Mass Cup (pictures added, reply #10)

[Matt Colan]

I don't have any pictures yet, so I'll post our story of the Mass Cup.

I got out of school early to get an early start on the road.  After a long drive we got there.  We got to the field too late to get any flying in, but we needed to find the site since it's been two years since we were in Wrentham.  Ok we found the field so we back to the hotel to relax and argue about what temperature to have the air conditioner on.

After a good breakfast the next morning, we went out to the first day of the contest, classic and OTS.  It turned out that there were only four in classic and Old time and the grass was EXTREMELY HIGH.  I can't remember who but somebody brought a lawn mower and mowed the circles.  It was better but was still high.  Well we started off the contest and I put in a good flight, and it turned out to be the high flight of the day.  Grandpa ended up in second with Rick Clark in third and Geurry Buyers in 4th.  Dave Cook gave me some tips after my first OTS flight that I tryed out on my second official but it wasn't enough to get grandpa who beat me by a mear 2 points.  Geurry Buyers ended up third with Rick Clark in fourth.  On my second official flight, I sucked up the first piece of grass of the meet because of the still high grass on the Ares.  I took the front end apart and blew the venturi out.  I put up a practice flight afterwords to get the needle set right.  The needle was set right so I rolled my lines up and we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up before taking a walk to the 99 restaurant for dinner.

Again Saturday night, we argued about what to set the air conditioneer at, and this time I got it on flim.  Next morning we got up earlier to get an early start at the field.  When we showed up the wind was blowing a pretty stiff breeze, but definitely flyable.  I put up a practice flight to get the needle right.  Now the pilots meeting and we all started to get ready for our flights.  I launched for John Passalaqua and was watching him, and he said he had very little ontrol when his plane crashed.  We saved all the pieces and Jim Sumner took it from John.  When Norm Liversidge flew, which I thought was a good flight, I told him he was making me nervous, I thought he flew that good.  I took an attempt because the prop came loose the first time that happened in a long time.  I tightened up the prop and started my official flight.  Of course the engine decides to suck up something after the reverse wingover.  Again I blew the venturi and I was telling grandpa that there is dirt in the venturi, and I could see the crap in there.  He put a paper towel and when pulled the paper towel out, it was full of dirt and grass.  During the lunch break, we switched to an all castor fuel because the engine was starting to run hot.  I put up two needle flights and to time it  to make sure I wasn't running over.  Everything was good and then came my official flight.  I was nervous since I needed to burn one in and had only one chance at it.  Well now the motor wouldn't start and then the prop and spinner came flying off the crankshaft.  It was a good thing the motor did not start because it would have been history.  I was about to take the plane off the circle when Rick Clark asked me if I wanted another attempt, and I said yes.  I put the prop back on and tried again.  This time the plane nosed over on take off.  Dick said I was still on the clock so I very quickly topped off the tank, and had grandpa start it.  Again the plane nosed over so I just said forget it.  I went back to the pits sucked the fuel out, rolled the lines up and cleaned off the airplane.  Before we fly again, I'm going to blow the venturi out again because I can see dirt in there and clean the plane off again because I can still feel grass on it.

I still took third place, watched the hot flying in expert with Will Moore, and Steve Yampolsky being the class of the field with Steve beating Will by 1.5 points.  Steve flew again and took home the Mass Cup.  I still had fun through my misfortunes, and will be back next year, I hope.  I should've flown the Smoothie since it has an upright engine and takes off better in high grass.  I feel like I need to go to one more contest to redeem myself and toyed with the idea of going to Pal park in Jersey on the way home, but we don't think it's going to happen.  See you guys next year  

[john e. holliday]

That is what going to contests is for.  It is a learning curve we all go thru.  Sounds like you are doing better than some of us.  Next time you will know better.  Great for Granpa also to be flying so well.  Have fun, DOC Holliday

[Matt Colan]

That is what going to contests is for.  It is a learning curve we all go thru.  Sounds like you are doing better than some of us.  Next time you will know better.  Great for Granpa also to be flying so well.  Have fun, DOC Holliday

Yep, next time we bring a 10 foot long rug and place it on the grass to take off, or just fly my other airplane    The Ares never had a problem landing, it just getting into the air with the high grass, low ground clearance, smaller wheels, and wheelpants.

