The first Fun-Fly of 2020 was amazing. I would like to thank all the pilots that came out and participated. Big thank you to Steve Borraca and Laurie Trescott for the BBQ after the event along with safety officer Hue Chalmers for keeping us safe and Dan Morris and Jerry Arana for judging.

We had some very close scores. At first it looked as if we had a 3 way tie for first place, but after double checking the judge score sheets against the entries in the Leader-board system there was a few wrong entries that had to be fixed. Also there was a miss configuration where the judges scores where not being added together. So after spending some time comparing the judges score cards with the entries in the Leader-board system below are the results.

November Meeting

The meeting was opened at 7:34p.m. on November 21st by president Steve Boracca with 22 members present. As the annual elections were to be held for club officers for 2020, we needed a quorum of at least 25% of the membership. This was achieved comfortably. The minutes of the October meeting were approved, and the treasurer’s report was given to us by our treasurer, Richard Ludt. The report reflected the $4000 spent on resurfacing the runway, and was approved by all present. Steve Boracca noted that we will widen the center white line, but in all other respects the work is now complete. Also, if we get some rain (which of course has since materialized), we have a few areas that need seeding around the periphery.

Laurie Trescott commented further on the holiday dinner coming up on December 19^th, and requested members who plan to attend to let her know, together with what dishes they may be bringing.

The main business of the November meeting is the election of officers for the coming year, and this was proceeded with next.

First, our president was unanimously re-elected, and Steve was happy to continue in this position.

Dan Morris felt that he could no longer continue as vice-president and contest director, and was heartily applauded for the fine work he had done in those positions. Jesse Gifford, who has been his able assistant in both these areas, volunteered to take on these tasks, fully agreed to by the voting membership.

Richard Ludt, our excellent treasurer, agreed to continue in this position, and received unanimous agreement from the membership.

Alan Brown, who has been newsletter editor and secretary since 2003, and is now ninety, is stepping down, and Jim Williams will take on the newsletter editing job. Laurie Trescott volunteered for the position of secretary. Both positions were agreed to 100% by the attending membership.

There were no proposed changes to the club governing board or safety officers, and that concluded the election of officers for 2020.   

Show and Tell

Richard Tacklind came up with an Old School Trophy Racer on which, no doubt with his brother’s help, he had a fine two-dimensional pilot inscribed with the words ‘Dick “dastardly” Tacklind pilot’.

George McKeon has put together a very fine model of the Northrop B-2 Stealth Bomber. We look forward to seeing it fly. The full-size airplane had a fairly complicated aileron/rudder combination.

Dan Daniels is putting together one of those old-fashioned (which your editor loves!) balsa airplanes. Hope I got the builder correctly!

We welcomed new member Gary Boothman, who showed us his Havok, very nicely made.

And Hugh Chalmers works on an Augusti S.

George McKeon showed us a Power Zone 2600 FPV which he had acquired from Johnny Skoch. It has a 9’ 4” wingspan. Should be a great flyer!

And in another swap between club members, Dan Daniels got this Fascination from Jerry Arana. Should be another great flyer!

And with that the meeting was closed at 8:40 p.m.

Down by the River

Not much down by the river this month with all the well-needed rain we’ve had, so the news is confined to one Sunday.

Bob Frogner seems to be always inventing a useful tool for us modelers, and here is a device for cutting slots in foam. Like all good inventions, it is simple and extremely effective.

Here’s Joshua Albano with his Motion RC Stinger 64.

And Jacob Boracca helps him fly it. Joshua is really coming along very well as a pilot. Great!

We close this section with Alan Kirby’s faithful Horizon Hobby’s Valiant, seen above, complete with SAFE modifications.

Next Meeting

Thursday, November 21st, at he EAA building Aviation Way, Watsonville Airport, 7:30pm

October Meeting

The meeting was opened at 7:32p.m. on October 17th by president Steve Boracca with fourteen members present. The minutes of the September meeting were approved, and the treasurer’s report was given to us by our treasurer, Richard Ludt. Outgoings were about equal to incomings, and the report was approved unanimously.

The runway resurfacing is now completed, and Steve thanked Jesse Gifford for his work with the contractors, and to all those who helped put the finishing touches to the work. In addition to the work noted in last month’s newsletter, the centerline was painted on Sunday, October 13th, and Hugh Chalmers did extra work on Monday, finishing painting crosses. The total cost was $4000 to the contractor and $120 for paint, etc.

