issue no. 25 australian model newsornithopter 14. vicscale at p&darcs 16. large scale racing at...

December 2013

Issue No. 25

AUSTRALIAN MODEL NEWS

Australian Model News page 2

This newsletter is published bi-monthly to feature scale model building and flying together with other modelling events in Australia. Contributing material and requests for inclusion on the distribution list may be forwarded to — John Lamont Unit 5, 1326 Main Road, Eltham, 3095 Ph: 03 9431 0044 E-mail: [email protected]

I have had a few readers ask if back issues of ANM are available and until now I have had to reply in the negative. I did once consider starting a web site for just this purpose but decided that the cost could not be justified if ANM was to continue as a free publication. More recently a friend in Tasmania, John Moody, suggested that I could start a blog site in Google Drive and with John’s help I have managed to achieve this, making four years of back issues available to anyone who cares to go to http://www.australianmodelnews.blogspot.com.au You may find that when a newsletter is opened on the blog site the colour in the pictures is a bit odd, but if you download the file to your computer then it should be correct. I still have a few things to work out but at least the site is up and running. When I include my earlier years as editor of the VFSAA newsletter I have now been at the game for sixteen years and in that time I have accumulated in excess of 13,000 photographs of model aircraft and our associated activities. Obviously, not all of these photos have been pub-lished but they are always available if you care to ask. All I need is your name, the date or location of an event plus a few details on the model, to initiate a search. John Lamont.

On the Cover.

Contents

3. GARY SUNDERLAND’S SCALE PROJECTS 4. 66TH NATIONALS R/C SCALE

AT COOTAMUNDRA 7. “RINGMASTER” FLY-A -THON

2013 8. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2013

F1C FREE FLIGHT 10. GARY SUNDERLAND’S BE.12B 12. WESTERNPORT CLUB STATIC DIS[LAY AT HMAS CERBERUS 13. CHRIS WARREN’S “HAWK”

ORNITHOPTER 14. VICSCALE AT P&DARCS 16. LARGE SCALE RACING AT BENDIGO 19. “THE WAY IT WAS” RADIO CONTROL IN THE 50’S 20. TCMAC 30TH ANNIVERSARY SEAPLANE WEEKEND 22. VICSCALE AT MELTON 24. VMAA STATE FIELD 10TH ANNIVERSARY 27. KITS AND MOTORS FOR SALE NEW ZEALAND NEWS 28. LAKE FORSYTH FLY-IN 2013 30. JOHN JEWELL’S SPITFIRE MK.IX 31. RAY KING’S “ISAACS FURY”

From the Editor

Mike Farnan’s 1/8 scale Lockheed Super Constellation, sweeps in over the Shepparton field at the recent Mam-moth Scale Rally. This large model is powered by four OS 33GT engines.


In the report of the 2013 Free Flight Scale Masters event (AMN Au-gust 2013) I forgot to add that David Putterill has plans to have the accent at the next years meeting on models of WWI aeroplanes, to mark one hundred years since the start of that conflict. Free flighters are encouraged to bring models from this period to the May 2014 meeting. While most of my models fit the bill a check showed that a few were meeting their “use-by” date so this winter I have been at work in the shed sorting things out. The new DH.4was soon repaired and is now ready to go.

Next was a new Jeannin “Taube” (“Dove” in German) which is the fifth model of the type that I have built. This one is to 1/12th scale and is powered by a P.A.W. 1cc diesel. I hope for some calm days to fly this slow and stable “bird”.

Currently I am stripping down my old BE.2c model (built originally back in 1985). The BE. has won a few contests and has worn out two engines in the process. Fortunately Barrie Reaby gave me a virtually brand new 2.5cc Taipan diesel a couple of years ago to keep the old BE in the air. Needless to say Barrie’s diesel is still in excellent condition and, as the BE wings were not too bad after recovering, I have come up with some ideas to give the model a new lease of life. More on this project later. Getting back to radio scale I hope to take my Bristol Boxkite and R/C BE.2 to a few displays next season, wind permitting of course! On the contest side, Von Richthofen’s red Albatros is now back in action and flying better than ever, so I thought a new option might be a “Kavalierstart” take off. Do you think the judges would give extra points for this. The spectators would certainly enjoy it, particularly if the engine stopped.

