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Flying High With Electric Power!
The Ampeer ON-LINE!
Fly the Future - Fly Electric! |
Site Table of Contents
| President: | Vice-President: | Secretary/Treasurer: |
| Ken Myers | Richard Utkan | Rick Sawicki |
| 1911 Bradshaw Ct. | 240 Cabinet | 5089 Ledgewood Ct. W. |
| Commerce Twp., MI 48390 | Milford, MI 48381 | Commerce Twp., MI 48382 |
| (248) 669-8124 | (248) 685-1705 | 248.685.7056 |
 | ||
| Board of Directors: | Board of Directors: | Ampeer Editor |
| David Stacer | Arthur Deane | Ken Myers |
| 16575 Brookland Blvd. | 21690 Bedford Dr. | 1911 Bradshaw Ct. |
| Northville, MI 48167 | Northville, MI 48167 | Commerce Twp., MI 48390 |
| 248.924.2324 | 248.348.2058 | 248.669.8124 |
| Mailed Ampeer printed subscriptions are no longer available.
The Ampeer is FREE on-line in Acrobat .pdf format and HTML with active links! | ||
| The Next EFO Flying Meeting:
Date: Sat., Aug 3 Time: 10:00 a.m.
Place: Midwest RC Society 7 Mi. Rd. field | ||
| What's In This Issue? | ||||
| Mid-America Electric Flies 2013 - The 29th Edition, a report by Ken Myers on this fun gathering. | Detroit Aero Modelers Upcoming E-Meet upcoming meet announcement | |||
| National Model Aviation Day Indoor flying at the Ultimate Soccer Arenas on Aug. 17 | Upcoming C.A.R.D.S. of Lansing 3rd Annual Electric Fly In upcoming meet announcement | |||
The 29th Edition By Friday, July 12, Jim Lapham, of the Midwest RC Society had the field grass close-cropped and rolled. He was determined to have the field in the best possible condition for all of the guest fliers, even though this was one of the wettest weeks ever in southeastern Michigan. He succeeded! The field was in great shape! Many thanks go to Jim and the Midwest mowing crew. We really appreciated your work and allowing us to use this very nice field for our meet. Many EFO and Midwest members were out early on Friday and helped with the field set up. It is really true that many hands do make light work. Their hard work was very, very much appreciated. Keith Shaw came out about one to do the final set up of the large sunshades for transmitter impound and to provide additional shade for the pilots. By mid-morning on Friday, we were ready for our guest fliers, and they started appearing and flying. Actually, some folks camped at the field starting Thursday evening. Friday afternoon is always fun with relaxed flying and "catching up" with our many friends. With some truly good flying weather, some great planes took to the air through the afternoon and well into the evening. Unfortunately, swarms of mosquitos drove the folks inside. While this is officially a two-day meet, many, many folks got in some flying on Friday and Friday evening. Friday's weather was a preview for Saturday. It was one of the very best weather days at the Mid-Am in years! The winds were light. While there was sunshine all day, the humidity remained low and the temperature very moderate for Michigan in July, only reaching the low 80s. Sunday wasn't quite as comfortable. The temperature rose to the very high 80s, and the humidity was way up there! Fortunately, at times, there was a nice breeze. This year, our thirty-nine registered pilots came from all over Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kansas. For some reason, this year proved even more fun in catching up with our "old friends" and making new friends. That is what this meet is really about. Okay, the really "cool" planes are a very nice bonus. A lot of folks captured the images used to illustrate this article. I am sincerely indebted to Denny Sumner, Mark Wolf, Rick Sawicki, John Kauk and C.J. Wysocki for their great photos. Simple plaque awards are presented after each day of flying. The plaques recognize some of the great planes and pilots flying at the Mid-Am. To receive an award the model must fly at the event. 
Don Belfort with his Ercoupe Denny Sumner photo Don Belfort, of West Chester, OH, had a very nice, large scale Ercoupe finished in Army colors. It received the CD's Choice Award on Saturday. It looks great and flies very realistically! 
Bill Brown's Wright Model B John Kauk photo Keith Shaw flew this model for Bill Brown on its maiden. The detail and workmanship are excellent. Bill spent a lot of time researching this aircraft. Jim Young helped get the plans into CAD and printed and Mark Freeland, of Retro RC, helped by laser cutting some of the parts.
Retro RC
Jim Young's Habu 32 C.J. Wysocki photo Jim Young, of Brighton, MI, brought a great flying Habu 32 and won the Best Ducted Fan Award with it. It is very, very impressive in flight. Jim flies this fast ducted fan type plane very well! 
Robert Throne with his beautiful WACO Denny Sumner photo Robert Throne of Ypsilanti, MI flew a beautifully finished T&J Models 1/8 Scale Waco YMF-5. It is a great flying plane and Robert won the Most Beautiful Award for it on Saturday. 
