K-FACTOR
June 2020 Volume 49 Issue 6
Official Publication of the National Society of Radio Controlled Aerobatics
Who’s ready to get back to the field? In our nation, we still have some fields that are closed but others are open. If you can, get out and fly while practicing safe distancing and cleanliness. Remember, 150 meters only applies to the distance between you and your airplane! ~Photo: Gary Switala at Arizona Model Aviators June 2020 K-Factor | 1
In This Issue: Member Article
3
NSRCA Officers
6
District News 9 F3P 20
We are RC! Jim Mowrey(sitting), Larry Mowrey (left standing), Jonathan Mowrey (right standing), and Beckham (sitting on GreatGrandpa’s lap)
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Contact Us
21
NSRCA Application
22
Member Article
Pattern Aircraft Color Schemes {Editor’s Note – This article appeared in the May 2014 issue of the KFactor magazine and was written by Jon Lowe} While experimenting with my Spark testbed airplane, I decided to do some tests on color scheme visibility. This hadn’t been an original intent, but became a target of opportunity after a covering test I had done didn’t work out the way I expected. I’d first taken an interest in this a couple of years ago. I was calling for John Fuqua, and noticed that he had changed the color scheme on the bottoms of his Vanquish wings from the original red/white/yellow scheme, to a day glow orange/dark blue large four square scheme, the scheme Dave Brown popularized, (although my Dad says Dave Scully was the first he knew of to use it). I noticed that I could really see what the airplane was doing, unlike the stock Vanquish scheme I had at the time. I talked to John about it after the flight, and he said words to the effect of “I couldn’t see the damn thing, so I stripped off the original covering and recovered the bottoms of the wings.” I filed this information away for future reference. On my Vanquish, the red and white stripes on the bottom of the wings blended into a pinkish white, and the stripes were indistinguishable. I also noticed that the day glow orange didn’t fade over time on his plane, unlike what I had seen before when it was used on the top surfaces.
Original Vanquish wing bottom scheme. Doesn’t work
wings. He suggested a contrasting color at the leading edges. We talked about doing it while he was in Huntsville, but didn’t get around to it. Another piece of information filed away.
John Fuqua’s scheme on his current Prolog. Same as his Vanquish
My next airplane was a Nuance. It had an orange and white scheme on the bottom of the wings. While it was better than the Vanquish, it wasn’t ideal. In addition, the top of the wings and tails appeared as though they were made for looking at on the ground, not in the air. Looking around at other ARF pattern airplanes, most of the schemes looked good on the ground, but many were hard to see in the air. Biplanes could be especially bad because of their smaller wings. Another few pieces of data filed away. I also talked to my Dad about color schemes. He reminded me that when he had been competing, most of his airplanes were red, with large white wing and tail tips, all for visibility. Large, simple, geometric shapes, another piece of data filed away. When I got my Proteus fuselages last year, one of them was already painted in Andrew Jesky’s color scheme, primarily red/white/blue, with some yellow accents. When it came time to cover the wings and tails, I looked at his scheme, but wanted to do something a little different. On the bottom, I used day glow orange at the wingtips, and on top, I used red on the tips. I contrasted that with large white and blue panels, top and bottom, with a dash of yellow on the top. For the most part, this scheme worked for me, and I could clearly see the wingtips inverted or upright. However at the Huntsville contest in September of last year, Jason Shulman flew one of my Proteus’ in the contest. He noted that he had a hard time seeing the wing leading edges in the large white panels on the top and bottom of the
My Proteus wing scheme, bottom and top
When I got the Spark as a test bed, I thought about getting a set of Dave Snow wings for it since they are much lighter than the stock wings. It turned out that Andrew Jesky had a set that had been fitted to a Spark, and were ready to cover, that he didn’t need. I bought them from him. At the same time, as I mentioned previously in my monthly column, I was going to use HobbyKing covering film on the wings and tails, as I had had good luck with it in smaller applications previously. HobbyKing didn’t not have a day glow orange, but they did have a day glow green. So I decided to try it on the bottom wing tips. The top surfaces had a different scheme than my Proteus’ due to the color scheme on the Spark fuselage, but the upper wing and tail tips where still red, contrasting with white on the bottom, and yellow/white on the top.
June 2020 K-Factor | 3
Pattern Color Schemes disappeared against a blue sky! I flew it at the contest like that, but resolved to fix it when I got home. He also made a comment about the leading edges of the wings similar to the one he made about my Proteus scheme. When I got home, I stripped off the day glow green and recovered with day glow orange. I also put a stripe of day glow orange on the white panel leading edge on the bottom of the wings, about 2.5 inches wide. The next nice day, I flew the plane, and while I could now see the tips, I couldn’t see the orange strip at the leading edge at all! It blended right into the white.
Final Spark wing, bottom
Spark wings bottom, Original day glow Green on the left, current day glow orange, right
Spark wing, bottom, orange leading edge. Didn’t work
Spark wing, top
The first flights with this scheme on the Spark worked pretty well. The days were generally overcast or cloudy, and the day glow green showed up well. However, I had one day where the sky was mostly clear, and I had a harder time seeing the tips. I didn’t think too much about it at the time, because I was only getting one good flying day per couple of weeks this past winter. I took the Spark to a contest in Apopka, FL. The sky was mostly blue. I was having a hard time seeing the bottom wing tips. I let Jason Shulman fly it, and he noticed the same thing. Day glow green just
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When I got home from flying that day, I stripped off the orange stripe, and put a dark blue stripe at the leading edge on bottom, red on top, 3.5 inches wide. The next time I flew, while I really couldn’t see the strip of blue or red at box ends, I could tell where the leading edges of the wings were, top and bottom.
Final Spark wing, top
My conclusions/observations to date are these. Stripes or blocks of color need to be around 3.5 to 4 inches wide to be distinguishable in the air. Simple large blocks of high contrasting colors are best in all kinds of light and colors of sky. Narrower stripes just blend together at any distance. I suspect that the day glow green didn’t work because it is too light in color. My nest airplane with have the 4 square day glow/ dark blue scheme on the bottom. It is the easiest to do, and the most visible. I would have done it on my Proteus originally, but the stepped tip suggested the contrasting tip approach. Now I know different.
