From: Alan Hieger
Date: Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 12:02 AM
Subject: VCB Weekly Nag 3-21-16
Today is Monday, and I’m
winging (rolling) toward home even as you read.
There’s more to cover
than I would have thought, so without further ado:
Official VCB Club Business
May Meet
The peanut gallery has
spoken, and the dimensions of our May get-together, albeit still fuzzy, are
starting to come into focus. The date has been set as May 21.
Activity will feature fun flying and a “trade your junk for someone else’s”
swap meet/rummage sale. According to Ray, there will also be some form of
competitive activity, but as there is no intent to report the results to AMA,
this will not be a “contest” in the literal sense. Exactly what form this
non-competition will take is as yet incompletely defined. Stay tuned.
Bylaws
I have not received any
feedback concerning my quest to discover the true nature of our bylaws. I
thought I’d make one last try at polling the membership before I begin to
pursue research by “alternate means.” Does anybody know where I might obtain
a copy? Bill? Lee? Wynn Paul?
Basin Field Activity
There has been no news
from the home front. I cannot report what I do not know. I’m
tempted to fake it, but am concerned about developing trust issues.
VCB at the VSC
The VCB was reasonably
well represented at the 28’th annual Vintage Stunt Championships. Members
participating were: Ray Firkins, Chris Forbes, Larry Renger (sharing his glory
with the Knights of the Round Circle), John Wright (ditto), and your faithful
scribe (Al Hieger, in case I’ve failed to mention it and you missed the
meeting). Let’s review the events in order of increasing nominal
prestige.
Ringmaster S-1
Scored on the basis of
best flight of two, the event attracted 20 pilots, all of whom logged official
flights. To my knowledge, this is the only time in 28 years that all the
flyers who registered for any event put up at least one official (Wynn Paul, am
I wrong?). Trophies were awarded through third place, leaving top VCB
scorer Ray Firkins just outside the money in fourth place with a flight score
of 299.5. John Wright followed in eighth with 296, Larry Renger in
fourteenth with 272.5, and I brought up the rear in sixteenth with 248.
See Stunt News or the PAMPA website for complete event
results.
OTS Ignition
None of us had the cojones to
contend with the sparkers. Too bad.
Super ‘70s
Limited to designs
published or flown competitively in said decade, this best-two-of-three event
attracted 8 flyers, 6 of whom actually posted scores. With trophies to
third place, John Wright (VCB’s lone entrant, flying a gold Monokoted Top Flite
Tutor from the Paleolithic) was out of the money in fifth place. His
two-flight total of 1082.5 (that’s a 541.25 average score, for the
arithmetically challenged) should give you a rough idea of the quality of the
field this contest attracts. John, I know you have no patience for
pretty, but it’s only the lack of appearance points which kept you from all
that wealth and glory.
OTS
Scored on the basis of a
two-flight total (no throwaway round), this event attracted 37 entrants, 30 of
whom flew, making this the most highly contested event of the gathering for the
first time ever. This fact may have initially escaped the Cholla Choppers
notice because Super 70’s and Classic are conducted simultaneously with score
postings intermingled, giving the illusion of a higher entry. VCB had
four entrants in this event, making it the one most strongly contested by the
club. Sadly, the results did not reflect our efforts, with all of us placing
in the bottom half of the field. Ray Firkins was tops in thirteenth place
with a two-flight total of 594 (297 avg.). John Wright followed in
nineteenth with a total of 556 (278 avg.), and me in twenty-fourth with a 464
(232 avg.). Larry Renger had a string of misfortune which interfered with
him flying to his potential. His engine run went south early in the
flight, cutting out completely well short of halfway through the pattern and
leaving him with a first round score of just 88. On his second flight, a
prop strike on takeoff (caused by a bad neutral setting?) unbalanced the prop
and ruined the motor run, leading to “controlled flight into terrain” prior to
the inside loops. Although no official score was posted for the flight,
John should have been awarded at least 3 points for takeoff and level flight, 1
more for the “landing,” and 25 pattern points (because the 1952 rules are
weird) for an absolute minimum of 29 for the round. Finishing last among
those flying (and still beating 8 other pilots), Larry deserved much better
than he got.
