Small Flying Arts

Once again I did not attend the O.F.F.C. monthly contest. This time it was because I am recovering from my birthday present last Friday, a new right hip. I have been assured that I will be receiving photos and video to post along with the results. I will post as soon as I get them.

Howard

The O.F.F.C. Embryo contest went off smoothly. From all I have been told, everyone had fun with this contest. The only detraction was the lights hanging down from the gym ceiling. The last time this contest was held the gym was lighted by flush mounted florescent lights. The models could skim the ceiling and contact did not diminish the flight times. It was not uncommon to get two minute flights in that room. Now, with the hanging halogen lights, if you get up among the lights you are gambling. Even the winner, Joe Whiting, of whom it must be said, Embryo is his event, could not get a flight of better than 77 seconds this time.

The rules were:

Model must R.O.G.
Six flights allowed.
Ten second minimum for an official flight.
Score is total of best three flights.

The results:

1. Joe Whiting 220.6 seconds
2. Pete Basone 155.0
3. Bill Watson 154.2
4. Don Butman 152.9
5. Dave Gee 134.9
6. Don Martin 87.7
7. Don Smith 82.5
8. Stan Christopher 81.1
9. Wynn Hammer 81.0

There were 9 contestants with 11 models flown. Scores only counted for best flying models.

The group shot show how happy everyone was with the contest. Some of the individual shots in the heat of the contest...not so much.
Dave Gee, whose flexibility with the rules of any class can rival the Michlean Man, was setting up his unorthodox entry. We had our doubts, but it turns out that bizarre configuration is legal.
The next picture is Bill Watson preparing to launch.
The last pictures are Pete Basone and Wynn Hammer just after launch, and Don Butman retrieving his model.

Today was the O.F.F.C. One Design Contest. Of the dozen Plain Plane kits I distributed to the members, 8 showed up for the contest. The model soon proved to be rugged enough for that obstacle filled room. On many flights they bounced of the lights and basketball backstops, if high enough recovered and continued flying, and only one was damaged. Everyone covered with tissue, except Don Butman who is the master of plastic film, and most used the kit supplied blue and white tissue. Everyone had a good time and we had some spectators that came to see the contest who seemed to enjoy themselves watching.

Here is a YouTube video of some of the contest flights.

https://youtu.be/VLGIjD5NNh0

The results: (Best 2 of 5 flight plus a 10 second bonus for R.O.G.

1st Bill Watson 116.04
2nd Stan Christopher 105.97
3rd Bud Matthews 88.33
4th John Bunton 72.75
5th Don Butman 71.71
6th Barry Daugherty 71.37
7th Dave Gee 37.22
8th Kurt Young Model Damaged

Don Smith was the timer.
Howard Littman (Me) Contest Director and Designer of the model.

Because I was the designer of the model the participants insisted that I get into the group shot.
Next Month...Bostonians!

Keep 'Em Flying!
Howard

There was a disagreement with a member of the rec center staff and it looks like we will be meeting on Friday mornings for the next few weeks. My apologies to anyone who wanted to visit our meeting this morning or made plans to visit us in the next few weeks. I will keep you posted on any shifts in meeting day.

Howard

The meetings and contest of the O.F.F.C. will be on Friday mornings until further notice. The Stonehurst Rec Center Gym will be closed the day after Thanksgiving, November 24, so the next meeting and the Bostonian contest will be on Friday, December 1.

Howard

I have to apologize for my delay in coverage of the O.F.F.C flying. Due to personal issues I was not able to attend the November and December contests.

In the November “Bostonian” OFFC Contest with a total of 8 contestants. 1st Place went to Pete Basone, 2nd Place went to Joe Whiting and 3rd Place went to Bill Watson. Sorry, no one passed me any pictures from this one which, since it was Bostonian, should have been one of the more photogenic contests. Oh, well!

Due to a temporary issue, the O.F.F.C. meetings have been held on Friday mornings, so the last O.F.F.C. contest of the year, the Ed Slobod (Memorial) R.O.G. Unlimited Contest was held on Friday, 12/27/2017. This contest is for any rubber powered model capable of R.O.G., which can result in some very interesting entries. I was not present, however I do have the results and pictures courtesy of Bud Matthews.

Results:

1st Bill Watson 311 seconds (combined best two flights)
2nd Bud Matthews 198
3rd Don Butman 186
4th Jim Lueken 173
5th Don Martin 164
6th Joe Whiting 140
7th Don Smith 120
8th Wynn Hammer 39
Stan Christopher N/A

The C/D was Bud Matthews
The meetings moved back to Wednesday mornings in January. Again, meetings start at 9 AM at the Stonehurst Recreation Center gym, in Sun Valley, CA. Flying is 10 AM to Noon. Any interested modeler in the area is welcome to attend.