Pattern Color Schemes I’ve had some people suggest that with the day glow colors that the judges can see the wings better, and will downgrade more. I take the opposite approach. In order for judges to see good or bad, they first need to see the plane. If they can’t tell what the airplane is doing, how can they be expected to give high scores? If the judge can see the wings, then he is more likely to see the points of a roll, the roundness of a loop, the straightness of a line, and the higher he will score. For what it is worth, Monokote day glow/ florescent orange, is extremely difficult to put down. It does not act like other Monokote colors, and leaves white stripes if there is even a hint of a crease when ironing it down. Day glow/florescent orange Ultracote is much easier to apply. It isn’t quite as bright as the Monokote, but it goes on well. The other colors on the Spark wings are HobbyKing covering. It lays down well, and I actually prefer it to either Monokote or Ultracote.
all of his planes. Simple, large geometric shapes, top and bottom, in contrasting colors, with a wide stripe near the leading edge. Hmmm, maybe, just maybe, he’s on to something!
Andrew Jesky’s scheme
Now, after all of this, I go back and look again at the scheme Andrew Jesky uses on
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NSRACA Officers
Hear from Your NSRCA Officers President
Archie Stafford 21564 Harrison St. | Great Mills MD 20634 301-247-9298 | rcpattern2012@gmail.com As most of you know, the NSRCA board voted unanimously to cancel the 2020 NATS. I want you all to know it was not a decision that was make lightly. While many parts of the country are starting to reopen, we do have other areas that are still dealing with significant issues. Many of our volunteers fit the high-risk category, and it certainly wasn’t worth the risk to those people or any pilots as well. Another significant concern was the lack of preparation that many pilots have had. Many districts will have had zero contests prior to the NATS. We will have a team trials later this year and then can focus our efforts on a fantastic 2021 NATS and World Championships. I hope that many of you have had a chance to finish a new plane this year. As I mentioned back in February, I have been waiting a new Cuantic from CA Models and unfortunately due to COVID-19 shipping was significantly delayed. I just received shipping notification this week, so hopefully over the next month or so I can get it in the air. I’ve been a big fan of Marian Gostanian designs, so I’m really looking forward to the Cuantic. I sincerely hope that as we go forward and the country begins to open up, that we
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remember that there may be friends and locations that may be slower to recover. I’ve been disappointed by some of the comments I’ve seen online recently about people in a given location complaining about the lock downs. It certainly hasn’t been ideal for any of us, but we need to remember those that may have been even more impacted, and sometime it never hurts to reach out to pilots that we know that may live in the affected areas. Many times, just spending an hour or two talking about flying or whatever can make a huge impact on someone. Until next month….stay safe! Arch
Vice President
Charlie Barrera 2627 Silver Shadow | Conroe, TX. 77304 (936) 494-0063 charliebarrera@consolidated.net Hello again, everyone. By the time you read this article, you will know that the NSRCA has withdrawn our participation in the 2020 Precision Aerobatics NATS. The NSRCA Board of Directors has deliberated over this decision for more than a month. We have observed other events canceled prior to our decision. Major events such as Sun ‘n Fun, and AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI, full scale airplane events, were the first to be canceled. We paid close attention to this.
We knew that the health environment was not changing fast enough for us to continue with the NATS. In addition to that is the environment associated with the travel to the NATS. Many states are just beginning to “open up”. However, some states still require a 2-week quarantine when arriving. Additionally, infrastructure is questionable. Will there be restaurants open? Will they allow large groups to sit together? I do not think many NATS participants would want to shop at the local A&P for groceries and seek out a microwave to have his or her meals alone in the hotel room. What about the hotel? Are they clean? Would you have to bring your own bottle of Lysol and disinfect every time you return to your room? We also have several of our competitors in the high-risk category. I would expect them to not attend the NATS. This also brings up the question of the expense to have the NATS. In years past, we have had about 70 competitors show up. We have never broken even on our expense to have the NATS. I realize that that is why we have our organization, to promote the sport of precision aerobatics. However, we anticipated that there would be fewer participants than at a local contest. Would this really be a national competition? All these factors went into our decision to not have the NATS. I am hoping that next year things will be back to normal. Another item that the board is considering is the 2021 Team tryouts for the World competition next year. We are discussing where and when to have a team selection. We are hoping to have it in a central location. Many venues are being evaluated, including the AMA headquarters in Muncie. Dates are also being evaluated…more to follow. My Dirty Birdy is finally finished. I completed it today.
NSRCA Officers Econokote. I chose the color orange for its visibility. I’ve learned that the brighter colors are easier to see in all light conditions (please read the article by Jon Lowe on choosing color in this month’s KFactor). The bottom of the wing and stabilizer is Insignia Blue and White, also for better visibility.
It came out at just over 3400 grams, including battery. . I power it with an E-flite 60 470kv Outrunner motor. I still have a couple of items left before I fly. I’ve yet to balance the model and adjust the control throws. I hope to do this very soon and have it in the air within the next few days. I’ve used servos from my pattern planes for the control surfaces. These include Futaba S9650 (elevator), S9350 (rudder), and S9551 (ailerons). These are all digital servos. I enjoyed building the model. It is my first build (from scratch) in many years. It was a joy to cut balsa, get glue in my fingers, cover and paint. I’m spoiled in that I usually buy an ARF model and simply assemble it. This model airplane is a blast from the past for me. I had a Dirty Birdy 40 in the early 80’s, that met its demise because of pilot error. I flew the model with dual rates and on a bunt from the top, with the dual rate set on LOW, I ran out of elevator as I hit the ground. Ouch! It was a total loss. I never rebuilt it, nor replaced it with another. But I always enjoyed flying it. I knew I would build it again. Finally, after months of searching for a suitable kit, I purchased the short kit from Eureka Aircraft Company. They have a variety of wood kits, some with foam core wings. These are short kits. Much of the balsa must be purchased separately. However, the major components such as the wing ribs and fuselage parts are provided, including the canopy.These pieces are laser cut so their fit is exact. I used a wing jig to build the wing, and a flat table to build the fuselage. Everything went together well, and I had the basic structure framed in a couple of days.
