It is a high quality video…the Gadfly similar to Roie’s is about 5 minutes into the session. Roie’s has a bigger wingspan.
Click to go to page—Video will be at the top.
Category: Posts
HAFFA INDOOR SESSION “CALLED OFF” for FEB 6, 2021
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
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
Holiday Greetings to all our Star Trek Fans
Merry Christmas & Stay Safe.
Pre-Shrink Tissue Covering Tip
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
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.
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
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!
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
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.
Now the January Indoor Flying Session has been shut down!
I did get another Official call from the City of Osawatomie Friday at 330pm. Kim….the person that coordinates the use / rental of the auditorium said she had to call me and everyone else who had rented Osawatomie event space…. because Miami County operations relative to public event spaces are being shut down through Jan 30……that is why she called….she said if we need to we can get our money back she said they could get us a check…or transfer our Jan. date into June. I will keep you posted. Paul Morgenroth, III might have a lead on another flying location. Thanks Jeff Renz
HAFFA December Indoor Flying Session Canceled (Covid19 issues)
I just called city of Osawatomie today. The HAFFA indoor flying session in December is now cancelled. This indoor flying event would have been up and coming in 2 weeks…it will not happen now…. I moved it to May 1st, 2021.
I talked to Kim who coordinates the Auditorium rental/schedule and explained I had concerns over the spike in cases in the KC area and that it is not worth the risk. I will keep you all posted.
thanks!
Jeff Renz
Gliders Group Forum is the latest category added to “Galleria of Gliders”
Gliders Group Forum is the latest category added to “Galleria of Gliders” and it is designed to get people talking and thinking about all aspects of model gliders, from the most basic chuck and catapult gliders to some of the current ARF/RTF radio controlled gliders.
Topics may include glider aerodynamics, balsa wood selection, construction techniques, glider design parameters, flight trimming, etc. We want to have a free exchange of ideas to benefit everyone, especially those who are new to this aspect of aeromodelling.
For instance, suppose someone has a problem with their catapult glider looping during the catapult phase and wants suggestions on how to solve this problem.
I or someone else may suggest that they warp the trailing edge of the stabilizer down around 1/64” to 1/32” and remove some clay from the nose of the glider and try launching it again, and someone else may have another useful suggestion that worked for them.
Another person may have a suggestion on some building technique that they used relating to gliders and wants to pass that “tribal” knowledge on to others.
So come see what all the HUBBUB is all about . . .
NOTE: The dictionary defines HUBBUB as a situation in which there is much noise, confusion, excitement, and activity.
Doesn’t that describe a Rowdy Group of Glider Enthusiasts at a Flying Event Chucking their Gliders?
Go to GLIDERS GROUP FORUM. You’ll be glad you did.
KC FREE FLIGHT AËROMODELLING WEBSITE 