From Joe, March 13:

     It is with great sadness that I must share the news that Art Adamisin has passed.

     Art was inducted into the Control Line and the Model Aviation Hall of Fame. Art's expertise and warm personality resulted in invitations to coach and counsel modelers around the world. His knowledge of engines had him giving multiple lectures around the country.The entire Adamisin family have, and continue, to make major contributions to aeromodeling.

     Below is a link to the memorial services honoring "Big Art".
www.howepeterson.com/obituary/arthur-adamisin

From Rick, March 11,

     The world just lost a most fantastic person, who was a wonderful friend to all of us.

     Prayers for Big Art and his family.

     Richard Utkan, EFO vice-president, lead off the evening by sharing his almost completed FliteTest Spitfire. It is painted in a Russian color scheme. He uses floss picks as surface control horns. That is actually pretty neat! Thanks for the tip Richard.

     It has a small E-max motor which is powered by a 3S 2200mAh LiPo. The three-bladed propeller in the photo was for show. It will be flown with a two-blade prop.

     Bob Blau shared his Force RC F-18. He purchased it from Tower Hobbies.

     The package included a Spektrum AR410 antenna-less receiver. The only items required to complete the model are your own Spectrum transmitter and a 4S 2200mAh LiPo pack. He noted that he had found, while reading about this plane online, that the recommended CG is wrong and changed it. The pack is a super tight fit and can only go in one place.

     He'd also read that the ESC seems to be weak, but since he's not flown it yet, that is yet to be borne out. The detailing is nice and it comes with a lot of add-ons to 'spruce up' its scale looks.

     Owen Morgan shared how he uses a voltage reading device as a notification of time to land. It has a very, very loud buzzer that can be heard when the voltage under load reaches too low of a level. He also shared how the timer on his Turnigy 9XR transmitter actually slows down when the throttle is reduced. None of us had ever seen anything like it before.

     Keith Shaw shared the restoration of his BT-3. It was first built in 1971 as a rubber powered free flight model and covered with Japanese tissue and dope. Later he powered it with a Telco CO2 motor. He attempted to convert the CO2 powered version to RC with a homemade, 2-ch regen receiver using two transistors and paired to very small homemade actuator. It flew marginally well at best. Next he installed a Cox Pee Wee 020. About 1980 or 1981 he converted it to electric power using a brushed Astro Flight 020 motor. The radio controlled the rudder and elevator. Since there was no speed control, the elevator was physically connected to the power on/off switch. When given a brief full down command, the 'string' would pull the power switch to off. This was no problem because the radio system power was separate from the power system power.

     He recently recovered it with yellow Park Lite and Aerofilm green. It has a small out runner and uses a 2S A123 1100mAh pack for power.

     All of the rigging and surface control is done using 10 lb. monofilament fishing line. The tension to the controls can be adjusted by running a covering iron over the line and holding the surface in place until the line cools. Very clever.

     The radial engine was carved out of a block of foam with 'bits and pieces' added and then painted to create the look of a radial.

     The red and yellow plane, sitting on the table with the PT-3 is of unknown origin. Keith had acquired it from a friend and it had hung in his house for years. Bob Kopski and friends are doing radio assisted free flight for fun, as described in a previous issue of the Ampeer. Keith is going to set it up to use it with his single channel, push button radio, which is really a conversion of a conventional 2.4GHz radio to work like a single channel push button style.

     Keith and Ken shared a new radio system that Keith had purchased from Aloft Hobbies. It is called the Avionic RCB6. His system included the Fly-Dream F6TB transmitter and a receiver labeled Avionic RZ8 8-channel.

     The well written Avionic manual, the box the system came in and the Aloft Hobbies' Website all noted that the supplied receiver would be the Avionic RZ6 6-channel.

Opposite End View of the RZ8

     They described the problems that the RZ8 presented to them, as it is not at all similar in binding and setting the failsafe to the RZ6.

     At the same time Keith purchased the $37 system, he also purchased two tiny FD 4R receivers for $14.95 each. Keith noted that they worked very well when he test flew them.