Gary’s DH.4 free flight model was initially set up with radio control, the intention being to achieve stable flight with r/c and then remove the battery to allow the model to fly in scale free flight competition. The transition from r/c to free flight proved not to be as straightforward as it was hoped, hence the repair work as mentioned.

“Kavalierstart”. Vzfw Friedrich Altemeier was one hot pilot, as seen here in his Albatros D.III. This type of take-off was considered quite daring.

Gary’s indoor rubber powered “Taube” is 1/24th scale.

Gary’s 1/4 scale Albatros D.III executes a near “Kavalierstart“ at the recent event at Albury. Gary’s latest diesel powered free flight “Taube”.

Gary Sunderland’s

SCALE PROJECTS


The R/C scale events of the 66th Nationals of 2013 were held from September 25th to 29th at the NSW State field at Cootamundra. While interstate entries were a little scarce the NSW scale modellers were a strong presence and, coupled with the generally fine weather, the event was highly successful. With prospectively 114 flights to be com-pleted the event co-ordinator, Bill Mansell, together with his various assistants, kept things moving. High winds on Thursday prevented any flying and that day was devot-ed to Static judging. Friday saw calm conditions, and a light wind on Saturday did not hold up proceedings.

A Gala night on Saturday saw certificates presented to judges, spon-sors and other helpers, together with many prizes for competitors. Sunday benefited from the return of the calm conditions and with flying completed by 2:00pm competitors with long distances to travel were able to make an early start to their journeys. (My thanks to John Rolfe for this brief report and for the splendid pho-tographs on display on these pages.)

66th AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

R/C SCALE AT COOTAMUNDRA

This Sopwith Pup by Mike Minty flew in F4H. !/3 scale Fokker D.VII by Simon Harvey also flew in large Scale.

Graham Harrod, Rob ?, Ross Woodcock, Bill Mansell, Gary Sunderland and Alf Williams keeping an eye on proceedings.

A corner of the pits.


Alf Williams’ Tiger Moth takes to the sky. Graham Harrod’s Chipmunk with tail up ready for take off.

Clive Butler travelled from Tasmania with his very large CAC Wirraway. Paul McKeown’s Me.109 looks impressive in flight.

James Price flew this Gee Bee Sportster to third place in Flying Only. Peter Goff missed a couple of rounds with his Stuka.

Alf Williams flew his new Fieseler Storch to second place in F4C. Rod Mitchell specialises in twins and won Large Scale with his Lockheed Neptune.


