December 2009.pub
Transcription
December 2009.pub
Volume 10, Issue 6 December 2009 The Bi-Monthly Newsletter of the Victorian Flying Scale Aircraft Association. Visit our website at http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/vfsaa VICTORIA v. SOUTH AUSTRALIA When the Trans Tasman event fell apart, due to New Zealand being unable to assemble a team, we agreed to still travel to South Australia and enjoy a competition with SA modellers at their Constellation field north of Adelaide. David Law was unable to make the trip but Noel Whitehead, Gary Sunderland and myself were joined by Trevor Pugh to form a four man Victorian team. Noel and I travelled together on Friday aided by one of those new fangled GPS road guides to steer us through Adelaide. The GPS worked well in Adelaide but was confounded by the new Western Bypass road. As we left Melbourne, it kept telling us to turn at various roundabouts, to slow down for school crossings, and was generally intent on getting us back onto the old Ballarat road. Technology is great but when it’s not up to date it can be confusing and, like many things these days, when you buy an article you also incur an ongoing expense to maintain its viability. We also debated whether our generation will probably be the last to be able to read a road map or street directory! Our trip was uneventful and we negotiated Adelaide without the GPS spitting the dummy (nothing changes much in Adelaide). Our accommodation was at a caravan and camping park on the North side not too far from the field and proved to be quite comfortable with two bedrooms and a lounge/kitchen area. The unit was on the main entrance road and did not have parking facilities for both car and trailer however we managed to park the trailer in a dead end road behind the unit and, with the use of a powerboard, tapped into the hot water power outlet to charge our gear. It was all easy and simple and we had a nice little pub about 1k down the road to keep us fed and watered. The Constellation Field is on the waterfront of the gulf about 20k’s north of the city and as we approached along a dirt road we were confronted by many signs stating that we were being watched and would be summoned if we tried to dump rubbish in the area. Obviously noone takes any notice of the signs as there was a constant stream of big plastic bags and other unwanted rubbish along both sides of the road! We gave some thought to a Melbourne equivalent of the area but could not quite match it to anything here. The field itself is excellent with a large wellgrassed expanse on one side, which allowed for flight in any direction to suit wind conditions of the day, and plenty of space on the other three sides for any type of flying. They have shade covers over the pits, a comfortable clubhouse, toilet facilities, plenty of parking adjacent to the pits and the usual equipment sheds, etc. All in all it is a very nice facility. Saturday was a nice sunny day with a steady but not too strong sea breeze. The local members turned out in strength with a good range of scale aircraft and we enjoyed a busy day of flying. Noel flew his RV-4, Trevor his Adam 500, Gary flew his Fokker DVII and I had my Marathon cum Extra 300. (continued on page 4) Inside this issue: Minutes of October Meeting. 2 President’s Report.. 3 Victoria v. South Aust. (cont..). 4-5 Temora Scale 2009. 6-7 Ballarat ARF Scale 2009. 8 Sportscale at the State Field. 9 Scale Rally at P&DARCS. 10-11 Special Dates and Points of Interest63rd Australian National Championships at Albury from Monday 28th Dec,2009 to Wednesday 26th Jan, 2010 Minutes of the October General Meeting. Date: 1-10-09 Start: 8.10pm Location: FNCV Attendance: 22 Apologies: Gary Sunderland, David Law, John Gottschalk, Ian Lamont, Anthony Mott, Barrie Reaby. Previous minutes-: Read. Accepted: Paul Winter Seconded: Noel Whitehead Matters arising: Nil. Correspondence in: Approval from P&DARCS to run the State Champs next year. VMAA minutes. Correspondence out: Request to VRF for Vicscale Trophy 2010 on Queen’s Birthday weekend. Treasurers report: 50 members financial. Accepted: Graeme Godden Seconded: Trevor Pugh General business: John Lamont spoke about members who did not come to events. General discussion was held. Rod Dunne offered to organize pocket calendars, and Andrew Smallridge offered to sponsor them. Same format as last year Noel spoke about his trip to Goulburn while he was in Canberra. General discussion on the Shepparton Mammoth. Steve Malcman asked if anybody had any suggestions for the new website. Brian Evans suggested that we could include building tips. Many thanks to Frank Singh for the supper. Meeting closed: 10.00pm Show and tell. Mark Collins showed his Beech Staggerwing. Trevor showed his books on aircraft cockpit interiors. SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL FORM Victorian Flying Scale Aircraft Association Inc. Membership for year 1/7/2009 - 30/6/2010 Use this form for RENEWALS ONLY. New members should contact the Secretary for a copy of the constitution and a NEW MEMBER application form. Name.........................................................