Hi all, Tracie here.
If you haven't heard the news by now, here it is: I've taken over and kicked Owen to the curb.

I'M KIDDING! How could I ever replace Owen? Truth is, Owen is away on extended work or duty/leave or whatever you guys call it, and he has asked if I would write this month's message. How could I refuse?

We've had a couple postponements and cancellations of club events this past month due to inclement weather. Hopefully, we got the word out quick enough so that no one showed up to an empty field. If you're ever in doubt about an event's status, PLEASE, visit the website at www.newportnewsrc.org for the latest. We've been trying hard to keep everyone up to date with 'breaking news' and your best line of defense is the website.

If you haven't seen it, the agenda for this month's meeting is available and the meeting minutes are included in this email below. We'll be voting on a constitution amendment in regards to membership. For more details click here.

I'll be presiding over this month's meeting as Owen will still be out of town, with very little on the table expect a short and sweet meeting. Hope to see you there.

Don't forget, tomorrow is the rescheduled field maintenance day.
It's going to be nice weather; so use it as an excuse with the significant other to get some flying in afterwards. :)

Fly it like you stole it.

Tracie

03-13-08

Friends,

Despite a few days of breezy conditions we have continued to enjoy many days of great flying weather. I have seen many of you at the field taking advantage the situation. It's only going to get better as we get into spring!

Speaking of breezy conditions, we had to postpone our annual Frost Bite Fun Fly by one day to the 9th. We all had a great time and I saw some pretty unique methods of bomb slinging (er...dropping). I'll have a full report at the meeting.

This month's program will focus on twin/multi engine flying and will be presented by yours truly. I have many hours of experience in flying both full scale and r/c model twin engined aircraft and would like to share my experiences/insights.
If you have thought about trying your hand on a twin this discussion will perhaps give you the final nudge to rise to the challenge!

I would like to thank everyone that sent me an email and/or participated in the discussions we had at the Feb meeting ref the new AMA Park Flyer program. As a result of these discussions, I believe the best course of action to deal with this program is to amend our Constitution from requiring AMA Membership to requiring an AMA Open Membership. We will entertain further discussions on this issue at the March meeting but I am hopeful we will get a motion approved for this amendment to be put to vote during the April meeting.

We are planning on doing a little field maintenance the morning of 5 April. Details will be discussed during the March meeting. Please mark your calendars and plan on giving us a hand on the 5th.

I look forward to seeing you at the flying field and at our meeting on the 17th.

Fly safe and have fun,

Owen



02-08-08

Friends,

What a great February for flying! I hope many of you were able to take advantage of the balmy days to get to the field and weren't stuck in an office like me.

I would like to publicly thank Joe Lupton for his impressive effort at organizing another great Swap Meet for our organization. While the over all participation was not quite as large as last year, our club was still able to come out on the positive side of the ledger. I am also extending a big thank you to Pete Dixon who donated a Giant Scale Models Hellcat ARF for our raffle.

We have a fairly important issue to disscuss at our next general membership meeting on the 18th. The AMA has seen fit to create a new class of membership called Park Pilot. Essentially AMA is willing to insure folks flying park flyers under a special program which has different rates and provides different benefits than the traditional Open membership. If you open the attached document you will see our meeting agenda and a comparison of Open vs. Park Pilot memberships. As an AMA chartered club we need to come up with the best way of handling this new class of membership.

Tracie and I have brainstormed some ideas on how we could possibly include Park Pilots as members at our flying field. Our suggested implementation is for folks who have joined the AMA as Park Pilots will subsequently be allowed to join our club as well (no difference in the dues structure). To differentiate between Park Pilots and Open Pilots we will issue an identifying GREEN badge to the Park Pilots. Park Pilots will follow the same flying and safety rules as any other pilot albeit the Park Pilot can only operate/fly park flyer type aircraft. If the Park Pilot should decide to try his/her hand at larger aircraft without first obtaining an AMA Open Membership, the Park Pilot will no longer be insured.

Obviously, this will make it imperative that members display their badges while flying as stated in our current rules and by-laws.
Displaying the badge will ensure the pilot has the appropriate insurance for the activity he is participating in. While the majority of us already do display our badges, there can be no lattitude on this policy.
To do so not only puts your flying field in jeopardy, but also could put your property and yourself at risk from an uninsured pilot. I ask that we all actively enforce this policy.

