Jan, 7th 2024 Meeting

Club Newsletter: Vaca Valley Radio Controllers - January 7th, 2024

Meeting Highlights:

• Last month's minutes approved.

• Flying site update: Thank you Don for the upkeep . The bumpy entry road needs attention. Gravel acquisition on hold until March.

• Membership update: Welcome aboard to our newest member! We're now 51 strong.

• Safety reminders: Thanks, Don! Stay clear of the runway after launching your plane. Step back from the runway as other people are flying and may be landing. Keep an eye out for any porta-potty troublemakers.

• Events: Congrats to Kyle for landing the ribbon cutting victory! Last event.

Old Business:

• Entry road gravel postponed until March.

New Business:

• Bird netting needed for both awnings.

Toilet Seat Award:

The coveted throne remains unoccupied this month. Fly on, pilots!

Meeting adjourned at 11:48 AM.

Mark your calendars for the next meeting! First Of the month 11AM

Happy landings!

Vaca Valley Radio Controllers

April 2021 News Letter Club Events for May 2 after 10:00 meeting

Club Events, aka fun fly:

At the conclusion of a club meeting, a combination of flying and car/truck events will take place starting in May 2021.  For each event, competitive or participation type, a participant will earn one point and the winner of the event will earn two points. When weather disrupts flying, such as high winds, a car/truck event may be the only category we will have.

The Airplane events planned are: T-34 Pylon Race, Unlimited Pylon Race, Foamy Infield Pylon Race, Gladiator/Streamer combat flight, Glider duration flight, Formation Flight and Flying Gates.

The Car/Truck events planned as of March are: Drag Racing, Figure Eight and Oval Race, Car/Truck Soccer, Road Race and Jump Competition.

One or two categories, flying or car/truck events will be offered. In the event members show no interest in a fun fly than the field will open to general activities.

At the Christmas Party the participant with highest points will win all of the entry money. A tie will be broken with a flip of a coin.

Entry fee of $5.00 covers all flying and car/truck events for the day. Members that do not participate in the car/truck event can sign up for just airplane. However, two separate money awards collected payout only in the category signed up on. The Car/Truck, Airplane is one category and the other will be for airplane only.

May Event:

Unlimited Pylon Race

·      Two Heats: Ten laps around the pylon. The contest director will monitor the leading airplane and will call the last lap. There will be no pylon judges, however, if a pilot cuts a pylon, the airplane is eliminated by the CD. Winner of each event earns an extra point.

Formation Fly

·      One Heat: Duration will end when the last pilot lands. Non-Win Event, all participants earn a point.

Car/Truck Oval Race

·      Two Heats: Car/Truck: Ten laps around the oval track. If a vehicle is disabled, the driver is out of the race. CD will award the winner of each event with an extra point; all participant earns one point.

·      One Heat: Soccer Ball game consists of two teams, goal lines and five minute a heat run. Disabled vehicles are out of the game. Winners on the winning team all receive an extra point.

April 2020 Meeting Cancelled

April 2020 News Letter

No April 5 Meeting Minutes

News Letter Agenda: Safety, RC Truck/Car track design proposals, Hanger Queens, Non flying activities.

Safety 4-2020

Every so often you hear a story about somebody who had a battery that was just sitting on the shelf, completely normal and then without any warning, starts on fire. How does that happen? The truth is that healthy lithium batteries will almost never spontaneously lite on fire with no warning. They were actually giving warning signs that they were not safe to use, usually for more than a little while. It may be either the person just didn't know how to interpret the signs or just ignored them. “I say screw it. It cost me forty bucks and I'm not throwing it out. I’ll just charge it up. It'll be okay, or I hope so.”Today we are going to look at the warning signs that your batteries may not be safe to use and probably should be retired.

The first sign that your battery is not safe to use is, if when you plug it into a cell checker and any of the cells are below 3.0 volts per cell. It's time to retire it now. There's no question that discharging a lipo cell below 3.0 volts damages the cell.

