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

Today's meeting was supposed to be the last meeting of the year, but we had so much fun that students wanted to meet again. Students flew combat against each other the entire meeting. At one point there were five planes in the air. Besides being a ton of fun, it simply sounded fun. Five screaming electric motors sound awesome. Photos from the day prove how much fun was had. Biplanes turned into monoplanes. Some planes had direct hits and needed repair. Other planes bounced and kept flying. The carnage was all returned, thanks to our expert custodian, Rick. One student lost radio control and the plane wandered over to the roof.

With the year winding down, students frantically tried to finish their last planes. Weather was friendly for flying, but there weren't too many competent pilots. However, the airbrush made an appearance and students decorated planes. The batman logo was a laser cut project that Brian drew in AutoCAD. He had never used the program before. The logo looked fantastic on the 6mm depron. Nick spent time learning how to fly and repairing.

Today's meeting was so much fun. We built and crashed many airplanes! Garret worked on the quadrotor kit. The instructions were marginal at best, but the device looks like a ton of fun to fly. We hope to having it running by the end of this year. Meanwhile, Brian started a depron knightfighter. He hopes to have it finished for the last meeting. Angela continued working on her plane after a few trial flights. The plane worked pretty well, but the motor came loose. Ryan helped in the repairs.

With only a few meetings left, the race to finish building and flying was on. Anthony worked on his T28. Although it was a bit windy, he was able to repair it. Moonim worked on the F-15 project. He found some plans for a larger depron F-15 and started prepping them for this or next year. Students also flew planes outside today with the wonderful spring weather. Unfortunately, some of them met the Earth with great speed and force. A few of them crashed into each other and needed further repairs. The photos speak for themselves.

The meeting focused on Ryan's knightfighter. His paint job and attention to detail really paid off for him. The 6mm depron really makes for a sharp looking plane after seeing them made from the crummy Lowes bluecor. The newer bluecor is a terrible product for building airplanes. It's so much weaker.

Another day of fun was had by all. Ryan continued working on his depron Knight Fighter. The plane is coming along nicely with the airbrushed parts. Ryan's enthusiasm sparked Patrick's motivation to start one for himself. The weather held out for a little flying, but the rain kicked in quickly. April showers were not friendly to us for flying today. However, there's always room for time on the simulators and for repairs. With so many website selling stuff, sometimes we sit around and dream of the next club plane.

With April weather brings the hope of a warm spring. Unfortunately, the weather doesn't cooperate as much in the springtime. Another day of rain brought us indoors to build and play. Students took to their projects and teamed together to tie up some loose ends. Ryan airbrushed his Knight Fighter logo to the depron version he's working on. He laser cut the template and then used the club's equipment to nicely place the logo on his plane. It's really classy looking! Other club members used their time to finish projects and help one another.

The warm weather brought us outside! Today was a gorgeous spring day with so many planes that are ready, or nearly ready to go. The club spent a lot of time this winter simply waiting for days like today. Moonim worked on his Knight Fighter again. The projects continued. Ryan set up the airbrush for his depron version of the Knight Fighter. The plane looks great when made from white foam. Nick spent time tweaking his motor attachment and control horns from the servos. Despite the five planes shown in the group shot, only two of them were truly flight ready.

When spring comes around, so do the airplanes. We've had an interesting spring with weird weather. Today's weather was windy, but it was still flying weather when there were planes to fly. Jackie spent time fixing up her Knight Fighter. She received some misguidance from another member. Mr.V intervened, but set the project completion back a day or so. Ryan gutted the blingbling. He finally killed it after adding a lot of glue, revamping the nose, changing the motor, and trying different propellers. All good things come to an end at some point.

Chris joined us today. He needed help with his year-long research project from his engineering class. The plane was in dire shape, and Chris needed a bit of help getting it to fly. We assisted him and fixed up the plane. Unfortunately, the first flight was not successful. Other students worked on soldering and building. Jimmy added some landing gear to his biplane, but it flies a little heavier now. Sunit also worked on a biplane, but his project involved his much improved flying skills. The plane came back in one piece! It's always great to see students helping each other out. When the club started in 2003, Mr.V was the only one who could build well enough, and the only one who could fly. Now, students teach each other and fly successfully without Mr.V's supervision.  

