G,day from the Goldfields.
One of the noticeable things about being involved with the
Goldfields Aero modellers is the high turn-over of club members. The total
number seems to remain relatively constant at about the one member per thousand
residents.
Having mentioned Gregory’s name, I must allow you to have a laugh at my expense. The following cost Greg quite a few bucks and gave my ego a good thumping. Greg sought advice from us regarding suitable gear to get him started and we sent him off to get the usual high wing trainer, OS46 etc. Greg presented soon after for us to check out the assembly of his gear and it all checked out ok with very few problems. I then offered to instruct and after the usual range checks and preliminary instruction we headed out to start the flight training. I ran through the usual ground checks before start up and then again at full throttle as I have done for the last umpteen years. I then proceeded to gun the plane down the strip, lifted off, attempted to level the wings and promptly rolled the model hard over inverted into the concrete from about three metres up, hard enough to gouge the concrete, totally destroying the brand new model. I knew immediately what I had done, but of course the panel of experts in the shed confirmed my thoughts by immediately announcing to all and sundry that the ailerons were reversed. I couldn’t believe it was possible but I had checked the direction a couple of times and STILL gotten it wrong. Greg would have been well within his rights to expect a new plane from me, but to his credit (and my huge relief) he took it all very calmly and philosophically. The engine and radio gear survived reasonably intact. Greg was back the following Sunday with a brand new plane to try it all again. Did I check the aileron direction properly? You bloody betcha! Greg has had an incident filled introduction to Aero modelling, including an engine mount that broke off in flight, resulting in a forced landing with the engine hanging by the throttle and fuel lines. Remarkably, none of the incidents have been of Greg’s making and his personal progress has been very rapid. Hang in there Greg, we will get you there eventually!
Another relatively new member is providing us with a great deal of entertainment. Jarrad Brown has been with us for about six months and has progressed from beginner to competent combat pilot in that time. Jarrad’s enthusiasm is inspiring, regularly arriving at the field with a new model or modifications to an existing one for us to enjoy. He is currently experimenting with a coroplast electric wing design that he found on the web. The design is simplicity itself, taking only a couple of hours from start to finish. It is also extremely tough, having survived numerous crashes during the testing stage. Jarrad is experimenting with battery, prop and motor combinations to maximize its performance and is getting remarkable performance and duration from relatively simple and inexpensive combinations. The sound that the thing makes is amazing, sounding like a very angry killer bee. Its shape in the air is also totally different to the norm, being no more than a flying triangle and arouses a lot of interest from spectators with its UFO shape. For those of you on the net, the Mugi wing site is included at the end of this article.
Combat has made a comeback to the Goldfields recently with a
few old Gremlins being resurrected and campaigned. I have also been hard at
work trying to develop a
We managed about five rounds of open class combat on the 12th
of August. We started out with four models. All survived the first round with
Trevor Parnell and myself scoring cuts. There were a few very close misses
getting the usual oohs and ahhs from the crowd. The second round was more
costly with Trevor and Paul spinning into the ground, totalling their wings.
Paul was flying one of my prototype
Jarrad and myself then managed another one and a half scoreless (but extreme fun) rounds before Jarrad had the misfortune to break the con-rod in his Enya for a second time.
Grant Andrews bought out his high performance glider towards the end of the day and treated us to a couple of spectacular winch launches. Unfortunately there was not the thermal activity at that late hour that there was earlier in the week when Grant enjoyed a couple of reasonable flight times. Our field is now large and clean enough to allow the largest gliders to be used. It is also large enough to allow the winches to be placed in any direction. I look forward to seeing how these remarkable models perform later in the year when the thermal activity increases.
Anyway, as that annoying old git on the Tele gardening show says, “That’s your lot for the day”, except for a couple of last important club notices.
A big thanks to John Bates for his efforts replacing the clutch in our club tractor and thanks also to Peter DeGroot for assisting him and providing the shed space for the duration of the task. Thanks also to ABLETEK Mechanical for arranging and paying for transport to and from town by Ramp-it Transport.
Congratulations also to one of our youngest members, Tom
Cianter for his acting debut in the successful
Tim Bailye