gull wings - torrey pines gulls · style launch) like a pro? well, hlg pilots, i invite you to come...

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P.O. Box 370356 San Diego, CA 92137 www.torreypinesgulls.org Above: Matt Tucker with his new (to him) glider Right: Matt Tucker launches his WMP Op- tima Pro 100 he won at the TPG Holiday Party After winning the glider, I e-mailed a few club mem- bers to see if anyone new what the brand or model of the glider was, but no one knew. I started a post at RCgroups.com to see if anybody recognized the glider. After a few days of discussion, I was able to find a pic- ture of the same plane listed on a glider enthusiast web page with the brand name and model. e glider is a WMP Optima Pro 100 I removed the Hitec 555 receiver and replaced it with a Futaba receiver on 50MHz (ham band). e chance of a conflict between another flyer is very small since very few people can use 50MHz. e spoiler servo was stripped. I might have done that when I set up the throws for the control surfaces. I replaced the servo gears and I was ready to fly. e wind at the Poway slope was a little low that eve- ning, but I had a new plane (new to me) and of course I had to fly it! e wind picked up and was blowing greater than five MPH perpendicular to the slope. I launched the Optima with a little extra up elevator just to be sure. I trimmed her out and I was soaring up and down the slope. She is a big beautiful plane to watch sail by. After ten minutes, the wind started to drop and she began to sink. e LZ (landing zone) isn’t very big at the top of the Poway slope so I decided to bring her in right away. I really slowed her down just before landing trying to avoid some bushes. I was afraid she would stall. e landing went fine and glider skidded to a gentle stop within a few feet in the hard packed Gull Wings Torrey Pines Gulls Radio Control Soaring Society April 2005 Flight of the free glider Matt Tucker, TPG Member I have been a member of the Torrey Pine Gulls club since late 2003. I decide to join after I discovered the field I was flying at (San Marcos off Via Vera Cruz) was related to the TPG. I started coming sporadically to the meet- ings in 2004. I won a “big” ticket at one of the meeting raffles so I was sure to come to the holiday party in December to claim by big prize. Although my big ticket was drawn fifth out of six people, I was still able to get the prize I had my eye. e glider was a large traditional glider with “full control” (rudder, aileron, elevator, and spoilers). I am partial to planes with ailerons. Although I have at least eight planes, the only glider I owned before the raffle was a Zagi THL that I flew at the TPG Poway slope. Towards the end of the summer, I would rush from work to the slope to squeeze every ray of light out of the evening. Continued on next page

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Page 1: Gull Wings - Torrey Pines Gulls · Style Launch) like a pro? Well, HLG pilots, I invite you to come to the IHLGF and attend the DSL Clinic that will be held on Friday, June 3rd, from

P.O. Box 370356San Diego, CA 92137www.torreypinesgulls.org

Above: Matt Tucker with his new (to him) gliderRight: Matt Tucker launches his WMP Op-tima Pro 100 he won at the TPG Holiday Party

After winning the glider, I e-mailed a few club mem-bers to see if anyone new what the brand or model of the glider was, but no one knew. I started a post at RCgroups.com to see if anybody recognized the glider. After a few days of discussion, I was able to find a pic-ture of the same plane listed on a glider enthusiast web page with the brand name and model. The glider is a WMP Optima Pro 100I removed the Hitec 555 receiver and replaced it with a Futaba receiver on 50MHz (ham band). The chance of a conflict between another flyer is very small since very few people can use 50MHz. The spoiler servo was stripped. I might have done that when I set up the throws for the control surfaces. I replaced the servo gears and I was ready to fly. The wind at the Poway slope was a little low that eve-ning, but I had a new plane (new to me) and of course I had to fly it! The wind picked up and was blowing greater than five MPH perpendicular to the slope. I launched the Optima with a little extra up elevator just to be sure. I trimmed her out and I was soaring up and down the slope. She is a big beautiful plane to watch sail by. After ten minutes, the wind started to drop and she began to sink. The LZ (landing zone) isn’t very big at the top of the Poway slope so I decided to bring her in right away. I really slowed her down just before landing trying to avoid some bushes. I was afraid she would stall. The landing went fine and glider skidded to a gentle stop within a few feet in the hard packed

