G’day from the Goldfields!

It was with great pleasure that I read the brief report from the Esperance Model Aero Club presented by Phil Blake in the last issue of Windsock.

My partner and I recently travelled down to Esperance and I decided on the trip home to call in and have a squizz at the new site for E.M.A.C. as I had heard a rumour that they were back up and running.

It was a Sunday morning but unfortunately no fliers were present due to intermittent rain, however I was absolutely astounded by the progress of EMAC at their new site. Why was I so impressed? I would ask the reader to try to imagine this.

Take approximately two hundred square metres of tough coastal scrubland, clear it using only a single bob-cat and man power, leaving vegetation where appropriate. Lay out two beautifully prepared runways with separate taxiways constructed of fine gravel, leveled and rolled to perfection. Also construct an access driveway to a well laid out pit area. Provide a large concrete pit area suitable for future enclosing, fence the whole area and sow all the remaining areas to grass. Now at this point you may be wondering why all this is so remarkable until you have your attention drawn to the fact that there is possibly no more than four or five active members in the Esperance club and that the financial status of such a small club would have to mean considerable extra financial burden on each member.

I would humbly suggest to E.M.A.C. that they consider changing the name of the club to something along the lines of the Phoenix Flyers. They have revived the club from scratch after the loss of the old site due to a combination of Beauracratic bungling on the behalf of the two local and state departments involved with the old site and the absolutely less than friendly actions of their previous neighbour, which resulted in the old site being vandalized and then literally bulldozed out of existence, despite assurances to the contrary.

I, for one will definitely be taking up Phil’s invite to come and have a fly on my next visit to Esperance and hope to be able to personally congratulate Phil, Stuart, Bruce, Rick and John on their superb effort.

So what has been happening at the Kalgoorlie Club in recent weeks? Not a great deal really. Good weather being at a premium, however we did score an absolutely perfect Easter Sunday. Unfortunately due to work and family commitments, very few club members attended. Those that did were treated to one of those days when you really could just take off and land from any direction with the windsock (made by my lovely lady) hanging straight down from the pole for most of the day.

Peter Oxenham and Peter DeGroot both got in a few good flights, both managing to go solo on their later flights.

Ray Harding put the glider up, way way up, and then spent the next few minutes trying to get it down to a manageable height as it had almost become a dot in the sky. He also had a couple of flights with his OS .15 powered trainer until he unfortunately had an incident resulting in a major ding in the wing of the thing, luckily quite repairable.

I launched a new A.R.F. craft that I had spent the first couple of days of Easter assembling – that being a Thunder Tiger profile funfly G-200. It seems to be a good value for money plane being only twenty bucks dearer than a comparable kit. It is almost identical in dimension to my old Sig Fazer that I unfortunately destroyed a few weeks back proving once and for all that full power vertical landings are just not feasible.

I learnt a valuable lesson that day, it being – if you don’t feel 100% concentrated on your flying, fly something a little less demanding than a full house fun fly model. I had a big night the previous evening pit crewing for a friend who races a Super Sedan. It was a hectic night and I did have a couple of beers to wind down after the dust had settled. I have found previously that if I have anything to drink the night before flying that the concentrations levels are definitely affected (At least you now know why ‘full size’ rules state a minimum of 12 hours between bottle and throttle). Unfortunately I ignored the signs, the end result being the destruction of one of my best ever aircraft and one I would recommend to anyone considering building a fun fly plane. It is a beautiful kit that results in an attractive craft that is exciting to fly, especially with the aid of a computer radio.

The ARF G-200 seems to be a good replacement for the Fazer, however I would definitely recommend that any reader contemplating buying one of the these (or any ARF plane for that matter) , also order a packet of good quality hinges. On my second flight I had a hinge pin come out of an Aileron hinge resulting in some interesting flying characteristics. One or two of the other hinges looked a bit dodgy also, so I replaced the lot. However that appears to be the only weakness I have encountered except perhaps for needing a little more glue on the ends of the servo rails inside the wing. I also replace the supplied plastic clevisis with steel units for peace of mind and painted the bottom of the wing white to aid orientation as the G-200 is painted a dark blue with a near identical scheme top and bottom.

Remembering back to the crash of the Fazer, I must tell you something that happened that really was quite remarkable. For some time I had been saying that if I did write the Fazer off I could not be too unhappy as I really have had my money’s worth out of it and the S.C. 40 that powers it. I have flown most weekends of the past two and a half years, always wringing it neck to the best of my limited ability. When I built the kit I had to build a twenty cent piece into the left wing tip to counter balance the flat mounted engine. When I pranged it that twenty cent piece rolled almost the full length of the runway to my feet. I was able to bend down and pick it up as it was still rolling and place it in my pocket. Where is that coin now? You bl---y betcha, it is in the new plane! Just as remarkably the S.C. 40 survived unmarked and now resides in the G-200, the third aircraft it has powered in the past five years of use. Not bad for an el cheapo Chinese motor, that by the way, still nips up on full T.D.C. How does it look internally? Don’t ask me – I’ve never done more than change the occasional glow plug.

While we are on the subject of good things, I must tell you about a lovely low wing 25 size model that Peter Oxenham is currently flying. Scratch built from a free plan supplied in the April ’98 Model World Magazine. This model called a "Beep", while definitely not the prettiest plane with its simple box fuselage, it is undoubtedly the sweetest flying plane I have ever flown. It practically takes itself off and has the most stress free landing approach I have encountered! It rolls as if it was a mid winged, and is just a lovely all round aircraft. Sometimes, the best things in life really are free.

Until next time, best wishes from the Kalgoorlie Crew.