Author: Jeff Renz

President of HAFFA

“March Madness” and a Call to Action . . .

by Jeff Renz, posted in Posts

Author Jeff Renz with a closing statement provided by JB Nisley

The roll out of this month’s March 2022 CASEY’S (KC’S) Free Flight BLOG Post just so happens to coincide with a very popular basketball tournament in the United States called “March Madness.” So I’m letting you know now that the reason to include these two words in the title of this particular Post will be hopefully explained at this Post’s conclusion.

The number one reason for this post is to alert and to also urge all HAFFA Members and friends to actually READ the March edition of Casey’s (KC’s) Free Flight BLOG which is now published for your scrutiny.

In addition to the March Post now just published, there is also the February’s BLOG published last month that is directly below this month’s so continue reading when you get to the end of March’s if you haven’t already had a chance to peruse that.

It’s no surprise to many that our KCFreeFlight.org website is gaining a great deal of acceptance here in the USA’s Midwest and other parts of America as well as many far flung parts of the world. Both myself (Blogger & Editor in Chief) and JB Nisley (Blogger & webmaster) for Casey’s (KC’s) Free Flight BLOG both wholeheartedly agree that we think you will be presently surprised at the content and the way JB has put together this BLOG.

You can do your part to support what we are trying to do here by actually taking the time to subscribe to Casey’s (KC’s) Free Flight BLOG. The form to do this is at the bottom of each of all of the web pages on our KCFreeFlight.org website (even this one by the way). What this all means is that you will simply get an email in your inbox alerting you to the fact that a fresh new Post has appeared on our KCFreeFlight.org website (AND nothing else—NO ADS for instance.) If you like the direction we’re headed—this will give you a timely heads up for you to be informed of our progress in a timely manor, and also that you won’t unknowingly miss anything. Please know that you can unsubscribe at any time and rest assured we won’t share your email address or any of your information. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR SUBSCRIBING !!! 😀

Over the past several weeks JB and I have kind of adopted this slogan for Casey’s BLOG we like that goes like this: “If You’ve Become a FAN of Casey’s—Tell your Friends Where To Find Us!”

In closing out this post I promised that I would try to explain the reference to March Madness in the title of this Post. It turns out that JB has been kind enough to step in here and help us out by providing his explanation:

Early aeronautical pioneer “Casey Baldwin, who in 1908, was busy making historic flights with his Aerodrome #2 – White Wing manned flying machine—would most likely have had a much different perspective on what the phrase “March Madness” would be possibly be referring to.

There is a slight but real possibility that he would have thought you were talking about the possible angered reaction of the residents of Baddeck, Nova Scotia, directed at what have might have occurred at the time—and that is that their anticipated arrival time of the Atlantic tide coming in didn’t occur as expected and as a result caused them anguish.

That would explain their ” March Madness.” ;D

P.S. Take my advice and please don”t hesitate to Click on the Baddeck, Nova Scotia link underlined above. Rest assured you won’t be disappointed with the Video if you scroll down a bit on this page . . . or here is is to view if you missed it. Alexander Graham Bell in Nova Scotia.

Hopes for a successful glider flight most definitely dashed — but all is not lost

by Jeff Renz, posted in Free Flight Contest, Gliders, HAFFA Events

These last two years (plus) have not been kind to our organization, HAFFA, let alone the entire population of the world due to COVID’s physical and social impact.

Now here we are at the end of 2021. It’s a time for reflection and renewal. It’s also a time to think about what’s to come in 2022 and hopefully a time to think positive.

As I hand off the reins of being the president of the Heart of America Free Flight Association a.k.a. HAFFA these past few years to Mike Basta—I want to leave everyone a positive message. Modelers always find a way to keep flying! We’re always adapting and modifying our aircraft whether indoors or out….it’s what keeps us going….to better our craft! So get to building and flying! Dig out that kit that has been gathering dust and clean off that building board. Even if you only get two sticks of wood glued together….it’s a start. Get those wings patched up and repaired. Spring will be here before you know it and we’ll be flying outdoors again. In the mean time attend an indoor flying event and come fly with us (HAFFA Indoor Flying Sessions). We have a carefully cared for fleet of P-18 model airplanes (9 total) for you to launch yourself (with the help of HAFFA Members) in a Stars and Aviators Take Flight Mass Launch ready to go !!!!! 😀

SWITCHING GEARS . . .

