Upcoming Club Meetings

Upcoming Events

Sept 11-12: Northwest Soaring Society Tournament & Banquet
at the Anderson Turf Farm, Mission, B.C.

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Sept 25: SASS HLG Contest, 60 Acres
http://www.tgworks.com/sass_hlg_99.html

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For other events, see the Event Calendar

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Pictures from this issue

High Start
By Waid Reynolds <waid@aa.net>

Behind The 8 Ball. I want to apologize to you readers for my slothfulness in getting this issue prepared. It's been a long time since the last Updraft went to press. With each issue it has been getting more and more difficult to find the energy and time to get the job done. Fortunately, it doesn't seem that the club has suffered from the newsletter's long absence. Therein may lie a message. Anyway, for those of you who do read the newsletter, I hope you will enjoy this fairly robust issue. When you see Pete be sure to say thanks for all the work he does in copying, assembling and mailing the newsletter!

Potluck & Birthday Party. What a great feed! Pete Hinze, our new Chief Chef A.K.A. Professor, and his many helpers outdid themselves at the Wednesday (9/1) evening potluck & birthday party. Mmmmm -- makes me hungry just thinking about all that good grub. Jeaneebee came up with the idea as a fun way to get the troops together for some socializing and celebrate Ole's birthday at the same time. Many phone calls later she had drummed up plenty of interest, and enlisted the Chief Chef's participation. Thanks Jeaneebee! Happy Birthday, Ole!

Wanted: One Newsletter Editor. I hate to do this to the club, but, after ten years I'm resigning as newsletter editor, effective January 1, 2000. Although I have enjoyed "getting out the news", it is time for some fresh ideas and perspectives. Hopefully, one or more members (why not share?) will step forward to take on the job for at least a year -- that's only six issues.

What if no one is willing to take the editorial reins? Hard to say. With the Worldwide Web becoming so ubiquitous perhaps it is sufficient to post the meeting schedule, contest schedule, want ads and other notices on the Web in real time, and forget about publishing a newsletter. Another possibility might be for the club to pay the NWSS or some other club to include SASS information in their newsletter and distribute it to our members. You members will have to decide.

Here is what the job entails: remind the club officers, particularly the president, to write a column for each issue; persuade anyone who is doing something interesting and RC glider-related to write an article; gather material from other club newsletters, from magazines, and from the internet; write up (only if you want to) your own pieces concerning the club and RC soaring; Layout the material, preferably on a computer; print a master hard copy for use in copying the individual newsletters; get the master to Pete Hinze, who does the copying, folding and stapling, sticks the labels and stamps, and mails the finished product. The important thing about the newsletter is that it keep the members informed of club activities and contest results. Anything you incorporate beyond that basic requirement is gravy for the other members.

How much work is this thing, anyway? Every 2nd month I spend roughly 2-4 evenings preparing the newsletter, which includes any writing that I do. Usually, more than half my time is spent writing. The rest is editing and formatting articles from other sources. Another couple of hours is required to format the newsletter in Microsoft FrontPage so that it can be put on the SASS Web (I will continue to handle this if desired). Between times I spend a few minutes here and there to collect material and harass potential authors. It's not a major investment of time, and it is very worthwhile.

What equipment is required? You will need a computer with an Internet connection, electronic mail, and MS Word compatible word processing software. A good quality printer (laser or inkjet) is needed to print the masters. Those are the basics. If you want to incorporate images, an inexpensive scanner can be handy for scanning snapshots, but is certainly not required. A digital camera would be very nice, but is also not a requirement.

I have been publishing the newsletter on a bimonthly basis in order to reduce postage costs and time required. However, I'm sure that the new Editor(s) could negotiate with the board for a different schedule (e.g., monthly, quarterly) if desired.

I'll provide the new Editor(s) with the MS Word templates they will need, and help all that I can to get them started. I am also willing to continue handling the updates of the SASS web site in cooperation with the new editor(s) unless they prefer to take over this function. I will format the newsletter document file for web publication, too.

If two or more people could share the job of editor, by either working together, or by doing alternate issues it would make the time commitment very minimal. Also, the Editor(s) should probably only commit to take the job for a specified period of time, say a year or two -- their preference. I think it would help to know that the job doesn't necessarily go on forever.

OK, here's your chance to head up the SASS publishing empire. I hope that someone will be interested in taking on this task. Please step forward by notifying either myself (206-772-0291) or Bob Brewer (206-935-8692) if you have an interest.

In The Same Vein: Our Treasurer, Charlie Baumgartner, needs a respite from the fiscal duties he has carried out so well for the club over the last several years. Charlie has done a wonderful job of putting the club's financial records in order, and budgeting our income for maximum effectiveness. It will be hard to find a replacement. Unfortunately, we must do so. Hopefully, someone who is interested (and who is used to handling huge sums of money) will volunteer for the nomination. It is a necessity to have a computer with Microsoft Access (or compatible database program) with which to maintain the SASS membership database and print mailing labels for the newsletter. Quicken comes in handy and SASS owns a copy that can be employed by the new Treasurer. Please contact Bob Brewer (206-935-8692) if you would like to be nominated for this position on the board, or if you know of someone who might be willing to take on the Treasurership. Many, many thanks go out to Charlie for his great service to the club.