F4C RESULTS

CONTESTANT MODEL STATIC RND 1 RND 2 RND3

G. HARROD STEARMAN PT-17 2545.5 1967 2152 DNF 1

A. WILLIAMS Fi 156 STORCH 2243 1886 2098 DNF 2

TOTAL

4605

4235

G. SUNDERLAND PFALZ D.XII 2016 1509 DNF 1752 3646.5 3

W. MANSELL SPACEWALKER 1568 1907 1805 1933 3488 4

CONTESTANT MODEL STATIC RND 1 RND 2 RND3

R. MITCHELL P2 NEPTUNE 2515 2174 2056 2342 1

A. WILLIAMS DH82 TIGER MOTH 2184 2004 2108 2238 2

TOTAL

4773

4357

C. BUTLER CAC WIRRAWAY 2052.5 1901 2045 2144 4147 3

B. ELLIOTT SOPWITH PUP 2294.5 1740 1782 1836 4103.5 4

K. THOMAS MORRISEY BRAVO 1969.5 1994 401 2157 4045 5

S. HARVEY FOKKER D.VII 1767.5 2194 2195 2146 3962 6

G. SUNDERLAND ALBATROS D.III 2187.5 1760 1634 DNF 3884.5 7

J. KASTELAN CITABRIA 1678 1475 1586 1824 3383 8

W. MANSELL STINSON RELIANT 1391 1858 1962 1855 3301 9

R. SYMES P-51 MUSTANG 1670 1769 DNF DNF 2554.5 10

M. PEDEN STAMPE SV4 1016.1 DNF 602 1471 2052.6 11

CONTESTANT MODEL STATIC RND 1 RND 2 RND3 TOTAL

P. GOFF THUNDERBOLT 60.5 2312 2295 2440 2436.5 1

G. HARROD DH CHIPMUNK 67 2062 1927 2180 2188 2

D. TENNANT RV-6 58.5 2122 1933 DNF 2086 3

P. McKEOWN Me.109 E3 59 1869 DNF 2178 2082.5 4

W. MANSELL STINSON RELIANT 55.5 1922 1760 2073 2053 5

S. DAWSON Ju.87 STUKA 56.5 1985 1380 1784 1941 6

M. MINTY SOPWITH PUP 57.5 1790 1057 1944 1924.5 7

B. TENNANT Ki-61 HEIN 43.5 1820 1448 1884 1895.5 8

J. KASTELAN AERONCA CHAMP 58.5 DNF 1611 2013 1870.5 9

A. OGLE P-39 AIRACOBRA 47.5 344 DNF DNF 219.5 10

CONTESTANT MODEL RND 1 RND 2 RND3 TOTAL

A. OGLE AICHI D3A VAL 1201 2199 2392 2295.5 1

D. TENNANT SBACH 342 2273 2152 1972 2212.5 2

J. PRICE GEE BEE SPORTSTER 2170 2253 2164 2211.5 3

R. MITCHELL P-61 BLACK WIDOW 2111 2216 1789 2163.5 4

S. HARVEY PILATUS PC-9 2082 2093 2084 2088.5 5

P. McKEOWN FOKKER D.VII 1843 1994.5 2018 2051.3 6

B. TENNANT YAK 54 2064 2010.5 1972 2037.3 7

A. BUTLER CORBY STARLET 1894 2008 1964 1986 8

H. MacDONALD FAIRCHILD PT-19 DNF 1949 1991 1970 9

K. THOMAS PIPER PA-18 SUPER CUB 1539 1687 1652 1669.5 10

M. PEDEN DH82 TIGER MOTH DNF 187 1703 945 11

P. GOFF JUNKERS Ju.87B STUKA 1748 DNF DNF 874 12

LARGE SCALE RESULTS

F4H RESULTS

FLYING ONLY RESULTS

Graham Harrod presents his F4C winning Stearman PT-17 for static judg-ing.

Rod Mitchell was one of only two competitors from Victoria and is seen here with his Lockheed P2 Neptune, the winner in the Large Scale section.

Peter Goff’s F4H winning P-47 Thunderbolt.

Anthony Ogle’s Aichi D3A “Val” is a bit different and was the winner in the Flying Only event.


" RINGMASTER " FLY - A - THON

2013

This world wide event promoted by a USA group known as “The Brotherhood of the Ring” aims, once a year on a set weekend, to fly as many flights as possible using Sterling “Ringmaster” mod-els. The target for the last few years has been to make 2000 flights and, after getting close last year with 1689 flights, this year’s total amounted to 2332 flights. With most of the interest generat-ed in the US there were still many other countries involved and Aus-tralian control line flyers were well to the fore with 553 flights.

Autographed poster by the Brazilian flyers.

The Brazilians made it a big weekend with 189 flights.

Ringmaster models at the Titusville, Florida, Fly - A - Thon.

Ringmaster models and their owners at Cocoa, Florida. (No sign of Tony, Jeannie or Roger in the group, maybe they were at the beach)

It looks as though the Titusville R/C flyers gave up their strip for the event.


Thursday 8 August The weather was much nicer than for F1B day. While there was some cloud about and the occasional sprinkle of rain, the weather conditions did not present much of a challenge to the flyers. In round one 60 of the 73 flyers achieved the 4 minute max. For those that didn’t get a max the issue was mostly operator error via wayward launches or poor tuning. Roy easily maxed with a flawless launch, transition and glide. His model had some serious mumbo and its accelera-tion throughout the climb was a sight to behold. Terry was in a similar boat with a flaw-less launch, transi-tion and glide. However yours truly muffed the tune of the FOR A powered Slava machine, with the engine going lean not long after launch. While the launch was good and the climb near vertical, the momentary stalling of the engine meant a loss of speed and height which guaranteed a poor transition at a modest height, leading in turn to a flight of only 137 seconds.

