Warringah
Radio Control
Society Incorporated (Incorporated under the Association Incorporation Act 1984) Newsletter - January 2004 |
| Warringah
Radio Control
Society Incorporated (Incorporated under the Association Incorporation Act 1984) Newsletter - January 2004 |
Jim Masterton with "Supermarine S-5". This was voted the most popular model presented at the 2003 November Scale Day |
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The next meeting will be on Tuesday 10th February 2004 at Tennis Cove, Eastern Valley Way, starting at 7.30 pm. |
FROM THE SECRETARY'S DESK Boy oh boy did the 19 members present at the November, and last meeting of 2003, get some rousing and exciting debate. You don’t know what you’re missing if you miss a meeting! Just a warning though, whatever you do say, DO NOT MENTION THE M WORD! That is M as in MAGIC. M has moved F from number one position in the WRCS lexicon of absolute NO NO’s. No reply from the Dept
of Infrastructure from our two letters re the roadwork.
We have a new PA to replace
the water damaged one and we are a little closer to the club financed WRUFF.
Oh you don’t know what a WRUFF is? Well it is a kit in a bag which
will be available at cost (courtesy of your Club), to replace the previously
commercially available Price Rite fun fly. The acronym is Warringah
Radio Ugly Fun Fly. Referred to by George Ward, who is doing the
hard yards on the project, as the "Plagiarizer" (that's because we
have stolen a little idea from just about every good model we could find).
There was a criticism
that there was no reporting of meeting decisions in the Newsletter.
Well my two cents worth is don’t attempt to run a Club in absentia.
Come along and know what is discussed and what is decided. What is
discussed is far in excess of what is decided. Minutes are exactly
that. They do not record every nuance and fracas, and in fact should
technically only report the resolutions approved by the meeting.
So here are the minutes
for November: 1. Minutes for October approved. 2. Two wing servos
for the WRUFF, eliminating the torque rod. 3. Messrs Malone, Brock
& Rosadi approved to be invited to join.
That’s it. Is that
what you want in this column? It will make this task shorter.
Let me know.
At the meeting in February
it is proposed at the time of writing (November), to show Denis Grech’s
Video of some of RENO AIR SHOW 2003. It is about 45 minutes.
Some of the features are
AT6, Mustangs, Unlimited, Jets racing. The Air Force F16 Thunderbirds,
F16 of Arkansas Air National Guard. US Navy F/A 18 Hornet. A10 Thunderbolt,
Edge 540 Car jet race, Stunting &Wingwalker on Grumman AgCat.
The only thing you just
cannot experience is the excitement in the air and the vibrations from
the jets at near ground level.
When you read this we
hopefully will have a new and wider mower to lessen the cutting time of
the maintenance volunteers.
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 SOUVENIR
2003 CD
Souvenir 2003 CD's available on order, cost is $10 + postage ($3). All enquiries to the Editor 9371.0823 or at the field. 2000, 2001 and 2002 Souvenir CD's are also available on order, same terms |
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[from Brian Porman]
Blimey! You wouldn’t read about it. Mugged at the start of
the alley! Well yes you would, cause you’re reading about it now,
right?
