Flightplan

Flightplan is published  "online"  by Flightmasters Model Airplane Club, Inc. of Fort Smith, Arkansas.     It's purpose is to inform the membership and to promote interest  in the safe building and flying of model aircraft both in the Fort Smith Area as well as elsewhere.
Volume 41           Number 11                       AMA Charter # 742           IMAA Chapter # 362                         November 2008

In this issue:

Officer Nominations for 2009 ......... Front Page
Muskogee Fly-In Report ................ Front Page
5 Cells with RDS8000 Receiver ........ Pages 1, 2 & 3
Flagler County Aero Modelers' Field .. Page 4
1955 "Model Aviation" Issue .......... Pages 5 & 6

Club Officer Nominations for 2009

The following nominations have been made to fill the officer positions for 2009:
  • President:  Josh Price and Ron Roberts
  • Vice Pres:  Bill Womble
  • Secretary:  Cecil Collum
  • Treasurer:  Giles Helbling

Nominations will be accepted through the November club meeting on the 2nd Sunday of November. Voting will take place at the December meeting. Please exercise your right to vote!



MUSKOGEE, OK, FLY-IN

By Cecil Collum


Saturday, 11 October, Bill Womble, Bill Stranahan, Walt Moore and I went to the Hatbox Field Fly-In hosted by The Three Rivers Area Model Pilots Society (TRAMPS) in Muskogee, OK.

There were many, many models present representing the entire gamut of aviation, including four turbine jets.  The jets included an L-39, F-16, F/A-18, and F-22.  Most flew three times or more and made for fast, thrilling flights.  This was the first time I had seen actual model turbine jets fly and it was entertaining.  There were too many other models to mention but I will list those that caught my eye:

  • F4U Corsair
  • A1 Skyraider
  • F7F Bearcat
  • P-51 Mustang (at least three)
  • J-3 Cubs of all sizes, including the 50% Cub owned by Steve from Russellville.
  • Sticks
  • N2S with 7 cylinder radial engine (most call this one a PT-17 but it was painted in Navy colors so it is properly named N2S).
  • Suhkois
  • Yaks
  • On and on.

If you haven't gone to the Hatbox Field, it is an impressive facility.  The field was used to train Army pilots in World War II and Muskogee now uses the facility for civic activities.   The Muskogee Club has it's own clubhouse, paved runways and adequate parking for an event such as this.

We four FMAC members weren't alone, Cliff Littlejohn, Josh Price, Troy Pogue, and Charlie Thacker were there.  I'm positive I have forgotten someone so I'll apololgize now.

The TRAMPS put on a very good show and if you didn't go, you missed a good day's model aviation.   One of their members, an eleven year old boy, put on a very good display of model aerobatics with 3D flying included.  The pilots were very gracious and provided any information asked about their planes, engines or just about flying in general.


Using a 5 Cell airborne battery pack with the Airtronics RDS8000 Receiver

By Ron Roberts

First, a bit of background and a short "battery primer".

I have used Airtronics Radio equipment almost exclusively during the past 20 years of RC flying. Believing I needed to venture into the "modern realm", when Airtronics introduced the 2.4 GHz RDS8000, 8 Channel system earlier this year I purchased one.

I am very pleased with its performance and capabilities, but have one "nagging" worry...

You see, I like to use a 5 cell (6 Volt) Nickel Metal Hydride battery pack in my airplanes. The 5 Cell pack produces greater speed and torque from the servos and the NIMH battery type has three very useful characteristics:

  • First, and most obvious, they are much smaller for their capacity.   For instance, "AA" Nickel Cadmium cells produces 1.2 volts at about a 600 or 700 mah (milliamp hour) rating, whereas "AA" Nickel Metal Hydride cells produce the same 1.2 volts, but at a 1500 mah rating!   More than double the capacity, which translates to over twice the flying time with no weight gain!


  • Secondly, NIMH batteries do not develop the dreaded, so called, "memory" problem that NICD's sometime develop. That means it is not necessary to discharge the pack before recharging.


  • And thirdly, because of the second reason above, you hardly ever have to "cycle" them as you do NICD's.

To be fair, there are a couple of disadvantages to NIMH batteries:

  • They are slightly more expensive than NICD's, but if you look around the Internet carefully, you can actually find some very good prices. I have been buying surplus "Two Packs" that were made for portable phones.  I have paid as little as $1.00 each
    • for those packs and each pack contains two (2) NIMH batteries rated at 1500 mah! I usually buy 10 packs at a time which yields 20 "AA" NIMH cells - enough for a transmitter pack (8) and two "five cell" airborne packs with a couple left over. Yes, you do have to make up the packs, but that's nothing when you consider the savings.

Continued on Page two ...   


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