Perfect Saturday Flying Weather!

 Hello Everyone!  Today's post is just a quick one but as usual it has something interesting to see as well as read about.  The flying club yesterday morning had a great turnout for our monthly meeting and with it perfect weather to do some flying as well.  

Almost all of the members of the flying club attended the meeting and most of them brought new planes that I had not seen before.  I tried my hand at capturing some more video of the flying once again of the get-together.  This is no small task as some of our pilots were much faster and farther away from me as I filmed. But I did manage to piece together a fairly good video of Dan Schmidt and his  FMS-330SC aerobatic sport plane.  

Dan has been flying since he was quite young and his expertise shows with the video that I managed to capture.  The 330SC has a wingspan of 5 1/2 foot and weighs right around five or six pounds. A real beauty to say the least.    

Here's the latest video that I shot of Dan's 330SC.  Once the video starts select the YouTube icon to see the video full screen on your computer.

Along with the meeting and all of the planes flying I was asked to add a very special photo to the blog this week of our youngest member Isabell.  There was enough of a breeze blowing so she just had to get a kite in the air.

Isabell I can only guess is around 2 years old and the kite looks to be almost bigger than she is.  She was enjoying the morning sun like everyone else on the flying field.

And lastly for this post I had to include one of our favorite beings that grace our flying field. Lola!

Lola I would consider to be our unofficial mascot.  A lovable pooch always ready to have her ears or back scratched or to sniff out nearby cookies.

Some Fun Entertainment At The Flying Field!

 Over this past weekend I was treated to some real RC flying entertainment.  This was a real treat for me as I am usually alone in the evenings doing my own flying as most of you have already seen in a couple of earlier posts.  

This weekend Roger Frett and "Doc" were at the field in the morning so I thought I would go over and see them fly and possibly fly my motor glider if the field was not to wet with the morning dew.  I was not so lucky as the grass was wet as could be and having only my foam core motor glider I did not want to try and land it on wet grass.  It would surely be ruined in the process. 

Luckily I had brought along my camera and was able to get photos of Doc flying one of his motor gliders and Roger with his quad copter. In both cases this was something I had never seen before. 

Here Doc showed me the best way to fly.  In reclining mode in the shade works for me! Doc was at the controls flying one of his good sized motor gliders.  Roger in the background was also enjoying watching Doc's expertise while flying. 

With Doc's motor glider smoothly and slowly flying over the field I had no real problem in getting several good photos of it.  With the motor glider being able to shut down and fold it's propeller to the rear Doc was able to put the plane into full glider mode and catch some thermals.  I asked him how long he could fly and he said that to fly for 30 minutes was not impossible.  Even longer if he shut down and caught thermals all day.  

Here Doc shows off the size of his motor glider.  It's all foam construction makes it a very light and efficient RC plane for sure. 

Roger had also brought a plane to the field but had an issue with the rudder that needed to be worked out.  Rather than not fly at all he had also brought along his quad copter and checked it out for a short flight. I was surprised at how quiet it was.  I had heard quad copters online flying and Roger's was far from loud.  A nice thing to watch and hear at the same time. 

I did not want to fly with a wet field so I planned on flying later in the evening when I knew the field would be dried out. I arrived at the field around 7:00 pm and found out that several new members had joined out club!  Great new to be sure.  

Doc was at the field once again and had decided to fly his 1/4 scale Waco biplane. An amazing looking plane to say the least. 

Here Doc preps the big Waco for flight.  He spun the prop only a couple of times and the big 70cc twin cylinder motor came to life.  

I was lucky to get this shot of the Waco as it flew over the field.  Being a whole lot faster than the motor glider getting this photo was pure luck on my part. But I am happy just the same that I was able to get it. 

With the sun going down for the day taking this shot of the Waco was much easier to accomplish.  A perfect sunset with a perfect looking plane.

But this was not the end of what I had gotten to see while I was on the field this past Saturday.  I had said earlier that I had some real entertainment and I was not disappointed.  With a couple of new members joining the fun on the field I got to see an electric 110 mph RC jet, an electric P-38 Lighting, and another even larger motor glider than the first one Doc had flown earlier in the day.  