In response to Editor Tom’s request for material, I suggested that perhaps re-issuing the late Charles Peake articles on ‘Learning to Fly’ would be of great interest to our new members to R/C flying. Also there is always something that you come across in old magazines that would make good stuff for the Newsletter. I offered to type and send in bits for a series to be titled Down Archive Alley . Tom’s response was, give it a go, although someone is sure to whinge! Well a day or so later, I was Flicking through the December/January 1997 issue of Radio Control Scale Aircraft [English publication] and in the Engine Bit article, by Brian Winch, on Carburettors, the first thing that caught my eye was a reference to our very own Warringah member, John Doherty. Brian had apparently shown a photograph, a few issues earlier, of John’s Catalina, powered by two Wankels, and said that he had never had such a response in 20 years of magazine writing. John’s modelling has been featured in a couple of recent Newsletter Workshop articles. Anyway at the time, I was toying with the idea of using the small petrol engine Zenoah, that the Musketeers won at the Adelaide races [pilot, Grant Furzer] and the Brian Winch article on carburettors commenced with the Walbro carburettor, as is on the Zenoah 26. The article then dealt with the air bleed and then the fuel metering carburettors (or so I thought). Light flickers on. (It used to switch on). What about some articles from an expert like Brian Winch for the Archive Alley segment? Beauty Newk. So I contacted Brian and he unhesitatingly, gave his blessing with the warning not to paraphrase, in case the meaning was changed. Wait for it, here comes the bloomin’ mugging! When I got to the end of BW’s 1997 article on the air bleed Carburettor, [I had already left out the 1400 word Walbro text, thinking it probably would only have a small readership], I realised, [thump #^^* whack] ,that he had only covered 2 of the three types. Brian Winch ended his article in that particular issue with: Next issue we will adjust the fuel metering carby.......... So if any one has the February 1997 issue of Radio Control Scale Aircraft, could I borrow it please to finish off the article, with Brian’s explanation of how to set up the (twin needles) fuel metering carby? The explanation of this proposed set of articles, has taken so long that now the Brian Winch segment will start when I can finish the whole article, so PLEASE search for that RCSA Feb 1997 mag. and get it to me,.....thanks. BP In the meantime we can start with that great article by the late Charles Peake on Learning to Fly, even a most experienced pilot may learns something new or have his old habits confirmed! |
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[brian porman]
Chuckles , as his Club peers referred to him, also wrote a 5 part series for the Newsletter, on flying his full size Pitts Special, co-owned with 3 partners Charle's first Learning to Fly article was about Taxiing Taildraggers. Unfortunately that article could not be located so we start with: TAILDRAGGER TAKE-OFF Most models have a much higher power to weight ratio than a full size aircraft, and this may allow the propeller to literally drag the model off the ground in the three point attitude. If this happens, the wing is already almost stalled, aileron control may be almost non-existent, and the torque effect can simply roll the model into the ground. This can be avoided by ensuring that full power is not applied until the tail is up. Open the throttle slowly, or hesitate at about half throttle, until the tail lifts. Torque effect will be much more evident than in the trike ( tricycle undercarriage), especially while the engine is accelerating and the tail is rising. Any swing must be corrected quickly, before a ground loop can develop. Be careful not to over correct, which may cause a ground loop in the opposite direction. [Alan Place explained that a ground loop is when the aircraft swerves off the runway, and not as the unwashed like me might expect, a tail over nose flip]. The further forward the main gear is positioned, the more pronounced the ground looping tendency. The latter can be corrected with up elevator, but this requires precise elevator timing, as it must not be held in long enough to cause the model to lift off with insufficient speed, as is described earlier. In a sense you have to learn to fly the tail first, while the model is gaining speed for lift-off. As you can deduce, main gear positioning is critical. The optimum position generally sums to be as follows; with fuselage horizontal (tail up), the axles should be vertically below the wing leading edge. There were no sketches with the original article. The drawings are from an article by George Vale in RCM&E, vol 40 issue 5, in which he refers to his rule of thumb for wheel location  Taildragger
requires 1 wheel diameter ground clearance when level
Main wheels should be at least 30 degrees in front of C/G |
 This
is a note I started about 2 months ago and then forgot to finish or send.
Still somethings never date do they. It’s not often that I find the models
on display more interesting than the full size ones but in the case of
Oakland Air Museum, CA, that’s what happened!
There was a reasonable collection of jets (not wild about them) a few, actually three “Golden Era” planes – I like them! But then there was this model about 80” span – the Bell Buffalo – have you ever heard of it cos I haven’t. What an interesting looking aeroplane but no details about the full size one or the model or it’s builder.
And then there was this delightful figure with no indication as to what,
when or why! The older members of WRCS may notice a more than passing resemblance
to the late Stuart Leon-Harris, aka “The Red Baron” who, having managed
to fly through WWII, never really managed to get the hang of model flying.