You may understand that a cell can be “jump” started by flashing it with a momentary hit from a charged battery. I don't think you should do that. Number one, because any time a cell has been damaged, the risk of it then spontaneously lighting on fire does go up and you can't really justify that risk. Number two, Internal resistance also goes up and even if it does seem to hold voltage overnight and seems okay, it's not going to fly as well as it would by uncompromised standards. If the cell goes below 3.0 volts per cell, think about retiring the battery. It may partially recover, but is the liability worth the extra usage you may get? Understand that when checking cells after a flight, that a battery will recover to some degree with a little time. Because of this, it will not reflect the actual lowest voltage point experienced in flight. Cell balance is important and can tell you if any problems lay ahead. Checking the cells before and after a flight is a good way to monitor the health of your lipo battery. A well-balanced battery will be right on the money or as little as .01 volts difference. A couple of tenths of a volt will be managed buy a good charger and should bring the cells back into balance. If not, you should consider the battery suspect and may need replacing.3.8 volts per cell is a good storage value for the lipo battery. Typically, the full voltage per cell of a Lipo is 4.2 volts. The maximum discharged voltage is 3.0 volts. Lipo cells are happiest and will last the longest at their storage voltage of 3.8 volts. These lipo cells are very reactive when they are fully charger or discharged. The Lipo is likes the storage voltage of 3.8 volts per cell and will last the longest when stored at that voltage.The next question is how do I make the lipo battery safe for the landfill?The answer is simple. Completely discharge the unit. This process will require monitoring or placed out on the driveway while the discharge takes place. Do not short circuit but place a load on the battery. A 12-volt light bulb (for a 3s battery) should do just fine. There is another method that will also discharge and make safe. That is submerging the battery in salt water for at least 24 hours. At completion you will see a green haze in the water and a few clumps of reacted acid. All then is safe to enter the land fill. The water is safe to pore out on the ground. Remember lipo batteries are a high-performance battery and need certain care and handling. Store these batteries in a fire safe containment. A vented ammo can is a good choice for this. Safety is no accident. Think about what you are involved in and perform the task safely.

RC Truck/Car track design proposals

We currently have an area cleared for fee lance driving with approximately 150x 100-foot space. This will accommodate a large oval track or a multi-turn SCCA type track. Currently the track design theme is “custom”. No permanent layout, changeable to accommodate an event. Be it oval, multi-turns with jumps or drag racing, the idea is having a universal location for popular events.

Hanger Queens

Most of us have at least one favorite flying model that rarely is taken out to fly. Be it, those too nice to chance on crashing, or those that are a handful. If you would like to share, send me a jpeg and a short story.

This is one of mine. A Topflight P-51 60 size ARF, with a DLE 20 gas engine. This airplane fly’s beautifully, however the model is no longer in production. The carb needs cleaning after long term storage but it has no issues.

Non flying activities

Sitting at home until we are no longer on home confinement can present an opportunity to expand or begin our carving skills. Share if you dare your creation. The subject matter does not have to be aviation related. This is one that I am currently working on.

Helping my neighbors to cope with COVID-19. My carving talent put to use by creating a full-scale mountain lion that I plan on setting up in my front yard. This should help to take their mind off of COVID-19 as they jog past my front yard. The picture shown is a scaled down version.

March 1, 2020 Meeting

Old business:

• The environmental report was completed, no negative restrictions noted. The city of Fairfield has the report and when approved, the site will be cleared for the rc car and truck site. Paul and Bob volunteered to head the committee for the track design. The initial designs will be ready for club approval at the April 5 meeting. Members are asked to submit track design suggestions at the April meeting. One proposal is a high bank oval with a figure eight infield with four jumps in the straight lanes.

• The members voted and approved that new members will be required to pay a one time fee of $50.00 runway/car track fee and annual membership will remain the same. AMA membership is required to use the car track as well as flying models.

• Tee shirt orders were taken. The current cost is $25.00.

• The gate combination has been changed.

• VVRC event dates will be announced when Woodland RC club events are known. Bring event suggestions to the April meeting.

From right to left, 1/5 scale gas, 1/10 electric and 1/12 Nitro trucks.

New member standing with Oren is Jim Solar

Feb. 16, 2020 Meeting

Topics: RC Car and Truck Track Status, Fairfield City Counsel requirements- environmental report, authorization of club funds to develop a track. AMA approval for land based RC, Safety Report- propeller dangers, notifying airborne pilots of intention to enter the runway and landing. March 1, gate combination change. T-34 race cancelled due to high wind.

Jan 5th 2020 Meeting

13 members in attendance

By-laws amended

Winter 2019 Newsletter