KENT RADIO AEROMODELERS, INC.
Minutes of the November 3, 2015 Meeting
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 By President Lee Frederickson
There were 18 members present
Guests present were Ed Buck, Dale Slobe, and Dave Walter
Review of the Minutes of the October 6, 2015 meeting produced no additions, deletions or changes.
Motion to approve by: Danny Osborn
Seconded by: Jim Heist
Vote: Carried
The Financial Report was presented by Dan McLaren and resulted in no additions, deletions or changes.
Motion to accept by: Carl DeBruine
Seconded by: Dave Pierce
Vote: Carried
Membership details consist of 57 regular members, 4 lifetime members, 2 associate members, and 15 youth members which totals 78 members
Guest speaker Mike Grady gave a presentation on scale buildings and competition. He brought in three planes, 2 jets and a B17, all of which have competed in scale events. The B17 won the Team Scale at the NATS this year. Mike explained that the scale events are scored in two parts, each accounting for half the total score. Static judging is the first part with realistic flight being the second half. There are 80,000 rivets in the Mig and 250,000 rivets on the B 17. Mike explained that for scale building you must build “from the inside out” so you can get all the scale detail in place before you start enclosing the fuselage. Mike has about 6,000 hours, three man years, in the building of the B 17. He also noted that this is not an inexpensive part of the hobby! He bought a trailer to haul his models to Florida and an SUV to pull it with… The B 17 is powered with four electric motors that pull the 65 pound plane around well. Each battery pack costs about $1200 and generates flights of 15 to 17 minutes. The electric motors allow the pilot to rev different engines independent of the others and feather the brakes – all adding to the realism score. Watch for Mike’s name in 2016 – the B 17 could win the Top Gun event!
Great presentation Mike!
Old Business
Dave Pierce and Dan McLaren reported on the Swap Shop. Dave thanked all that helped with the event. Dan reported that revenue for the event was off from prior years with a net profit of $1764. The raffle plane actually lost $84 this year due to low ticket sales. Overall, another great effort. Thanks for your efforts Dave!
Dan reported on the Warren French donation. Sales of the planes and R/C stuff that Warren donated generated $751 for the club! Thank you so much Warren!!!
Lee asked if there were any additional nominations for club offices. No nominations were offered so the election will take place at the December meeting. All positions are unchallenged so the election will be a show of hands at the December meeting.
Mike Murphy proposal for portable pilot stations next to the mat was tabled to a future meeting.
Lee reported that he helped with the mat installation at the Sky Hawks field. The grading and leveling of the area was donated. The 5,000 X 60 foot runway cost $5,149. (Ed. Note: material cost has about doubled since we laid our field…) It looked good when done…
New Business
Lee – coming events
Indoor Flying schedule for WMAA 9am to 1pm: 11/7, 12/5, 1/16, 2/6, 2/27, 3/26. $5 flying fee with proceeds going to the WMAA R/C Club
Indoor Flying at Woodland Sports from 9:00am to noon on
Tuesdays. Cost is $10 per day.
Dave Kingma agreed to procure and deliver fruit 4 baskets again this year.
Allen Simpson made a motion to rescind the decision of last month not to hold an IMAC event at KRAM in 2016. Jim Grant seconded the motion. Mark Schmaltz stated that he would, in fact, be available to run the event and the only need would be for the field. No club help or assets would be required to run the event. With this knowledge and understanding, a vote was taken and passed with 11 favorable votes.
Jim Peterson reminded the club members to never leave Li Po batteries on a charger unattended! H had a 2 cell on a storage cycle and it caught fire while he was upstairs making a cup of coffee. Five minutes after he went upstairs his basement was ablaze. The fire department saved the house but he will be living elsewhere for the next six months…
President Lee offered that he has had 4 Li Po fires and has now gone to a steel box, in the garage, for charging. Lee is using a “trailer tongue” storage box available at Harbor Freight.
Dan Osborn asked for ideas at the next meeting of what our raffle plane should be for next year.
Lee presented a list of possible speakers for future meetings. They included a tour of the Amway hanger, gyros by Lee, Tim Jesky, and Les Brown. Stay tuned!
Next meeting: December 1, 2015 at 7:00pm at West Michigan Aviation Academy.
Meeting adjourned at 8:25pm
Motion by: Jim Peterson
Seconded by: Jim Grant
Respectfully Submitted,
Dan McLaren
KRAM Secretary / Treasurer