So with the help of Jeff Nisley we now have a dedicated YouTube Channel for HAFFA. He recently located a video he filmed in 2019 and uploaded it to our new channel of Mike and I attempting to launch Mike’s Jader 60 Tow Line Glider at the Marion Free Flight Contest that year.

This is the video Nisley filmed at the 2019 HAFFA Marion Free Flight Contest

You might be thinking that this is would be the end of the road for Mike’s unlucky hapless Jader 60 Tow Line Glider . . . . But NAH——You would be wrong!

This is a photo of mike with his beautiful Jader 60 Tow Line Glider on Saturday Oct 5th 2019.
The ill-fated flight took place the following day.

As we said in the title of this Post—all is not lost!
You see, Mike took the crash of his glider with a grain of salt—made sure he had picked up all of the pieces—and by the next year was flying it again at the 2020 Marion Contest! Mike explained that in this case beyond the obvious gluing of the broken pieces back together and recovering the damaged tissue, he took the time to strengthen the leading edge and main spar of the wing by making grooves in the balsa large enough so that he could install carbon fiber rods that he epoxied in.

Turns out Mike is no stranger to fixing broken model aircraft. “I’ve probably fixed more planes than I have ever built” He told Jeff Nisley in a recent conversation.

Legend has it that from a relatively young age, Mike retrieved abandoned crashed model airplanes from the trash receptacles at his local air field and then took them home to repair to flight readiness—so this is just par for the course. “The key is to be fortunate enough to have all of the pieces.” Basta points out. He then adds “Some glue, new tissue where needed, and a liberal dose of TLC—and there you are !!!!! 🙂 It’s all part of the hobby.

As we cautiously venture into 2022 with our fingers crossed . . . . we—along with the rest of the world—undoubtedly will pick up the pieces and hopefully go forward.

I would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year and looking forward to 2022!
Thermals,
Jeff Renz

WHAM (Wichita Historical Aircraft Modelers) May Contest write up.

by Jeff Renz, posted in Free Flight Contest, HAFFA Events

The Spring Opener for the Wichita Historical Modelers (WHAM) Free Flight Club turned out to be a great weekend contest, even though it was a windy affair. Everyone that attended had a great time, and was “up” for two days of contest flying and camaraderie. All of the modelers having spent a winter of isolated model building. Flying over the weekend happened on both days, and more or less followed the planned schedule.

Many of the modelers actually arrived Friday, with time to test fly in the early afternoon and into the evening. The winds at that point we’re probably about eight to ten miles per hour, and quite reasonable. Friday afternoon we were treated to a WW2 era Harvard AT-6 flyby while we were test flying our models at Baxter Field Airport. The several passes made for some great photo ops. After flight trimming, we headed to get set up for the night.

We managed to have cocktails at 5pm at the Country Inn Motel with Bill and Marilyn Schmidt, Dana Field and Robert Dunham, along with myself. The social hour was a great time! I always learn a lot about engines and airplanes with that group. The group ended up eating at the Town and Country Café in nearby Florence both nights.  That food was really good! The 11 mile drive down to Florence did not really take that long so it was well worth it. Dana and I had pie both nights, along with roast beef and country fried steaks. We ate quite well! Definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

On Friday afternoon I presented a new twin pusher stooge built by, Jeff Nisley, to Linda Powell. Jeff Nisley built this stooge as a gift to acknowledge Chuck and Linda’s help last at the HAFFA contest year. Jeff had ordered the old rubber powered design “Competitor” kit from England, and needed help trimming his new creation. Chuck dropped everything, and helped Jeff get his airplane trimmed to fly properly. This was one of Jeff’s first rubber powered airplanes. Jeff was so impressed and appreciative with Chuck s assistance to get the plane flying, he said he would never forget Chuck and Linda being so kind and helpful. This is what free flight guys do. They are good people. Jeff added some design touches to the stooge for Linda that she noticed right away, some bird feathers on lanyards with colorful anchor cables.

Jeff Nisley is in the final stages of putting the plans for the twin pusher stooge on line. This will let everyone that wants to make one their own. All this will be explained further in two articles, written by Nisley, that present both the twin pusher and the standard stooge. The article, complete with drawings and a material list, will explain how to make both of them. These articles will appear on the KCFreeFlight.org website this spring or early summer.

