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March 2001 Edition

February Meeting:

There was a sparse crowd at the February meeting. Valentine’s Day was most likely reason. With flying season not far away, many thought it would be a good idea to keep in good graces with their sweeties.

Plans were finalized for “Swap Meet 2001”. We were informed that there is a conflicting event in Illinois on the same day as ours, so vendor attendance may suffer a little. There will be some careful study given to next year’s date selection.

A committee will be formed later this year to study the options for the December Christmas Dinner / meeting. Some members were disappointed with the food this year, but the main concern was the cost to the club for the pre-dinner hors d’oeuvres and the pre pay requirement. The combination of the two ended up costing the club around $300.00! That would buy a lot of pizza or cut a lot of grass.

Dates were tentatively set for some club events for 2001. There will be a Spring Picnic at the club field on Sunday, May 20. The “Fun Fly” will be Saturday, July 14. The annual “Air Show” will be Sunday, August 12. If anyone knows of a conflict on any of these dates, please let us know!

Some other miscellaneous items were discussed about the field. The outhouse at the field is in need of repair or replacement. The flood waters & the weather have taken their toll. If you have any ideas, or would like to volunteer for a work detail, please step forward! There is a new latch on the frequency cabinet door. It’s not locked because vandals keep cutting off the lock or ripping the whole hasp off the door. Keep an eye out for any problems. There has also been some butthead spinning his wheels in the muddy water & making ruts around the shelter. We may have to rent a pressure washer to clean the mud off of the advertisers board.

The meeting was closed around 8:00 p.m. (EST). The next scheduled meeting will be Wednesday, March 14.

New Look Comments:

I’ve had a few comments on the new look of the newsletter. Several like the graphics & pictures. Lou has the new format posted on the club’s web site & I think it looks great! A few AOL users have a problem because the graphics & pictures come as attachments, but they are dealing with that problem. Mr. Poland just needs someone to manage his computer. Nobody has suggested that I go back to the old format yet.

RG’s new BarnStormer

Some of you may already know this sad story about the guy who wanted to get involved in the R/C aircraft hobby. When Bob (RG) Shireman got involved with R/C, he didn’t know about the club & didn’t know anybody else to ask about the things beginners need to ask about. He ordered a kit from a magazine that advertised it as being pretty much indestructible. That kit was a US AirCore Barnstormer. How was he to know that it would turn out to be the last thing a beginner should learn to fly with? Over weight, under powered, & hard to fly! He crashed that poor airplane time after time, flew it through a barbed wire fence, & spent hours & hours repairing the damage done.

RG finally got hooked up with the Monroe County R/C Club & learned to fly a proper trainer. He learned about staying light, having horsepower, being stable, & all the things that a Barnstormer wasn’t. After he learned to fly, he got that old Barnstormer back out & put a bigger engine on it. Even a brick will fly with a big enough engine on it. After several years of reliable service, in the Summer of 1999, the old Barnstormer had an elevator failure & went down hard. Since there wasn’t much left to repair, it was finally retired. In the fall of 2000, Bob ran across a gentleman at the Plainfield airfield that wanted to get rid of a Barnstormer (wonder why). Bob purchased the semi-virgin hulk of plastic cardboard and went to work. It’s now ready for flight & Bob is back in the Barnstormer business. Some might say there are already too many Barnstormers in the world & why would anybody waste their time, already knowing what a hunk of junk it is? It’s a nostalgia thing. It was his first airplane & at 60 or 80 feet away, it kinda looks like a PT-17.

Editor’s Note:

It’s OK for me to make fun of the Barnstormer because I have one too...

 

 

Aviation Theme at Library

The Morgan County Public Library in Martinsville has asked the Monroe County R/C Club for some help for it’s aviation theme display that runs from March—August 2001. They have display space available in two glass cases that would accommodate aircraft with less that an 18” wing span, or smaller articles like engines, radio equipment, etc. They also have lots of ceiling space available to hang model aircraft. If you have something that they could display or would be able to help with a demonstration of R/C aircraft, contact Bob Shireman at 765-342-0480 or e-mail him at rgshireman@yahoo.com. The date for the demonstration is Thursday, April 12. The demonstration will be from 7:00

p.m. until 9:00 p.m. We would like to give a simple demonstration of construction & covering, control surface & radio operation, safety issues, and set up a computer flight simulator. We also hope to give a pitch for the club and invite the participants out to the field for a live demonstration. A little good PR can go a long way. We hope you can help.

