Official Newsletter of the Rogue Eagles R/C Club Official Newsletter of the Rogue Eagles R/C Club -- Medford, OR Medford, OR -- AMA 534AMA 534

April 2017April 2017

Club PR officer, webmaster, and allClub PR officer, webmaster, and all--around good around good guy, Larry Cogdell and his Yuneec camera drone. guy, Larry Cogdell and his Yuneec camera drone. Don’t worry about the quad Don’t worry about the quad -- it’s locked into it’s locked into GPS and won’t budge unless commanded. GPS and won’t budge unless commanded. Much more about Larry in this issue ...Much more about Larry in this issue ...

Writing’s on the Wall - Time to Seal the Runway

Our new runway was installed by Knife River about two-and-a-half years

ago. The advice given by the project foreman at the time was to “seal the

asphalt in five years, and every five years after that.” Simple and solid

advice from an experienced paver. Making it even more credible is the fact

that Knife River doesn’t do sealing, so there was no financial pressure for

him to sell us on the idea of doing it a little sooner than later. Considering

that the job would be in the $5000 ballpark, it’s not something we would

want to do any sooner or more often than necessary. That’s a serious expenditure.

As a club, we voted to continue adding funds to our Runway Account (which was later re-named the Field Maintenance

Account) in preparation for the inevitable task of sealing the runway. When the runway was installed, the Runway

Account was wiped out, obviously. But since then it’s grown to a bit over $10,000. The funds are there, so the question

has become WHEN?

It’s a question I’ve heard from numerous board members and club members. And it’s pretty easy to tell from the tone of

their voices that the question is more of a statement along the lines of “The runway should be sealed, let’s get it

scheduled.” So without doing a scientific poll, I get the feeling that the general consensus among club members is that it’s

time. Fair enough, but again, that’s a big chunk of treasury we’re talking about and the advice from Knife River has to be

weighed.

Two of our board members took it upon themselves to solicit quotes for the sealing job from numerous vendors. They

presented the quotes at the last board meeting (March 23rd). Surprisingly, several of the vendors included amounts for

filling cracks. One of them quoted there was 170 feet of cracks “at least 1/4-inch wide” that needed filling. Well that was

news to me! We decided to meet at the field the following Saturday to do a close inspection of the runway to see for

ourselves. I’m happy to report that although we found some surface cracks, there were none that were anywhere near

1/4” wide. I walked out with a small balldriver to stick down into these alleged cracks to see how deep they were. But

there were no cracks close to being large enough to

accept a tool that was about 1/8” in diameter.

Still, those surface cracks are troubling. They are

primarily at the far end (west end) of the runway, near

the section that was paved later than the initial asphalt

installation. And there are areas where the asphalt

appears a little drier than surrounding areas - not due to

erosion, but maybe some inconsistency in the mix. If

you pick at it with a screwdriver, it’s possible to loosen

some pebbles, but it takes some work. There are

random spots where pebbles/rocks have loosened on

their own leaving shallow pits. None of these flaws are

signs of unbridled deterioration; it’s probably more

accurate to say they were to be expected. Nevertheless,

they are flaws, and they won’t get better with time.

So, considering surface flaws, the general mood of the

membership, and the fact that we have the funds ready,

the board members basically agreed that the runway

should in fact be sealed some time this year. None of us

are experts, but sealing it too soon seems like a smarter

choice than doing it too late.

Monthly Meanderings by Bruce Tharpe, Club President

continues...

During the March club meeting, I had the pleasure of presenting this Lifetime Membership plaque to a fine man, Joe Hasler (left). Joe has been a Rogue Eagle member since the 70s and has supported the club in numerous ways, including substantial monetary donations. Thank you Joe for your contributions, wisdom, and friendship.

Meanderings ...continued

That gets us to the nuts and bolts of how to get the

project approved. The club bylaws specify that the

club can approve spending up to $2500 by voting at

a general meeting. Anything over that requires

notification of every club member explaining the

expenditure, and the proposal requires a 2/3 vote

cast in the affirmative. In simple terms, we need to

snail mail a ballot to every club members and tally

the votes, a process that can take a couple of months

and will cost something over $100. Not only is this

quite a hurdle, it occurred to us that we will have to

jump through this hoop every time the runway

needs sealing, now and into the future for decades

to come.

An interesting idea was floated at that impromptu

board meeting. It’s clear that we will have to

proceed with a club-wide vote this time, but what if

it could be avoided in the future? Instead of voting

to seal the runway, the idea was maybe we should

vote on a change to our bylaws allowing a single

exception to the $2500 rule. The exception would

be very specific, allowing the board to proceed with

main runway sealing as it sees fit. The actual

amendment isn’t written yet, but it should include a

window or time interval between seal coats, say

three to five years.