Contest flying started at 8am both days. There were no problems with the field conditions, as the field was dry.  We flew from the south end of the airport with wind blowing towards the northeast both days. Contestants came from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas City and Wichita, and all The “Usual Suspects” showed up to fly. Chuck, Linda and Jim O’Reilly did a bang-up job putting on the contest. Jim’s son Dave made the trip as well, and provided support, tracking and chasing models.

The power flyers were careful to set their DT timers their planes. Otherwise, with the wind, they would have been off the field. George Avila had an overrun on a timer when his fuel cut off failed on one of his big planes, which wound up landing in a tree north of the airport. Chuck & Linda’s son, Aaron, along with Mike Fedor, was able to get it down out of the tree. Mike Fedor had brought a very long extension pole but Aaron still had to climb up and use the pole in order to get the thing down.

Tim Pivonka made it down to Marion with a van full of scale jobs, such as his Halberstadt CL II, for the FAC events, along with some new catapult launch gliders from “Humming Bird Models”.

Marty Klein brought his “Sterling” Piper Cub to fly scale. He explained it had placed well out at Westfac couple years ago. It was a gorgeous model that flew quite well considering the wind!

O’Reilly, Chuck and Renz flew in the twin pusher event.  It was amazing to watch those things fly in the windy conditions! They were quite stable considering the conditions.

Sunday, one of the events, “the “Sport of Kings”, Jet Cat, was quite interesting, considering the weather conditions. Flights were quite amazing! Those little scale jobs seem to hold up pretty well.

Suman Saripalli made the trip on Sunday.  Thank goodness for Suman, because Chuck had 11 boxes of magazines full of Flying Aces and Air trails that he donated to our club.  Chuck had originally received the collection from a Beech Craft CEO, who collected airplane memorabilia. We very much appreciate this kind act. These magazines appear to be in really great condition!  It was very difficult not to crack the boxes open and just start reading on the spot! Anyway, thanks Chuck!

I would like to thank Aaron Powell and his wife Karla for making a lunch pizza run on Saturday. We had plenty! They ordered just the right amount, and no one went hungry.  Also, Karla made pancakes for breakfast on Sunday. This was fantastic considering all I originally had was a granola bar. That was a very kind gesture! 

Jeff Renz (click on photo link below) 150 photos.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bVXSppVEY35NnkF28

PF – Burt Madison — Historic B-24 Crew Member has passed

by Jeff Renz, posted in Posts

Burton Madison Obituary – Kansas City, MO (dignitymemorial.com)

In 2019 our club had the fortune opportunity to have Burt as our guest speaker at our monthly business meeting. I would like to thank Jeff Nisley and Roie for putting this together through our friends at the Olathe CAF (Commemorative Air Force).

Burton Madison was a turret gunner on B-24 Liberators, flying clandestine missions over occupied Europe dropping supplies, equipment, and key personnel to the French resistance. Burt had brought his original “bomber jacket” and photos. He was so humble and was so full of life! I found a 12 minute video on his service in WW2. I will never forget meeting this fellow!

PF – BURT MADISON VIDEO

Burt at our club meeting with Mike Basta and Jeff Nisley

HAFFA INDOOR SESSION “CALLED OFF” for FEB 6, 2021

by Jeff Renz, posted in Posts

I have decided to call off the indoor flying session tomorrow…due to predicted bad weather with snow fall centered directly on our  flying site…Osawatomie!
 I just saw the weather prediction at noon today …with the topic being about slick roads in that region where we would be driving and it did not look good.
Since we are not having a contest and tracking flying points for our intra-club contest I do not think it is worth the risk. Of course I am disappointed!..I have a new P18 ready to go….
I have called the city of Osawatomie and we are working out when we can reschedule our flying date…..they just called me back this afternoon….we are working out the details to reschedule.  We might double up with a couple flying sessions later in the month or in March.


Remember next weekend ….Sunday is Valentines day…I know better than to reschedule for that day!

Thanks Jeff Renz INDOOR FLYING CD

New INDOOR Postal Contest

by Jeff Renz, posted in Free Flight Contest, Gliders, HAFFA Events

I got an email from Dave Aronstein recently. I thought I would post it on our website. Take a look at the videos and plans in the NFFS symposium link in the article below. I have watched Dave fly these gliders in the Osawatomie Auditorium (some years ago now). They are amazing. I just looked on You-Tube under “walk along glider” and there are tons of videos of people flying these in homes and offices as well as auditoriums. I snagged an image of an example of a plan for this post. If any of you want to send me a pix of you flying or building one of these I will post it on our site.