Classic
The premiere competitive
event at the Vintage Stunt Championships attracted 37 entrants this year (the
same as OTS), of whom 29 flew (one fewer than OTS). Three VCBers competed
in this event: Ray Firkins, Chris Forbes, and Larry Renger. With a
best-two-of-three format and trophies to fifth, Ray Firkins (flying his
familiar Heinz 57) took home the fifth-place trophy (the zinc?) with a
two-flight total of 1147.5 (573.75 avg.). Chris Forbes, at the controls
of “Spidey” (See last week’s centerfold.), placed thirteenth with a 1,057 (528
avg.). Larry Renger, the curse of Jim Walker dogging his bootheels at
every step, soldiered through a litany of equipment-related issues through two
rounds before bowing to cruel reality in the third, scoring a total of 793.5
(avg. 396.75) for twenty-ninth place. I will have more to say on this
point below.
The Great Desert Shootout
This was not at all an
official event, yet it provided some of the week’s best drama. Bart
Klapinski and Gordon Delany, two legends of American Precision Aerobatics and
former Nats champs, were provoked by our own Ray Firkins to undertake a
one-flight, winner-take-all competition for total bragging rights for all time
(no pressure at all). What made the shootout even more special was that
each pilot flew an airplane of his own design, the catch being that the
airplane was actually built by somebody else. Bart flew a Tempest
provided by Clint Ormosen, and Gordy flew Ray’s Heinz 57. Yours truly was
one of three judges elected/selected/conscripted to perform evaluative
services. Attempts to affect bribery were numerous and creative, and will
not be detailed here. Bart started out with a real barn burner, but his
focus seemed to gradually erode as the flight progressed. Gordon,
conversely, had some serious issues early on, coming within a foot of dorking
Ray’s ship (I think it was the outside loops), but then bore down hard and
finished brilliantly. I had a hunch Bart might have had the edge, but
couldn’t be sure until the banquet reveal. In the end, Bart topped Gordy
by 2.5 points. Interestingly, rumor has it that the range from highest to
lowest judge’s scores was only 2 points. I now have street cred!
Congratulations to Bart, now and forever, as agreed.
Non-Flying Awards
Appearance judging at
VSC is always a prime Wednesday night attraction. It is done Nats style
(as I wish we would at local contests) with the planes lined up in a matrix of
“isopretty” (ie, of equivalent gleamishness) rows. Gordon Delaney
of Utah had a semiscale Bellanca in the front row all by itself for 20
points. Chris Forbes’s Spiderman Gieske Nobler was in the second row with
19 points, and Ray Firkins’s Heinz 57 just behind it with 18. Larry
Renger’s Ringmaster, which had already endured more abuse than was warranted,
was located somewhat farther to the rear, relegated to the “Ringmaster
ghetto.” John Wright’s Tutor was not present for appearance judging. .
.just as well (smiles?).
A new prize awarded for
the first time this year was the Pilots’ Choice Award for Ringmaster.
Yup, Ringmaster “Concours!” The win went to our own Ray Firkins’s black
and red beauty, which earned 18 of 20 first-place ballots!
A special, one-time only
“Perseverance” award was created by Steve Holt, the Ringmaster Event Director,
and was awarded to me in
recognition of all the [poo] I endured to get my four official flights in (See The
Nosferatu Saga below). It honestly didn’t seem all that bad (or
for that matter, unusual) while experiencing it, but hearing the litany of
travails laid out at the banquet made me realize what a crappy, miserable week
I’d had (I know you can’t hear sarcasm through an e-mail, but the
keyboard is drippy wet.). Seriously speaking, though, I want to make it
clear for the record that Larry Renger endured far more crap this week than
anything I had to deal with, and still managed to compete in more events.
