Indoor Flying with the O.F.F.C.

The lighter side of things
kittyfritters
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Indoor Flying with the O.F.F.C.

Postby kittyfritters » Thu May 25, 2017 7:17 pm

The Old Farts Flying Club meets every Wednesday morning at the Stonehurst Recreation Center gym, 9901 Dronfield Avenue, Sun Valley, California, for a club meeting and indoor flying session. There is a contest on the last meeting of the month. Spectators, prospective members, and desperate fliers are welcome.

This year's contest schedule is:

Jan 28 P-18 (postponed to Feb 01 per CD)
Feb 22 Minnow R.O.G.
Mar 29 Mini-Stick
Apr 26 Catapult Glider
May 31 No-Cal Pusher
Jun 14 Spot Landing and Predicted Time Flight (Outdoors)
Jun 28 Legal Eagle
Jul 26 Penny Plane
Aug 30 Peanut Scale
Sep 27 Embryo
Oct 25 One Design
Nov 29 Bostonian
Dec 27 R.O.G. Unlimited

Note: CDs may make modifications to established rules for a given contest. These are usually announced at the first meeting of the month.

Judging by what was being test flown and trimmed at the O.F.F.C. session yesterday the No-Cal Pusher contest, next Wednesday (5/31), will be a very interesting contest. There will be at least three Hansa Jets, three F7U Cutlass, a J7W Shinden, a Vari-Viggen, and an early bird canard that I have not been able to identify. (Of course, I could have asked.) Of nothing interrupts my building this weekend (Like, when does that ever happen?) I will have either an A7 Corsair II or a J37 Viggen to to along with my Cutlass.

If anyone will be in the Southern California area next Wednesday morning you are welcome to drop by Stonehurst Recreation Center. The meeting is at 9:00 AM, and the contest starts at 10.

Howard
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kittyfritters
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Re: Indoor Flying with the O.F.F.C.

Postby kittyfritters » Thu Jun 08, 2017 8:55 pm

The No-Cal Pusher contest was held last week. Someone made the comment that for a local club it was really amazing to have nine contestants show up for an "oddball" contest on a weekday morning. Timing was the best two of five attempts.

The results were:

1. Jim Lueken Bleriot V 119.9 seconds
2. Joe Whiting JW7 Shinden 89.1
3. Bill Watson Vari-Viggen 87.1
4. Don Smith Hansa Jet 82.5
5. Dave Gee So8000 Narval 72.0
6. Don Butman Hansa Jet 61.3
7. Howard Littman F7U Cutlass 57.9
8. Stan Christopher F7U Cutlass 23.3 (One Flight)
9. Lowell Norenberg (Didn't see it) N/A

The winning Bleriot was the smallest entry, more peanut size than No-Cal. The model was much more successful than the real airplane which only flew for about 20 feet in 1907, although it was the first Bleriot aircraft to actually get off the ground.

Joe Whiting had been carefully trimming the Shinden for some time and it flew flawlessly.

Bill Watson's Vari-Viggen was one of his usual flawless constructions and flew smoothly.

The Hansa Jets usually fly well. Don Butman, who bristles at the rules requiring tissue covering (He does gorgeous work with Microlite.) won with his the previous time this contest was held.

Dave Gee's Narval was untested and, as Dave had to go to an appointment, it was trimmed and proxy flown by Will Woods.

My Cutlass was a new one built from reject parts (I save parts sheets the have flaws that I would not send to a customer but, are otherwise OK to built with, for my own use.) and was also untested. I got it trimmed out then had the motor stick rip out while winding. (Yes, I didn't use enough glue at just the wrong place.) I stuck it back together with CA and Scotch tape and tried to re-trim it. It needed more rubber to climb but I put in a little too much and had it skimming the ceiling, with all the attendant obstacles and most of my flights ended with impacts with the lights although much to everyone's surprise it recovered. I trimmed it properly at yesterday's meeting. (So what?)

Stan was having some trouble trimming his to circle in the room and crashed it beyond repair at the site.

I didn't see Lowell come in so I don't know what happened to his model.

Anyway, it was a good contest. Sorry, I was too busy putting my model back together to get any pictures. I will post some as I get them from other members.

There are two contests this month Spot Landing/Predicted Time and Legal Eagle. The first is outdoors next week and the flying starts at 8:00 AM to take advantage of the predicted (Hoped for!) dead air.