From Dave: Hey in case anybody is interested – NFFS and INAV have put out another fly-at-home postal challenge – for Walkalong Gliders.

Announcement is in INAV at: https://indoornewsandviews.com/


A plan is provided, but it is not a one-design contest.  Any design.  No restrictions (except that the flying is to be done in your home).
The objective is to accomplish as many as you can, of 6 challenges, by the end of February.  The challenges are:- a 30-second flight- a 60-second flight- 3 laps on any closed course (one flight – no relaunches – typical)- 3 inflight handoffs from one pilot to another (also in one flight)- 30 second flight without a board (making lift with hands / head / body)- 30 second flight with a model of your own design
Photos and video are encouraged but not required.  We’ll take your word for it, with or without documentation.  There’s a submission form on INAV, or you can email results to me and I will make sure they get posted & tabulated.
A few plans & photos attached to pique your interest, especially if you are not already familiar with walkalong gliders.  For further info:
NFFS YouTube channel (subscribe if you haven’t already): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCucmaPRq2ws6rRTMHX_38YA
NFFS Sympo article on walkalongs (posted with NFFS permission): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aTGzFi64OcVq234BS0Jq-LnAPWCKea6x/view
Feel free to pass this along to anyone you think would be interested; publish to your local clubs; etc.
Hope you are all in good health and good spirits during these rather unusual times!
-David Aronstein

Upward air pressure created by the box lid creates the lift to enable flight of this glider
Use your imagination! Look what is possible

Pre-Shrink Tissue Covering Tip

by Jeff Renz, posted in Posts

This is a tip from John Pakiz of the Nebraska Free Flighters Club

I have known John Pakiz for well over a decade now and have attended many of the Nebraska clubs indoor flying sessions held in the Beatrice Nebraska city auditorium. Flying in this venue is always a a real treat. Over the years John has sent me tons of info on topics such as trimming and flying technics as well as construction tips. Over the next few months I plan to share this info with the rest of the world. (Thanks John!) …..J. Renz

John getting his NOCAL Pilatus adjusted at Beatrice auditorium

From John: I’m an advocate of pre-shrinking Japanese tissue.  The more shrink we can get out ahead of time the less stress on our structures. To do this we need a frame to support the tissue during the shrinking process.  Traditionally I’ve made my frames from 1/4″ hardwood but I have discovered an alternative method.  Two layers of corrugated card board work just as well.  The card board can be either glued or taped together.  I choose the tape method as it’s faster and it doesn’t require any drying time.
The traditional wood frames all have straight square corner edges. So no matter the shape of the wing tip, vertical fin, stabilizer you would also be stuck with having to build a square wood frame the much larger than needed to get the correct size and waste tissue.  However Cardboard frames can be square, rectangular or trapezoidal. The nice thing about the cardboard frames is you can make a custom frame according to the shape you are considering.  The stab and tail on my Golden Age Reproductions Tony are all curves for the most part.  A wood frame to cover the entire area would generate a lot of wasted tissue.  The shrinking frames I made for them adhere closely to the actual outlines, of course leaving enough margin for ease of handling when putting the
tissue on the structures.
I made two card board frames for my 7 gram Bostonian rebuild.  One frame for the top and bottom of the fuselage and the other for the fuselage sides.  I’ve found if you carefully lay out the dimensions of the frame, then the tissue waste is greatly minimized. Works for me.  Thought I’d just pass this along.

Easily constructed frame (low cost ) with taped edges (handy can comes together quickly)
Close up with “full shrink” on the tissue
This vertical fin just shown as a scale mockup. Easily trimmed from the frame set-up.
Now that is some tight tissue! (Beautiful job John!)

If you are new to tissue covering for free flight models….you should know among modelers there are many techniques used to address cosmetic and practical applications of tissue applied to indoor and outdoor flying model airplanes. I will be posting more info in the future. Check out the NFFS website and scour the web….I am sure there is tons of info out there on the topic.

Again I would like to thank John Pakiz for sharing is knowledge!

Jeff Renz

Finally A fix for Fly Away Gliders—Introducing an effective DT (Dethermalizer) System designed by Dave Higgins

by Jeff Renz, posted in Gliders

Introducing the The Flip DT System for 12” to 16” Wingspan Gliders.