He was famous for the bonfires he had after many a ragged landing. It was
once said of him that he burned one model that made a perfect landing,
he assumed it was the usual disaster and got the matches out just from
habit!
Mike
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The Instructors Course
that was run at WRCS by Steve Vickers and Mike Close on the weekend of
13/14 September 2003 was attended by 11 candidates. They all passed and
have been accredited with their Instructor rating. They are:
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| A plane was taking off from Mascot Airport. After it reached a comfortable cruising altitude, the captain made an announcement over the intercom, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Flight 123, non-stop from Sydney to Auckland. The weather ahead is good and, therefore, we should have a smooth and uneventful flight. Now sit back and relax - OH, MY GOD!” Silence followed and after a few minutes, the captain came back on the intercom and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am so sorry if I scared you earlier; but, while I was talking, the flight attendant brought me a cup of coffee and spilled the hot coffee in my lap. You should see the front of my pants!” A passenger in Economy was heard to say, “That’s nothing. He should see the back of mine. |
 15th February 2004 Come join in the fun and test your skills at gliding. Bring those gliders and any electric you have and enjoy the competition, fun and BBQ. Bring the family and make a day of it! The tasks will be as follows: Glider 5-minute max. Bonus points for spot landing, 3 rounds. Electric 5 minute max. Bonus points for spot
landing, 3 rounds. Deduct motor run times from total flight times.
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At mid-morn on that windy-Sunday, flying my Ultra-Sport 60 I became one of those “sadder men but wiser now”. Gliding northward down base leg with a clearly visible ground speed of around 20 knots, I optimistically called “Landing from the Dam” only to see my US-60’s nose suddenly drop. Within 2 seconds this headstrong nose-cone dived vertically into some distant bushes taking the rest of my aircraft with it. Too late I computed the effect of a 20 knot southerly gust as “20 knot ground speed + 20 knot tail wind = Zero true air speed.” By this time it was starting to rain. I took a quick compass bearing towards the crash site from a point called “Pilot” (at north end of the pilot’s transmitter bench) and headed for the dam with a few helpers. I knew our required bearing from “Pilot” was 102 deg. Magnetic (or 114 deg. True). However once in the valleys and shrubs below the dam, it was very hard (if not impossible) to see any part of the airfield for a good compass back-reference point. Thus our best-effort by compass now inevitably became a bit rough, and we failed to find the US-60 that day despite 2 hours of searching in the tiger country. How I wished for even a half-decent map to guide us in this rough bush area! I became resigned to never seeing my beloved US-60 again. Perhaps it was around that time I too re-discovered the power of prayer. “Saint Wilbur” I prayed, “Just let me find this flaming aero-plane and I promise to make a map of this jungle, for you and all the other good souls who fly down here”. Well a day or two later I returned with a GPS and walked for 500 meters at 114 deg.T from ‘Pilot’, but still no-luck. I then started a grid-search following a track (via ‘ant-trails’ on the GPS screen) some 20 metres south of the base-case 114-deg. GPS-track. Suddenly Bingo ! There was the plane, so now here’s the map. Hopefully, this little map plotted to scale from GPS co-ordinates will help others like me to get (and quantify) a better perspective on the rough terrain we all fly over, and sometimes have to search in. Features include the air-strip, roads, fire-trails and tracks, plus dams and dunnies. Circles of 200, 300, 400 meters from ‘Pilot’ are plotted on the map. True bearings from Pilot are marked around the 400 m. circle. If from elsewhere (say ‘in the shed’), a mate gets a second bearing on your crash site, then by ruling-in his bearing and yours on a map-copy, your line intersection pinpoints the crash site. Approx. elevations by GPS are also shown, indicating ~ 50 meter rise (from east-side dam-wall to west-side hill) across just ~ 500 m of ground. Thus for the same glide angle on final, on base-leg you’d need to have say 30 m. more clear-sky below-plane when landing from the dam than from the car-park. Also for me in future, perhaps flying 200 m. (or 300 max) from ‘Pilot’ is far as you ever need to stray. Yep, on windy-Sunday I crashed at K1 near the 400 m. circle, on a base-leg way too far out ! Gunna try real hard not to do that again. Do have a nice New Year & many Happy Landings. Regards,
P.S. From the point ‘Pilot’, the big ‘Pwr-pole’ is 810 metres away,
at 90 m. elevation, on a bearing 103 degrees.
