DCRC Club Meeting

Third Friday of each

Month

7:30 PM

Montgomery County

Council building

100 Maryland Ave

Rockville, MD

PROGRAM:

RAFFLE:

Don’t forget the model

shop.

Volume 60, Issue 2

DCRC

NEWSLETTER

DCRC Club Meeting

February 21, 2014

District of Columbia Radio Control Club Montgomery County Maryland AMA Chartered Club 329 Established 1951

Its so cold today, Have you seen my nuts?

Thank you DCRC for having Indoor flying at

Soccerplex

Volume 60, Issue 2 Page 2

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA RADIO CONTROL CLUB

CARF Models SU-31

Some helpful building

tips By Andy Kane

Well since nobody in our club

wants to share their build projects

or modeling activity this month, I

will provide a short story mostly

photos of a build that I just com-

pleted.

The subject plane is a CARF

Models SU-31 which has a wing

span of 118” and will weigh about

42 pounds when complete. The

engine used was a DA-200 4

cylinder Gasoline engine. the de-

tails of the engine cooling baffling

is shown. This is very important

for all engines but even more so

for 4 cylinder engines. Cooling air

to the rear cy, cylinders is essen-

tial.

The plane incorporates a high

voltage radio system using all JR

High Voltage servos. These ser-

vos provide over 430 oz. in of

torque at 7.4 volts. 2- 6000MAH

2C Lipo batteries power all 10 ser-

vos. You can see in the photos

that the HV servos are mounted to

the servo plate using a metal tray,

when you’re working with servos

that provide this much torque ex-

tra care has to be giving to mount-

ing and securing the servos from

moving. With inadequate mount-

(Continued on page 3)

PRESIDENT: Jim McDaniel

V.P. Walt Gallaugher

County Liaison: Jim McDaniel

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Andy Finizio

Jim Fisher

Walt Gallaugher

David Garrison

Allan Hoffman

Andy Kane

Jim McDaniel

Jose Sanchez

Thomas Pfarr

TREASURER:

Doug Harper

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY:

Jose Sanchez

20017 Haller Ave

Poolesville, MD 20837

RECORDING SECRETARY:

Doug Harper

SHOW TEAM MANAGER:

Jim McDaniel & Allan Hoffman

NEWSLETTER EDITOR:

Andy Kane

dcrcpres@gmail.com

MEETING PROGRAM COORDINATOR:

Walt Gallaugher

OFFICIAL CLUB PHOTOGRAPHER:

Thomas Pfarr

The DC/RC Newsletter is published monthly

by the District of Columbia Radio Control Inc.

Deadline for submitting materials for publica-

tion is the last Friday of each month. Any part

of the newsletter may be reproduced for non-

profit purposes unless otherwise noted. Please

credit the Newsletter and Author if named.

Articles may not reflect the opinion of the club,

but that of the author.

www.dc-rc.org Did you know that any airplane brought in to the

model shop will receive 3 free raffle tickets. Bring in

your models each month for your free tickets, and to

share ideas.

So Cold when will spring be here!

Photo by Andy Kane

SOME BUILDING TIPS PG 2

HOW TO BUILD A FUEL TANK PG 3

JANUARY CLUB MEETING PG 4

FAA AND AMA SIGN AN AG-

GREEMENT

PG 5

Volume 60, Issue 2 Page 3

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA RADIO CONTROL CLUB

ing the servo could tear itself right

out of the mount. See photos.

Metal servos arms are used to

maintain rigidity and I always re-

place the servo screw with a

socket head screw for better tight-

ening. Stainless all thread push

rods are used to connect the servo

to the control surface. The once

the length of the rod is determined

a Brass tube sleeve is fitted over

the threaded rod and butts on each

end to provide the stiffness needed

for this plane. 2 servos per aileron

are used one for each elevator half

and 2 for the rudder using a pull-

pull system. To maintain lightness

in the internal structure the manu-

facturer provides CF laminated

balsa wood for all the tank trays

and rudder servo trays. The main

equipment tray is removable for

easy of service.

Here you can see the location of

the counter balance weight .75 oz

which is added to the leading edge

of the elevator air balance. This is

done to move the CG of the con-

trol surface and provide better re-

sistance to osolation or flutter.

The pull-pull cables attached to the

rudder control horn. On the bot-

tom of the control horn are the

links going to the steerable tail

wheel. A cable hood adds a nice

finishing touch and helps to cover

that huge hole you made for the

cable exit. Especially if you made

it in the wrong location. You want

the cable to ride free from friction

for best operation.

This final photo shows my remov-

able battery philosophy. The bat-

teries are wrapped in foam and

on an “easily” removable mount-

ing plate all 4 batteries can be

charged outside the plane.

Checkout the links for the web

pages showing the online manual,

some photos of the plane offering

and a flying video.

CARF Models web

CARF Instruction manual

Online flying video

JR 8711HV servo

Desert Aircraft DA-200

SWB control arms

who would like to ride their horses on

our site sometime in late January or

early February. We are fine with this

since it is during the week and the

weather is cold. There will be an

email with the date once we know

what it is.