R/C E-Zine

by Frank Shears

A group of dedicated RCers have joined me in publishing a new Internet only magazine (e-zine) called RCezine that is dedicated to the RC enthusiast, from beginner to old-timer. It's located at http://www.rcezine.com and anybody interested in RC is invited to stop by and browse the pages and back issues. There is no charge to any of the readers, as the goal of RCezine is to bring information and help to RCers. We are trying to fund it exclusively with RC related business sponsors, thus it is free to the public. So far the response has been overwhelming with unbelievable growth since our first issue this past December. The December issue had over 31,000 hits from over 1,600 readers and the January issue had over 48,000 hits from over 2400 readers. The early statistics for this month indicate we can expect over 60,000 hits and over 3800 readers by the end of the month. Consider this email an invitation to all MCRCC members and friends to stop by and enjoy reading about RC. There are lots of pictures, articles, reviews, and columns. There are also a number of pictures from the January 21, 2001 AMA RC Show at Pasadena, CA, in the Builders Corner column.

On my personal web page I have posted all the pictures I took at the August, 2000 MCRCC Annual Air Show. If anybody would like to view them, they should go to http://cuban8.rcwing.com and click on the link to the "MCRCC Air Show Photos". I only took about 70 pictures because I ran out of disk space. Next August I'll be better prepared.

I'll be at the 3rd Annual Swap Meet on February 24th taking pictures again. This time we hope to get good notes on names and models etc. to go with the pictures. I hope to see you at the next meeting.

Regards,

Frank Shears A.K.A. Cuban8

Editor Rcezine

3rd Annual Swap Meet Report

by Bruce Hoffman

The third annual Monroe County R/C Club Swap Shop, held on Feb. 25, 2001 was a success! There were 28 tables rented, which generated $140.00 for the club. The "gate fee" generated another $134.00 of revenue. That is a total gross income of $274.00 for our club. Not bad for five hours of fun, friendship and some great bargains!

The Mark Sexton & Co. restaurant was also open for business. I saw several plates full of hot dogs go by my station so I hope that his sales were good as well. One of the vendors had a pet dog that spent the day at the Swap Shop and I noticed that he benefited from the Sexton restaurant as well!

There were times it seemed that there was "standing room only" in that large room. I hope that was an indication of many sales for the participants.

A sincere ”thank you” goes out to all who helped on this event and made it a success. Let's do it again next year!

Swap Meet pictures taken by Frank Shears

 

Thanks Frank!

 

Glider Contest Results

by Brent Hoover

 

Presidential Address

by Mark Sexton (sorta)

Our club president Mark Sexton has been busier than a cat covering up shaving cream for the last couple of months. He has several businesses to run and is constantly being hounded to open a “Hooters” location in Bloomington, but he did manage to get this outline to me on the topics for the March 14 meeting. Some topics up for discussion will be; the 2001 mowing season, our annual advertisers, officer’s dues, and the new sign for the field location, that is due for installation by May 1st.

He also wanted to remind everyone that flying season is just around the corner, so check those batteries & fuel systems out before your first flight! Take-offs are optional but landings are mandatory.

If you need to talk with Mark, his telephone number & e-mail address appear at the top of this newsletter. Ask him about his new hobby. Under the influence of a Dave Poland and a few brewskies, Mark has become an audiophile. Just don’t ask him how many “airplanes worth” he spent on that system.

This picture is of Mark’s “Space Walker” at the 2000 Air Show, and taken by Frank Shears. I stole it from Frank’s web site.

 

 

 

Don't forget to mark your calendar for these upcoming events.

 

January 2001 Dues are Due! (Ole Brent needs the money)

Early Spring? Anybody interested in a bus trip to the Air force Museum at Dayton (WPAFB)?

Contact Bill Black at 765-342-9336 or e-mail him at osiris@scican.net

March 14 Monthly Club Meeting

March 24 Johnson County R/C Flyers Swap Meet (Bartholomew Co. Fairgrounds)

April 6-8 Toledo Show (http://www.toledoshow.com/)

April 12 Morgan County Library Show (Martinsville)

May 5-6 IMAC Contest at Brazil, Indiana (Clinton Co. Airport)

May 20 Club Spring Picnic (club field)

July 14 Club Fun Fly

August 12 Annual Club Air Show