WRCS - June 2007

Warringah Radio Control

Society Incorporated
(Incorporated under the Association Incorporation Act 1984)

Newsletter - June 2007

A happy WRCS group after the awards in Adelaide ... report inside

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday, 27th June 2007 at Tennis Cove, Eastern Valley Way, starting at 7.30 pm. and the meeting after that is on Tuesday, 10th July 2007

WRCS Membership Renewal for 07/08 Your Membership Renewal letter is coming your way and will arrive soon.
Please do take time to read and digest this form, then carefully follow ALL the instructions.
In the “Edit” area, you must tick or correct each bit of your own personaldata, and fill in any omissions.
Other areas tell you how, when and where to pay your renewal fee, the Club's Rules are also enclosed for you to refresh your memory.
After you are satisfied that the renewal form is correctly filled in and you have read everything, please sign the renewal form!
If you have lost your key there is a fee for replacement. Kindly co-operate fully with the Committee in the Renewal process.
We hope you can attend the AGM on Wednesday, 27th June to collect your new Badge & Key set, but if you can’t, follow the letter’s postal option (pre or post AGM).
ALL filled-in renewal letters will be processed during the post-AGM week.

Happy Landings to all for “07/08”,
Peter B,
Hon-Treasurer & Registrar.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday, 27th June 2007 at Tennis Cove, Eastern Valley Way, starting at 7.30 pm., please disregard any other dates that have been circulated
Before the meeting you will have the opportunity to renew your Membership and get your new keys from about 6:30 pm, After you complete your renewal, nibbles will be available before the meeting commences, BUT

2.
3.

You must bring along the renewal form sent to you in the mail properly completed and signed, there will be no spare forms available to be completed on the night;
There will be no renewal through any of the hobby shops, if you don't renew on the night in person you will need to renew by mail;
If for whatever reason you don't bring back your key, you will have to pay an additional $50 to be issued a new key

POSITIONS VACANT At the upcoming Annual General Meeting on 27 June 2007 all positions on the Committee will become vacant, so it is time for each and every Club Member to give serious consideration to joining the Committee in one of the following positions: President
Vice President
Secretary
Registrar & Treasurer
3 Committee Members Nominations must be in writing, forms are available from the Secretary, contact Brian Porman on 9488 9973

BIPLANE DAY
Saturday, 16 June 2007

Biplane: As long as it has at least 2 fixed wings it can be entered. Flying is for all standards.

THIS IS A FUN EVENT WITH SAFETY PARAMOUNT
Competition Directors - Peter Papas; Dean Riebolge

CONGRATULATIONS

to SHANE AUSTEN
for qualifying to hold
HELICOPTER INSTRUCTOR
rating.

10th ADELAIDE GOLDEN ERA RACES 2007

report by Doug Radford

The headlines should read SPARKES SPARKLES or TOM TERRIFIC but whatever headline you use it was Tom Sparkes out in front again in the Radial Class at this years Golden Era Races held in Adelaide on April 13 -15 by the Constellation Model Flying Club.

At the presentation, Tom paid tribute to Ron Clark (his pit crewman and caller) for a job well done.
Some people commented that this aircraft (the Laird Turner) was back again after its success 2 years ago, but little did these people know that the original was totally destroyed and that the newly built aircraft before them had to be again rebuilt after a very bad test flight accident. All the hard work was worth it.
Seventeen WRCS members ( including some wives) headed off to Adelaide, some making a holiday of it by travelling through Melbourne and along the Great Ocean Road and a Murray River Paddle Wheeler cruise on the way home, while for others it was not much more than a long weekend break.While 3 others who were in the area called in for a few hours enjoyment, Monte Udrzal and Mark Connors flew down to catch up with their aircraft that were transported down courtesy of Peter Coles in his big white whale.
Four classes were run at the races, Golden Era Class (Radial and Inline), Reno (for warbird aircraft as raced at Reno) plus AT-6.

