Hi…. Peter de Groot here, filling in for Tim this month, cause he has been away for a couple of weekends in the last month. As it turns out, Tim got married last weekend. Sly dog :-) Imagine not telling your mates…. It's going to cost you a carton of cold cans to get out of this one :-) But, seriously, I am sure that I speak for the rest of the club in congratulations etc,etc.

While we are on the subject of Tim. Many thanks for the many hours he has put into the flying field over the past year. The field has been enlarged by about a third in area, as he has slowly been grubbing out the scrub, to extend the field out to our boundary fence.

We now have a good covering of grass over a lot of the field, cause Tim had mowed it every second week during our fairly wet summer. A non trivial task, as a complete mow takes upwards of 4 hours on the tractor. Hopefully, the recent rains will green it up a bit, cause it has been awfully dry for the last couple of months.

The main jobs left, are to burn out the stumps in the outer areas and get rid of the "surprise hump" that we have off the end of one of the runways.

We have had a few losses since the last submission. Cliff's "Big Lift" is no more. He was attempting one of his low-level stalls. This was one of Cliff's favourite manoeuvres, and a real crowd pleaser as well. Unfortunately, there was not enough air under the plane on this one, and in she went. The resultant matchwood made a small pile on the ground.

Cliff has had this model for at least 18 years, so it is a real shame. This plane was also used to piggyback gliders into the air, so the whole club is feeling the loss.

Mike Proud had a bit of "brain fade" (his words not mine) last weekend and dumped his profile aerobatic plane. Fortunately, the main damage was restricted to a fuselage that was snapped in half. This is not terminal on a profile model, so we hope to see it back in the air "real soon now". Mike was about to test one of those horizon-sensing controllers, that enables vertical hanging. I, for one, have never seen these in action, so I very interested in seeing how they perform.

On a personal note. My latest Gremlin did not even get to see action. One of my best construction efforts, apart from some ordinary hinging (buy the hinging tool, idiot), she looked very smart in contrasting red and green and yellow contact. I managed to score an Enya SS40 donk, and doesn't this baby have some mumbo. Climbs vertically straight out my hand. I had the end plates on and was just finessing the on board mixer to maximise manoeuvrability.

She was flying at top speed, just over the tops of the trees, when it turned on it's back and powered into the ground at full noise. I did not even have time to throttle back. The force of the impact driving the engine plate mounting bolts straight into the fuel tank!

I only reason I can think that cause this disaster, was a servo lead coming off the on board mixer. I recollect that I was pushing it, and the fuel tank, forward in the fuselage as I prepared for the flight. Mind you, a thorough radio check is in order before the radio gear goes up in another plane.

It is a credit to the design, that I retrieved both the radio gear and motor with no apparent damage. The fuselage, however, is another story. Completely shattered, it is only good for the bin. Shame really, as it was a piece of the 2 1/2" square PVC that I managed to score in a round about way from the USA. It would be nice to find a local

supplier of this, as there are a number of cheap (and I mean really cheap) designs around that utilise this as the fuselage.

The cool weather we are having lately has given us some nice thick air with good thermals. They are also easily spotted by the birds circling in them. Nor are they missed by Ray.

Apparently the wing of his glider has had a chequered history, passing through a number of hands (and fuselages, I suspect), before ending up on his model. Initial height is reached by an above wing power pod, incorporating a cranky, screaming little Cox driving a 3 bladed prop.

Once up there, Ray's flight duration is limited only by the strength of his neck, as he cranes back looking for his model up in the sky. You are going to have to trade in your directors chair for a lounge soon :- ) Ray has done some work on his landings of late, and his bird slips in with a nice approach and smooth contact with the ground.

We have had a recent addition to the club, recently, in the form of GreggVoak. Apart from bringing experience of competition in world championships, Greg also has some very tasty models.

His Piper Pawnee crop duster is a second hand one from the Eastern States. Greg has repowered it with a G62 Zenoah, and created a very impressive plane. The size of this model such, that I am sure that people driving down the nearby road think that it is the real thing. Swinging his wooden prop, the plane sounds just like the full size version. Mind you … they get more expensive as they get bigger. Lunching a prop costs at least $50. Ouch !

Greg has also given us a look at his F5B electric glider. Propulsion is courtesy of 27 cells and a Kontronik motor. We were all standing around as it was being launched, saying "oh yeah, yawn". He then gave it full throttle, and we were stunned. This bird goes like a rocket. Amazing performance. I have never seen anything go so fast. And it is electric !. And a glider. Incredibly agile too. Amazing. Trevor summed it up, when he said…. "makes you feel like packing up your stuff and going home in a sulk"

Apparently, Greg also has an electric pylon racer that is even faster. Now that is something I want to see.

Now to a construction story, which I suspect may become a more common idea in the future.

Unlike the master craftsman in the club, I am attempting to build my first scratch model. From plans actually. I wanted something simple to build, and a bit different, so I am having a go at a Tango Autogyro from an Airborne plan.

Now one of the advantages of being a member of a club, is the wealth of knowledge and experience around. This is both is materials and skills. And being a shameless bludger, I am not too proud to borrow the odd tool (heavy duty soldering iron, covering iron etc) and to pick some brains. I have no pride… thanks heaps guys. On the other hand …. you know that everything you do is going to be scrutinised by very practised eyes, which is probably good ..knowing me J

Anyway, Trevor put me onto a web site of a bloke (Don Incoll) in Victoria who had built the same model, and put up a bit of a blurb on his web site. I emailed him, and the next thing you know, I am on a mailing list of at least half a dozen people, building the same plane. Some of these guys are in Australia, and some in America.

Cause these guys are building the same plane at same time there is an enormous wealth of expertise to call apon. Well, actually, they are building theirs a lot faster. Damn their power tools J A lot of these blokes also have digital cameras, so I very often get a couple of pictures to illustrate their comments. Bit like having an on line tutor.

Many is the time that I have put a question to the mailing list, and get a number of replys the next day, with pictures. How easy is that. Good motivation too. I noticed that recent articles about the pulse jet also refered to an online mailing list. I reckon that this is going to become more and more common. Excellent … assuming that you have access to the net.

The only down side I am coming up against, is that the other guys on the list are already flying theirs and are starting to make modifications to the design. Things like motor downthrust angle and rotor blade design. It is hard to resist the urge to incorporate these mods to my half finished effort.

Enough from me. Tim came back from Perth with the makings for the fibreglass cowlings on his Caribou, so it should be moving along nicely.

Tip of the month ??? Do not forget to take the backing off the adhesive side of the Profilm. It goes on a lot easier when you do. I told you I was learning.

Cheers

Peter

Club Web Site kalnet.com.au/gam