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

[kittyfritters]

Wednesday, March 27, 2019, the scheduled March O.F.F.C. contest, Build On Site Delta Darts was held. Everyone coming to the meeting was given their choice of Delta Dart materials, skins printed with various national insignia, sticks, motor sticks, glue sticks, pins, prop assemblies, CA and kicker, and rubber all supplied courtesy of the CD, Dave Gee. The meeting was spent building the models (with very few expletives) and at the end of the meeting we went out into the gym to fly. The contest was the best two of unlimited attempts and an end of contest mass launch.

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To everyone’s surprise, since the motor sticks were, apparently, too short, they all seemed to fly well! Most of the flights were in the 30 second range. There were some flights that were dramatic with the plane bouncing off the walls and various other obstructions but, even those had decent times. Dave Gee had a 39 and a 41 second flight for the win. Bill Watson had a 40 second flight, Stan Christopher had a 41 second flight and Don Butman and I had 43 second flights. I thought I had it in the bag when I got the 43 second flight and was winding for another one when I broke the motor, and proceeded to break two more motors in a row. Someone made the remark that I had fallen prey to competition lust. By that time I had to put another motor in for the end of contest mass launch.

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The end of contest mass launch was a riot with two models being flown right and the rest left, but amazingly no collisions! There was a video of this but it hasn't been posted yet. Bill Watson's Delta Dart was the last one up so he won the mass launch.

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The results were:
(Total of best two flights)
1. Dave Gee 80 seconds
2. Don Butman 79
3. Bill Watson 77 (Winner of end of contest Mass Launch)
4 . Howard Littman 77 (tie broken by time of next best flight)
5. Stan Christopher 50
6. Barry Daugherty 32
7. Pete Basone 31
8. Don Martin 22
9. Don Smith 15

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There were a couple of others that were broken test flying. The results might have been quite different if some of the members test flying had called for a time.

[staubkorb]

It's really great to see this bunch having a blast every month, Howard! I still haven't (totally) given up trying to coerce some of my "buddies" to have a go, but German stubbornness is nearly impossible to crack ...

[kittyfritters]

The O.F.F.C. Cat Glider contest happened, as scheduled, on Wednesday, April 24. Although several members brought gliders some were deemed not working that day and were not flown. The contest started with 5 contestants. One of them, Charlotte, is an eleven year old girl who was brought to the meeting by her grandfather. (Yes, our contests are open to anyone.)

The rules were any glider, any size or materials, with rubber limited to a six inch loop and if a catapult stick is used it is limited to six inches in length. The contestants had three sets of three flights (nine flights total) with the best single flight counted. Cat gliders, being somewhat cantankerous if not launched just right provided an interesting, if not entertaining, variety of flights with one flight soaring gracefully near the ceiling and gliding majestically and the very next flight being shortened by slamming into the ceiling or the wall. Charlotte did quite well. She was coached by her grandfather but did all the flying herself.

The results were:
1. Bill Watson 29.8 seconds
2. Jim Leuken 22.9
3 Charlotte Acosta 17.9
4. Don Smith 16.2
5. Bud Matthews 13.7

CD Howard Littman
Timers Howard Littman, Will Woods


The next contest is Legal Eagle on May 29th. Bud Matthews is the CD.

[staubkorb]

Those are actually pretty darn good times! Charlotte seems to have given the "experts " a hard time...

[kittyfritters]

Jim Leuken pointed out that sometimes it’s a family thing...Charlotte’s grandpa is Bill Blanchard. Bill is one of the best hand launch glider fliers of all time! From the 60’s thru the 70’s he set the national record many many times. His “Polly” HLG design is very well known world wide.

[kittyfritters]

The Legal Eagle contest happened on Wednesday, May 29. There was a very good turnout for the meeting but only six members brought models for the contest. Bill Watson, once again, proved what can be done with a light, carefully trimmed model by winning , but it wasn’t a runaway with Paul Avery coming in a close second. Joe Whiting had an interesting design that had some structural issues but after repairs it turned in a good performance for third place. Don Butman finished fourth with a usual competent performance but had trouble breaking a minute. Howard Littman brought a development of his last Legal Eagle design but he finished and trimmed it at the contest and was only able to get three flights of around 40 seconds in before the end. Don Smith finished sixth.