As well as his entry in the Radial Class, Tom also entered his Mustang in the Reno but this entry was withdrawn on the Sunday morning when it was found that an exhaust leak had burnt through the firewall, melted the tank which then allowed the best part of a litre of petrol to leak into the fuse. Just a whisker away from going out in a blaze of glory was the consensus of opinion. In fact the plane was on fire whilst in the air, but the fire went out and was only discovered to have happened later.

31 entries made up the AT-6 class and WRCS had 6 of them with Mark Connor finishing in 9th place at his very first attempt. Well done.
The rest of the crew had mixed results, Monte Udrzal was very quick but suffered a number of pylon cuts which robbed him of a better placing.

David Foster swapped between 2 models but both refused to give their best and had an engine that decided to spit out a plug straight after it was checked for tightness. Finally an engine swap showed better performance but by then it was to late. Ron Clark had a relatively trouble free run but was a bit down on speed. (Ron was noticed analysing many other entries so we are sure Ron will be a lot quicker next time)
Peter Coles also took 2 models and came home with just one after a spectacular mid air crash, the first of several on the weekend. Peter just kept smiling and continued to have fun.
Then there were the “Three Musketeers”, well prepared and raring to go, but an engine cut on landing at just the wrong time saw Grant Furzer rescue the model from a dangerous situation (for the commentator) only to bend the model severly. Scratch two.
Peter Coles then offered his model so Grant could compete in the last race. Well done Pete.

Mixed into the racing was a social program organised by Peter Leaney, a former member, now living in Adelaide. Dinners and a bus tour to the National Motor Museum at Birdwood and a cruise on the Murray from Mannum.
Peter flew a magnificent scratch built Hughes H1 racer in the Radial Class but undercart problems saw him miss a couple of races while repairs were made.
All in all, a fantastic weekend. Want to be part of it in 2009? Talk to some of those who went and you surely will want to come.

LETTER FROM ADELAIDE The Editor
WRCS Newsletter
Sir,
As you are no doubt aware the Golden Era Air Races were conducted recently in Adelaide and well attended by WRCS members, however the conduct of some of the competitors needs reporting.
Tom Sparkes: - while the club did not mind him,
—Winning a major prize
—Getting all the laughs for his “wot no water, glad I didn’t wear my thongs” gag
—Covering the field with swarf by FRANTICALLY drilling holes in his muffler
—Drinking all our good red wine
—Nicking the Ferrari from the motor museum
We DO object to him leaving bits of burnt plywood and junk all over the field in his vain attempt to win the best crash and burn prize. Evidence is in hand! He will be required to have an on board 2.5kg fire bottle next time.
Grant Furzer: - He can expect a dry cleaning bill from Mr Allan Marks for shirt tails, undies, trousers and shoes and socks
Ron Clark and Peter Coles: - they need some rehab, you can’t smile for 3 days straight without some sort of a major problem.
Mark Connors and Monte Udrzal: - sticking empty water bottles to a crash hat is not normal, they should have used empty GRANGE bottles
David Foster and Doug Radford: - didn’t break anything the whole weekend so not trying hard enough .
As you would expect the ladies behaved in a proper manner despite the challenges set by the above.

We hope lessons are learned,
Yours
Golden Era Reporter

MAY SCALE DAY 2007

report by Dean Riebolge, photos by Tom Wolf

The theme for this years May Scale Day was aircraft of the AXIS Powers. Add to this some lovely Autumnal weather, plenty of new aircraft, some visitors/guests from the Rise Off Water Club (ROW) and the result was a truly great day for the club and members. A total of 50 aircraft jammed the pits, a record entry for any scale day, but what was really impressive was the overall quality of models and how they ranged over the categories of large and small, civil and military and can I believe my eyes … gliders … at least 4 of them … ASW’s and Ka’s … good grief will wonders never cease, whats next, an electric scale chopper ?
Looking back on the day, some aircraft in particular stand out in my mind. The Large Military ( 80” and over monoplane, 60” and over biplanes ) saw fierce competition and many new planes.

