Yearly Archives: 2016

94 posts

Getting a New Drone for Christmas?

 

Generally, if you are using a drone for personal purposes and it injures someone or damages their property, your standard homeowner’s insurance policy would provide liability coverage up to the policy’s limits, said Mr. Hackett. (If you are using a drone to make money — even if it is a sideline, like photographing property for a real estate business — that would not typically be covered by a homeowner’s policy).

 

It is always wise, however, to check with your insurance carrier on the specifics of your policy, said Loretta Worters, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group. Some insurers may exclude drone-related incidents from their policies — and those that do not do so now may decide to eventually, as the number of drones taking to the skies increases and insurers learn more about the cost of drone-related claims.

 

“Generally speaking, we evaluate every claim on its own merit,” said Justin Herndon, a spokesman for Allstate, in an email. “We continue to follow the evolution of drones and its impact on our customers’ policies.”

 

It is also a good idea to reduce your risk by brushing up on drone operational and safety rules, Ms. Alderman said.

 

The F.A.A. requires that hobby users fly drones at or below 400 feet, and keep them within sight. The agency offers a safety video on its website.

 

Also, the Academy of Model Aeronautics, which charters more than 2,500 community-based model-aviation clubs, works with other groups and the F.A.A. to promote safety guidelines and instruction through the Know Before You Fly initiative.

 

Simulation software that can help you learn to fly a drone on a home computer is available for about $100, said Chad Budreau, director of public relations and government affairs for the model aeronautics group.

 

Here are some questions and answers about drones:

 

What other insurance options are available?

 

One option for hobbyists: If you join the Academy of Model Aeronautics, you will receive group liability coverage as a benefit of membership. (Membership is $75 for adults, free for those under age 19.)

 

The academy’s insurance policy, issued by a specialty insurer, typically pays out after your homeowner’s policy is exhausted, and it provides $2.5 million in liability coverage for property damage or bodily injury.

 

What if my drone is lost or damaged?

 

Homeowner’s policies typically cover replacement of personal belongings, which would include a drone. But most policies have a deductible — say, $500. So unless you have a very expensive drone, it may not be worth filing a claim, Ms. Worters said.

 

Do I have to register my drone?

 

Federal rules now require recreational owners to register any drone — or “unmanned aircraft system,” in F.A.A. parlance — flown outdoors. Drones weighing a half-pound to 55 pounds can be registered online on the agency’s website; the fee is $5 per person, can be applied to as many drones as you own and is good for three years.

 

Failure to register a drone can be costly: The F.A.A. says generally it aims to educate operators, but can impose civil fines of up to $27,500, and criminal penalties can be much higher.

Brad’s Corner for Dec/Jan 2016/17

Brad PicsHey Fliers! I hope you are having a great December, and Santa brings you what you want this year! I have been seeing plenty of hobby related sales popping up in the last few days, and there should still be some good ones from Thunder Power and Horizon on the way for those of you that still have some hobby budget remaining!

 

As most of you know, Jim and I have swapped our elected positions on the board of directors for 2017. I appreciate your trust as I start the year as club president! The main thing I would like to say is that the change should be transparent. We agree on 99% of every item we discuss. The club will remain member focused and will continue to invest in YOU when it comes to monthly events, and special series events that occur throughout the year. If you have been on the fence about participating I encourage you to get a wing, racing drone, or glider and join us in 2017 – There is a lot of fun to be had, and more than a little crap talk!

 

Talking about giving back to the members is the perfect segue into the holiday banquet. Remember, this is a bonus to 2016 members and our way of saying “Thank You!” for the teamwork and cooperation you displayed this past year. To re-state some items from last months newsletter, the club holiday banquet is set to occur on 14 Jan. at the Admiral Kidd club. This is on a Naval base in Point Loma, but Non-military people can attend as long as we get your name on their access list for the evening of the event. Like last year, we will be accepting a 5 dollar deposit to reserve your seats and get everyone who attends a ticket for the raffle. You will be able to either pay your deposit via the family/friend feature of PayPal, or with cash to any board member. Reservations will close on December 28th or when we hit 150 guests. I have to have the security forms completed and delivered by the 29th. There will be no late adds, if your name is not on the list – showing up with a slime will not get you in. As I write this, there are only around 40 seats available, so you should get on it in the next day or so. Also, I have received a few mails from people stating they plan to attend, but still have not sent their RSVP funds. Your names are not added until you pay. I was stiffed last year by people asking me to pay for them stating they would pay me back at the banquet, then they did not attend. That will not be an option this year. Remember we will have at least $1300.00 worth of raffle prizes and everyone gets a ticket!

 

We have had quite a few membership renewals already and I thank those of you who got an early start instead of pushing the lssue. If you know you will be flying next year, why wait? Have you renewed your AMA yet? Even if your current AMA membership does not expire until later in the year, I encourage you to renew now so you are covered for the entire year to let us send you a badge for the entire year instead of a special one that expires mid-year. Remember, AMA Youth memberships are Free, and additional family memberships are $10.00 for youngsters that want to give it a try. There is no meeting at the field this month, but we would like to have “Badge day” at the field on the 31st of December between 9 AM and 12 PM for those who have renewed their membership. If you come down and pick it up you can save the club some postage, and get a slice or 2 of Costco pizza. Isabel and Paul will be on site for those who are unable to renew online and need to do it with a live person. As long as you have renewed your AMA, they can accept cash, checks, or credit cards.

 

At January’s board of directors meeting we will be finalizing our clubs event calendar for 2017. A lot of old favorites will return with maybe one or two surprises thrown in to keep it interesting. Again, we will attempt to keep our fun-fly events to 2 hours on meeting days so we do not take out the whole day. We will also start the new season of racing for the Popwings and Multirotors, as well as the return of Electroglide. January 14th (yes, banquet day) will be the first Popwing race and last years 1st-4th place winners will be at the field to discuss their set-ups and suggestions on what worked for them last year. Sharing this way stands to make it more fun for everyone, so please take advantage of this!

 

A couple more Items of interest for Jan, The AMA EXPO will be held between Jan 6th and 8th in Ontario, and the Chula Vista club on Dairy Mart road is having a swap meet on 21 Jan. Usually there is nothing between September and March, so if you attend, tell them Thank you for setting it up.

 

Finally, If you have a grievance at the field involving another member, please use the procedures outlined in the club bylaws. This way you have some time to think of what you want to say, put it in writing in an intelligent manner, and have us understand what you are trying to say.

 

Also, prior club member Mike Royer recently passed away, Please pass condolences to his family and friends.

 

Have a great Month!!

Brad

Aircraft Maintenance – UPS Style

After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form, called a “gripe sheet” which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.  Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor.  Here are actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS pilots (“P”) and solutions recorded (“S”) by maintenance engineers:

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

 

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

 

P: Something loose in cockpit
S: Something tightened in cockpit

 

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

 

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

 

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

 

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

 

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what friction locks are for.

 

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

 

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right.

