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2016 Lessons Learned #1 – Power and Glide Trimming

Posted on 18 November 2016 by Bredehoft

I started flying Free Flight in the mid ’80s – so I’ve been doing this a long time. Still, it amazes me what I don’t know; I still am learning things. Another surprise is why it takes so long for some of this stuff to sink in to my thick skull. Here are some of the things that I have discovered this year. Maybe “discovered” is the wrong word, but I think that I am finally getting them to stick and become part of my routine.

Cruise, Glide, Balance, Thrust
Everyone “knows” that you need to trim a plane. You know, get that proper turn, climb-out, and glide for the best duration. On three different models at the last Cloudbusters Outdoor contest of the year, I implemented a routine that improved each model’s flight characteristics. Two models were new and one was a year old.

All year long, I’ve been struggling with my Elmendorf Special. It is a 16″ wingspan race plane and “should” have been a reliable flyer, as its heritage is from the very popular Tom Nallen (I) “Jackrabbit” plan. I never expected it to be a Nationals competitor, but I wanted it to be a strong contender at the local events. Make no mistake, I won, placed or showed at nearly every race, but something just wasn’t right. Mainly, the climb-out was smooth, but the glide was not stable, porpoising, and such – there was porpoising even in the later parts of the cruise and downthrust wasn’t helping. It was getting to the point that launches were becoming risky because they were very flat.

In the process of trimming my two new planes, the Guillows #905 P-51 and the Shaft stick model, I had what I will call an epiphany. I always glide-trim under light power, a couple hundred winds. In my opinion, this compensates for the drag of a freewheeling prop and gets the plane to a flying speed before the turns are gone and we can watch the glide. Once I find a good balance to get a respectable glide, I gradually increase the turns and adjust the thrust to keep the flight pattern I want – all standard stuff. But here is what I did that worked on these two planes and fixed my Elmendorf Special:

I’ve been wracking my brain over this porpoising – that means add nose weight – but this would ruin the trim on my planes as they have flat climb-outs now. HERE IT IS: if you add nose weight, take out downthrust AT THE SAME TIME. I repeatedly did this over the course of several flights and it really stabilized my planes. Add a bit of weight, take out down thrust; add weight, take out down thrust – consider it ONE change (not two). Eventually, my models had reliable power, cruises, AND stable glides.

Stay tuned for more 2016 Lessons Learned.

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New Products Action Report – PBY NoCal, the Shaft, F-4 JetCat, Guillows P-51D

Posted on 7 November 2016 by Bredehoft

Here is a brief summary of the three planes I built in two weeks and was able to fly yesterday.

PBY NoCal

This flies – or will fly. I only gave it limited testing because I forgot to design and build a stooge attachment. The best stooge for this is a human stooge and my flying partner (son Jack) stayed home. I did borrow Winn Moore and Chris Boehm for stooging duties, but didn’t take a lot of their time, so I got about 4 test flights.

It is very stable and required nose weight and thrust adjustments, but I left it flying in the 30-40 second range, still needing trim, as it was stalling all over the place.

The Shaft

It’s no secret that I like this little OT Stick. My old one would fly for 30+ seconds – without any predictability. This one is very stable, flying a left-left on a loop of 1/8″ with about 1500 turns. It repeated 60 second +/- flights every time. I need to do some slight adjustments to trim the glide a little better, but this is just for fun anyway. I don’t know why these photos didn’t come out better.

F-4 Phantom II JetCat

This has been a fun project. I’ve built three of these (first one flew into the woods, never to be seen again) and Jack has built one. This is a design by Harrison Knapp. He built his as a tribute: he flew choppers in Viet Nam and said he often called on the F-4s to provide support.

I am not sure that these will ever be top performers in JetCat – think 15-20 seconds. This event is really being stretched by experts building light high-wings capable of easy thermalling. This is just like the real thing – heavy and fast. But it is lots of fun and in the initial climb-out and banking turn to the left, it really does look like an F-4. I managed to snap some in-flight photos – it is very hard to launch and then spot/focus/shoot, but I got some shots.

I know many of you are looking for this – it will be a kit in a month or so. I lightend up the pieces and trimmed 25% of the weight for the black one. I also made some ribs that I tacked onto the sheet wings and covered with tissue. And I made the tail surfaces a bit smaller, setting the h-stab to a lower incidence. – It flies a little better than the yellow one, but stalls out when the speed comes off – I think the tips need washout or something.

