CBRC

Chesapeake Bay Radio Control Club

AMA District IV Club # 326

Now that the night flying event has been successfully completed, it’s time for a new R/C "plan".

The CBRC all season flyers try to have a new challenge to keep things interesting.

The new plan requires some advance planning, since it is a spur of the moment activity. I know that this doesn’t make sense, but R/C flying doesn’t always make sense.

The next event, other than New Years Day, is totally dependant on the weather. You have to be ready when the snow arrives.

As soon as we have enough snow to cover the grass, about 2 inches of snow, it’s time to install skis and head for the field. There are several ways to join the fun. You can buy skis, you can build them from plans, or you can design your own. Buying skis is the simplest way to start, but they need to be ordered in advance to be ready for that first snowfall. If you are going to build your own, you better get started; you never know when that first snowfall will arrive.

The Maiden Products skis work very well and can be installed in minutes since there is no modification or construction required. Simply remove the wheels, slide the skis on, and tighten the setscrews.

The Jay Dee skis look to be similar to the Maiden Products skis, but the CBRC all season flyers have not tried them.

The Dubro skis are readily available through the local hobby shops (in fact, they sometimes stock them), but require a more complex installation. Also, the Dubro skis may not provide enough propeller clearance. If they are your choice, make sure that you buy them early enough to fit them to your airplane.

http://www.dubro.com/DUBRO2005CATALOG/index.htm

http://hometown.aol.com/maidenusammp/myhomepage/business.html

For the builders in the club, there are websites that provide instructions for building skis. Skis can be very simple to build, but are generally not "overnight" projects, hence the need for preplanning. If you want to design your own skis, one of the builder websites includes ski area calculations to determine ski size based on airplane weight. One of our group has proposed forming skis out of fiberglass, but this could be time consuming since it will require fabricating a mold first, and then molding the skis. I have cut a set of skis from EPP foam, but I have not tried them yet, since the commercial skis work so well.

http://www.geocities.com/rc_sa4/skis/skis.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/rcmodel/ski.html

http://www.stenulson.net/rcflight/skikits.htm

http://home.midwestinfo.net/djam/BUILDINGSKI.html (corplast design)

R/C AIRCRAFT SKI DESIGN

Whichever way you decide to go, trial fit them to your airplane and check the Center of Gravity to make sure that the skis haven’t caused a dangerous shift.

Don’t forget to have your car ready for the trip. The members with four-wheel drive can open the driveway, but be careful on the drive to the field. The roads are dangerous enough without snow, don’t get in an accident on the way to the field.

So, buy, build from plans, or be creative and design your own, but be ready for that first snowfall.

See ya at the field!

Last update July 10,  2010

©Copyright 2010 CBRC

Contact Roger Edwards at VoyagerCC@Verizon.net for questions