There are probably other solutions to encorporating Park Pilots in our club and Tracie and I look forward to hearing them. As a club we will take the best course of action and proceed onwards.

I look forward to seeing you at the flying field and at our meeting on the 18th.

Fly safe and have fun,

Owen




01-04-08

Friends,

Happy New Year! I trust Santa was good to all of you...

In case you forgot, please remember to renew your club membership with our Treasurer, Pete Dixon. You must posess and display your 2008 membership card to fly at the field. There are no exceptions to this rule.

2008 promises to be an exciting year for the NNPRCC. We already have two events scheduled; Swap Meet - 2 Feb and Frost Bite Fun Fly - 22 Mar, with more events on the horizon. I encourage you to participate in the
21 Jan meeting as we lay out the events for 2008. Your ideas and comments will be valuable in establishing the direction of our club.

As you can see from the attached agenda we have a lot of business to conduct at the January meeting (Jan. 21, 2008). Two topics are of particular importance - Model of the Month (MOM) and approval of the
2008 club budget.

During our last business meeting in November the Model of the Month
(MOM) program was discussed. I would like to offer a brief recap of the
program to get everyone up to speed on the issue.

When the model of the month program was first introduced to the club it was to allow modelers the opportunity to share their latest project with the club membership. Members would vote on the model of their choice based soley on personal preference. The individual monthly winners would then be eligible to participate for the model of the year (MOY) honors which would be voted on at our annual Christmas party. The program evolved to include both Almost Ready to Fly (ARF) and Build it Yourself (BIY) categories. Over time, to encourage participation it was decided increase the value of the model of the year award to a full year's paid club membership for each category. It is at this time that the program may have begun to head in the direction of a full blown competition rather than it's originally intended structure.

Suggestions put forward at the Nov meeting included:

- To have the MOM revert back to as it was originally intended. All projects are presented equally...whether they be foamy, scale fixed wing, ARF or Helo. Members would vote for the project they like best, for what ever reason they like that particular project.

- To have the MOM as a "Showcase" with no categories and no voting to determine winning entries. All modelers and their projects brought to the meeting would be posted on the club's website for all to enjoy.

- Leave the program as is.

What's your suggestion or thoughts? Do away with the program all together? Revert back to its original intent? Leave it as it is? Perhaps
something different all-together?

The 2008 budget needs to be approved by the membership. The club has operated over the past year without a budget and based on the income and expenses for 2007 it operated in the red. Fortunatetly we have the funds to cover the shortfall. The 2008 budget as it currently stands is also in arrears. The 2008 dues structure has already been established, so unless we can come up with measures to increase our club's income or we reduce spending, there will be a shortfall in 2008 as well. Your participation in these discussions is needed.

I hope to see you on the 21st.

Cheers,

Owen
 

12-07 - December's President’s Message

Greetings,

This will by my last message to you as club president. I have really enjoyed my tenure these last two years, and feel that the club has fared pretty well. I’m not going to try to list any achievements I may have accomplished, because I could do very little on my own. Fortunately, our club is very lucky to have a group of individuals who are ready to step up and help when something needs done. All I had to do was ask when assistance was needed, and the jobs got done. For that, I want to thank those who pitched in to help.

I want to offer my special thanks to the other officers on the head table. Phil Greasley, Vice-President, has always been available when needed, and his opinions on several issues have been most helpful in arriving at the final solution to any problems. The same can be said of our Treasurer, Peter Dixon. Peter not only kept up with our funds, AMA membership records, and membership cards, but he also took care of our flying site grounds. Thank you, Pete! The field has always looked great this year, in spite of our drought conditions. John Philbrick, our club secretary, has kept our meeting minutes, kept up with AMA correspondence, and helped with getting out letters to other clubs, and with seeking donations for our various events. He has been extremely helpful in getting the site for our Swap Meets at TNCC and more recently, the Bethel High School Cafeteria. Thanks to all of you for a job well done!