Gull WingsTorrey Pines Gulls Radio Control Soaring Society April 2005

Flight of the free gliderMatt Tucker, TPG Member

I have been a member of the Torrey Pine Gulls club since late 2003. I decide to join after I discovered the field I was flying at (San Marcos off Via Vera Cruz) was

related to the TPG. I started coming sporadically to the meet-ings in 2004. I won a “big” ticket at one of the meeting raffles so I was sure to come to the holiday party in December to claim by big prize. Although my big ticket was drawn fifth out of six people, I was still able to get the prize I had my eye. The glider was a large traditional glider with “full control” (rudder, aileron, elevator, and spoilers). I am partial to planes with ailerons. Although I have at least eight planes, the only glider I owned before the raffle was a Zagi THL that I flew at the TPG Poway slope. Towards the end of the summer, I would rush from work to the slope to squeeze every ray of light out of the evening.

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Page 2: Gull Wings - Torrey Pines Gulls · Style Launch) like a pro? Well, HLG pilots, I invite you to come to the IHLGF and attend the DSL Clinic that will be held on Friday, June 3rd, from

2 Gull Wings

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When you are thinking of buying a hobby-related item, please consider these outstanding

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Page 3: Gull Wings - Torrey Pines Gulls · Style Launch) like a pro? Well, HLG pilots, I invite you to come to the IHLGF and attend the DSL Clinic that will be held on Friday, June 3rd, from

dirt.I have not flown it since that day, but I look forward to taking her up again. The early evenings, poor weather, and wind from the “wrong direction” has been part of my excuse. I will definitely make an effort to fly the Optima Pro 100 in the near future. I would like to thank the TPG club and those that made donations for the raffle. RC gliding is a wonderful hobby.

April Contest AnnouncementGarth Warner, President

Yeeh Haw!It looks like we are finally going to be able to run a contest at the Poway Field. Cliff Hunter is the CD, and the contest information is listed below. Remember, we are running TWO classes of competition this year. Open Unlimited and RES. You can fly either one or both. If you have never flown a contest before this is a easy, relaxed way to join the fun. Help will be provided for anyone who asks. Check with the CD if you need help with a winch launch, or have questions about the procedure, timing, etc. Even if competition is “not your thing”, feel free to come out and watch. Having a good time is the only requirement. THE FIELD IS NOW ACCESSIBLE to low ground clearance, 2WD vehicles. The road beyond the creek has a few erosion gullies in it so use a little caution in this area. Everything else is

good. Enjoy!

Poway Flight CenterApril 10, 2005Sunday 0800 – 12:00 noonCliff Hunter, CDTasks:Three hour Open Flight Window (9 am-12 am)Must fly (4) rounds, one of each of the following tasks, in thefollowing order:- 3 minute – 950 flight points, 5.3 points per second, 50 Points on standard 25 foot tape.- 5 minute – 950 flight points, 3.2 points per second 50 Points on standard 25 foot tape.- 7 minute - 950 flight points, 2.3 points per second 50 Points on standard 25 foot tape.- 11 minute - 950 flight points, 1.4 points per second 50 Points on standard 25 foot tape.3-point penalty for every second over target time

IHLGF 2005 Discus Launch ClinicRon Scharck, TPG Treasurer

Think you’re not good enough to participate in the IHLGF (Internation Handlaunch Glider Festival) 2005? Want to find the secret(s) to flying DSL (Discus

April 2005 3

Month RES / TDHand

Launch Slope Racing (SC)2 Thermal OtherGeneral Meeting

Jan 16 11Feb 13 27 - SWSA 8Mar 06 20 - HSS 8Apr 10 24 - SWSA 12May 08 22 - EDSF @

