Bullsheet - October 1997

President's message

What a busy September!!!
We visited the Flying Eagles at their Merrimack field early in the month. This is becoming an annual event where the two clubs alternate as the host. We had only a few members from our club that day. However, based on past events we had a fair representation. I had to interrupt my visit for an hour or so to get home and repair a throttle control line.
If you didn't get to the September Meeting at the Griffin School you missed a fascinating piece of work by Rollie Boisjoly. Rollie has been in the hobby for many years. He has a passion, or should I say an addiction, for Ford Trimotors. To get an idea of the complexity of the work that goes into his Trimotors all you have to do is look at the skin of the plane.
He forms his own individual panels of aluminum on which he fashions each seam line or joint and each rivet head by hand. Then he applies these panels to the frame of the fuselage very much in the same way the full size airplane is constructed. One is in awe realizing the artistry required to do this type of a project. One thing I have learned from the scale work I have seen is that the little details are so demanding. And this project has its details. One look inside the cabin reveals the seats, the door paneling, the window frames, etc. of exquisite detail.
If the plane was not enough, Rollie is himself a "work of art"! He highlighted many historical facts about the Trimotor through a number of short stories. And where appropriate he had a sufficient jokes to humor the attendees. Overall it was an informative, fun evening.
Congratulations to the Bob Spear and the Flying Eagles for putting together the Float Fly-In at Greenfield State Park! Bob had worked on this event for two years. It finally came together. We had two beautiful days of complete fun. It was my first experience float flying off the water. Lots of fun yet a very organized, safety first, event. Thanks to those SNHRCC members who volunteered their time to helped at the event. If you didn't make to the Float Fly-In, you might want to plan on attending next year.
Incidentally, three of our club members walked away with awards. Sonny Martel won the "Best Scale" award for his Giant Cub and the team of Maurice Theriault and Bob Brodeur won the "Most Unusual" award for the very unique electric float plane, a "Maurice original".
To cap off a very busy month, we hosted a Little or Mini-Rheinbeck on September 28th. It was good to see Tom Loose again. Tom, with support by Rich Kelley and Dick Easton, volunteered to be the CD for this event. A few members of the Flying Eagles competed with us in the Mission event. It was a lot of fun! Thanks, Tom, for putting this fun event together.
Join us for our next meeting. Ray Breton has planned to show us how to cut wing cores. If you haven't seen this technique before you will be amazed of the precision these wings. If you would like a specific topic for the entertainment portion of the meeting and you know of someone who has those skills, don't hesitate to bring it to my attention. For example, Rollie's visit was due to a referral from Bob Brodeur.
-- Bob Patukonis
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SNHRCC Meeting Minutes Recap
September 9, 1997 at Griffin Memoriel School, Litchfield, NH
Officers in attendance: Bob Patukonis, Maurice Theriault, Dave Muse and John Hayes

Secretary's report was read by John Hayes, a motion was made to accept and passed.
Treasurer's report was read by Dave Muse, a motion was made to accept and passed.
Business:
Maurice Theriault will fill the open position of Vice President for the remainder of the term.
John Hayes has been added to the list of instructors.
Bob Patukonis gave a short report on the Litchfield at Merrimack day.
John Hayes reported on the status of the current flying field, i.e., the church has backed out and there is no current contract for the sale of the field.
Bob Patukonis suggested we might want to do a public relations approach to the town like Merrimack did to position ourselves better with the town.
Bob Patukonis reported that the club will define the instructor positions at a later date.
Bob Brodeur reported on this years Rhinebeck contest in New York. Bob and Drew Davenport went to the contest with some apprehension because the missions had been eliminated. The Airdrome was concerned there wouldn't be enough participants.
Bob said the runway was widened to about twice its previous width with space enough to fly just about anything. Rhinebeck was a huge success, better than ever.
Andrej, now the video librarian and keeper of the club clothing asked that a notice be put in the Bullsheet to recall any outstanding tapes.
Bob Patukonis mentioned upcoming events.
Sept. 13-14th will be the Flying Eagles Float-Fly at Greenfield State Park.
Sept. 28 will be our Mini Rhinebeck contest. A vote was taken with $100.00 to be provided for prizes. Any moneys received from an entry fee cover food costs with excess going back into the club treasury.
A motion was made to adjourn, seconded and passed.
Hobby Highlights:
After a donut and coffee intermission we were both enlightened and entertained by Rollie Boisjoly with his scale Ford Tri Motor plane. He obviously spends countless hours building these display masterpieces.
Tremendous craftsmanship!
-- John Hayes
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MINI-RHINEBECK

