WRCS Ramblings by C. Ovgee

Part 4 of Stan's Hurricane build story has been published. Go the the 'members articles' section under the 'information' menu to read it. The minutes of the May club meeting, held last week, are also on the forums. You have to be logged-in to read these.

All geared up for the WRCS Scale Day on the 27^th May? Dust off that show pony only brought out on special occasions. Charge up the batteries & give her a test burl BEFORE the big day.

Futaba, JR or Spektrum? Which one is the best? It’s like the Holden/Ford/Toyota argument. All have their plusses & minuses. Don’t worry…If you have one of these 2.4 gig radios…you’re right up there with the latest technology.

Remember folks, the taxiway right in front of the flight line is for OUTGOING aircraft only. The other taxiways are for incoming traffic. That way…nobody gets hurt.

If you are a serial litterbug…you will be dobbed in. PLEASE take ALL your tissues, balsa bits, cable ties, dog ends, etc HOME!!

Got a mow in last Tuesday 1^st May. Field looks a picture. However, still too wet to cut the middle of the field so it was left. Take off & land either side is OK.

Our South African warhorse, Allan Sammons is on the up & up. Despite a visit back to hospital for another skin graft, his wounds (from an accident in the sheds with an electric) are healing well & he is back driving. With his brand new DX8, he is keen as mustard to get aviating again.

When flying, try practicing square circuits. This discipline improves pilot skills as well as aiding line-up on the strip. Throwing in a loop or roll, maybe a Cuban or flying inverted all helps to get thumbs/fingers working effectively.

Here is a way of having a kill switch on the TX to make electric models safer. Go to program mix. Select throttle to throttle. Switch mix on. Shift rate to -100%. Trim on. Link off. Select switch (6?) Position – down. That way…just before you fly, throw the switch and the motor is now armed.

Very interesting to see the transition away from methanol powered aircraft over the years. It seems that electric & petrol are the dominant power sources now. I remember the days when we had a methanol drop every 6 months or so but that era is long past.

Our fixed wing CFI Dean Schuback has bought himself a boat & now reaping the rewards. Bream, flathead and small snapper have all been pulled from the harbour & he is very keen to get his hooks into something bigger.

The huge, scratch built Neptune powered by 2 x Zenoah G45’s is ready to be test flown by Grant Furzer so it can achieve an MOP. UPDATE. It was flown at Pittown and did well except for the landing where it overshot the runway & fractured the nose wheel.

David Foster very successfully converted his J3 Cub to floats and it strutted its stuff well at Penrith Lakes. Vince Payne flew his amphibious ‘Frog’ and that performed flawlessly too.

Mentioning no names, a well-respected flyer made too low an approach from the car park & lightly brushed a tree high up on the ridge. After an hour or so he was seen, hot & sweaty, walking back down the track with the model (sporting very little damage).

Investing in a pair of yellow glasses really helps orientation on dull, cloudy days. For around $30, these coloured specs make the model stand out against a grey sky.

Many a tree had to be sawn down so Neil Waterhouse could get his Yak back. It was his son Harrison who stuck it high up in the willows. 

The Puppeteer that was bequeathed from our President to George Kaley was flown a week or two ago. Unfortunately, under the thumbs of Tom Sparkes, the tail heavy bipe did some horrible maneuvers before spearing into the mud. 

Attempted Humour

Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs are not happy.

Chap goes to the optician complaining that his long sight is failing. The optician takes him outside & says,” What’s that up there?” “The sun” the chap replies. “So…How far do you want to see?” asks the optician.

A woman called into a chemist. “Do you handle contraceptives?” she asked. “Yes we do” replied the assistant. “Well please wash your hands as I want a tube of toothpaste”.

Chap walks into a chemist and asks for deodorant. “Ball or aerosol “asks the chemist? “Armpits” the bloke replied.

In a popular restaurant, to his amazement a diner sees a man slide down off his chair & under the table. His female companion keeps on eating as if nothing has happened. The diner approaches and says, “Your husband has just slipped off his chair”. “No”, she replied, “My husband has just walked through the door”.

A priest was sitting next to a hobo on a train. The tramp turns to the priest and says, “How do you get arthritis?” The priest lectures that arthritis comes from being lazy, extreme drinking, not washing, staying out all night, mixing with bad women and heavy smoking. “Why do you ask?” The tramp replies, “I read in the paper that the Pope had arthritis”.

WRCS Ramblings by C. Ovgee

When maidening an aircraft, most transmitters will allow you to ramp up the trim so one click now equals 3-4 clicks. This coarser control can be a great help if the aircraft’s a bit wobbly.

With winter coming, winds are starting to be more westerly. A few pilots give a sigh of relief as this means landing from the dam…which to some is a lot easier than coming in from the car-park.

Just when the field started to dry out and undercarriages start to roll and not dig in…we get another bucketful of rain. Squish- squish…Anyone got a set of floats? The good news is that the near side of the field has been cut in towards the flight line around 2-3 meters which gives a larger drier, hardened area to land & take off.