Model Shop: David Harris presented

his TopFlite SE5 that he built for the

second time. He liked the first one so

much he found a second one to build.

It has a 53" wingspan and uses a Mag-

num 4-stroke for power. He made the

landing gear shock absorbing and in-

stalled a steerable tail wheel for flying

off the pavement. He covered it with

synthetic tissue for light weight. The

tissue comes prepainted and looks

great. It came in at 5.5 pounds so

should fly well. David worked on it

on and off for two years and the final

product is beautiful.

Gus Crosetto presented an experiment

he ran to study to see what was re-

quired to scale down a larger model to

a smaller one. He measured many

parameters for two different models

and compared these to the full scale

(Continued on page 5)

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA RADIO CONTROL CLUB

Volume 60, Issue 2 Page 4

January Club

Meeting Minutes BY DOUG HARPER

The meeting, held at the

County Office Building, was called to

order by President Jim McDaniel at

7:40 PM. Jim asked for the introduc-

tion of any new members or guests.

None were present.

Jim announced that Andy Kane had a

full supply of orange DCRC shirts for

sale. There was active buying of said

shirts by the membership.

County Liaison: Jim an-

nounced that the County

Public Facility director

called Jim and apolo-

gized to us for double

booking our meeting

room last month.

Events: Jim apologized for the water

main break at the Soccerplex last

week. It is now repaired and we have

the field every Wednesday from here

on. It would be a good idea to check

their web site just in case.

Training/Community Outreach : Jim

Fisher has developed a

flight training schedule

for 2014. Last year

worked well but will be

improved even more this

year. He plans to do 14

sessions this year, April through Oc-

tober, as well as five IPP sessions. He

has acquired three Apprentice trainer

planes that will be used with students

(and instructors) who might need a

little more help. First session is April

19. Jose is in the process of rebuild-

ing several new BigStik airframes.

We will do one IPP session in the af-

ternoon each month after regular

flight training is finished.

Jim is looking for a new school where

we can do a STEM night. We will

talk to Montgomery County to see if

we can do something there. We will

also do the Rockville Science Fair

again this year. We get a lot of expo-

sure from these activities.

Field Maintenance: Jim announced

that we have been reimbursed for the

solar panel damage that occurred dur-

ing the ADA work last Fall. While

we didn't expect the County to do

this, we are grateful for their help.

Dave Garrison has gone over the solar

charging system and made sure all

connections are tight. The batteries

survived the recent cold snap. This

system continues to be used, even in

the winter months.

Membership: Jose Sanchez continues

to get membership re-

newals. We are at about

160 members. The Club

has received $400 in do-

nations and flight training

has also received $400.

Safety Coordinator: Walt

Gallaugher had no report.

Raffle: David Garrison presented an

electric P51 Mustang in-

door that comes with a 4-

blade propeller and

AS3X gyro stabilized

receiver. The winning

ticket was held by Tom

Pfarr who received a

rousing hand for his luck. There was

some grousing about a Board Member

winning again.

Treasure’s Report: Doug wrote three

checks in excess of $100 this month.

He had a copy of the YTD Budget

Report for anyone who cares to see it.

Web Site: Tom Pfarr. No report.

Newsletter: Andy Kane reported that

he has published the first electronic

issue of the newsletter. Andy re-

peated his plea for input to the news-

letter.

New/Old Business: The Club has

been approached by a Hunting Group

Volume 60, Issue 2 Page 5

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA RADIO CONTROL CLUB

deHavilland plane. He looked at such

things as wingspan, chord, wing area,

fuse length, etc. He determined that

cubic wing load is the best way to

compare models that are radically

different in size and ranges from

around 10 to 12 across very different

sized airplanes. He also determined

the scale speed of each as well.

Froude's Number is a way to compare

the scale speed for a model that is

being tested in a wind tunnel. Gus

showed his models to support his very

interesting talk.

Joe Pauley gave a follow up discus-

sion of his foam board B2 model that

he presented at the December meet-

ing. He found it climbed under power

when he flew it so he had to go back

to the drawing board to make some

changes. He plans to fly it again

when the weather warms a bit.

Program: No program this month.

The meeting adjourned at 8:45PM.

FAA, AMA Work To-

gether on Model Air-

craft/UAS Safety

January 13, 2014 –Today’s “model”

aircraft are different from what many of

us remember from our childhood. Back

then, model aircraft were built for collec-

tions or display and a daring few even

flew them for fun. Today, they can have

wingspans approaching 20 feet and run

on multiple small jet engines. A new di-

mension to model aircraft flying is the

advent of inexpensive, ready-to-fly toy or

model unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)

that almost anyone can purchase and fly.

The technology used to control these

small UAS has advanced so significantly

that many are controlled by applications

on smartphones or tablets.

So it makes perfect sense for the FAA’s

UAS Integration Office and the Academy

for Model Aeronautics—the national

body for model aviation for 77 years – to

work together

toward ensuring

modelers fly

their model

a i r c r a f t / UAS

without any risk

to manned air-

craft or to peo-

ple and prop-

erty on the

ground.