[steven yampolsky]

Yep, next time we bring a 10 foot long rug and place it on the grass to take off, or just fly my other airplane    The Ares never had a problem landing, it just getting into the air with the high grass, low ground clearance, smaller wheels, and wheelpants.

Matt, you had a number of things in your package working against you:

1) Aries were designed to take off pavement. Many designs of that time tend to sit VERY low to the ground. Additionally, most common prop diameter at that was 9". All these design nuances make it very difficult to take off grass surfaces.
2) Wheel pants contributed to the drag and created counter clockwise rotation causing your model have a tendency to nose in during take off.
3) OS35-S is not known to be a high power engine. Additionally, you where using a prop that has low static thrust. While not very important in flight, static thrust is what makes the model "jump" during launch. That jump is what you needed to get out the thick grass.
4) The motor does not have an air filter. Chance of getting a blade of grass ingested into the venturi is almost a certainty. You saw it happen time after time this past weekend.
5) The tail wheel appeared to be VERY tall. This caused the model to have a very low nose up attitude, adding to the ground roll difficulties.

That said, the grass this year, while just as short as before, is the THICKEST I've ever seen it. Three months of continuous rain does that to a field.

Many pilots(Bill Suarez, for example) make two sets of landing gear: one for pavement and one for grass. Perhaps that's what you need to do as well.


Steve

P.S. Matt, you have a very good hand. All you need now is good equipment and a good coach. If you do, I am sure you'll be nipping on Billy's, Windy's and Denny's heels in no time!

[Matt Colan]

Hi Steve,

After dealing with the grass there and the fact the Ares doesn't have removable landing gear, from now on, every single plane I'm going to build will have removable landing gear, make one set for long grass and another for short grass and pavement.  I have learned my lesson, and before I fly the Ares again, I'm going to blow the venturi out again, and clean it because I can still see grass in it, put a nylon stocking over the venturi and I'm also going to try an RSM 10-6 on the plane.

And your heels too in the near future maybe also.

And Steve, remember that profile I flew when I was in beginner, well I started fooling around with it, put a plastic tank on and may try to bring it to Brodak next year to fly in profile, if there's enough room.

I'll have the Oriental Plus next year, a piped motor and modern throws in it.  The Ares has a 3 inch bellcrank, and I'm flying it around a 3 1/4 inch handle spacing.

See you next year Steve 

[steven yampolsky]

And Steve, remember that profile I flew when I was in beginner, well I started fooling around with it, put a plastic tank on and may try to bring it to Brodak next year to fly in profile, if there's enough room.

Did you mean this profile?



Man, you looked like a kid back then! Wow, how you've changed!

[Matt Colan]

Did you mean this profile?



Man, you looked like a kid back then! Wow, how you've changed!

Hey thanks for showing that.  I was chubby then too.  Wow I did change and yes that profile.  Let's see I was in the 7th grade then.  I can see how far I've come in finishing and trimming.  I remember the plane bogged down on the outsides of the horizontal 8 and I didn't know why.  now I know, the tank shim wasn't right.  I also remember when they announced the concours award at that contest, I remember thinking I had a chance at that, yeah right    Since that picture was taken, an LA 40 was in it and now an OS 35S has been up front in the profile.

Thanks again  

Edit:  Steve, you did beat Billy Suarez more than once.  At that contest where you took that picture, you beat him by 1/2 point.  So that's twice.

Edit again: I still have that hat, it is the faded out one that I wear at every contest.  It got faded out after the one really hot day at Lee later that year, where Will had that bomber that you like so much.

[Matt Colan]

And here's a pic of me at Wrentham this past weekend for comparison.

[steven yampolsky]

Edit:  Steve, you did beat Billy Suarez more than once.  At that contest where you took that picture, you beat him by 1/2 point.  So that's twice.

Hey, you are right! I guess there is hope for me yet!