This topic took much more time and space than I

thought it would, but it’s a topic that is near and

dear to all of us. Our magnificent new runway is

not only our biggest asset, it’s the heart of the Rogue

Eagles. If you have any thoughts about the idea for

the exception to the $2500 rule, pro or con, I’d like

to hear about it. Feel free to email or call me at

541-582-1708. I imagine we’ll be discussing this a bit

at the next meeting too…

Like it or Not, We Have a Facebook Page

Let me stress right off the bat that there

is nothing “official” about this page in

relation to our club. You don’t have to

monitor it for announcements or the

latest club-related news - that will all still be handled

with the website and newsletter and REACT emails.

You may recall that Dennis White created the page a

couple of years ago. We discussed it a bit at a board

meeting, then at a general meeting, and ultimately

decided to pass on the idea. The main reason being

Eagle Eye . . . Observations from around the club

Saw this adorable young lady at the Grants Pass Swap Meet in March.

She found quite a treasure, looks like she has the model airplane bug.

Past prez Jay Strickland and future prez Tim Agee with matching bipes.

JD Porter and Alan Littlewood are all smiles. That’s Alan’s pretty Zlin. continues...

Bruce

that it was felt we didn’t need yet another information outlet requiring constant monitoring and updating. There were

also concerns about spam and unwanted posts from scofflaws that could clutter up the page into a useless mess.

The thing is, it just doesn’t work that way. First of all, even though the club took a pass, the page is still there. It’s just,

there! Yeah, the activity on the page has been close to nil for a long time, but it’s been increasing and I expect it to pick

up even more as members get used to it. Second, it’s not a free-for-all, anything goes operation. The page is classified as

a Public Group, and is moderated for now by Dennis and myself. To post anything to the page, you must first join the

group by clicking on the “Join Group” button. Once you are approved by one of the moderators you can post your own

thoughts, photos, and videos, or you can share posts, photos, videos, articles, announcements, websites, etc… from

others. But wait! All posts must also be approved by the moderators before they actually appear on the group page.

Want to take a look? If you already have a facebook account, click this link to go straight to our group page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/rogueeaglesrcclub/?ref=group_cover

Or, go to facebook and type “rogue eagles rc club” in the search bar at the top. Click on the link that appears.

If you don’t have a facebook account (yet), you may be forced to create one in order to view the group page. I’m not

certain about that, but I’m pretty sure that’s how it works. Don’t be intimidated by the sign-up process… facebook makes

it about as simple as can be. Once you’re on, it might surprise you how many of our club members are already on there.

Oh, need a link to get started? Here you go: https://www.facebook.com

I’ve been using facebook for about a year now, and yes, it can be confusing, but it’s also pretty entertaining. There are

other groups you may want to join, like the IMAC Northwest or AMA District 11 or who knows what. You may enjoy

looking up relatives or old friends or favorite companies. I tried to avoid joining the facebook crowd for a long time.

Now I kick myself for missing out on this amazing resource for so many years.

Remember, facebook is for socializing. Pretty much anything you might talk about at the field is fair game for

the Rogue Eagles group. No doubt the majority of posts will be modeling related, but they don’t have to be.

Politics probably won’t make it through, but if Debbi wants to share her pulled pork recipe or Tim wants to

sell his motorcycle, that’s okay for now. Let’s see how it evolves.

Float Fly Coming Up - Let’s Have a Gathering of Icons

As you know, our annual Agate Lake Float Fly is just around the

corner (May 5-7). This has become one of our biggest and most

popular events, and all indications are for another spectacular

weekend this year. CD Larry Myers is doing his best to make this

fun for everybody involved. Look for another outstanding raffle

thanks to a generous donation from Cindy (Stanton) Anderson.

Something we often see at our float fly is certain models flying as

a group. The Northstars always put on quite a show, and last

year we had a gaggle of Carbon Cubs take to the sky. Well, last

Christmas I just happened to receive an E-Flite Icon A5 foamy

seaplane, the larger 1.3 meter version. I’ve seen several of these

in the club, so I was hoping we could make a group flight this

year. And yeah, that includes the smaller UMX micro Icon. Let’s

see how many show up and maybe we can do a mass flight each

morning of the event. If you have one, bring it!

Meanderings ...continued

Click the pic to read an interesting article about the full-scale Icon.

I don't like to use the word gifted lightly, but this storyline is all about one such individual. As this story unfolds, you will come to understand that gifted only begins to describe Larry Cogdell.

Like so many of my interviews, we started with breakfast.

Larry touched on his childhood and early adult days. Larry was raised in New Orleans in what he called a "shotgun" house. When you came through the front door and looked down the hall, you would see the back door. You get the picture.

I asked Larry about his first job. His story really tickled me. Seems Larry had an interest in magic at a very early age. There was a magic store not far from where he lived. He would go down to the shop every Saturday morning, greet folks at the door and demonstrate the wares, all at no cost to the shop owner. Tricks were looking good for Larry and the shop owner offered to pay him to do his magic. I'm sure Larry would have performed some magic for me, just not enough time.

Larry was involved with scouting from cub scouts to explorers. He graduated from high school with high grades in ping pong and rock and roll. He joined the Air Force and put in eight years. He spent several years in Germany and lived there after he got out of the Air Force. Larry has provided me with photos of his time in the Air Force and Germany.