I merely had the “advantage” in pulling all my significant screwups in front of
one guy who felt sorry enough to reward hard luck. Larry certainly deserves
this award more than I do. I do intend, however, to keep the mug and hat.
Unofficial Fun Stuff
This Week’s Centerfold(s)
The photos of these two
airplanes come to us via the courtesy of Thayer Syme, once and prospective
future Editor of Flying Models, the last of the great general
interest aeromodeling magazines.
These two airplanes were
part of the static exhibit at this year’s WRAM show in the New Jersey
Meadowlands in February. The red and yellow profile ship, the Mini J—(The
rest of the name is cut off in the photo), sports a built-up wing with internal
controls, although it’s impossible to tell from the photo whether the airfoil
is symmetrical. Power is from a Cox Baby Bee .049 with the cylinder
rotated into sidewinder position. The prop appears to be a Cox
Competition brand gray 6-3 or 5-3. Wheels seem to be ¾ inch based on
comparison with the cylinder head, and my best guess is Williams
Brothers. The model was built by Jonathan Sabini. The purple
low-winger, built by Jonathan’s older brother Andrew, appears to be a
Scientific Golden Eagle, a Walt Musciano design. Like so many designs
Walt did for Scientific, the Golden Eagle sported a mildly shaped sheet wing
joined to a hollowed-out solid balsa block fuselage, with externally mounted
controls. Power appears to be a Cox Golden Bee .049 mounted normally,
with the glow head drilled out and tapped to accept a standard (short reach?)
glow plug. Most of these Scientific 1/2As were built with the engine
hanging out in the breeze, but Andrew has gone the extra nine yards and formed
a simple-curvature aluminum cowling to enhance steamlining and looks.
Prop is clearly a decades-old Top Flite nylon, probably a 6-3 or 5-3.
Landing gear seems too generic to identify with any confidence. Maybe
someone in the club has had different experiences than mine, but I found the
Musciano slab-wingers tended to build obscenely nose-heavy and didn’t lend
themselves particularly well to aerobatics.
Protect your hearing
by T. Thorkildsen
At our many FF contests
it is always amazing to me how many people do not wear ear protection to
prevent damage to their ears.
When I go to a contest I
put in ear plugs and if I am running anything louder than a nostalgia 1/2A I
always wear Shooters Ear Muffs for additional protection.
People's hearing tends
to degrade as they age naturally but there is sure no sense in speeding up the
process. As an engineer, I wrote one of the standards on acoustics
for a printer company I worked for and got to learn how loud a noise will
damage your hearing and believe me if you don't protect it from our high reving
engines it will definitely affect your hearing. Extreme loud noise all at
once or noise above a certain level for enough time will definitely damage your
hearing.
Ask anyone wearing a
hearing aid if they would do anything different in their life with regards to
their hearing and the answer will be the same to protect your hearing from
noise damage.
Some people think they
can tune their engines better without protection but to me it is just the
opposite since the ear muffs take the edge off of the noise.
Anyway be wise and
protect something you can't get back once you lose it.
The Nosferatu Saga
The Final (?) Chapter
If you’ve stuck with the
story to this point (I had to), you know that Sunday ended with Nosferatu’s
covering mostly pieced together, with an outermost bay covered with slack,
wrinkled silkspan (and thank you, Bob Brookins for making it available) which
defied all attempts at water shrinking. As planned, I obtained the
necessary repair materials and tools for the covering and landing gear at Hobby
Barn. Please allow me a plug. Located at Kolb Avenue and 21’st
Street (behind the bowling alley), Hobby Barn is without a doubt the premier
hobby shop in the greater Tucson area. Guys, this is a real hobby shop, and the people
there all know their stuff. Yeah, they have to bow to contemporary
realities like everybody else, but Hobby Barn is as old school as it gets
nowadays. Without plowing through the details, by bedtime the repairs had
six coats of 50/50 on them, removing the slack from the outer bay without
botoxing the wrinkles. The right side gear clips were replaced, but the
holes for the lower clip were hogged out and the screws wouldn’t bite, leaving
me with just the upper clip on that side until I could fill and retap the
holes. Oh well.
