Burlington Radio Control Modelers
Because the days are getting shorter, morning dew is making early morning grass-cutting very difficult.
Beginning this week grass cutting will occur on Thursday from 10-12 weather permitting, Friday 10-12 as alternate.
Ken Sisler
We had our first informal event on Aug. 20 to celebrate our 50th anniversary. Attendance was spectacular, with an overflowing parking lot. The weather gods shone down on us (literally), and breezes were moderate. Flying started about 9:30 and continued until mid afternoon. Hot dogs ran out just as the last folks queued up.
Huge thanks to Ian Brown for the organization of the event and to the many who contributed time and effort.
Photos by Steve Waterfall and Geoff Norman
1 Charlie Chomos, founding member
2 The overflowing parking lot
3 Ian Brown, co-winner of the Balloon Busting event with visible proof hanging from the propellor
4 Ian Brown and Steve Waterfall, balloon busting co-winners
5 Pete Foto’s Viperjet
6 Viperjet landing
7 Lineup
8 A-10 flypass
9 3-D at its best
10 Chomos giving a history lesson
11 Overflow at the food tent
12 Boomerang at speed
Whenever I go to the field in the summer and look out over the fields, I am impressed about how fortunate we are to have such a great place to fly. In no small part, this is a result of the supreme efforts of Ken Sisler and a large group of volunteers who contribute many hours each week to keep the grass and weeds in check and do general maintenance. We should do all we can to help them and show our appreciation.
In this respect to my attention that after heavy rains, as we had last week and will have for the next 3 days, the grass is very soft. Driving a car over the field will leave deep ruts which are very difficult to remove. To avoid this
if there has been recent heavy rain, please park your car in the parking lot, and carry your equipment and planes up to the chickie and startup area.
A more general issue is one of parking at the fence. To make the field easily accessible to all members, you should only drive up to the chickie area to unload or load your equipment and planes, then remove your car to the parking lot.
Sunday at Bayview turned into an impromptu, unannounced Father’s Day Fly In. Weather was perfect with sunshine, no wind and temperature in the low 20’s. More than 25 fliers showed up. At one point the runway looked like the main runway at Pearson with 7 planes stacked up on the taxiway waiting for a takeoff slot – Geoff
One of our members flew by Bayview Airpark in his real plane. As planned, he did two circuits at 1500′, then made a nice pass as he left to return home. Can you guess who this was?
A number of folks have asked about the TC requirement for registration labels. As far as I know it has to be visible on the outside, but all they ask for is the number. But now the question is how to put the number on the plane. There have been a few suggestions
No Tech
A Sharpie pen on the underside of the stabilizer.
Anon
I may have a simple solution that I thought might be of interest to members who are faced with this problem. To begin, make a copy or two of the official TC certificate you receive after registering your aircraft. Each certificate clearly displays the registration number which you then cut out from the certificate “copy”. Using clear packing tape, cut to an appropriate length, centre the paper number, then place the tape over it. The last step is to take the tape and mount it on the desired location of the aircraft. Should at a later date the number has to be removed, this can be accomplished with little or no damage to the plane. When mounted on the plane the number is clearly visible (meeting TC’s regs.) and it does not distract from the appearance of the plane. This is just a cost effective remedy to this problem and saves members going out and buying expensive decal machines. A quick and easy solution.
Bill Clifford
Medium Tech
After looking into several ideas I finally decided on using Dymo Labels available on Amazon, Staples, etc. You do need at least an inexpensive Dymo machine.
I used the transparent labels. For most people one label cartridge will be more than enough. I suggest a few people get together which will greatly reduce the cost. I’ve placed my numbers either on the underside at the rear of the plane or on the side below the stab. I then used clear cote available at Michaels in order to protect the label.
Barry Parkinson
Hi Tech
Years ago, I devised a strategy to reproduce the MAAC required identification. I bought a package of clear stick-on labels at Staples. I then went on Word and created a label, then Copy à Paste to create multiple copies, and fool around until they are correctly lined up with the labels on the sheet.