Catching a really good thermal for a glider in most cases is a good thing. But it could easily turn out to be a bittersweet experience—something that glider owners know too well—the dreaded O.O.S. Syndrome otherwise known as “Out Of Sight.”

Click the photo or the link above to go to the webpage. Plans and detailed instructions are included on the page.

“This D.T. system is about as simple as it gets . . . .when the lead ball falls away from the slot in the D.T. arm, it falls down and aft causing the center of gravity of the glider to shift aft about 0.75 inches, which causes the glider to suddenly stop circling in the thermal and immediately whip stall. To date, I’ve had at least a dozen successful D.T.s with this system in light thermal conditions.” — David Higgins 9/24/2020

A Photo Gallery and Slide Show is also included to show details and aid in understanding how it goes together.

HAFFA Tribute to Tem Johnson: Our Famous KC Glider Guider!

by Jeff Renz, posted in Gliders
Tem at his best! Studying his details notes ready to compete in the auditorium!

2020 HAFFA Thanksgiving update: As it is now Thanksgiving week….which is now over… and I have had my yearly dose of turkey, sandwiches…turkey pot pie, turkey soup, turkey salad sandwiches…

I was thinking of all the people I have been lucky to meet over the years. One of those people was our own club member Tem Johnson. I wanted to get out a quick post about Tem. I am so thankful to have known him for at least a decade or more.

Example of Tem Johnson’s Cat 1 Glider (I have 30 or 40 of these drawings) plan included

Tem’s Catapult Indoor Glider planDownload

We have been updating our Glider pages for the HAFFA website. This post will eventually morph into a separate page under the “Galleria of Gliders” section of our website. Nisley has done a “bang-up” job….and has enlisted the assistance of Dave Higgins from the Seattle area. I have been wanting to get a start on another local HAFFA member who left us with a legacy of competitive glider designs….so this post is just a start on “Tem Johnson’s Legacy”

Tem Johnson was an excellent model airplane craftsman and competitor. He passed away going on 3 years ago…..and caught the big thermal June 22, 2017 for his final flight. He was a local active member of the Topeka Model Aircraft Club and Heart of America Free Flight Model Airplane Club for decades within the KC area. Tem was a fixture at many model airplane contests, on the local and national levels. Tem competed and won against some of the worlds best free flight modelers frequently at the yearly national contests in Moscow Idaho and Johnson City Tennessee over the years. Tem logged many miles going to contests with his OFBs “old flying buddies” Emil Schutzel, Gary Hodson, and Larry Coslick. Tem majored in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue. He always took an organized scientific approach to model construction as well as the art of flying competitively. He created many personal reference note books with full of documentation and records and data along with a performance summary of each design. Many of his designs and aerodynamic related technical articles were published in technical journals and news letters. His JETEX Payload design appeared on the 1961 Zaic Yearbook page 238. His HLG the Bronco appeared in Zaic Year book as well. (Dave Higgins researched Tem’s Bronco outdoor chuck glider is in Zaic’s 1964-65 Yearbook on page 166.  This is the same yearbook that the Sweepette 16 Mk. III and Sweepette 18 Mk. 9 appear.) Tem had an encyclopedic knowledge of model airplanes and lectured on many flying and design topics. His dry wit and competitive spirit are deeply missed by the model airplane community.

Dana Field always reminds me of Tem’s indoor 30 second flights in our 26 foot ceiling gym at Osawatomie. “Tem would pull out his catapult glider….walk to a certain pre-determined point on the floor…..aim at a certain spot in the ceiling and let it go…..just has it appeared his glider was going to bounce off the ceiling….it would transition instantaneously into a perfect set-up for a slow descent circling gracefully ….it seemed forever to land perfectly on the gym floor with no damage…..really amazing”.

I intend to keep adding to this post over the next few weeks. Come back and visit it again for more info. There is so much to cover. When I met Tem he was mostly into indoor gliders. By the way his real name is “TEM” spelled with an “E”….I will explain that in a future post. However for years he had been flying and designing outdoor competitive designs decades before I had met Tem. One of his most famous designs was the “Bronco”.

Dana Field had published this “Bronco” design a couple of times in our “Dispatch News Letter” over the last few years. Several of our club members have built this glider. A good consistent flyer. I will get the plan and add it in a future post.

Image courtesy of Dave Higgins