Edit again: I still have that hat, it is the faded out one that I wear at every contest.  It got faded out after the one really hot day at Lee later that year, where Will had that bomber that you like so much.

There was something about it, I just can't put my finger on it.

[Matt Colan]

Maybe there is really nothing like it around us.  From what I remember it did look cool.  Take the hint Will! 

[Matt Colan]

Here are some pictures that I got from Steve Teerlink.  I asked him if he had anymore so stay tuned.

[Matt Colan]

second batch

I've never seen Grandpa look so concentrated before in a picture, or is that the sun shining down on him 

[Tom Niebuhr]

Don's P-40 looks great in the air.

Matt, you are flying with the wrong hand!

[Matt Colan]

Matt, you are flying with the wrong hand!

No no Tom, you are flying with the wrong hand 

[Bill Hummel]

Matt, Don, and all the guys who worked to put this meet on, THANKS for a great day!  Lots of nice flying, even in the wind.  Steve Teerlinck flew in his first meet, and flew very well!  I just don't understand why, with so many PAMPA members within a 2 hour drive, the turnout is less than "enthusiastic"?  Geez, what more could a c/l guy want?  Now if only I coulda gotten that engine to run right...

[Steve Helmick]

Did your field have a recent rainfall? A wet field is "slow" and a dry field is "fast"...golf parlance. A slow field will always cause takeoff problems and landing nose-overs. Cutting it short the week before, and again the night before, will let the grass dry quicker. If there's a sprinkler system, see if you can get it turned off for three or four days prior to the event.    Steve

[dave shirley jr]

Matt
Here is a easy fix to try on your aries
My cobra suffered from the same prop clearance as your aries
untill i bent the tailwheel up to the bottom of the fuselage. the wheel was almost touching the tail .
it made a huge difference, it allowed the airplane to get some speed up before the nose dropped and thats all it needed to get in the air everytime. we fly off of grass here at allmost every contest and practice.
its worth a try and if you dont like it you can bend it back,but i think you will like it. and it even helped prevent the ocasionall prop strike on pavement.
Like steve said, the standard prop back then appears to have been the tornado 9-6 3 blade.
Dave jr.

[Matt Colan]

Matt, Don, and all the guys who worked to put this meet on, THANKS for a great day!  Lots of nice flying, even in the wind.  Steve Teerlinck flew in his first meet, and flew very well!  I just don't understand why, with so many PAMPA members within a 2 hour drive, the turnout is less than "enthusiastic"?  Geez, what more could a c/l guy want?  Now if only I coulda gotten that engine to run right...

And yet we drove 5 hours to the contest.  We are now thinking about going to Pal Park in October, since I found out I have 3 days off the week of the contest. 

Here are the rest of the pictures Steve sent me

[Matt Colan]

Here's the rest...

[steven yampolsky]

Don's P-40 looks great in the air.

Matt, you are flying with the wrong hand!

Or the wrong direction!

[steven yampolsky]

Did your field have a recent rainfall? A wet field is "slow" and a dry field is "fast"...golf parlance. A slow field will always cause takeoff problems and landing nose-overs. Cutting it short the week before, and again the night before, will let the grass dry quicker. If there's a sprinkler system, see if you can get it turned off for three or four days prior to the event.    Steve

Nah, It's been dry for the past 3 weeks, preceeded by 3 months of rain. The grass on the field is the thickest I've ever seen it!

[Matt Colan]

Nah, It's been dry for the past 3 weeks, preceeded by 3 months of rain. The grass on the field is the thickest I've ever seen it!

Steve, that is the normal height of the grass there?

[Matt Colan]

Or the wrong direction!

Rich Giacabone would say I fly half right.  I'm left handed but fly in the wrong direction, sorry Rich.

[steven yampolsky]

Steve, that is the normal height of the grass there?

The grass height was fine. It was very thick though, creating the tendency for a model to nose over. If not checked, one can easily snag a prop.

[Matt Colan]

The grass height was fine. It was very thick though, creating the tendency for a model to nose over. If not checked, one can easily snag a prop.