Acquisitions: The club is gradually becoming very well equipped for producing outstanding RC soaring events, as well as for enhancing ordinary fun flying activities. Several recent acquisitions may be of interest. Thanks to the thoughtfulness and industriousness of Pete Hinze the club now has an excellent gas barbecue that is available to club members to use when they are at the field. Pete also acquired a 20 foot retrieval pole for use by those members whose gliders sometimes tend to prefer landing in trees to landing on the ground. The board of directors ordered a very nice, and highly practical 10 foot by 15 foot Eze Up shelter for use as headquarters at our various events. All of the new equipment, including the retrieval pole, has seen quite a bit of use this summer and has worked out very well.

NW Soaring Society Tournament: The tournament and awards banquet are coming up soon -- September 11 & 12. The contest this year takes place at the Anderson Turf Farm situated in the beautiful Fraser River Valley east of Vancouver -- 7 miles east of Mission, B.C. off of highway 7. It's a lovely spot for flying. And, the turf farm owners generally (I can't guarantee this) put on one helluva feed at luncheon on one of the contest days. Whether or not that comes about, the event is still a very enjoyable one. Note that NWSS membership is not required to enter. Hope you can attend! If you don't have an entry form, call me at 206-772-0291 and I will get you one.

Visalia Fall Soaring Classic: Don't forget to send in your entry fee for the Visalia California Fall Soaring Festival ASAP. Even though it's past the official due date they usually have openings depending on the frequency you want to use. If you don't have an entry form, call me at 206-772-0291 and I will get you one. A good crowd from SASS should be in attendance. You don't want to miss this great contest!. Q

Ken Wilson Donation & Auction
By Bob Brewer (airbrew@quidnunc.net)

This is summer with a refreshing cloud cover to protect your delicate skin. The field has never been greener in August, although there have been reports of mildew in several transmitter gimbals - easily treated with grease from a Hinzeburger.

In some ways this has been a suspiciously calm and crisis free season. No threats of losing the field. No temper tantrums. Few demolished planes (although Bob has done his best to correct this deficiency -Ed). Smooth operating contests (if you can overlook the Sherman boogie during the Thermal Grabber man on man events (I wonder what passing motorists thought?). The only down side is the occasional horse in the landing zones, and unexpected encounters with dog droppings. Your AMA card makes an effective shoe scraper until we can present a comprehensive workshop this winter.

On the business side of things; we enjoy a healthy bank balance, new frequency boards soon, fresh gravel and ditching on the roads, a new barbecue, a new circus tent canopy, a functional trainer plane and buddy box (courtesy of Ken Wilson), excellent field mowing by the county, a solid booking for meetings at Rose Hill Junior High and THE CLUB SHIRTS ARE HERE - (50). They will be available at the September 1st potluck. $14.00 cash or check - no orders, no reservations. If you can't be there give your money to someone else. The remaining shirts will be at the club meeting September 13 and at subsequent meetings if any are left. If this isn't convenient you may volunteer to manage the sale. By the way, anyone wearing the official SASS shirt must adhere to the highest standards of club morality and conduct even in pool halls, bistros and Starbucks, where temptation may get the best of you. If you feel in the need of counseling, contact Bob Eagan who will guide you through a 12 step rehab program.

SASS member Ken Wilson has unfortunately been forced out of RC soaring due to health problems for which Ken has our sympathy. He kindly donated all of his modeling equipment and supplies, accumulated over the course of many years, to the club. The board of directors decided to held a silent auction of the equipment to raise funds for the club. Bob Brewer, Charlie Baumgartner and Pete Hinze spent considerable time inventorying and preparing for the auction. Ole Skotvold served as auctioneer and Jeanibee handled the considerable paperwork after the auction was over. The club owes all who helped setup the auction a major vote of appreciation.

The auction right after the 5th of June polyhedral contest raised about $1200.00 for the club treasury. Of special interest to Bob Eagan and myself was the addition of one of the Tower ARF`s complete with "buddy box" transmitters to be used as a trainer for novice pilots. This 2 meter and the transmitters will bear Ken's name as donor, and will hopefully help many beginners get started in the hobby. In addition Bob Eagan will use members help to build Ken's Aerocoupe kit for display.

The entire SASS membership thanks Ken for his great generosity to the club.

Good flying and keep your ears open for informal slope trips this fall. They are a blast. Look for notification on the SASS Web site. Q

Spring in Sacramento
By Eric Dye (edye@aa.net)

Well, lemme tell you about the contest (get comfortable). Friday was quite nice, 97 degrees wind about 8-10 mph. Lots of good practice was had by all. For added entertainment JT (Jim Thomas) took a couple of long walks downwind to fetch his airplane.

Saturday was about 92 degrees wind blowing 18-20 and gusting to 28 mph. They postponed the contest until noon, then decided to have the official Spring Fling on Sunday. Those who wanted to risk it could fly Saturday for some prizes donated by local vendors. Dan Fink broke his fuselage and repaired it in time for Sunday. JT continued his walks for our amusement. Dave Beardsley and Jeff Johnson ballasted their lead sleds (Cobra & Diamond) and flew with no problems.