Guillows #905 P-51D

I don’t have any flight shots of this, but I want to report that this is a very stable flyer. I eventually got up to about 1500 turns on a loop of 3/16″ rubber. When it came time for WWII, after the first round (five participants), I imagined I could get 2nd place. Going into the 3rd and final round, Winn Moore broke a motor and surrendered 1st place to my Mustang. I am not a Guillows fanboy, in fact, I don’t build them – EXCEPT I wanted to prove an assumption of mine – that the 900 Series planes (the Mustang, the Chipmunk, and maybe the Trojan) are viable entry-level kits that can fly with no real modifications, other than the noseblock (and replace the nose, nose bearing, prop, and rubber).

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New Kit – the SHAFT – with VIDEO

Posted on 5 November 2016 by Bredehoft

Here is one I built back in April of 2012 and just now decided to change it over to laser-cut – just because it is so cute and fun – “the Shaft” by Louis Bucalo from the January 1944 Flying Aces Magazine. It’s an Old Time Stick but it was designed to save balsa and rubber during the war. To give you an idea of the size, here is a photo of me with mine at the 2012 FAC Nats.

at the 2012 FAC Nats

This model has a 13″ wingspan! It is classified today as a “Victory” model – one of several diminutive sport planes published during those war years and now recognized by the FAC through the Pinkham Field Handbook rules.

I have had much fun with the yellow model over the years but it was never a real performer. I managed to get one 60-second flight with it once, but my second version looks to have much more potential, already logging 30 seconds on just 500 turns. Here are some photos of this build – which took me 24 hours from parts to flying (video at the end)!

Here is the redrawn plan, traced from the original, and the laser-cut wood. In building, I discovered that a couple of pieces needed to be reworked. This ALWAYS happens to me and is one reason why I never release anything that hasn’t been built and successfully flown.

One reason this took a few years to get to production was the concern of how to help the modeler build the triangular fuselage. I decided to include the two jigs that would hold the keel at the proper height while the side pieces were added. I also include approximate shapes for each side piece on the plan (see the red box in the photo of the plan).

All parts built and ready to cover.

All parts covered and ready to assemble.

The wing cabanes bent and installed. the V shape needs to be the same as the V of the fuselage (or close). Patterns provided on the plan. I did change the plan a little – the original had these the same length and incidence was set by adjusting the tail. I chose to make these different heights and have the tail fixed.

Ready to fly, without rubber. This is pretty light considering the sticks are all 3/32″ and all of the ribs are 1/16″. This model was over-engineered – 1/16″ square sticks would easily support the model. But that’s not how it was done so we have a robust model that will take a lot of abuse. Use the lightest 3/32″ wood you can find – it will be plenty strong.

My two Shafts. The original plans call for a 5″ diameter single blade folder. A couple years ago, the FAC rules stated that the props for OT models had to have the same number of blades as shown on the plan. So I made a single blade (not a folder) from a 6″ Czech, cut down to 5″. It worked, but a 2-blade plastic is so much easier. Again, a cut-down Czech prop is on the new one.

One test flight flew out of my back yard, over a 40 foot high row of trees, around to the front yard, finally landing on the back side of the house. More trimming was obviously necessary! Another landed in a little cherry tree in the back yard – I could just reach up and rescue that one. IT also went up into trees in the back yard. My 35′ pole got a workout 3 times fetching that plane.

Finally, here is the test flight video. I did several test flights, tweaking the CG and the thrust. This one was the last as it finally did that nice right climb. As you can see, any more turns and I will be out of my yard and into the trees (again) – or lost!

You can find the Short Kit on my site – $10 as usual.

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PBY-5 plus 25 (years)

Posted on 1 November 2016 by Bredehoft

Back around 1990 and 91, I built two PBY NoCals – yes, it was silly and I didn’t know any better. One was heavy, had a fully covered wing, and the other was light with a pair of tiny carved props. My records indicate that I won 3 kanones between the two in Cleveland.

Over the last year or so, I’ve considered building another, this time with laser-cut parts. So, yesterday, I went ahead and cut out the parts! Then I put them together. I finished up the model this morning and here are the results. I haven’t flown it yet, but will try to give it a go this Sunday.

This is the laser-cut parts: two 3″x12″ sheets of 1/32″ balsa. There is a little extra wood here, but remember, I build for Outdoor.

All of the parts separated and laid out, ready to assemble. Note that the pylon and the two vertical tail pieces have double, cross-grained pieces. This was done because these areas are under some extra stress.

Various parts assembled – the tail structures and the pylon. Note that the pylon and vertical tail interlock with the fuselage.

A detail of the fuselage. 1/8″ square stock (light) has been added to the fuselage as a structural spine. Also, small strips of 1/32″ have been added to the back side to prevent flexing in the sheet fuselage.The two holes in the middle of the fuse will anchor the wing struts. Also note that the pylon will slip fit between two ribs and locate on the wing spar.

All pieces assembled; now on to covering. I chose black tissue – for the Black Cats – very simple for a NoCal.