… Telephone No: Home.....................… Address......................................................… Business………………. .......................................................... Postcode...................... MAAA Registered No:......................... E-Mail Address……………………………………………….. Affiliated Club................................................. Please forward this form together with a cheque for $30.00 to: VFSAA Treasurer, C/- Mr. T. Grieger, 18 Ernest Street, Bayswater, 3153. page 2 Scale News President’s Report Hi All, Well we all have another year almost under our belts with Christmas just around the corner. I have spent most of my modeling time this year on my Pitts S2-A that I am building although like most scale models, I just can’t see where the hours have gone. As much as I am pleased with the results I am getting, I need to be careful that the pursuit of the perfect model doesn’t stop me from getting it in the air. I hope Santa is kind to all of you and your families .To all members, have a great Christmas / New Year, and rest up ready for a big year of scale and scale competitions in 2010. Thanks for your support in ’09 and if I don’t see you at the meeting I will see you next year. David. Our competitions this year have been great considering the unusual weather patterns we seem to be encountering. I am not sure if this year has been nearly normal weather and I have forgotten what it is like or if in actual fact the current weather conditions are a sign of how it will be in the future. I suppose all we can do is just keep turning up on the day and hope for the best. From the Editors. Following on from Clive Butler’s writing on the new ‘Giant’ model inspection procedure in the last newsletter I note that the large B17 built in Queensland was lost at the recent Temora event. From photos published on the web it can be seen that the model suffered a major failure of the tailplane structure leading to an uncontrolled crash. In this case, regardless of control separation, redundancy systems and failsafe setups, the aircraft was totally out of control and could have created a major incident if the crash had caused property damage or personal injury. It’s not the first “Giant’ model to crash and most will have seen the B-52 crash in the UK, shown widely on YouTube. It certainly won’t be the last if these models continue to be accepted and I for one would not like to have my name on the ‘Permit to Fly’ for any of these models. I have made the comment before and repeat again - “There are very few people, if any, in Australian aeromodelling with the technical background to be able to say with certainty that these very large models are structurally sound.” - and that applies equally to own designs, models built from commercial plans and ARF’s. These models are usually built for the express purpose of display flying and when they are flown before large crowds we are taking an unacceptable risk with the bureaucratic and public perception of our hobby. The cause of the failure can be speculated on and may have been the result of elevator flutter or a design fault in the tailplane structure. Either way it demonstrates the inherent risk in the acceptance of these large aircraft despite the inspection procedures recently introduced by the MAAA. NOTE: We still have a few members who have not renewed for 2009-2010. I have included another copy of the Membership Renewal Form for your use. If you are unsure whether you have renewed please contact the Treasurer. President: David Law Tel: 9844-4424, e-mail: david.law@summitbuilders.com.au Secretary: Keith Schneider Tel: 9842-5381, e-mail: kjschneider@rabbit.com.au Treasurer: Tony Grieger Tel: 9720-9126, e-mail: tonyg@rabbit.com.au Newsletter: Ian Lamont John Lamont Tel: 9439-4469, e-mail: ilamont@rabbit.com.au Tel: 9431-0044, e-mail: jlamont@rabbit.com.au Scale News page 3 It was good to see that scale modelling is building up again in SA after some quiet years and we should see more of the SA modellers at future