Grass height was fine???  Maybe I spoiled myself at how low I cut our grass.  Basically on some highspots around the circle, and one spot in particular that I can see everytime is dirt.  Ares always takes off just fine at my house and at lee where the grass is like a golf course kind of low.  Wait until nex tyear guys, I need to redeem myself, I feel, which is why we are considering Pal Park in October.

[steven yampolsky]

Grass height was fine???  Maybe I spoiled myself at how low I cut our grass.  Basically on some highspots around the circle, and one spot in particular that I can see everytime is dirt.  Ares always takes off just fine at my house and at lee where the grass is like a golf course kind of low.  Wait until nex tyear guys, I need to redeem myself, I feel, which is why we are considering Pal Park in October.

I believe Pal Park is this Sunday. I'm seriously considering going there. It is one of my favorite contests. Once a year, as a culmination of a season, I get to fly off pavement.

By the way, here's a couple of pictures of my Chipmunk. When it first flew it, errr...... When it couldn't get off the ground with landing gear as per plans, I made up a set just for grass fields. In 4 years that I've been flying it with grass gear, it has never tipped over on take off!

Here's tailwheel. As you can see it's only 1" high and gives a nose high attitude which helps the Chipmunk lift out of the grass very quickly.


Here's original landing gear alongside the grass one. The grass gear is ~1/4-1/2" taller due to larger diameter wheel (instead of longer music wire). Larger diameter wheels improve smooth rollo and decrease the chance of a nose over.

[Matt Colan]

I believe Pal Park is this Sunday. I'm seriously considering going there. It is one of my favorite contests. Once a year, as a culmination of a season, I get to fly off pavement.

There is another Pal Park meet this October, that  I would love to go to so I could redeem myself  .  Also it is off pavement and that Ares takes off and lands just dandy on blacktop.  I remember what you said on Saturday about my landing, it was so smooth and almsot perfect.  I did like it myself also!  This Sunday, we're heading to Rhinebeck to see the BIG RC meet and watch a WW1 dogfight, looking foward to it.

I'll see if I can talk grandpa into going in October, since I have the next 3 days off so getting home isn't a problem.

[john e. holliday]

Maybe Grandpa will be ready for you this time.  I am glad he has someone that likes to fly with him.  DOC Holliday

[Matt Colan]

Maybe Grandpa will be ready for you this time.  I am glad he has someone that likes to fly with him.  DOC Holliday

We were joking around today, and I helped him write an appearance point column and he did mention at the very end, that the student has become the teacher.  Dave Cook gave me a judges book last weekend, and grandpa hasn't gotten any worse at flying but since I read the book the scores went down.    All because I read the book.  I was giving him 24s and 30s as a range.  He was giving me 28s and 30s.  I almost put in my smoothie by missing the bottom on the wingover.  First time I had done that, fly too low

[steven yampolsky]

We were joking around today, and I helped him write an appearance point column and he did mention at the very end, that the student has become the teacher.  Dave Cook gave me a judges book last weekend, and grandpa hasn't gotten any worse at flying but since I read the book the scores went down.    All because I read the book.  I was giving him 24s and 30s as a range.  He was giving me 28s and 30s.  I almost put in my smoothie by missing the bottom on the wingover.  First time I had done that, fly too low

Here's a hint I learned from Dave: try judging your grandpa at 90 degrees of the downwind position. Boy, are you going to be surprised! Most folk fly 60 degree loops and I don't even want to talk about overhead 8.

[Matt Colan]

Here's a hint I learned from Dave: try judging your grandpa at 90 degrees of the downwind position. Boy, are you going to be surprised! Most folk fly 60 degree loops and I don't even want to talk about overhead 8.

He looked for my 45s also today and he said they were dead on.  I can tell from a normal judges position that is overheads are awful!  He doesn't even reach 90 degrees, more like 80.  And the inside loop is much bigger than the outside, something I've also been fighting.  he does correct it when i tell him, but it only that day, then he goes back to what he was doing.  His worst error used to be the squares but I've worked him to correct it, and now I'm hounding him to fix the overhead 8.