Center Section detail: short 1/8″ square motor sticks are added to the nacelles. Also, 1/8″ square cross braces from the front of the nacelles to the rear of the pylon. This really prevents flexure of the wing. Note that the motor sticks re on the OUTSIDE of each nacelle. The nacelles have been moved out quite a bit from scale – because props have to clear the fuselage and each other. I will be using 4″ props. I use crumpled tissue on the H-stab and wing to try to combat warp-age. See that the dihedral break ribs are notched to accept the struts.

All pieces covered, decorated, and ready for final assembly.

Rear motor peg detail. I will be running two motors (each a loop of 1/16″, maybe less) from the prop to the rear motor hooks. this hook is just ahead of the vertical fin and embedded into the 1/8″ square fuselage spine. Taper the 1/8″ from this point rearward to save a little tail weight.

Detail of the nose bearing and motor stick. Note that the prop shaft must be long enough to clear the wing leading edge. Care must be take when loading the motors as they run under the wings and inside of the two struts. Wind the motors from the rear.

All done, ready to fly. This weighs 8.5 grams as shown (without rubber). The props weigh 1 gram each. I might have been able to save half a gram if I had scraped the Yoshida props, but I did not. Prior to the prop installation, I had to have a glob of clay on the nose to test the glide. After the props, no clay was needed to attain the same glide. Some might be needed once the motors are in place.

I’ll see if I can get this to fly by this weekend.

I might be persuaded to offer this as a short kit, but the drawing will need quite a bit of work, as all of the special building notes will need to be added. This is a straight-forward build, but certain details must be followed.

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Something Different – Kit Build

Posted on 31 October 2016 by Bredehoft

This blog post will cover something I almost never do – the build of a kit (other than my own).

For a couple years, I’ve wanted to “prove” that a couple of specific kits that people automatically discount are worth building and can fly. The kits in the Guillows 900 Series are designed as quick-building and simple planes. Being slab sided, most of the series are not very close to scale (I find the Typhoon particularly offensive), but the Chipmunk (kit #903) and the Mustang (kit #905) are close enough to work for FAC purposes.

For the last two or three years, I’ve been flying Peanuts in WWII Combat – my Stuka and my Barracuda. The Cuda was smashed by Hung this September and my Stuka, while it looks good, is getting long in the tooth and just doesn’t perform like it used to. The Cloudbusters will be glad that I retire them, as I these two combined for 8 local WWII kanones over the years.

So…I decided to throw together the Mustang for the last Cloudbusters outdoor contest next Sunday (hoping the weather cooperates). I really wanted to build it in the colors of 1955 Costa Rican P-51s, but I cannot figure what events that might fit in, other than just Scale (won’t do for WWII nor Modern Military). I wanted to do all tissue covering (no paint) and I wanted to do green, but there are no “simple” green P-51D schemes, so here is the color scheme I chose:

Here are some progress shots:

The slab sided fuselage. This isn’t quite as bad as it looks. These sides are 1/20″ balsa, as are the formers. the sticks are 1/16″ balsa. It builds fast – but remember to open up the internal former holes for the rubber. I did not lighten any of the fuselage sides, as I want to build this per the kit (for the most part).

Covering has begun. As I said, I wanted to do this all in tissue – for simplicity.

All parts covered and panel lines are started. I forgot the blue wing tips – oh well. And it is a little tricky to get perfectly smooth tissue on the compound curves when you use silver Esaki.

I decided to try something new on the prop. This is a 7″ chinese prop. Throw out the kit rubber and prop – in the wastebasket – do it first thing so you will not be tempted to use them! I wanted a freewheeler with positive action even if the rubber is tight. I selected the Nason-type clutch (read the how-to HERE– from the How-To archives) as it will completely fit under the spinner and there is plenty of meat on the prop hub to do a modification like this. I also notched the back of the spinner so that I could put a 1/64″ ply disc on the back and build up the spinner base with 1/16″ balsa half circles. I used canopy glue to hold the spinner onto the base.

Total all-up weight without the rubber is 30 grams. That’s not terrible for a 17″ span scale kit model. Yes, totally scratch built would have come out lighter, probably closer to 25 grams, but I think this will do just fine.

Testing on a very short loop of 3/16″ shows great potential. It really flew right off the board. I had to add a bit of clay to the nose (still keep taking small pieces off). And I had to dial in thrust adjustments with the Gizmo Geezer nose bearing. But a couple hundred turns gave me very stable left hand circles. Do your initial testing with the spinner OFF so that you don’t damage it while trimming.

One thing that I still need to work on is recessing the Gizmo Geezer nose button. I had this all set and the gap between the fuselage and the spinner was going to be about 1/8″ – very acceptable. However, as we prepared for the first test flight, I realized that I had NOT built in any capacity for a removable nose block. fixing this problem stuck the nose button out and the gap is now a gaudy 1/4″-to-3/8″ – not very pretty.