I want to remind all of you of our annual Christmas banquet, which is this Friday night (December 7) at Angelo’s on J. Clyde Morris Blvd. There is a reservation form on the web site if you plan to attend. There will be super door prizes thanks to a nice donation to the club by Rusty Kennedy, and our gift swap is always a lot of fun. If you want to participate in this, please bring a hobby related gift of about a $20.00 value.

I also want thank Tracie for the fine job she has done with our web site. I started the web site on my allotted e-mail web space and with no prior experience. It didn’t take me long to run out of web space, as photos from our events filled it up pretty fast. I found a host for our web space that offered a lot of storage space for a reasonable cost, and it has worked out very well. When Tracie offered to take over with her professional experience, I must admit a reluctance to give up “my web site” to someone else. It was a good decision, and we have a very professional looking web page. Keep up the good work, Tracie.

I hope to see all of you at our annual dinner this Friday night.

Merry Christmas.

Joe


11-07 - November's President’s Message

Fellow club members,

Only two more months left in 2007! Where has this year gone? This has been a good year for our club. We have had some excellent events, the field is in great shape, mostly due to the efforts of Peter Dixon and son, and we have all really enjoyed hanging out under the pavilion. Our membership is close to our end-of-year average of around 100 members, and we have a good core of experienced pilots in the fields of Electric power, gas & glow, and helicopter. And, there is almost no friction between the different groups! That says a lot about our club!

The upcoming meeting on the 19th will have us electing our Officers for next year. We are fortunate to have John Philbrick continuing as Secretary, and Peter Dixon staying on as Treasurer. Phil Greasley is stepping down as Vice President, and I will be stepping down as President. I had thought about seeking a third term, but my new location in Smithfield is over 30 miles from the field! There were several months this year I didn’t get in any flights, so I think it‘s time to step down. Owen Dwire is running for President. As a Past President, he did a great job, and I’m sure he will do so again. Tracie Hawks will be running for Vice-President. The slate of nominees is still open, for all of the positions, so if you would like nominate someone else for a position, or run yourself, it’s not too late. Just be at the meeting!

There will not be a club meeting in December. We will be having our annual Christmas dinner. This year’s event will be at Angelo’s on J. Clyde Morris Blvd on December 7. There is a link on the web site to make your reservation and pick your entrée. Jerry needs this ASAP, so please check it out.

As we all are aware by now, Rusty has decided to retire, and Stream Hobby Shop will be closing around Thanksgiving, or sooner. His closeout sale has been better than most, with prices reduced to 75% off! WOW! I have saved over $500 on what I bought myself! Rusty has also supported our club during this time, with a donation of almost $300.00 worth of items for our Christmas dinner. These will be great door prizes, so be sure to come to the dinner!

The Model of the Month contest last month had several really nice looking ARFs, as well as a super new helicopter brought in by Bruce Thompson. We had some discussion earlier this year when Dennis Hawks entered a helicopter, regarding whether it was an ARF or a Build it Yourself model. Several of us felt it had to be a ARF, since no parts are actually “made by the builder” as a balsa kit would require. A vote was taken at that meeting, and the club decided it would be considered to be a Build it Yourself model. This prior vote was overlooked with respect to Bruce’s helicopter, and Phil (MoM Chairman) and I decided it would have to be considered as an ARF. Bruce, we were wrong, and apologize for the error. Your helicopter will be the Model of the Month in the Built-Up category for October, and for the Model of the Year selection to be voted on at the Christmas dinner.
This meeting will be your last chance to get a model selected for Model of the Month, so let’s see a good selection of models this month. If it hasn’t been entered before, it’s eligible!

See you at the meeting!

Joe


10-07 - October's President’s Message

Hi fellow club members,

I'm really sorry about being so late and "out of touch" these past two or three weeks. As you might have heard, we have moved "South of the James" as they like to say over here in Smithfield. When I broke down my computer in preparation for the move, I felt like I was going back in time; Totally cut off from everything that is going on! I certainly didn't realize it would take two weeks to get service again!

The electric meet was a great success from all I have heard from those who attended. I was hoping to get out there, but that was moving day, so I was hog-tied to my house trying to get it cleaned up after the movers left. I know it was windy, but apparently, that didn't stop the electric fliers at all.

