North Penn Model Aviation Club
"the MAC" since Fall 2003

Today was our last club meeting for the school year. It was awesome! The weather was perfect for flying. Nice winds were coming directly up the slope, and the sun was hot making thermals for us. At one point we had four planes in the air. Combat flying with the Knight Fighter continued with only one minor hit. Mark flew his blingbling inside the classroom with extreme precision. He also brought out his 3D plane which Mr.Voicheck nicknamed 'aileron' because of the huge ailerons. Garret flew the Alula and rode air currents and thermals for over two minutes. Ryan spent time fixing and flying his Knight Fighter. It might be time for him to remake the plane. Mr.Voicheck also brought in a couple planes and flew with the club. Mark and Garret both had an opportunity to fly his micro swift.

For now, unless we meet over the summer, we'll see you next year! Thanks for making this one so much fun!

As the year draws to a close ending, we finally realize how many projects the club completed in nine short months. Today, Mark demonstrated his blingbling in the auditorium because we couldn't find an open gym. It flew extremely well. The weather was pretty warm for flying but we went outside anyway. Garret put the Alula on the roof and had to pester a custodian to retrieve it for us. A storm was coming in and the clouds were darkening as we waited. Fortunately, he found it and we flew it down.

Mark continued on his blingbling design. Ryan set up and flew some flying wings after remaking the jig to form the wingtips. Garret flew the Alula and his own flying wing. The past few meetings were cut short because Mr.Voicheck had to run to class. We're talking about meeting up over the summer to fly a few times.

Today's meeting was quickly interrupted by Ryan's attempt to fly his Knight Fighter in the courtyard. He managed to launch it directly into a tall tree. With some help he retrieved his plane safely. Garret continued to work on the Airbender and tweak the setup. It was slightly cooler and cloudy out today, but still great weather for flying.

Now that our spring is fully swinging, our aircraft fleet is  getting more and more use. We had multiple flying wings going on a glorious spring day. Mark's blingbling assembly continued nicely. Sunit and Conner practiced on the simulators while Garret's Airbender flew nicely in the gym. If we only had more time to build and fly. The robotic device shown is Alex's creation made from the Vex robotics. Alex is heading to PSU next year to study engineering.

The meeting was a buzz with excitement for Mark's micro plane. He took the plane home over the weekend and successfully completed it. Mark gave us a flight demo of the power to weight ratio it demonstrates. Garret continued working on his Airbender. The plane is nearly finished. Ryan practiced his helicopter skills by hovering the micro heli. By the end of the meeting, Mark decided a new design was necessary for better flight characteristics. Mr.Voicheck helped him scale the blingbling to a comparable size.
 

Students worked and built and flew and had a lot of fun. Sunit successfully flew the biplane again today. His flying skills appear to increase on a weekly basis. Mark finished his micro extra with great success while Garret worked on the Airbender. The Airbender is a laser cut depron plane which is designed for the micro equipment used in the T-28. It is covered in Mylar or something similar. Ryan finished and test flew his Knight Fighter. He is excited to combat the plane against his peers.

Parkflyer Pete flew with landing gear for the first time. The plane is a lot slower than expected and could prove to be a great step up to a four channel trainer. It had some odd coupling issues when turning. Garret flew the Alula until the battery died. Ryan spent time working on his Knight Fighter, tweaking the set up nicely. Garret tried streamers on the Knight Fighter, but it created too much drag.

The club meeting proceeded with glory as usual. Weather didn't permit flying so we feverishly built planes. Alex added a nice touch to Parkflyer Pete while Ryan built a Knight Fighter. Mark worked on his micro extra 300 with hopes of finishing it by next week.

30 March 2011

Parkflyer Pete flew for the first time today. Although the plane lacked landing gear, it flew successfully. The wind was strong enough to knock it around while Mr.Voicheck put the maiden voyage on the plane. The flight was successful, excluding the ending. Garret flew the Alula and the micro helicopter while waiting for the winds to die down. The Alula performs much better with a slight breeze. Ocassionally, one wing tip would rise or fall due to thermal activity. It was really neat Garret fly the plane around.

23 March 2011

Alex finished installing the radio gear and a few finishing touches on the Parkflyer Pete today. Garret prepared parts for his Swifter, and started hot-wire cutting the pink foam. The process went quite smoothly. Ryan flew his Vapor around the room with the utmost precision.

Alex readied the aileron linkages for the Parkflyer Pete; it should be finished soon! Mr.Voicheck finished the modified KnightFighter flying wing, and let Garret test fly it. It worked so well that Garret flew it until the motor appeared to not work any longer. Sunit successfully flew his biplane without any assistance. If he was confined to the gym, flying would have been much more difficult.

A lot of building continued today. Students prepared for the spring by heading outside and flying in hallways, gyms, and just about anywhere they could find an open space. Sunit finished his biplane and adorned it with some interesting insignias. Alex continued to working on the Parkflyer Pete, while Garret tuned up his swifter. 