(Oh dear, all that effort to get here……3 models destroyed whilst here….and I was out of the running after the first flight. Only one thing to do now, keep at it !) During the day the line had to be moved twice as first crops and then cars came under threat from the odd wayward F1C. However the

weather c o n d i t i o n s remained quite workable and there was lift about. In rounds 2 through 7, the A u s t r a l i a n s (yours truly in-cluded !) were in fine form with each posting what ap-peared to be no risk max’s based on good engine tune, good v e r t i c a l launches, good transitions and good glides in air that was astute-ly picked. Of the 73 flyers who started the day, 50 flyers or

68% of the field qualified for the fly-off. Roy and Terry were amongst them. I had hoped to be there, but that was not to be. I had to console myself with a PB of 6 max’s in a World Champs contest.

F1C FREE FLIGHT

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2013

MONCONTOUR - FRANCE


The first fly-off was a sight and sound to behold. In what seemed a very short space of time (say about 30 seconds), almost 50 F1C’s fired up and leapt into the sky, tearing upwards at an amazing veloci-ty. Just as quickly, silence fell and those 50 tearaway beasts suddenly turned away from their vertical trajectory into a huge gaggle of grace-ful gulls, meandering slowly and horizontally through the blue sunlit sky as if they were giant birds looking for prey on terra firma. The noise and spectacle is without precedent in my lifetime. The conditions, the skill of the flyers and the models were so good that only 7 failed to make the 5 minute max and 43 proceeded to the 7 minute max round. Sadly Terry was one who exited at this stage, the victim of an out of character errant launch. A good launch in these conditions would have seen him through to the next round.

Again the alarmingly noisy spectacle was repeated, this time with 43 angry beasts. Of those, 16 failed to get the 7 minutes but still 27 were left. Onto the 9 minute round they went. Again the noisy spectacle broke the silence of the evening. When the dust had settled only 2 were left. Old stagers Verbitsky and Summersby were all that was left for the final fly-off which was to be held at 7 am the following morning. Fly-off – Friday 9 August. The Australian contingent arrived relatively early. Roy and Terry set up camp and Roy busied himself with preparing two identical Babenko Folders. This he duly did and he fired up both models and ground tested them. Roy was all business, a picture of focus and an example of almost metronomic activity….always doing something, but never rushed or hurried. Both flyers were ready when the hooter sounded. Roy fired up first and soon brought his model to a perfect tune. His launch was perfect and the model accelerated with verve, achieving a very good height followed by a perfect bunt and wing extension. He was looking good. Fairly soon Verbitsky fired up and launched. His launch was good but the engine seemed a tad rich compared to yesterday and was a bit clacky. The engine did not clean up on the climb and the height achieved seemed not so great. But he was in the air and anything was possible. As time passed it was clear Roy had won his, and Austral-ia’s, first F1C World Championship. Congratulation Roy, Well Done !! Roy was credited with 447 seconds whereas Verbitsky achieved 321 seconds. Roys model was duly retrieved at a great distance from the launch point and roughly twice the distance noted for Verbitsky’s mod-el. The model was presented for Technical Inspection which it duly passed and it was official….Roy Summersby ( Australia ) 2013 F1C World Champion !! All things considered this was a fine contest. The organisation was good, the fields were good, the weather was good and the flying was good. The food was excellent as was the people and the hospitality.

(This report by Gary Pope, with the accompanying photographs by Malcolm Campbell, is reprinted from “FREE FLIGHT DOWN UN-DER” the newsletter of the Australian Free Flight Society Inc.)


This all started with the rebuild of my old, reliable,1/8 scale free flight BE2c. This model was built back in 1985 and has flown with success in free flight contests ever since, with many adventures and some minor crashes. The original wings became badly warped and new wings were made in about 1995. The original Taipan 2.5cc diesel en-gine wore out, but fortunately Barrie Reaby gave me a virtually unused Taipan to replace it. This year the BE 2c was really showing its age. The silk over tissue cover-ing was now so brittle that it shattered on contact and old castor oil, all over the model, was a sticky goo that resisted all attempts at cleaning. The wing covering was removed and new tissue and silk doped on. With a set of wings and struts and a good engine a new fuse-lage and tail would now have to be constructed. At this point I thought I might rebuild the BE2c as the single seat Zeppelin fighter version. The original BE2c was a two seat general purpose aeroplane but, when Ger-man airships began to bomb London, a few BE2c, armed with a Lewis gun firing incendiary ammuni-tion, proved an effective counter and several Zeppe-lins were shot down in flames. In late 1917 the Germans switched to bomb-ing England with their new R-class giant aeroplanes. These huge biplanes were powered by four 260HP engines and spanned 42m (138ft), bigger than most WWII bombers! To counter these attacks the Royal Aircraft Factory designed a new single seat conversion of the BE2c with one or two Lewis guns in an over-wing mounting and fitted with a 200P geared Hispano Suiza en-gine taken from the SE5a design.