Spot Landing/Predicted Time Rules

1. Any rubber powered model that is capable of taking off from a card table.
2. Minimum flight on each task is 15 seconds
3. Task one: Predict your flight time from lift off to touch down BEFORE launching the model. The timer will write it down then you can launch. Timing is to the nearest 1/10 second.
4. Task two: Land closest to the flag planted in the middle of the field. A tape measure is attached to the flagpole and is used to measure to the closest part of the model.
5. There are 5 attempts allowed for each task.
6. Both tasks can be accomplished on the same flight.
7. The contestant may move the card table to any position on the field before launching the model.

This is really a lot of fun. One year I predicted a 34 second flight, flew 34.4 seconds and finished third!

The Legal Eagle contest is on the 28th and is standard Legal Eagle structural rules with 5 R.O.G. flights allowed.

Meeting at 9:00 AM and flying starts at 10:00. If you can make it, please, join us.
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kittyfritters
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Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:13 pm

Re: Indoor Flying with the O.F.F.C.

Postby kittyfritters » Fri Jun 16, 2017 7:54 pm

I've posted the group photo, that I promised, from the No-Cal Pusher contest last month. Quality could be better, it's a scan of a printed photo but, you get the idea.

No-Cal-Pusher_2017.jpg
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The Spot Landing/Predicted Time contest went off this morning. Weather was beautiful and the wind didn't blow the contest out till about 10:30. It was quite well attended. (All 18 donuts disappeared.) Some unusual models were flown including an obscure Comet kit called the Scorpion, a all balsa ROG that was actually designed for the contest, a Bostonian, a helicopter, and my Crash Box Special (or Junkyard Dog, if you prefer).

The results were:

Spot Landing

1. Stan Christopher 4'4"" from the flag
2. Dave Gee 6'11"
3. Bill Watson 11'6"
4. John Buntin 32'5'
5. Barry Dougherty 42'5"

No one else got close enough to measure with the 50 foot tape.

Predicted Time

1. Dave Gee 0.1 seconds off predicted flight time
2. Don Butman 0.1 Tie broken by times on next best flights.
3. Howard Littman 0.6
4. Stan Christopher 1.3
5. Barry Dougherty 1.7
6. Don Martin 1.7 Tie broken by times on next best flights.
7. Bill Watson 1.8
8. Wynn Hammer 4.5
9. John Buntin 7.1

There were some other models flown but some were damaged beyond repair before getting an official flight.

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Here is a video of Dave Gee's Comet Scorpion flying at the contest.

[url]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8vBzUx ... e=youtu.be[/url]

My personal effort was a bit of a saga. I broke the motor stick on the Crash Box Special just after take off on five attempts! Thinking I should give up on that one I asked Dave if he had any slip togethers so that at least I could get an official flight. He gave me a Guillow's Jetstream. On it's first take off it crashed breaking the prop in half. He gave me another Guillow's red prop. I put it on and wound the model. Just I got it wound (F.A.I. Tan, not the "blue band") the freewheel notch broke off the prop. So, I glued the Crash Box Special back together one more time, wound it up and, just as I took the winder off the motor the motor broke. I made another motor and got two flights on the board before the contest ended. Let's just say it was not my best day! :roll:

In two weeks Legal Eagle. Come join the fun!
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kittyfritters
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Re: Indoor Flying with the O.F.F.C.

Postby kittyfritters » Fri Jun 30, 2017 9:33 pm

The Legal Eagle contest was on Wednesday the 26th. It went smoothly but to say it went well would be overstating the case. There were eight entrants but only four of them were able to get official flights. All flights were ROG and a minimum of 20 seconds was required for an official flight. Each contestant had six attempts and the time was the best three of six.

The problem was that we had old guys flying old airplanes. Light flying models only last so long. When you keep them for years they acquire damage and repairs which adds weight and changes the trim.. A winning model from a few years back might have trim problems now that keep it from making the official flight minimum. Example was Bill Watson who built a new model for the contest (his first Legal Eagle) and ran away with it.

The results were:

Bill Watson 290.0 seconds
Joe Whiting 166.8
Don Butman 117.0
Stan Christopher 114.0

No one else got an official flight.

Yes, I know I said I was going to have my new One Night In Jail in the contest, but I got so involved with other things that I didn't finish it in time and I destroyed the old one when I tried to put it on a diet. So, I did some timing and took pictures.

Here is the group picture from the end of the contest and a link to a video of Bill Watson flying his winning model for the camera after his official flights. The flight was intended to be short enough for my old cell phone to transmit to my computer but it was still too long.

[url]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbtuZR6REUM[/url]
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kittyfritters
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Re: Indoor Flying with the O.F.F.C.

Postby kittyfritters » Thu Jul 27, 2017 7:48 pm

Last Wednesday, July 26th, was the Penny Plane contest.