As predicted, the quantity of members decreased again, but that didn't hamper the building and excitement. Today was a really busy day with the kids. Garret finished and test flew his Swifter. The winds were gusting to 30MPH, making any type of troubleshooting nearly impossible. He was out near the bleachers with it and attempted to slope soar the stadium. Mr.V also tried to slope the stadium bleachers, but it was just too windy. Mr.V landed the Alula on top of one garage, but the winds blew it off moments later. Mark test flew his Air Hogs plane with the modified motor. It barely flew. He then swapped both motors for a single brushed motor. It was too windy to tell if it flew well. Ryan worked diligently to finish his biplane, despite his lady-friend's attempts to distract him. He flew it in the gym with great success, until he found a wall to smash it in to. We had a ton of fun today.

We had another somewhat decent day for flying. Anything above 35 degrees is manageable this time of year. We're itching to get outside and fly. Students worked their hardest to get their projects finished. Garret and Mark finished their Air Hogs conversion. Surprisingly enough, it worked! The fuselage required many modifications and the plane does not turn well, but it works. Garret worked on the Swifter he wants to slope soar against the building. This will be the club's first home built glider. Seth continued to work on his single wing plane, but this time he received plans for the correctly size wing. He's up to his ears in foam. He plans on testing the plane at the next meeting. 

It was a nice enough day to fly outside. Winds were very gusty, so the Alula was a perfect choice for flying. Mr.V landed it on the roof and had to beg the head custodian to retrieve it. With no scratches or dents, the plane was flying again in fifteen minutes with a nice rooftop launch. Garret also flew the Alula, and passed it to Ryan who pegged the building because of control issues. We need to swap out radios and put the Alula on the DX7. Mark flew his modified Katana and enjoyed the sun by flying rolling circles for a few minutes. Mark and Garret attempted to revitalize an old AirHogs plane and hope to have it finished for next week. Seth finished and test flew his single wing foamie. It needs more modification to fly well, despite his great efforts.

Winter weather has us inside almost full time. The winds and temperature are tough to fight while still learning to fly. It's much nicer in the gyms (when you can get one). Students continued to build planes and practice on the simulators. A few members braved the elements to test some new designs. Upcoming events include the Lebanon flea market, and a possible spring funfly. We don't have a date set.

Although Mr.V forgot his camera, things continued at the club meeting. Building and flying went well into 4:30. We usually finish meetings at 4pm. We ran the airbrush and enjoyed trying to pain the planes. Alex's Parkflyer Pete came out nice!

Back for a new year, students excitedly built planes. Seth continued working on the single wing version of his plane. It seems heavy for the wing area. Alex started cutting out the Parkflyer Pete which Mr.Voicheck picked out. If the plane works well, we can adopt this as a next step for flying. We need a four channel plane, and a single wing plane.

Before we left for the new year, students continued building and flying. Alumni showed up, pleased to see our club progressing nicely. The gymnasium was open for flying before a game, so we took advantage of that. It was a nice relaxing meeting with plenty of hot glue. We'll see you back in January!

After the funfly, students were excited to get back to building and flying. They came out with ideas and an awesome experience. Students rebuilt their planes and reorganized the mess. New ideas started flowing as students kept talking about the awesome time they had at the funfly.

With only a few days from our funfly students were working diligently to get ready. There was a flurry of foam, soldering, fixing, and everything in between. We revisited the process for using our chargers. We can simultaneously charge 8 lipos while balance charging 3 more. With a growing membership, we'll continue to purchase more current equipment.

Although it wasn't our regularly scheduled meeting, we met on the day before Thanksgiving break to build and fly. It was a nice relaxing day to build and fly planes together. The funfly is only a few meetings away and we still have so much to do.

We continued building planes and practicing on the simulator. Our friends at Dream-Flight generously donated and mailed us two Alulas! We are extremely fortunate to receive them. One student brought in his personal plane for repair, while other's helped out. We also discovered our bluecor foam supply is finally depleted.

It was a nice day for flying so we took our new members outside. They flew our planes really well! Some students needed little or no instructions. I think the video game generation is naturally good at this! Clean up time always shows up quickly, and today was no exception.

With our first open membership meeting, we drew in quite a crowd. The students were fortunate enough to obtain simulator time and join in the fellowship of model airplane enthusiasts. With so many students interested this year, we're optimistic about a great year of model aviation.

The usual gang (before our new member meeting) frantically worked on rebuilding their planes. We had so many seniors last year, the club seems a little sparse. We look forward to our new member meeting next week! New ideas, new planes, new members...

15 September 2010

With a fresh start and a new year, we're off and building lots of planes. The students located their planes from last year and tried to get them flying. Last year our club comprised of over a dozen seniors. Fortunately for them, they all graduated. It will take a lot of promoting to build the club back up. However, we'll take quality over quantity.