Sunday was about 94 degrees. The wind gradually increased from about 6 mph to about 15 mph at the end of the day. We flew four rounds. Mark Triebes won (both days) with his Millennium (ballasted to 124 oz. on Saturday). Sherman got second in Open Expert, and I won Open Sportsman flying Dave's Psyko. Q

August 21^st HLG Contest Results
By Red Weston (awagner@blarg.net)

Once again, SASS HLG'ers prove, it never rains at the flying field! The day started off cloudy, but gradually cleared, making it a great day for head to head competition. The thermals started off light and drifted slowly, but with occasional cloud coverage that would blanket the entire valley, and shut off the thermals temporarily. The good pilot would target an area on the field that still had some sun on it, and with some of the farther ranging planes be able to get there even if it was outside of the field boundaries. It was a day for camber as well, with the poly floaters doing well all day long.

A total of three flight groups were flown, two in expert and one in sportsperson. This made for some really close scores, with virtually everyone flying in the 'looser' group a couple of times during the day. The Expert class welcomed Sherman Knight back after a multi-year hiatus from the HLG scene. His competitiveness and personality added a great deal to the contest. Flying a recently commissioned Tactical Err he proved his knowledge of low level thermals was still in working order.

Notable flights were put in by both the Pearsons (Phil and Jim) during two different rounds of the ladder task. They both took the tact of flying a couple short flights and then trying to speck out on the last for the rest of the round. Phil started out in a light thermal with his Sunspot-Omega (SD7080 w/Ailerons) and slowly worked the light lift up to the top, following the thermal from the far south end of the field to the north end, where he had to abandon it to stay out of the no-fly-zone over the soccer fields. There were about 2 minutes left in the round and Phil was sinking fast. What happened next is still under debate, but most of the crowd saw Bruce Kimball's Terminator about get knocked out of the sky by a turbulent thermal back in the middle of the field. Phil says he found this same thermal by sensing at the ground signs. Regardless, after getting down to about 20 feet in altitude, Phil's plane started to climb again and finished the round in the air with a 8+ minute flight.

Jim's burial of the rest of the flight group occurred mostly on the other side of the trees on the west end of the field. He was flying his Sunspot-Poly (Phil Phoil) and followed a light thermal up and over the trees. Through dogged determination he lost and then regained the thermal several times and finally ended the round with a 9 minute flight. What was most frustrating for the rest of the group, was that they could see Jim's plane up there, but couldn't manage to get to it, likely due to the turbulence caused by the trees.

In the Sportsperson class, it was a good tight battle between Mark Bryan and Tim Johnson. Mark's plane (HL Special) and skill proved to be better combination for the day beating all comers (including his poor dad, Jonathan). Rumors are Mark will have to think about moving up in the ranks to the expert class next year, if we can get him to come back from college and fly with us... (Good luck at school Mark!)

The Door prizes from our sponsors: DJ Aerotech (www.bright.net/~djwerks) and Thermal-Gromit Works (www.tgworks.com) went to the following: $100 gift certificate from DJ Aerotech: Mark Bryan; Red Herring from TGWorks: Joseph Conrad; Ohmark electronic mixer from TGWorks: Tim Johnson. Thanks again to our sponsors! Now, let's get to the numbers:

Expert:

1st: 6543 Phil Pearson - Sunspot-Omega (SD7080 mod, own design)

2nd: 6399 Dick Barker - Uplink 58 (Uplink, own design)

3rd: 6322 Jim Pearson - Sunspot Poly (Phil Phoil)

4th: 6258 Adam Weston - Glass Err (GM-15 mod)

5th: 6210 Sherman Knight - Tactical Err (GM-15 mod)

6th: 6197 Steve Cameron - Lock and Load (SD7003 mod)

7th: 6157 Joseph Conrad - Poly (SD7003 mod)

8th: 5981 Bruce Kimball - Terminator (SD4083 mod)

9th: 5642 Tim Naugler - Orbiter IIf (SD4083)

Sportsperson:

1st: 6519 Mark Bryan - 7003 (SD7003 mod)

2nd: 6076 Tim Johnson - Tahlequah (SD7080)

3rd: 5544 Jonathan Bryan - 7003 (SD7003 mod)

4th: 4326 Lauren Anstead - Orion (SD7037?) Q

SASS July 18^th Two Function Contest Results
By Bob Brewer (airbrew@quidnunc.net)

Novice Class: Tony Paszek-1 David Anstead-2 Thom Walker-3. Sportsman Unlimited Class: Charlie Baumgartner-1 Bob Eagan-2 Bill Kuhlman-3 In the Novice class Tony Paszek grabbed a first after some furious work in the "pits" with towhook problems.

David Anstead found a tree trying to improve his score but still has a trophy to tease his dad. Thom Walker flew well enough for a 3rd and some exciting landings.

In Sportsman Unlimited, despite a 1st, Charlie Baumgartner had to have a serious talk with his Bird of Time. Every time it saw the landing tape up close it caught a thermal and took off again - muttering something in German or French or Swiss he went around again two more times to avoid a dark disaster.

Bob Eagen, with a second, seems satisfied that his "Big Bird" has a better L/D than the Viet Nam era F-4 which he is also familiar with. Bill Kuhlman proved that flying wings can be competitive and thermal with the best of them. The CD earned a DNF for receiver problems but I do recall a good landing approach when Sherman, my timer, starts a conversation with two spectators on foot and a teenage girl on a horse parked in the landing zone. Rest assured that this was handled with tact and dignity befitting a SASS member.

