the kit arrives.  He's done w few things to  make
    the plane more manufacturable that take away from it's scale likes. 
    The outline is scale but he's raised the wing into the fuse by about
    1/2" in order to get the TE of the wing to enter the fuse.  On a real
    flybaby the TE of the wing hangs belos the fuse bottom.  The last rib
    bay is then raised so that the TE ends up in the fuse.  just the TE is
    changed by using a slightlt modified root rib.  I'll lower the wing and
    change the root rib to be scale.  Also I'm going to make the wing so
    that it's three pieces.  The center section that gets bolted to the
    fuse and the two wing panels that will be plug in's to the center
    section.  Thia will make transportation easier for me.  Other than that 
    I'll be using 1/4" stick stock on the tail feathers. Walt uses 3/8"
    !/4" stock is scale for a 1/4 scale Flybaby as the original was made
    from 1" spruce and plywood with the LE sheeted with .016 aluminum.
    These will be installed as plug in like the original with functional
    struts. I'm opting for a PA11 cowl that fiberglas masters makes.  This
    will house the engine without those exposed cylinders.
    
    The question is power.  The kit is supposed to built to 12-15 lbs.
    I'm looking at using my OS108 or possibly buying another engine. 
    Perhaps the Moki 150 which is 24 cc/1.5 Cu.inches, or a tartan super
    single that is 1.3 Cu.inches or the SuperTiger 2500.  We'll see?
    
    
    
    							Tom

Besides the usual stuff you get on Christmas like underwear and socks, I did
manage to get a couple of RC related items.

First was money toward a new TX module and receiver for the X347. That will get
me set up for the NATS on a pattern frequency.

Second was a quick field charger by Litco systems. They advertise in RCM. I've
already tested it out once and it's neat. Basically it's a fast charger for
your TX and RX batteries.

This one starts off the charge at the 800 mah rate, and then pulses between
800 and 50 mah as the battery pack nears full charge. Once the pack is fully
charged, it stay's at the 50 mah (trickle) rate until you take it off. It plugs
into the cars cig. lighter and works with the engine on or off. I tested it
Saturday on a rx pack that had about an hours flight time on it, and hadn't
been on a charger for a month. It was a solid 5.5 volts in 17 minutes. It will
typically charge a flat 550 ma pack in 30 minutes.

So, the next time I get to the field and find that I left the TX on the night
before, I'll through it on the charger and be ready to go in 30 minutes. OR,
the next time I'm out glider guiding and catch those two 1 hour thermals right
in a row, I'll hook up the TX and RX to the charger and in 30 minutes, be
ready for the next two 1 hour flights. 8^) OR, the next time the weather man
says it's going to be lousy tomorrow so I don't bother putting anything on
charge, and then it turns out to be a great day, no problem. Hook everything
up on the way to the field and by the time I'm there, everythings ready to go.
OR, when it's a quite day at the field and I've run my packs down and it's only
2 in the afternoon, I just take a 30 minute break and.........

Can you tell I'm really getting off on this charger???????? It's one of those
things where now that I have it, I can't imagine why I didn't have one along
time ago.

So how did other's make out?????????


Steve

    My youngest said she wanted to get me a nice plane for Christmas back
    in November so I gave my wife the NSP catalog. She hates making those
    calls especially when she knows nothing about what she's ordering. I
    ended up getting an Alcyone which is an unlimited class glider from
    Culpepper models. It has a Chup-like built up fuselage but they're
    coming out with a Fiberglass one which owners will be able to upgrade
    to for about the price difference in kits. I should have the kit by the
    January DECRCM meeting and will bring it for show and tell. (and for my
    birthday in June... the Nats)
    
    My son got me a 19" plastic tool box to replace the cardboard box I've
    been dragging to glider contests (a lift out tray for tools and plenty
    of room underneath) I also picked up an RCD Micro 5ch Rx for my hand
    launch gliders. As an after Xmas gift I got a gallon set of EnviroTex
    Lite epoxy for bagging wings (found on sale for $20 8^)
    
    My Christmas present to myself was getting my Panic back in flying
    shape so I have a fun plane to pour glow fuel through.