HSS10

Jun 12 4-5 IHLGF 26 - ISS 14Jul 10 22 -29 Soaring

NATS Muncie12

Aug 07 28 - TOSS 9Sep 11 25 - ISS 13Oct 09 30 - TPG 1-2 Visalia Fall Fest 11Nov 06 Rain Makeup 8

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President Garth Warner (760) 746-4949 [email protected] President Mike Smith (619) 294-4866 [email protected] President Ron Brown (858) 625-7949 [email protected] Adam Smith (858) 278-8088 [email protected] Ron Scharck (619) 913-4949 [email protected] Al Bendett (858) 455-5956 [email protected] Editor Brad Willoughby (619) 255-7976 [email protected] Peter Leduc (760) 723-3171 [email protected] CoordinatorThermal Coordinator/ (SC)2 Rep. Aaron Valdes (760) 809-5504 [email protected] Coordinator Garth Warner (760) 746-4949 [email protected] CoordinatorSlope Coordinator Bill Crabb (858) 481-2244 [email protected] Steve Hurd (760) 943-8304 [email protected] ChairmanIHLGF Registrar Ron Scharck (619) 913-4949 [email protected] Pines Soaring Council Rep. (TPG) John Davies [email protected] Pines Soaring Council Rep. (AMA) Larry Fogel [email protected] Gary Fogel [email protected]

2005 TPG OfficersStyle Launch) like a pro? Well, HLG pilots, I invite you to come to the IHLGF and attend the DSL Clinic that will be held on Friday, June 3rd, from Noon to 2:30 P.M. The clinic will contain more tips and tricks than you will have time to take notes.You can’t have a great clinic without great instructors. The IHLGF 2005 DSL Clinic will be conducted by a group of HLG pilots with stellar IHLGF, National and World credentials. Phil Barnes, IHLGF 2004 Champion; Bruce Davidson, 2004 AMA National Champion; Joe Wurts, many time IHLGF, National and World Champion; John Erickson, IHLGF Top-Ten pilot, along with a host of other IHLGF Top-Ten pilots will be conducting a DSL clinic designed to give you

valuable tips and instructions on every aspect of the Discus Style Launch flight experience from Pre-Flight to Post-Flight.The clinic will be held in three sections: Ground School; Flight School and a special Post Clinic seminar. The Ground School will be a “lecture” presentation with a little time for Q&A. The Flight Training session will be a “hands on”, in the air session. For this session, the group will be divided up evenly among the instruc-tors and, under his watchful eye and guidance; you will be putting what you learned in Ground School into practice. This is a good time to get those unanswered questions answered. The special Post Clinic seminar will be conducted by John Erickson and the topic will be “Training the Timer”.The syllabus below is an example of what you will be learning. Anything here sound like something you just might want to know a little more about?

Ground School (Approximately 1 1⁄2 Hours)•Pre-flight oEquipment: Making sure all your gear is in order so that all you have to do is pick up a plane, any one you have, turn on its matching radio and launch. oBallast: Friend or foe? How to make it your friend and help you win. oFlight Plan: Knowing where you are going on that first launch is crucial. Knowing where the “house” thermal areas are helps.

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April 2005 5

oTask Strategy: Knowing the Task (and Rules) and how best to utilize your time and launches is critical. Making sure your timer is aware of your strategy is even more critical. •Launching oSet-up: Proper launch mode will help you maximize your launch. Height. oTechnique: The correct DSL technique is the key to launch height and your physical being. Technique is the difference between Pros and Amateurs in every sport. •Flying oFinding Lift: Know how to find your own lift, or you are at the mercy of fate, a hawk or your competition. oPiloting: Knowing how to maximize the performance of your glider and being able to put that knowledge into action. oComing Home: Searching for your next thermal on the way home. oWalk of Shame: Even the Pros take the WOS. Know-ing how to respond can make a huge difference in your score. •Landing oSet-Up: Proper landing mode (if any) for your glider oGlide Path Control: The difference between a “planned crash” and an “in your hand” landing •Full House ship •Poly oTurn-around techniques: Getting back in the air ASAP, when you need to.