In summary, I think the Guillows kit #905 would be a great Beginner’s introduction to Scale and/or WWII Combat. We will see how it performs on Sunday (06 November)!

See you at the flying field!

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October Update on Products & Projects – It’s Long!

Posted on 26 October 2016 by Bredehoft

It’s been awhile since I gave a real update, so this will be a LONG post with lots of information, so stay with me and read it all!

The tile installation is DONE, although we still need to put all the furniture back and rearrange the rooms. Here is a picture of my little corner of this world; it’s about 1/3rd of the family room. The tall desk on the right is where all my computer work is done. I was permitted to add an additional desk for building in the evenings. This way I can watch tv with my family (my wife Patricia, since Jack and Tristan are pretty much on their own now) and still build if I want to. The desk was a great find at Salvation Army – the top surface is worn, but since I am using it to build, that’s ok with me – and the price was right: $15.81 out the door! I also bought a little folding stool to elevate my building board if I want to stand while building. I find standing is easier on my back and provides a better view of the building. The cabinets on the left contain books and paper and other items I use for my business work. NOTE: all of this work severely interfered with my order fulfillment and I apologize to all my customers. I should be caught up this week.

NEW ITEMS FOR SALE – well, one, right now. Many suppliers/wholesalers require minimum order quantity for their distributors. I buy my balsa (for the short kits) from SIG and they do have a minimum order quantity to qualify for free shipping. I am going to try something – I picked up the SIG Mr Mulligan kit to met this MOQ on my last order. As you might know, the Mr Mulligan is a dominant model in the FAC Thompson Race. Basically, it is one of the few qualifying high wing racers and currently the only one (high wing racer) kitted by anyone. SIG has offered this die cut 20″ full kit for years and many modelers do use it to compete (other versions are by Dumas – a kit, and the Dave Rees plan – not a kit). So, if you want to build a successful Thompson Racer, here you go. I am sure that I will be offering the lowest price you can find on the SIG kit because I want to pass my savings on to you.

BACK IN STOCK – thanks to an email exchange (Bill Schmidt to Don DeLoach, I believe), we are now back in production of the Superior Prop Freewheel clutches. As you might expect locating and drilling the tiny holes at the edge of the clutch was a stumper. At first, we thought we didn’t have the equipment, so my dad got a vertical mill. However that caused other problems and we couldn’t make them without breaking drill bits at a high rate. Mr Schmidt illustrated a drill jig to Don and Don passed that info to me. When I sent it to my dad (a retired toolmaker), a light bulb went off in his head and he is back in production. His last shipment to me contained MANY clutches, overflowing my storage and exhausting his supply of aluminum rod. So, I know many of you will be happy to hear these are again available.

PRODUCTS/PROJECTS IN WORK – Our VPS Torque meters are a success. We have sold several, probably a couple more than expected this soon, and we have had requests for custom installations. Right now we are working on modifying the Morrill meter for a large Wilder Winder. Also, we will look into adapting the same meter to the K&P 10:1/4:1 dual winder. that may be a little trickier… Also, we continue to do custom work on propellers, the latest request is for a 24″ folder of a custom design.

Short kits in the making: I continue to work on the drawing for Dave Smith’s Judy. Once complete, we can cut the parts and build a test bed prototype. Also, Harrison Knapp gave me permission to kit his F-4 Phantom II Jet Cat. I’ve built 3 and my son has built one as we refine the design. My latest effort lightened the end product from 32 grams to 25 grams. That is nearly a 25% reduction. 25 grams may still sound heavy, but the model has about 48 square inches of wing area, so the wing will carry the 25g well. I think I have the parts done and am cleaning up the drawing, adding notes, etc. This will be a full kit, like my other Jet Cats, complete with an FAC legal catapult. Here is a photo of Harrison and me at Muncie in September with our F-4s – my yellow one is the 32g version.

Other short kits in the works include a popular 2-Bit, an uncommon Thompson Racer (I am optimistically calling it a Mr Mulligan Killer!), a Goodyear racer, and a NoCal for my Indoor contests. These all are front-burner projects and should be finished and built over the winter. I have tons of back-burner projects!

Oh, a question – is there any interest in my Wanderer (OT Stick) as a short kit? How about an OT Fuselage, should I draw one up? I’m not sure of the interest and since they are much larger and complicated projects, I won’t go to the effort if there is no interest. LET ME KNOW.

SPEAKING OF INDOOR – I am an Outdoor modeler and flyer. I don’t do much indoor, because I never have the opportunity. That is likely to change. The Cloudbusters are changing their indoor contests. They used to be in a small, small gym far away on the east side of Michigan in the evening on a weekday. This year they are trying something new, as those were poorly attended (I went to one, it was a terrible site and I got back home about 1am – never again).

