Ribcrackers Model Airplane Club

Thunderbolt February 2013

Club 2067

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http:/www.ribcrackers.org

February Club Meeting

Monday, February 4, 7:30 pm Livonia Senior Center 5 Mile & Farmington Road

F

Ray Field LAT: 42.5062 N LON: 83.5987 W

Editor’s Note:

Hopefully there is only one more month – maybe

two – of tough winter weather left. January gave up

only a few suitable flying days at Ray Field for those

hearty winter flying members. Now is that perfect

time for diligently working on those new planes that

you are working on and plan to take out to the field

w h e n t h e

weather is suit-

able. In this

i s s u e G r e g

Gordon has

posted an up-

date on his pro-

gress of the

Dauntless that

was reported

here in Janu-

ary’s Thunder-

bolt. Next

month there

will be a repot

on a unique

project com-

pleted last month by Prez Cruzan on how to make a

viable flying plane out of components from previ-

ous crashes. Dennis Robbins completed an “in-the-

bones” Aichi to hang in his workshop while contem-

plating what new project to begin. Alas, my Thun-

derbolt is still on the work bench, and if only I could

put together eight hours, it would be completed. So

what are you working on? How about sharing them

here with your fellow club members? Call me.

It was gratifying to read in the February Model

Aviation about former Rib cracker Mark Freeland

conducting a FF seminar for AMA employees. Also,

Ribcracker hon-

orary life mem-

ber Keith Shaw

receiving a Carl

and Beth Gold-

berg Vital People

Award, good

stuff for RC.

Some Ribcrack-

ers attended the

DAM swap meet

recently held at

the Yankee Air

Force’s new fa-

cility at Willow

Run airport.

Good work guys, it is always good to support other

clubs with their events, and visit our local hobby

stores that support our hobby/sport in a huge way.

See you at the club meeting.

Don

Ribcrackers January Meeting Minutes—January 14, 2013

Gerald Klose

January Meeting started promptly at 7:30

Treasurer’s Report: Dues are continuing to roll in.

Budget will be presented at next meeting.

Secretary’s Report: 10 to 20 people have renewed

their membership so far. Don’t forget that your mem-

bership must be renewed by the end of the March

meeting to avoid late fees.

Vice President’s Report: The field looks good. The

porta-pottie was upright and ready for business. No

concerns for people flying on Saturday. Everything

looks good.

President’s Report:

Getting the key to the Senior Citizen’s Center

appears to be a challenge: The key must be

picked up between 12:00 and 5:00 on Monday

afternoon and then dropped off after the meet-

ing.

Scott wished to apologize for the confusing

meeting shift to a later date.

Don’t forget to renew your AMA and Rib-

cracker membership

First flight 2013 goes to Gerald Klose. Hank

will provide trophy at next meeting

Thanks to Leon for organizing the Christmas

Party

Thanks to Errol for donating back his Raffle

winnings to the club last month.

We need to find ways to increase our funds.

The following are some suggestions:

o Warbird fun fly – with better advertise-

ment and open to other clubs

o An official swap meet/fun fly with pro-

ceeds/percentage going to club

Other ideas to increase community awareness

and hopefully garner new members

o Do presentations for Scouts, schools, or

model air shows either flying or static

at malls, schools, etc…

o Do a student day on the weekend

o Have a sign at the street while we are at

the field advertising our existence

o Have the meeting at another location

where there might be more incidental

exposure such as at the Wintergarden.

o Have the meeting at a hobby shop such

as Nankin or Prop Shop.

Any other ideas to improve the field

o Dennis Kirkwood would like the field

rolled at least twice a year

o Keep in mind that any improvement

cannot be anything permanent.

Model of the Month

Roger Wilfong brought in a Mini-Vapor and a

rebuilt Super Sportster EP. Rebuild was re-

quired after motor and Firewall parted ways

from the rest of the aircraft. It is powered by a

Monster Power 15 running on 3 A123 cells

Ron McHale demonstrated a Co-axial Sky-

writer UFO. Very cute.

Raffle Winners

Blue Ticket – Ron HcHale

Dennis Carpenter picked up the Concept 30

Glow powered helicopter

Scott Cruzen won a couple of servos and,

Marshall won the Balance Machine which he

promptly donated back to the club

Scott brought in a book that covered the P51 and Cor-

sair in gorgeous detail and offered to lend it out on a

rotating basis to any club member interested.

The build is progressing fairly well.

DAUNTLESS SBD-3

Ziroli Plans

Balsa USA Laser kit

Wing Span 100”

Length 78”

Wing Area 1750 sq in

Weight 30-40lbs

Engine BME 116 twin

There are many details to the build to this point that I could talk about but I will only bore you with the so

called highlights of the construction.

Center Wing Panel

Before I forked out a ton of money on pneumatic

retractable landing gear I did a ton of research on

multiple manufactures. When the dust settled I

chose the Sierra retracts over the Robart system

because of its increased cylinder capacity that

will allow the landing gear to raise and lower

every time. However, the retract system is larger

in size than what the plans call for so it required

some extensive modifications and maintaining

the wings structure had to be considered. I also

purchased the scale (6) inch wheels from Sierra

for a considerable discount and man they look

great. I decided to build the bottom features such as the bomb trapeze after the fabric covering is applied.

Wing panels

The anti-stall features located near the wing tips are something I have only seen on the Dauntless and re-

quired a lot of patience when forming each slot opening. With some

time consumed I think they came out pretty good. I also wired naviga-

tion lights in the wing tips that will double as an ignition indicator

light. For once I came up with a good idea. I also pre-mounted the

outer wing replica 500lb bomb releases but I removed them for now to

ease the covering process. The rest of the wings build up such as the

wing tube, servo mounts, flaps, ailerons, and sheathing went without

any surprises.