Here is Larry in front of a Bomarc missile.

Shot of world famous glider school in Wasserkuppe.

Larry also dabbled in car racing for a short time.

LARRY COGDELL Jack Shaffer Visits

GIFTED

continues...

OK, let's get back to that gifted thing. Larry is not what us stick and tissue guys call a traditional modeler. That aside, Larry is very in tune with the direction our hobby is headed. This is more that evident when you spend time with Larry in his garage/hobby shop.

The first thing that grabbed my attention was a T-28 that Larry is working on. Look at that dummy radial engine.

Larry adds lights to just about anything he has that flies. Larry showed me one of his techniques for adding wires to a

foam wing. (bottom, left)

Wiring setup for T-28 lights. (right)

Landing lights T-28. (below)

F16. These ought to take out anything anywhere.

F16 after burner on.

Larry with his latest addition. He demonstrated this at the February club meeting. This is the E-Flite Convergence. We all ought to have one of these machines.

page 2 of 3

continues...

LARRY COGDELL

Just another of Larry's gift, enjoying entertaining folks. Here is Larry with the Medford Garden Railroad Club at the railroad show at the Expo. Doing what else, flying his helicopter.

Larry has several man caves. Most of us only hope and dream of having one. After spending a delightful time in Larry's workshop, he invited me up to his music room. Told you he was gifted.

Larry provided me this photo of him and his buddy picking and singing. They took the late great Elvis Presley song "Are you lonesome tonight?" and changed the words to be in tune with those of us over age 60.

Here is Larry picking and singing that song for me. Notice his right foot. He will tap on a button and get background singers to accompany him. Magic, I tell you.

Well, just when I thought I had reached the end of my story of this gifted man, he turned on his electric piano and played the tune

from Star Wars. Just doesn't get any better.

We climbed a flight of stairs to Larry's office. His gift and magic continued. Larry collects autographed photos of early astronauts. Here is a partial shot of some of his collection. Yes, these are the real deals.

Larry with one of his treasures. That's a Bell X-1 autographed by Chuck Yeager.

I know that Larry had loads of talent and many stories. The one that is my favorite is Larry at one of the club meetings

telling his story of how he acquired new banners for the club. Here he is, waving his arms and telling the story. It’s my favorite photo of Larry.

Is this man gifted or what?

Story and photos by

Jack Shaffer

page 3 of 3

LARRY COGDELL

APRIL FOOLS CHALLENGE

In honor of April Fools and our upcoming Float Fly, here’s a little quiz for you. All of the planes below are actual, full-size aircraft that

were built and flown at some time in history. That is, all except one. Can you spot the April Fool? Not as easy as you might think...

Want the answer? It’s on the Rogue Eagles Facebook Page. Bwahahahaha

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Club Merchandise These items are usually

available at the meetings. For more info, call Phil

Baehne at 541-727-7059

Order New-Style (Top) John Gaines 541-951-1947

Order Old-Style (Bottom) online nicebadge.com

Officers and Staff Click on any name to send email

President Bruce Tharpe 541-582-1708

Vice President Ray Wasson 541-855-7541

Secretary Jess Walls 707-845-2833

Treasurer Roger Hebner 541-301-8843

Board Members at Large Scott Hudson 541-601-6647 Jerry Stinson 541-778-7113

Tim Agee 541-826-9254

Safety Coordinator Jay Strickland 541-830-7976

Event Coordinator Rich DeMartini 541-245-9858

Newsletter Editor Bruce Tharpe 541-582-1708

Public Relations Larry Cogdell 541-840-1514

Webmaster Larry Cogdell 541-840-1514

Chief Flight Instructor Jess Walls 707-845-2833

Club Info Page For information about the club, how to join, past newsletters, photos, and much more,

please visit the Rogue Eagles website. www.rogue-eagles.org

Meeting Information The next two General Membership Meetings

are scheduled for

Tuesday 7pm, April 11, 2017

Tuesday 7pm, May 9, 2017

We meet at the Central Point Senior Center, 123 N 2nd Street in Central Point.

Click here for directions

Seen at the March Meeting

Calvin Zurowski and his elec sailplane, Thermalier.

New member Ken Brandt and his Flightline Mono-coupe that he’s been working on for twenty years!

MAY 5-6-7

2.4 GHz Radios Only!!!

Retrieval Boat Available

Plenty of Parking

On-Site Food Vendor

Pilot Fee $15. For driving directions and club info, visit www.rogue-eagles.org

Questions? Contact Larry Myers 541-770-3390 (before 7:30 pm)

Float Fly

Rogue Eagles 2017 Agate Lake

Danny Stanton Memorial Come on out for three glorious days of wings

and water. Enjoy relaxed, easy flying along the

unobstructed shoreline at scenic Agate Lake.

And yes, the GIANT RAFFLE returns thanks to

the generous donations of Cindy Anderson and

Al’s Hobbies. Join us and make a splash!