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Bullsheet - July 1998
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President's Message |
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July was certainly the "flip side" of June, at least as far as weather was concerned! What a beautiful month; and with the good weather we finally had a couple of reasonably successful events. The Glider Contest was held on July 18th with I believe, 7 pilots, lots of launches and some good competition. I am sure John Hayes will be giving us a report on the event. This event had its unsung heroes; volunteers who make things happen and keep things going. Karl Hofer and his daughter Elke retrieved the high starts for most, if not all of the event. It was a tiring job and they never complained! The New England States had record rain fall for the month of June causing destruction in many low-lying areas near rivers. The State of Florida has broken the record for its hottest month and is now inundated with forest fires. Supposedly, some or all of this is caused by a well-known Pacific Ocean effect. El Nino certainly has a mighty punch for a little "boy"! You might be wondering where I am going with this weather reminder. Well, if you remember, we had big plans for June. Glider Contest The Glider Contest, scheduled for June 13th, was a total washout. The only good thing that came out of the day was a little repair work. John Hayes had suggested we get a handle on the shelter before the wind tears off the roof. The shelter is modular construction with the majority of the framework stapled. Over the course of time and weather, the joints were coming apart. So with a maul, a large clamp, deck screws and screw guns we repaired the front edge of the shelter roof. The Glider Contest has been rescheduled and will be held on Saturday, July 18th. And, just in case, we would like to reserve Sunday the 19th for a rain date. High Hopes Balloon Festival The High Hopes Balloon Festival held the weekend of the 20th, faired somewhat better than the Glider Contest. Unfortunately, on Saturday during our Radio Control Demonstration, the weather was not completely cooperating. Things started off fairly well. We got 3 flights in. Suddenly, there was thunder and lightning in the area. We had to stop the activity until things blew over. Then, when we resumed flying, we had some radio interference. Considering the situation, the weather, location etc. we decided to curtail the flying portion of the demonstration and have a static display of the craft. And, in keeping with the trend, it wasn't too long before we were packing up trying to get out of the rain. Though the weather was questionable, we had a good showing of the pilots who were asked to fly. At the same time I was surprised at the poor showing of club support for this event. I appreciate the help of Bob Brodeur and his team. I know, had the weather held up and the conditions been somewhat different, we would have had a great demonstration. Old Time Pattern Contest Because of the poor turnout for this event, Bob and Drew probably wished it were rained out. I know they were disappointed and want to rethink how this event should be run next year. Bezurkus Circus What is a Bezurkus Circus? I don't really know. But it is the present name for a series of some very simple fun-fly events we have scheduled for the rest of the summer. Anyone can participate in these one-day events. We have scheduled July 26th as the first event day. We start this series with the Climb-and-Glide event. Take off, get yourself comfortable, drop the engine to idle, and glide to a landing. The trick is to get as close to 2 minutes from the idle down to touch down. The event is open from 10 AM to 2PM and there is no order, no line up. Just decide when you want to do your event and we will time you. The important element is FUN. If you enjoy yourself we will do more. Next Meeting at Field Don't forget the next meeting is at the field. We start our outdoor portion of the year. Looking forward to seeing you. And, finally, I would like to thank Kip for running the last meeting in my absence. He managed quite well even though I neglected to give him the raffle tickets. And, once again, I appreciate the help that Darrell and Maurice lent to our entertainment at the last meeting by stepping up to the plate with a discussion of their Widgeon fiberglassing efforts. -- Bob Patukonis |
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June 1998 Meeting Highlights |
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June 9, 1998 at Griffin Memorial School, Litchfield, NH Officers in attendance: Kip Bean, Dave Muse and John Hayes Secretaries report was read by John Hayes, a motion was made to accept and passed. Treasurers report was read by Dave Muse, a motion was made to accept and passed. Old Business: Bob Brodeur asked why in the Treasurers report there was a $20 check returned from the AMA? John Hayes responded by telling Bob there was a error at the AMA regarding insurance forms leaving the AMA thinking we had overpaid. The issue has been cleared up. Bob asked why we pay $16.00 per month in service fees to the bank. There were many suggestions from the members for taking out CD's, to having a savings account for the club moneys. Much discussion followed on this issue regarding accounts, tax implications etc. John Hayes brought up the glider contest, just to cover the last minute items. High Hopes will be on June 20th and Bob Brodeur will be arranging the flyers. Bob feels there will be six people to fly and many static display models. Old Time Pattern Meet will be held at the Litchfield flying site on June 28th. John Hayes gave a brief field status letting the membership know that the field has a purchase agreement on it and a closing date of Oct 15. The new owners have no immediate plans for the land and we should be able to continue our activities uninterrupted. Family day will be August 30 on the same day as the Merrimack at Litchfield day. Litchfield will reciprocate with a visit to Merrimack on September 27th. July meeting at the field at 7:00pm. Come a little early and get some early evening flying in. Hobby Highlights: Maurice Theriault and Darrell Wagner gave a presentation about the do's and don'ts of fiberglassing. They both put in a great number of hours on a set of cowls which almost weren't. There was much conversation and comments from the membership and Maurice showed his original plug for the mold in its destroyed form. Obviously a lot of effort on their part. -- John Hayes |
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Southern Humor |
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Top 10 ways to tell if a Redneck has been working on a computer
AND the number 1 way to tell if a Redneck has been working on a computer is...