Fuselage

The tail wheel and the rudder mechanisms are all hidden

within the fuselage. The mechanisms to control each func-

tion needed to be precise to create a nice smooth movement.

So to help with this I used Sullivan push rods with plastic

sleeves and 4-40 steel rods between the servo arm and the

control horns. The tail wheel came out fantastic with very

little drag. The rudder was a bit more difficult because of

the scale like hinges that made the construction a little more

challenging. The actual pivot arm is constructed from an

aluminum rod that goes through a couple of drilled wood

bushing. This combination made it very difficult to create a smooth movement. If I had to do it all over again

I would have used plastic bushings because when assembled I discovered some resistance in the pull direc-

tion. I’m using a high torque servo to combine these functions and I don’t feel it will be an issue but I will

evaluate this condition after the servo is installed and operating.

The most difficult job of the build thus far was sheathing the fuselage. First of all where do you start? The

plans call for sheeting the top and covering toward the bottom. OK front or back first? I decided right or

wrong to do my own thing by covering the sides first starting at the front. I pre-soaked the sheeting with a

diluted alcohol solution to help the sheets form around the shapely fuselage before applying.

It was also recommended to place one sheet at a time on each side to pre-

vent the fuselage from twisting. So I followed this plan but when applying

the last sheet to the rear of the body I noticed a twist at the back. Great

job! NOT! Once again more work and time wasted fixing a mistake. If

this is the only mistake I make then I am doing pretty well but it’s still

early in the build. The rudder and elevator were next on the list to be

built. Integrating both parts to the fuselage went well setting them in a

perfect alignment to the center section wing both vertically and horizon-

tally.

The Dauntless SBD had six different versions before retiring the plane in 1944. My intent was to build the

SBD-5 version. The only reason for this is because the SBD-5 version would maximize the air flow across the

motor that would exhaust a portion of the heated air out the ventilation ports located on the fuselage just be-

hind the cowl. Even though by appearance you would think the SBD-5 would have less flow. Well it came to

the point in the build that I needed to fit the cowl to the fuselage. So when I got the cowl out for the first time

since I purchased it a month or two ago I noticed that I unknowingly purchased a SBD-3 version of the cowl

which has a distinctive snorkel on the front. I did not know what to do. I had a version 5 fuse and version 3

cowl this really sucks for me! My first thoughts were the majority of people probably wouldn’t know the dif-

ference. However I couldn’t let it go and it drove me nuts for weeks so I finally decided to tear down the ven-

tilation ports and rebuilt them to SBD-3 specs. This was going backwards in a long build process but the final

result was pretty good.

SBD-5 version (vent ports) SBD –3 version (vent ports)

Well this is all for now. Overall I would say the balsa kit was complete with a mix of premium wood. It did

fall short with the amount of sheathing strips required to cover the plane but the laser cut pieces were right

on which made for less aggravation when fitting or sanding hundreds of parts during the assembly process.

There are many hours already into the build to many to count but I enjoy it during the cold winter months. It

gives me pleasure seeing where I began and how I got to where I am now.

I will try to keep you posted next month thanks for

reading about my Dauntless Build.

Greg Gordon

Ron McHale flying the

Co-axial Skywriter

UFO. Look closely for

the horizontal blue

lines.

MODEL OF THE MONTH

Roger Wilfong

demonstrating

his Mini Vapor.

Roger’s second plane was a repaired, recovered,

re-everything . The original ARF had weak glue

joints (what’s new) at the firewall and you

guessed it, the motor and firewall parted com-

pany with the plane. The plane is powered by a

monster Power 15 running in 3 A123 cells. Cov-

ering were odds-n-ends from former projects.

Beautiful restored Stinson Reliant

Imagine hitching a ride

in this Beechcraft!

Supporting

Area Club’s

Swap Meets

Some Ribcrackers attended the

January 6 swap meet put on by De-

troit Aero Modelers. Ex. Prez War-

ren Wells and Gus Dabringhaus

along with Ex. Veep Hank Wojcik

attended along with Ken Hilton and

Matt Jerue - photographer.

A big bonus was the opportunity

to view the new hanger facility

that replaced the fire damaged

old one. The spectacular planes

always make the event worth the

time and effort to get there.

Club Positions

Vice President /

Field Marshall

Dennis Carpenter

248-881-3243 Dennis.carpenter@bcarp.com

Treasurer

Dennis Robbins

248-661-3562

drobbins421@yahoo.com

Thunderbolt Editor

Don Unsworth

248-348-0961

dunswrth@sbcglobal.net

Minute Recorder Gerald Klose

248-582-1803

Raffle Coordinator

Marshall Stern

248-661-8286

Safety Officer

Alex Alexopoulos

248-909-6869

Alexopoulos24@yahoo.com

Chief Instructor

Matt Jerue

248-348-5948

Ribcrackers 2013 Board of Directors

Librarian

Ken Hilton

248-877-1670

Secretary

Matt Jerue

248-348-5948

mdjerue@mi.rr.com

President

Scott Cruzen

248-275-3416 scruzen@me.com

Check out the details of local

flying events on page 158 of Model

Aviation, February issue.

UPCOMING LOCAL EVENTS

Feb. 4—Ribcrackers Club Meeting - LSC

Feb.10-Mid Mich. RC Swap Meet –Chesaning, MI

March 4—Ribcrackers club Meeting—LSC

Send your dues and work assessment fees to Club Secretary

Matt Jerue @ 40453 Guilford, Novi, 48375

Also, remember that there is a late fee

charged after the March club meeting.

REMINDER Re-up your Ribcracker

membership now. The club treasurer is

developing the operating budget for the

upcoming flying season and needs to

know how many members to plan for.

Club

Dues