Hangar Talk – April 2020

COVID-19

Who would have predicted the situation Australia and the world is in now. If you watched any of the disaster movies like “Contagion” released in  2011, it seemed fanciful at the time and over the top Hollywood drama. Yet now reports are that Contagion accurately foretold what coronavirus would look like. In a 2015 speech, Bill Gates warned that the greatest risk to humanity was not nuclear war but an infectious virus that could threaten the lives of millions of people. If you’re interested, you can see his speech here.

The disruption to our daily lives has been immense, more so if you have school children or have had your employment affected or are in the vulnerable group either with compromised health or aged. Unfortunately, most of our members fall into the latter! Add to that and the impact on our favourite pastime, aero modelling has also been huge. The closing of the field was regrettable but necessary to ensure we complied with government directives.

What are our members doing?

With all that doom and gloom out of the way, it is important to know it will all end and we will be back to normal at some stage. Whatever the new “normal” will be we don’t know.  This then raised the question, with all the “lockdown” procedures and not much worth watching on TV, I wondered what members were doing in their workshop? Coincidentally Max Wiggins distributed an email showing his latest build. I asked Max to elaborate and here is his story.

“Hi George,
Some details for you the Crusader ARF is from Hobby King Australia and the X-Ray is a Seagull ARF which is out of production. I got this model from Danny Nelson who imported the model from the UK several years ago.
I find that now a day it takes me about 2.5 days assemble and setup a ARF model.
I will soon have about 20 ready to fly models. This morning I have been putting up extra model hanging hooks in my garage. I still have a long way go to catch up with Fred’s total of 80 models in the shed.”

(2½ days to assemble and set up and ARF – I need more practice or more discipline as it takes me 2½ weeks/months to do it! Can anyone top Fred’s hangar squadron? – G)

• Wingspan: 1005 mm
• Length: 996 mm
• Area: 22 dm²
• Weight: 650 g
• Motor: Park 450 840kva
• Prop: 9×6
• Battery: 3s LiPo 2100 mAh

---

The H-King Crusader 30E is based on the classic stick design. The model can be flown by pilots of all skill levels, from beginners to experts. The Aircraft is constructed from lightweight ply and balsa and expertly covered with a high contrast color scheme. The Crusader will stand out on the ground and in the air at your local flying club.

The Crusader not only looks the part but also has excellent flight characteristics. It will deliver stable flights from low speed up to top speed. If you want to experience all flying capabilities it will deliver a full range of sport acrobatic maneuvers with ease.

As this is an ARF (Almost Ready to Fly) there will be some assembling required as with most ARF models. You will also need to install your power system and radio equipment. It is recommended that you run a 2216-980KV motor with a 30A ESC (with BEC) and a 10×5 propeller running on a 2200mAh 3S Lipo battery with your choice of radio and receiver. 9g servos provide ample control and will complete the fit out.

The H-King Crusader 30E is an eye-catching plane that will provide hours of precision flight. $200 Get yours now. See here

Features:
• Broad flight envelope, good for beginner and sports flyers alike
• All balsa and light plywood construction
• Easy to fly and with excellent flying characteristics
• Large battery compartment for easy swapping battery packs
• Strong, yet light aluminum landing gear
• High quality covering film with high contrast color scheme
• Full 4 channel control: Elevator, rudder, throttle and aileron

Specs:
Wingspan: 1200mm 
Length: 1000mm 
Flying weight: ~990g

Requires:
1 x 2830 (2216 Stator Size) 980-1100KV Brushless Outrunner Motor
1 x 30A ESC with BEC 
1 x 10×5 Propeller
4 x 9g Servos
1 x 3S 11.1V 2200mAh Lipo Battery
1 x 4~6 channel Radio Transmitter and Receiver

---

Thanks Max for contributing. Keeping some content current on the website is important to assure members that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

If anyone else is in their workshop and have projects underway or completed, and there must be a few of you, please send them in.

Don’t Forget – Put a Spark in your life and fly electric!
George