Tuesday dawned cool and
breezy. I was listed as number 2 to fly in OTS, so I hoofed it over to
Circle #2 (asphalt) without benefit of a trim flight. Takeoff was an
adventure. The outboard gear, having more flex than the inboard side,
vibrated back and forth, throwing the airplane about. The pattern was
mostly my usual uninspired stuff, but I lost airspeed at the top of the first
vertical eight, and remembering Sunday’s adventure chose to bail on the
maneuver. On landing, the serial bunny hop terminated in a full ground
loop. Score: 202.5 (barely mediocre).
Moving over to the grass
circle for the Ringmaster event, I managed a full pattern. The landing
ended up being my best of the contest: only four bounces, none higher than
about a wheel diameter. Score: 248 (fully mediocre) And the morning and
the evening was the first day.
On Day Two, I was
scheduled to fly first on the grass. I think I may have flooded the Enya
during the prestart routine, but it hadn’t started 90 seconds into my working
time, so I called an attempt and pulled it off the circle. Jim Hoffman
(the CD for the whole dang VSC) came over to lend a hand, and in short order he
had the Enya Running. . .and had put his finger through the top of the inboard
wing. After he walked away in obvious chagrin, I got to work with the
Testor’s green tube and the Saran Wrap. When Jim returned roughly fifteen
minutes later to apologize yet again, he did a double-take when he couldn’t
locate “his” hole. To make him feel better, I turned the plane over and
showed him the Picasso-style piece-together on the bottom. Then I asked
him to launch my next flight, which had come due. He couldn’t believe I’d
trust him with the plane a second time. My quote:”Jim, there’s nobody at
the field who’ll be more careful with it than you.” And so it was.
It seemed to me that Nosferatu was moving somewhat more quickly than usual, but
the line tension was good, so what the heck. Later, ED Steve Holt told me
that I’d been timed at 3.6 second laps. My target had been 4.9-5.1.
Anyway, this time I chickened out on the third vertical eight, and yet somehow
still managed to score 235.5 (still pretty mediocre).
My first round score in
OTS meant I had no real prospects for glory, but I wanted to see if I could put
together one flight that reflected my actual (ahem) talent. Perhaps it
was due to advanced drain bamage, but I forgot to tweak the needle valve.
Surprisingly, the flight was significantly slower, allowing me time to adjust
track in mid-maneuver. Over on the grass, I had finished the
pattern with 4:06 showing on my watch. On this flight, the time was 5:12
with no needle change. I have much to learn. The landing kaboings
were in defiance of classical physics, and managed to feather-splinter both
prop blades. Score: 261.5 (borderline respectable).
So, that’s the story of
my first competition at VSC in 22 years of attendance. I want to thank
everyone who has bothered to read this pile of self-indulgence, and I hope you
found it entertaining. Now I’m going to put this monstrosity away until
at least after Golden State and go back to flying “real” (modern pattern
targeted) stunters. With any real luck, you won’t have to hear about the
Ringmaster of the Undead again.
Bonus Pic
The following picture
was supplied by our own Chris Forbes. It shows his Dad and him on a
Sunday after church in 1957 gassing up a Firebaby 1/2A, across the street from
their home in Glendale in an industrial lot. Chris writes,”My Dad was a
great inspiration. We had some fun times.”
Wanna Go Flying?
I’m thinking of hitting
the Basin on Wednesday, or (second choice) Thursday. Anybody want to join
me? Reply in this space.
Sneak Preview
In next week’s Nag, my
intent is to provide a how-to on the Magic Saran Wrap method of repairing
silkspan damage.
TTFN
See you at the field, or
meet you here next Monday.