The resulting hybrid, known as the BE12b, was suited to long night patrols. Before the advent of radar in WWII, or even radio, the defen-sive fighters patrolled over the Thames and relied on the MK1 eyeball to detect the enemy. As well as the normal attack from the rear, the BE12b also had a Heath-Robinson mechanism which enabled the gun, or guns, to be raised to an angle of about 45º so that the enemy could be engaged from below. The Zeppelins and R-planes were so

large that they could be seen against a starlit night sky! However they were also fitted with downward firing defensive machine guns, so were a tough proposition to tackle. When it came to building the model I had a few pho-tographs but could not find a 3-view drawing, although I remembered that the late Eric Coates had built a model BE12b back in 1971. (see “Aeromodeller” Octo-ber 1971, p.559.) However I did have Ian Stairs’ draw-ing of the BE2c, the BE2e, and also the Hispano ver-sion of the SE5a, so I got to work with scissors and paste and made my own 3-view. The only details not covered were the large cockpit opening, the long exhausts and the gun mount, but these were available from photographs of the BE12b, as well as the Royal Flying Corps number of one machine. The model was painted in Humbrol enamel as a facto-

ry fresh aeroplane of No.76 Squadron. In service the white sections of the roundels were often painted brown or matt black to make them less conspicuous. The photographs show the final result. The only problem I have now is to decide whether to enter my DH.4 or the BE12b into contests. Both make nice, stable, free flight models.

BE. 12b Gary Sunderland’s


Sunday morning, the 27th of October was a little damp. It had rained off and on through the night and I was over the rain, we’d had a week of constant rain. I was considering aborting the whole project. Howev-er I wasn't looking forward to ringing everybody early in the morning to cancel. The reports for Sunday’s weather had been changing all week, and everybody had a theory, but as I peered into the morning sky from my kitchen window, I saw a distinct patch of blue. That was all I needed to see, and we’d take our chances. The day would pro-ceed, well the first bit anyway….shower, don’t phone any one, and get to HMAS Cerberus to check out the allocated site.

Why HMAS Cerberus you ask, while reading this anecdote from the day. Well…..WPMAC had been invited to attend HMAS Cerberus’ bi - annual Open Day and provide a static display of aircraft, a great op-portunity to generate some interest amongst service personnel as well as the general public. So there I was, stomping over a playing field with Craig, both of us looking up at the sky as the drizzle fell and then eyes down, searching the layout of the ground for the driest patch. The point being,…we found what we wanted and proceeded to set up our enclosure, with more members turning up all the time to assist with the assembly.

Now, I discovered at this point that people do not read emails……it doesn't matter what information you send or how often you re-peat it, people do not listen, or read emails…...and it matters not how one pre-pares or plans, you never have enough rope or cones. Some lessons learned for the next static display. Through the morning the weather improved, our enclosure was set up, our aircraft displayed, and we had fun. We had some great conversations, we had great camaraderie, we had some laughs. The general public were engag-ing and genuinely interest-ed, with many photographs taken.

Lots of kids seemed to think that the aircraft were for sale and posed the usual questions…..”How much for that ?” and “Are you flying ?”…. to which we had to reply in the negative. But who knows, maybe we can work on that for the next open day in October 2015. We’ll have to sweet talk HMAS Cerberus big time!. Stephen Gray

Westernport Model Aircraft Club

Static Display at

HMAS Cerberus


Chris Warren’s

“HAWK”

At the recent VFSAA event at P&DARCS Chris produced this large, electric powered, ornithopter “Hawk” and gave a very good demonstration of flapping wing flight. The bird is 1.3m wingspan and the kit only required the addition of a 3-channel receiver and flight bat-tery for completion, although Chris elected to re-place the supplied servos with others of better qual-ity. Angle of attack is controlled by raising/lowering the tail and the tail is also able to be tilted for direction-al control. A speed control is fitted for the wing flapping drive motor. Chris bought his bird from sgDrone, Singapore, who specialise in 3D Robotic products.