The meeting this month will be a very important one for the club. For one thing, a slate of nominees will be presented for next years officers. We will have our elections next month. If you are interested in being a club officer, or have someone in mind for one of the positions, please be present so you can make the nomination. As far as I know, Phil Greasley is the only current officer who has asked to be replaced, so Vice-President is open. The rest of us will serve another term if no one else steps up to seek election. I feel sure that the current officers will have no hard feelings at being replaced should the members decide to do so.

Next Saturday is the date for our postponed Tidewater Scale Shootout. I would like to firm up the helpers we need for the event. Hopefully, our turnout will be better than the first attempt! We will also be raffling off the new ARF of the Goldberg J-3 Cub! Tickets will be available at the meeting as well as at the contest priced at $5.00 each. This will be a great opportunity to get a great flying model at a good price. Buy several tickets and up your chances!

The program for this month will be presented by Jim Senicka and will cover getting ready for the maiden flight on a new model. How do you prepare the model, and yourself ? It should be interesting.

See you Monday evening at 7:00 P.M. at the Camp Site Activities Building (note the Official designation of our meeting location).

Joe


09-07 - September07 President’s Message

If you missed our family day on the 8th, shame on you! It was a near perfect day to enjoy the food, fun, flying and friendship enjoyed by all. We had a good turnout considering all of the other activities being held Saturday. Bay Days in Hampton is a big draw as was the Air Show at Oceana NAS. Peter Dixon and family did a great job (as usual) with the grilling, and there was plenty to eat with the side dishes brought by everyone else.

There were several new models being flown, and I even got in a flight with my Byro Blaster Enforcer. That is a hoot and I need to fly it more often. It takes me an entire flight just to get used to the speed again!

The rotorheads were present in the usual numbers, churning up the air with their egg beaters, as were quite a few electrics!

We even signed up a new member and introduced him to Phil Goodwin, one of our instructors. Welcome aboard, Mark Lynch!

The meeting this month will be back at the Ranger Station location. I really like doing it at the field in the summer, but the days are just too short now to hold it there. As usual, the meeting will begin at 7:00 PM! Don’t miss this one if you have any interest in vacuum bagging composite fiberglass or carbon parts! We are very lucky to have the talents of a professional boat builder in our club, Mr. John Lombardi, and he has agreed to demonstrate the process to us. This should be very informative for all of us. Check out his web site at http://www.lombardiyachts.com/aboutus.htm 

We will also be discussing the upcoming Electrics Over Tidewater which we will be hosting on Sept 29, as well as the Tidewater Scale Shootout which as been rescheduled for October 10.

See you at the meeting.

Joe


08-06-07 - August 07 President’s Message

I had really planned to go flying this weekend, but the weather was really oppressive with the temps in the upper nineties and the humidity felt like it was also. At least we are finally getting some afternoon showers!

Another problem I’m faced with is one no modeler wants to ever have to deal with. As some of you already know, my wife and I will be moving into a condo in Smithfield in late September. So, considering that I’ll be losing my great shop over my garage, and that my new shop will be the garage, I have a lot of stuff to go through and lots to discard. It’s truly amazing what a model builder will accumulate in eight years. I have a lot of great magazines and books I have stashed away, bits and pieces of things I saved after a “hard landing”, etc. A lot will go into the trash, but I know a lot will be of interest to others. With this in mind, I’ll be bringing a lot of stuff to the meeting on the 2oth, and it’s all free for the taking. I must have five years worth of RC Jets International alone. If you have any interest at all in ducted fans, turbines, or just fantastic scale models, be sure to pick up a few of these! Lot’s of good building secrets in there as well.

Our next club event is on the eleventh of this month. It’s the static show we will be doing at Fort Eustis. This will give our club some much-needed publicity and hopefully, get some of the Army folks to join our club.
(NOTE from Tracie: The NNPRCC will be at the FT. Eustis’ Superday on August 11th At Murphy Field. Gates open to the public at 1PM. Stop by and visit us!)

Our program for this month will cover getting ready for the maiden flight of that new model. There are many things to consider and go over to ensure a safe first flight, and Jim Senicka will help us with that.