They have been having weekly indoor fun-flys on Thursdays during the day at the Ultimate Soccer facility in Pontiac, MI. Now they are converting one of those per month to a Contest. They will be flying several FAC events and some AMA events on the Second Thursday of the Month from 10am to 2pm. The site is a full size soccer field in an indoor facility – where the Indoor Fling is held ever Spring. This is a great site and I will be trekking over to Pontiac once a month, weather permitting, since I am now retired and available during the day. The facility only asks for a $10 fee from each flyer. So, if any of you are within a comfortable distance, you are welcome to stop in and fly! This is FREE FLIGHT ONLY – no r/c!

Lastly, I have some additional products to mention. As some of you might know, my wife of 32 years (this December) is from Costa Rica. Costa Rica has the BEST coffee I have ever tasted. After years of sampling their variety, I have settled on Cafe Naranjo as the best of the best. Our family decided to start a little venture and import this coffee and make it available here in the US. My sons, Jackson and Tristan, are operating the business, online only at this point. They opened the online shop at the beginning of the month. You can find their site at www.cafe-rica.com and follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CafeRicaUSA/ I am going to help them out a bit, too. You can order from them – OR – if you are buying model products from me and want to buy your coffee in one stop (saving shipping charges!) you can now order on my site. Trust me, all of the money will go to them. This is the smoothest and richest coffee I have ever tasted!

OH! When we mentioned the coffee to Vance Gilbert, he graciously sent 5 AUTOGRAPHED “Nearness of You” CDs as promotional give-aways for the coffee buyers. So, if you want great coffee and great music, order coffee from me and mention (add a comment to your order) you want Vance’s CD – only four people get this opportunity!

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Report #3 – JACK MOSES – Smilin’ Jack – Gone West

Posted on 27 September 2016 by Bredehoft

Just as we were getting underway at the FAC Outdoor Champs on Thursday morning, fellow Cloudbuster Ted Allebone, came around to a couple of us and informed us of the news that we were all dreading to hear – our good, good friend, Jack Moses had passed away – “Smilin’ Jack”, as he signed his letters. (continued below picture)

at the 2014 Cloudbusters Picnic. the guest is unknown, but the model is a Big Cat Embryo.

Jack Moses was the epitome of the Flying Aces Club Modeler: he loved the hobby and I believe he loved everyone he met through the hobby. I don’t ever recall seeing him in less than a good mood and he almost always had a new plane to fly. I am pretty sure he built every Dimer that Mike Nassise published in his newsletter.

Jack was a regular fixture at our Cloudbusters contests. He would show up and fly all those new planes. In his later years, he wouldn’t be flying for competition, just for fun. He would throw up a model if we needed a third, but he was just out there because he loved flying models. (continued below picture)

at the Cloudbusters 2104 Picnic. This is Jack and his grandson, Eli, flying a Phantom Flash. This photo was taken and published by the Flint, MI newspaper.

Jack was a fixture for the Flying Aces Club, too. At this year’s FAC Nats, in July, he was one of a literal handful of attendees that had attended EVERY FAC Nats, since the very first one – and this one was the 20th Nationals contest. The FAC holds their Nats every two years. So for 40 years, Jack had been making the trek, bringing his models, flying, and sharing time with hundreds of other people. Jack was elected to the FAC Hall of Fame in 2004. He earned a total of 78 kanones and won twice last year. (continued below picture)

Jack Moses with Vance Gilbert when Vance came to Ann Arbor, MI in June 2016

At the 2012 Nats Banquet, the FAC presented Jack with the FAC Nats flag – it flies over every Nats. Jack’s late wife, Dorothy, had made the flag and as she had just passed away, the FAC felt it appropriate to retire the old flag and give it back to Jack. It was a touching moment that brought a tear to many an eye. (continued below picture)

in the Spring of 2016. This is one of Jack’s last models, a Kokusai Ta-Go dime scale.

One of my thoughts on Thursday morning, the first day of the Cloudbusters-sponsored 2016 FAC Outdoor Champs, was that it was somehow appropriate that Jack had passed on a day of the Cloudbusters/FAC contest. The day was beautiful; in fact, all of the days of our four days of flying were beautiful. It felt almost as if Smilin’ Jack was smilin’ down on all of us. Just maybe he was there in spirit, since he couldn’t be with us in body. While I was sad that we will no longer be flying with him, I celebrated flying and celebrated having known him. His spirit was and is the Flying Aces Club Spirit.

this photo of Jack was found in his online obituary.