I’ve now modifed it to remove MAAC identifiers and replace with the individualized TC numbers. These were individually inserted, but no big deal as I registered a batch of planes all at once, so I just had to change the last digit or two . I then printed the sheet of labels. Ink jet ink on clear label paper. Inkjet ink is water soluble, so I then sprayed with clear cote like Barry. One sheet does about 12 planes, so opportunity to share.
Steve Ablett
Extra Tech
I went a little bit of a different route. I contacted B&E Graphix and had them make vinyl decals for me. Under 6.00 usd per decal. Just give them the dimensions and colour you would like.
These are vinyl decals which apply very easy. If you use their spray on solution called rapid tac (8.80 usd per bottle)you mitigate air bubbles. They are very visible and pretty much permanent.
A litte bit of a more expensive way to go. But for your prized machine may be worth it.
Geoff Norman
AN OLD FRIEND AND REALLY OLD RC’er
by Ted Pritlove
Charlie Chomos has been flying RC model planes for 62 years. Back in the ’60s, his first
model was a Sterling Models J-3 Cub, then a Goldberg Models 42 in. W.. Skylane. This kit cost
$5.99 and Charlie still has the original kit box!
A little history: Charlie was born and raised on a tobacco farm close to a village called
Vienna near Tillsonburg, Ontario. His first interest in model airplanes began in the first grade of
a one-room schoolnouse. A grade eight boy, a few desks over, assembled a rubber powered
“stick and tissue” model airplane and when outside, he launched it. It flew. Charlie was hooked.
Charlie began building his own rubber-powered models and by grade 8, he was building and
flying glow powered free flight models.
After high school, he moved to Burlington and found employment at Dofasco and was
trained as a crane operator. I first met Charlie in 1976 at Dofasco. I had read a radio controlled
model magazine (RCM) about building and flying C models and was interested. Dofasco’s
Recreation Department suggested I contact a modeler called Charlie Chomos. I did. After a
lengthy chat, Charlie gave me six RCM magazines to read and if I was still interested, he would
take me to a basement hobby shop (Scotty Law – Dundas) to buy everything I needed.I started
building my Sig Kommander with Charlie coming to my house every few weeks to check my
work and offer advice. After 6 months, Charlie successfully test flew my Sig model. That was a
fantastic moment for me! Then after 52 solo flights, Charlie presented me with my MAC wings.
All this time, Charlie was building big models ie. a108 in. W.S. quarter scale Super Cub, a 108
in. W.S. quarter scale Porterfield and his latest model is a 114 in. W.S. Piper Colt. Most of the
C community know Charlie is a meticulous scale scratch builder. An example: if the plans call
for a solid wing tip, but the full scale has a laminated wing tip – – Charlie will laminate!
In 1983, Charlie got his Private Pilots License and in 1985 he co-owned a Champion
Citabria with Art Titmarsh. For the next 10 years, Charlie did very little modeling.
Charlie’s hobby passion now is vintage model planes and early radio electronic
equipment. In 1992 he became a member of the Vintage Radio Control Society (VRCS) and
has won several awards at the Toledo Show( Toledo Weak Signals RC Club) and at AMA
headquarters in Muncie, Indiana. In Charlie’s words- “I like the challenge of making this old stuff
work again” and he has a basement full of this “old stuff–just ask wife Marie! His knowledge of
vintage aircraft is surprising but with modern aircraft, it is vague. He told me –
“all the Jets look
the same to me”. For the past few years, Charlie has enjoyed float flying at his Cottage, but
plans to begin flying more often at Bayview and Bronte airfields.
So a BIG THANK YOU Charlie for being a founding member of our BRCM Club, your
years of instructing and helping advice, and most of all, for your 45 years of friendship.
Good Stuff Charlie – Cheers
Ted Pritlove