     Keith also brought along a cover that he made for transmitter to protect the switches and gimbal sticks. He plans on using this radio in his slope soaring planes. The transmitter antenna retracts into the transmitter body and the handle folds. The whole unit is 'full size' but very compact when the handle is folded, the transmitter antenna is pushed down and the cover is on. This will make it very convenient when he puts it in his backpack and heads for the slopes on Michigan's west coast.

     Ken showed the videos of how to access the Expo and End Points menu and then the Website that describes how to reach the servo sub-trim menu.

     A full write up of this system appeared in the February 2019 Ampeer.

     After Keith's and Ken's demo of Keith's new radio system, the group broke for some snacks and sodas. Denny Sumner added to the snacks of various chips and dips with some delicious chocolate fudge delights.

     During this time, Ken noticed that it was snowing out. That reminded him that he had something else to share with the group. He'd recently purchased an EGO 56V snowblower. He showed the two 56V 5Ah packs that came with it, along with the charger.

     The big question was, "What's in those Lithium packs?"

     Dave Stacer looked up a YouTube video that showed the construction of the battery pack.

     Ken put that video up on the TV screen. It did show the construction, but did not note the cells used. YouTube then started a video where a fellow actually replaced a 'duff' cell in one of the EGO packs. Once he removed the cell from the pack, it appeared that the cells might be some type of 18650 2.5Ah cells.

     The following day Ken tried to discern what type of cell they are using, but he had no luck.

     It was another great EFO meeting!

     Rick Sawicki was unable to attend the meeting as he was on a cruise going across the Atlantic. Rick had emailed photos of the cruise ship he was on and the photos showed that the ship was covered in about a foot of snow! Dave Stacer brought the photos up on his phone to share will all of us.

     Owen Morgan shared his Phase 3 U-2 Spy Plane.

     He had ordered decals from Callie Graphs to do his version up as the one flown by Francis Gary Powers for the CIA.

     He noted that the launches can be a bit "interesting" as the plane takes a long time to get up to airspeed so that the flying surfaces become effective. The first fifty feet or so can become quite exciting!

     Keith Shaw suggested that he might want to considering using a short bungie type launcher for a less stressful launch instead of changing out the power system in this completely sealed model, to runs a 4S LiPo pack.

     Owen also shared some very interesting plaques that he made. Each plaque has a photo of one of his models along with its full scale history.

     Keith also shared an oldie, but a goodie. It was an Astro Flight brushless 25 with gearbox. Some of the members had not seen anything like that before.

     Ken Myers shared four of his most treasured books with the group.

The Quiet Revolution, by Robert J. Boucher, Astro Flight, 1979 (The book that started it all for Ken going into electric flight.)

Introduction to Electric Flight, by Ian Peacock, Argus Books, 1988 (This book reminded Ken to relate the electric round the pole flying that the EFO did for awhile. It is also an enjoyable read back into the LONG, LONG history of electrically powered models.)

Building and Flying Electric-Powered Model Aircraft, by Mitch Poling, Kalmbach Books, 1984 (This one was also mentioned in last monthÕs Ampeer)

RC Pilot's Handbook, by many authors, AirAge Inc., 1995 (Keith ShawÕs great article titled ÒThe Art of Low-Power AerobaticsÓ, is in this one on p. 79.)

     Denny Sumner entered his beautiful Globe Swift in the static competition at Toledo. More info about his scratch-built model can be found in his build thread on RC Groups.

     Keith Shaw entered both his Vampire flying wing and his Klemm KL-25. Note the cat in the cockpit of the pilot for the Klemm.

June 8, 2018
Hi Robert,

     I've been working on finalizing my plans for the trainer that I call the RUA 2-4-10 since our discussion last weekend at the Keith Shaw Birthday fly-in Coldwater, MI.

     I've been using every free moment since I got home from Coldwater. I'd hoped to have the plans updated by now, so that you could use them, but every time I make one change, it changes something else, and it has turned into more of a project than I expected.

     I don't need all of the prototypes that I've built (10). I'd like to give you two of them. You'll still need to install the radio system, power system and wheels. Only one will have the wire landing gear, as I'm having a problem getting the 1/8" music wire I ordered from Tower months ago. One set of landing gear is really all you'll need as the second airframe is really for a back up anyway.