Flight Training (Approximately 1 Hour)•This is where theory becomes reality. •The group will be evenly divided and assigned to the volunteer instructors. •The instructors will take their group out to the field and put the lessons into flight. •During these flights, the instructor will verbalize the process with his “students”. •After a couple of flights by the instructor, the students will be asked to try to take their turn during which the instructor will give helpful hints.

Training the Timer (Approximately 30 Minutes)This will be a post clinic session that John Erickson has volunteered to do. Whether you are the pilot or the timer, the timer’s job is a critical part of the success of the pilot. So be sure and bring your timer to this must attend special session.So, Ron...this sounds great! How do I get a ticket to this Clinic? Glad you asked. The cost is FREE to all IHLGF 2005 registrants and IHLGF 2005 volunteers (One day minimum). For those not registered, or an IHLGF volunteer, the fee is $50 for everyone over 15 and $25 for those under 15. If you pay for the seminar,

you get a great seminar and a FREE IHLGF registra-tion. This way, you have your choice of flying in the IHLGF or not.Anyway you cut it, the IHLGF 2005 and the DSL Seminar is a combination that you just shouldn’t miss. The registration form for the IHLGF 2005 and/or seminar may be found in this edition of the Gull Wings Newsletter or at the IHLGF 2005 website http://www.torreypinesgulls.org/IHLGF2005.htm

View From The TopGarth Warner, President

Field Maintenance Report: Thanks to the Herculean efforts of Mike Smith, Peter Leduc and two other individuals, the following work was completed on the weekend of 3/12 & 3/13. The field, including the landing area, has been mowed. The turnarounds have been dug out and exposed. Channels have been cut from the turnaround heads back to the area of the field that was mowed. (Note that there is a new creek run-ning from south to north across the winch lines about 50 ft east of the turnarounds that currently prevents mowing in this area). The main stream crossing enter-ing the field has been filled with about 200 sandbags. The second smaller stream from the Corrals has been diverted back into the main channel, upstream from the road crossing. As I write this on Thursday, March 16thanother storm is forecast for the upcoming weekend.

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The stream will become a problem every time it rains for the foreseeable future. We will need to add ad-ditional sandbags as the season develops. Sand bags are available in the city dumpster just east of the entrance gate on Garden Road. The parking/pit area still needs to be mowed.Side Note: With a one week notification, only four people out of ninety members showed up to help work on the field. If you intend to fly at the Poway field, you need to help keep the field in shape. It’s amazing how many people have “bad backs” when it comes to work, but can hoist winch batteries or throw a 4 lb or 5 lb sailplane time after time on launch.Safety Concerns: Snakes are out. While shoveling in the creek, we witnessed a rattlesnake swim the creek and slither into a bush on the far shore. Watch where you put your hands and feet. I have received several reports in the last few weeks about people getting stuck trying to get into the field. Lets use a little common sense and exercise some judgment. If the water and mud are too deep, you are going to get stuck. Most, but not all commercial towing companies will not go off road to pull you out. Even if they do, it will cost you a wad of cash. Every area of the field is SOFT. Please do not try to cut across the

landing area or winch area with your private vehicles. STAY ON THE ROADS. Everything else is mush. As of 4-13 the local farmer managed to bury two tractors and a dozer south of the winch lines, down by the turnarounds. He may get them out by July.Trash at the field: The trash can, by the telephone, at the field, will be removed shortly. There is no one to service it on a regular basis. It is currently overflowing with fast food bags, drink containers, and monofilament line. If you bring material to the field then I would expect you to take it home with you. If anyone feels strongly about

keeping the trash can out at the field, please contact me for the job. We’ll give it a nice title for prestige... Something like, THE GUY THAT HAS TO PICK UP THE TRASH LEFT BY PILOTS THAT ARE TOO IGNORANT, OR UNCARING TO PICK UP AFTER THEMSELVES. We could also call the position....“FIELD MOMMY”. Nominations are now open. Our field is not a dump. Please do not treat it

