Short talks with a lot of information

Model Airplane News, Jan 2004 by Keennon, Matt

The fourth annual Bergen County Silent Flyers mini seminars were held again at the NEAT Fair. These were casual meetings with some of the best modelers in the filed of micro RC model technology, and presenters spoke about their particular areas of expertise. Each presenter was allotted 45 minutes for presentation, questions and discussion. Sergio Zigras and Joe Beshar deserve a lot of credit for gathering all of these talented people for this special meeting. The New Jersey Bergen County Silent Flyers Club hosted the seminars in its 30-foot-square tent, which came in handy for keeping out the high winds and rain on Sunday. The seminars were free and were well-attended.

Sergio Zigras, the principal organizer of the seminars, opened the meeting by introducing the presenters and welcoming everyone. Sergio began his discussion by giving the history of electric RC aircraft, and he came up with a variety of infrared (IR) systems used on micro airplanes and throttle control for scale control-line models. His IR systems evolved from single-channel bang-bang to "galoping ghost" control and finally to fully proportional multichannel systems. This setup, which he sells through his company, Ztron, weighs only 1.5 to 2 grams.

Joe Malinchak, full-size pilot and a modeler fromt he age of 9, is a great scale builder. he discussed the building, aribrushing and detailling techniques that he used on his beautioful micro-scale Piper L-4 aircraft, which I understand also flies great. The L-4 uses a micro 3-channel control system. The airfram is made out of baisa and is covered by Japanese tissue sealed with Krylon clear spray.

If you have any experience with micro RC, you've probably puchased soem fine products from Bob Selman designs. Bob talked about hsi work on the decoders that make magnetic-coil actuators work with "normal" RC receivers. he talked about his collaboration with Rick Ruijsink; he uses the best design aspects of Rick's system in his own line of magnetic-coil actuators, which I can say from experience are excellent.

Mark Denham was the funniest character of the bunch. He came all the way from Leicester, England, for the event. His wry sense of humor had us laughing. Mark described how the people at Aeronutz use 2mm-thick "wall foam" to make all types of micro free-flight and IR-controlled models; he then described how to paint the models using acrylics. He also talked about the history of Aeronutz and the 2-cell, 2-channel IR models they made very popular.

Gordon Johnson has been involved with micro RC for about three years. About a year ago, he founded the Boston Micronauts with a few friends; he described his unique method for molding light carbon-fiber propellers using heat-shrink tubing and Sculpey craft clay.

Fred Marks of FMA Direct talked about the company's successful line of Kokam Li-poly cells that he imports from Korea. He talked about how the deal came about and described some of the interesting situations he has encountered. Because Fred sells batteries that hold a lot of energy in a small, somewhat delicate package, he spoke at length about Li-poly safety. The one thing he wanted everyone to go home remembering is that they should handle these batteries with care. Li-polys can cause a fire if over-charged, shorted, or punctured, so always keep an eye on them as they're being charged.

I've recounted only a sampling of the great seminars that were offered. If you're interested in microflight or just want to learn about the latest micro-RC technology, them plan to attend the 2004 NEAT Fair. Come for the flying, but also stay for the conversation.

-Matt Keennon