Model Airplanes

Giant-scale model aerobatic airplanes to compete here

Giant-scale model aerobatic airplanes are set to take to the South Florida skies on the weekend of Feb. 28 and Mar. 1.

Some 60 pilots from all over Florida and as far north as Canada are set to compete in five different categories ranging in complexity from Basic to Unlimited.

The event, which is almost free to the public ($5 per carload donation), will take place at AMP’S flying facilities located two miles west of Krome Avenue at 20040 SW 168 St. (the entrance is on the left).

The 2015 AMP’S Aerobatic Challenge is sanctioned by the International Miniature Aerobatics Club (IMAC) and the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA). These radio-controlled giant-scale model airplanes compete following the same rules and regulations as their full-size counterparts. Pilots are awarded points for precisely following a series of aerobatic maneuvers designed by the International Miniature Aerobatics Club (IMAC).

The five competition classes range from Basic, where any size model airplane can be entered, up to the Unlimited class in which you can see 42 percent size exact replicas of modern aerobatic airplanes with wingspans of more than 10 feet, and sometimes exceeding $10,000 in value.

Pilots compete for plaques and prizes, awarded to the first three positions in each class, and for points towards the IMAC Southeast Region Championship. In addition, pilots enter into raffles for valuable prizes donated by some of the country’s leading model airplane manufacturers.

The public is invited to attend this event where the whole family can enjoy a thrilling day of exiting competition while

Article source: http://www.communitynewspapers.com/brickell/giant-scale-model-aerobatic-airplanes-to-compete-here/

Where to build model trains, planes and cars on Long Island

Diesel locomotives pass through the crossing lights on

Diesel locomotives pass through the crossing lights on the train tracks set up in Trainland, a hobby shop for trains in Lynbrook, Feb. 14, 2015. (Credit: Esther Horvath)

Those who love their model planes, trains and cars find a way to partake in their hobby year-round — blustery weather, no matter. Here are four places to get started.

PLANES

Golfers won’t be found swinging in Bethpage State Park or soccer players kicking at Cedar Creek Park in Seaford these days, but you will see hobbyists flying their model airplanes, despite the frigid…

Article source: http://long-island.newsday.com/events/where-to-build-model-trains-planes-and-cars-on-long-island-1.9982431

From rust bucket to showpiece: Volunteers are rescuing the first Boeing 747

TWO YEARS AGO, Museum of Flight curator Dan Hagedorn walked through the decaying fuselage of RA-001, the first Boeing 747, frowned and offered a frank assessment: “No museum, anywhere, has ever faced a restoration project of this magnitude,” he said, predicting a long, piecemeal rehab of the once-proud symbol of Seattle-area big thinking.

A couple months later, retired Boeing quality-assurance manager Dennis Dhein gave the musty bird a similar walk-through, shrugged, banged out a to-do list, recruited some buddies, and got to work.

Today, the historic plane looks a lot closer to the gleaming beast that rolled from a hangar in Everett on Sept. 10, 1968, than a plane one step away from a desert bone yard.

Leaky seams have been sealed, carpeting replaced, lighting installed and equipment restored to return the plane to its unique test-flight configuration. Even more significantly, the hulking aircraft, which sits among other historic jetliners outside the museum near Boeing Field, now gleams in its original white, red and silver test-plane livery, thanks to its first paint job in decades.

“We have brought that beautiful airplane back from the brink,” Hagedorn says.

He offers full credit to Dhein and a crew of mostly retired restorers who have thrown their collective hearts, as well as dogged, seat-of-the-pants ingenuity, into restoring the machine that put the Puget Sound region on the map as a center of innovation — and whose progeny have kept it there for more than four decades.

The remarkable transformation of RA-001 from rust bucket to near-showpiece is

Article source: http://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/from-rust-bucket-to-showpiece-volunteers-are-rescuing-the-first-boeing-747/

James A. Haught: The remarkable journey we have traveled

Look back over your life and count the amazing changes.

There was no electricity in Reader, the Wetzel County farm town where I was born in 1932. We had gaslights with fragile mantles that crumbled at a touch, and gas stoves hooked up with rubber hoses. Families outside of town, beyond the gas lines, lived with smelly kerosene lamps and wood stoves.

Some people used gasoline-powered Maytag washers that sounded like machine guns and had long exhaust hoses to carry off fumes. A few hilltop families had windmill chargers for their battery radios.

My family was the white-collar elite — father a postmaster, mother a schoolteacher — and we enjoyed the finer things: a Model-A coupe, an Oliver No. 9 typewriter that hammered like a gandy-dancer crew, a Ludwig upright piano that weighed a ton, running water from a gas-powered neighborhood pumping system.

Hollow folks had handle pumps, washbasins, thundermugs, outdoor privies. Horse-drawn wagons were their chief transport. State route 20 from New Martinsville to Clarksburg was gravel that clanked against fenders and running-boards. Some other roads were just mud. Horses were as common in the streets as cars. A passing airplane caused everyone to stop and stare.

When electricity came to Reader, wires were tacked across our ceilings. My father kept the gaslights too, because he distrusted novelties.

Plastic was unknown. A few

Article source: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150301/GZ01/150309962/1103

AMT, parts assembler for Boeing’s Dreamliner, joins Charleston area aerospace …

A key supplier of parts for Boeing Co.’s Dreamliner program, AMT Senior Aerospace, has joined this area’s growing aerospace cluster with an assembly facility in the Crosspoint section of Palmetto Commerce Park in North Charleston.

With contractors still putting the finishing touches on its building, the company held a soft opening this week to begin assembling parts for Boeing South Carolina’s campus a few miles down the road.

Dan Guzman, general manager of the AMT plant, said the company wanted to move closer to Boeing instead of continuing to ship parts from Arlington, Wash. Although some parts for local Dreamliner production still are coming from Washington state, Guzman said that by July, AMT plans to move all of the assembly work here for Dreamliners made in South Carolina.

“Strategically, we felt it was a good move to support our customer,” Guzman said, adding that AMT has been considering a North Charleston location for more than a year. “It helps with logistics and reduces lead times. Being this close, we can improve cost structure and give better value.”

AMT opened with a dozen employees and expects to grow to 20 workers by the time all of the assembly work is moved here from Washington state. That work will take up about one-third of AMT’s 39,000-square-foot space, leaving plenty of room for future growth. The local company’s

Article source: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150227/PC05/150229421/1177/amt-parts-assembler-for-boeing-x2019-s-dreamliner-joins-charleston-area-aerospace-cluster

Researchers create world’s first 3D-printed jet engines

Working with colleagues from Deakin University and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), researchers from Australia’s Monash University have created the world’s first 3D-printed jet engine. While they were at it, they created the world’s second one, too. One of them is currently on display at the International Air Show in Avalon, Australia, while the other can be seen at the headquarters of French aerospace company Microturbo, in Toulouse.

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A team from the Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing and spin-off company Amaero started with an older gas turbine engine contributed by Microturbo (Safran). Still in working order, the small engine was used for auxiliary power in aircraft such as the Falcon 20 business jet.

Led by Prof. Xinhua Wu, the team proceeded to take the engine apart, and scan all the individual components. Using computer models obtained from those scans, a laser was then utilized to selectively melt metal alloy powder, building

Article source: http://www.gizmag.com/3d-printed-jet-engine/36273/