The final flying event of the summer season was an unqualified success. Ask the President, if he ever stops smiling.
There were 10 contestants for the SNHRCC L'il Rhinebeck contest. The Merrimack "Flying Eagles" were invited to participate, and the three and a half guys were charged a serious entry fee of zero dollars, while the SNHRCC guys were required to cough up no dollars. Some fun with words, the event was free to all, even the food.
There was an hour and a half of free flying so the guys could practice their bomb drop and spot landings. Ha, A lot of good that did.
Then we were into it, Two flight lines, mostly flying the same direction! Bob Brodeur showed us why the balloon stick was not nailed to the ground. He picked up the stick, balloon and all and flew around for a while. When he tried to land, the glide path turned out to be about 2 feet. No damage though. Then Doug Calaway did the same thing with his Taube, but managed to get rid of the affair in the air. Things were uneventful for a while until John Hayes hit the stick with his Lil'Easy and broke the plane. John is good with ZAP, he did not miss a flight. There was not enough mass in his little plane to break the 5/16-inch balsa sticks. After a while and many stick breaks, the sticks were almost double thickness. Rich Kelley proved that at this thickness, the sticks were very tough. Rich's Train-Air .40, at near stall speed hit the stick and the stick pulled his plane into the ground, Hard. I hate it when that happens. Not to be outdone, Drew Davenport did the same thing with the same results, broken airplanes.
The day started cold and muggy, but the sun kept on creeping out, and the wind slowed down to a gently murmur. At about 2:20pm, 10 minutes before the flying was to stop, Bob Patukonis took off for his last flight. Bob had not been having a good day. His bomb would not drop on command; he overshot every landing and hadn't even come close to the balloon. Well, on this flight, at this time, Bob put it all together. His bomb darned near hit dead center for 100 points. Now he is getting nervous. The sun is shining beautifully, just the right position to light the balloon, and have the plane cast a shadow to guide it along the edge of the runway toward the balloon. He got the height right and WOW, he nailed the balloon perfectly without even touching the stick. That's perfect. Now he has another 100 points. The high score up to that point was Bob Brodeur with a 225. The winner is decided by high score only. You know how when you get nervous you grip the transmitter. I think I heard Bob's transmitter groan from his grip, I may be wrong though. Any way, our President had not had a score on landing all day. He brought the plane around into the beautiful light wind, lined it up, throttled down and rolled it perfectly on the 75 circle, only inches from a 100. That got Bob FIRST PLACE and the pick of some very nice prizes.
The SNHRCC has to thank Bob Brodeur and the R/C Buyer's Warehouse for the good prices he gives the club. Bob also donated some prizes. By the way, thank you Maurice Theriault for the donation of a prize.
Bob Brodeur was kind enough to defer his prize. I guess the thrill of second place was all he could take. Thanks to his generosity, we were able to give prizes down to eighth place. Thanks very much, Bob.
Joe Marrone of the Eagles came in third, the Rich Kelley, Dave Muse, Drew Davenport, and Doug Calaway of the Eagles. Then John Hayes, Jim Grady of the Eagles and finally Dave Muse's nephew, Andrew Stone, all of 9-years-old and trying hard to solo. Well done Andrew.
Lunch was brought by Maurice Theriault after storing it for a month. Bob Patukonis brought the accouterments, John Hayes the tonic and ice. Bob Brodeur cooked the hamburgers and hot dogs in between flying rounds. Shirley Steele showed up and was pressed into service to spell Bob. Dan Bogdan helped with replacing the balloons and sticks, as they were broken. Dan did not get much rest. Dan also helped time and judge the team race.
A number of SNHRCC and Eagle members showed up to watch.
At the end of the day, the flyers decided to have a team race, club against club. Since there were only three Eagles, our President volunteered to fly with their team. Thanks Bob. Let is suffice to say, everyone had a great time. This was a fun event. However it is a lot more fun when the SNHRCC team finished in 9:58 minutes versus the eagles 13:50. We won't rub it in, much.
A special thanks goes to Rich Kelley, and Drew Davenport for their help in setting up the field, flight lines, judging and score keeping jobs. An EXTRA thank you for the tremendous effort put out by our President Bob Patukonis. He helped in all parts of the contest and food. He even brought a large container of hot coffee. I am not sure he ever set down or had a bite to eat. Then he had to take all the stuff home plus three large garbage bags of trash. The club has a jewel in Bob. Support him well.
-- Tom Loose