Saturday, July 27
An early morning peer out of the window and the day did not look very inviting. However a call from Bill Hellinga to tell me that himself, Terry and Mike H were going flying had me rethink and so I charged a couple of models and headed off late in the morning. I passed Bill H on his way home! So I thought I might have left my run a little late. On arrival it was a bit windy but quite flyable.
As it turned out I went to the field (sans Kerry) and so was grateful for Terry’s assistance when I arrived. Bill had left due to a “nose first” landing that saw his nosewheel suffer again. Mike H was readying for another flight when his nosewheel gave way.
I had 3 flights with my Magister. Wind was a bit variable to gusty and at ground level a bit blustery but quite flyable for the Magister, despite its light weight. Terry was quite impressed at how stable the “foamie” was in the conditions and commented a few times on its capability. We had a bit of lunch and a yarn. The new Tx table looks great all painted green and the Charging Station bench is ideal.
As I said before, both Mike and Bill went home without their nose wheels attached. Geoff had the Dragon Lady but he had a few problems and given the conditions decided to take it home again rather than try and fix at the field. The day was not wasted as again Terry and Geoff put their respective “shoulders to the grindstone” and went about hand mowing the barbecue area and mowing the remainder of the car park.
Friday, July 26
As described in the blog below, the posts surrounding the clubhouse were installed on Wednesday by the Symmons Plains Fencing contractors Cooper’s Rural Contracting. Thanks to Justin and his crew and also we are again indebted to Stephen and Ron for their support as all this was done at no cost to the club!
Friday was the day selected to make some headway on more projects that the committee has committed to. In attendance were Terry Pearson, Mike Hope, Geoff Hays, George and Kerry Carnie.
- Installation of the gates and supporting posts around the clubhouse by Mike Hope.
- Construction of the collapsible transmitter table on the southern wall of the clubhouse. Geoff and Terry overseeing this project.
- Construction of the Electric Charging Station benches. Geoff and Terry. (apart from some input into layout, (George decided to mow rather than remain idle)
The Tx table and the charging bench are well made with materials provided by Geoff (again at no charge to the club!)
Tuesday, July 23
“Why is he writing this article mid week?” you might ask. Well I heard that Terry Pearson and Bill Hellinga had organised a week day flying session and I thought what a great idea as flying has been a bit scarce for me the past 12 months. Tuesday morning arrived and it was a magnificent winter day; blue sky a little breeze and quite cool out of the sun. With Kerry’s sister on the plane back to Sydney this morning the opportunity was too great to pass up. A quick word to the boss and permission for take off was granted! As usual, Kerry did the honours and loaded the car for me. In went the Organic glider and the Magister (which hadn’t seen the light of day for about 12 months!). Kerry stayed home to catch up on plenty of chores after our visitor and I headed off to the field on my own. Fortunately the club is full of great members willing to help. I arrived at the field and there was Terry, Bill and Faye. I was duly unloaded along with my gear and it was time to assemble everything.
Bill was the first into the air. The strip was a little long and a bit clumpy so a bit of judicous use of the rudder was required. Not long and Bill was in the air. Bill was in his element; perfect circuits, procedural turns and all whilst maintaining the same height.. It was hard to fault any of Bill’s circuit flying. Landing was next and a bit of a bumpy landing but on the strip and a good flight. All of this done with Terry having a chat to me. “Fire her up again!” was the cry from Terry. Another take off and good circuit flying prevailed followed by another landing “almost” on the strip. The wind strength proving a bit unpredictable for Bill.
Max Wiggins and Kevins Swiggs arrived on the scene. Unloading their car and out came two Hobby King Cloud Fly’s and a “Westerly”. I’ll let Max tell the story of the Westerly;
“On Friday (July 12) Peter Daniel gave me a new Westerly model which he had just finished building this week. I was very happy to receive this model as when I started to fly R/C models in the early 70’s my very first R/C model was a Westerly. We hope it fly’s as well as my original one did. Wingspan is 1.5m and the empty weight without the battery is 1414g. Peter has added ailerons and reduced the dihedral. I am very grateful to Peter for this kind gift. I had a Merco 35 in my first Westerly although lots of people used OS 25 motors. The Merco was very hard to start and did not have a muffler or throttle. I flew it flat out till it ran out of fuel after about 8 minutes, then I did a dead stick landing every flight. (8 minutes was a long time) It was an interesting flight if the model was badly out of trim. My radio was a Kraft 2 channel brick powered by dry batteries. John Bell taught me to fly with this model and after I had flown the model for about a year I sold it undamaged to another modeller (I was very lucky I think). Peter built this model from a plan which I had kept for all those years hoping to one day build another Westerly.
Up until today. I have not flown this plane yet but at the moment it is fitted with a Turnigy L3015A-1000 Brushless Motor and a 10×6 E prop.The ESC is a Turnigy 60A and the battery will be a Zippy 4500 mAh 3 cell.”
Max’s “Westerly” built by Peter Daniel.
Max first had a fly with his Cloud Fly (or AXN Floater). Out came the Westerly and he had a couple of flights and it flew very well. Quite quick to jump into the air and it looked a pretty model. Then disaster struck. All radio control was lost and the model went in from about 100′ up. Max had some thoughts and surmised maybe a RX was a bit questionable. Fortunately the damage, whilst quite significant, was concentrated to the front of the model and was certainly repairable. Kevin had a few flights with his Cloud Fly and these are a great model for almost all conditions and a very cheap purchase.
I had three flights with the Magister, only just making it back on the last flight after 12 minutes of total motor time and my battery was exhausted.