 

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

 

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to: straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

 

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

 

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

 

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget

Brad’s Corner for Nov/Dec 2016

Brad PicHey Folks! I hope the month was as good to you as it was to me. The pictures I selected this month were from guys that may have had a bad day, but were having a good time while at it!

 

As we approach the end of 2016 I would like to thank all of you that have made this year one for the record books in many ways. The last time we checked, our current membership numbers put us at the 4th largest club in the AMA. Not too bad for a group of electric junkies with a dirt runway!

 

Seriously though, Thanks to all of you who made our club a welcoming place to visit for folks that want to see what it’s all about. Thanks to Jim for organizing and keeping track of the majority of our amazing events at the field. Thanks to Jeff, Chuy, and Scott for running the electroglide and FPV races. And thanks to those of you that participated in the events and made the competition so fun and lively! Thanks to Chief, Tom, and Dennis for their diligence in keeping the field and tables in good shape. Thanks to Isabel and Steve who volunteer to run membership and the web site. I don’t know how we would do this without them!

 

On a lighter note, thanks to Fred for greeting everyone with a smile and a piece of candy. Also a fond thank you to Lee, Dave, Eric, and especially Skip for the exuberance shown in keeping things interesting and fun!!

 

Saturday the 28th is an important day for members, and I hope you show up at the fun fly and meeting. Not only is it Warbird day, and meeting day, it is also time to vote for your club officers to take us through 2017. Come out and support your favorite candidate! For those who have thought that they would like to help out in some way, but are reluctant to actually try for a position on the board, I encourage you to get involved in managing one of the monthly events next year, maybe take some of the load off of Jim…

 

The first week of December will mark open membership renewal for the club. Have you renewed your AMA yet? Steve will send out an e-mail blast when the forms are active on the web site and the PayPal account is set up to receive funds. Also starting December 1st , I will be accepting reservations for the club holiday banquet set to occur on 14 Jan. at the Admiral Kidd club. This is on a Naval base in Point Loma, but Non-military people can attend as long as we get your name on their access list for the evening of the event. Like last year we will be accepting a 5 dollar deposit to reserve your seats and get everyone who attends a ticket for the raffle. You will be able to either pay your deposit via the family/friend feature of PayPal, or with cash to any board member. There will be more specific info and instructions coming on the first, but one thing I would like to start stating now so there are no surprises: Reservations will close on December 30th or when we hit 150 guests. There will be no late adds as we are required to have attendee names to the military establishment by the 31st.

 

As I mentioned earlier, this month’s event is Warbird day. If it is a model of an actual aircraft used in combat somewhere, bring it and fly it for a chance at $150.00 worth of prize money! Around noon we will have the meeting/voting and finish up with a hot dog lunch.

 

Hope you all score some good hobby related deals this month!

 

Brad

Safety Report for Nov 2016

By Quan Nguyen

 

This month, due to some recent incidents, I need to bring up the requirement of having a spotter with you when you fly FPV. This is the one rule I need you to all help me keep our club in compliance 100% of the time. We need to enforce this to make sure we can keep our field. I realize this is a sensitive issue, and it’ll require compromising for everyone. FPV fliers often don’t want to bother other members to spot for them, especially when they intend to fly a marathon, back to back sessions for hours. Bystanders, on the other hand, are reluctant to bother FPV pilots when they’re just keeping to themselves enjoying a relaxing afternoon FPV flight in perfect San Diego weather. However, the problem is that some recent stray drones have shown the limitation of FPV technology, and it’s simply not ready to be safely flown solo for hours at a time from a lawnchair.
 
FPV fliers must have a spotter at all times in order to fly. I apologize in advance to those who fly extended flights and can’t find a spotter. You’ll have to find a spotter before you can fly. If you have an FPV monitor connected during the flight, you are no longer a Line of Sight pilot, even if you are looking at the drone most of the time. This is how the latest incident happened.
 
Fellow members, try to offer your assistance to spot for FPV pilots, and FPV pilots, please be courteous and limit your FPV session to a reasonable time so the spotter can enjoy their hobby as well.
 
If you see someone flying FPV without a spotter and you can’t spot because you’re leaving or something, please do the club a favor and politely remind them they cannot fly without a spotter. I understand it’s difficult to tell someone who is enjoying their hobby peacefully in solitude, but there have been enough incidents of drones wandering off to where they shouldn’t be, such that a strict enforcement of this rule is needed to ensure the continued operation of the club for the 425+ members.
 
If you inform the FPV pilot politely and they don’t listen, simply back off and contact myself or another board member, and we will handle it.
 
-Quan

Safety Report for October 2016

By Quan Nguyen
 
Our field is getting quite busy again, so I’d like to remind everyone about our flight boundaries. It’s imperative that pilots fly within the Flight Area marked on the sign at the gates. This means no flying past the line of palm trees. Not only is there a pedestrian walkway beyond that, but there’s also a sandy shoreline a little further out where beachgoers hang out and sun bath. The last thing we want is a model plane going down there. Flying over the water is an absolute no no. Equally important is to not fly over the parking lot, pit area, and porta-potty area. When in doubt, study the sign posted at each gate.
 
The next issue is aircraft setup. Beyond the mundane things like making sure wing bolts and aileron wires are attached, I noticed many pilots who maiden their aircraft have way too much control surface throw. This results in an aircraft that is difficult or impossible to fly. One such incident resulted in a jet being ditched in the shoreline… a major safety issue. For most aircraft, a nudge of up elevator throw, 7 to 10 degrees, is enough. No need to make it swing like a door.
 
Lastly, I’ll be stepping down as safety officer, and running for secretary. It’s been a great two years, and I appreciate you all making my job easy.
 
Thanks,
-Quan

Brad’s Corner for Oct/Nov 2016

BDHey folks!
 I hope you had a great October and that November brings quality flying time!
As we near the end of the year, we wrapped up our special events for 2016 this month. There were some great prizes won by the leaders in each group, and also some nice raffle prizes that all who participated had a chance to win. When you have a moment, please thank Jim Bonnardel for organizing the pop wing racers, Jeff Struthers for running electroglide, Scott Fuller with an assist from Chuy Wong for keeping the FPV Multi-racers on the track for victory, and Steve Manganelli for directing the F5B/F5D group. I really appreciate the guys who see an event they like and want, and step up to make it happen! There were some questions raised about starting a new parkzone Trojan race series, as well an attempt to re-instate EMAC precision contests. If you want to organize and run an event, let me know and we will see how many mad souls want to join you!!  One common theme, as we closed out this years events, was the great support of our club by John Weaver, owner of Discount Hobbies. He stepped up BIG TIME and gave us a fairly large discount on gift certificates which allowed us to give larger prizes back to the members who participated! Please thank him when you see him in the store, and please keep sending business his way, his is the only family owned RC business in our area and a cornerstone of the industry.

