Vol. 04 No. 06 — June 2004

President's Message

If it’s not bugs, it’s wind, or rain! In spite of everything that seems to conspire against us, there have been some good days for flying and you know there are more to come. The field is in good condition but to make it even better for the club, Ray and Dave will be out there seeding and fertilizing.

Don’t forget, the next meeting, Tuesday, June 8th, will be held at the field at 7PM.

It was an honor to receive the Member of the Year award and I want to thank all of you very much. I’ll try to live up to it.

I have received so much support from so many of you that I can’t even begin to say thank you enough. Your cards, calls and support during an especially difficult time have meant more than you can realize. I still don’t have a date for surgery since we had to start all over again with new biopsies. The pathology reports indicated a totally different malignancy that can be removed with a 100% recovery. That’s the good news. From my prospective, the bad news is that I will have to have my jaw wired for about 3 weeks. Some see that as good news also, but hide their smiles and snickers from me. All in all this has been a week of good news and I plan to be around for some time.

Again, thank you for all your good wishes.

-- Darrell Wagner

SNHRCC MEETING May 11th, 2004

Litchfield Middle School, Litchfield, NH

Officers present: Darrell Wagner, Roland Harmon, Kip Bean and John Hayes.

The Secretary's report was read and accepted.

The Treasurer's report was postponed because Kip was delayed in getting to the meeting.

Old Business:

It was brought up that the dump days were not on the web site yet.

John described the current status of the club mower.

Rich asked if the field would be fertilized, Ray Breton will take care of it.

Awards were presented, followed by pizza for all. Congratulations to all this years winners.

BEST SPORT MODEL

1st

Shawn McCarthy

X-Wing Fighter

BEST ELECTRIC MODEL

1st

Clarence White

Eagle 2 Electric

BEST SAILPLANE MODEL

1st

Jim Herrmann

Stork II E-Glider

BEST IN PROCESS MODEL

1st

John Hayes

Zeph-Air

BEST OF SHOW

1st

Shawn McCarthy

X-Wing Fighter

MEMBER OF THE YEAR 2003

Darrell Wagner

-- John Hayes

Hi Guys,

Well I have a theory as to what happened to the mower and how to prevent it in the future. I believe the mower just prior to the problem ran out of gas. The way the float is set up it will go low in the carb bowl, due to the toilet seat shape I think it became wedged on the carb intake throat and couldn't stop the flow of fuel after filling the tank.

When I disassembled the carb a couple of weeks ago, I reassembled the carb with no gas to raise the float and it jammed again in the low position allowing full flow of gas. I picked up the carb rebuild kit today and installed parts of it tonight, already having this theory in mind I pre-filled the bowl to force the float into the proper position while I assembled and tightened everything down.

Fingers crossed I started the mower and all was perfect, no spouts of gas and the mower really purred. Took a few victory laps around the field (quite a few). Mowed the main field, the pits, shelter and original side still need to be done. Mowing at 48 degrees became old and cold real fast.

I do think it's still a good idea to shut off the in line gas valve when the tractors put away, and of course remember to turn the valve on before starting otherwise a low float will occur and perhaps cause the same problem again. I do think that before too long the tractor will need a new battery and the front end felt kind of loose, suspect it needs to have all its hardware checked for tightness.

Cost to the club 30+ dollars. Feeling of success... priceless

-- John Hayes