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FAC Outdoor Champs & Ted Dock Contests – Report #2 – OT Stick & Miscellaneous

Posted on 27 September 2016 by Bredehoft

Video at the bottom…

Mini vs. Mega

When we arrived Wednesday afternoon, several people were already on the field test flying. The weather was beautiful. As we test flew planes, you could not help but stand and watch Tom Hallman flying his Mega (54 inch wingspan) Nicholas-Beazley NB-3. It flies in the most calm and amazing way.

I had my new Found Centennial Peanut out test-flying during one of Tom’s flights. His plane went into the beans, but he had no problems finding that huge plane (video of that flight here). As he was returning, I had an idea for a photo op: here is what we believe to be the largest and smallest (the Found is a rather small Peanut) rubber-powered planes at the contest:

A Jumbo Flight

I fly a lot with my Indiana flying buddy, Pat Murray. Earlier this year, at the AMA Nats, I filmed his Beriev twin-engined flying boat when he achieved a 90+ second flight. He has been flying this plane for a few years now and it is flying better and better. His goal has been to get it to max; to get that elusive 2-minute flight. Well, Friday, he got it! It was a spectacular flight. I didn’t get any of it in video or photos because I was out in the field doing Jet Catapult.

Pat came in second in Jumbo to Tom Hallman and his twin-engined low-wing- by 1/2 point. I know this was a disappointment to Pat, but he has to realize that Tom is an artist – by profession – and he beat Pat in the artistic areas of judging. Pat needs to take pride in his accomplishment – it was a long time coming. Well done, Pat!

***EDIT*** Click here to watch a video of his max flight, thanks to Tom Hallman.

Chasing Ted

Last year, I came home from the Outdoor Champs vowing to build an OT Stick. I selected the Wanderer from Bob Horak, published in the March 1945 Model Airplane News. I’m a sucker for twin-fins and this appears to me to be more graceful than the Casano Stick (my second choice). I had started laying out the drawing, I finished that and designed parts, and laser-cut them. I had the plane finished before Christmas, but couldn’t fly it until I went to Muncie in June.

I’ve been able to fly this at 5 events this year: McCook @ Muncie in June, FAC Nats in July, AMA Nats in July, FAC Outdoor Champs in September, and the Ted Dock in September. I placed 2nd, 4th, 2nd, 2nd, and 2nd at those contests. Until this weekend, I had not been able to stack three maxes together. And every time that I finished 2nd, Ted Allebone has won. Here’s the story of this weekend.

In OT Stick on Thursday, I maxed out and so did Ted. No one else did, despite the beautiful weather. The flyoff was determined to be a Mass Launch – Ted and I would wind up, travel to the launch spot and launch when directed – last man down wins. While I was winding, Jack spotted a broken strand in my 12-strand motor – no big deal. As I continued, I spotted another. I finished my winding and kept my torque down about 15-20%, just so I wouldn’t pop the whole motor.

Just as I was finishing up, Ted announced that he had a broken motor and I said he could replace it – this wasn’t a combat match and I was fine with it. He took a few minutes and I walked out to where I wanted to launch from – on the far west end of the field.

We launched and Ted’s Casano Stick went sky-high while my Wanderer nearly stalled out on launch, but recovered for a decent, but not high flight. we chased in different directions and I noticed Ted had a terrible glide and was falling rapidly and mine was gently gliding. I waved and called mine down and turned around just in time to see Ted wave his down – I had lost by less than 5 seconds. When I got back to my table and pulled out the motor, I had 3 broken strands in the front of the motor and 2 in the rear – but I ALMOST won!

FAC Old Timer Dawn Unlimited

At the Ted Dock on Sunday, we didn’t have OT Stick, but we tried something new for us: we got approval to run an FAC Old Timer Dawn Unlimited event. Our rules were any FAC Legal Old Timer (OT Stick, OT Fuselage, 2 Bit, Jimmie Allen, NOT Phantom Flash), in the tradition of Free Flight, we would gather near dawn for dead air and provide a 15 minute window for a single attempt with no max flight time. Flyers would record and report their times and highest time wins.

We had a better-than-expected turnout – 10 flyers showed up ready to go! And they preferred to do a mass launch as they are great fun and part of the FAC tradition.

So the 10 flyers arrived at the appointed time (7:50am) all wound up. They lined up as follows, left-to-right. Also, this shows their models, their original categories, and their flight scores and final positions:

Terry Hreno (Indiana) – BA Parasol – Jimmie Allen – 71 sec – #9
Matt King (New York) – Black Bullet – OT Fuselage – 15 sec – #10
Wally Farrell (Virginia) – JA Skyraider – Jimmie Allen – 97 sec – #6
Jim DeTar (New York) – King Harry – 2 Bit plus 1 – 93 sec – #7
Winn Moore (Michigan) – Wisp – 2 Bit plus 1 – 86 sec – #8
Pat Murray (Indiana) – Jabberwock – OT Fuselage – 136 sec – #3
George Bredehoft (Michigan) – Wanderer – OT Stick – 149 Sec – #2
Mark Rzadka (New York) – Miss Canada – OT Fuselage – 130 sec – #4
Ted Allebone (Michigan) – Casano Stick – OT Stick – 175 sec – #1 – WINNER
Stu Cummins (Ohio) – Smith Mulvihill – OT Stick – 126 sec – #5