 I recently had a few members approach me and state that they no longer receive e-mails from the club. A while back we asked Steve, our  Editor to scale down on the group that we were sending to and a few people may have been mistakenly removed from our list. While it is still possible to read the newsletter online (as these folks stated they were), avid users of our field should still get the e-mail blasts which will indicate field closures due to airspace restrictions, area closures caused by events at Mission Bay Park and SeaWorld Drive, and important events that affect us such as the notifications for the monthly fun fly events, local swap meets and estate sales, and neat things happening at local clubs like the recent float fly at Otay Lake. Here is the link for non-members to get back on the mailing list if you were removed.  Please don’t use it if you already get the e-mails. Members not receiving the emailings should contact Isabel at: sefsdmembership@cox.net.  While talking about our editor, I would like to throw a shout out and a personal thank you to Steve Belknap for the time and effort he volunteers to maintain our web site and to finalize and produce our monthly newsletter.

 Isabel reported our membership as 427 members a few days ago. For the new members, thank you for joining! There are still several quality months left in 16 to enjoy your membership and the camaraderie at our field! To all members, I will reiterate my appreciation of your willingness to welcome new people and willingness to talk about your planes and interests to people wandering in with questions. YOU are the reason our club continues to grow! Thanks Isabel for managing our membership for us and keeping us on track. She is looking into some new badges for next year that may change things up a bit. Due to the AMA’s shift last year from membership that encompasses the calendar year to a membership on a 12 month cycle, we have 4 members that have their AMA expiring at the end of this month, and 4 that expire at the end of November. You should know who you are, but I have asked Isabel to send a reminder just in case. Please do not fly if your AMA has expired. The rest of the current members are valid to 12/31/16, 12/31/17, with a few lifetime members depending on how you renewed, and a renewal now (If expiring in 2016)will keep you on a December cycle which will make things easier to manage ( I appreciate that!). The current plan is to disable the club membership and PayPal link on our web site around Nov 15th, load the 2017 documents, and open renewals for 2017 around December 1st.  Please do not attempt to renew early! A blast will be sent to all members when we can process payments for next year.

  Our Holiday banquet committee has been hard at work for you setting up our event for closing out 2016. More details will be posted later, but for planning purposes, the event will be on Jan 14th to get a better venue within our budget, and will be held in the Admiral Kidd convention center near the airport. It promises to be a great time similar to last year!
We have reserved the space for 150 people (members and family) and like last year I will be accepting 5 dollars per guest to RSVP their seat and add to the raffle prizes. I will start accepting the money on December 1st and will stop either on December 31st or when I reach 150 reserved seats. The 31st is the date we need to have all attendees listed and present the list to the naval base so you will be allowed access on the night of the event. Absolutely no late sign-ups for this one.

  I would like to lay down a reminder that ALL members are empowered to ensure the safe and responsible use of our site. You DO NOT have to wait for a board member to say something if you see irresponsible use of our facility. If there in an incident, WE stand to lose the site, not just the 9 members of the board. Sadly, one recent incident involved a guest of a member – that was not given even basic safety instructions by his sponsor ( ? ), Flying an airplane next to the porta potty ( ? ) , and flying over the parking lot and in the space between the parking lot and SeaWorld Drive 9 ?) … It gets worse. Even though there were members standing right there, no one said anything.  As Quan and I approached we noted the person in question standing next to a former board member, (who was the safety officer) who watched him fly and said nothing! His statement was that it wasn’t his job.  I really dislike saying bad things at the field, and just instructed the guest and his sponsor and left it at that. Actions like this can get us shut down people!!  Also, we have some members that fly with other local clubs. If you want to invite members of other clubs to come try our site out, I fully support that! However, please ensure they know our boundaries and the flying rules before unleashing them on us!

  Pretty much every 2 months this year we have had VERY experienced pilots severely damage or completely destroy high value aircraft mainly due to the fact that they were distracted while assembling their aircraft which led to missing wing bolts, incorrectly connected servo wires, disconnected servo wires, or plugging in discharged batteries. This brings up 2 points. First, if you see your buddy/pal assembling their plane/multirotor for flight, please leave them be until they are done! Most any question can wait 10 minutes, A little distraction can be costly.  Second, there are some checks that should be done before every flight. If you can turn wing bolts with finger pressure, they should be tightened. Check your battery voltage before putting them in your plane, even if you are SURE they are charged. And prior to advancing the throttle- do a control surface check while actually watching the surface move (don’t just listen for a servo sound). These small steps can save you a lot of grief!

  This month’s meeting will mark the opening of nominations for the Board of Directors that will drive the club for 2017. The election will be held at the November club meeting. The majority of the current board has agreed to run for another year with a few changes of position, and a couple have announced their intention to vacate. There have been a few people step forward to self-nominate. I am going to beat a dead horse here and ask each of you to determine whether you feel your experiences, knowledge, and possibly desire to change something you may not agree with is justification to run for a position. I still hear the comment that some people just “want to have fun” but don’t want to get involved…
We will accept nominations between October 22nd and November 26th – the day of the vote.  We will send out a blast at the end of October so you can see the nominees up to that point.
 
  Our fun fly on the 22nd is the popular BOMB DROP. We are looking for Challengers! If you can solo your plane, you can play this one! As usual, there will be prizes for the winners followed by the club meeting/nominations. This month the Bonnardels will be bringing Subway sandwiches to give me a break from cooking dogs, and I am looking forward to seeing YOU there!
 
  Have a great month!
  Brad

BOD Meeting Minutes for October 2016

By Scott Fuller

 

Jim, Brad, Quan, George, Paul, Scott, Isabel, Randy

 

  • Jim handed some receipts to Paul in regards to the banquet

  • Jim talked to KOZ events about road closures

  • Jim talked about Weed Wackers membership drive video

    • Hire a professional to do a video for us for $500

    • 4 – Yes votes, 2 – No votes, 1 – Abstain

  • Sign at the entrance at the gate. Folks were asked if they want to help make a sign. No one came up with one. Move the 5mph sign.

  • FPV Racing Budget for next year – Scoring Software, Flags, Bags. $500 for next year.

  • Runway – Talked about conditioning options. More wetting of the runway next year. One or two rollings.

  • Paul went over the Budget

    • Paying for Banquet items

    • Keys need to be made

  • 428 New members

  • Talked about Board dinner

  • Next meeting – Friday Nov 4th

How to: AS3X RX Programming and Setup

AS3X

 

Randy Wynant sent this in:

 

These are step by step, and certainly can help many who might be considering going AS3X of some kind.

There are at least 14 vids, all very short and to the point!  Helpful. 

 

Searching on:  Spektrum AS3X Step 1: Transmitter Setup (Initial Setup) in you tube gets you to the first one.

 

Or here:  https://youtu.be/LnYiKgrL_bU

 

As one completes, it should take you to the next one in line…2,   3,   4 etc

Brad’s Corner for Sept/Oct 2016

BradSeptember turned out quite a bit nicer than usual this year! I hope you all enjoyed the cooler weather, and a touch of rain! If you needed practice with crosswind landings, you had a perfect month!  After we swept the loose stuff from the field on Jet day, Jim wet down with the water trailer gave us a great surface. Jim believes that will be the way to go for future maintenance, skipping the roller.

 

Speaking of Jet day, Thanks again to all of the people that showed up with brooms and shovels to help clear the sand from the field. There are a few of you that I don’t see much on weekends that always show up when we ask for help, and I really appreciate it. There is a great feeling of support from you guys instead of just leaving stuff like that for the board of directors. There will be some activity at the rotorplex in the next few weeks as additional tables are added, along with some fencing to keep random spectators from just wandering on to the course or into the landing zone blindly. Please be patient when these events occur at they can only improve the experience.

 

There are still a few people joining monthly, so thanks again for the welcoming attitudes when people come from outlying areas to check out our field. In another record breaking month, we are now at 420 members. The highest EVER, with 3 months to go.  There are a few guys on the fence about joining this late in the year as we do not pro-rate our membership. We go from December to December. If you know someone holding out, please remind them that most clubs within 60 miles of us charge between 15 to 80 dollars a MONTH anyways, so 45 dollars to finish out the year at our great club is a bargain! Membership also allows participation in our monthly fun fly’s for prize money, and the other monthly events like drone/wing racing, and electroglide each with a chance of winning trophies and prizes associated with the event. In the same line, members are also eligible to attend our 2016 year post holiday banquet on 14 Jan. Planning is well underway for another great event, and I know there were some disappointed people who missed last years event because they were not members in 2015.

 

A year ago the AMA started doing 12 month memberships instead of year to year. Most of us are on a renewal cycle that ends on December 31st. Those of you who joined the AMA after September 01 2015 will be expiring at the anniversary of your sign up. Isabel will send you a renewal reminder e-mail. Even though your member badge is good through December, you will be restricted from flying until your AMA insurance is renewed. Please keep looking and asking people to display their member badges. Recently there has been a previous member flying without AMA or club membership that seemed surprised when Jim asked him not to fly. Why should others blatantly receive for free the benefits you paid for with your membership?

 

We are still having issues with people leaving the gate open when our site is not occupied by members. Please take this to heart. People are doing donuts in the parking lot and dumping various waste in our area when they think they can get away with it. Keep our site safe!!  The rangers moved the boulders around to make it harder for people to slip through, but when members leave the gate open, it negates any security we may have. We installed another 5MPH sign, this time on the gate itself. While there are still random people blowing in like their last name is Andretti, most of the members have been slowing down, Thank you!

 

My favorite buddy Skip came to the field a couple of times this month and flew in a safe manner without screams and people ducking for cover. I don’t know whether to feel proud or let down that I have no death defying tales to add to the newsletter…

 

Again, we will be accepting nominations in October for people interested in taking a hand in guiding the club in 2017. You can self-nominate, or a friend can nominate you. Please don’t nominate someone without checking with them first – this is all voluntary. A few people have mentioned their intention to try for a position and I appreciate them stepping up! The majority of the current board has agreed to run for next year, but there will be a few officers changing position, and one or two empty seats to fill. The actual voting will occur at the November meeting.

 

This week’s meeting and fun fly will be on the 24th. The event will be scale day, so if you have a scale looking plane that is modeled after a FULL SIZE aircraft (no fun jets) bring it and fly it between 10 am and 12 PM to have a chance at the monthly prizes. No restrictions on military or civilian, so bring it!  Following the fun fly, we will have the monthly club meeting, and lunch prepared and served by the board.

 

Have a safe month!

Brad

 

[Apologies from your editor for getting this newsletter out late, making the above Scale Day event info obsolete. – Ed]

Electroglide Results for September

 

The third launch proved even shorter flight times with the longest coming from Brian’s Multiplex Heron at 3 minutes, 18 seconds. Fred scored a 30-point landing, boosting his flight time score of 14 points to a respectable total score of 44 points.

 

The fourth and final launch yielded flight times in the 5 and 6 minute lengths. Perhaps the sun had finally heated Sea World’s parking lot enough for the thermals to develop. The lift was there to the northwest and we made good use of it. Fred had the longest flight of 6 minutes, 30 seconds, flying his Radian 29 seconds longer then Brian’s big open class Heron. Roger and I both scored 20 point landings, Tom picked a 10-point landing. This was a fun round and enjoyed by all.

 

Sore Necks

Our Necks Get Sore

 

First place for the day goes to Roger Ball at 163 points, second place goes to Tom Erickson at 135 points and third place goes to yours truly at 121 points.

 

Next and final Electroglide for 2016 is set for October 15th, usual start time of 9:30. We will not compete in November and December. The Electroglide for 2017 starts up on the third Saturday in January, the 21st.

 

All the Electroglide pilots for 2016, please come down for the October Electroglide. We will have a free raffle for you thanks to the Club’s Board of Directors. The raffle will start after the fourth and final landings.

 

I also want to point out this year’s point score totals, at least those higher totals that may be worth a first, second or third place finish. In adding up the current scores from the collected score sheets we have:

 

Bob Stinson – 967

Scott Vance – 897

Vince Gonsowski – 738

Roger Ball – 597

Fred Daugherty – 589

Rich Rogers – 503

Jon Graber – 412

Dennis LaBerge – 333

 

One more contest will decide 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes to be awarded. Our Board of Directors has been very gracious in awarding these prizes so come out for the last flights in October and try to place in the top spots. It’s worth it.

 

Until then,

 

Jeff Struthers

 

 

September Safety Officer’s Report

Overall, another quiet month at our field. I want to point out a safety issue I’ve noticed recently. There are some people flying scale aerobatic pattern that requires the model to return in the same “line” they started for proper execution. There have been a few times where this has caused some close calls, because the return line goes against the flying pattern at our field. When you are about to fly a scale pattern that requires flying out of our field’s pattern, please give people a heads up so we can clear the skies for you for a few minutes. I love watching well performed scale aerobatics, and it certainly requires a lot of skill. However, I just ask that it be done with minimal risk of a mid-air collision.

 

Also, a note about fire extinguishers. If you fly towards the end of the day after everyone else has left, you should have a fire extinguisher before you fly. If you’re the only person at the field, you’re the only one that can put out a fire if your model crashes.

 

That’s it for this month. I’ll see you guys this weekend!
-Quan

BOD Meeting Minutes for Sept 2016

By Scott Fuller

 

SEFSD Board Meeting – Sept 2016

Jim, Randy, Brad, Paul, Quan, Scott, George, Dennis, Isabel

 

  • We have 417 members currently

  • Have a issue with a previous member that is no longer a member. He is trying to fly. He has no AMA or club membership.

  • Paul went over the budget

    • List what groups are getting prizes and $$$ amount

    • Talked about banquet

    • Talked about Trophies, and surplus transponders ($30 each)

    • Roller and water, Fence and tables

  • Mid week water truck and roller.

  • Site reserved for the party. January 14th. 6pm to 10pm.

  • Org asked Frank G if there could be a fly over at a Del Mar golf course. Individual would assume financial responsibility, not the club or AMA.

 

Friday Oct 7th – Next Meeting

A Multiplex Twin Star II Brushless In Which an Already Converted from a Kit To Brushless is Re-built

 

Pic 2

 

A cheap and dirty way to convert a standard Twin Star II kit to Brushless.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

Flights 20/3 and 20/4 Hidden Valley Overlook Late August 2016 clear winds of (8) mph to (10) It finally cooled down. For the first time in months I’ve felt comfortable outside and the first time in months I’ve had a field to myself.

 

Despite the slightly bent output shaft of the right motor, with the 7X6 APC propellers (for ground clearance, 8X6 flew better) this twin now draws (19) amps at (210) watts-in on a 3S LiPo (11volts under load). Which despite the wind is seldom needed, nearly all of both flights were at a third of maximum. At most full amps were use on the climb side of loops. As hoped the reduced up-thrust of the motors makes inverted flight smoother, no more the dip and fight for level. Use the rudder and it can turn into the hill to catch some slope updraft extending the flights. But more important making the wind and the hills sparing partners. No longer a common sight in SoCal, this airplane would be a delight to most sport flyers.

 

Although I’ve had Twin Star IIs with twice the watts-out, this is now a suitable sport airplane for either Mission Bay or the Corona RC fields. Not set up for climb, agile in a small space and yet able to cruise way out there. Even with the aileron throw cut back to the hole closest to the shaft of the aileron servos with the additional fiberglass bracing of the control horns that axis is still too “hot”. The stiffening of the middle third of the ailerons, together with the one piece with and the whole center section being fiber glassed this is now a model, at least flying wise, of an STOL cargo airplane. Like you’d see in Alaska, Siberia or the Alps. Those five layers of fiberglass over the motor-gondolas do as expected.

 

Oh I’ll continue to develop this airplane a little more, but it’s time to transfer this one to somebody else and build something higher performance. As is flown reasonable it has another fifty flights in it although the motors were already giving out new out of the box. Better motors and a couple of more hours of fiberglass reinforcement and it would withstand a couple of hundred my “fly the stuffing out of it” flights.

 

Flight 13 middle of August 2016 With the traded for it big 3S 5200 mAh LiPo (new old stock) the balance is just a little too far forward, the motor runs most of the time. In this any wind is a result of thermals moment a lighter battery would have the advantage, any thoughts of clipping the wings two inches a side for better handling have been put aside, at this weight it needs the lift. The additional layer of (2) ounce per square yard (fiberglass cloth only, more like (5) ounces per square yard with the resin) make for a sufficiently stiff wing. To my disappointment the newly applied spray paint swelled the previously flat Elapor up, the individual cells now bulge up. Landing here is beating the fuselage up, Those grass sticks dried in the sun poke through the very thin fiberglass. For rough field flying more fiberglass is going to be required. With the addition of now the entire bottom of the wing is fiberglassed the expected life of this airframe is now in the hundred additional flights range. Elevator and ailerons are now balanced, only lack of a longer servo arm restricts adding more rudder.

 

Above Hidden Valley is now the last big chunk of openness in all of SoCal, but that sixteen mile round trip drive adds to the costs of flying. As it turns out a Reinforced Fun Cub with it’s big wheels can be flown just blocks away, a Twin Star II would be ruined by the big chunks churned up by the cars. Still, that big wing is not rigid, and trimmed two inches a side with a light weight battery and higher performance motors…

 

The investigation has begun if I can get Hacker motors here in SoCal as I would like to run two (60) gram 1000 kV motors, one of which I have new already.

 

This original year 2016 article for the SEFSD covers the use of a Multiplex Twin Star II kit, converted over to a basic brushless configuration. Alternatives could be the Radio Ready (RR) version (recommended) from Multiplex or buy the kit and the equipment separately. If you stick with Multiplex equipment the RR version costs less than buying the parts individually from Multiplex. And there isn’t much, if any, savings from sourcing anything from other Multiplex, at most maybe making your own wiring harness. This used airplane will be picked apart (with more photos then previously articles) going over the advantages of as received (inexpensive and functional, pleasant to fly under ideal conditions) and shortcomings (wrong throw at the ailerons, the motor mounts aren’t rigid enough, develops a hinge at the wing servos, poor performance from inexpensive motors, using just one battery eliminator circuitis marginal capacity, no reinforcement at the elevator control horn and so on and so forth) before making it a more durable and better flying Reinforced Twin Star II. Economics will be detailed. The original layout was straight forward, so too the improvements to get all that airframe has out of it.

 

Included is an analysis of the servos of a dead Reinforced Fun Cub. Which, with (134) flights on it is a one to two experience with servo selection. In case you were wondering, I expect hundreds of flights out of a Reinforced Twin Star II. For most people something more like a hundred flights is reasonable, so that will be the basis for the economic analysis.

 

This will be my fourth Twin Star II article (see the SEFSD archives) and as such will be more to stay in contact with my friends back in Germany then for San Diego. As you read this keep in mind that in San Diego California’s Mission Bay we are flying at sea level in shirt sleeve temperatures with either no, or not much, wind. In Rhein-Main it’s about a thousand feet above sea level with winds varying from none to sometimes quite breezy with temperatures four months a year either near or below freezing. If you fly at higher elevations the propeller sizes need to be adjusted and speeds will be higher. The basic glide speed of a Twin Star II is around fifteen to twenty miles an hour, that set’s the upper limit on flying in the wind. A Twin Star II can be landed almost anywhere a RC fixed wing airplane can be landed at all. I’m prone to showing off, a few times I took advantage of the lower wind speeds at ground level in hilly, alternating clear and forest, Rhein-Main, and the higher under power flight speeds of my reinforced Twin Star IIs, to shame the rest of them. Ya have to remember to land before the batteries give out as otherwise it’s going to be way down wind…

 

History

 

The original Multiplex Twin Star (I) was about the first easily built, a sort of semi-ARF, at the Silent Electric Fliers of San Diego (SEFSD) Mission Bay flying field starting around 1998. In gray Styrofoam with twin Speed 400 motors (one hundred grams at thirty to forty watts-out each, for about a hundred flights) on the then C sized Nickel-Cadmium batteries (the six cell size intended for RC cars) and so easily available. Using glued in spruce spars it started the trend of not having to spend forty to sixty hours to assemble a single motor radio controlled flying machine (more like five hours for the first one) still using the then standard “RC car” sized components. Easily broken and subject to abrasion on the sandpaper like Mission Bay San Diego flying field, they were good for about twenty flights with anything past a hundred unlikely. It didn’t take much to break them, after a few snaps repeated repairs were pointless.

 

At a swap meet in San Diego the summer of 2016 there were three of them, original Twin Star (I)s in Styrofoam, intact, for sale. Or at least appearing intact, both Styrofoam and Elapor go brittle over time. According to people who have flown both the Original in gray Styrofoam and the II in white Elapor, with the same pair of Speed 400s ((40) watts-out per motor) the earlier version flew better. I wouldn’t accept an RC airplane, one expected to fly and land, made of Styrofoam, even if you gave it to me. Even less so after two decades of going hard and brittle. Well, maybe for nostalgia. The same for balsa and heat shrunk covering.

 

Figure four years after being molded that either the white Elapor of a modern Twin Star II giving out or rust inside the control rods starts setting an end. There’s a lot of care free RC flying satisfaction in that four years.

 

The Modern Twin Star II (Brushless)

 

Although I haven’t had an original Twin Star (I), I’ve built a dozen of the updated version (The Twin Star II) in impact absorbing (i.e. packing crate) white Elapor foam. About half with the brushed motors of the day, and half with modern brushless motors and Lithium-Polymer (LiPo) batteries. Figure eight hundred flights plus equal for friends. See three previous articles in the SEFSD archives.

 

The Twin Star II is still the best selling of the Multiplex line up and worth every bit of its purchase price. Although a good deal as a kit, and easily converted to brushless, may I recommend going straight to the Radio Ready (RR) version for most of you.As previously covered in a previous SEFSD article (The Twin Star II, Fly It Like It Was A Crow) the supplied RR wiring harness is complex, but does allow for complete disassembly. As in remove the wing and split it in two for transportation. It has the disadvantage of coming with both motor controller battery eliminatorcircuits, the motors pulse back and forth. And for here in The USA the green connectors have gone out of style.The RR version of the Twin Star II comes with well-matched brushless motors, propellers, speed controls (with settable lead, a twenty percent plus for outrunners) and aluminum motor plates to the plastic gondola mounts. They come with perfectly match propellers, which are more durable then the APCs. The difference in pitch between eight inch APC at 8X4 and 8X6 verses the black Multiplex 8X5 can throw fine tuning. Although the Multiplex aluminum motor plates are an improvement, put any real power to it and the motor gondolas vibrate, they are only just equal to the Multiplex supplied motors.An easy improvement is multiple layers of thin fiberglass over the motor gondolas. Multiple layers because to get the material to follow the small radius curves you have to use thin fiberglass.You may expect that if, as I and my friends do, you fly it hard, that our around fifty flights a “hinge” develops at the end of the wing spar right at the servos. A simple patch of fiberglass over the wing servos, or fiber tape,can way extend the life of the wing. As for abrading away the belly (and wing leading edge) see as follows, tape or fiberglass.

 

Personally I glue and fiberglass the wing into a single piece and make my own wiring harness. The trough down the middle is a relic of bygone days, for use with typical C sized car NiCad battery packs.   With the from Multiplex wiring harness down the middle using brushed motors everything fits and balances, but with two sets of motor controllers and modern, even with modern smaller and lighter LiPo batteries, things in there get crowded.  

 

To Decide on Servos; An Autopsy of a Dead Fun Cub

 

Pic 4

 

Wide Open Spaces to Fly with sometimes Rough Landing Strips

 

I’ve had three Fun Cubs to date (also detailed in an archived SEFSD article) and assembled half a dozen more for friends. Even delivered with modest propulsion and ten hours of reinforcement above the minimum four hours to slap a kit together the latest astounded club members at the other end of my long commute in Germany’s Rhein-Main. Set up right both the Twin Star II and Fun Cub can be much better performers then generally observed. A Twin Star II uses four servos in the (18) gram class, the Fun Cub two of the same and two in the (8) gram size. The current Fun Cub offering, a “heavy” version as RR, is a good deal. When that huge diameter (13X4) APC propeller it comes with breaks put a 9X6 or 10X5 on it as a better choice for see level Mission Bay or slightly higher altitude with wind more often Rhein-Main in Germany.

 

At this end of that long flight (SoCal) I confirmed my long standing status as a “Bad Example” last year out in Hidden Valley. The wind was blowing a base speed of twenty miles an hour with gusts to twenty-eight. Convention has it that no Fun Cub should take to the air under such conditions. Since I wasn’t a member, just there to enjoy the last piece of unbuilt metropolitan SoCal, I wasn’t planning on flying. The club members are a pleasant lot, including some giant scale pilots who fly competition. But in general they haven’t made it past using electric power to substitute for fuel.For five harrowing minutes a fuel pilot kept his airplane in the air to landed mostly intact, then he sneered at the rest of us.

 

My personal Fun Cub has an internal beam of fiberglass down the inside from the (front) motor mount back to the air outlet and layers over the outside from the nose to the rear servos, the rear wheel assembly has been replaced, there is a patch over the wing servos and the originally two piece wing is a single piece. For this flight the main landing gear was removed, done in a minute with just a screwdriver. It also had a (135) gram Scorpion (same weight and exterior dimensions as the RR version but more effective and more expensive) motor with a folding three (3) bladed 12X6 Aero-Naut propeller drawing forty amps on (14) volts under load on a 4S 2200 mAh LiPo for about (400) watts-out. It took off straight up, sloped soared for a half an hour to land at my feet after gliding back a third of a mile. While I was in the air two other pilots demolished their airplanes. The 4S 2200 mAh LiPo was two thirds discharged.

 

And yet that same combination, “detuned” on a 3S LiPo (eleven volts under load) has been used to encourage beginners at Mission Bay. It was also used to test how “look the same and a lot cheaper” components function.

 

Originally assembled with house brand Hobby People servos one of the (8) gram aileron servos failed between flights (25) and (26) from transport impacts. The second made it the whole (134) flights although by then there were a couple of bands where it didn’t follow control inputs, it was worn out and almost to failure.

 

I’m not sure what caused the crash. A descending slope at the site with a chain link fence has caused radio problems (even with modern digital GHz radios) and there is some nasty turbulence too. I doubt that worn servos were the cause, they all responded to inputs on dissection. The (16) gram house brand rudder servo, as could be expected since it isn’t connected to the rear wheel and otherwise gets very little use, made it the distance. The house brand elevator servo was replaced after flight fifty when it failed on takeoff resulting in an impact that tore whole nose off. That crash ruined two-hundred dollar’s worth of motor and folding propeller, plus having to replace the elevator servo and rebuild the front end (any modern foamie would have been a total write off) so any savings on inexpensive servos were way lost. Conclusion: If you do some nominal reinforcement a Fun Cub can be made to really fly, just don’t use cheap anything.

 

Well, maybe if you aren’t going to make to fifty flights anyway (for example the due to pilot error by one of the beginner pilots who did fine with my Fun Cub who had ruined five airplanes in a row long before servos or worn motor bearings became issues) inexpensive servos are ok. But maybe the Multiplex recommended servos or, since they aren’t usually available in SoCal, HiTek servos should be used. If you buy the radio recommended version it comes with Multiplex brand servos, which seem to be the same as HiTecs (Hitek owns Multiplex) except the Multiplex servos have longer leads. Keep that in mind when buying servo lead extensions.

 

My second Fun Cub lasted longer than expected, even if the crash hadn’t ended it I’d soon have given it to a beginner. If you don’t put a patch over the weak area of not enough foam at the end of the wing spar and wing servo, figure maybe fifty flights out of the wings, with it they were still hanging in there for up to three times that long. Not bad for a simplest change taking an hour which, after you own the materials, costs two dollars. Half of that for the paint brush to apply the epoxy. Well, maybe four hours as the wing tips and leading edge of the wing had been hardened too, without which the wings wouldn’t have lasted long enough for the “hing” at the servos to develop.

 

The Twin Star II weighs more than a heavy Fun Cub, the bigger aileron servos even that out. I now know that a Reinforced Fun Cub has an expected life of two hundred flights (nobody flies a Fun Cub more violently then me) with a Twin Star II about double that. Inexpensive servos will start to fail long before then, or be so worn as to degrade the performance. The inexpensive motors won’t last near that long either, the bearings give out.

 

The moral of the dissection, these modern RC airplanes in impact absorbing foam, maybe with some select reinforcement, are durable enough to justify the use of better then minimal servos! If all you expect is thirty to fifty flights out of an RC airplane, and you fly gentle, go ahead and use cheap servos, but not in my airplanes and not for anybody I know.

 

The standard size for all four servos of a Twin Star II is in the (18) gram range. Although I personally use a metal gear servo for the elevator, most of you will do just fine with ordinary servos. About the HiTek HS-85 or so. With it’s slow responses to control inputs faster and more precise servos are likely a waste for this airframe. Somewhere out past six hundred flights, you read that right, (600) flights, the HS-81s at about (18) grams the internal electronics start giving out, by then the plastic gear train is worn out too.

 

Even the definition of a “Flight” has been changing. With the original Speed 400 motors on a 1800 mAh(6) cell NiCad battery the Twin Star only just flew with about four minutes of thrust. With skill and the increase of capacity of the batteries flights lasted up to twelve minutes without finding some lift. The little brushed motors were good for not more than a hundred flights on 7 cell NiMh batteries, so replacing them was routine. I now expect my friends to get eight to twelve minutes out of a brushless Radio Ready Twin Star II on an ordinary 3S 2200 mAh LiPo with a far more energetic flight profile. With better motors and fine tuning, together with a “burst and glide” flights profile I use I expect double that.

 

The Used Twin Star II, As Bought the Summer of 2016; What Was Right and Wrong

 

Motor Mount

 

See the pictures for what at first looked like a simple and effective way to mount brushless motors to a Twin Star II. It appears a soldering iron was used to melt a trough and a piece of plywood using high volume glue secured to the foam. This rear mount system has the advantage of being easy to do, it is also currently “conventional”. In a crash, even though the motors are well protected in a Twin Star II, rear mounted motors become a long throw lever which prys the motor out. Which is why I’ve stuck with front mount motors even though that has gone out of fashion. But that is seldom an issue with the wing mounted motors of a Twin Star as the motors almost can’t hit the ground. That makes one of the big advantages of this RC version of an “all weather” one airplane does everything plane. The nose and wings hit first saving the motors.

 

However, the gluing in wasn’t sufficiently well done. There is only a little band where the stiff plywood connects to the flexible Elapor foam. Evidently not enough as the motors vibrated way too much. As for being done freehand, the motors weren’t angled the same. That probably wasn’t much of a disadvantage for just gently cruzing around.

 

All weather in Rhein-Main means some wind, mud and snow. For the SoCal readers mud is dirt mixed with water and snow is this freezer temperature crud that falls out of the sky (look east to the mountains in winter if it ever rains again), when it melts it turns dirt to mud, and frozen dirt clods and mole hills are rocks. They grow food around Rhein-Main, so we fly off of farm fields with grass as a crop being typical.

 

It should have been that shortening the effective length of the motor gondolas also deals effectively with that with front mounted motors the foam is either just enough, or with more power not stiff enough. But this combination shook way too much.

 

My personal Twin Star IIs have about a dozen layers of fiberglass over the black plastic stock motor mount (makes up for not having aluminum) layered back over the wing to an inch all around the top of the motor-gondolas. My wings don’t vibrate no matter how much power they get from the (28)mm diameter motors.After seeing what my Twin Star II can do a friend back in Rhein-Main would like me to reinforce his motor-gondolas too.

 

Motor(s)

 

The Turnirgymotors are inexpensive. Surfing the Internet, Hobby Kind offers them for $10.62- plus the costs of ordering by Internet and mail. One of them already has problems with the bearings. If you can feel the bearings just flipping them over they are already a big drag at operational RPM, and you can feel these. My past experience is that run on 2S LiPos they go a good long while, on 3S they develop problems not later than fifty flights. Fact is I’ve had these only just function right out of the box, and go worse from then. As in the performance falls off as the power draw goes up, the increase going into heating the motors. Until they burn up. I’ve had that happen in (27) flights, even with good cooling.Actual efficiency, that is the power starting as electrical energy being converted to turning the output shaft, might go as high as two thirds of the power input makes it to the output shaft, but I doubt that.

 

Let’s clarify that as censorship by omission neglects that the amount of power going into a motor is never as much as delivered to the output shaft. There is always some loss at converting the electrical power to mechanical.The upper limit is our own SEFSD NeuMotors at about (95)%. Using even their simple Motor Calk indicates that even their maximum quality stuff if configured even a little wrong the actual efficiency quickly falls off. And there is only so much room in there, the (35) mm diameter motors evidently have an efficiency advantage over their (28)mm Twin Star II sized.

 

The non-competition manufacturers often purposefully overstate the efficiency of their motors by selecting just one winding of a series perfectly matched as what could be expected across the whole range. And don’t expect the published kV to be the actual either. All it takes is the anti-corrosion coating which looks nice to be just a little thick so the bearings press in at a slight angle to throw things. Or a supplier delivering bearings which look like bearings, or thinning out the material in the magnets which makes them magnets to way down the output/input ratio.

 

High effective energy conversion doesn’t come cheap. It takes better magnets, inductive spools and bearings. And some of that is hidden in quality control. These Turnigysfigure more like (65)% efficient maximum, probable even less. On 2S that would drop to more like (60)%. Don’t even try to run these inexpensive motors on 4S, the bearings won’t take it for even a few flights.

 

To my knowledge there are no sport motors which easily fit a Twin Star II suitable for use on 4S LiPos. I tried the (28) mm diameter outrunner Hackers and Scorpions on 4S (both rate their (28) mm motors as 2S and 3S)the bearings quickly wore out (sixty flights) for only a slight performance gain. It has to do with as these sport motors are built they can only use so much magnetic flux. The complexity is on a par with E=MC squared, see the full parameters in NeuMotors motor calk for a better idea. And then let somebody else design your motors. If you need that kind of efficiency and power of 4S maybe a different airframe is a better choice. But then you lose the ability to fly a Twin Star II carefree. Until I found some old stock Hacker (80) gram Heli motors wound for (2500) kV and high rpm both…

 

Then too the manufacturer’s used to rate their motors for sustainable output. Although the manufacturer Robbe has left the field, their (62) gram (30) mm motors were a good choice for a typical Twin Star II. Robbe rated them at six to seven amps. I always ran mine at double that. So if out past sixty flights the bearings gave out… At six or seven amps in (per motor, twice that for two motors) a Twin Star II would fly gently. At twelve amps in it can chase it’s own tail. All it took were motor controllers with sufficient capacity (set the lead on automatic) and changing propellers.

 

NeuMotors may not have anything suitable for a Twin Star II. Their 1105 series with a gear box could be made to fit, but weigh too much at (120) grams each. Although the original Speed 400s weighed (100) grams each, we now expect a pair of outrunners to weigh, combined, about (130) grams.To get geared motors to fit you’d have to rework the motor mounts quite a bit. I’d put a dozen layers of fiberglass over the stock black plastic motor mount(s) extending back to half the width of the wing and add a rear “ring” mount to the motor(s). But what are what are we going to do with potentially (350) watts-in to (600) watts-in (per motor) in a Twin Star II? My Twin Star II wings have improved wing spars, the wings are fiberglassed together at the center, there are patches over the wing servos and current production Multiplex wings come with fiberglass tape on the underside of the wings. Attempts with a single nose mounted motor demonstrate that with the speeds available above (300) watts-out total (more than double the best you should expect out of the as bought Turnigy motors, even if the motor gondolas are improved) the whole airplane vibrates. The wings go into flutter too. Who cares if your Twin Star II needs three seconds to exceed the height restrictions of Mission Bay, or seven, as the glide back down takes the same time? A pair of hundred and fifty dollar Hacker (28) mm motors and a Twin Star II can do loops until the battery goes empty, there just isn’t much to more. Even back in Rhein-Main we just don’t need that kind of climb and like a school bus, no matter how much power we put to it no Twin Star II will ever be fast.

 

Even using smaller propellers to down- rate the NeuMotors 1105 series of motors to (250) watts-in (on 3S around eighty eight percent efficiency) just one motor then still puts out enough. And there is the question of economics, do you really want to spend four times the price of the airframe kit on motors and transmissions plus twelve hours improving the motor mounts and gondolas? Probably not. Let’s set the comfortable limit for a pair of motors as between fifty and a hundred fifty dollars for a Twin Star II, motor controllers additional. Since the transmission alone exceeds that price limit, for now forget geared motors. I’ve never heard of a Twin Star II using them anyway.

 

Personally I use sport Hacker or Scorpion brands of the (28)mm diameter at about sixty to seventy dollars a motor. They claim an actual efficiency in the (80)% range, if perfectly matched to the load and then only on 3S LiPo voltages. That (80) % verses (65)% claimed isn’t just one tenth more for the same in, it is one third more and in truth the resulting flights are even more of an improvement that a third.

 

You can wear out the (28) mm diameter size motor bearings no matter who makes the outrunner before a Twin Star II airframe gives out.

 

It is reasonable for about fifteen hours of changes to mount (35) mm motors in the (80) gram class in a Twin Star II. At which you have something which looks more like an old radial motor model and have way more torque then needed for anything other than towing another airplane aloft. See upcoming article Five for details. A clue, the conversion isn’t as finically as expensive as you might think. The materials only cost twenty bucks, the motors, if you were already paying Euro55/$62- only go to Euro79/$89- the net difference is only $54- and it really impresses the rest of the club!

 

The Twin Star II though should use at least 3S LiPos.Yes, you could run a big 2S (like the car people do) but why bother. Um, unless you happened into a deal on helicopter motors that still hit efficiency in the (80)%s on 2S…

 

Regarding one of two Turnigy motors having rough bearings, it’s a quality control issue. Two isn’t a good enough sampling, but one of them is already nearing failure. It could have been two good motors, or two bad ones. Replacement bearings are available, they cost more than the mot

Brad’s Corner for Aug/Sept 2016

BradHey Flyers!!!
I would like to start off this month’s note with a few safety concerns. As we finish August and move into September we can expect the temps to remain pretty high. This brings a couple of things to the forefront. Fire safety needs to be in the daily thought processes of all persons utilizing our site. With the fires in the area lately, you can imagine what will happen if an accident gets out of control… I handed out a few more fire extinguishers in the end of June. The idea is to always have a few on hand every day of the week. Please do not be afraid to use them when needed! Also, with how warm it has been lately, please ensure you bring plenty of drinking water and stay hydrated. One of our members ended up in stage 3 kidney failure this last month due to dehydration. It’s not a bad idea to bring a few portable pop-ups and some hats to provide shade.
I am again going to put out a general call to members to LOCK THE GATE if you are the last one out. There has been some dumping happening that I suspect has been going on while our site was unoccupied and the gate was open. A couple of the early morning crowd has reported that quite often the gate is either open, or closed – but not locked. Please help keep our site safe!
Thanks to Tom and Chief for their continued efforts at keeping the weeds from reclaiming the runway and pit area. They have been spraying and chopping during the week. As we talk about field maintenance, there are a few soft areas between gate 3 and 6 that have developed over the last few months. Some folks have had their landing gear ripped off or had a plane flip over after a decent landing. Jim plans to rent the water truck and roller after he returns from vacation. To help prep the field for this, I would like to have a follow up to our “ Get your Rocks off” event we did in February.  On Saturday the 27th, prior to commencing our monthly Fun Fly, I would like members to bring brooms and sweep of the rough areas. Maybe 1/3rd of the field will need to be swept.
 Brad Alix recently donated a brand new 5 MPH sign for the driveway into our site, this one is larger and will be more visible. We still have the general public blowing into our site at 30 MPH or above, and I continue to ask them to slow down, maybe the new sign will help… However, about half of the people kicking up dust are members that are so excited to get to their respective area that they seem to have blinders on and literally race to their parking spot. Please keep your fellows in mind and don’t dust everyone out.
Membership is now over 400. I believe this is largely due to our general members being welcoming to new people and willing to answer questions or share quality information. All I can say is “THANK YOU!” to all of you. Thanks also to Isabel for her diligence in keeping track of all membership and AMA happenings. As a usual note, please keep wearing your badges at the site, and don’t be upset if you are not wearing it and someone asks to see it. On that note, you do not have to be a member of the board to ask people to verify they are members. You pay for access – why should others play for free? Please do not force a confrontation, but remember that if they are not members, it’s likely they do not have AMA either. These people put our entire site at risk. If they cause damage and just leave, the fingers will point at us.
You will hear this same topic from me over the next few months.  While most of your current board of directors have agreed to continue representing you during 2017, there are a few that have indicated they would like to move on. Please consider taking a hand in the direction of the club for the next year or two. ALL of the positions are open to nominations, and if you feel you have something to offer I would like you to throw your (or your buddy’s) name into the hat for nominations in October. Sadly we have heard a couple of comments from members that “I don’t want to get involved, I just want to have fun!” While I understand this position, it still takes guidance to keep a club this large from having a TON of drama and issues, and making the FUN happen! Some of you have come over from other local clubs and know EXACTLY what I mean.
I appreciate those of you that have brought chairs to the field! We could use a few more, but we are quite a bit above where we were at the end of June. Also still accepting used carpeting if you are having yours replaced.
 Our Monthly Fun Fly and club meeting day will be this Saturday, 27 August. If you attend, please bring a broom! This month’s event is Jet Day. The event will kick off at 10:00 AM, with general flying restricted until all jet pilots have logged their flights. All jet pilots will have a chance at $150.00 in prize money.  Traditionally jet day lasts between 60 and 90 minutes, and will be followed by our monthly meeting and a hot dog lunch.
 
Brad