like one. Sorry for all the negative stuff, but sometimes it just needs to be said.On a more upbeat note, we should have some equip-ment reviews coming shortly in the May or June news-letter. One should be on the new Eagle Tree Seagull Wireless Telemetry system. This is a multi-channel downlink from your aircraft to a display on your TX or laptop. Among other things, it can give you in-flight RX battery voltage, altitude, climb rate, and G-force up to 38g’s positive or negative. A variety of options is available. More on this will be revealed when I have some more experience with it. There is also a review coming on an ultra long boom TD sailplane currently in development. Details include a 120” MH-32 wing with fuselage in the 80” + range. Weight estimated to be in the mid 60 oz.In Closing: Please welcome member Alan Butler as our new Raffle Coordinator. Alan is out on the trail gather-ing a number of really cool raffle prizes for our next club meeting. Come on out to the next meeting and see what he found this time.

Sharon ContructionBill Crabb, Slope Coordinator

As we probably all know by now, volunteering has its rewards and it’s costs. One day I volunteered to dem-onstrate flying model airplanes at an Elementary School science day in La Jolla, on behalf of the Torrey Pines Gulls. All went well until Lenny Brzinsky brought his Sharon out of his truck to use as a static display: one look, one feel, one close-up inspection of all that qual-ity – bang, I was hooked!Not long after that fateful day, the UPS man knocked on my door with two huge parcels, one holding most of the Sharon 3.7 (3.7m), and the other holding the V-tail. Upon close inspection all appeared well and I set about putting it all together. This article hits the highlights of that process, just in case you also get bit-ten by the HKM bug.I started with the wings. There are three pieces – a pretty big and beefy center section, which takes 2 flap servos, and two wing “tips” which each take an aileron

6 Gull Wings Continued on next page

Next General Meeting Tuesday April 12, 7:00pm At the San Diego Aerospace Museum, Balboa Park

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Above: A completed Sharon Pro. See text for contruction notes

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April 2005 7

servo. First order of business was to wire up the wings. Out of the box, the center section had two bits of string thoughtfully taped inside, with their ends sticking out of the hole in the center of the lower surface on one end, and the servo bays on the others. Using these strings it was an easy job to pull though two two-con-ductor runs of servo wire for each side (common plus and minus power, plus two signal wires per side – one for each servo).The plane is supplied with a 6-pin Multiplex plug and socket, which is designed to take the wing servo wiring connection to the fuselage – so that when you fit the wing to the fuse with two nice-sized bolts, you plug in the servo connections at the same time. So the next step was to solder up the wing-side of the plug, and I tried my best to make it a real nice job with multi-colored heat shrink tubing just like the professionals (which of course I hope to never see again once I epoxy the plug firmly into the wing). So that done, I now have the wires run-ning from the plug to the flap servo bays in the center section, and another set running out of the ends of the center section to go out to the ailerons in the wing tips.The wing tips were supplied with the smaller 4-pin “Deans”-type plugs and sockets, so that when you put the tips in, the wiring connections to the ailerons are made automatically. I wired up a plug on each end of the center section, and made a short run of wire to then go from the matching sockets to the aileron bays in the tips. Once I have tested it all out, I will probably epoxy just the plugs into the ends of the center wing section, and let the socket side float in the inner end of each wing tip, mostly so that John Davies can sleep at night, knowing that if I somehow separate the wing tip from the center section a little bit, I will still have electrical

continuity. After John’s coaching that’s the way I did it in my Duo Discus, and it works well and maybe gives an additional margin of safety, which we certainly need whenever possible (and especially if you fly and land as badly as I do). So now, the wing wiring was mostly complete – on to mounting the servos.I chose to put Hitec 5125 MG digitals in each wing tip for the ailerons, and JR 368’s in for the flaps. I really like those thin Hitecs (I have them in my other slopers), but decided on the 368s (also digital) for a bit more torque for the flaps (and because Lenny used them in his Sharon and he said they worked well). I suspect the 5125s for the ailerons are overkill, but once you get used to the super smooth, turbine-like power they have, its hard not to put them somewhere in a