These colors provide good contrast. It’s easy to see if whether I’m looking at the top of the airplane or the bottom. The paint finish on the fuselage was relatively inexpensive. I had seen this technique done by others and found that a nice finish can be accomplished with ease and simplicity. I elected to install E-flite retracts. I use electric retracts instead of the air driven ones. I modified the plans to accommodate the retracts in a conventional tail dragger configuration. It was a fun build and I think it will be fun to fly. I hope to have it in the air very soon.
Secretary
Justin Wells 20811 Surrey Creek Ct. | Katy, TX 77450 832-356-6408 | secretary@nsrca.org “Dear NSRCA family, while Justin is still acting as our NSRCA Secretary, he is stepping down and has begun his tenure as District 6 VP. We are looking for and encouraging members to step up and volunteer to fill the Secretary position for the next year for Justin. If you are interested, please contact Justin by the information above. The NSRCA is always here for you, do you have time to be there for us? We’d love to hear from you.”
Until next time… Fly straight; keep your radiuses constant, and stay in the box. Charlie Barrera…OUT!
SAFETY FIRST
Have you selected the correct model on the transmitter?
As I reported last month, the finish on the fuselage is Rustoleum 2X paint. The wings and horizontal stabilizer are covered with
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NSRCA Officers Treasurer
John Decker 2878 Carrera Ct | League City, TX 77573 281-627-9474 | johndecker@sbcglobal.net During this Covid-19 pandemic we were lucky enough to be able to work from home. As I write this article my wife has been home for more than 10 weeks. She schedules the unassigned astronauts training schedules and only mission critical personnel are allowed on site at JSC, but she must work, or they don’t train. Every other Friday she had to work from home anyway, they call it “Flex Friday” and it’s supposed to save the government money, so it’s something she was used to doing. On the other hand I always went to my office, so I was not used to working from home other than checking email. It’s been different. I’ve talked with a lot of friends and everyone agrees that you are much more efficient working from home. And everyone enjoys the almost two hours a day extra not having to get ready for work and then driving the commute. As of May 1st I’ve been back at the office with all of the administration staff and realize who the time stealers are who stick their head in my door and say “I have a quick question, won’t take five minutes” and before you know it I’ve lost an hour of my day. Welcome back to normal, what happened to the “New Normal”? Every one of my staff have asked if there was ever a possibility for them to work from home all the time or even one or two days a week. I wouldn’t mind but I’m not sure our Chairman of the Board would allow it. It’s something I think I must explore.
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With the extra 10 hours gained a week not commuting, you would think I could get in a lot of flying. Our flying club is on a city park that we have occupied for 45 years and was not shut down. Every time I went down to the field there were at least 10 guys flying and everyone was observing social distancing. Being a bunch of guys we kind of do that anyway so it’s not that different. It is weird not shaking hands though. For some reason, for the two months I was at home, the wind didn’t drop down below 15-20 mph except for one day. Every upcoming contest was being canceled so it was sort of hard to motivate to go fly expensive planes in gusty winds. From the north usually and I hate that direction anyway…so every repair on every plane is done, I even upgraded the software on my transmitter, and the entire fleet is ready to go if we ever get to fly in a contest again. One thing I did was use the simulator. I have a friend that flies a huge simulator that emulates F15’s and he does these hours long missions that start at take off all the way to landing. He recently went Virtual Reality on his simulator and let me try out his many different VR headsets. There is a lot of difference in quality. I had Real Flight 8 and Aerofly RC7 and I upgraded both to RF9 and RC8 and they both support VR. What was cool, was that using the VR headset is like standing on the side of the runway and not like using the simulator on a flat screen. You know how that is, if you keep the ground in sight the plane gets so small you can’t see wings level and if you zoom on the plane you find yourself flying behind the stands before you know it. I am happy to report that the new Oculus Rift S is the best current Virtual Realty headset on the market for RF9 and Aerofly RC8. It’s not perfect and the quality of VR will keep improving but it’s the most like real pattern flying and it was worth the $500 because you can fly at any time and it really does help improve your flying. I spent one day practicing slow rolls only and when I went out to the field a few days later my slow rolls were so much better I can now say they are “pretty”. And that alone was worth the money. Always land wheels down, John Decker
Districts
District News
Here is a side-by-side picture of one of the early electric models versus a current-day top-level competitive model, both used in FAI competition. The closer model is to the right, a Prestige, from 2006. It used to be considered one of the bigger models at that time. The further-away model is the Allure-Bipe, which is clearly larger even though it is further away from the photographer.
D1 |Salvatore Piu spiurc@comcast.net CT•ME•MA•NH•NJ•NY•PA•RI•VT
Spring is here, well at least intermittently! D1 temps have been varying from week to week, from high 70’s to a high of mid-30’s, taxing both the heating and a/c systems! Yet, Covid-19 impacting effective flying opportunities continue in the D1 region. Some CDs/clubs have elected to cancel their respective events due to Covid-19; therefore, I recommend contestants to periodically check this year’s contest schedule for latest updates. While some states may be loosening stay-home restrictions, local New Jersey and New York conditions will probably cause this region to loosen up / open up at different rate from the rest of the country. The D1 2020 latest contest season schedule is posted https://nsrca.us/index.php/d1-patterncontests. Here is an update to some nearterm events: •
•
June 6-7, Sky Chiefs’ Canandaigua, NY event is now cancelled. CD/club is considering to re-schedule this event for sometime in July or beyond. June 20, HVRC, Haverstraw, NY event is cancelled
Last month, I recalled my pre-electric pattern planes. Since the mid 2000’s, most pattern pilots, myself included, have converted to all-electric pattern models. The evolution of our models has continued. Models now use even bigger props, typically about 21 inches in diameter, and sometimes two props are run in a counter-rotating direction to take out motor torque effects.
