MARS Board Meeting
March 9, 2017
Attendees:
Evan Brown
MaryBeth Clune
DeWain Feller
Brett Carrier
Dennis Juris
Troy Juris
Bill Clune
Ferenc Gy. Roka
Nat Kinsey
Mike Pleban
David Riedel
Eric Roth
Steven Rea
Minutes:
The February 2017 minutes were approved with the correction to the date of the February Meeting.
Introductions:
MaryBeth called the meeting to order. The members present introduced themselves.
Report of Officers
President’s report:
MaryBeth reported that the check for the NAR grant has been received and will be applied to the construction of the low power rack. MARS will not be charged for our table at the July 14-16 National Warplane Museum airshow.
Vice President’s report:
No report (Greg was excused do to being sick).
Treasurer’s report:
Evan reported that we have received the $250 grant check from the NAR. He paid $181.44 to SMC Metal and $77.68 to Amazon for the LRP pad parts. We have paid for a batch of brochures for $75 for the table at the RMCS. A check for $64.88 was written to David Reidel for the launch controller, and a $117.58 check was written to Upscale CNC (Nat) for new launch controller parts.
Secretary’s report:
No new report
Committee Reports
- Membership, Bill Clune
Bill reported that we have 32 paying members so far. 25 HPR, 7 LPR, 24 children.
- Education, Evan Brown
No new report
- Launch Ops., Greg Young
No report (Greg excused do to being sick).
- NYPOWER, Mary Beth.
Old Business
- David Riedel reported that he has received the new controller box and the tester. He brought one of the testers to demonstrate it. All of the igniter leads are done. David suggests that we buy new Teflon wire.
- We will need to inventory the extension cords that we currently have to determine how many of what lengths we need to buy.
- We discussed options for where to hold the cleaning party (because Nat has moved, and the prior house will not be available).
- Nat gave an update on the LPR racks.
- Nat gave an update on the new away cell. He sent 3D CAD images of his design concept, which uses a pair of box beams or tubes. He did not want to design it such that someone could climb it (due to liability issues), and hence the design did not use ham radio tower. If the club provided a climbable structure and someone fell, the club could potentially be exposed to a law suit. However, there was a concern that the tube design could flex (and that the truss of the ham radio tower would provide a much sturdier and rigid design). A suggestion was made to use ham tower, but cover it with aluminum skin to prevent someone from climbing it.
- The options for providing an away cell for NYPOWER were discussed. The new Jim Sekol design would not be available before NYPOWER. The existing pads are available; however, the size of the rocket that could be used on the large pads would be limited by how much weight could be manually lifted into the vertical position. One option to save weight would be to not attach the blast defector to the pad (such as mounting the blast deflector independently on the ground). We will need an Away Cell Manager who is dedicated to the operation of the away cell to ensure that the away cell is operated properly and safely.
- The Three Legged Pig has committed to providing the food trailer for NYPOWER.
- MaryBeth passed around the three options for the T-shirt. The “playing card” style won the tally count. Dennis gave MaryBeth a lead for a graphic designer.
New Business
No new business
Concerns:
No concerns were raised
Adjournment:
The board meeting was adjourned.
Show and Tell
Dennis showed off his X-15, and he is nearly finished with the fabrication. There were a number of challenges building the kit because some of the parts and slots were not straight. Dennis had to build a fixture to hold the parts straight during the fabrication. The wing strakes (forward extensions of the wing root along the fuselage) had to be filled with foam.
Ferenc Roka showed off the Estes Star Orbiter mid power kit. It is a very affordable option for a mid power kit, especially with a Hobby Lobby coupon. He also showed off a clone of his very first rocket. He launched the original on Feb 13, 1967 (50 years ago). It landed in a tree, but he was able to retrieve it a week later.
Evan showed off his Madcow fiberglass Screech. It was painted with Chrysler Hemi Orange paint. It is a sturdy 2.6” rocket that suitable for fast, high flights.
Next Meeting
Thursday, April 13th, 2017, at 7 PM