The contest schedule for 2018 is:

Date Contest CD
Jan 31 Minnow ROG John Buntin
Feb 28 No-Cal Zipper Bud Matthews (This is a one design for the No-Cal model of the Comet Zipper...a model of a model!)
Mar 28 Catapult Glider Stan Christopher
Apr 25 Legal Eagle Dave Gee
May 30 P-18 Barry Daugherty (This is usually a one design, the P-18 Hawk, if not I'll keep you posted.)
Jun 15 Spot/Time Dave Gee (Outdoor contest, spot landing and predicted flight time.)
Jun 27 Penny Plane Jim Lueken
July 25 Dime Scale Joe Whiting (Joe calls this 9 cent scale since it has relaxed rules.)
Aug 29 A-6 Howard Littman
Sep 26 Unlimited Scale Bill Watson
Oct 31 Mini Stick Don Martin
Nov 28 No-Cal Scale Will Woods
Dec 28 R.O.G. Unlimited Ed Slobod (FBTG)

CD issues the rules for each meet at the beginning of the month, possibly with customized requirements. No griping! Dissenters are invited to volunteer as a CD next year.
Other unlisted events are possible,
Anyone requesting another event will be the CD for that event!

The contest, January 31st, was for Minnow. John Bunton was the CD who specified that models were to be built “per plan.” Well you know how that goes but they all met the spirit of the plan.

Results were:
1. Bill Watson (Black Wing) 3:21.34 (Times are combined best 2 of 5 flights)
2. Don Smith 2:26.80
3. Jim Lukins 2:23.74
4. Pete Bassone 2:20.08
5. Will Woods 2:18.05
6. Bud Matthews 2:12.35
7. Don Butman 2:05.12
8. Barry Dougherty 1:46.45
9. Don Martin 1:43.90
10. Stan Christopher 1:18.30
11. Howard Littman 1:13.40
Bill Watson (Red Wing) 2:51.48 (Second model, only best counts.)

No Cal Zipper is not my contest, so I was one of the timers. The contest went off very well and everyone had fun including the spectators. Since I am the editor of the Black Sheep Squadron newsletter I decided to get lazy on the reporting and simply post the O.F.F.C. page from the newsletter with the results of the contest. I also posted some of the pictures that didn't get into the newsletter.

Oh, yes. The club motto translates very loosely to, "We Eat (donuts), We Talk, We Fly".

Here are some of the other pictures.

Bill Watson is assessing the quality of the flight just after launch. The launch was R.O.G. and in the direction of the camera so the model has already done 270 degrees of its first circle.
Don Butman is giving the "Say what?" look to something that Jim Luekin just said. Notice that Don was one of the color scheme "rebels".
A model from one of the other "rebels" on the stooge.

I've been a bit sick for a couple of weeks, something my wife brought home from the office, and didn't want to expose the old guys in the O.F.F.C. to what I had. (Yes, the old guys, I'm only 74.) Consequently, I didn't go to the Cat Glider contest last Wednesday. (My canard cat glider, with the spring loaded flapper canard, wasn't flying well, indoors, anyway.) Apparently, everyone thinks they can catch something by e-mail because no one passed on the results to me! I have attached the O.F.F.C. page from the Black Sheep Squadron newsletter. When I find out the contest standings I'll post them.

I finally received the results of the Cat Glider Contest.

O.F.F.C. CAT GLIDER CONTEST
Score is best flight of 3 sets of 3 attempts.
1. Bill Watson 31.6
2. Jim Leuken 24.4
3. Pete Basone 24.3
4. Lowell Norenberg 21.0
5. Don Smith 19.8
6. Don Martin 18.2
7. Bud Matthews 15.0
Wynn Hammer n/a
I did attend the next meeting and once again Don Butman arrived with interesting models. This time it was a Spitfire from Guillow's plans circa 1940. The original model had a 24 inch wing span but Don doesn't usually build that large so he reduced the size to 20 inches. He also added his own touches such as a one piece wing held on by magnets and, of course, he had to build a No-Cal version of it also.
Bud Mathews brought in an Arf-A-Senator. He suggested that we include an Arf-A-Senator No-Cal contest later in the year. He seems to like models of models! Anyway, the members present agreed, and according to club rules, Bud was appointed CD of the added event.
April Contest is Legal Eagle.