Peter B. As the map as its radius-of-view only goes to 400 m it is not included, but interested map holders could at least draw-in an arrow from 'Pilot' towards 'Pwr-pole', noting the 810 m distance. Best regards,
Peter B.  |
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| The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are
a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one's gate parking
location, but how to get there without any assistance from them. It was
amusing to overheard this exchange between Frankfurt ground control and
a British Airways 747, call sign "Speedbird 206":
Speedbird 206: "Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of active runway." Ground: "Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven." The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop. Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?" Speedbird 206: "Stand by, Ground, I'm looking up our gate location now." Ground (with arrogant impatience): "Speedbird 206, haff you not been to Frankfurt before?" Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, twice in 1944 but I didn't stop." |
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 HOW
TO SILVER SOLDER
- THE TOM SPARKES WAY Brian Porman’s summary of the video taken by Chris Hebbard at a silver soldering demonstration at our May, 2002 club meeting at Tennis Cove. The video is available to members to borrow. Generally, anything not in brackets are Tom’s words. GENERAL SILVER SOLDERING
SILVER SOLDERING PIANO WIRE
BENDING PIANO WIRE
Tom Sparkes is a World renown manufacturer of Oboes (and repairer of all types of musical instruments). |
 Then
I was walking through the Plaza de Armas (the main square) in Arequipo
when I saw a sort of model aircraft! Could it be an advert for the Peruvian
Nats? No. it was part of a protest against the president and his private
jet – why can’t he go by train like the rest of us?
Later that week I was South of the city in the famous Colca Canyon. It’s famous for two things, one is it’s depth as it claims to be the deepest in the world (though that depends on where you measure from) and the other are the condors. This is what the male looks like on the ground, not the world’s most beautiful creature you’ll agree …….but in the air it’s another story. 
We were standing on the edge of the canyon looking West when we heard
FWHOOOSH from behind us. Whipping round we saw 18 kgs of Condor, wings
spread to their full three metres span about 10 metres away and approaching
fast. It soared past at just above eye level, made one gentle flap of it’s
wings and then hit a thermal.
See you later,
PS Do check out www.planeboats.com for something different!Mike |
This contribution from a Member is titled:
Other contributions include:
and/or
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 GOING
TO THE GRAND CANYON?
If a trip is planned do not miss the air museum, PLANES OF FAME , in Arizona at the intersection of Highways 180 and 64, at VALLE AIRPORT only 25 miles south of the Grand Canyon.  This
is a satellite museum of the other PLANES of FAME, at Chino Airport, about
30 miles east of Los Angeles, just south of Ontario International Airport.
Some museum aircraft are rotated between the two locations, participate in air shows around the world, and fly for motion pictures. The WRCS gang of 7, (Brian & Noeline Porman; Grant Furzer; Denis & Stefy Grech, and potential members David & Lani Hollander), recently visited Valle Airport, on the way to the Grand Canyon, and were conducted on a special tour of General Douglas Macarthur’s Lockheed Constellation and jumped the rope for a close and personal squint at the Messerschmitt Bf 109. 
Some other exhibits were Ford Trimotor; Siemens- Schuckert D.IV; Thunderbolt; Mustang; The total collection of both Museums is over 150 aircraft, of which three dozen are flyable, with flying scheduled for the first Saturday of every month at Chino. Often flights in warbirds are raffled during monthly events. |
Left: Jonathon with the wreck and below: the barely recognisable model strewn all over the field  |
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And
then just along the way there was this beauty, a B36 1/14th scale, 192”
span weighing 82lbs. It’s got 26 servos and 7 battery packs and was built
by Frank Scott, piloted by Stan Lyons and with Paul Kirby as flight engineer.
The description said it made three flights but they decided to retire it
due to difficulty of engine management. I should think so but it didn’t
say what they were.