Overall, I felt that the event had all the elements for success; sun, food, flying, food and plenty of time to help people get used to the contest format. For me, seeing advanced flyers stop what they are doing to assist someone less experienced is the prime reason for holding poly - 2 function events and assures the progress of novice and intermediate flyers - which is most of us.

The non-flying highlight of the day was Pete Hinze's barbecue burgers and fixins - NWSS may not adopt this idea but we started a new contest tradition Sunday. When the food is ready we suspend the current round briefly to EAT. Be informed - behind the scenes Pete is what makes most of our club activities possible. Q

SASS Thermal Duration Contest -- Sept. 4, 1999
By Waid Reynolds (waid@aa.net)

As has been typical for many Saturdays this "summer", we were greeted at 60 Acres by thick clouds and cool air. Fortunately, some convection was present by the time the contest got underway, and the lift improved the rest of the day as the air temperature increased. The sun did finally break out during the last round. Overall the lift was very good.

Thanks to the hard work and mathematical prowess of Ron Wilson, who handled the scoring duties, we were able to try some tasks that we haven't done before. We started the day with a 3 flights for 15 minutes add-em-up, followed by a 10 minute triathlon, a 7 minute duration, another 10 minute triathlon and finally a 3 for 20 minute add-em-up. The add-em-up and triathlons presented a different type of challenge that seemed to be well received by the pilots.

Paul Measel scorched the sky and scared the spot with his Super V to run away from the other competitors in Sportsman while scoring high points for the day. Two of the usual suspects in Expert, Sherman Knight and Russ Young, dueled for domination in their class. In the end Sherman and his Psyko managed to grab the win by a mere 42 points over Russ flying his well "broken-in" Pelican. Ron Wilson, our inimitable scorekeeper, was hot on their tails all the way to take a close 3rd flying another Psyko. Even though he has only been flying RC gliders for the last 4 months, Bill Henley handled his Waco Magic like an old pro in the air to come in second in Sportsman. A little more landing practice and this guy will be a force to reckon with. We've seen the flying skills of young David Anstead, who finished 3rd, improving markedly with each outing this season. Had the receiver battery pack in his 2 meter Spectrum not died at an inopportune moment he might have given Paul a run for his money. Club prexy Bob Brewer used his newly rewinged Prism to play lawn dart in a neighbors front yard. The fortunately minor damage that resulted prevented him from flying all of the rounds.

Many thanks to everyone who pitched in to make this, the last club TD contest of the season, a resounding success. In particular, Ron Wilson and Pete Hinze deserve special credit -- Ron for developing and employing his scorekeeping software, and Pete for many contributions, such as keeping the contest equipment working, procuring the awards, and the hundred other chores he does for the betterment of the club. Not content with all of these duties he has also put on the hat of SASS Chief Chef. His skills with the BBQ are second to none. The final contest standings follow:

July HLG Contest
By Red Weston (awagner@blarg.net)

July 24 brought some of Seattle's best pilots to Sixty-Acres for another installment in SASS's 1999 HLG Contest Season. The weather was slightly threatening, with the convergence just north of the field, which may have reduced the number of contestants, since it rained all day further north (someday everyone will learn, it never rains at the flying field!). The winds were up a bit but people were able to fly floaters in some of the rounds. It seems that light weight/ low drag is the trick, but with the light thermals you'll still need a bit if camber...

Sportsperson class brought a good group of five folks. A special welcome goes to Chuck Holmes, a fresh new face who flew quite well with his Flip 5 ARF. Tim Johnson put in a strong performance with his scratch built Tahlequah (RCSE 9/98) to take first, and Lauren Anstead took second with his new Orion.

Expert class also saw some pretty good flying, but due to the lopsided number of contestants, it was necessary to fly in two flight groups of three. This meant there was very little opportunity to

let the 'other guy' find lift for you. That and with the winds out of the south and the soccer field boarder to the north, one typically had to skip from thermal to thermal to get a long flight in. The leader board was a bit difficult to follow, as the top three pilots would fly in one group and then the other three would fly. This allowed for two 1000 pt scores each round. Dick Barker, who eventually won with his Uplink 58 was in the lower flight group for several rounds. Steve Cameron took 2nd being beat by only 73 points out of 7000. And Jim Pearson came out of nowhere having flown in the 2nd flight group all day, to take third.

Special thanks to our Sponsor: Thermal-Gromit Works (www.tgworks.com) for donating a Red Herring kit and some carbon pushrods from their soon to be expanding product line. The final results...

Sportsperson

Tim Johnson .....Tahlequah SD7080 ...6140

Lauren Anstead ..Orion ....SD7036 ...5136

Charles Holmes ..Flip 5 ...SD7037? ..3898

Wayne Farwell ...Climax ...SD7037 ...2834

Expert

Dick Barker ......Uplink 58 ......Uplink 58 ....6465

Stephen Cameron ..HL Special .....SD70003 mod ..6392

Jim Pearson ......Sunspot-Omega ..PP7080 .......5927

Phil Pearson .....Sunspot-Omega ..PP7080 .......5894

Adam Weston ......Glass Err ......GM15mod ......5575

Tim Naugler ......Orbiter IIf ....SD4083 .......5112

For more info see http://www.reddata.com/HLG_summer.html Q

May HLG Contest
By Red Weston (awagner@blarg.net)

The Seattle Area Soaring Society's May HLG contest was a great success! We had great weather which started out threatening and moved to broken clouds with light thermals. Once again the floaters were par for the course.