It’s getting to that time of year for renewing our annual dues. Please get them in promptly, noting that you should first have your AMA subscription up to date. Richard noted that it would be sufficient for members to include the number of their AMA card.

Dan Morris talked about the upcoming pylon racing on the following Sunday, October 20th, with some detail including a map of the course. Although this had been sent out to all members, it’s worth repeating here for its absolute clarity and level of information.

Show and Tell

Jeff Wells brought three planes to be donated to the club.

On the left is a Spirit, in the center a very nice looking Freewing Moray from Motion RC, not sure what the third airplane is. Anyone interested contact Steve Boracca.

Jim Williams showed an ex-Johnny Skoch Super Sportster, beautifully made by him, as usual.

And finally a Foamin’ at the Mouth profile B-36 from Dan Morris (I think).

Check out Rabid Models website for other multiengined profile scale airplanes.

And with that, the meeting was closed at 8:40 p.m.

December Meeting

RC Bees Holiday Potluck #5 from Laurie Trescott.

It’s just about party time again! You and your family are invited to our festive and always tasty holiday potluck. We’re getting pretty good at this — we are now up to year 5 for this event and each year we’ve had more people show up and our menu
has grown! Our celebration is conveniently scheduled for our usual Thursday meeting, December 19th, starting earlier than a typical meeting at 6:30 PM, located at our regular meeting place in the EAA hangar. My team of elves will help transform the space to a seasonally festive atmosphere so that we can all sit around the tables and enjoy really good food and drink and each other’s company. I (Laurie) am just beginning to organize all the food offerings — please let me know what appetizers, main dishes and sides, and/or desserts you’d like to cook, bake, or otherwise contribute to our feast. Email me at Sundncr88@comcast.net and let me know who in your family is coming (including yourself) and what you will bring to the potluck making it even better than last year.

Down by the River

Our major event this last month was the pylon race on Sunday, October 20th, run very effectively by our contest director, Dan Morris. Here is his report.

We had 11 contestants.
Steve Boracca, Bob Frogner, Jerry Arana, Hugh Chalmers, Jarmon Lynch, Richard Tacklind, Michael Hushaw, Joshua Albano, Andrew Moore, Michael Andalora and Richard Ludt.

Each pilot flew in three heats. A total of 6 heats were flown. 5 pilots with the fastest time in one of the heats were selected for the championship race.

• Heat 1
  • Steve B 59.6sec
  • Jerry A. 1:08
  • Jarmon L. 1:47
  • Bob F. 1:57
  • Hugh C. 2:42
• Heat 2
  • Richard T. 1:00
  • Michael A. 1:22
  • Joshua A. 1:39
  • Andrew M. 1:56
  • Michael H. 2:02
• Heat 3
  • Steve B. 1:05
  • Bob F. 1:13
  • Hugh C. 2:04
  • Jerry A.& Jarmon L. DNF
• Heat 4
  • Richard T. 45 sec
  • Richard L. 59
  • Michael A. 1:04
  • Michael H. 1:10
  • Joshua A. 1:42
  • Andrew M. 2:19
• Heat 5
  • Steve B. 56.1
  • Bob F. 1:01
  • Richard L. 1:13
  • Jarmon L. 1:19
  • Jerry A. DNF
• Heat 6
  • Richard T. 1:07
  • Michael A. 1:10
  • Joshua A. 1:22
  • Michael H. 1:24
  • Andrew M. 1:39

The championship race had Richard Tacklind, Steve Boracca, Richard Ludt, Bob Frogner, and Michael Andalora.

The winning order was

1. Steve B. 54 sec
2. Richard L. 1: 04
3. Richard T. 1:06
4. Bob F. 1:07
5. Michael A. 1:07

It was fast paced and without Jesse Gifford’s fantastic time keeping these records would not be possible. Jesse, thank you so much!!

Steve and Laurie served up a fine lunch to close out the event.

Thanks to all that attended and helped with the activities.
Dan Morris.

This fine overhead shot of the contestants on the runway was taken by Michael Hushaw, as was the group picture of contestants and spectators taken during the event, shown below.

Here’s Michael’s entry – very appropriately a Gee Bee Racer.

Jerry Arana proved that even the best pilots can’t afford to take their eyes off their own plane, here an Adrenal Rush, even for a few moments! That’s Steve Boracca’s ultimate winning T-38 in the background.

Two delta-winged airplanes were entered, Joshua Albano’s Batwing and Bob Frogner’s own design airplane.