My Wanderer put in a 2:29 dead air flight, but came in 2nd – to Ted Allebone (again!) With a new motor, my plane put in a beautiful flight, but I could tell something was different about Ted’s plane – his terrible glide was gone! When we were done, Ted confirmed that he fixed the glide with a 1/64″ shim under the leading edge of his wing. Mike Welshans asked me “you didn’t really think he wasn’t going to fix that glide, did you?” Nope, I expect nothing but the best from Ted! One of these days, I will catch him – when he’s on a bad day.

I think everyone agreed that this was a FUN event. Getting out there early was a challenge, but worth it on that day – what perfect weather we had that morning, that day and all four days of the contest. What a last hurrah for summer and flying!

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FAC Outdoor Champs & Ted Dock Contests – Report #1 – Do You Still Beat Your Kids?

Posted on 26 September 2016 by Bredehoft

This is the first of at least three articles I plan to write about the contests this weekend. I will be writing them in order of most recent to that which occurred first (reverse order). This is the most recent; happening in the last hour of the second contest.

I have waited all of August and September for the big Flying Aces Club Outdoor Champs & Ted Dock Contests (from here on called FACOC/TD), hoping that the combined four days of FAC Free Flight Flying would be everything that we envisioned when Pat Murray, Winn Moore, and I sat around last year in Pat’s RV planning for this year. We had hoped that the combining of the two end-of-year contest would attract more flyers and create more fun and good times.

We had THREE DAYS (Thursday, Friday, and Sunday) of EXCEPTIONAL weather, and the other day (Saturday) was very good in the after noon and the “bad” part of the morning was much better than nearly all of the time at Geneseo this year – it was overcast on Saturday morning. For all the rest of the days, we had light breezes and sunny skies, with temperatures in the high 80s.

Attendance (strangely) was down with about 40 registered for the Outdoor Champs; usually we get 50 or so. However, many stuck around for the Saturday and Sunday Ted Dock contest, doubling previous attendance there. One of the events on Sunday was Phantom Flash. My model was the last one I packed getting ready, as I looked around my shop, looking for models that I forgot to pack. I built it (my 9th PF) in April for the Cloudbusters Indoor Fling. I built it light and trimmed it and got about 2:30 on it indoors and won the event. I took it to Geneseo and couldn’t get a flight at it was way too windy for this particular model. But, I took it to the FACOC/TD just in case.

Well, the weather was perfect for MY plane. You could just tell on Sunday that there were little bubbles of air all around the field, all day long. My plane has a 4.75″ prop and a long loop of 1/16″ rubber, so it isn’t very powerful and actually it flew around about 10-15 feet high, looking a lot like a wounded duck (slightly tail heavy) until it would find one of those bubbles and then, up it would go. My first flight in the morning was a 6+ minute flight that went from the south edge of the field and landed at the r/c “center stage”.

I put it away for awhile and concentrated on other things. I got it out in the afternoon to work on the remainder of the best 3 of 6 flights. I kind of alternated between 50-60 seconds (no lift found) and maxing. I was down to two remaining flights and needed a single max. On one of the earlier flights, I would up and headed to the table to find Wally Farrell waiting for some good air. I told my timer, (my son, Jack) that I would launch when Wally did and follow him right on up. Wally maxed and I missed the bubble. My 5th flight also failed to max. By the time my last attempt rolled around, there was Wally, again at the table, in the same situation as me – needing a max to have 3 on the books. By the way, no one else was recorded as approaching 3 maxes, so it looked like it was going to be between Wally and I for the number one spot.

Wally was there, waiting for that thermal. As I walked up, I made a decision. When I got there, Wally said “George, I will certainly let you go if you want, don’t let me hold you up.” I said, “I’m going first this time, Wally. We both need a max – see you in the Winner’s Circle!” and launched, not even waiting for air. It wasn’t 20 seconds before my wounded duck was going up, up, up. Wally launched about that long later; I assume he saw my plane. This time he missed the bubble and I maxed out.

That’s just the first part of the story! Now there was about 1 hour left in the contest.

My son, Jack, has more success at our small, local meets, than bigger meets – he always struggles at the big meets, crashing planes, etc. These four days were no exception. After I flew my Phantom Flash, he casually said that he would fly his – the first one he has built. We had about an hour left, so he had time to log some flights. Well, his first one was a max. He was powering his with a Sig Sleek Streek-type prop and a used loop of .080″ rubber from my recently departed Peanut Barracuda – because he had to make a motor and this was laying on the table – easier and faster than making up a loop of 3/32″.