new plane.The servo bays in the Sharon are nicely done with an extra layer of carbon fiber on the wing surface to deal with the torque of the ser-vos. I mounted all the wing ser-vos with the fol-lowing approach: I removed the mounting lugs all around with my trusty Dremel; I cut some 1”

or so lengths of square spruce (although I ended up using oak for the flap servos), and epoxied those into the servo bays. I did this one bit of wood at a time – so that I could get the second piece really snug up against the servo to take out any potential servo move-ment. So after the first bit of wood was firmly in place and the epoxy had set, I wrapped each servo in waxed paper (indispensable for building model airplanes), and then epoxied in the second piece with the servo in place, holding everything firm while the epoxy set up. Once the epoxy was pretty reasonably hard, I eased the servo out, and then let the glue cure in peace. Once the epoxy was fully cured (i.e the next day) I used some wonderful flat carbon-fiber strip from Dymonds to “strap” the servos in, by drilling holes in the ends of 1.5” strips of carbon, and screwing them into the wood, just clamping down on the servo enough to hold it firmly in place. I have used this method on my other slope planes and it works very well, and has the advan-tage over gluing the servos directly into the wings that you can get them out again if you ever need to. (Even

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Left: A completed Sharon Pro. See text for contruc-tion notes

The Torrey Pines Gulls

Radio Control Soaring Society

A non-profit society whose primary purpose is to support and encourage the activities of its members engaged in radio controlled sailplane flying

Page 8: Gull Wings - Torrey Pines Gulls · Style Launch) like a pro? Well, HLG pilots, I invite you to come to the IHLGF and attend the DSL Clinic that will be held on Friday, June 3rd, from

using my once-favored method of wrapping the servos in electrical tape, then epoxying them into the wings is only really repeatable if you Dremel out the old epoxy before putting the servos back in – this “strapping” pro-cess saves all that hassle, and has the added advantage that the servos can be positioned very accurately in the servo bays.)One note on the Sharon flaps – I don’t think I am go-ing to get anything like 90 degrees of flap, because of the geometry of the linkages. The flap hinges are a bit stiffer than I expected (Jaro Muller’s hinges are a dream and the standard to which all manufacturers should aspire), but even after working on them to free them up, it still takes a lot of force to move the flaps more than about 45 degrees. This is because of the angle and position of the control horn on top of the wing – 45 degrees of flap means a 90 degree angle between the flap control horn and the servo pushrod, and driving the flap beyond that simply requires too much force. Anyway, Lenny says 45 degrees is enough – and the flaps are pretty big, so I will see how it does with the 45 degrees. The set-up specifications from HKM only call for about 45 degrees of flap too – so I will go with that for now. I used metal clevises (the black ones from Dubro) and 4-40 threaded rod for the flap pushrods and something a bit daintier for the ailerons. Once I get the linkage lengths and surface throws etc just right, I will lock the threaded rod into the clevises with cyano (aka super glue). This takes all the slop and give out of the linkages, yet the glue is easily broken with a bit of a twist if you need to work on them for any reason. So now I have the basic wiring and servos installed in the wing components. Having got the basic servo installations done in the wings I moved to the fuse. The Sharon came with re-ally nice fiberglass “snakes” installed, one on each side of the fuse. The challenge with this glider is the width and length of the nose area. You need to get nose weight, then battery, then two servos, then a receiver in, and its going to be real tight. I like to fly with 5 cells in the flight pack, and in this confined space it can only be done with two of those cells going end to end (I make my own flight battery packs out of individual cells) and I think I can get 5 AA-sized cells in this glider with a bit of luck. I reckon I will need the 2000 mah capacity they give me, so that’s the current plan (ha ha, no pun intended).After much deliberation, and consultation with the wise men of the Torrey Pines slope, I settled on JR 3421 digitals in the fuse. They are probably overkill, but they were the only decent servos I could find which had the low profile needed to keep those snake runs nice and straight. All pushrods bind if you make them