    Cordless phone.
    
    Set of kitchen knives.
    
    T-shirt from Vermont with a picture of a cow.
    
    Enough money to buy a couple of good servoes. (had ya worried, didn't
    I)
    
    Terry

    Cordless phone gives you freedom in the shop when you're order4ing
    those new servos.
    
    Ginzu razor saws??
    
    A quote from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes to mind. Goes
    like h*ll, turns like a cow...
    
    Well at least this one is easy to justify 8^)

    
    I had an excellent Xmas this year. I got 60" span P-39 Aircobra sport
    scale airplane, a K&B .65 to match, an OS .10 for my Sig Klipper, an
    electric fuel pump, 2 7X4 propellers, one engine mount and two airplane
    encyclopedias one with three views of each airplane and the other
    relating the airplane history from 1900 to 1991, the history book of
    the F-86 Sabre and another one for the Harrier and finally a small
    plastic model of the Messerchmith 262.
    
    So this year I got spoiled and I love it.
    
    Jacques
    

I almost got a Troy-Bilt Garden Tiller.

Fortunately, my mom hadn't ordered it yet so I talked her into buying me a 
much cheaper airplane kit instead (you have to reliaze my garden is just a
10 x 6 plot so a tiller is definitely over kill).

I marked up the latest Tower flyer with all of the planes I might be interested
in and handed it to her with instructions to pick out the plane she liked. She 
ended up ordering A Decathalon from Great Planes and the 40 sized Mustang from 
Dynaflight.
  
My wife got me a 8 1/2" Craftsman table saw and a F14 free flight glider.  

    Although it technically was not a christmas present(my birthday was
    12/22/91) I received a JR 341 servo.  IT is very nice and has found
    a home in the left wing of my Multiplex Fiesta.  It's mate is on
    backorder.
    
                                                         Regards,
    
                                                         Jim

    I did'nt get any "RC" specific stuff, but I did get...
    
    "The mother of all shop vacs" from my mother-in-law.  She went into
    Sears and bought the biggest one she could find.  This thing will
    pickup a small child if they get to close. ;-)  I love my
    mother-in-law!  It'll be great for cleaning up the hobby room.
    
    I got some other nice gifts, but nothing directly for the planes.  So I
    treated myself the day after Christmas and bought an 8" drill press.
    
    I'd say it was a good Christmas.
    
    Chris

Gee - my favorite kind of note.

A Steve Schommer(sp) HLG kit.  Custom made fiberglass fuse
and foam wing cores with the wing rod/spar installed and
aligned.  Unfortunately the mail man crushed the end of the
box and that did bad things to the tail - but I have an
exchange trip scheduled with Steve to get a new replacement.

An Atari Lynx with a "Warbirds" game.  I got my son in law
one also so we can cable them together and I can dog fight
with him - great fun.  If you haven't seen one of these yet
it is like a portable Nintendo with sound and color.

Some spiffy coffee mugs with F14, FA18, Harrier, and A6's
on them.  

Two Harrier T-shirts.

A squadron signals book on US Submarines.

A Christmas ornament of the star ship Enterprise - with
amazing high quality details and "lights".

Two (one too many) RC calendars.

Gosh I love Christmas!

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
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Santa was also good to me...

Disguised as my wife he presented me with a Unionville Hobbies giant scale
DHC-2 Beaver. This is an 96" wingspan 1/6th scale all balsa built-up with a
fiberglass cowl. Very nice kit! All parts are machine cut and stamped with
the assembly to which they apply. There are 3 sheets of rolled plans and a
fairly good instruction manual. The catalog that came with it said that
all of their DeHavilland designs came from factory prints.

The plane itself is 5 channels (elevator, rudder, throttle, aerilons and
flaps). It is meant for a .60-.90 2C or a .70-1.20 4C. I plan on putting
in OS .91 in it. I've had good luck with this engine. This kit is supposed
to be a marvel at STOL.