Maneuver complete, Sal Piu
D2 | Tim Pritchett 1417 Deer Forest Drive Fort Mill, SC 29707 | tjpritchett@aol.com DC•DE•MD•NC•SC•VA
As of this writing, NSRCA involvement in the 2020 NATS has just been officially cancelled by unanimous vote of the BoD. We await the AMA decision, by June 10, whether to holds NATS without us, or not at all. Too many forces stacked up against supporting it: 1. Our membership is squarely in the highest risk category for contracting, and perishing from covid-19. 2. There’s no real way for leadership to uphold the various requirements; social distancing, mass gathering, etc. 3. Current laws prohibit planning events for more than 10 participants, as a specific prohibition
4. Infrastructure (hotels, restaurants, bars, etc.) are limited or closed altogether. 5. Time for registration was cut massively short by AMA, preventing a lot of advance planning 6. Many regulars have said they weren’t going to come 7. With 53 pilots last year, and 72 the year before, the prospect of a 50% turnout means a NATS may only entertain ~30 pilots. 8. Our projected budget impact was +~$250, but turnout would ensure that would become a loss. ….And the list goes on. On a personal note, I very unexpectedly lost my aunt this Monday, 5/11, to C-19. She was 91, and fading somewhat in a retirement community. But it caught up with her, and she contracted it a week prior, with what looked like a mild case, until the last day. So as the list of people with similar experiences grow, and hits closer and closer to home, the comfort level diminishes for having an event that most certainly puts us at undue risk. I hate it, but cancelling seems the prudent call. I hope you agree, but let me know if not. I cast a vote on your behalf that affects you, as well as the whole country; I solicit your comments. Ok, off of politico-medical issues, and on to a little story telling. In full disclosure, the Pandora had quite a mishap. On a ½ square downline, both ailerons suddenly decided that they had had enough of the plane, and parted company! All I knew at that point was that ‘something’ catastrophic had happened, with that resounding “WHACK!” noise, that seems to accompany all such mishaps. I had power, elevator, and it seemed to steer, albeit a little oddly. I powered it back to the field, and it wasn’t until the landing attempt that I realized what I was missing. A servo was hanging by the wire, and I saw the missing slots where the ailerons were. There was a more than moderate cross-wind as I squared off to land, and all of this information came to light….3 feet from the ground! The wind tipped
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Districts the wings, so I powered up to try and straighten out, but was quickly running out of runway. I landed wing-tip low, and hit the ground hard. The obligatory landing gear plate crack was the first victim, followed by the wing cracking just beyond the foam-imbedded spar. However the biggest loss was the ailerons, which I did not retrieve, thinking ‘I’ll just build another set’. -DUMB! Always go get your stuff!! It wasn’t until it was home and one the bench that I realized that even the pieces would have told me more about what broke, and provided templates for the new one. GB Models is in Austria, and they’re not exactly renowned for their response times. Matt Griffitt has a few semi-finished Pandora’s, and has been profoundly helpful in providing information, and volunteering parts for the repair. Presently, the wing has been rejoined (actually, the least consequential damage), theLG plate has been reinstalled, and the contest balsa has arrived, awaiting my attention…I have a project ahead! So, what caused this mess? Well, as with several fields I’ve been to, my present club seems to have a problem with radio interference. I flew this plane for 7 months at Monroe NC, and never felt a blip. At this club, it’s back to the way it was with the Epic. About every other round, something weird happens. The plane pitches violently, rolls unexpectedly, or the controls ‘lockup’ for a second or two. I believe that the ailerons both threw to the extreme, and the load ripped them off of the plane. It’s just too wild to think that they would both fly off at the same time, unprovoked. Obviously, it’s been through that maneuver 50+ times, as well as more violent ones. The recon showed that the glue on the
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hinges held fast; the balsa actually failed around the hinges (CA-hinges) with a lot of balsa still on them. The wood is very soft/light, which may have made it easier to fail, but not on its own. It’ll have a new radio system before it goes back up….with a different brand name as well. I can’t risk a third radio induced wreck from just one manufacturer. And you know the definition of insanity?! Sad pictures!
D3 | Robert Campbell AL•FL•GA•MS•PR•TN
I’m certain everyone knows by now the Pattern NATS are cancelled. There were several factors that contributed to that decision. First, the cancellation of the Scale NATS, which was scheduled for the week before our event factored into the decision. Second is the concern of low turn-out due to COVID-19 concerns and the potential financial impact to the NSRCA. Our budget is tight and we don’t want to find ourselves in a money losing situation with regard to the trophies and the banquet. We were also concerned with limits on restaurant seating. Part of the fun of going to contests is going out to dinner with people you don’t see every weekend. We felt the potential of having to either microwave meals or bring take-out back to the motel room would also discourage attendance. The NATS cancellation leaves the NSRCA with a major challenge. This is a team
Districts selection year and now we need to hold a separate team selection contest. We need a venue and a timeframe. Since we haven’t done a separate team selection in many years, we are open to suggestions for both timeframe and venue. And, we are also soliciting ideas on how do we incentivize a sufficient number of qualified judges and additional persons to work in various support capacities. Again, if you have any ideas, please let me know. Now that the NATS is cancelled, here’s what we’re looking at for the rest of the year. We lost the D2/D3 shoot-out in May, also due to COVID-19. Our next officially scheduled contest is the Crestview contest on 26 and 27 September. We may also have a contest in late August. More to follow on that. After Crestview, we have the Cajun NATS (D-6 contest), Jacksonville, and the District Championships in Archer. This year really turned out to be the lost year. If you have any ideas for the team selection, please e-mail me at rgc1701@gmail.com.
put a leash on my wandering mind and try to make it focus on something strictly Pattern. Last year about this time Greyson Pritchett and I both lost our best airplanes in a midair. Fortunately we both had usable backups to complete the season. I was offered, for loan or sale at a good price, several very nice airplanes. I decided to soldier on with the Prolog that had been hanging on my shop wall for a couple of seasons. That gave me a chance to look at what was available and pick the design that suited me best. I couldn’t help but notice that Greyson, Verne Koester and Forrest Pilkenton were flying BJ Craft Elements. Verne is always at the top of Masters in D4 and Forrest and Greyson both did very well with theirs at the 2019 Nats. I have had good luck with BJ Craft airplanes, and when I saw that Mike Meuler had an ARC version of the Element in stock I grabbed it.
My skill set is more aligned with airplanes like these…traditional balsa model aircraft, done the way they were done from the 30’s into the 60’s. What I’m going to show you is an Ordinary Guy Airplane, done to a level we can all reach. I am thankful to Verne Koester, Bill and Greyson Pritchett and Forrest Pilkenton for their advice, assistance and allowing me to photograph and stare at their airplanes for the second half of last season.
