Hangar Talk – November 2017

Apologies for the time between posts.

New Members

We’d like to welcome another two new members to the club –

• Chris Jones – as an Associate member. Chris hails from WA and is currently a member of PFL;  Welcome Chris.
• Peter Armstrong – flies regularly with Peter Daniels and Doc Baldock. Peter has also just gained his Silver Power & Glider wings. Congratulations Pete.

I’m sure you will all give them a warm welcome to the club.

New Appointments

Congratulations to Mick Green for his recent appointment as a Heavy Model Inspector. The club now has returned to 2 inspectors after the recent retirement of Merv Cameron. Kevin Hay being the other inspector.

Annual Dinner – October 13

It was back to the Queens Head Inn for the Annual Dinner and from all accounts, the past issues were resolved with only positive feedback heard on the food. It was helped by the complimentary Pizzas and garlic bread for the tables. Not a big turnout but those that were there seemed to enjoy the get-together. Some shots are below.

Members’ News

It is always pleasing to get input from members, especially as my attendance to date at the field has been limited to one day! Peter Daniel is always a regular contributor, which is great but it would be nice to receive some material from the Symmons Plains attendees. Here are a few updates on the “Relbia Rebels” branch –

Doc’s 88″ Sopwith Pup, first reported in the April Hangar Talk, had it’s maiden on August 3 (thanks to Max for the photos). 

Peter, inspired by Doc’s Pup, has commenced scratch building a 96″ Bristol m1c. Peter sent this email through.

• 98 inch wingspan
• Turnigy 50/60 outrunner turning 20 x 8 prop. 75 amps at full noise 380 kv motor capable of 2700 w 
• 2×6 cell 5000 batts in parallel with a 100 amp esc
• The all up weight is 15 lbs so it should be fairly lively.
• I had to put 1.5 lbs lead in the cowl for correct c.g.

Then an update when she maidened on September 20.

Hello George.

Great day flying. Forecast wind did not eventuate until 12.00 so big scale ww1 models flew really well. The strip is great.

The little Mustang is owned by Peter Armstrong which he made on his 3D printer. You would not believe how well it flies. Absolutely on rails and at a million miles an hour.

Hope things are going o.k.

Best regards

Peter D.

Peter added the following information –
Most details are here; 3D printed P51 Mustang
I have gone with the ‘tame’ power train
3530 / 1100kv swinging 9×6 
2x 3S 1500 in parallel
60A ESC ( for weight and balance primarily)

I run FrSky radio gear and use cell-level voltage sensing with a 3.5v warning. Practically, this leaves the batteries at 50% resting voltage. FrSky also lets us buddy-box easily even with your weird mode 1 thumbs :). So you should be able to include some sort of flight review also… Ignoring the time to get the printer settings right – Approx 100 hours total print time and ~1kg of PLA filament ($30 in plastic). I can go a lot deeper into 3D printing if there is interest, but it is all white noise to those that aren’t. Pete

RFDS Fun Fly Day – November 18

The club again participated in the RFDS day held around the country to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The weather gods were favourable and it was great to see quite a few turn up (22 in total), including our fellow members the “Relbia Rebels”. Which was pretty good considering PFL were running the State Pattern championships on the same day. Geoff put on the usual barbecue and that was well received.

For me it was a welcome return to the field for the first time since the Christmas party last year. Having not flown for so long and wanting to try out my new Frsky radio, the Horus X12s, I was very conservative taking along my Multiplex Easy Star with a new Frsky Rx the G-RX8 (8 channels expandable to 16). What is unique about this Rx from the other Frsky Rx’s is that along with the usual telemetry (Rx voltage) it has a built in variometer. This receiver is designed to be used for the Gliders. FrSky built the variometer sensor into the RX8R receiver, this will give you telemetry data like altitude and vertical speed. The G-RX8 supports the redundancy function as well, this means you can add on another receiver to create a back-up in case one fails. In addition, it supports SBUS and PWM mode, you can switch between the 2 channels very easily. Cost for this Rx $US40 (probably the most expensive Rx they sell (they range from $US12 up). By the way, whilst have I have been using my Frsky Taranis for over 3 years, it was not the same as the Multiplex mc4000 that I used for my gliders. The Horus looked like it fitted the bill. Tray design, Hall sensor gimbals and a very flexible program in OpenTx to run it, cost around $500 compared with $2500 for my MPX radio!

Unfortunately by the time Kerry and I arrived just after lunch commenced, many models had been packed away. Some shots below –

State Pattern Championships – November 18

As mentioned, PFL had the State Pattern event on the same day. Congratulations to Kevin Hay for 1st place in Advanced and Terry Pearson for third in the same class. Photos courtesy of Will Deal.

November 30 – Drone Footage of our site

Russel Walker sent in a couple of interesting photos taken with his drone. Thanks Russell!

The Internet takes down another icon.

You all hear about how the internet has had an adverse effect on retail bricks and mortar stores but another area has also suffered. We used to rely on our monthly magazine for tips and tricks, the latest adverts etc. However, there is so much information about our hobby readily available on the web, that yet another icon has collapsed. This time Traplet Publications in the UK who went into liquidation in July. For those that don’t know them, they have been around for decades. In various forms, Quiet & Electric Flight, RC Model World to name a couple. I sent my subscription renewal off in July for a 2 year sub ($A240). Fortunately for me, they went into receivership before they processed my credit card!

Don’t forget to register for the Christmas Lunch to be held on December 9!

 Put a Spark in your life and fly electric…

George