Midwest Performance Flyer's promote R/C Helicopters, Electric powered R/C Aircraft and R/C Instruction.

Show "N" Tell

May 2008 Meeting

Keith Paskewitz brought his newest IFO. Just finished today May 18, 2008 this is the 5th generation his of IFO's or maybe 6th depending on how you count. Will test fly at La Vista Community Center next Monday "tomorrow".

Starting 7 or 8 years ago Keith built a stock IFO, which was 11 to 12 oz. and then added a steerable rudder. When Out-runner motors & LiPo batteries came along he modified it to a lighter 8 oz. version & then added a second landing gear on top so it could land up-side-down.

He then modified it to a still lighter one with an E-flite 14 gram motor and the 2 gram Spectrum Nanolite Airborne system.

Now a brand new lighter still version, with lighter carbon fiber, cases taken off servos etc. etc. it weighs 4 ounces with battery.

March 2008 Meeting

Tom Egbert brought his Hanger 9 Extra 260 with a DA 50 gas engine.

Fred Tuckerman brought his Corsair with a 25 LA Nitro engine. A very fast plane.

Another shot of Keith's IFO.

Since this is a slow "Show N Tell" day I will include a couple of pictures of three generations of IFO's in my garage.

The Midwest Performance Flyers is a radio control model aircraft club that promotes flying, training and building R/C model planes, helicopters, gliders, scale, and indoor electric. We have a lot of activity in both indoor and outdoor helicopters. There has been a tremendous increase in the technology in gas and electric helicopters. There has also been an equally big jump in the technology of indoor and outdoor electric airplanes. This makes both of these activities very interesting to participate in as there is something new every day. The two most important improvements in electric have been the brushless motors and the new Lithium Polymer batteries. With these two improvements you can increase the power to weight ratio to a point that will give unlimited vertical performance. I have personally been very involved with indoor flying. I have found some types of airplanes that can be used for indoor flying which can do both acrobatic and 3-D flying and most important are almost indestructible. The two planes that I have found to be best for this are the IFO and the Revolution 2. The IFO can be flown in a very small area and can do loops rolls and inverted flight but is not as good at maneuvers like the torque roll. Although it does not revolve in a torque roll if you add a rudder to the plane it can hover. The Revolution 2 can do the torque roll very well but is harder to fly in a small Gym. The IFO gets it’s strength form a carbon fiber frame covered with ripstop polyester and the Revolution 2 gets it’s durability from the use of EPP foam. The EPP foam lets the airplane bend when it hits something but it bends back without breaking or deforming. While on the subject of durability I might mention the motor/gear train for the airplanes. When we used to fly with motors that had brushes in them the motors had to turn at a higher RPM to make their power. This meant that you had to have a gear reduction because they couldn’t turn a larger prop that was necessary for good vertical performance. Unfortunately every time you hit something it would either break or knock the gear train out of line. After repairing the gear train it was usually necessary to run it for about a ½ hour before the gears would wear in and reach maximum RPM. By that time you would hit something else and have to start all over. Now however you can purchase an Outrunner brushless motor, such as the Nippy Black, that can turn the bigger props without a gear box. This eliminates all the hassle of keeping up the gear box and the plane will run at maximum RPM without any wear-in or break-in time. When you use an Outrunner motor with the EPP foam or carbon fiber/ ripstop polyester planes you will have eliminated almost all of the upkeep and repairing. Home Building Projects Electric Gliders Events Flight Instruction Float Planes Flying Field For Sale Helicopters Indoor Flying Links Mall Show Membership Metro Area RC Flying Photo Gallery September Fest Shirts "N" Caps Show and Tell Work Shop Tips