SLRCFA members now have an Official business card.  The business card has a spot for each member to insert their contact information. It also allows members to always have information about the club with them.

Front

Back

Business cards will be available at the SLRCFA Club and Board meetings for members to pick-up.  A few additional business cards will be available in the brochure holder under the pavilion. 

by Marshall L. Henley

CombatONE Speed Build Jig Protype Ready-to-Go

I finished and tested the prototype of the CombatONE Speed Build Jig today. Click here for a video of the CombatONE Speed Build Jig prototype.

It was a lot harder to make than I thought, due to the three-dimensional angles. A bit of trigonometry was required, followed by some hard-core rasping to get the profile I wanted.

I built a left-side one and will build a right-side one next. The reason for building the right-side one is not because we an only build left side wings -- the wings are symmetrical both aerodynamically and structurally, so all we need is one jig to build a wing.

I'd like right side jig so we can build two wings, and then slide them together for the glue joint. Even without that, we can have two jigs running if there's more than one user.

The jigs run off a vaccuum from a shop vac. I think a small one would work, but I'm using my big shop vac right now. In addition to building a right-side version, I have a few improvements I'd like to make:

• I build the jig slightly over-size so small differences in wing-skin cuts won't affect it's use. I'd like to add a rear-edge registration device of some sort to dial in the skins when they're cut right.
• I would like a top-side, hinged press to push the top skins down onto the spar and rib during assembly. That's a nice to have; perhaps even an "unnecessary." I'll use Chivetta foam as the contact surface for the top side if I do this.
• Finally, if I get the right-side wing done, I'd like to align both wings on a sliding bed where they would come together with competed wing halfs to speed and make more accurate the wing-center gluing operation. I can do this easily without the folding top half concept.

I'm shooting for something that would let us do a group build in an assembly-line type fashion, or even build a plane if we crash during an event.

Let me know if you want to give the jig a try!

SLRCFA has Two fire extinguishers available for members to use if an emergency arises. One is near the Transmitter Impound area and the other much larger extinguisher is located INSIDE of the largest grill.  Please contact a SLRCFA board member if one of these extinguishers are used so that it may be recharged or replaced.

by Jonathon Hendrickson

For many years Pilots at SLRCFA have used the 6 individual pilot stations (at each end) to fly their aircraft from.  This setup was implemented to reduce interference when multiple pilots were flying at the same time using 72mhz transmitters. Often this distance between station 1 and station 6 made it extremely difficult to hear pilots making callouts like “LANDING!!!”  Now fast forward to 2016, most of our members fly with 2.4ghz and this separation is no longer necessary.

What is the greatest benefit that can be gained to promote safety and comradery while flying at SLRCFA? COMMUNICATION!!  What we are going to try out are called “Pilot Zones.” These “Pilot Zones” consist of the center 2 pilot stations combined at each end of the runway. The “Pilot Zones” are clearly marked as the area inside of the white fences. Pilots may stand anywhere inside of this zone while flying.

Effective immediately, pilots must fly from ONE “Pilot Zone” (boxed area) and the zone used will dictated by wind direction. Pilots are permitted to stand nearer to the END of the runway for take-off and landing ONLY (e.g. warbirds, jets).

During all other phases of flight, pilots should fly from the “Pilot Zone."

Let’s give these new “Pilot Zones” a try, promoting camaraderie while increasing safety through clearer communication.

In order to make it feasible to use computers and discuss issues without plane sounds (or asking people not to fly), we've moved our SLRCFA Board meetings to the first Wednesday of each month at the Eureka Library. However, the next board meeting on June 1st, 2016 (Wednesday) will be held at the field, due to library unavailability.

by Jonathan Hendrickson

Several SLRCFA members volunteered at the air show.  SLRCFA had a 20x30 booth displaying a variety of aircraft.  Volunteers answered questions and promoted the hobby.  25+ spectators were interested in coming out to our field for an Introductory Flight. SLRCFA also distributed flyers, promoting our June 11-12^th Big Bird Fly In.  All volunteers were treated to free admission to the air show and were able to watch the entire show from the booth at show center.

A change in concept, not just design.

By, Marshall Henley

Big news! The board recently approved a logo change for SLRCFA effective March 24th.

From Goals to Concept

The goals for the new logo were straightforward. We wanted to create a logo that:

• 1.     Matches our brand, and connects with our  membership,
• 2.     Better enables web, social and other electronic forms of communications,
• 3.     Looks contemporary, but has “staying power” for years to come.

To accomplish this, we ended up coming up with an “adaptable logo concept” that changes with context, but maintains our image. The new logo concept is a “filled donut logo”, meaning that the image within the logo may be approved to change in context with logo usage (see rightt). The great part about this was we already had an excellent candidate for the logo “donut” based upon something that Rodney Adams had cut on his vinyl machine for a few folks.

While the logo “filling” can change, here’s our default logo for all communications (this is also for the AEROBATICS / 3D context):

Now, the “filling” concept adapts because the aerobatic plane silhouette can be replaced with other approved silhouettes, depending upon the context of usage. Any new “fills” for our logo can be submitted to the board for approval through the President, Vice President or Webmaster and can be approved by those three, so we can adapt it easily.

At this time, we’ve also developed four additional logos for specific contexts:

JETS	WARBIRDS
HELICOPTERS	MULTIROTOR

We also have some variability on color schemes, in addition to black on white (as above):

• ·       Reversed (white on black).
• ·       Color on white (any color replacing black in above with white above remaining white).
• ·       Black on background (black as above with white area being transparent).
• ·       Reversed on background (Black above is white, with white area above being transparent).

Vinyl on Glass

Soon, we will be offering vinyl logos for your planes and your vehicle. The idea behind the new logo provides for multiple logos based upon what you fly. You’ll be able to proudly represent your club, your hobby and what you fly with any or all of the specific logos. Stay tuned for this on our website and in ROTATE.

If you have any questions on logo usage or have a new idea for a logo “filling,” please contact our webmaster, Marshall Henley at webmaster@slrcfa.com.

We want to extend special thanks to Rodney Adams for coming up with the original logo vector graphics!

We've updated our Operating Procedures to help board meetings run more smoothly. The main change to the document is the last item, indicating how board meeting will be run (and referencing our rules of order for those meetings). We're trying to maintain decorum and keep things efficient. Click here for the simple one-page document on how things are being run.

Thank you!

From time to time, SLRCFA updates our field rules. We changed them in April to make them a little more clear, and to make sure that we emphasize that folks shouldn't rip the prop. 

Click here now to bone-up on this simple one-page set of field rules.

Thanks!

Poem inspired by our Fly-In