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JUNE 1998 Flying News |
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June has been a VERY wet month and that has led to what seems the worst year I have ever seen for mosquitoes at our house. Even with a good coating of repellant on just being outside can be very challenging to your patience and body. I have heard of several members planes not making that last approach to the runway for many different reasons. Bob Marttila's new Sport-Air-.40 went into the trees on the other side of the field and despite several hours of searching it didn't turn up. Since that day the plane has weathered several heavy rain storms and has just recently been found. Quite a bit the worse for wear having hit the pine trees, sheared off the wing tips and soaking up about ten pounds of water in the wings BUT, it has made it home. Dan Bogdan's son's "Spiderman" plane also became lost out in the same general area and was also found. I haven't heard yet what kind of shape it is in, but if it hit the trees . . . . Most recently, Dave Muse brought his brand new pattern ship out to the field to have it test flown by Tom Loose. The new ship is beautiful (see photos elsewhere) and according to Tom it was a dream in the air. Dave also brought along his tried and true old pattern ship and as he rolled it over for a half cuban eight return on the right side of the field, the radio quit responding and the plane went in going straight down somewhere out near the power lines. He and Tom spent over an hour looking for it to no avail. Two days later I went out there all sprayed up to fend off the mosquitoes and spent another two + hours looking fruitlessly for a sign of the ill fated airplane. But it also showed up when Carl Hofer also put a fair amount of time into searching for it and came upon its remains right on the edge of the woods and powerlines. From what I hear the fuselage was eight inches into the dirt and the whole plane was pretty well exploded and was only fit for a green garbage bag. Checking out the radio afterwards turned up a receiver battery pack that only had 4.3 volts in it. Arrrgghh, when those nicads go down they do it in such an unforgiving way, don't they? It looks to me like the person getting in the most flying time out at the field this year so far is Ken Ux's son, Bill. From what Ken says he's even preparing meals and doing dishes early so that EVERYTHING is out of the way to fly till dark. As these evening sessions have progressed his prowess on the sticks has also progressed well. Good job, Bill. Several times I've shown up at the field and John Hayes has been in various stages of testing that fancy tuned pipe setup of his. Coupling that piped .32 to his shortened wing Train-Air-.20 makes for one smokin' combination that does just about ANYTHING you ask it to. John has changed along the way from his strictly glider days!! This month has not been very kind to all the contests and events that have been planned. A couple have been complete wash outs and the others have been poorly attended, probably also due to the less than favorable weather we have been experiencing. Sure hope the rest of the summer is a little drier and kinder to our flying efforts. -- Kip Bean |
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Cleaner Hints |
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I didn't believe it when I first read it. Maybe I'm just too suspicious. What I read was just another modeler's brew for cleaning airplanes. What made me skeptical was the fact that it didn't match MINE! For years I've been using a mixture of Windex, non-sudsing ammonia and just a touch of clear dishwashing detergent. This has always worked for me and really came in handy when my son stuck my daughter's shoes in the broiler. My poor unsuspecting wife turned on the stove and covered everything with greasy black soot that all her household cleaners wouldn't cut. But MY cleaner went right through it, so of course I was suspicious of this guy's stuff. He called out for mostly windshield washer fluid and a touch of granular automatic dishwasher detergent. I used too much detergent the first time and none of my squirt bottles would suck it up. It appears that about 1/4 teaspoon in a 20 ounce squirt bottle filled with regular automobile windshield washer fluid works well. I sprayed this stuff on my greasy, slimy airplane, then walked back to my car for a paper towel. I was only gone a few moments but when I got back ALL of the grease and slime had broken up and easily wiped off. My old stuff isn't that good because you had to wipe really hard. I usually tried wiping off the thick goo before applying the cleaner. Not necessary with this stuff. Spray it on and wait a second. Don't believe me? Well find me at the field next time and try some. You'll be making up your own in no time. Washer fluid is cheap, lots cheaper than Windex and you can steal a 1/4 teaspoon of Cascade from your wife. (Don't volunteer to start the dishes though, or she'll know something's up!) from Northland Flyer, William Crane, Editor 6280 N.W. 49th, Parkville, MO 64151 |