Mark Rittinger's Precious Metal C.J. Wysocki photo Mark Rittinger, of Roseville, MI, created a rare counterrotating racing plane known as Precious Metal. It has a very unique sound and with the all chrome Monokote finish, it's a tad bit difficult to fly due to the reflections. The plane received the Best Sport Plane Award on Saturday. More information can be found in this RC Groups thread. Once the awards were presented and the pilots' raffle held, it was time for the Annual Steak Sandwich and potluck dinner. Dave Hares and Chris Myers prepared the steaks and onions. Chris had already worked the Midwest concession stand and then helped out with the potluck. Thanks to you both very, very much! The pilots, friends and families provided other great foods to go with the steak sandwiches. As usual, Don Belfort, Flying Models electric flight columnist, from West Chester, OH, brought his "traditional" Mid-Am cake. The cake tradition has been going on for almost as long as the Mid-America Electric Flies. Unfortunately, this year Ken Myers decided to help in setting up the potluck table. He's a dessert first kind of guy, and had some cake before he got a photo of it! During and after the potluck is a wonderful time to be at this meet. This is the time when folks continue to get in more flights as well as set around and "catch up", talk planes, family, and politics and just relax. It is simply a marvelous time to be at the Mid-Am. The weather was much warmer and more humid on Sunday but with clear skies and gentle winds. With a high temperature the upper-80's and higher humidity, the day was not as pleasant as Saturday. 
The 1905 Wright Flyer Race? Dennis Sumner photo Sunday started off with Keith Shaw and Dave Thacker, of Radical RC, doing some formation flying with the 1905 Wright Flyers. Keith built his version from Dave's kit and has added quite a bit of detail and many other refinements to the design. Whether it was formation flying or possibly 'racing', I'll leave that up to those who participated.
There were several new registrants on Sunday and a lot of flying took place with many, many beautiful planes in the air for most of the day. Keith Shaw handled the flight line beautifully on Saturday and Sunday as the flight line coordinator. He also put on a demonstration flights at noon on both days. Some of the highlights of the noon demos for this year were the return of the King Crimson for its 20th season and the Spitfire for its 30th year! 
King Crimson at 20 C.J. Wysocki photo 
The Spitfire at 30! C.J. Wysocki photo 
WACO in Flight Dennis Sumner photo Robert Throne received the Best Scale Award for his T&J Waco YMF. This is a very nice flying biplane. It is available as a kit from T&J Models. 
Gloster Meteor C.J. Wysocki photo Jim Young received the Most Beautiful Award for his Gloster Meteor. He didn't like the original paint job, so he redid it, and it ended up as an amazing beauty!!! It is available as a kit from T&J Models. 
Mini Stinson 125 Mark Rittinger photo Mark Rittinger created a very nice flying little 26" Stinson 125. It won the Best Mini Award. You can learn more about it on RC Groups. 
Denny's Shrike C.J. Wysocki photo Denny Sumner of Canton, MI, won the Best Multi Award for his Aero Commander Shrike. It flies very nicely and is one of his favorite sport planes to bring to the field all of the time. It uses two 370 brushed motors, flies great and proves that you don't need to go brushless to have a great flying twin. 
The Cheyenne in Flight Mark Wolf photo Jim Ryan's Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne was Keith Shaw's CD's Choice Award for Sunday. The mechanics of this helicopter presented several problems for Jim to overcome. It is equipped with retractable landing gear. Jim flies it very well. We would like to thank all of our sponsors for providing some very nice "goodies" for our participating pilots. At the field, and with very welcome pilot raffle donations, we had Radical RC, T&J Models, Retro RC and Mark Rittinger. Other very welcome donations came from Tower Hobbies, Carsten's Publications/Flying Models magazine, Sig Manufacturing Company, Inc., RTL Fasteners, Eagle Tree Systems, and Castle Creations. Several individuals also donated prizes for the pilots' raffle. They included Ken Myers, Richard Utkan, Keith Shaw, Roger Wilfong and Joe Reubinstein. Keith and I thank all of our sponsors very much. We know that the registered pilots who received items from our sponsors are very grateful as well. Keith and I cannot even begin to thank all of the folks enough from the EFO, Ann Arbor Falcons and Midwest RC Society who helped to make this meet the success it is. It is pretty easy to go to a "meet" and enjoy the facilities and forget that it takes a lot of dedicated and hard working folks to pull it all together. From the physical field being in the best possible condition, the special parking set up, dining facilities, porta johns, registration, impound, concessions, potluck picnic grilling and myriad of other details, these behind the scenes folks are the best. Guys and gals, Keith and I cannot be more sincere when we say thank you, and we really couldnÕt have done it all these years without you! 