Mike Minty was browsing a copy of Aeromodeller Annual for 1958, and came across an article by the wonderfully named Hilton O’Heffernan on radio control gear designed by the pioneer Claude McCullough. It was for a home built 2 channel proportional and 1 channel sequential system with 5 (yes FIVE) valves in the receiver and quote: -

“The receiver measures 6 x 2.5 x 4 inches high including a foam rubber cover which completely encloses the five valves. With 3 ECC 5A relays the weight is 9.33 ounces” Ah the good old days, 250 grams of huge Rx and that’s WITHOUT the batteries, HT & LT required!

Another reminder folks that the club’s monthly meetings are now held at The Belrose Bowling Club on Forest Way starting at 7.30pm. Meetings are now held on the first Thursday of every month (except the club’s 2012 AGM which will be on Thursday 21^st June).Why not pop in for a meal and a beverage before the 7.30 start? Next meeting is 3^rd May.

Did we really see David Menzies trying to fly a quadcopter? Is this the start of something that might take him over to the dark side? George Atkinson flew it perfectly so David knows it does fly.

On the same note…please, please don’t tell me, I don’t want to know but someone saw Ron Clark flying a helicopter device?

We have at least one convert from electric to petrol. Neil Waterhouse is very much in love with his 30cc DLE powered Sukki. In fact he’s ordered an exact clone (aircraft & engine) as a backup (probably a good idea to have a back-up with petrol - Ed).

Every Saturday you’ll see Terry & Phil Corbett-Jones buddying with CFI Dean. All the hard work is slowly coming to fruition as the boys have lost the terror & now beginning to enjoy their flying.

Ever thought about mixing ailerons with a touch of rudder? This gives much nicer, smoother banking and better control. Most modern radios allow you to do this. Ask one of the instructors if you need help.

A member who did a shocking landing blamed his bad eyesight for the bumpy return to earth. He made all on the flightline laugh when he said he even has a prescription windscreen in his car!

A newly designed Komet 163B was maidened by Baz Campbell last week and it flew like a charm. These small scale foam aircraft are wonderful wind performers and a joy to fly. If you are looking at investing in a foamie, give Baz a call and discuss Komets with him as he has around four of them.

A couple of “Dearly Departed” to report. One was Mr. Pound’s Hurricane that was yanked off the grass a wee bit too early; tip stalled, rolled over and smashed, and when I say smashed…read destroyed.  The other was Col Buckley’s Storch, that - same thing - was given up elevator on the take-off roll just below stall speed. The over heavy high-winger lifted, swiveled round then nosed in heavily as gravity (as always) won the battle.

There are a few ‘senior’ members of the club that own & fly small diesel engine aircraft made from old fashioned balsa, tissue paper & dope. It’s great to see these ‘oilers’ grace the skies and the aromatic smell of diesel smoke reminds me of when we were kids mucking around with ED Bees, .049 Pee Wees, Merlin’s and Mills .75 mini-donks.

If you catch popular member CK at the field, have a look inside his new hi-tech Yak. Kill switches, ignition toggles, choke levers, power saving units; fail safe circuitry, Windows 7 & Facebook are just some of the gadgetry employed and most are duplicated on the transmitter as well as the aircraft.

There are members asking the committee for email addresses/phone numbers of other members. Under privacy laws, nobody in the club is permitted to divulge this information. However, if you are logged on and tap into our informative website, you can glean an email address to send a message if the other member has registered their email address. Go into Your Details…then Website Members List.

If you’re not following Stan Beggs jottings (on our website) on scratch building a Hurricane, you are missing out on some GREAT writing. All the trials & tribulations of the work accompanied by some wonderful, illustrative pics makes this a must read for those who love to build. The latest update has been published, today, in members articles.

Can we have some news from the heli flyers please? Let the editor have tips, gossip, info etc. so it can go into the next edition of ‘Ramblings’.

Remember…if you are one of the last to leave the field…CHECK THE POUND HAS BEEN SECURED.

Attempted Humour

My daughter asked me for a pet spider for her birthday, so I went to our local pet shop and they were $50. Blow this, I thought, I can get one cheaper off the web.

Whenever the wife & I go out we always hold hands. If I let go - she shops.

I lost my wife at Warringah Mall last weekend. Whilst looking for her I met a bloke who also had lost his wife. “What does your wife look like?” I asked. He replied, “She is tall, blonde & wearing a short black skirt. What does your wife look like?” “Don’t worry about my wife” I said, …”Let’s look for yours”.

No wonder English is so hard to learn for our immigrants. Take this sentence for example. ‘After he cut down the tree he then proceeded to cut it up’.

After African chief Tooboo saw the throne in Westminster Abbey in England, on his return he ordered his personal carpenter to make a replica. For many months the chief sat on the replica till he got bored with it. He then stored it in the rafters of his hut. Unfortunately it fell down & killed him. The moral of the story? “People in grass houses shouldn’t stow thrones”.

A bloke in a pub said to his mate, “Do you know when lions meet for the very first time they usually have sex?” His mate said, “Dam…dam…bloody dam”. “What’s the problem?” said the bloke. “I’ve just joined Rotary” said his mate.

Two chaps talking and one commented that he had just lost 64kg of ugly fat.  “How did you do that?” was asked with interest.  “Got divorced” was the answer.