Richard Ludt flew his Mitsubishi Zero.

We ate and flew, thanks to Steve and Laurie!

The score card was kept up to date continuously, thanks to contest director, Dan Morris and Jesse Gifford, with the final results as shown by Dan earlier.

The following Sunday brought out from Extreme Flight Legacy Aviation a Turbo Bushmaster. This is Keith Wigley’s latest, and at 84” wingspan is a commendably light eight pounds. Check out the control size and movement. At seven feet wingspan, this is an awesome 3D performer!

Below the Bushmaster is Max Trescott’s P-51. Keen observers will note that Max has modified it to the rarely seen semi-radial-engined version. As far as we know, this variation hasn’t been seen anywhere except at the RC Bees field, and so we must congratulate Max on its uniqueness!

Below is an ex-Jeff Wells Piper Cub, one of those which he had to get rid of for space reasons. It’s gone to a good home with Hugh Chalmers, we’re pleased to say.

Small airplanes are getting more amazing every day, it seems. Allen Ginzburg, Steve Boracca, and new members Daniel Lipovetsky and son Harper found that they had all recently got E-Flite AS3X’s, and so entertained us with an unrehearsed formation flight several times around the field. This was a really spectacular display, enjoyed by all of us fortunate enough to see it.

Don Edwards picked up his third Sukhoi (another from Jeff Wells?), and put his trusty red and yellow spray cans to work to ensure that everyone would know just who it belonged to! And very nice it looks, too. Don also has three T-28’s for sale.

Jerry Arana’s Bucker Jungmeister, kit-bashed from an Aeromaster, seen again, and very nice too!

Jesse Gifford’s E-Flite Extra 300 taking off, followed by Jay Petty and his E-Flite Radian (hope I got that right!). And that’s all, folks!

On Saturday, September 21^st , the RC Bees field was closed because of fumigation going on in the neighboring fields. The opportunity was taken to have a major work party the following day to do major clean-up prior to the forthcoming slurry sealing, which was now fixed for October 12^th. 

The participants, who did a great job,  were Dan Daniels and James Stubblefield, who transported sawn material in their truck, seen on the left of the first picture; Steve Boracca and Hugh Chalmers, cutting away in the second picture, David and son Joshua Albano, all the way from Los Gatos,  Dan Morris, Laurie Trescott, Richard Ludt, pink shirt next picture, Joe Platin, Michael Hushaw, Emmett White, Richard Kass and Richard Estes. My apologies if I missed anyone out. Thank you, everyone!

The following Sunday saw flying resumed with Joe Parisie flying his ex-Don Edwards Bixler. No prizes for guessing that this is an Edwards airplane – he only has two cans of spray paint, yellow and red!

George Ribeiro brought along a little Aeronca Champ – response time would be too fast for me to handle – seen in the next column.

Hugh Chalmers refurbished his profile B-17, which had an untimely crash along with several others in our recent B-17 squadron fly-by. It looks great in flight.

Bob Frogner made a model of the Boeing McDonnell-Douglas F-33, the unsuccessful competitor to the Lockheed F-35.

It flies very nicely in his capable hands. The airplane is an obvious supersonic derivative of the previous Harrier, and didn’t make a very successful transition.

Jesse Gifford got a very nice B-17 ARF from Mike Hushaw. Details on the airplane are very nicely done – it’s tough for us scratch builders to compete these days!

The C-47 at the top of the next column was obviously made for really tough pilots – open cockpits – stand up to fly – not for the faint at heart! Is Dan Daniels the owner? Sorry to say, I’m not sure. 

On Saturday, October 12^th, we had the RC Bees runway resurfaced for the first time in over twenty years, and a very nice job the contractors made of it. It cost about $4,000.00, well worth it, everyone would say.

The following day, our intrepid painting crew,

Steve Boracca, Hugh Chalmers, Jeff Wells and Jesse Gifford were in to add their artistic finishing touches – another great job by our folks.

Mike Evans added light entertainment with another  of his First Person View multi-rotors. He tells us that he flies these little guys round his house,     including circling the chimneys, while sitting in his

living room! A whole new dimension to model  airplane flying, at least to this old modeler.

All
On the Ground
Field Camera View

Our annual fun-fly event was held on Sunday, July 21^st, ably conducted by Dan Morris. Here’s the list of events as posted by Dan.