scale events. VICTORIA N. WHITEHEAD Sunday was the competition day and we brought out the scale models for this event. Noel flew his Boomerang, Gary flew his PfalzDXII, I flew my Spacewalker and Trevor again used his Adam 500. Gary made a good comeback for this event as he had an unfortunate accident with the Pfalz on Friday when he trod on the tailplane while retrieving the model after it overturned. The tail was cracked at the root but a liberal splash of glue on Saturday night saw it right and ready to fly again on Sunday. As the South Australians had five wanting to fly we acquired a de facto Victorian in Steve Barker from their ranks to make up our numbers and combat commenced. The competition was a success with most completing their two flights. The large Stearman and Thunderbolt of the SA team certainly had a great presence in the air and were very well flown. A few contestants had the odd problem but overall we were quite impressed with the standard of the SA models and the enthusiasm of the SA scale modellers. We discussed future opportunities for competition and invited the SA modellers to attend our Trophy event next June, an offer which was greeted with enthusiasm by the South Aussies. CONTESTANT MODEL RND 1 RND 2 TOTAL CAC BOOMERANG 2023 2009 2016 G. SUNDERLAND PFALZ XII 2084 1926 2005 T. PUGH ADAM 500 1894 2050 1972 J. LAMONT SPACEWALKER 1879 1757 1818 S. BARKER COMPER SWIFT 1354 0 677 SOUTH AUSTRALIA CONTESTANT MODEL RND 1 RND 2 TOTAL G. BERGEN SUPER STEARMAN 2156 2288 2222 T. PEARCE P-47 THUNDERBOLT 2103 2291 2197 R. OUSMAN SPACEWALKER 1852 1981 1916.5 458 1801 1129.5 0 1363 881.5 R. SPURRIER G. SIMPSON RESULT VICTORIA ……………………………..8488 SOUTH AUSTRALIA ………………...8146.5 It was a good trip and worth the long drive to re-establish contact with fellow scale modellers in our adjacent state. After packing our trailer, we left on Monday morning. The GPS did the job getting back onto the highway and from there it was a comfortable trip back to Melbourne. page 4 Scale News All of the aircraft in the photos are of South Australian origin and although I can’t put the builders’ names to models the photos do reflect the high standard of scale modelling in the state. Scale News page 5 THRILLS and SPILLS at TEMORA SCALE 2009 (Tony Grieger) On the three days preceding the event the weather was nice and calm, but lo and behold, on the evening of the 5th, a vicious wind came which was to cause havoc for the first two days of the event. At 1000 on Friday morning static judging got underway but the situation overall did not look good as two windsocks showed a steady full 90° crosswind of howling strength. The scoreboard showed 52 entrants but in the end only 45 flew. The CD, John Rolfe, was seen to rub his hands together and pronounce that he wanted all models to complete four rounds; a tall order. Competitors entered either Expert, Masters, Flying Only, Team or Jet, classes. The bitumen runway immediately in front of the museum was the flightline. Much of the time two sets of two flight judges, five metres apart, was used. On one of the first flights, Peter Goff flying a P-47 was flying along the flightline when a loud bang was heard. On landing it was found that his wooden prop had shed a blade. Dave Brown flying a Grumman “Panther” was the first jet to fly and was having difficulty handling the conditions. A Spacewalker performing a loop almost made his loop too large. Mike Farnan’s first flight with his A-20G “Boston” in Team Scale was good but landed with the undercarriage retracted, scraping the fuselage badly on the bitumen. Both 3-bladed props were destroyed. The model is powered by two OS “Sirius” radials. According to Mark Collins a faulty piston was to blame. A Heinkel 51 went forward onto its nose on its first attempted take off, restarted, then flipped over when landing. A wheel pant had badly scraped the tarmac and broke the fairing on the undercarriage leg and the corresponding interplane strut. On Saturday the weather conditions were similar. A third scale Sopwith “Tripe” of Robert Zyp landed hard damaging the undercarriage and flipped over also causing wing/interplane damage. The wind direction required a WW1 model to land towards the Museum/ spectators. Ken Lawson of Launceston, was flying a third scale, 38kg La-9, powered by a DA170. It had a surprisingly low landing speed. A super monster B-17 of Stephen Thomas had been doing several engine run-ups since the event began when at 1100 on the second day it was its turn to fly. page 6 On take off it turned inwards of the flightline breaching safety according