Here’s my finished Element.
I like ARC airplanes mainly because most of the factory color schemes are hard for me to see. They look great on the ground but the intricate schemes tend to break up the outline and my eyes get confused. I’ve used the same rather simple scheme for several years going back to some prepattern airplanes and it’s worked well. I took the challenge of learning to build modern glass fuse airplanes in order to use that scheme, starting with a Xigris C2 ten or so years ago. It’s been fun ever since.
D4 | Scott McNickle P.O. Box 163 | Mt. Pleasant, OH 43939 nelson_jett@comcast.net | 740.769.7882 IN•KY•MI•OH•WV
And Now for Something Completely Different (Thank you Monty Python) Those of you who have been reading these little sermonettes for a while are aware that most of the time you have to stand way back and squint to see much relationship between what I write and Pattern in general. This time I’m going to
A disclaimer: I do not represent myself as an expert Pattern builder or a master craftsman by any means. My workshop is small and cluttered, my tools are mostly hand tools, a drill press, a scroll sow and a Dremel, and my measuring equipment consists of rulers, levels and an old Robert analog incidence meter.
It weighs 10 pounds, 10 ounces with 5200 mAh E2 batteries from Strick Products.
Power is a Plettenberg Advance 30-10 and I’m trying out one of the APC carbon
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Districts props this time. The Mount is from F3A Unlimited, as is pretty much all of the hardware.
incidence. I followed Verne’s lead and faired it in using micro balloons and epoxy.
The arming plug is the one that uses a modified Dean’s plug. I previously used the Power Pole unit but suffered some intermittency problems with it, so went to the simpler Deans unit. Many have advised that the T-Can needs to be shimmed up to match the wing Also on Vern’s advice I covered the bottom of the canopy to keep the airflow confined to the battery area. I put a couple of flat carbon fiber strips across it and then covered it with some leftover MicroLite. This stuff is extremely light and good on small models but is extremely flimsy and maddening to work with, so this was a chance to use some of it up. There’s also a ramp-like baffle made of Depron to keep the air from going through the landing gear mount area, forcing it up over the batteries.
E n jo y yo ur d a y at t h e f i e ld !
PRECISION MODEL PRODUCTS
100 West First Street, Deer Park, Texas 77536 281-479-9600 • www.tru-turn.com
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I made the side force generators to a design e mailed to me by Verne (seeing a pattern here?) out of three cross grained layers of some of the lightest 1/16” balsa from my rapidly dwindling 30+ year old stash of ‘special’ wood.
I’ve been making my own battery trays for many years. They’re carbon cloth laminated to 1/8 balsa. I don’t have vacuum bagging equipment so resort to laying up the blank on my plastic-covered saw table, topped with an old mirror, a flat board
Districts and as much weight as I can find around the shop. There’s a piece of carbon rod laminated into each side, and two carbon tubes glued and sewn on the ends. I also made the tray removable using the same system as Verne and Forrest.
Servo leads run through a home made paper tube…spiral wound from printer paper, like a model rocket tube. Mike used to have some nice black tubes from Gator (I think) at F3A, but I haven’t seen them for a while. The leads are special light weight stuff made up for me by a friend who I won’t name so you guys don’t bug him to make them for you, too. I used incidence adjusters from F3A at the rear and stuck the ones from the kit on the front locating pins just for a little security. I like the look of the multiple, angled oval air outlets so I took the time to cut them. Again, old school…Demel and sandpaper wrapped around a round stick.
What else? I cut my own letters, AMA numbers and FAA numbers on my vinyl cutter from some outdoor stuff that’s supposed to last a billion years without fading. Experience has shown me it’s good for at least two. Paint is a very thin layer of Rustoleum Ultra Cover 2X from rattle cans. The paint is cheap and covers amazingly well, so it doesn’t take much. I let it cure, then hit it with 1000 and 1500 grit wet-or-dry and polish it with Novus #2 plastic polish. Light and reasonably durable. Certainly not custom show car quality, but servicable. Covering is Monokote. Landing gear and wheel pants are Falcon carbon fiber. Servos are JR 9411 HV’s on aileron, a JR8411 HV on rudder, and some sort of JR HV’s on elevator. They’re installed buried in the stab and I can’t see the labels. Spinner is a Falcon carbon one. The spinner brings up one of the reasons I like dealing with F3A Unlimited. I assumed that the Element took the same spinner as the Invitation, so I ordered one and headed to the flying field. When I got home my wife said “Mike from F3A called and asked if that spinner was for the Element.” she said yes, and he said I’d ordered the wrong one and he’d send the right one, just to let him know if that wasn’t OK. Dealing with good people makes life easier. At this writing the airplane is unflown. The cold, wet, windy spring we’ve had, combined with the giant poopstorm we’re all dealing with has set me back. Hope to be flying it soon and enjoying it at contests later in the year.
I’ve been told that the T-Can needs a brace to stiffen up its mounting, so I cut one out of 1/16” ply on my ancient scroll saw, based on a pic I took of the one in Forrest’s airplane.
D5 | Vicente Bortone vincebrc@gmail.com IL•IA•KS•MN•MO•NE•ND•SD•WI
As usual, I like to provide this month D5 activities. As we all know, several contests have been cancelled. However, I have some good news. 1. R/C Barnstormers Aerobatic Fun Fly. The R/C Barnstormers Club approved to move this activity to May 30-31 to replace the pattern contest that was cancelled. This is a get together to practice flying, coaching, judging, etc. Also, more important to help new pilots that want to try pattern. I am planning to control the number of pilots at the field so it won’t exceed more than 10 persons that is the actual Kansas requirement. Therefore, if you are planning to attend please send me an e-mail to vincebrc@gmail.com. I believe this is the best way to keep active until we go back to normal. There is not cost and we are asking pilots to bring their own food and drinks. Also, bring lawn chairs because we want to avoid using the picnic tables available at the field. I think this is perfectly possible for pilots that could drive 3-4 hours each way and avoid hotel stay. For those that like camping the Hillsdale Park has camping areas. The park does not allow camping at the RC field. 2. Chuck Mack Memorial Pattern Contest. June 6-7. Elwood, Illinois. CANCELLED. 3. Anoka Pattern Contest. Anoka County Radio Control Club located in Anoka, Minnesota. CD Brian Dorft. e-mail:
June 2020 K-Factor | 13
Districts bluebaronbrian@gmail.com. I got the following e-mail from Brian: Good news, we have decided the June 1314 Minnesota pattern championships will happen on schedule. Participants will need to bring their own food and beverages and respect 6-foot distance from other people and other people’s planes and equipment.This will comply with the state of Minnesota’s current restrictions on public gatherings even if these are still in place in June. We look forward to seeing both local contestants and competitors from afar. This is our current plan as of now. 4. Similar to #1 above. R/C Barnstormers Aerobatic Fun Fly #2. The R/C Barnstormers Club approved this second activity on June 20-21. This will replace the Pittsburg Pattern contest that was also cancelled. 5. Tri Village RCers Pattern Contest. Saturday, June 27, 2020 - Sunday, June 28, 2020. CANCELLED This month we got a very nice article from the Mowrey family. I have been flying with Larry and his son Jonathan for many years. I am glad to publish here their family history. Enjoy.
