Rockford Event

Thanks to Mark Boesen and the Rockford Aeromodelers for another fine event. This seems to be growing every year. Certainly the Advanced and Expert groups were quite well represented.

The flying was dominated by some really interesting winds, due to the surrounding trees. Jim Renkar and Dorin Morisanou insisted that I should not be fooled by the ground level winds and they were right. At one point the wind was blowing in my face during a manuever with plenty of line tension. I still did a lot of dancing through much of the pattern to keep line tension with all the swirling. Finally, I got blown out of the 3rd loop of the clover, ran back and recovered before it hit the ground (by the judges), brought the plane around and finished the last loop. I finished in a sweat and a round of applause (thank you, I needed that). After that experience, I passed on the second round.

Crist Rigotti was not so lucky. His beautiful 'Actroma' got blown out of the 3rd corner of the hourglass, and he was unable to recover. Crist really has a nice control system (I wish I hadn't seen it) with all HD ball links for connectors.

All in all, a typical contest day. We get to meet and fly with some of the best people around. See you all next week at the TreeTown Modelaires event at the Aurora Airport.

Fred

LAST EDITED ON Aug-25-03 AT 03:58 PM (CDT)
 
Yup, a big thanks to a good contest. The Actroma 40 was a very good flying plane. It'll be missed. It is repairable.

Sorry about your plane, Crist. But it does show that you meant it at the Nats when you said you would have flown in the wind had you made the cut. Which you will do quite handily next year, wind or no! Best regards, dale g

Geez, Crist, that was a nice ship. Glad I got to see it at Minneapolis B4 the fall.
Kelvin

Crist,
I was watching your 2nd flight, before the wind got you, and was envious of the great engine run you were getting. After the unfortunate crash, I saw you were using an O.S. LA engine. I am building a Brodak Pathfinder and have both an LA .40 and .46 to try in it. Would you be so kind as to share your great running O.S. LA setup (i.e. fuel, prop, tank, engine mods, etc.) with us? Thanks.
DennisV

LAST EDITED ON Aug-26-03 AT 08:18 AM (CDT)
 
>Crist,
>I was watching your 2nd flight, before the wind got you, and
>was envious of the great engine run you were getting. After
>the unfortunate crash, I saw you were using an O.S. LA
>engine. I am building a Brodak Pathfinder and have both an
>LA .40 and .46 to try in it. Would you be so kind as to
>share your great running O.S. LA setup (i.e. fuel, prop,
>tank, engine mods, etc.) with us? Thanks.
>DennisV

OK, here goes. I bought a R/C version and installed a .272 venturi and a .135 spraybar both from Russ Gifford. You will not be disappointed with his stuff. I then replaced the plastic backplate with a Tower 40 metal one. I broke it in on the run up stand and ran about 3/4 gallon of SIG 5% Champion fuel through it. I did the 2 minute run and cool off routine for the first 24 ounces, then increased the run time to 4 minutes for the next 24 ounces. Then bacisally ran the engine for 7 mins runs after that.

I'm using an APC 12.25 x 3.75 prop cut down to 11.75 dia. I just rounded off the tips, and balanced the prop. I'm using a Thunderbolt R/C long glowplug with an idle bar. The fuel is Powermaster 10/22 with 5CC of Grape fuel fragrance added to it.
I'm using a Sullivan 6 oz RST Flex tank set up for uniflow and muffler pressure. I run the uniflow vent to the middle of the tank (fore and aft) positioned it about 1/2 inch below the TOP of the tank near the outboard wall. I adjust this up or down to get the type of engine run I want during upright and inverted flight. I like to have the engine speed up just a touch during inverted. It helps a bit with the vertical stunts. BTW, my engine bearers are under cut 1/4 inch and the engine sits on top of 1/8 phenolic pads. I'm using an RO-Jett muffler with the stinger drilled out some. I drilled out the stinger for another perceived problem that really wasn't a real problem. My guess a stock muffler would work just fine. I have a Dubro exhaust deflector on the outlet and it is cut down, at an angle, to 1 inch after the bend. I launch at about 10,200. This speed will vary depending on weather conditions. I like to "lean" it out a bit more when the weather is hot and/or windy, like we had at Rockford. I also use a Sullivan "Crap Trap" filter and Prather "pink" medium fuel line. I feel that the Prather fuel line is a lot stronger and it holds up to the nitro better. I use a SIG 2" spinner and yes, I have to enlarge the cutouts some for the APC prop.

I fly, er make that flew, the 47 oz Actroma on 62 foot (eyelet to eyelet) 7strand lines using Ted Fancher's Precision Pro handle. Lap times were about 5 to 5.1 seconds. It's been a while since I timed my lap speeds.

I need to make sure that you realize that there were NO mods done to the engine other that adding the venturi, spraybar and a metal backplate. NO shims, NO grinding, NO nothing. Just run it and enjoy it. The engine cost me $65 and the backplate $3 from Tower. The venturi was about $12 and the sparybar was $15. I really can't remember what Russ gets for these, but the costs listed are close.

That should do it. If I have forgotten anything let me know.

Crist,
GREAT INFORMATION! I appreciate your generosity in sharing knowledge that obviously took a lot of work and research on your part. Many thanks.
DennisV

Dennis V,

Congratulations on the win! I had to go out to the field today
to find out the results.

So, other than Dennis V winning one of the categories, who did
what? Two of our Mikes were one and two in Beginner! Also good.

Are you going to be out practicing on Friday or Sat?

Best regards,

Dick

Dick,
Weather permitting I will be at the club field to fly Saturday morning. Hope to see you there.
DennisV

Mark put on a great contest. He was so dedicated to working the contest that he opted out of flying his great looking Cardinal. The Rockford contest was great last year and even better this year (except for the treacherous wind in the Advanced/Expert circle - glad I was flying in the Intermediate circle). Mark, thanks again.
DennisV

Sorry about your loss, but you are a proflic builder and I'm sure you'll have something back there next year if not sooner.
DennisV thanks for the loan of your filter. If you show up next Sunday at the treetown contest I'll return it. http://clflyer.tripod.com/ttown/treetowncontest.htm
At least if we have wind there, it won't be strained through trees.
Bill

Bill,
Will you be flying your neat looking twin boomed Viper(?) in carrier again? It sure looked great in the air at last year's contest. See you next Sunday.
DennisV

Hey Everybody!

Thanks to all that made the contest! It's the people that make the contest and I think we got a great group of dedicated CL'er in our area. It was sad not to have Jerry 'Who' there, he'll be missed for a long time. See everybody next Sunday at Aurora!

One minor issue Mark, the contest is in Sugar Grove, IL at the Aurora airport. They didn't build it in their town, but in our village. Not that I'm complaining... We have some very interesting planes based here. B-25, P-51, Wildcat, P-40 and some SNJ's or T-6's if you aren't into Carrier planes.
Hope to see you guys Sunday.

http://clflyer.tripod.com/ttown/treetowncontest.htm

Bill

Yes Dennis, I'll be flying the Vampire again Sunday. It's working really nice in good air. I'm actually building a new one, taking pictures of the construction and have talked with AMA about publishing it.
Bill