• Skill taxi test. A timed event. Three cones will be placed ~25ft apart. Begin at the first cone pass the second cone on the left, loop the third cone on the right, pass the second cone on the left and return to the first cone. Best time puts you the the top of the leader board.
• Triple loop test. A timed event. Take off, climb to a safe altitude, perform a tripple loop (wings must be level at the beginning of each loop) and Land. Time is measured from launch to touch down. Shortest time is best.
• Maximum glide time. A timed event. Takeoff and climb for 15 seconds shut off power to prop and glide to contact with the ground(preferably the runway). Longest tim is best.
• Safe cargo transport.  A timed event. Fit a cup to the top of your plane. Add the secret cargo to the cup. Take off, fly the pattern and land.  Your time will be noted.  If your cargo is still in the cup your time will be recorded, if not your time will be infinity.  Shortest time is best.
• Bomb run. Not a timed event.  Fit the cup to the top of your airplane (quads not eligible). Add bombing material.  Take off, fly over target area, release your bomb (by a loop or roll). Bomb’s ground contact distance to target will be measured. Shortest distance is best.
• Bowling. Attach bowling ball to tail of your plane ( via 20′ string) fly over the pins and knock them down with the bowling ball.  You have 3 pass attempts.  The most pins knocked down is best.
• Limbo. A ribbon will strung across the runway. You get three attempts to fly under the ribbon.  The ribbon will be lowered for the  next round. Those successful in the last round will continue to the next round. The fewest cumulative attempts at the lowest ribbon height is best.
• Time for hot dogs and celebration of the fine flying by our members at the events.

Here are a few pictures from the event.

Bob Frogner completed his triple loops in the Pajaro River – – –

—  ably retrieved by expert fisherman Steve Jones while Bob looks on!

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And soon ready to fly again, seen with other members of Bob’s fleet.

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Michael Andalora’s Valiant proved to be a good general purpose airplane for this type of event.

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He and Steve Boracca were tied for first place in the eyeball carrying event, with Steve just winning –  by an eyelash!

Don’t get too concerned. The eyeballs were made by Dan from ping-pong balls, as seen here on Hugh Chalmers’ entry..

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And here’s Steve’s winning T-28.

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George McKeon’s Sukhoi wasn’t really designed for this kind of exotic transportation, but still managed to complete the course successfully.

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David Tacklind’s entry was so old that he could afford to drill an egg-sized hole in the top of the canopy to mount the eyeball, without spoiling the looks of his airplane one bit!

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Our youngest member, Joshua Albano, proudly shows off his eyeball-carrying entry.

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And the final eyeball picture, showing some skill in mounting, is (hope I’ve got this right!) George McKeon’s Value Hobby Slick.

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Contest director Dan Morris, did his customary fine job of running the competition, and summarized the event complete with final placings as follows.

Fun-fly highlights – by Dan Morris

Nine members chose to enter the competition. Hugh Chalmers, Steve Boracca, Mike Andalora, Joe Platin, Dave Tacklind, Don Edwards, Bob Frogner, Joshua Albano and George McKeon.

 Jesse Gifford was planning on entering the events with his gas plane but in practice prior to the contest the throttle control jammed full open (while in flight) making participation  impossible.

 Not to be deterred Jesse grabbed his cameras to capture photos and videos of all events for publication in the news letter and our web site.

See video here

 Steve, under the weather with a cold didn’t let that slow him down. He ran the barbecue and successfully flew in all events.

 George arrived after the first event had  finished but participated in the remaining events.

 Don and Bob suffered fatal crashes in the triple loop contest and were unable to participate in the remaining events.

 Joshua, our youngest competitor at first   wasn’t comfortable to enter all events so he chose two events but later increased that number once it became clear this was a fun fly for all to enjoy. 

  I overheard Joshua’s mother give her son some tongue in cheek advice as he stepped to the flight line. “Joshua, Take off, fly the sequence and land”.  Joshuas  reply was “Oh Mom”. (How wonderfully classic was that!)

 With dad at his side, Joshua demonstrated he was quite capable and is going to be another great pilot.  We can be proud our club provides the place and group support to developed these young people in this hobby. 

More Down by the River

Moving away from the competition, Bob Frogner came up with yet another useful tool, this a hot glue gun powered by a typical model airplane LiPo battery – a very useful item to bring to the field.

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Next week saw us back at the field exercising our old and new airplanes. Here’s Dan Morris’s Beech Starship getting ready for take-off. A very pretty-looking airplane.