50 contestants. Dad trained club members to be the judges as they were not allowed to enter. I remember that each pilot had three minutes to get their nitro plane started and into the air. I think I was the only contestant with a suit on as I was in church before it was my turn to fly. I flew in the Novice class with my Super Kaos 60. My mother was also a modeler. She worked in a ready-build model airplane factory called American Products located in Spearville, Kansas. She learned to fly RC, flying an airplane she built along with my two brothers, Robert and Tom. She was also into RC boats. Her favorite was an electric cruiser piloted by Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse; it sets on a shelf at dad’s house. Mom was also dad’s “Call Girl” at pattern contests. However he could never get her interested in competition flying. Dad said that mom was his right hand in everything concerning modeling. She was a member of his model club, had her own AMA number, and even attended an executive council meeting at Reston, VA with dad.
The Phantom
an .049 engine. It was so heavy that I had to whip it around to get it to fly at all! Dad and I built a lot of CL planes. We spent many an evening at the field across the street from our home flying our planes. He said that once I start flying RC, I would not go back to CL. He was right; I eventually sold all my CL planes.
We are RC! By Rev. Larry J. Mowrey AMA # 115103 As long as I can remember, my dad was into RC airplanes, flying in a number of pattern contests around the country, District Contest Director for many years, newsletter editor for the M.A.C.K. club, even designed their logo. At one time he even attended an executive council meeting in Reston, VA when Stan Chilton, then current District 9 VP, could not go. Dad was an excellent promoter. One time at a M.A.C.K. contest, there were around
The Piranha
Today dad no longer flies in pattern contests but is still very active in his club. But Robert and I still fly RC planes while our younger brother is racing RC boats. The Jayhawker
Dad spent a lot of his spare time designing RC airplanes. He was not one to build a kit plane. One of his airplanes was scratchbuilt from plans that he found in a model magazine from the early 60’s. The power plant was a Merco .61. Here are pictures of three other planes that dad designed and built: the Jayhawker (above), as I attended the University of Kansas from 1968-1971; the Phantom and the Piranha, the last of his designs. I currently have that plane in my possession. Early on I became interested in flying control line airplanes (CL). My first plane was a plastic Testers’ airplane. Flew with
14 | K-Factor June 2020
My first RC airplane was called the Upstart – rudder only. Very squirrelly. Never could get it to fly right. Finally a friend and I at KU bought a plane from a swap n shop. He assembled a Heathkit radio and we installed it in this plane. Unfortunately, a couple of months after the first flight, we crashed it. Finally in 1982 I soloed on a plane powered by a Merco .61 with two plugs. Soon after that I decided to learn how to fly pattern so that I could fly with dad at contests. My first contest was in 1983 flying my Super Kaos 60 with a K&B .61 and an EK radio. I remember flying together at the Hastings, NE contest. One of the ailerons froze and
Districts Dalatel 150, Aerostar 40, Sig Kadet, Falcon 56, Tiporaire, and Cap 580. As our three boys were growing up, I attempted to get them involved in my hobby. I tried teaching them to fly with my Flight Simulator and my Krafty 60 airplane. The only son who caught on was our youngest son, Jonathan. Today, he is an aerospace engineer with a large aircraft firm in Wichita. His first pattern airplane was an Abbra purchased from Vince Bortone. Since then, he now flies an Allure and an Alchemy. It is nice to know that I had a hand in getting him into the aerospace industry!
Upstart
dad had to land it. Sometime later it met an untimely demise.
One of Jonathan’s first airplanes was the Funtana 90. He would come home from Wichita State and we would fly all day. One day he announced that he wanted to get involved in pattern flying. It took some convincing but he got me back into pattern. My first “modern” pattern airplane (remember, I grew up with the old classic pattern airplanes) was designed by Todd Schmidt called the Mystic.
While living in Fargo, ND, I won a Super Kaos 40 kit at a club meeting. I put my K&B .61 in the front of it. The next spring dad and mom came up to Fargo and we went to a contest somewhere in the middle of North Dakota. The wind was so strong that I was the only one in Novice class who was able to fly, thus receiving the first place trophy. Dad and I attended contests in Great Bend, Dodge City, Wichita, Kansas City, Hastings, NE, and other places over the years. After a while, dad and I stopped flying in contests and I spent my time with my local club, the R/C Barnstormers at Hillsdale, KS. I flew planes like the Krafty 60, Ultra Stik 60,
Last year we attended the 2019 NATS in Blytheville, AR where Jonathan took 3rd place in Masters. Never thought that the father/son duo in pattern flying would now switch to me being the father! Since getting back into pattern, I have flown a number of airplanes. The first being the Mystic (above).
Spark Evo Mystic
I began flying in the Sportsman class until many encouraged me to “move up!” I now fly in the Intermediate class and plan on staying there!! Jonathan moved up from Sportsman to Intermediate to Advanced to Masters in four straight contests, attending contests from Omaha, NE to Broken Arrow, OK.
Then came a Spark Evo I purchased from Robert Green. My third plane is a Proteus. I just obtained my fourth plane called the Agenda. It is anchored to my ceiling in my shop as the Covid19 is keeping me from taking it down for Jonathan to setup. He is my field-setup engineer!