Unionville Hobbies is a Canadian company that prides itself on putting out
top quality kits. Almost their entire line consists of what they call
the Candian Heritage Series. Their giant scale planes include a 85 1/2"
Norduyn Norseman, a 96" DHC-2 Beaver, A 96" DH2-C Turbo Beaver, a 96"
DH Otter (this looks like a neato kit with 6-channels including fore-flaps
but it costs big $$), and a 84" J-2 Cub. All of their kits can use landing
gear or floats. They have the float setup in the plans for the Beaver.
They also have a line of smaller semi-scale planes - Beaver, Norseman, Tiger
Moth, Otter, Fleet Finch and an Electric Beaver. If anybody needs to see
a catalog send me mail and I'll try an copy it.

My wife ordered this kit from Dr. Hobby in Scarborogh, Ontario. It took
2 weeks to get here and we got nailed by US Customs for 5% (this seems to
be a 50/50 thing - either you pay 5% or nothing - guess it all depends
on who inspects it).  The savings in the price due to lower Canadian dollar
was eaten up in shipping and customs.

I guess I'll start working on it right after I finish my....

        1/3rd scale Fly Baby
        1/4   scale J3 cub
        and
            whatever else is still partially completed

    
    Well since I NOW believe in good ol' Saint Nick I'll tell you what
    I received.
    
    An ACE 4-120 Bipe and an O.S. 120  4 cycle.  (Santa must be rich
    this year.)  This plane will be finished in time for a big quarter
    scale meet in Greenville, S.C. in May.  I'll also be taking my
    ACE Big Bingo powered by a ST 2500.  Plane has 23 flights on it
    and runs fantastic.  One note: the plane is tail heavy and requires
    lead weight in nose.  Plane should weigh around 15-16 pounds.
    
    

    
    		I forgot to mention a beautiful calandar I got 
    for Christmas.  Eash month has a picture of a different fighter
    aricraft from 1914 -1945.  It also includes a picture of the
    pilot who fly the specific aircraft pictures and a small 
    commentary.
    		It's now hanging in my office.  You can't miss it.
    
    
    						Tom

    I asked Santa for a JR X-347, and she...er, he, complied.  However, the
    frequency I want (ch 16) was not in stock and had to be ordered.  I got
    a real story that the next shipment coming to America could not be
    pinned down, so the delivery date could not be determined.  I'm still
    waiting, and don't have any idea when I will see it.  BTW, I ordered
    from Hobbies Plus in Nashua for a price of $369.95 for the FM version
    with 517 ball bearing servos.
    
    So, Christmas was somewhat a bitter-sweet experience since I still
    don't have my new radio, but my anticipation grows bigger day by day,
    and I can't wait to get my hands on it and use it.
    
    Current plans are to use it for the Skytiger, which is flying now, the
    Super Aeromaster I'm almost finished building, and the Gremlin that
    arrived last week from RC Technologies and which will get built this
    month.  My biggest decision on the Gremlin is whether to build it with
    the very effective mechanical mixer I've seen in several of them, or
    just build it the regular way and do the mixing in the X-347.  Any
    thoughts on this?  Sorry, this question should really be in the Gremlin
    note.
                                        
    Regards,
    Joe  

    As to where to mix, Joe, that all depends on how long you can wait...
    
    If you can wait until your 347 arrives, then by all means do the mixing
    in the radio.  If you want to get the Gremlin up flying sooner, then
    you have to do the mechanical mixing..
    
    Also add into it that Gramlin fuses do tend to break easier during the
    cold, winter months...  I'd say wait for the 347 for awhile....
    
    cheers,
    jeff
    

    I got $205. cash from all of my Santas this year for R/C use.  Looks
    like I'll be ordering a ST-3000 real soon...  :-)

    I'm currently planning on scratch building a Prime Cut (probably
    modified to be lighter...) but I may change my mind (again) and
    build a Cub instead.

                                - Dan M.

    I had just ONE entry on my list for Santa to bring
    
    My   W I F E!!!
    
    But I guess the US Government's bureaucra'z'y was too much for
    St.Nicholas to handle.
    
    Maybe by Christmas of 1992 ??
    
    ajai