The P-38 was a treat to see fly.  I was only able to get these photos of the plane as I was flying my motor glider at the same time the P-38 was in the air.  My motor glider was puttering along at 15 or 20 mph and the P-38 was passing me like I was going in reverse.  Still fun to watch though no matter what. 

Lastly but not to be left out of the list of planes that flew this weekend Doc had put up this even larger motor glider while I was drooling on the edge of the field.  Another slick looking motor glider with a wingspan which looked to be close to seven feet in length.  

I was happy to have had the chance to see this wide variety RC planes fly at the field.  I look forward to the next get-together and the chance to get to know our newest members to discuss flying stories, planes, and building tech.  A very rewarding time on the field to be sure. 

The Maiden Flight Of My Wanderer FB72 Motor Glider

 Hello Everyone!  Dave Langkamp here once again.  I wanted to get this post out this morning while I had the time.  My sister from Tennessee had been visiting me over the past few days and while she was here we took out my newly designed and built six foot wingspan motor glider I named the Wanderer FB72.  The FB stands for foam board which the plane is built completely out of and of course 72 for a six foot wingspan.  With the plane being built out of foam the cost was very minimal.  Without the motor, servos, battery, etc the plane only cost $5.00 to build.  So even if I had totally crashed it the cost to replace it would be pocket change.  Well worth thinking about if you are starting out in RC flying.  

I learned all of this by watching the Flitetest crew online.  They taught me how to make the wings and learn to fly with their Tiny Trainer plane. 

My sister Velma was thrilled to see the air field in person and watch as I made the maiden flight along with several other flights for this big plane.  She shot some very nice video of the flights so I put together a short video of a couple of the flights and now have them ready to view here or directly on YouTube.  

To say my heart was racing with the first flight would be a gross understatement to say the least.  The motor glider as I said earlier has a six foot wingspan and weighs just a few ounces over one pound.  I managed to get the plane very well balanced so it is a real treat to fly.  As usual I fly in the evening at our field and so once again I had near perfect conditions to do the first flights.  

I have only a couple little tweaks I want to make on the plane but overall I am very please with how it all turned out and flew.  All the practice time I did with my trainer paid off with this plane.  Anyway check out the video I am sure that you will find it entertaining.  

If you click the arrow on the video above then the YouTube icon you will go directly to YouTube and be able to watch the video full screen on your computer. 

Welcome To Platteville Area Modelers!

Hello my name is Dave Langkamp and one of the new members of the club and wish to welcome you to Platteville Area Modelers.  We are one of the oldest RC plane flying clubs in Wisconsin.  If you are looking to find someone that can help you get started flying RC planes or haven't been flying for a number of years because you don't know where to fly we can help you on both counts and everywhere in between. We have a beautiful flying field that was originally Platteville Wisconsin's original full size airport just a few minutes from Platteville.  So with that said we are always looking for new members to fill our ranks.  

It has been decided that the club needs a new website so here it is.  More content will be added in the coming weeks so hopefully we can expand your knowledge of what we do when we are flying, building, or just dreaming about the next new RC plane we had been drooling over. 

If you'd like to get a nice view of our flying field here is a short video that I put together this past week or so of one of one of my RC planes that had an action camera mounted to it while flying over the field.  It will give you a good idea of how the field is laid out and how far away we are from local neighbors. 

 

Click the arrow to select the video then the YouTube icon for a full screen view.

For more information about Platteville Area Modelers here is some contact information.

Call or email for flight times or general information.

Casey Gales 262-224-5784   gales@gmail.com

Dan Schmidt 608-778-5517  rcbuzz79@ gmail.com

 For a membership application select the application link on the upper left of the main screen and print out the form.  Fill in all information and then follow further instructions.

That's about it for now I hope to meet you soon at one of our monthly meetings so we can get to know one another and spend some time on the flying field together.  More info to come soon.   

Thanks,

Dave