Proteus Funtana 90
June 2020 K-Factor | 15
Districts I am not the greatest pattern flyer in the world. But my dad spent a lot of time with me teaching me the fine art of flying CL and RC airplanes. I am just an Intermediate pilot while Jonathan is a Masters/FAI pilot. Now that I am retired, I spend 3-4 days a week out at the field, enjoying the camaraderie with other pilots and flying precision patterns with Vince and my son.
D6 |Justin Wells
D7 - Dan Lipton
20811 Surrey Creek Ct. | Katy, TX 77450 832-356-6408 | justin@jtwells.com
nsrcad7dvp@gmail.com
AR•CO•LA•NM•OK•TX
Agenda
My dad once said that there are only two reasons to attend a contest: (1) to have fun and (2) to take home your plane.
It’s already time for the June K-Factor! We are in uncharted territory here in D6 as we’ve yet to have 1 contest, and it is now June. I have the itch like the rest of us to get back to some normalcy, and I hope we will soon. I don’t have much to offer this month, hopefully I’ll have more to report on in July if we get a contest in. Upcoming Contests, Not Canceled: Colorado Pattern Challenge, June 20-21 LARKS Gulf Coast Pattern Championship June 27-28 For the latest on the contest schedule, you can download the D6 Pattern App, visit d6 pattern.com, or donramseypattern.com for the latest. ‘Til Next Time, Justin
Jonathan and Beckham
I don’t know what the future holds. I know that Jonathan’s four-year-old son loves airplanes. Who knows, maybe it will be a Great-Grandfather/Grandfather/Son/ Grandson team at a local pattern contest someday. Yes, we are a radio controlled airplane family!
16 | K-Factor June 2020
AZ•CA•HI•NV•UT
Hello District 7. I am sorry to report, that as I write this, all of the D7 contests before August (including the NSRCA’s participation in the NATs) have been cancelled. There will, however, be a one day clawssic pattern get together at the Riverside field on June 6th. A few of the events that were supposed to have taken place this spring have been rescheduled for August and September. Hopefully we will be able to enjoy being out there then. As always, check https://
nsrca.us/index.php/d7-contestschedule/2020 - as this is updated whenever I get new information.
During these times some of us have been able to fly and some of us haven’t due to field closures. I have appreciated the photos those of you who can fly have been posting on the D7 facebook page. It is great to see how everybody is doing these days. One of our members, Tony F. decided to use the additional time home to do a scratch build, old school style, of an Ugly Stick. He chronicled this in detail on his FaceBook wall along with detailed comments. For those of you that haven’t seen, here’s a sample of his progress:
Districts And finally, a beautiful bird ready for final rigging.
Tony cut all the parts himself from sheet balsa: And framed it up beautifully:
And Tony also decided to go “classic” with the finish. Silk and Dope: Thank you, Tony, for showing us how it’s done, and in fact I was inspired to take on a project, (though as I write this, I have yet to start it). I will be building a 30” span rubber band powered Piper Cub from a laser cut kit from Easy Built Models (https://easybuiltmodels.com) I haven’t done one of these in more than 40 years, so we will see what happens. More on that next month. In other news, on May 9th, the East Bay Radio Controllers reopened after 8 weeks of closure due to shelter in place orders. The club has moved the tables a safe distance apart and mandated one pilot per table, masks worn at all times, and pilots to be at least 6’ apart. As states like California are starting to ease restrictions (at least for outdoor activities) hopefully more of us that haven’t been flying will get a chance to get some great flying in, and who knows, maybe get proficient at the 2020/2021 sequences. And what better measuring stick do we, the NSRCA readers, have for social distancing, than a 2M pattern ship? Two Meters is more than 6 feet.
Speaking of social distancing, I have been asked by at least one of our district contest directors about recommendations for how to deal with COVID-19 when holding a
June 2020 K-Factor | 17
Districts contest. As of my writing this, the state of California is prohibiting gatherings (indoor or outdoor) with people outside your household, so under that we really couldn’t have any contests. But I am optimistic that will be relaxed in June or July. Once we see signs of that, we can begin in earnest the conversation about how we go about holding a safe and fun contest in later summer and the fall. As always, feel free to email me at nsrcad7dvp@gmail. com with questions, recommendations or concerns. Well, I hope you all get to enjoy the coming month as much a possible, and hopefully the events that have been postponed until August will be able to go on as planned.
already been relaxed. We concluded that we will continue to delay our season and revisit the question in another month. In the face of all the drags to our anchors it’s a pleasure to report that some folks have been busy in their shops. As we have had our Zoom meetings, we have noticed something bright and shiny lurking over John Bentley’s left shoulder. Needless to say he was peppered with questions. He reports he has just finished off his Skyleaf Leader manufactured by BJ Craft and sold by F3A unlimited. It is a beautiful bird. He installed a Pletty and reports that he expects to maiden it tomorrow, assuming no rain.
Smooth, safe, and healthy flying to all.
D8 | Art Kelly 367 Golf View Drive | Medford, OR. 97504 541.905.2954 | afkelly25@gmail.com AK•ID•MT•OR•WA•WY
District 8 is well behind other districts in moving through the government imposed restrictions on personal movement and access to our flying fields. This is being written on 15 May and just yesterday the governor of Oregon announced cautious easing of some gathering places. Our contest flying fields are taking steps to open limited flying but the number of persons permitted at one time is challenging when planning a contest. In a Zoom meeting this morning our CD’s reported continuing anxiety among D-8 pilots.These range from worries about traveling, eating and staying in public places, to the flare ups appearing in other areas where restrictions have
18 | K-Factor June 2020
Those of us who have known Pat Harris down through the years have recognized an artist worthy of an Oscar - if they were awarded for construction and finishing R/C airplanes. Pat has been hard at work on three identical models of the Excess pipe by Pegase Composites in France. He is keeping one for himself and the other two will soon be on their way to Andrew Jesky.
Take a moment to study the photos of his work. The attention to detail is meticulous and the paint job belongs on the wall of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. And not only that, he flies pretty well too.