In Sportsperson class, it was the Bryan's finishing first and second with their side-arm arsenal. They're new Harold Locke Special did well and showed its advantages even in light lift. Tim Johnson really flew well, demonstrating the strengths of the Illusion and his increasing knowledge of thermalling, and made 3rd.

In Expert Class it was pretty much Bruce spotting the thermals, and then Phil and Adam would key on him and follow the thermals out. Phil and Adam swapped rounds with Phil taking 2 rounds and Adam taking 4.

Once again, thanks go to Thermal-Gromit Works for donating a Red Herring kit for the contestant raffle. (http://www.blarg.net/~awagner/red_herring.html)

Final Standings:

Pilot.............Plane........Airfoil...........Score

Expert Class

Adam Weston ......Glass Err ...GM-15 Mod ........5784

Phil Pearson .....Sunspot .....SD7080 ...........5455

Bruce Kimball ....Terminator ..SD4083 ...........4932

Joseph Conrad ....H L Special .SD7003 Mod .......4599

Tim Naugler ......Orbiter 2F ..S4083 ............4243

Sportsperson Class

Mark Bryan .......H L Special .SD7003 Mod .......5862

Jonathan Bryan ...Glass Err ...GM-15 Mod ........5349

Tim Johnson ......Illusion ....SD7084 ...........4697

Erich Merkel .....Epsilon .....SD7080 ...........4220

Lauren Anstead ...Monarch D ...Monarch...........3746

Wayne Farwell ....Climax ......SD7037 ...........2899 Q

New Equipment And Capital Improvements
By Pete Hinze (phinze@juno.com)

By now I expect that most are aware that we have on hand in the storage container a pole assembly to aid in model recovery from trees and/or atop the blackberry bushes. It is a bit over 21 feet long when assembled . It is aluminum tubing and stored in two pieces or sections. Each section telescopes out to about 10 feet and then the two sections plug together to complete the assembly. It is important to remember that the largest diameter tubes will be in the center of the assembled pole. Please give it some care and consideration in handling as it cannot be readily replaced. It is adapted from two damaged fish dip nets from different manufacturers and it was a stroke of luck that the two butt ends will fit together. The net loop is easily removable if the bare rod end better suits the recovery situation. It's worth has already been proven in aid to recoveries.

Those who participate in (or at least attend) our contests may have already sampled the tasty burgers and hot dogs prepared on the new gas grill. It was used at both the NWSS 2-day and the 2-function contests in July. It still is not clear on what occasions and by whom this will be cranked up but so far everyone seems to enjoy the free food and we have checked the meat temperature with thermometer to assure that we're not passing out free E-coli. Any volunteers? Maybe, just maybe, we need another board member with title of DIRECTOR of FOOD SERVICES. That's a broad area which would naturally include food purchase, food preparation, condiment preparation, grill operation, cooking of food, serving of food, cleanup of area, storage and refrigeration of left over food supplies and cleanup of grill. Of course, volunteers would help with duties other than those cited above. It's a real prestige job and we expect a lot of eager applicants.

About a month or so ago I started building new frequency boards for both ends of the field. Its turned out to be a bigger job than I had envisioned and has taken more time than I estimated. I think Charlie Baumgartner is getting nervous as I keep sending him bills but all he finds at the field is the same old decrepit facilities. Bear with me, Charlie, I am almost done.

The new boards will consist of three 4' x 4' panels arranged in a line. The center panel will resemble the existing North panel to include numbers and card clips for the 50 channels of 72 MHz and will also include numbers and clips for the 10 channels of 50 MHz and 8 channels of 53 MHz. An adjacent panel will be a bulletin board with a 2' x 4' area for any kind of personal messages. One area near the bottom has some clips to display lost & found items (or whatever) and the two literature container boxes. The third panel on opposite side is to contain the field flight rules, AMA rules, etc.

The panels do not have doors. Rather, there is a roof system that provides a gabled roof 18' long by about 4' wide to prevent the direct impingement of rain. The panels have been primed and have two top coats of premium grade ($26/gal) oil base exterior house paint that should last a good long time. All the other wood is treated with wood preservative and the supporting posts will have that portion below ground coated with asphalt and wrapped in "Saran" to fend off moisture. I will really be embarrassed if I last longer than these boards. I'm sure the work to set the poles, fit the panels and assemble the roof system is going to be an all day job for each end of field. If there are any volunteers who think they might be able to spend a day at it in September can give me a call at 425-778-8128 or to phinze@juno.com.

Over and out……….Pete Hinze Q

Thermal Grabber
By Jeff Johnson (jeffmj@microsoft.com)

Overall, the Thermal Grabber on August 7^th and 8^th was a great contest. Good turnout, good weather, a great format, and tight competition. For the first time since JT (Jim Thomas) left, we flew a man-on-man format for an NWSS contest. It was a bit more work (actually, a lot more work since retrievers were not used -Ed), but everyone pitched in and got it all to function in the end. Many thanks to Ron Wilson for running the scoring (including writing a new scoring program that runs in Microsoft Windows), Sherman Knight for volunteering as winch master, and for all the SASS members that pitched in setting up and taking down the equipment.