Marty Cowan brought a lovely example of the Spitfire Mk 7 (pressurised cockpit, high altitude version of the Mk 8) with lovely detailing including opening access panels and cockpit details such as reflector gunsight. Built from Brian Taylor plans it was finished in an attractive high altitude ‘grey’ with weathering that was ‘just so’. The markings represented the aircraft of Air Commodore Peter Brothers CBE, DSO, DFC who was instrumental in the formation of the RAAF 457 Sqn which included Clive Caldwell and Bobby Gibbs.

The icing on the cake was his flying, with the Spit doing some low level passes that simply forced people to stop and ‘take note’, so to speak. Marty plans to add yet more detail such as an opening cockpit hood and repainting in new, possibly Australian, squadron colours.. (He was overheard enthusiastically talking about a "Merlin" sound module. Maybe he should talk to Peter Papas?)
Two new entrants were the Mitsubishi Zeros of Colin Simpson and Peter Papas, once again in a very pleasing matt scheme and with details such as burnished exhausts etc. I was extremely surprised at the level of finish, as these were ARF’s from the CMPro stable, there seems to be no stopping the upward rise of ARFs and with the quality of offerings like these its no real surprise.

Colin showed no apprehension, as this was a relatively new model, and quickly let loose with low levels passes which area bit of a signature manoeuvre. Peter’s model had technical problems preventing a flight but noteworthy was the power plant, a 4 cylinder 320 (54cc) O.S. PEGASUS with the killer “app” being working acoustic machine guns ... YES you read right … pillaged from an R/C tank kit the model had synchronised electronic machine guns and LED lights in the leading edges of the wings. The sound was very realistic, but if the noise from these were too harsh on the senses then a selection of the William Tell Overture for take-offs and The Ride of the Valkyrie for any kills was also programmed in!!

Talking of signature manoeuvres Stan Beggs huge loops from a “low level display line centre” start are just magical…especially when he does it with a model with the power and presence of his P40, the fuselage is I believe from Model Designs, Ziroli wings and a Zenoah 62 up front.
The almost traditional Garigal dogfight was also a highlight with the Spitfire Mk7 appropriately taking revenge for last year by downing Col Simpson's FW190 which plunged into the treeline streaming fire & smoke ( some thought it was a streamer but I’m sure it was flames!). An appropriate victory roll from David Pound's Spitfire was a nice touch.
Other noteworthy aircraft were Al Zugers new 1.7m span Messerschmitt Gigant, powered by 6 electric motors and Lipo batteries.
The batteries were loaded through scale like front doors that were hinged for sideways opening. After some initial ‘interesting’ flying the model seemed to settle itself down and displayed its unique design in flight. Originally the full size was a towed glider and its origins can be seen in the long slender, narrow chord wing planform. I was also particularly taken with George Kayleys WW1 Fokker D7 in the small scale category and the almost unbelievable patience he showed in hand painting the lozenge patterned scheme on the wings.

Grant Furzer had his Stuka ‘dialled in’ nicely and all he needs now is a siren , a diving manoeuvre and the illusion will be complete …. maybe he should also have a chat with Peter Papas re sound systems !
Unfortunately the day was marked by a high level of, let's call them, ‘a series of unfortunate events’. This started with Grant's Rare Bare well and truly impacting terra firma (aka the runway) at the end of a pass and continued with various flips and flops on landing and takeoffs throughout the day. The most spectacular was from the equally spectacular giant scale WILGA of Tim Nolan. This 80cc 2.5m behemoth was slated to be used as the towing plane for some of the gliders that were present. On the first tow of the day the WILGA hauled up the 3M KA6 glider and whilst still on climb out started pitching and wallowing, you could almost hear the glider guider ‘mash’ the tow release switch, just in time, for whilst still at low level the WILGA veered left and impacted with a huge crunch just East of the top of the road. Mentally writing the aircraft off, all of us were surprised when up it went not two hours later, the only damage was apparently a window and strut fitting. It then proceeded to display a lovely full size like flight regime of very low and slow passes.
Well the awards were handed out with Marty Cowans Spitfire taking honours in Large Military, to general approval, whilst George Kayleys Fokker D-VII followed suit in small. Large Civil was the province of the WILGA and Peter Coles Clipped Wing Cub garnered the award for Small Civil. The winner of the theme for the day (i.e. Axis aircraft ) was Grant Furzer's STUKA. Congratulations to all.