Districts closure of fields that we have in Ontario. The first contest of the year was scheduled for the May 16-17 weekend in BC and will likely be postponed until July. The first contest of the season in the east is my own one day event planned for June 13th. We are still hoping to be able to hold it but until the restriction on gatherings or more than 5 is lifted it will not go ahead. In the longer term I expect it will be at least July before we may able to hold a contest.
Canada | Paul Brine 25 Robertson St. | Fergus Ontario N1M3P7 519.787.5144 | pbrine@uoguelph.ca We are currently living in extraordinary times. Living through history is no fun. When I retired I was looking forward to not going to work every day. This is not what I envisioned. This is yet another nothing to report, report. As of the middle of May large parts of the country have been shut down and travel limited for 2 months. Here in Ontario flying fields have been closed and can begin to open up again next week. Those fields that are located in public parks may have to wait longer until municipalities allow them to reopen. I don’t think we have lost too much flying so far as the weather in Ontario to date has not been conducive to flying so far with strong winds, and below seasonal temperatures. Earlier this week we awoke to about 2 inches of snow on the ground after seeing occasional snow flurries with no accumulation over the weekend. This coming weekend is a long weekend which unofficially marks that start of summer and yet again the forecast is for cold, windy, rainy weather.
Holding an contest won’t likely be possible until the restrictions on clubs and gatherings are eased and restaurants and hotels reopen to allow travel. At this point, in Ontario, anything beyond local travel is being discouraged and with restaurant and hotels being closed longer distance travel could be difficult. The next F3A World Championship is to be held in Muncie Indiana in 2021. The team trials to select the Canadian team are planned for Labour Day weekend in Aurora Ontario. The team for 2021 can be up to 5 members: 3 open, 1 junior and 1 female. For more information please contact Harry Ells. Building Projects Chad Northeast has continued to post videos on the construction, and finishing of his new Pegase Composite Akuma+ and has posted a series of videos documenting construction. These videos are posted in the Precision Aerobatics Canada facebook group. The Precision Aerobatics Canada facebook group at https://www.facebook. com/groups/376668605805467/ has links to his videos. That’s all for now. Flight complete.
The current limit of a maximum of 5 people for public gatherings (in Ontario) effectively prevents holding a contest and restricts the opportunity fly now that fields will be reopening. The politicians are hinting that there will be so changes in the next week or so but no details or dates yet. Other parts of the country also have limitations on gatherings and travel which make it impossible to hold a contest. Practice and flying is underway in parts of the country as they have not seen the
June 2020 K-Factor | 19
F3P
F3P Indoor Aerobatics by Sal Piu
I would like to thank Don Szczur for submitting information leading to the following article for this month’s F3P article! Project Scrap F3P At this point in time, the world is in selfisolation as a result of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Many traditional outdoor flying sites are closed or inaccessible. Public parks are open primarily for exercise purposes. This is essentially resulting with common difficult to go out and fly anywhere. Simulator-flying, while sufficing some RC pilots, does not cut it for all RC pilots. One person, user name “Okto” on RC Groups, then realized that the one place one could fly: on our local street. I’d stretch this to include front yards and back yards as well. With supply-runs to the local hobby shop have dwindled in opportunities due to the pandemic, Okto developed a model called Scrap F3P. The intent is to use nonspecialized electronics and materials a typical modeler may still have handy in his workshop. With only some depron and carbon scraps available, Okto chose to use only wood and glad-wrap-like material. Okto anticipated this model would end up heavier than a current-day F3P competition model. He chose a design based on a combination of the TechOne Armonia and the fuselage of Gernot Bruckmann design. Okto used a 1304 3100kv motor with a 5040 glass nylon prop, 12A ESC, 2s 300mAh lipo and 3 x 6g servos. The All Up Weight ended up at about 125g. While this combo proved to be underpowered for vertical flight, it can fly around nicely.
20 | K-Factor June 2020
SAFETY FIRST Okto reported his Scrap F3P model flies extraordinarily slow. It has no airbrakes and no canalizers yet, has some adequate horizontal speed. As of latest reports, Okto needed to do a bit more trimming, after accidentally putting a warp into the left aileron, and needs to move the CG forward a little as well. Okto believes this model should be capable of some simple maneuvers. Okto considers his project a success, as the model can easily fly around on the street, which is what it was designed for. Depending on how it turns out, he might do another one knowing this experience. A future build would definitely consider using smaller electronics, make it a bit smaller, and hopefully lighter. ++++ This article content, and photos, is based on an RC Groups thread by Okto. For more details on Okto’s plane and links to flight video check it out at: https:// www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread. php?3578467-Scrap-F3P
Have you selected the correct model on the transmitter?
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June 2020 K-Factor | 21
Contact District VP’s
District 6
Justin Wells 20811 Surrey Creek Ct. Katy, TX 77450 832-356-6408
District 1
Salvatore Piu spiurc@comcast.net
Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont.
justin@jtwells.com Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
District 2
Tim Pritchett 1417 Deer Forest Drive Fort Mill, South Carolina 29707 864.871.1902 tjpritchett@aol.com
District 3
Robert Campbell
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, Tennessee.
District 4
Scott McNickle P.O. Box 163 Mt. Pleasant, OH 43939 740.769.7882 nelson_jett@comcast.net
Archie Stafford 21564 Harrison St. Great Mills MD 20634 301-247-9298 rcpattern2012@gmail.com
Vice President
Dan Lipton nsrcad7dvp@gmail.com
Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah.
District 8
Secretary
Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming.
Treasurer
Art Kelly 367 Golf View Drive Medford, OR. 97504 541.905.2954 afkelly25@gmail.com
Canada District
Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia.
President
Charlie Barrera 2627 Silver Shadow Conroe, TX 77304 936.494.0063 charliebarrera@consolidated.net
District 7
Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia.
NSRCA Executive Board
Paul Brine 25 Robertson St. Fergus Ontario N1M3P7 519.787.5144 pbrine@uoguelph.ca
Justin Wells 20811 Surrey Creek Ct. Katy, TX 77450 832-356-6408 secretary@nsrca.org John Decker 2878 Carrera Ct League City, TX 77573 281-627-9474 johndecker@sbcglobal.net
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22 | K-Factor June 2020
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June 2020 K-Factor | 23
24 | K-Factor June 2020