As you can see from the attached results, in the end, Sherman narrowly edged out Arend Borst to win by 3 points in 12 rounds of flying in the Expert Class, while Ron narrowly edged out Eric Dye in competitor, and Doug Buchanan schooled us all in 2m by a fairly large margin. The final scores follow:

From The Internet

Subject: Sailaire Flies
From: Bailey, Donald F
Sent: Monday, May 17, 1999

Congratulations to Dennis Otter on a successful maiden flight of the Legion Air, plus several more, on Saturday, May 15th! My message to the contributors on Friday suggested that Sunday might be the day, but Ole and Dennis had intended to go out on Saturday, as it turned out. So I brought the Legion Air out to 60 Acres on Saturday, along with my Sailaire. By the looks of the weather on Sunday, it appears we made the right choice. I would like to have sent out an update, but I don't have email access at home on the weekends. My apologies to those who may have liked to see its first flight, but there will be many more.

Dennis got to put it up on my histart and get the feel of it, but the lift was not too good down low, and we didn't have confidence in the spar strength to do a mighty winch launch, so the longest flights so far have been under three minutes. It flies great! Very docile with no bad habits, and a minimum sink rate that has to be seen to be believed. I got to fly it once, and it felt a lot like my Sailaire, slow and ponderous, but light. At one point, I was no more than twenty feet up for over a minute, circling in wannabee lift, and I never feared for anything unexpected. I couldn't get the bugs out of the spoiler system, so we left them taped down (too much friction in the dacron lines- stalled out the 53 oz-in servo!). May have to consider separate servos mounted in the wings, but first I want to try dropping the spoiler horns all the way to the lower skins for more leverage (though this will limit the throw to 45 degrees or so).

Dennis did a LOT of flying on Saturday. Seems like every time I looked over his way he was way up there in a thermal somewhere, flying his Graphite. He let me take the sticks on one flight and I put it through its paces. Now there's a sailplane that will spoil you forever. What a capable ship. DON'T fly this plane if the green-eyed monster has a grip on your wallet! I got in a nice, long flight on the Sailaire, with plenty of time to daydream as I steered the big skybarge around all over the place.

All in all, a memorable day. I'm hoping everyone who contributed to the project will be able to get out to the field and see the Legion Air fly, and try it out. What a great gasbag! I see now why Dennis has such a fondness for it!

Blue skies,
Don Bailey

Subject: New link for the RC Soaring Yellow Pages
Paul Trist, owner of Planes, Wings & Things (where John Fuller bought all the Twin Stars), has taken over the RC Soaring Yellow Pages from Manny Tau. Here is the new URL for the Yellow Pages:

http://www.planes-wings-things.com/links/links.htm.

Subject: Source of props for Twin Stars...
http://www.modelairtech.com/index.html

Subject: RC Soaring Classified Ads...
http://www.zbend.com/zbend/

Subject: newsletter stuff
From: Fred
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 1999 8:38 PM
Waid, Hi how-ya doing, Building anything?,...... I know this is suppose to be flying weather.....as I look out the window it's raining and cold. Kinda makes you want to build. I just got back from vacation today. I went down to Ashland Oregon. NICE place to live. Great weather, neat town, lots of restaurants and shops. Housing is expensive and scarce. If I win the Lotto, I'm outa here, and down there. Anyway, here's something for the newsletter if possible. Feel free to edit it if you think necessary:

I sold several POLESITTER Glider Stands to club members over the past two years and am trying to contact those individuals. I have improved the design of the aluminum pole and want to make sure those individuals take advantage of my efforts and are happy with the product. Please return to me the old pole and I will give you a new one. The latest improvements include a welded foot peg and a 3/8" retaining nut which holds the steel spike in place. This eliminates the two friction clips which have occasionally popped loose. I have also designed a new stand called the OUTRIGGER. It utilizes the same pole. The stand cradles the fuselage and supports the wing with "outriggers". You can see it at the web page listed below. Knock $5.00 off the price to club members, also shipping can be eliminated. I guarantee my stands. If you are having a problem, please let me know. I'll make sure you stay happy. Thanks.

Fred Guilfoyle
WildWoods (formerly PLAN-IT Ind.)
guilf@emeraldnet.net
http://www.emeraldnet.net/~guil/soaring.htm
425-745-3806

Subject: FW: Wallowa Alpine Soaring & Aerotow
From: WILBYERS@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 1999 7:34 PM
First I want to apologize to all those modelers who came to the Wallowa Alpine Soaring & Aerotow event and expected to find me in charge each day. I don't have much to say about this matter except I had to go to Baltimore on business, as most of you know, and that I didn't have much choice in the matter, that is if I want to keep the airplane stable full.

For the three days I was able to attend I had a great time, even during the time I spent mowing the grass at the airport with Kyle Lukey on Friday morning. This event really reaffirmed for me why I'm so involved in R/C soaring. It showed me, once again, the true joy of R/C soaring. Moreover, Wallowa was a chance to fly model airplanes with the most genuine people in the hobby/sport I've flown with in a long time, in an environment that has no equal. All those who flew in this relaxed format event are simply the greatest of modelers, just pilots who seem to want fly and have fun. I can't put into words how much joy I got from sharing the flying, the sites, the restaurants, and the beer with you. I Very much look forward to doing it again next year.