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Bob Frogner is another of our members who seems to come up with a new airplane almost every week. And here’s his black biplane, built from down-loaded plans. He’s very pleased with its flying and handling.

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Jesse Gifford’s ex- Michael Hushaw B-17, touches down nicely,

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and taxis home after a successful mission.

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Click here for B-17 Flight Footage

Mike Evans and Richard Ludt are both getting into the First Person View small multi-rotor game, and enjoying it immensely. Here’s Mike with his equipment, and below that Richard’s outfit.

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Bob Frogner tells us that his FRC Foamies F-14 flies very nicely, although aerodynamicists in the group may cringe at the rectangular airfoil section! Sweepback possibly helps a little in that respect.

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Bob incorporates two-position sweepback, not variable in flight, as can be seen in the next picture. The airplane has one of the new Spektrum receivers from Horizon Hobbies on board with no visible antenna. All the works are incorporated inside one small box!

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And our last item this month is another of Steve Jones’ pattern airplanes, this one an E-Flite Ultimate. Purists like your editor will appreciate the well-designed airfoil sections on both the wings and tail surfaces!

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And that does it for another month. Enjoy!

Next we see yet another Johnny Skoch model, this being built from his Piper Cub kit by Dan Daniels and Jesse Gifford. To the surprise of old-timers like myself, this is Jesse’s first attempt at building from a kit (one wing), as opposed to assembling an Almost-Ready-To-Fly! The airplane is being equipped with an OS 70 four-stroke, and should be a fine flyer.

John Williams now has assembled one of Bill

Boone’s old glider kits, with the wing nicely recovered by Richard Tacklind. It was reprogrammed and successfully flown by Steve

Jones, our ubiquitous test pilot!

We’ve seen Richard Ludt’s Curtiss P-6E before, but it’s nice enough that it deserves a picture on its own! Here it is getting ready for take-off.

Bob Frogner has modified his trainer to include onboard telemetry – it’s in there somewhere!

A passing canoer, paddling by with his son, volunteered to salvage a couple of models which had got stuck in inaccessible (to us) foliage, and retrieved them for us. What a nice man. Thank you so much!

Here’s one of them in the next column, a bit bedraggled, being held by David Albano, father of Joshua Albano, who lost his plane some time ago. Check out the big smile on his face!

Meanwhile, Jacob Boracca showed Hugh Chalmers what could be done in the aerobatic sense with Hugh’s Hobby King MX. Sorry, no flying shots available.

Jerry Arana and Richard Tacklind almost always manage to bring out some old or recently refurbished airplanes. Here are Jerry’s 2-years old ex-control-line Smith Miniplane, and Richard’s exJohn Nohrden Telemaster and his own original Comet Zipper.

Weve got yet another mid-size P-51 to add to the RC Bees collection, this one by Dynam, recently purchased by Hugh Chalmers. In the background can be seen Michael Evans trundling his Extra 300 into the pits after another successful flight.

Jesse Gifford brought his 2-burner cook-top, and he and Laurie Trescott made breakfast for a group of obviously starving RC flyers – – –

–    and Steve Boracca helped with clearing up.

Bob Frogner’s latest quickly built foamie is a Mig 29 made from plans by RC Power.

We’ve seen Steve Jones’Sukhoi before, but once again it was a treat to see it flown in an excellent pattern routine – here just preparing for take-off.

Just last month we saw George McKeon’s newly acquired 73” wingspan Extra 300. He told us how he had strengthened it, and had to add weight to keep it balanced. More Extra weight (pun intended) meant higher flying speeds and higher loads in turns. This appeared to result in stalling on the downwind leg, with the unfortunate results seen here. Definitely not repairable. Very sad.

Your editor was asked by a Mountain View resident whether we could use a model airplane collection which had belomged to his uncle, so on Sunday, June 2nd we auctioned the collection off. As might have been anticipated a lot of stuff was unsaleable, or had to be given away, but we did make $120, 0f which 80% was sent to the donor, and 20% went to the RC Bees funds. So we did our good deed for the day to everyone’s satisfaction, I believe.

We had an interesting mid-air collision on the Sunday after the club meeting, where Chris Sanchez, in fine WW II fashion flew his P-47 into the tail of Hugh Calmers’ profile Yak 55. Despite the fact that the Yak lost a big chunk of tail, both aircraft, surprisingly, landed successfully on the runway. Those Russian aircraft always did have a great reputation for survival!