I'll have to admit that Penny Plane is not my thing, I don't build that light. Also, the contest can be a bit tedious since the flights and the prep between them can take some time. Once again, it proved that these extremely light models are difficult to store for any length of time. Several models could not complete the full number of attempted flights due to accumulated damage.

Bill Watson built a new one for the contest and walked away with it. He said that he was going to get four minute flights in that room and he did. Also, there was a first, for me anyway, in this kind of flying...an in flight structural failure that actually destroyed the model! :o Don Butman was not intending his fourth flight to be the last one of the day but a few seconds into the flight the motor stick simply disintegrated under the tension of the rubber (.075!) and the rest of the model simply fell to the floor in a heap. For a contest where the flights are usually as exciting as watching paint dry that was positively horrifying!

The contest was done on a total of the best two flights of five attempts with a minimum of 20 seconds to be an official flight. (Yes, if trimmed wrong a Penny Plane can fly for less than 20 seconds!) and all contestants models were weighed for a 3 gram minimum.

The results were:

1. Bill Watson 3.2 g 474.6 seconds
2. Bud Matthews 5.13 290.36
3. Don Butman 6.8 240 3 flights
4. Don Martin 6.9 226 3 flights
5. Stan Christopher 6.6 169 2 flights
6. Lowell Norenberg 4.5 97.36 2 flights

Pete Bassone's model was damaged during pre-contest trimming and was not flown in competition.

Still, despite the frustrations it was an interesting contest and the members had fun (See smiles in group shot.).

We did have a visitor to the contest who will likely be joining the group. The invitation still stands to anyone who is in the area on Wednesday mornings to come to our meeting and flying session. Meetings start at 9:00 AM and flying from 10 to Noon at the Stonehurst Recreation Center gym, 9901 Dronfield Avenue, Sun Valley, California.

Next contest is August 30. The subject is Peanut Scale. Scale judging is modified Mooney judging not full on FAC rules.
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rgroener
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Re: Indoor Flying with the O.F.F.C.

Postby rgroener » Sat Jul 29, 2017 5:19 am

Good to see that there is some activity. I missed you earlier post with the video of the Comet Scorpion. It's a very nice model and it seems to fly well. It somehow reminds me of the Frog model range.
Keep up your reports, looking forward to the next one.

Roman

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staubkorb
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Re: Indoor Flying with the O.F.F.C.

Postby staubkorb » Thu Aug 10, 2017 12:17 pm

I see that Dave Gee is making the updated Scorpion digital plan available thru Model Aviation. Will this be a "free" download and when will it be available?
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kittyfritters
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Re: Indoor Flying with the O.F.F.C.

Postby kittyfritters » Thu Aug 10, 2017 4:51 pm

staubkorb wrote:I see that Dave Gee is making the updated Scorpion digital plan available thru Model Aviation. Will this be a "free" download and when will it be available?


Dave's downloads from Model Aviation are always free. I'll have to ask him when it will be available.

Howard
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kittyfritters
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Re: Indoor Flying with the O.F.F.C.

Postby kittyfritters » Wed Aug 30, 2017 8:49 pm

I apologize for not reporting promptly on the Peanut Scale contest. I did not attend because of some personal business but will report as soon as I get the results.

Howard
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kittyfritters
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Re: Indoor Flying with the O.F.F.C.

Postby kittyfritters » Tue Sep 05, 2017 4:26 am

I did not attend the contest so I'm copying Dave Gee's report of the contest from the Black Sheep Squadron newsletter.

Fliers were Don Martin, Don Smith, John Buntin, Joe Whiting, Don Butman, Dave Gee, and Bill Watson. 11 entries made for a wide and varied field.
The planes included 2 Fikes, 2 Piper Cubs, a Farman Moustique, Yak 5, SE5a, Pietenpol, 1910 Faris monoplane, Rearwin Speedster, and a Heath Racer. Some were old models, well-trimmed. Others were brand new and untested until the very day.

This year's rules favored flying over scale, with Mooney judging adding only a few bonus points based on how well each plane did in comparison to the others. The 10 second ROG bonus per flight was used by surprisingly few contestants.

Peanut is a challenging category, especially in the small OFFC gym. Things were complicated by a minor fuss with the leader of the preschool kids, who refused to compromise on floor space. Having a table of little kids in the middle of the room is a factor that the Reno Air Races never faced. We flew over their heads and into the table-legs, and forged ahead.

Bill Watson finished in first place with an immaculate Fike, steadily flown. Dave managed second with his long-nosed 1910 Faris eindekker. Don Butman again showed that he makes 'em fly as well as they look, with a third place Rearwin. Joe Whiting had disagreements with his SE5a, and had to settle for 4th place.

Thanks to Stan for timing, Pete for keeping such careful records of the contest, and Will for these pictures.
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