That said, we should probably begin to make plans for next year's event in the next couple of weeks. I would emphasize I want to keep the format simple. However, I think we can improve on things in a few areas. Some of them are as follows: having designated "Flight Directors" for each site. Their job will be to watch after "their" particular site and make sure that things run as smoothly as possible, but that pilots have an opportunity to fly as much as possible. If you are interested in working on this small team please let me know and I'll start working with you very shortly, albeit there won't be much to do until event time. We'll just try and make sure everyone can share our joy of soaring by having all the necessary items available at the sites; i.e., tugs, porta-potties, frequency boards, signs, food, and so on.

Also, Wallowa might be a bit more fun for all if we could provide some kind of schedule of events for those all the pilots. After all, it would be nice if modelers knew where we were flying. With this year's notice board getting stolen it made it rather difficult to communicate. We might even want to post to a website each day where pilots will be flying and add some digital photos when they are available. Once again though, we don't want the event to grow into a monster to organize and participate in. Rather, I would think that we don't want it to get too big period!

One other event item that would certainly add to the fun for all is a gathering point. To this end, I'll be contacting one of the lodges next week to see if we can't reserve a space for a Saturday night barbecue. This would be a great time for us "Alpine Soarers" to come together and swap lies, eat some food, look at airplanes (a static display) and prepare for the next day's events. I would even suggest a trip to Imnaha for those modelers who want to have a meal in a true small town grocery store/cafe/tavern environment (one store and a post office).

Then too, we may want to have a campout at Memaloose one night to watch the stars and experience the wilderness environment of camping on the rim of Hells Canyon. For those who don't what Memaloose is, it is a 3300 foot long Forest Service airstrip with a ridge on the South end of it that is nearly 6000 feet high; it is the deepest canyon in North American. And, the soaring from this site is pretty darn good, as is the landing zone.

Anyway, please provide me with your feedback. As I said, I'm not much interested in making it a "mega" event. I am, however, interested in improving the quality for those who do choose to share our passion for alpine soaring and aerotowing.

Also, by the end of September I'll have an information packet assembled. For those who are interested they can contact me via S&E Modeler magazines website. In the packet will be the following: maps, hotels/cabins information, sight seeing info, campsite registration numbers, website addresses, restaurants, site descriptions, airport and rental car info, a schedule of events, contact telephone numbers, and registration information. Note, there will be minimal charge for next year's event to cover the costs associated with this improved organization and convenience but it won't leave you penniless. The cost will be $10 per pilot, pilots participating in aerotow will pay an additional $5 landing fee to provide gas for the tugs. Also, we will definitely have shirts and hats available for next year's event.

Finally, the tentative dates for the year 2000 Alpine Soaring and Aerotow event are July 14, 15, &16. I truly hope all of you can attend this event. I'll be looking forward to flying sailplanes and gliders with you then.

Best Regards,

Wil Byers Kiona Publishing Inc. - S&E Modeler Magazine P.O. Box 4250 W. Richland, WA 99353 Phone/Fax 509-627-0456

From: Glen Aslin
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 1999 11:19 AM
Recently, courtesy of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, I've been given email and joined-up with the rest of the modern world. I am currently working in the Alpine/herbaceous section at Kew in London working with various plant collections from around the world. Within the collections I look after I have quite a few genera of plants from the pacific northwest. Kew has quite a comprehensive collection of endemic species from Oregon, Northern California. I have yet to see any endemics from Washington State. Lewisias from the Columbia River Gorge region.

Returning to the email you sent me of 01/17/99 has Seattle Area Soaring Society managed to 'Save 60 Acres' in Redmond? Has the members' lobbying to save the flying field gained the results you've wanted. My offer of assistance is considerably late if an email from the UK would help please let me know. Best wishes to all the members. Happy landings. Regards Glen Aslin

8/5/99: Gordon Jennings (member, U.S. F3B Team) writes about building molded gliders (from RC Soaring Exchange)...
Yo, Here are some things that are actually true about the Diamond:

1) I own the molds. Getting these molds was a simple process, involving beating planform data out of a notoriously procrastination prone yet highly skilled aircraft designer, followed by cubic dollar injections for CNC machining and careful polishing.

2) RnR polished the molds and made the Diamonds for the team for the 1997 F3B worlds. They did this on short notice, in the middle of the UPS strike, and without the chance to optimize the construction techniques or layup schedule. The planes averaged 84 oz. rtf and are holding up pretty well. They are, to date, pretty much the only Diamonds with a surface finish that can be described as a surface finish.

3) I got a wild hair 18 months ago to try and optimize the structural design. Kevlar skins, a pre-preg spar that fits oh-so nice with minimum spooge and a whole suite of other obvious and not so obvious tricks add up to a pretty light airframe. One major ingredient? Labor. There are only two ways to make cloth behave in a mold - drown it or tease it. Teasing is good for an ounce of resin and another hour in the layup process. Done out of love, let me assure you. Another trick is to make all the parts that go in the wing fit right. Dense rohacel weighs 5 lb/cu. foot. Light spooge (epoxy and microballoons) weighs 30 lb./cu. foot. Figure out how much weight goes into 150 square inches of bond area if the fit is loose or tight. (Hint: 1/32" of clearance requires about 1 oz. of spooge).