Ryan repaired the blingbling and replaced the motor. Although it's getting heavy, the plane still flies well. It won't be long before we scrap it for parts though. Mohammed practiced his soldering skills by hooking up an ESC to a motor for Jimmy's plane. Sunit also helped out, but needed some expert assistance on the tiny wires. Jimmy was thrilled to have help in finishing his project. The plane flew today for the first time. It is a great little plane that flies slow enough in the gym. We are all very pleased with the outcome.

Jimmy's biplane is nearly finished. He spent time attaching the control surfaces and control horns. He should finish it at the next meeting. Patrick spent more time on his raffle prize plane from Park Scale Models. A bit of club time was consumed simply looking for the CA glue. Morgan brought in his helicopter and was enjoying his time to tweak the helicopter's performance.

At the fun-fly, Patrick won the raffle for one of the Park Scale Models products. He started building the plane at this meeting. Due to the amazing laser cut parts he was able to construct most of the fuselage in a very short period of time. The plane calls for a 10gram motor, and two servos. Meanwhile, he assisted Jackie in her quest to finish her Knight Fighter. She started the plane in the fall with another student, painted it, and nearly completed it. However, she received some poor direction on how to finish it, and had to disassemble certain parts. All the while, Garret lent a hand with Jimmy’s smaller biplane project. It should be finished in a meeting or so.

Projects continued for the club members. Brian and Mo worked on their rubber-band powered plane for the Technology Student Association contest. The propeller need a drop of glue for repair. Ryan continued to help Angel with her flying wing. Her attention to detail is paying off, but she—just like the rest of the newer students—does not know how to build the entire plane yet. On the other end of the spectrum, Garret whipped up another Knight Fighter in just one club meeting. The planes go together quite easily.

Brian and Mohammed worked on their rubber powered plane for the Technology Student Association during the club meeting. The guys learned how to build rubber powered planes from Joe Krush--a legend in rubber powered flight. The plane flew gracefully for over 60 seconds. Between flights, Garret tossed the Alula around the gym.

Nick and Howard repaired the Alula today. One of the servos stopped working. It was quite a repair job, but we had all the necessary materials. It's a good thing we bought a case of blenderm for building. This plane uses quite a bit of it. The weather wasn't good for flying, so students spent time working on repairs. Garret brought in an older plane that his grandfather built. It needs some minor repair work done on the wing. It could use a motor and battery upgrade too.

The mild winter is great for flying. We had tons of people out flying in the calm weather. Howard and Patrick flew their planes for the first time today. Although one of them came back with a mostly-destroyed aircraft, it was up and running again in no time. Thanks foam+hotglue!

The 2012 winter fun-fly was amazing! We had over 70 pilots, and more spectators that we could even count. The day was filled with events that brought in more kids than we could imagine. Of course, there were the regulars from our local clubs. But, we also had some amazing demo pilots and weird flying aircraft. Some left with plane remnants. Others left with full planes. We tried to accommodate flying for all in our gym. Overall, the day brought in a lot of money for our club to keep us funded for another year. Thank you to all who supported us in any way you did!

With only two days left before the fun-fly, surprisingly enough, preparations are going along smoothly. Students dug up the aircraft carrier, and aerial obstacles from storage. Other students prepared planes for the event. Test flights and plane building continued until well after the club meeting should have ended. As always, it was a ton of fun.

Preparations continued for the fun-fly with students bringing in the new toys they recently acquired from Santa. Garret brought in his micro 3D heli and tweaked it's performance. Morgan showed off his AirHogs helicopter. It has a grappling hook that retracts! Anthony had his micro heli flying around--a new toy that attracted some attention. Mark spent a lot of his time working on his MicroBling. The plane is coming along a bit too well. This will be the lightest built, 3D capable plane anyone in the club has ever built.

A warm winter allows for lots of flying. Well, it allows for lots of building and attempts at flying. Today was a busy day with a flurry of fun, but no flurries of snow. Many students continued working on their Knight Fighters or similar projects. Mr.Voicheck took his first trip to the roof to recover a newly built plane. It was not something he wants to do again.

Howard and Nick spent some time trying to figure out how to connect the servos and speed control to the receiver. With the computer radios and mixing functions, it's a bit confusing to get it right. Thankfully Mr.V stepped in and assisted their needs. Meanwhile, Mark worked on his ultra-light, micro blingbling. He hopes to have it operating for the funfly. It will be laser cut depron, covered with plastic wrap.