He brought his plane back and wound up again, but didn’t max. On his 4th flight, he got his second max – a 9+ minute flight that appeared to be lost. I watched it with binoculars until I lost it – but it was coming down. I used the android app that plots a bearing and when he came back, we took off to the other side of the cemetery, with a 50% hope of even finding the plane. We got back on the line on the other side of the cemetery and I explained that the possible location was a wide path because a) I lost it in the air and b) the bearing line is just a general direction and should not be considered perfect.

We quickly exhausted the cut grass between the cemetery, the AMA HQ farmhouse, and the soybean field beyond. If it was in the beans, we both knew the search woudl be futile. We both took a couple pathways that were between the fields but couldn’t spot anything. Here he was with 2 maxes, 2 flights left, and no plane. I turned around and started back, as did he. I wandered on my bike to the HQ house and looked around there, basically to get a glimpse of what looked like full-sized aircraft bones around the barn. As I turned to look to my left, where Jack was coming from toward me – I spotted his plane on the yard! He picked it up and we headed back, knowing we had limited time to get in one more max.

Jack broke that motor winding and as he made a new 3/32″ motor, I went out to help Winn Moore with his last Jet Cat flights. I asked Winn, “you know what would be neat?” He knew and replied, “if you two had to have a fly-off?” All Jack needed to do was put up another 2 minute flight and that would happen. He came out with his plane with the new motor and did just that, landing at about 2:15.

Winn and Pat Murray decided a Mass Launch single flight would be the fly-off, so Pat stooged for me and Winn stooged for Jack. We walked out in the field where Pat had pushed together two card tables and we lined up – Three! Two! One! LAUNCH! As my plane gracefully lifted up, I heard Jack’s plane hit the ground right away and he said “well, that was anti-climactic” – he had torque-rolled in. Probably the fatter motor, imperfect wind angle, and unfamiliar feel to Pat’s winder combined to give him a bad launch. I won with no contest.

However, at least for me, it was so much fun to max out and then help him max out and have the two of us compete for 1st and 2nd in the event. It was a perfect cap to a perfect four days of flying. Yes, sometimes I still beat my kids – on the flying field!

two tired guys after four days of flying.

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September – Distractions and Progress

Posted on 10 September 2016 by Bredehoft

A discovery was made at the Kit Factory: retirement doesn’t always mean 100% model airplanes – I got corralled into replacing 400 square feet of carpet with tile in the lower level of our house. Ok, I volunteered since it would save a couple thousand dollars and I will be able to control when and how access is limited to the basement – where I have all my sales product, the laser cutter, and where I fill all your orders. Here’s a shot of my progress so far – about 25% completed:

I’ve done several tile projects (including a 900+ sq ft floor at our old home in Ohio), but I thought I was done doing tile forever. My back, knees, and arms will be glad when this is done.

That’s not to say that all things model airplane have stopped – I spend an hour or two each morning and evening on filling orders and drawing plans. Here are two that have me excited.

The first is Dave Smith’s contest-winning Judy. I talked to Dave at Geneseo and we he has let me kit this. I have great hopes that MY build will be contest-winning, also. The plan is about 70% and I will finish it this winter and should have a model built for spring.

The second is a subject that me, my son, and others have been telling me that I need to do – a new Goodyear Racer. There are a few Goodyear/Formula Racer plans out there, and even fewer kits for them. I’ve been studying the two-book set of Goodyear and Formula One Air Racing 1947-1967 by Robert Hirsch for a couple years. I’ve got little sticky notes on many pages, but one plane, (not previously sticky-noted) jumped out at me. I am eager to get this finished and built. I’m keeping the exact identity secret for now, but I think this one has real potential. The dimensions are excellent for Free Flight and when I got the basic layout done in CAD and printed on paper, I was surprised at what I was seeing. Here’s a little teaser:

There just might be enough in that teaser for someone to figure out what plane I am designing. Look for this to debut next spring, also – earlier if I get it built and tested indoors.

By the way – the tile floor will NOT interfere in my attendance at the FAC outdoor Champs and Ted Dock Memorial – two two-day contests in Muncie running back-to-back 22/23 & 24/25 September. I’ll have all the Vega Short Kits ready (free in the Outdoor Champs registration package) and Jack and I will again be cooking the dogs at the Volare Products 2nd Annual Customer Appreciation Hot Dog “Supper”. That will take place on Thursday evening, right after the events are over at the FAC outdoor champs.

What have you got to lose? A free short kit and free hot dogs for just showing up at the FAC Outdoor Champs! SEE YOU THERE!

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