to the CD, John Rolfe. The model corrected, flew 3 circuits then when approaching the judges position it suffered tail flutter and half the stab came off. Several other parts also jettisoned. The model fortunately then turned away from the flightline and soon went into a spiral dive at some height from which its demise was obvious. Flying proceedings halted during the extensive clean-up. Afterwards in an excellent show of good sportsmanship the pilot went to the PA system and asked — “Anyone got any Zap?” Clive Butler’s “Zero” was rich on take off and threatening to stall but once into the circuit the motor opened up. It hammered along but flew the entire flight with the undercarriage down. He landed long and the undercarriage collapsed and one wingtip was broken. The triplane flew again but near the end of its flight the motor stopped and the model flipped over on landing off the runway on grass. On Anthony Ogle’s second flight the P-47 lost its canopy. Several models appeared to make satisfactory landings until falling foul of full size runway markers. These were hard plastic of conical shape approximately one metre across and protruding sufficiently above ground to pose a serious hazard to even the largest of models. Often the contact was quite audible. Mike Farnan’s second flight was very good. Slower aircraft types were generally successful taking off on a 45degree angle to the runway but John Kastelan’s Fokker D.7 quarter scale was an exception. The Beech “Staggerwing” of Mark Collins flew solidly but landed long, off the runway onto grass with Scale News the undercarriage up. This was conducted well with minimal scraping. Several jets were very competently flown. One was a small red Mig-15 by Chris Paterson. Peter Agnew had a dark blue Grumman F9F “Cougar” and David Gladwin flew a large beautifully presented RAF BAe “Hawk”. Dave Brown however crashed on his second landing. John Kinnane flew his Pitts S2 very well. A large P-51 “Mustang” in a sky blue/silver colour scheme was nice to watch; the pilot, Richard Symes receiving a hug from his female partner each time he landed. Ross Smith, a newcomer to scale competition was flying his 30% Balsa USA Super Stearman. It weighs 23.5kgs and is powered with a ZDZ160. It also uses diesel to fuel a smoke system which gives the large model great atmosphere in flight. Austars Models donated a 95” Beaver and a SPE26 petrol motor for a raffle which was advertised the three days. On Sunday morning most competitors had their models ready at around 0830 while the flying recommenced just after 0900. The wind was still blowing at 90degrees but the strength was much reduced. The big metallic Cessna “Birddog” of Darren Smith had a good first flight. Ken’s La9 was sounding awesomely powerful. It also flew well but this time on landing there was another loud “whack” when it made contact with a runway marker this time removing the whole left wheel and strut. An Extra 330 by Jason Starkey was another to give a flight demonstration with smoke. Taking advantage of the improved wind conditions, David Balfour flying with his Curtiss “Robin” now elected to take off and land parallel to the judges but on the grass on the near side of the sealed runway. Although the grass was rough compared to a model flying runway, he made it look quite straight forward. A SR-9 Stinson “Reliant” was flown well by Bill Mansell. The big Stearman followed the Curtiss Robin’s example, also successfully. Greg Tracey flying a P-47 flew half a flight with his wheels down but landed safely. Scale News A nice Hawker “Sea Fury” was flown by Peter Love. Byam Wight of Canberra had a P-47. Chris Henry flew a Spitfire XV1, Peter Gow, a “Corsair”, and a P-38 was flown by Simon Press. Don Murray flew his venerable “Dauntless”. At 1100 the wind finally swung to alongside the runway. Mark Collins’ Beech with a DZY sounded nicely grunty without being too loud. Previously in the event, engine noise for most models wasn’t obvious with the howling wind blowing from behind the pit/spectator area. Anthony Ogle had more trouble with his P-47 when this time his engine stopped while in flight. He landed long, very long, trying to wash off speed and made a gentle touchdown only to become another casualty of the runway markers. His model appeared badly damaged on return. Next flight of the L-19 “Birddog” of Darren Smith was now flying in calm conditions but suddenly appeared to experience radio problems. After some antics it dived from quite a height and Darren regained control just in time. He then brought the model back. As it approached