4) If Larry Jolly would like to sell me material kits for the Diamonds at $175, I'll take a few right now. Total material cost (wings, stabs, rudder, fuse) come in at just a bit under $350. For another pound heavier I could ditch the kevlar (and good riddance, I might add), go to a simple balsa shear web style spar and develop a love for boat cloth for the fuse. And save about $10 for every ounce that goes back in.

5) I am only building planes for the F3B team (at least the ones that elected to fly Diamonds), and for one extremely generous soul who donated a pile of dough to the F3B team fund. The amount of labor involved is not huge (about 22 hours for a complete parts set), but then again I haven't been going for much of a finish. Throw in a couple of hours for decent paint, another day for ordering materials, packing boxes and explaining over the phone that the pointy end is in the front, and now we're talking serious hours.

6) I'd like to find someone to make these things, but it's gonna be tough. They need to be able to figure out how to make a living at this (no small trick in itself), without allowing the quality to slip. They need to be receptive to making parts on short notice for a control freak, anytime the control freak wants them. They need to have enough reserve production and dollars so that when some piece of tooling dies or is killed, they can afford the time to put things right. A willingness to make perhaps 10 airplanes at cost every other year for team members is also a plus. You can see why I am so tempted to ditch the drudgery of electronic and software design and go into the high-tech field of epoxy slinging.

7) It's the pilot, stupid. And the builder, for that matter. The mantra "elite planes for the elite" got cranked up at F3J team selection and won't seem to die. Anybody can gear up for building molded planes - all it really takes is a little money and effort. Before I made my first Diamond I'd never seen it done before - the splayed guts from one or two molded airplanes were my starting point. After that the wing weight progression went like this: Carbon skins - 19.5 oz., 18.5, 18.0, 17.25, switch to Kevlar, 16.25, 16.0, 15.0, 14.0 (man, look at that bend on tow), 15.0 (present). No magic required.

8) Oh yeah, that Bozo Lontz guy that ratted out the existence of light Diamonds on the RCSE. Thanks, Phil. Yep, Phil is getting a Diamond. Of course, the fact that he has been living in my yard for 4 months helping to build team airplanes and shagging winch lines at practice might have helped a little. Thanks, Phil (not sarcastically spoken, this time).

So, to summarize, the Diamond is being built for the purely for the amusement of the uber-pilots, with the added benefit of keeping the common man in his place. They will be commercially available one day, at a cost of $22,500, because the one guy on earth capable of this caliber of work doesn't want to share his toy with anyone. In particular, anyone outside of California.

Oh wait, that was a summary of the rumors. The truth, short and sweet, is that the airplane is not available commercially at present. Don't ask. If an acceptable situation for producing the planes for sale arises, rest assured that it will be accepted. Until then, you'll just have to put up with buying the other dozen or so quality molded F3B and F3J planes that litter the fields these days. I recommend the Cobra - excellent performance and parts that actually fit.

Gordon
Support your local F3B Team!

From: Weston, Adam R
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 1999 8:03 AM
Just in case you didn't see this. Don't tell Phil or Jimmy, I don't want their heads to explode...
--RED

> This message from: "Joe & Jan Wurts" <JoeWurts@csi.com> in reply to:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ANDERSON1C@aol.com
> Subject: [RCSE] IHLGF
> >I just want to say thank you.
> >Most of all thank you Dad. I have the greatest father in the world....he taught me to fly.
> >These memories will last me a lifetime.
> >Thanks
> >Paul Anderson
> ----- End Original Message -------

> (Joe writes...)
Pretty cool! I like your post... maybe it will encourage a few more father/son teams to appear. There were a few down at Poway, and I think that there were more sons flying than fathers, but it was a close call. I'm quite pained to report on this... After a very long time as the launch height king, I have to hand over my crown to Paul. The kid has an absolute cannon! He really did not make it to second via his arm though, but via some very good air reading, and some very good flying. And he is still quickly improving. 'Bout time I took up scale sailplanes.... :-)

I'm very much in the same camp as numerous previous posts on the organization and scoring, and overall efficiency that was at the IHLGF. Most everything ran extremely smoothly, with excellent competition abounding in every flight group. It was neat to have a really international flavor to an event held in the USA, and I suspect that next year will have even more people from around the world in attendance. I'm going to put in my personal thanks for the numerous folk that helped me out during the contest and flyoffs. In particular, thanks Gordon. Also, you Seattle folk better appreciate the talents that you have with the Pearsons. They were invaluable to me during the flyoffs, for the second year in a row. There are a few others, you know who you are, and it is appreciated.

Now, let's get more of the youth out there flying with us, as we had in Poway, like Dusty, the two Sams, Chris, Jason, Mark, and Ali. It seems that HLG is a good way to get the younger people to have an interest in our end of the hobby. Actually looking forward to next year already! --Joe

Subject: BASIC stamp microcontroller
This is an interesting microcontroller suitable for use in model airplanes and rockets...http://www.parallaxinc.com/ Q

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