As you may already know, the Scale Shootout only had four contestants show up. As if that was bad enough, the wind did! We had around 20 mph directly across the runway. This combination was enough to prompt me to postpone the event until later this fall. The date we are looking at is October 20. We did have a good showing of members and guests and thanks to Peter and his family; the grill masters did a great job of feeding everyone! We all had a good time and shared some great camaraderie.

We also have a renewed interest in holding the Electric Fly-In in September. Bill Sorrell has volunteered to head this event up, and I’m sure he will need help. Last year’s Electrics Over Tidewater was our best attended event to date. This year should be even better according to Bill. Let’s make it happen!

See you at Ft. Eustis. Don’t miss the meeting this month.

Joe


07-10-07 - July 07 President’s Message

Summer has arrived for sure this week! With temps in the mid to high nineties with no rain in sight, all one can say is “it’s hot!”. Not that I’m complaining……at least it’s not snowing!

The July meeting will be important for several reasons. Last month we discussed the use of frequency pins for the newer 2.4 Ghz DSS radios. This month we will be voting on whether or not to make the use of a special pin a requirement like it is now on the 72 Mhz radios we have all used until just recently. If you have any feelings on this subject, you better be at the meeting to argue your point. Once the vote is taken, we will implement the rule or forget it, depending on the outcome. I know there are strong feelings for each side. If you don’t at least vote on this, don’t complain about it later!

Our Scale meet is later this month on the 21st. This is only two weeks away! I still could use some help in several areas. I still need several flight judges. Right now I only have three signed up. We will be flying in two different classes, Sports Scale, and Fun Scale. I really don’t want to have to use contestants to judge in a class they are not competing in, so please offer to help if you have judged before. I also need a static judge. This will only take about 30 minutes to an hour max, depending on how many Sport Scale entries we get. Once the judging is complete, you are finished. Peter Dixon came through for us in the food concession. His daughter and her kids will be doing this. I’m sure they will appreciate any help you can offer cooking if you have helped out with this before.

This is a fun event and not too many clubs host scale events. It does take a few more individuals to run it properly than some of the other meets we hold, so please come out and give a hand. We will be setting up around 7:30 AM and registration will begin at 8:00 AM.

Jim Senicka, our program chairman is looking at doing a presentation of getting started in RC helicopters. If you have an interest in this, don’t miss it.

Our club has been invited to participate in an event at Fort Eustice to show our gratitude to the troops and to showcase some of the local things to do for those who may be interested. Tracie will be filling us in on this. This can be an opportunity to show off our club be doing a nice static display since we won’t be doing a mall show this year.

The meeting will be at the club field, and will start promptly at 7:00 P.M. You are welcome to come as early as you like and get in some flying. I plan to try a few flights with my scale entry, either a Cessna 182 or hopefully, my revived P-40. Wish me luck! I don’t seem to have much lately with my scale models. All flying will be stopped at 6:45 P.M. to give you time to clean up and get ready for the meeting.

See you there.

Joe



06-07-07 - Hi folks,

Hot weather has finally arrived just in time for our SPA Contest this weekend. Owen Dwire is the CD and it promises to be another great event for our club. I hope you all plan to attend. Since this is getting to our editor just prior to the contest, this may be a little late for notification.

We have another big club contest next month, and that is our annual scale contest. The name has been changed to the Tidewater Scale Shootout. This has been a fun event with lots of good flying and some great looking scale models. The flying is not difficult and you can enter with an ARF in the Fun Scale category. I'll have lot's more details at the meeting. We also need to line up our helpers for the event, so please be sure to come. Weather or not you fly or just help out, everyone has a good time, so please plan to be involved in one manner or the other.

Our program chairman hasn't contacted me with what the program will be yet, but it should be interesting.

Don't forget, the meeting will be at the club field for June, July, and August. We start the meeting at seven. If you want to come early and get in a few flights, so much the better. If you do,. please plan to be cleaned up and ready for the meeting at seven. Don't forget to bring that new or favorite model for the Model of the Month contest. The winner is entered in the Model of the Year contest in December, and those winners get all club fees paid for next year!

Have fun, and fly safe!