the judges line flying straight and level the Birddog turned outward and went into a terminal spiral dive. Alf Williams’ (Hawker Typhoon ) flew most of his round with the wheels down. He elected to land on grass which was just as well as when he did, his retracts failed. The event closed around 1430. with Team and Flying Only classes not completing their 4th round. The PA system announcer was the same as used for the full size aircraft displays. Prizes included nicely engraved plaques with aircraft motifs, engraved glasses, Zenoah 20s, an Austars Cessna 152 ARF, Spectrum 7 radio and Mike Farnan presented two of the new Hitec Aurora 9ch 2.4 radios. Half the competitors used 2.4 radios while the other half used 36MHZ. MASTERS 1. David Balfour 2. Graham Harrod 3. Chris Paterson Curtis Robin NA Harvard Mk lll Mig 15 EXPERT 1. David Gladwin 2. Richard Symes 3. Phil Crandon BAE Hawk NA P-51 Mustang Albatros DVa TEAM 1. Peter Agnew 2. Peter Noack 3. Mike Farnan Grumman Cougar Fairchild PT-19 Douglas Boston FLYING 1. Peter Love 2. John Kinnane 3. Jason Starkey Hawker Sea Fury Pitts S2 Extra 330 page 7 BALLARAT ANNUAL ARF SCALE COMPETITION 2009. Another early start saw us on the way to Ballarat for their Annual ARF Scale event. It didn’t look promising as we headed west and sure enough it was blowing hard when we arrived at the field and despite some sunshine the south wind was freezing as we huddled around the stove in the clubhouse preparing entries and flying schedules. Despite the cold and strong wind there was no doubt that everyone intended to fly although we didn’t really know what to expect when airborne. As it turned out we were fine once into the sky but taking off and landing was something else again. It became a case of dashing out when called, flying and then dashing back to warm up again. The judges displayed great strength of character in sitting huddled up in heavy coats and rugs enduring the cold. I think they reached a stage where they couldn’t feel any colder and just sat there in a semi petrified state. Trevor Pugh starting his Adam 500 which flew well. That’s Anthony Mott in the polar outfit assisting at the start up. RESULTS CONTESTANT N. WHITEHEAD MODEL RV-4 P. EVANS 2273 1 2107.5 2 R. CARRIGG STEARMAN 2095 3 T. PUGH ADAM 500 2016.5 4 J. LAMONT YAK 54 1773 5 1760 6 1710 7 1693 8 R. PIMBLOTT M. ROWAN The winter gear was needed on the flightline. SCORE M. WERNER PITTS S12 Now that the trees have gone the field looks quite different and you could expect better flying conditions but the 1m high canola crop surrounding the two strips and extending over the rest of the paddock still produced a lot of turbulence close to the ground and some of the takeoffs and landings were very interesting. My first flight saw my Yak roll left to the vertical then right, left and back to level all in the height of four or five metres but miraculously we didn’t have one incident and the only damage for the day was to Roger Carrigg’s Stearman which damaged the rudder when it tipped over in a wind gust after landing. Roger later reported that the wind strength during the day was 40k/hr gusting to 59k/hr, it was certainly the strongest wind I’ve ever flown in and I’m sure that it was only the fact that we were flying ARF’s, with no great feeling of attachment to the model, that allowed us to continue. The three placegetters each received a trophy and all competitors were presented with a very useful toolbox containing several useable items of modelling gear. Considering the conditions it was a fairly successful day and we look forward to returning next year. page 8 Noel Whitehead receiving his winners trophy from the BRMFC President. Scale News SPORTSCALE at the STATE FIELD What a magnificent day! Left home in dead calm and arrived at the State Field in a strong northerly - it looked like yet another event blown away at Darra weit Guim. It was hot and windy but everyone decide to fly so away we went , and as the day moved on the weather got better and better until, by early afternoon, we were flying in ideal conditions. A lot of time was spent in the cool comfort of the NFG clubhouse with a dash to the flightline and back again—not unlike the Ballarat event but with heat and cold reversed. We had a good day and Brian Whellan finally got to fly a jet when he had his new model checked out by David Law. It flew well and we look forward to seeing Brian’s F-86 take to the air sometime in the future. CONTESTANT MODEL RND 1 RND 2 TOTAL N. WHITEHEAD RV-4 2370 2535 2452.5 1 D. LAW PITTS S12 2380 2485.5 2432.8 2 J. LAMONT EXTRA 300 1881 