Thus ended a great day and I’ll end with both thanks and brickbats. Thanks to Sandy and Tom Wolf and Margot Hebbard for running the canteen and food. Thank you to the organisers and all those who brought the lovely selection of models, for us to all enjoy, especially our guests from the ROW club ( who by the way have issued an invitation to WRCS members to fly from their watery field at Bringelly, call me to make arrangements). Thanks to those who maintained the field.
However brickbats to all those who take it for granted or presume that someone else will clean up after them at the end of a long day when everyone is tired. Helping each other and keeping the field and the events to the standard we are all used to is everyone’s role and not just a select few … don’t take it for granted that these people will continue to do so year after year.

Ciao Dino

Left: Simon Press readying his AT-6 Texan (with Marty Cowan looking on), unfortunately this superb model which has previously won at Scale Day was severely damaged in another "event" on the day

RESCUE AT BELROSE

pics by John Channon and Tom Wolf

Saturday 12 May was a beautiful day for flying and it turned out quite exciting when we were requested to land all planes so the Westpac Rescue Heli could land to transport a critically injured cyclist.


Naturally we all assisted and quite a few pics were taken, here are a few (including some clowning around by Members after the emergency was over).

ARF BASHING

by BP

The ubiquitous World Models, Super Sports, ARF can be made a bit different.

Ron Clark damaged his canopy on an over exuberant landing so with the front shield and a head rest it is the only open cockpit SS at Belrose (left).
Brian Porman’s family gave him a SS for his 70th. Brian turned it into a “Super Super Sports” by adding a raised turtle deck (removing the flat balsa deck) and replacing the canopy with an F14 canopy starting from just behind the engine (right).
The super sized rudder makes spinning on high rates simple, even for the old fella! (carried out as detailed by Dave McFarlane at the Garigal Cup).
On low rates Val Pinczewski easily knife edged the length of the field.
Brian intends to do the same but is only managing a bent “butter knife” at this time.. Power is an OS 0.46

As a departure from the usual, this year's AGM will in fact be on Wednesday night, not Tuesday as earlier notified in last month's Mag. Nothing sinister, just that the Clubhouse wasn't available on the Tuesday.

Just in case it causes confusion, the Biplane Day is in fact on the Saturday, this is not a misprint! It has been found that the biplanes fit in very nicely with the standard flying day on the Saturday and it was decided not to close the field for any extra time.

During the usual dummyspit the Editor reminded the May meeting that this Mag needs more material contributions from all of you Members out there!! Expect there will be another dummyspit at the AGM, your Editor refuses to accept that all your lives are so boring and mundane that you have nothing to report, no jokes to tell (or repeat) or pictures to share.

You have all seen them about the field by now, they are great quality and very distictive. The WRCS shirts are now available from David Foster for $40 each, David is at the field most days of the week so it wouldn't be hard to find him to place your order (or ring him on 9948-1790) and arrange pick-up.

The first of the new Alpha series four stroke engines from OS are now available in Australia. From all accounts the FSa (Alpha)-56 is an engine worthy of a second look and is easy to retrofit. It features substantial and important modifications to older versions.

Things have been pretty intense around the Club for the past few months, particulalrly the last month. Here is a little something to both brighten up your day and to put the whole world into proper perspective:

The Pastor’s Ass

The pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won. The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again and it won again.
The local paper read: “PASTOR’S ASS OUT FRONT”
The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in another race.
The next day, the local paper headline read: ”BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR’S ASS”
This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey. The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent.
The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day: ”NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN”
The bishop fainted. He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10.
The next day the paper read: ”NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10"
This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild.
The next day the headlines read: ”NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE”
The bishop was buried the next day.
The moral of the story is.....being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery...and even shorten your life.
Stop worrying about everyone else’s ass and you’ll be a lot happier and live longer!
Have a nice day! ... Ed

FOR SALE
WRCS Polo Shirts
Great quality shirts are available for all members to purchase

$40 each
All sizes available.
All enquiries to David Foster at the field or by phone 9948 1790

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