Results: (Total of best 3 flights out of 6)

1. Bill Watson 335.9 seconds
2. Paul Avery 320.2 (5 total flights)
3. Joe Whiting 203.2 (4 total flights)
4. Don Butman 175.5
5. Howard Littman 117.7 (3 total flights)
6. Don Smith 65.2 (4 total flights)

Next Contest is A-6 on June 26.

[kittyfritters]

The pictures didn't take on this post and after I put in the next one I can't delete it. Lession learned!

[kittyfritters]

I was out of the country for the A-6 contest on June 26 so I can't give you a description of how it went but I was given the results and a few photos.

The results:

1. Bill Watson 272 seconds
2. Jim Leuken 182.5
3. Pete Basone 179.8
4. Don Butman 148.3
5. Bud Matthews N/A

The photos are the finishers, Bill Watson, Jim Leuken, Kurt and Barry who were timing, and Will Woods. I don't know how Will didn't end up finishing.

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The next contest was the outdoor Predicted Time/ Spot Landing contest on July 17.

[kittyfritters]

I was at the Predicted Time/Spot Landing contest yesterday. This is the OFFC's one outdoor contest that is always held in the middle of summer on the Stonehurst Recreation Center field. It was a bit windy but flyable. The contest is open to any rubber powered model that can ROG (Yes, in the past helicopters have been entered!) You have four flight attempts, each. to accomplish two tasks. The flight for, either task. must be at least 15 seconds to count. The two tasks may be accomplished by a single flight.

The first task is predict the duration of your model's flight before launching your model from a card table. The second task is to get the model to land as close to an American Flag on a pole in the middle of the field. The pole has a 50 foot measuring tape attached to it for measuring the distance from the pole to the closest part of the model.

An interesting variety of models was flown, the usual Minnows, a few designed for the contest models and for those without anything to fly, Dave Gee brought a box of Guillow's Jetstreams. I brought one of my Double Trouble prototypes but discovered that I had left the front end back on the bench and ended up flying a Jetstream.

Every once and a while you get a Jetstream that won't climb. This is a bit of a problem in a contest that requires ROG (ROT?) takeoffs. I ended up extending the wing slot all the way to the prop hanger to get it to climb. The next flight it flew straight to the trees and treed itself 20 feet up on the back side of a tree. I got Bill Watson's modified kite pole, which acted like it was a prop from a Buster Keaton movie, and retrieved the model. My last flight, predicted for 20 seconds, flew 31 seconds and bounced off a tree on the other side of the park...FOGETTABOUTIT! There is always next year!

Dave Gee, the CD for the contest was feeling a bit poorly and had to leave in the middle of the contest. Kurt Young took over as timer and CD

The results were:

Flier Model Seconds off predicted Distance from pole

1. Barry Dougherty Zipper .2 10' 11"
2. Bill Watson Own Design .2 16'
3. Jim Leuken Own Design 1.2 50'+
4. Don Butman Peck ROG 4.0 12' 10"
5. Kurt Young Jetstream 4.0 50'+
6. Howard Littman Jetstream 11.6 50'+
7. Stan Christopher Minnow N/A 50'+
8. Marylin Commer Jetstream N/A N/A

The next contest is Dime Scale (Joe Whiting's 9 Cent scale rules) on July 28. If you have a Dime Scale model and can make it that Wednesday morning, come on out!

[kittyfritters]

REMINDER

Wednesday, July 31, (That's tomorrow, folks.) is the 9 Cent Scale (Joe Whiting's relaxed Dimer rules) contest at Stonehurst. If you have a dimer that flies come on out!

Also, for those who enjoy a challenge, the OFFC Payload contest will be at Stonehurst on August 14.

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OFFC contests are open to all interested modelers.

Stonehurst Rec center is at 9901 Dronfield Ave, Sun Valley, CA 91352. It's one of those hidden parks so you will have to Google Map it to see how to get there.

The OFFC meetings start at 9:00 AM and the flying sessions are 10:00 to 12:00.