bend in any direction, so I wanted to get the servos down low enough in the fuse so that the snake runs were in their natural position, and I could achieve this with the 3421s. I would have been quite happy installing JR 341’s in there, but they are quite a bit taller and would have meant asking the snakes to perform unnatural acts – so I said “what the heck” and purchased the 3421s. They are super-super smooth and certainly have loads of holding power and torque, so I know they will work very well. And they should last for ever – the least stressed of any 3421’s anywhere on the planet (well, except during the ultra high speed super-loops we feel compelled to do when the wind at Torrey is blowing around 30 knots – oops, I am giving myself away here. Uh-oh, I can imagine the emails flooding in already – no, no of course I wasn’t serious, I will just glide gently around in super-cushiony thermals like one is supposed to do with a nice glider like a Sharon....... (I don’t think so !!!)). I am getting ahead of myself, thinking about flying this glider so... back to the building.I mounted the fuselage servos in the time-honored method of epoxying short lengths of spruce (and a chunk of 1⁄2” x 1⁄2” oak in between the two servos) across the fuse and screwing the servos down to those, using the cute little rubber grommets to hopefully cushion the servos from the shock they must get from my awful landings. These servos have to go in one behind the other because the fuse just isn’t wide enough to put them in any other way. The real trick – and I admit I didn’t get it right the first time – is to keep those snake runs as straight as possible – so it pays to spend a bit more time getting the servo positions just right, before committing glue to anything.The trickiest part of this whole Sharon project was soldering on the connections for the vtail. The vtail control surfaces have 1” long steel rod control horns already glued in place. The glider comes with two ball and socket-type “clevises” and it is necessary to snap the balls out of each one and solder the balls to the control horns. The control horns are 2mm in diameter, so I knew I would need more heat than a standard soldering iron could muster, but probably less than my blowtorch puts out – you don’t want to melt the control horns out of the vtail. Once again, John Davies came to the rescue with a mini blowtorch, a mini heat sink, and lots of encouragement. Between the two of us we did manage to get this tricky part completed, but it was a bit labor intensive. The importer informed me that he is going to try to get the manufacturer to solder these on at the factory in future – that would certainly help as this was certainly tricky to do.It was suggested to use thin CA to glue the threaded do-dads onto the ends of the fiberglass vtail pushrods

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April 2005 9

– but I prefer to use epoxy. First I roughed up the ends of the pushrods with reasonably fine wet-or-dry, then cleaned them really well with denatured alcohol. I mixed up the epoxy and used an old bit of piano wire to work the epoxy down into those threaded wotsits. Then I put a bit of epoxy on the ends of the pushrods and put the one inside the other with a turning motion to make sure there was plenty of glue holding everything together. Then I let them alone till the next day. The other ends will get the same treatment – but of course with the snakes installed in the fuse. I know this will be fiddly inside that narrow fuse, but with a bit of care it should be ok.So now I have the servos, pushrods and vtail all done in the fuse.End of Part I. To be continued in a future Gull-Wings...

Letter From The EditorBrad Willoughby, GullWings Editor

It looks like the flying weather is finally back. I managed to may my way back onto the Poway field for handlaunch practice and was greeted by a nicely mowed field and a small stream easliy drivable with my 2WD 4-door sedan. If you haven't already done so, make sure you say thanks to those who rehabilitated out field after the winter rains. It felt great just to fly and get the rust out ... but not so great the next day when I realized how out-of-shape my throwing arm was. I've got some more practice days ahead before the IHLGF in June.To echo what many others have already said, I really encourage each of you to make you way to the IHLGF this year. It's really an amazing weekend, even if you have no chance of making the top-ten. I look for-ward to it every year and have already taken Thursday and Friday off from work to make it a four day flying weekend for me.I hope to see a bunch of you at the TD contest on April 10 and then at the meeting on April 12. Unil then,

keep those articles and pictures coming.