Terry had a few flights with his “? Sport”. It has been so long since Terry flew it, that he had forgotten the name. “What’s the name of my model” he called out to me. “A “Liberty Sport” I replied. That’s it he said with a big smile on his face. Terry again flew it like it was on the end of a string. I then had three flights with my Organic glider. Terry found it hard to believe it only has a 2s LiPo in it. “By gee that has some grunt” as he “launched” it for me. Next it was Bill’s turn again. His nosewheel was showing some signs of wear and tear. Some of these kit u/c are not made with quality piano wire and Bill’s was buckling under any sort of resistance. Not to be daunted, Bill with plenty of encouragement from his mentor Terry, was on the strip for another flight. “Now remember what I told you about the importance of the landing approach Bill. A nice parallel to the strip downwind leg, a 90º base leg and a 90º turn to line up with the strip”. The result was a perfect landing with plenty of applause from the gallery and Max calling out “beautiful landing Bill!” .
With Bill’s help I dismantled my gear and Bill loaded the car for me. I was then on my way home when I noticed some new fencing around the northern perimeter of the property. “The fencing contractors have been I thought”. A quick call to Ron and he realised he had forgotten about our posts around the clubhouse. “The contractors are still here, I’ll get them to meet you over there now” he said. A quick turnaround and back to the field I went. Jason the contractor arrived and we marked out the positions. He checked our posts and said they were fine. His crew will have them in tomorrow for us. “Just as well you called” said Ron “They’ll be gone tomorrow afternoon”. All’s well that ends well I thought. We certainly are very fortunate with the level of support we get.
Because I flew without my co-pilot Kerry for the day, thanks to Terry, Bill and Max for their help and to Faye for the cup of tea and biscuit
Saturday, July 13, 2013
The scheduled July 6 club day was cancelled due to forecast inclement weather. It is winter after all. Then the forecast for the following weekend looked uncertain but as we all know can change from one day to the next. However a last minute decision was made to have a canteen and the next task was how to make sure everyone was aware. Emails were not guaranteed to be read soon enough to I decided on a bulk SMS to those that have advised their mobile numbers. I hope that worked for everyone. Depite the fog, a good turnout ensued. Fred W, Terry P, Mick M, Greg and Alice, Doug C, Mike H, Kevin H, Bill & Faye H, Merv C, Mike H, Mick G, Geoff H, Richard C who made the long trip from Jackey’s Marsh and then myself, Kerry and her sister Lynne visiting from NSW. Have I missed anyone?
Bill H and myself mowed the strip and pits on Friday. I followed Terry’s lead and mowed with the old mower (just as well as the new one has all foot controls so I would not have got very far on the new one!). The old mower has the blades much lower and does a better job of cutting the strip. This will change when the new mower gets the lower blades which have to be custom made. With both mowers going it was all over in a bit over one hour.
On arrival at the field we were greeted by a fairly thick blanket of fog and no wind. Nevermind this was the opportunity for a fair bit of banter whilst we sat around and waited for the fog to lift. Some time passed and a bit of blue sky appeared in the distance only for the fog to roll in again from the north. Then it lifted enough for Doug to get out the foamie T34 and Greg reciprocated and brought out his new creation, a semi scale Fairchild with tissue covering. 6g servos, a micro Rx and a Turnigy Park 2050kv motor.
Greg Robertson and his “Fairchild”
An early lunch was called just as the fog started to show signs of clearing, much to the chagrin of those that had just seized the opportunity to get a model into the air. Things were looking brighter anyway so the day was likely to improve.
With everyone fed and watered, it was back to the real purpose of the day, flying. Kevin Hay brought out his Yak, recently purchased from Vince Burling. It looked good on the ground and even better in the air. Kevin has fitted a gas DLE 30. Good job Kev.
Kevin Hay’s Vantex Yak
The scene had been set and now the models started coming out of their hiding places in the boots of cars or vans. Armed with the camera I started taking some shots. I was especially keen to see Doug’s CM Pro Piper PA-25 “Pawnee”. After a little bit of encourangement Doug brought the model out and went about the task of assembling the model ready for a flight. The model flew well and sounded very nice. Nicely assembled by Greg R who said a lot of the hardware had to be discarded due to poor quality and not up to the task of of controlling the flight surfaces. In a previous session the undercarriage was giving way and that has now been bolstered with a fair bit of fibreglass.
New committee member Mick Green maidened his new Precedent “Low Boy” complete with flaps and sprung oleos. I must say the undercarriage looked a little “close coupled” or in need of spreading a bit more towards the outer wing as it looked a little as though it was balancing on the u/c. Mick bought the kit off eBay for a bargain. It was covered with silver film that proved to be a real challenge in the very gray sky especially when Mick tested my eyesight when he flew it almost to the northern pine trees! Mind you Mick tried to brighten the day by wearing shorts!! A few of us felt the cold just by looking at Mick.
Mike H brought along a few models; a new trainer, his foam glider and a nice little Hobby King “Pioneer” from their Retro series. It looks a bit like a Morane-Saulnier. Mike had a bit of trouble with his trainer but I understand a successful flight of the “Pioneer” and , despite the small wheels, a successful take off from the strip. Terry P waited for the skies to clear and brought out his Phoenix Models “Scanner“. With the flightline clear, Terry did some scintilating low passes, no more than one or two feet off the deck and it looked lie it was on a wire as it tracked along the strip. Not content with just low passes, the circuits were done as knife edges. Nice flying Terry! Richard Cooper flew his “Katana” and had all sorts of difficulty controlling it. A quick inspection by Jacques showed a badly warped wing panel that would have made it almost impossible to fly. Richard did a good job of getting it back in one piece!
Some images from the day are shown below. The very gray skies proved a real challenge for photography and this gave a rather bland selection of photographs but here we go.