Students were elated over their joys to find a working flight simulator in the classroom. Because the Thanksgiving break occurred, some students were not at the meeting on November 22nd.  James and Moonim worked their hardest to build and fly their Knight Fighter. It worked quite well and only needed a few minor adjustments. Unfortunately, they let another student fly it, and that student crashed it pretty badly.

Although it wasn't a Wednesday, the club still met to squeeze one more meeting in before the Thanksgiving holiday. Although a handful of people showed up, we found a free flight simulator that works really well! Since the upgrade to Windows 7, the old software stopped working. However, we're all back in business and students are practicing their flying skills without spending time repairing their planes. Mark also took the time to hover the blingbling around the classroom. He's learning how to torque roll very well. However, his 20in micro blingbling is much more agile than this 32in version. 

Mr.Voicheck forgot to use his camera today. Things were crazy and very busy! Students continued building and flying planes and helicopters.

Today's goals included soldering the electronic speed controls (ESCs) to the motors. That required teaching soldering and basic safety skills. Students learned the proper way to solder, using flux and the right type of soldering equipment. The right tools make soldering easy. The wrong ones make it a nightmare. It was a successful day building too. Mo and Jackie continued work on their KnightFighter. Sunit repaired yet another plane. He refers to himself as the surgeon, but he's the one who crashes them.

A ton of building a took place as our new students learned how to use the equipment. Students were gluing, cutting, and wiring their electrical systems to work correctly with the radios. The Knight Fighters are coming along nicely. Mark brought in his newly modified BlingBling. With its new power system. It is lighter and can easily accelerate from a hover. The plane weighs in around 55 grams. Mr.Voicheck and Garret took to the skies and battled planes. The JetCat lost a good portion of the wing. Surprisingly enough, Garret's new plane suffered no damage.

Today's meeting consisted of aerial footage from Ryan's Easy Star. The plane can easily carry a large payload. We should post some video of it soon. The students were eager to see the video. Despite the windy conditions, video footage was really good. We even captured a few near hits and one midair collision. Ryan's plane survived. Meanwhile, Mark continued to modify his BlingBling. He amazed the students by hovering it in such a small space. The new equipment should be here soon for his modifications.

With new members joining our club, there was a flurry of foam and excitement. Prospective club members were excited to learn about what we do and how to build planes.  With our techniques improving on a weekly basis, students were instructed to airbrush their planes before assembling. They had fun learning how to airbrush and cut parts using our templates and modified scroll saw. Veteran club members Mark and Garret helped out as needed. Mark worked on his AutoCAD project, which is a minature blingbling. Garret flew the Coco lama multi-rotor heli, and fixed up the JetCaT. It screams in top speed!

For the first time in club history, a video camera was strapped to a model airplane. The plane flew in some nasty clouds on a damp and misty day, but the video was so much fun to watch. Although it was shaky and blurry for most of the flight, the video proved the point that onboard video is possible. Garret piloted the craft through the entire event. When students finished with the video, they spent time inside flying the rc miniature helicopters. They are very simple to learn on, and students aren't breaking them as quickly as they do with the airplanes.

At our first member meeting students were exposed to some amazing flying! A large crowd of prospective members witnessed aerial battles and heard a ton of information about the club's history and future. The wind was heavy and it made flying difficult, but no major carnage occurred.

The new supplies showed up, so a quick inventory occurred to make sure we received everything. We spent over $250 on motors, batteries, speed controls and similar items. This should last us most of the year and into the start of next year. Mark found a very large caterpillar and thought it would make a great pilot. Flying continued as we prepared planes for the new member meeting. Patrick worked on soldering his ESC to the motor, and Anthony learned how to bind the Spektrum radios.

For the third meeting of this year, we were surprised to find so many prospective members show up.  The weather was perfect for flying. Garrett worked on the AlleyCat while Sunit prepared the pretty mini biplane. Brian wants to build something new, and is interested in the depron fattie planes. The autogyro flew really well because the wind was so low.

We had our second meeting for 2011 today. Today was also the activities fair during lunch, and a few students manned the table, advertising our club to the school. We will host our first open membership meeting on October 5th. With the weather still really nice outside, students were anxious to build and fly. Garrett sloped the Alula along the building for nearly an hour. Flight times were in excess of three minutes. That's really good for our area.

7 September 2011

After a summer break and time away from our foam flying friends, we joined forces again to feed our fascination of flying machines. Mark brought in his modified blingbling. He removed a lot of foam and covered the plane with clear plastic wrap. It works amazingly well in such a small place.