Barnyard Buzzards - May 2002 Newsletter

Buzzard Droppings May 2002

(Continued from page 1)

thing that is happening all the time or on a regular basis. So, an incident logbook is going to be kept by Karl Schaefer, our Safety Officer, to try and get more information. Members who think they have had a radio interference incident are asked to report same to Karl at 425-259-1824. As a note: Please remember this has been a small number of incidents spread out since last summer. I've already heard from one non-member who said he heard we were having a massive interference problem. Obviously the rumor mill still works and does so very quickly. Not to mention how exaggerated the information has become so quickly. So please, let's not contribute to this! Especially when we don't even know what we are dealing with yet.
The club voted to have a membership drive incentive. The member who brings in the most new members will have his choice of a $30 gift certificate at Tim's or $30 off his dues next year.
We had several Show and Tell items at the meeting. Dick Ovrid brought in his finished RV-4. Dick reported that there were a lot of things wrong with the kit. He kindly wrote Great Planes to tell them everything he had found and got a free kit for his trouble. Dick said that the newer RV4 kits he has looked at seemed to have improved greatly, with many of the problems he found, gone. Rick Hanners showed off two new electric powered aircraft. One was Wedgie from M&M Glider Tech. It is basically a small flying wing with a very thin airfoil. The other was a Kavan ProJeti. Both are powered by speed 400 motors. Dave Bell showed off his new Shoestring ARF kit from Great Planes with a brand new MDS engine. Both appear to be of excellent quality. Ron Swift showed off an Ace 4-120 biplane he is building, with a YS120 4-stroke mounted using a Meryl Hyde soft mount. Plane will weigh ~8lbs when completed. Hap Shutz announced that he was going all electric and had brought in a number of glow engines to sell. Not sure what he has left, but you can give him a call at 360-794-4015, if you are interested.

flights. The menu of actions required to complete a kit would include the following:

Assembling the main wing(s)

Assembling the tail feathers

Assembling the fuselage

Installing the landing gear and wheels

Installing the tail feathers on the fuselage

Installing the main wing and mounts

Covering and details

Assembling the fuel tank

Installing the engine

Installing the control surfaces and control homs

Installing receiver, battery, servos, and controls

Balancing the aircraft (CG and laterally)

Control surface and throttle throw adjustment

Owner ID

The ARF kit usually has much of the assembling and covering already completed. Another type of ARF, the ARC (Almost Ready to Cover) leaves the covering task completely up to the modeler. An ARF can be built ready for its maiden flight in two nights, but it is more likely to take seven to ten evenings of work to complete.
The catalogs from the R/C warehouses are filled with ARF kit offerings. The modeler expects to receive a high quality kit that will greatly shorten the building time and at the same time guarantee a reasonably good looking model. The prices range from around $20.00 (the Juicer, Condor, and other kits) to well over $2000.00!
What you get is a mass produced kit with widely varying quality. You really need to inspect the kit contents for problems. These problems may include the following: