Monthly Archives: April 2020

When I sent out the request to let me know what you guys are doing on your COVID vacation, I never thought I would get such a tremendous response.  Thank you so much for your stories and pictures.  Never let it be said a modeler does not know how to keep himself occupied.  Below are the articles you sent in during the last couple weeks.  These are your editor’s favorite kinds of things.  I love to share what our members are doing with the readers.  Anything from a picture and a paragraph to full blown build article.  It is all appreciated! – Steve B.

(The video above starts 16 minutes from the beginning.  Click on the left end of the status bar to see it from the start.)

Frank Sutton, our intrepid photographer, has put together a beautiful collection of pictures and videos from 2019 for your enjoyment.  He says it best:

“Remembering John

John was born in London England October 1929.  His father was CS Forester, an author who wrote many books but was known for the Horatio Hornblower series and the African Queen. 

John served in the Navy for a short term before being honorably discharged.  He earned a Master of Science in 1964

He had three passions in life: Cycling, Taking pictures, and Flying model airplanes.

Cycling was not only a passion but a way of life for him. He started to ride in 1937 in England and then continue when they moved to California in 1940.  He was instrumental for helping to fight the battle against mandatory bike paths in 1972.

I remember him as always building and tinkering.  We made model boats and rubber band launched gliders out of balsa wood and tissue paper which would slowly circle before landing.  He also had several rubber band power planes.  I think it really changed for him with the advances in battery technology and then finally from analog to digital controls.  We would often talk about the issues with the analog controls.  He loved to fly and also to teach in his own style and was never afraid to give suggestions and guidance at the field.  He typically liked to fly on weekdays when it was less crowded so that on weekends other could fly.”  – Geoffrey Forester

I was happy when John come and sat with Alice, Sean & I at a table in the back of the room at the Harbor House this last January.  Little did I know that was the last time I would see him.  I heard from him a few days before he died.  We exchanged a couple emails where he asked if I thought someone from the club, who lived near him, might consider helping him if he needed it.  That was our last conversation.

During the dinner he showed me the response he had written to the FAA regarding their proposed new rules.  Well written, concise and to the point.  I was impressed how well written it was.  I just learned that John has been writing professionally for a long time.  He wrote Practical Cycling which is now in its seventh printing.  

John was a big contributor to our club.  He headed up the flight training program and many of today’s pilots learned to fly under his tutelage.  Maybe you have read his comprehensive article on learning to fly.

I received an email from his son Geoffrey a few days ago telling me he had passed in his home.  John was 90 years old.  – Steve B.

“I remember John Forrester as a kind gentleman and an avid competitor in our EMAC competition series. John rarely missed a chance to improve/demonstrate his flying skills in the BASIC class even though he probably surmised that just taking home his airplane in one piece was a successful endeavor! More recently, John’s reasoned and impassioned letters to the FAA defending our rights to fly our models without restrictions, registrations, etc. became the model for mine and other peoples’ writings on the subject. We’ll miss your charm and wit, John. Hope your skies above are filled with light to no winds, perfectly axial rolls and all 10 point round loops”.  – Steve Manganelli

“Dearest friends of Jack,

My name is Sara, and I am Jack’s daughter. This post is to let you all know that, early Easter morning, my Dad passed away peacefully in his sleep. He had been receiving absolutely wonderful care for the past nine days from the staff at Day Break Retirement Villa and Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care. Everyone involved with both these organizations was so skilled at helping us navigate this difficult time under such extraordinary circumstances. We never imagined we would be saying goodbye to him over video chat, but the universe does what it does, and you just have to roll with the punches. I will be forever grateful to the staff at Day Break and Seasons. They made this confluence of events as easy as it could possibly have been considering this previously unfathomable scenario. They are truly gifted care providers, for both patient and family. Though we were not by his side, they were able to provide enough connection to make us feel that, in a way, we were there. From the bottom of my heart, I thank them.

My mom, Mary, has moved in with my brother, Jesse, and sister-in-law, Laura Mae, in Richmond, CA. The three of them are enjoying each other’s company and sharing this experience together with deep love and gratitude for our cherished family. My husband, Joel, and I are able to video chat with them several times a day and, for that, we are thankful. I await the moment when we can all wrap our arms around each other again. There will be tears that day.

Once the shelter in place order is lifted, the five of us will be having a memorial service and burial of his ashes which we will live stream here. I will make sure to provide updates as to when that will be taking place. I know how dearly loved my dad was by so many of you. I know you all treasured the amazing, funny, kind, and endlessly brilliant person he was. Please feel free to comment on this post with any pictures of him you’d like to share or stories you’d like to tell about him. Don’t spare the details. Go on at length. Make us laugh like he would have. Since social media is all we have right now, let’s make good use of it. My love to you all. I know my Dad is at peace, and I hope we can use the connections we make here to bring some peace to each other.

-@Sara Jane Hix”

We lost a great club member recently, Jack Hix.  Most of the current members may have never met Jack, but you would remember if you had.  He has not flown much in the last 10 years or so.  Jack was an outstanding modeler and great story teller.  Always quick with a joke and had a tremendous sense of humor.  I think that is what I’ll miss most about him.  I remember him coming out to the field so pleased with his latest creation and ready to show it off.  His attention to detail was inspiring.  Some of his models are shown below like his Mini-Mamba, Old Timer, etc. 

For those members who were around then, Jack provided his expertise as a graphic designer to create the wonderful logos for our yearly events such as the Mid-Winter Electrics, Spring Fling or Fall Fun Fest.  Some of his designs are below.

I can still hear his laughter. – Steve B.

“As for Jack Hix in addition to him being a most excellent modeler and builder of miniature airplanes it he was also the the leading pool shark of, I think he lives in Vista, but the local senior center he regularly clean them out of a couple hundred dollars a night just shooting pool with them.” – Wayne W.

Business is still getting done at SEFSD even with Covid-19. First off, I want to thank the members that continued to join our club even after the city closed the parks in in Mission Bay. All of your support is appreciated! We are at 253 members. As of April 23rd, we are still closed, but look for reopening announcements. Just FYI, we have temporarily suspended service on the port-a-potty until the field reopens, so if for some reason you go there (which you should not) and notice a lack of service, that’s the reason. When we do reopen, we plan to do maintenance on both the runway, and the parking lot. We’ll have 50 – 60 gallons of dust control to soak the entire field and parking lot to get everything in good shape again. Our charter has been renewed, as well as our insurance policy for the city. We’re still waiting to hear back from the AMA to see if we got any money from the Flying Site Improvement Grant. 

Bob Stinson here. Many of you have seen some of my unusual aircraft at the field. Words like “crazy”, “what the heck is that?”, and my favorite “of course you’d have one, Bob”, have been heard often over the years. Well, there was a method to my madness! What would I do if the field was closed down? Vertical flight was the answer. Of course, I wasn’t expecting the culprit to be a virus.

I’m fortunate to live on a cul-de-sac, and on the edge of a canyon. I’ll fly drones over the canyon and helis over both. Happily, neighbors are tolerant of my toys!

Stay safe and healthy everyone. See you all when this is over.

Thanks to Frank Sutton, we can fly vicariously through his lens.  Click a pic.  Enjoy:

This guy probably isn’t a member but he has definitely used his COVID time wisely!  Click the pic:

Thanks to Bob M. for sending this in.

Wayne bought a sail boat in 2018 with the intent of sailing from the East coast down through the Panama Canal and on into the Pacific.  The trip has had some starts and stops due to mechanical issues.  Last year he made it to the South of Florida.  This winter he has finally made it to the US, Virgin Islands.  Here are his latest comments as of April 13th:

“I’m trying to get to the US Virgin Islands after getting chased out of Jamaica and not allowed into Puerto Rico.  Great sailing so far, Wayne

I made it to Saint Thomas island in the US Virgin’s yesterday so all is well.  Things are not bad here at all, everyone’s taking the quarantine business seriously and being being good about it I guess is the best way of saying it.  I’ve got to get a place to haul the boat out and leave it here for the hurricane season so that’s my job for the next week or so.  All is well everything worked out, talk to you later bye-bye”

The prequel to this story can be read on his blog.  His latest entry was on Jun 2019:  https://www.sailblogs.com/member/waynesworld/456605/

By Steve B.

I needed to make a small conical shape from a flat piece of plastic.  I had replaced the small jet fan in my Kyosho Jet Vision since the original fan shucked a few blades on takeoff (FOD).  The new fan was bigger so it needed an adapter to fit between the fan and rear half of the exhaust cone.  I could do it with trial and error but I wondered if I could figure out the math and create it in my drawing program, and I did.

I’m sure there are any number of places online that have this already figured out, where you can simply input your measurements and voila you get the answer.  I didn’t look.  I wanted to see how it was done.  My only external source was my lovely retired middle school math teacher wife, Alice, who provided some of the basic formulas I had forgotten.  Although, when I had a question, I did have to raise my hand and wait my turn. . .

Remember sitting in Middle School (Junior High) Math class and wondering what you’ll ever use this stuff for?  Well, this is a great example where you can use both Geometry and Algebra.  Sound like fun?

A typical exhaust cone will look something like these.  The long one fits my Avanti jet and the other is for my Jet Vision:

My drawings were done in a computer drafting program.  You can also do it by hand using a compass, protractor and straight edge.  You may need to commandeer the dining room table if your workbench is loaded with stuff, like mine.

Using my Avanti jet as an example, I created this drawing.  I know the Avanti does not need a tail cone, I just used it for an example.  The calculations are below:

This is the math used to create the drawing:

What we know:

   <1 = <2  (Angle 1 = Angle 2)

   R2 = R1 + Lc  (Radius 2 = Radius 1 + Length of Cone).  (R1 & R2 are radii used for the layout above.)

   Arc1 (Arc length 1)  see just below

   Arc2 (Arc length 2)

The arcs lengths are the circumferences of the ends of the cone.  For their radii, just measure the diameters of the fan and outlet and divide by 2.  (r_o1 = radius of outlet, r_f2 = radius of fan.)  The arc lengths are:

eq. 1   Arc1 = 2π r_o1 and Arc2 = 2π r_f2

Now all we need to find are <1 & <2 and R1 & R2 in order to create the layout.  We know the relationships between the angles and between the radii.  This gives us only two unknowns.

Now we just need two equations.  Solve for one unknown in one equation, substitute that into the other equation and solve for the other unknown.

eq. 1a   (<1÷360) 2π R1 = Arc1

eq. 1b   (<2÷360) 2π (R1 + Lc) = Arc2

Lets solve for R1 in eq. 1a:

   Simplifying: 

eq. 1c   R1 = Arc1÷(.0175<1)

Substitute that into eq. 1b and we get: 

   (<2/360) 2π (Arc1÷(.0175<1) + Lc) = Arc2

Lets solve for the angles (<1 = <2):

   (.0175<2 (Arc1÷(.0175)<1 + Lc) = Arc2

   Arc1 + .0175<2 Lc = Arc2

eq. 2  <1 = <2 = (Arc2 – Arc1)÷(.0175Lc)

The Arcs and the Cone Length are measured quantities, so substitute them in to find the angle.

Now find R1 by substituting the angle into either eq1c.

eq. 3  R1 = Arc1÷(.0175<1)

Here are the numbers needed to make the drawing above:

Measured:

r_o1 = 35mm, r_f2 = 41.5mm

Lc = 365mm

Calculated:

From eq1:  Arc1 = 2π r_o1 = 220mm, Arc2 = 2π r_f2= 261mm

From eq2:  <1 = <2 = 6.419 Deg

From eq3:  R1 = 1958mm, R2 = R1 + Lc = 1958 + 365 = 2323mm

These highlighted values are what you need to draw your exhaust cone.

This method is a bit simpler than the previous method.  It involves little math but may require the same clearing of the dining room table to make the layout.

It was sent in by Bruce Brown, club member, expert aerobatic pilot, retired sheet metal Journeyman and all ’round great guy.  I’ve flown aerobatics with Bruce for many years and when I want to know exactly how a maneuver is suppose to be flown I just watch him, usually followed by “Oh, that’s what it’s supposed to look like. . .”