Gull Wings Info:

- All submissions to the editor by the 15th of the preceding month- Classified entries are free for all members

Continued from previous page

Above: Blacks beach from the cliffs at Torrey Pines. Photo from http://howl-ingpoint.net/

Page 10: Gull Wings - Torrey Pines Gulls · Style Launch) like a pro? Well, HLG pilots, I invite you to come to the IHLGF and attend the DSL Clinic that will be held on Friday, June 3rd, from

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(15 miles north-northeast of San Diego)

Ten Rounds of Competition -- Three Fly-Off Rounds for Open Championship

Awards through 10th place -- Open Class; 3rd place -- Eagle & Junior Class

Pilot Check-in: 7:00 a.m. Pilots Meeting: 8:30 a.m. First Round - 9:00 a.m.

Entry Fee: $50; Junior Class (15 and under) - $25 �� ����� ��� �������

Lunch provided to pilots on Saturday and Sunday

Pizza Party Saturday evening at Round Table Pizza -- Poway $10 per person

Lodging: LaQuinta� 858-484-88OO / Ramada� 858-748-7311 / Country Inn�858-748-6320

RV Parking at field - no hook ups

CD: Don Richmond - (619) 988-1710 or e-mail - ������������������

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Please complete the following information, together withyour ����� ���� ������� �� ���, and return to

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Name: ������������������������������������Address: �����������������������������������

City: ���������������������������������� State: ������� Zip: ����������Phone: (_____) ���������������������� AMA #:������������������������������: ���������������������������

Class: Junior (�) Senior (�) Eagle (�) Age� ����

Frequency: 1st ����� 2nd ����� 3rd �����Tee-Shirts: M���� L���� XL���� XXL����

Polo Shirts: M���� L���� XL�������������

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(858) 668-2804 Ext. 122

Entry Fee ($50/$25)_______

T-Shirts ($15 x ____)�������

Polo Shirts ($30 x ____)_______

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Page 11: Gull Wings - Torrey Pines Gulls · Style Launch) like a pro? Well, HLG pilots, I invite you to come to the IHLGF and attend the DSL Clinic that will be held on Friday, June 3rd, from

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1 10 Unlimited Total time – Three minute time limit per flight. Ten second penalty perthrow after the first four throws.

2 8 Unlimited Four longest flights - two minute max time per flight

3 8 Unlimited Total time - two minute max time per flight. Ten second penalty foreach throw after four throws

4 10 Unlimited Three longest flights - Three minute max time per flight. Ten secondpenalty for each throw after three throws

5 10 Unlimited A two, three, and four minute flight (any order). Ten second penalty foreach throw after three throws

6 10 Unlimited Three longest flights - three minute max time per flight

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7 10 Unlimited The most number of flights in the following sequence::15; :30; :45; 1:00, 1:15, 1:30, 1:45: 2:00

8 10 Unlimited Five longest flights - two minute max time per flight. Ten secondpenalty for each throw after five throws.

9 10 Unlimited Three longest flights - three minute max time per flight. Ten secondpenalty for each throw after three throws.

10 10 Unlimited A one, two, three and four minute flight (any order).

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11 10 Unlimited Five longest flights, two minute max time per flight. Twenty secondpenalty for each throw after five throws.

12 10 Unlimited Three longest flights, three minute max time per flight. Thirty secondpenalty for each throw after three throws.

13 10 4 A one, two, three and four minute flight (any order).

Page 12: Gull Wings - Torrey Pines Gulls · Style Launch) like a pro? Well, HLG pilots, I invite you to come to the IHLGF and attend the DSL Clinic that will be held on Friday, June 3rd, from

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Page 13: Gull Wings - Torrey Pines Gulls · Style Launch) like a pro? Well, HLG pilots, I invite you to come to the IHLGF and attend the DSL Clinic that will be held on Friday, June 3rd, from

13 Gull Wings

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