The Concession Stand Crew L to R: Mike Russell, Pam Sockow, Jane Sumner, Chris Myers Denny Sumner photo Also, a special thanks goes out to the Midwest RC Society for allowing us to use their field and flying time for the majority of our Mid-Am meets. You guys and gals are the very best! Keith and I sincerely thank Denny and Jane Sumner, Paul and Pam Sockow, Chris Myers, Mike Russell, Dave Hares, Dave Stacer, Arthur Deane, Jim Lapham, Roger Wilfong, Jim Young, C.J. Wysocki, and Richard Utkan for all of their super help and support. There were also more members of the EFO, Ann Arbor Falcons and the Midwest RC Society who pitched in with parking and other spur of the moment jobs. Thanks to you folks as well! Many folks attending the Mid-Am know Dave as THE MAN manning the grill at the Saturday evening potluck. For more than 20 years he's filled this extremely important position. Besides cooking the steaks and sautˇing the onions, he has been the organizer of the potluck and chief wrangler to see that everything was there for our guests. This year he was ably assisted by Chris Myers. Thanks again Dave for another special year at the traditional Saturday evening potluck. Also, a huge thanks to Chris for pitching in after working a full day in the concession stand! There are all kinds of flying vehicles that take to the air at the Mid-Am. 
Pete Foss' Flying Dune Buggy Greg Cardillo photo Pete and Carolyn Foss had some fun type air vehicles that everyone enjoyed. Pete's Wiley Coyote piloted flying dune buggy was a crowd pleaser every time it drove around the field and leaped into the air for some wild aerobatics. His flying super hero is a sight to see. Carolyn, flying Pac Man around the sky and flipping it all over the place invites those watching to go, "chunka, chunka, chunka!" Lori Cardillo flew her quad-copter well all weekend long and even took up one of Mark Freeland's/Flying Models Baby Biwingers for a flight. There were all types of flying vehicles, large, small and in-between. They included electric gliders, 3D types, large and small helicopters, quad-copters, scale, sport and just fun types of aircraft. 
Tim in the front and dad, Jim, enjoying the Mid-Am Denny Sumner photo It is a true family event and Jim and Tim Young are a great example. Tim has become quite a good pilot and flew many solo flights through the weekend. It was my great pleasure to get to 'spot' for him sometimes. 
Bill Brown's Model B being "willed" into the air Mark Wolf photo There are always many surprises through the weekend. One of the best was when Bill Brown came out on Friday evening to have Keith Shaw do the test flight on his Wright Model B. Everyone there as drawn into the excitement of this first flight of a great model. It took several attempts before a successful flight was made and the whole group ended up willing the plane into the air. It was amazing. There were many types of aircraft and flying vehicles in the air all weekend long. They included electric gliders, 3D types, large and small helicopters, quad-copters, scale, sport and just fun types of aircraft. Keith and I would love everyone to attend the 30th Annual Mid-America Flies next year. Hope to see you then! The following are more photos from the Mid-Am. Hopefully, some of the 'flavor' of this meet is represented by these photos. 
Part of the Flight Line on Saturday Rick Sawicki photo
If you've seen Keith's Spitfire in the last 29 years, THIS IS the one you've seen. The power battery has been changed from NiCads to A123s and the receiver battery has been replaced. It is still powered by the original Astro Flight geared 25 Cobalt motor with the original ESC, radio and servos. It is still "Charging Into Electric Flight" for its thirtieth season! 
Mark Wolf's prototype for the T&J Models Waco C.J. Wysocki photo
A lot of the detail of Keith's version can be seen in this photo including Orville Wright, the dummy engine, and the special "cross country" fuel tanks that hold the A123 cells. 
John's Fokker C.J. Wysocki photo John Kauk's Fokker D-VII shows that a little Dulcote can provide a much better look to the big film-coated Hangar 9 model. 
Denny Sumner's Kingfisher C.J. Wysocki photo Denny Sumner's Anderson Kingfisher is an example of how hanging in there can make a model fly even better. To understand that statement, please see the discussion on page 9 in RC Groups about this plane. 
The OH-6 in flight C.J. Wysocki photo Jim Ryan's big, OH-6 took several flights over the weekend. It is very realistic in the air! 
Dave's "Smaller" Me-262 C.J. Wysocki photo Dave Grife's Banana Hobby Me-262 is getting ready for another flight off the non-scale grass. 
Ken and Keith - 2013 Greg Cardillo photo You're Invited!
This is Ken Myers' Maxford USA Antonov An-2 Colt ARF (almost-ready-to-fix). The "assembly" report will be in an upcoming Ampeer. It flies well, but there were some problems during assembly that Maxford immediately took care of.  Thanks to C.J. Wysocki for this great inflight photo during the Mid-Am. AMA Sanctioned 2013 Electric Fun Fly Saturday, July 27 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Alex Jefferson Field in River Rouge Park At the corner of Joy Road and Spinoza Open event for all electric aircraft & helicopters NO LANDING FEE! Just come out and have fun! The grill will be available for use for all pilots. Spectators watch for free and are always welcome. Contest Director: Arden McConnell 313-274-3185 Web site: www.detroitaeromodelers.com National Model Aviation Day
August 24, Saturday, Landing fee: $15 includes pizza and pop, CD Marv Thomson 517-802-7675 or email mthomson@wowway.com More information including location can be found at www.cardsrc.com/2013/electric/ |
To Reach Ken Myers, you can land mail to the address at the top of the page. My E-mail address is: KMyersEFO@theampeer.org