2437.5 2159.3 3 I. LAMONT YAK 54 2073 2062.5 2067.3 4 P. GARRO TAYLORCRAFT 1747.5 2224.5 1986 5 M. SCERRI CESSNA 152 1911 2020.5 1965.8 6 R. MACDONALD CESSNA 152 1852.5 1837.5 1845 7 S. KIRWAN EXTRA 300 1668 1921.5 1794.8 8 B. REABY RV-4 1447.5 1653 1550.3 9 Scale News page 9 SCALE RALLY at P&DARCS Just as the weather is often unkind at the State Field so it is usually excellent when we go to P&DARCS. This day was another beauty but, while the attendance was not too bad both from our members and the P&DACS flyers, when you consider the great conditions and excellent venue it could be expected that more might attend. Still, those that did come had a good time and we saw a few new models flying very successfully. Mark Collins brought his Hughes Racer and Beech Staggerwing with both giving a fine display. Giorgio Valcastelli flew his very nice DC-3 and later in the day made his first test flight with his new Macchi 205. The Macchi has had an engine change, the original RCV motor being replaced by a Saito, and it flew very well with little trimming required — Giorgio was well pleased with its performance. Steve Malcman had a mixed day with his Extra as the engine did not want to perform and Anthony Mott made a stopover on his way back from Philip Island to fly his Turbulent. Tony (‘the tugger’) Grieger enjoyed a number of flights with his big Gee Bee and no further signs of failure in the undercarriage legs so his repair work held up well. Steve Ludlow made the trip from Rosebud to fly his new Black Widow and Gary Sunderland had a good day with his FE8 and Fokker DVII. Lew Rodman brought a small Sopwith Pup and new member Darren Smith flew a large Bird Dog. Darren also had his part built DH Caribou on show, it’s going to be a very big aircraft when finished and will almost certainly fall into the “Giant” class. I hope that that the build goes well but my reservations with these big models grow every time I see one in progress. Pitts as did Brian Evans with his Thunderbolt, Peter Rady with his Mustang and Allan Holloway with his Bowers Flybaby and PT-19. Ian and I had a Yak 54 and Spacewalker to play with. Our thanks again to the P&DARCS members for the use of their field and for the fine lunch AWARDS 1. Mark Collins…………………...Beech 17 “Staggerwing” 2. Giorgio Valcaselli……………..Douglas DC-3 3. Steve Ludlow………………….Northrop P-61 “Black Widow” Steve Ludlow came from Rosebud with his Black Widow to take third place David Law and Cliff McIvor, who was making a return to flying after serious back surgery, flew throughout the day with their Spitfire and Ian Lamont flew a Yak 54 that he managed to scrounge from someone. David Law with his large Spitfire about to commit aviation. page 10 Scale News Enjoying the sunshine in peaceful surroundings disturbed only by the dulcet sound of models flying by. Mark Collins’ large model of the Hughes Racer flew fast and smoothly. Giorgio Valcastelli with his second place DC-3. Darren Smith showed this very large Caribou which will be a long term project. Oberleutnant Grieger at work with the other member of the Jagdstaffel looking on. Note the grim Teutonic visage as he concentrates on that ‘verdammte’ American plane. Giorgio Valcastelli’s Macchi on its test flight. Steve Malcman pondering over his motor. Mark Collins prepares to fly his winning Beech 17. Scale News page 11 WHAT’S ON? November 29th Scale Rally / mini comp ROSEBUD December 3rd General Meeting FNCV December 28th—January 6th 63rd National Championships ALBURY January 10th Scale Rally WERRIBEE February 4th General meeting FNCV February 7th Sportscale / ARF BALLARAT March 6th (Note that this is a Saturday event) Sportscale / ARF STATE FIELD April 11th State Championship F4C and ARF P&DARCS NEXT MEETING General meeting, Thursday, December 3rd, 2009, commencing at 8:00 pm at the headquarters of the Field Naturalist Club of Victoria, 1 Gardenia Street, Blackburn. Visitors and guests are welcome to attend. Committee meeting Thursday, January 28th, commencing at 8:00 pm at the home of Noel Whitehead, 13 Seattle Street, North Balwyn. NEWSLETTER V.F.S.A.A. Inc. Reg. No. 27093N If undeliverable, please return to Unit 5, 1326 Main Road, Eltham, 3095. SURFACE MAIL For Sale ! Two excellent motors for sale from a deceased estate. Both are new and never run, still in boxes. Interested purchasers should contact David Balfour 50 Lobbe Road, Thurgoona, 2640, NSW Phone: 02 6043-3169 Mob: 0407953903 Saito 325R5 Radial (c/w exhaust collector ring) — Price: $1800 OS Pegasus FF240 Flat four — Price: $1800
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