NAR 60 Year Reunion, Part 13 -More Fine Displays

Another one of the display tables held a large collection of early Canaroc model rocket kits.  This presentation was provided by Mr. Denis Lufkin (NAR 96987).

On yet another of the tables was a display by John Chatham of the SAI (Space Age Industries) model 'da Judge' mounted on a MMI style wood launcher.

SAI was also well-known back in the 60s and early 70s for their 'Hen Grenade' egg-lofter kit.

Right next to John's display was a small slide viewer provided by Tom Pastrick (NAR 2276)

where attendees could view pictures of early NARAMs.

NAR 60 Year Reunion, Part 12 - Vern Estes Takes The Stage....

The second speaker of the evening was Mr. Estes, who gave a nice talk on the early NARAMS and his history with them.

Amazingly, Vern has been to 58 of the 60 NARAMS!

During his speech, Vern stated that he wasn't sure if the first National Championship meet held in 1958 was actually called  NARAM-1.  He has never seen any documentation that specified that.

At that time, Bill Stine got up and approached the podium and handed Vern a piece of paper. We never heard what was in that document, but it might have held the answer. Perhaps we will find out at a later date.

On the humorous side, Vern was describing the early use of the standard NAR lead payload weight.

"That was before these were invented."  he said, holding up an egg!

At the end of his speech, Vern stated that he and Gleda were finding it increasingly difficult to travel across the country to attend model rocketry events.  He told the assembly that NARAM 60 will likely be the last one at which they would be present.

I can only speak for myself, but I am pretty sure that there was many a moist eye in the meeting hall following that announcement.

When he was finished with his talk, Vern left the podium to the accompaniment of an extended ovation from the attendees.....

FlatCat Boost/Glider Build, Part 5 - Some Mighty Fine Wing Assembly

Preparing the wing root edge for gluing…

The MRm instructions say to bevel the root edges.  This is done to provide a better gluing surface to join the two halves of the wing.   One can get by with eyeballing and free-hand sanding this bevel with a sanding block.  Being a careful modeler (yeah…right…), I like to be more precise.

I prop each wing half up to the prescribed dihedral angle – in this case – 2 inches root to tip, and sand the bevel with a vertically oriented sanding block.  It’s all about control, my friends.

TIP: Again it is wise to pay attention to which wing is being worked on, and sand the proper bevel angle.

ANOTHER TIP:  Use of a courser grit sandpaper is recommended here.  The idea is to produce a rougher gluing surface to better ‘grab’ the glue.

 Gluing up the wing…

 As pointed out in the MRm article, a double glue joint is used to join the two halves of the wing.

TIP: It's always wise to use a piece of waxed paper to lay the glued-up wing assembly on, otherwise the bench top becomes a permanent part of the wing.

The instructions say to prop each wing tip up to the specified 2 inches for the dihedral angle.  I prefer to perform this step by laying one wing flat on the table and propping the other wing tip up to 4 inches.  I also place a small weight on the ‘bench top wing’ as an extra measure to keep things from moving around. 
In my workshop, any item that just happens to be sitting around within reach gets pressed into service as a construction jig!

I'll let the assembly dry thoroughly before moving it.

Once the wings are dry a flat, wider gluing surface must be sanded into the bottom of the joint.  Again, courser paper should be used here to help the glue to grab better.

The wing assembly is now ready to attach to the fuselage.