ElectricFlight H
i Fliers: when helping a fellow modeler test fly a model, go be- yond the usual control surface checks and spend a few minutes
reviewing the model’s airworthiness. This will go a long way to assuring a successful flight and the safety of others at the field. Keith Shaw’s Birthday E-Fly was held
June 2–3 at the beautifully manicured field of the Balsa Butchers in Coldwater, Michi- gan and CD’d by Dave Grife. It’s great to help one of the electric pioneers celebrate his birthday. The weather was pleasantly cool but the winds were strong and got stronger, damaging some models on the ground. If possible it’s good to have a faster flying model that you are familiar with that can handle windy conditions. William Heller’s VIP was barley aware there was a breeze. This 150 mph plus speedster was powered with a NEU 1107Y on a 3-cell 1,000 Li-Po spinning a 4.1–4.1 APC prop. Flying paused long enough to sing happy birthday and share in some cake. Traci Jo Hubbard baked the ultimate aviation themed cake complete with edible airplanes, aviation sayings and four different types of cake. The AMA National Electric Fly-In or
NEFI was held at the International Aero- modeling Center in Muncie, Indiana on June 22–24, CD’d by Jay Smith (Model Avi- ation Editor) along with the help of many AMA volunteers. A trip to the International Aeromodeling Center is always a good time. It provides flying from the world class sites or cooling off in the National Model Aviation Museum. The proceeds from NEFI were do- nated to the Animal Rescue Fund and Na- tional Model Aviation Museum. The weekend schedule had an ALES soaring contest at an alternate site with events and demos along with open flying at the beautiful spacious main runway. The Combat event sponsored by Dan Malone of
PHOTOGRAPHY: DON BELFORT
William Heller’s VIPpylon racer was the perfect choice of model for the windy conditions. The VIPreaches speeds over 150 mph.
GWS Props
www.gwsprops.com was a thrill for the pilots and the crowd. Dan pro- vided all contestants with a Foamentor kit for participating. The pylon event grouped all models with
a 3-cell 1350 Li-Po or less together. Satur- day’s race had over ten planes in the heat for some real action. Thanks to Thunder Power RC
www.thunderpowerrc.com and Castle Creations
www.castlecreations.com for their contributions to this event. Hobbico
www.hobbico.com Marketing Outreach Manager, Dan Landis, flew his Wind S Pro 2-meter Pattern airplane through its precision acrobatic routine in flawless fashion. Its fuselage is composite construction with a built-up wing and stab. Power is a Neu F3A motor controlled by a
Castle ICE 80HV with a counter-rotating propeller system from Brenner Sharpe, spinning a modified Sharpe 21–22 prop in the front and a 20.5–22 prop behind it. Ser- vos are Futaba digital brushless guided by a Futaba 18MZ. There were plenty of vendors for all your e-power needs along with seeing many of their offerings in action. Mountain Models
www.mountainmodels.com displayed many of their precision laser-cut kits, often walk- ing them out to the flight line to put in some flights. Check out their wide selection of kit offerings. Saturday night’s pizza party is always a
great time and is included in the basic entry fee. Freeflight events were ongoing during the weekend which gave us a chance to ob-
by don belfort You can reach Don Belfortat 8250 Twin Cove Court, West Chester, Ohio, 45069
Keith Shaw did the honors cutting the delicious birthday cake (above left) baked by Traci Jo Hubbard, for Keith’s Birthday E-fly. The license plate was from Ken Myers. Hobbico Marketing Outreach Manager, Dan Landis (above right),
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flew his Wind S Pro2-meter pattern model throughout the weekend with unreal precision, flight after flight. Dan has been flying the model with a counter-rotating system from Brener Sharpe. Text has details.
OCTOBER 2012
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