     You may need to set up the firewall for your mount on the 450, as it is set up with blind nuts now for the Cobra 2217/20.

     If you are interested, we could meet at the Midwest flying field at a date and time that works for you, and maybe do some flying there as well.

Later,
Ken

July 17
Hello Ken,

     Thanks so much again for the trainers!

     I'm setting one of them up now.

Question

     When mounting the motor do I need to set any right and down thrust? Or is that already in the design?

     I hope to have one of them ready to go by next week

Robert

July 17
Hi Robert,

     No right or down thrust has ever appeared to be necessary. Not sure why, but it just hasn't.

     Thanks for coming to the Mid-Am. Always a great pleasure to spend some time with you.

Enjoy it/them,
Ken

July 17

     Thanks again Ken!

     The E-Flite 450 mount sets on perfect to the mount locations! I might try the 10x7 slow flight prop first on it. I'll keep you posted how the flights go.

Cheers!
Robert

July 18
Mornin' Robert,

     A 10x7 Slow Fly should work. I didn't know they made them with that much pitch. As I said, I use an APC 11x5.5E thin electric.

Later,
Ken

July 18
MorninÕ Robert,

     A 10x7 Slow Fly should work. I didn't know they made them with that much pitch. As I said, I use an APC 11x5.5E thin electric.

Later,
Ken

Feb 18, 2019
Hello Ken,

     Thanks for sending the Ampeers to me! I sure do enjoy them!

     I flew one of the RUAs you gave me last summer. It's a beauty to fly! I'll get other one in air this summer. A member of our club would like to build his own. Is it ok if I share the website with him? So he can download plan?

     Attached are a couple of photos. I took them while I was flying. So it's way out there.

     Thank you so much again!

Robert Throne

Feb. 18 2019
Hi Robert,

     Glad you enjoyed the RUA! :-) Thanks for the photos.

     Please give him the Website address so he can build one.
theampeer.org/RUA-2-4-10B/RUA-2-4-10B.html

     Also, please make him aware that some of the links to items required for the build might be broken because of the Horizon Hobby takeover of Tower Hobbies. I've not gotten to get the time to update the links.

     I let one of our other instructors take a student up on one last fall. I found out it can be crashed, but you really have to work hard to do it. That particular student, who I've tried to teach for two years, is extremely 'ham fisted'. The instructor couldn't save it before it hit the ground.

     That's really no problem. The wing was fine. I just need to switch the gear over to one of the other seven I still have. ;-)

Thanks,
Ken

     The Skymasters' Annual Electric Night fly will be held on Saturday, June 8 and the electric fly-in is on Sunday, June 9.

     More details will follow when they become available.

Special Events Again this year for NCM (Not Conventional Materials) aircraft
Traditionally, model aircraft airframes have been mostly constructed from balsa wood, plywood, spruce, and fiberglass. For the purposes of this meet, NCM airframes are mostly constructed from not conventional materials i.e.; sheet foam, foam board, cardboard, block foam, foam insulation material, etc.

Foam Flurry for NCM aircraft:
This is a true event. It is based upon the all up/last down event of early electric meets. Any NCM aircraft may be used (no ARF types). Power systems are limited to a maximum of 3S (no paralleling) LiPo batteries or 4S maximum, no paralleling, for A123 packs. All planes qualifying for this event will launch at the same time, and the last one to land will be declared the winner.

Most Unique NCM Aircraft Award:
An award will be given on Sunday to an aircraft in the NCM category that is judged as 'most unique' by the Mid-Am panel of judges.

To locate the Midwest R/C Society 7 Mile Rd. flying field, site of the Mid-America Electric Flies, look near top left corner of the map, where the star marks the spot, near Seven Mile Road and Currie Rd. Link to the map.

The field entrance is on the north side of Seven Mile Road about 1.6 Miles west of Currie Rd.
Address: 7419 Seven Mile Road, Salem Twp, MI 48167 - numbers are on the fence.

Because of their convenient location and the easy drive to the flying field, the Comfort Suites and Holiday Inn Express in Wixom, MI have been added to the hotels' listing. They are only 10 miles northwest of the field and located near I-96 and Wixom Road. See the map-hotel .pdf for more details.
http://www.theampeer.org/map-hotels.pdf