Joe


05-14-07 - It’s Raining! It’s too windy! My batteries aren’t charged; …Etc. etc. These are just a few of the reasons (or excuses) we all may have used at one time or another to put off going to the field for a flying session. Rain and wind can’t be helped. I know I’m gong to work on always having something ready to fly when the opportunity presents itself this month.

We had a very good meeting last month and the details are in the minutes. Dan Murri blew us all away with his Flight Simulator with “Our field” as his flying site, complete in every detail. That was great, Dan! Thanks. Thanks also to Phil Geneste for bringing his computer with both Real Flight and FS One installed. It was nice being able to compare the differences in the three systems.

We had three entries into the Model of the Month in April. This is a very interesting program, for several reasons. It’s always nice to see other member’s new projects. Hearing them discuss changes, radio installations, and how they solved problems makes it educational for new members, not to mention the inspirational affect it has on our own building efforts. Please bring your latest, or even an old model you may have built years ago. They all have a good story to tell.

Phil has managed to get the new shelter stained, and it looks very nice. Thanks, Phil. As usual, Peter has the field looking great. Having lots of rain this spring (at least it seems that way) has the grass looking very good.

We don’t have any events of our own in May, but there are several goings on worth mentioning. The New Hanover RC Club in Richmond is having their annual Swap Shop on the 12th. They have a large area to draw from and the club goes out of their way to have lots of very nice door prizes, and there are always lots of good bargains to be found. I’ll be there. There is a link to their web page in our events calendar on line.

Another usually fantastic event is the Mid Atlantic Jet Rally at Fentress on the 26th and 27th. Last years meet had the best turnout ever with over thirty-six registered pilots and well over sixty fantastic jets. Most of these were powered by real turbine engines. If you haven’t seen these fly, you should plan to attend this year. There is no admission for spectators.

Don’t forget the meeting on the 21st at the Park Ranger Station site. 7:00 P.M. BE THERE!

Joe




03-06-07 - Hello again!

March Madness is with us again. If you are a basketball fan (I’m not), that has to be good news. March to me means windy weather, still too cold, and the thought of yard work looming in the near future. All bad news……

Some good news! If you have tried to go to Stream Hobby Shop recently and found it closed, you probably discovered that Rusty’s wife was in very serious condition in the hospital in Richmond. Several weeks ago, Rusty was able to bring her back home. I just spoke to Rusty, and he was very upbeat about her condition. She is getting better with each passing day, but still has a long way to go. I’m sure she would appreciate hearing from all of us, and she has enjoyed the cards she has received. Her address is:
Amy_Kennedy
1069 Poquoson Avenue
Poquoson, VA 23662
Rusty will be trying to keep the shop open until five during the week with regular hours on Saturdays.

We had a good turnout for our workday last month, with fourteen showing up to help with finishing the construction work on our shelter. It seems the contractors used very light nails in putting up the fascia boards, as well as some other details, so we went around the structure with heavy screw nails and screws where necessary. I think we saved ourselves some work several years down the road. We also had the use of a tractor with a front loader and dragger, thanks to Phil Greasley. We moved a lot of the dirt pile and filled some low spots as well as shaving down a high lip on the right end of the runway. We did not get the stain applied, as it was too cold.

Our next club event is our Frost Bite Fun fly this coming Saturday, March 10. Details are in the flier on line. I’m working as hard as I can to repair my Ultra Stick, which was damaged on an ugly takeoff last month. Hopefully, it will be better than new once finished.

Phil Geneste, our Program Chairman, gave us a good comparison on the differences in battery technology at last month’s meeting. This month, we will get to see first hand the differences between the two top RC Computer Flight Simulators. Phil has them both installed on his computer and will bring it and either a monitor or a screen projector to allow us all to see both in action. If you are considering a new simulator, or upgrading what you already have, don’t miss this presentation.

The next meeting will be on the 19th at the usual location. Since the fun fly will be prior to that, I urge everyone to attend the fun fly even if you don’t compete. There is always something you can do to help out, and they are fun to watch. Until then,

Fly Safe!


02-05-07 - Hello again,
You have obviously noticed our new look. Many thanks to Tracie Hawks for her many hours of work in giving us the very professional new look to our web site. She is asking all of us to look over the new site with a sharp eye for errors in links, missing pages from the old site, or what ever you might find. This is a very big job. I had many pages, links to other web sites, tons of photos, etc. These all had to be transferred to this new layout. Just email her via the link to the webmaster with what you have found. I’m sure she will welcome the chance to correct any problem you may find, but I doubt there will be many.