On January 12,

Jim Williams,

head of the UAS Integration Office, and

Academy of Model Aeronautics president

Bob Brown signed an agreement formal-

izing a relationship between the FAA and

AMA during the latter group’s annual

expo in Ontario, Calif. The FAA believes

AMA’s detailed safety procedures pro-

mote safe model operations and serve as

an excellent resource for AMA members

and other non-member model aircraft

enthusiasts alike.

Under the agreement, AMA will serve as

a focal point for the aero-modeling com-

munity, the hobby industry and the FAA

to communicate relevant and timely

safety information. The group will estab-

lish and maintain a comprehensive safety

program for its members, including

guidelines for emerging technologies such

as model UAS. The group also agreed to

foster a “positive and cooperative envi-

ronment” with modelers toward the FAA

and any applicable regulations.

For its part, the FAA will review and ad-

vise on the AMA safety program, using

the UAS Integration Office to address any

mutual issues or concerns. The agency

also will educate FAA field employees

about the latest aero-modeling technolo-

gies and operating standards to foster a

reciprocal cooperative attitude toward the

AMA.

The FAA-AMA pact is important because

the 2012 FAA Reauthorization contained

language specific to model aircraft. Con-

gress mandated that the FAA cannot regu-

late model aircraft operated according to

community-based standards developed by

a national organization – a designation

that AMA satisfies. Both the FAA and the

aircraft modelers’

group believe

jointly working to

ensure continued

safe operation of

model aircraft will

comply with the

congressional di-

rective.

In a broader sense,

model aircraft

safety is a concern

for everyone, re-

gardless of where they fly, whether they

are a traditional radio-controlled aircraft

or a UAS. As Jim Williams noted in his

remarks to the group, “Safe model UAS

operations will help to ensure that this

industry continues to grow and bring the

joy of recreational or hobby flying to

more people than ever before.”

More on FAA and AMA

http://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsI

d=75599

FAA Executive Manager James Williams and AMA

President Bob Brown at AMA Expo 2014

First Class Mail

February 2014

Andy Kane/Newsletter Editor

305 Natick Court

Silver Spring, MD 20905

E-mail: dcrceditor@aol.com

One of the oldest and largest RC

clubs in the US.

And now an AMA Gold Leader Club

District of Columbia

Radio Control Club

www.dc-rc.org

A nearly unbelievable video of a drone that delivers 12-packs of beer to ice fishers on a frozen lake turns out to be too good to be true.

Beermaker Lakemaid created the video as a riff on Amazon's announcement on 60 Minutes last month, where the company showed a theoretical

vision of a service that delivers small packages by air, autonomously. But where Amazon's vision of the future is just that — a vision — Lakemaid

was well into the process of creating such a service for local beer delivery, though those plans have been put on ice by the Federal Aviation Ad-

ministration.

"They think it's a great idea, though they're telling me to stop," Lakemaid president Jack Supple told The Verge, adding that the FAA considers the

project commercial and therefore off limits until those policies are reviewed and potentially revised next year.

Supple says the Amazon service was indeed the spark for the idea, which Lakemaid had planned to test out at Minnesota's Twin Pines Resort, situ-

ated on the western shore of Mille Lacs lake. The idea was to let those who were ice fishing put in orders without having to make their way back

onto land.

"You know that people sitting in houses, just for the novelty of it, would order it," Supple says. "A frozen lake is the perfect venue."

But the reality of delivering beers by drone is not a simple operation. In the video you see a 12-pack take to the skies under the clutches of a six-

propeller drone, though in reality it wasn't able to carry a full load. "It did deliver the box with something in it," Supple says. "[But] we had to keep

taking bottles out to get it off the ground." An eight-propeller drone that's capable of lifting nearly 16 pounds would make short work of it though,

and was going to be the delivery vehicle of choice for a real version of the service.

HUMAN CONTROL STILL REQUIRED

Another wrinkle: the video depicts the drone taking off and arriving to GPS coordinates seemingly on its own volition, something Supple also

chalks up to video magic. The drone was actually being piloted by a human with a full visual of what was going on, though Supple believes the

technical limitations of programming in the locations would be simple given how low ice fishing buildings are, and how flat the frozen lake is.

Lakemaid's video is not the first airborne alcohol delivery project to be shown off, nor is it likely to be the last. Earlier this month champagne ven-

dor Plus de Bulles showed a video of champagne being sent to a bar near the top of the Verbier resort in Switzerland, though it required the recipi-

ent to take it off the drone with a pair of pliers. During an earnings call last month, FedEx's chief executive also noted that its current drone deliv-

ery research was currently capable of carrying "about" four cans of beer, with an operational time of roughly eight minutes.

Despite running up against the legal roadblock, and some rather obvious implications of running into other legal trouble complying with drinking

age requirements, Supple says he's not giving up hope on the service, nor is the FAA. "They've told me ‘you'll be ready.'"

And other news: Heavy lift Quad copter test