Our big annual Swap Meet will be this month on February 10. The location is Bethel High School on Big Bethel Road. If you are not sure where it is, go to the intersection of Hampton Roads Center Parkway (Exit 261A from I-64) and Big Bethel Road. Turn Left if coming from the interstate, and go about ¼ mile. Turn right into the parking lot at the light and you are there. If you are helping with the set-up on Friday afternoon, please be there by five PM. It should not take long to do this, as the tables are already there. If you are helping on Saturday morning, we will need to be in place and ready to admit the sellers at 7:30 AM, so please be there by 7:15 at the latest. We all will need to get an admission ticket even if we are not selling anything (yes, I will pay for one also). Bring lots of money! I’m sure we will all find something we have to have! If you want to reserve a table, please contact me ASAP to do so. Donations from industry manufacturers are coming in, so we should have lots of give-aways. Also, I know you all have some beautiful models. Don’t forget the Static Show. All scale models as well as sport models will be voted on by the spectators, and we have some very nice plaques for the winners.

Our next meeting will be on Feb 19th at the Park Ranger Station. Time is 7:00 PM as usual. We have a new program chairman who has promised us a program for this meeting, but as of right now, I’m not sure what it will be.

I’m sure you have noticed our shelter has been finished. It looks great! Now, all we have to do is stain it for protection from the weather. The Parks Dept have given us five gallons of stain, but we have to put it on. Peter tells me we have some field maintenance to do, so a workday has been scheduled for February 24. If the weather is bad, we will postpone it week at a time until we get a good weekend. Please try to lend a hand if you can.

Stay warm and dry, and I’ll see you at the Swap Shop!

Joe


1-17-2007: Hi guys, I was browsing an Aviation photo newsgroup and found the two links below. The first one is of a 1/5 scale replica of the Merlin engine which powered the early Mustangs and Spitfires. It also contains a link of a short video of the engine running. The second link is to a site showing an amazing 1/5 scale model of a Spitfire Mark I, made just like the prototype, .................out of aluminum! I think you will agree that both of these projects represent the pinnacle of scale model building.

http://www.enginehistory.org/merlin_xx.htm
http://www.hsfeatures.com:80/features04/spitfiremkidg_1.htm 


11-19-2006: Owen Dwire sent me this very interesting link. You will need to be able to view
streaming video to enjoy these videos.
Here's an interesting extension of r/c flying:
http://tinyurl.com/ms6t2
http://tinyurl.com/n7agv
The guy not only has a camera in the r/c plane sending video to
goggles, but it also tracks his head movement!

Owen

07-15-2006: I just received a thoughtful email from Rick Smartt addressing some issues brought up by John Philbrick in his comments in the June Newsletter. I am posting this below as I think it provides a point of view many of us may not see or be aware of as old members used to the "way it is" when we go to the field. I invite you to read Rick's comments and reflect on what we can do stimulate new interest in Model Aviation and our club. He has some good ideas.

Joe,

Great article in the June newsletter, I’m just now getting around to reading it. My club support has waned lately due to work and family obligations, although I still fly! But this article hit a nerve with me and I wanted to respond. If you can forward to a club distro e-mail, I would appreciate it. I believe my observation is accurate, and still being somewhat new, I remember the field environment when I first began to visit.

Just my opinion – Many, not all, club members on a typical day can do more to turn people away from the hobby, than to invite into the hobby. My initial visits in the fall of 04 left me questioning whether I really wanted to get into RC modeling, but being an adult and having an extreme desire to learn the hobby, I searched out those few, great folks who bent over backwards to help, but I did have to search them out. Imagine this environment from a kid’s eyes, or a father looking to get his child involved. He learns of the club, drives out one day, stranger to the hobby and unknowing of the ROE or anyone at the field. He sits … and sits, and no one ever approaches him and his kid for an introduction or offer of assistance. He leaves and his experience and lack of self-initiative never brings him back. This was my experience, although, my desire to learn outweighed the lack of contact and after the third visit, I approached some folks and got a couple of numbers, but it was still a quest to find the handful of helpful members.

I found and still some find members unapproachable and unfriendly, and we wonder why the hobby is decreasing in numbers and why there aren’t any kids around? Obviously, expense also plays into this and I’ll address that in a moment. On another note, there are rules and safety concerns that should be priority number one, but with that said, we all make mistakes and mistakes lead to learning. If the flyer isn’t changing his flying behavior then a subtle reminder of the rules is appropriate and necessary. But, I have witnessed a member five feet from another member, yelling at him for what could have been a potential dangerous situation, although he was nowhere near turn the engine over. Extremely unnecessarily rude behavior, which the rule violator took calmly … I’m not so sure I could have been so cool headed! And then there are the personalities with the need to always point out your unintentional mistakes aloud from across the field. The only way I would ever consider treating someone like this is for a seriously dangerous situation, otherwise, a friendly one-on-one reminder would be much more mature and welcomed.

My point – this all adds up to a splintered unwelcoming environment that turns off parents and kids. Yes, kids have numerous other distractions today and the hobby can be financially intimidating, and this brings me to my suggestion. We need to be more engaging to strangers sitting on the bleachers, teach them about the hobby, show them your model, maybe even carry a buddy box and cord - give them a taste of the fun! I know I will be looking to purchase a buddy box just for this occasion. Additionally, how about a Sponsor Program, similar to our training program, but based more on a non-purchase model relationship. For instance, I suggest many of the kids that come out with bright eyes are intimidated and unable to financially get into the hobby. The Sponsor Program would place the responsibility on a club member to contact the child, when feasible, and inform him or the family when you will be flying, and invite the kid to come out and join you. No expense, the kid gets to have some fun, learn, and maybe even give them your old copies of Fly RC or Model Airplane News!

If there is interest in such a program, I would be willing to lead it. I could develop some rules/charter, present to the club leadership, etc … Obviously, details would need to address issues such as age cutoff, length of sponsorship, etc … There could even be an opportunity here to pinpoint the most interested youth during a timeframe, and via a club financial grant, enable him to purchase a starter RTF, obviously, after proving complete flying ability. Any thoughts are welcome …

Sincerely, Rick Smartt

04-28-2006: Jim Senicka put this link in the club forum. It's to a site of the Torry Pines Gulls. Unless you have an interest in soaring, you probably haven't heard of them. It's a club that slope soars off of the clifts of Torry Pines on the Pacific coast. The link has LOTS of good stuff, but the article is related to our radios.
http://www.torreypinesgulls.org/Radios.htm 
Thanks, Jim!

12-09-05: We all have heard that "big is better". Well, it seems that the Brits and a lot of Europeans take that very seriously. Phil Greasley sent me a photo of a model of the plane I used to fly and when I asked him for his source, he gave me the following link. Check it out!

Thanks, Phil! http://www.largemodelassociation.com/index.html

11-29-05: The following web site is a good place to spend a few hours if you like WWII Aviation History.
http://home.att.net/~c.c.jordan


11-28-05: NASA Langley is doing research in this area with a 5.5% 757.

http://www.airventure.org/2005/frijuly29/nasa2.html


10-28-05: I just came across this site from another forum. It's about RC Cameras and other projects to make our hobby more fun. There is also a page on the antenna system in our models and how easy it is to greatly REDUCE our range by improper installation or modification to the antenna. Check it out.
http://www.rc-cam.com/ant_exp.htm 


7-26-2005: Hi guys, Joe Mitchell just sent me a link to a neat site. Click on the link below and see a Satellite view of our field. You can also see a composite overlay with street names as well. It does show how close our neighbors to the west are. We really do need to be noise conscious!
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=ft+eustis+virginia&ll=37.170097,-76.508617&spn


07-09-2006 : John Philbrick passed the two sites along to me. Both are worth spending some time looking through. but , if you are looking for something special, or different, or just hard to find, check out the second one. All I can say is WOW!

Hobby Clubs of Virginia
Click on the HOME PAGE link at the bottom left on this site to be taken to an index of many other hobby related webs.

Alan's Hobby, Model & RC Web Links http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~atong/