VICSCALE AT

P & DARCS

CONTESTANT MODEL RND 1 RND 2 RND 3 STATIC TOTAL

G. SUNDERLAND ALBATROS 1926 2020.5 1476 2415 4388.3 1

P. WINTER PIPER CUB 1998 2104.5 2144 2098.5 4222.8 2

W. WHEELER TURBULENT 1965 1890 2108 1953 3989.5 3

D. ANDERSON SOPWITH PUP DNF DNF DNF - -

CONTESTANT MODEL RND 1 RND 2 RND 3 TOTAL

N. WHITEHEAD RV-4 2320.5 2443.5 2319 2382 1

R. GAUMANN PIAGGIO 149 2239.5 2363.3 2225 2301.4 2

T. GRIEGER GEE BEE 2257.5 2310.8 1773 2284.2 3

D. WHEELER YAK 54 2010 2109.8 2283 2196.4 4

I. CHISELETT EXTRA 300 1954.5 2121 2123 2122 5

J. LAMONT YAK 54 2124 2118 1941 2121 6

I. LAMONT YAK 54 2121 2073 DNF 2107 7

R. DICKSON MUSTANG 2047.5 1803 DNF 1925.3 8

P. SHUFFLEBOTHAM DECATHLON 1680 1256.3 DNF 1468.2 9

A. SMALLRIDGE SUKHOI 621 DNF DNF 310.5 10

SCALE RESULTS

FLYING ONLY RESULTS

With a reasonable number of entries, a warm sunny day, and a fresh breeze almost straight down the strip the VFSAA event at P&DARCS looked promising. The P&DARCS field is again in fine condition, following the floods, with the strip and the surrounding areas neatly mown and well grassed. Three rounds were flown in each section and the event ran comfortably throughout the day, with a short break for lunch, to finish at 4:00pm. Placings in the Scale section were largely determined by the static scores with Gary Sunderland’s Albatros winning from Paul Winter’s Piper Cub, followed by Bill Wheeler’s Turbulent in third place. David Anderson was unfortunate when a gust of cross wind caught his Pup on take off and without sufficient airspeed to allow for correction. The damage was not too bad and the model is quite repairable. Noel Whitehead won the Flying Only section comfortably with his current Van RV- 4 which he acquired with some difficulty as this Great Planes model is now out of production. Roly Gaumann and Tony Grieger had a tight battle for the lesser places with Roly taking second and Tony third. Two models were damaged in this event. Andrew Smallridge had the prop, spinner and front bearing assembly (along with the crankshaft) come loose on his twin cylinder Laser engine. The resulting vibration as it eventually departed the crankcase broke the firewall away from the fibre-glass fuselage, and the model fell from the sky in spectacular fashion. The airframe is repairable — the motor may not be as simple! Phil Shufflebotham caught the long grass at the side of the strip on his second landing to neatly remove the front of his Decathlon back to the cabin. This is not uncommon with ARF models although it is usually only the undercarriage that tears away in this situation. However, the strip is wide and that’s where you are supposed to land. It was good to finally get some fine weather for a Sportscale event after the strong winds of the previous weeks.

Noel Whitehead won in Flying Only with his latest RV-4.

Gary Sunderland takes off with his Scale winning Albatros.

Paul Winter’s Piper J3 Cub in flight.


David Anderson lost his Sopwith Pup in a cross wind take off. Phil Shufflebotham flew this Seagull ARF Bellanca Super Decathlon in Flying Only. Model is 2m wingspan and powered by an OS 200 four stroke.

The Yak 54 was a popular choice in Flying Only.

Roly Gaumann’s Piaggio performed faultlessly to place second in Flying Only.

Ivan Chiselett with his SC Models Extra 300. Powered by a DA50 petrol engine the model spans 2.2m and weighs 7.5kg.

Tony Grieger flew his Gee Bee into third place in Flying Only.

Gary Sunderland at the starting box with his Albatros. Paul Winter’s Piper Cub waiting in the foreground.

Andrew Smallridge’s Sukhoi came to grief when the front end of the Laser 300 twin four stroke parted company with the crankcase in flight.


We've been waiting well over 12 months to have a Large Scale Rac-ing event in Victoria, The other race venues have fallen through this year leaving only Bendigo, and even then the first date set down in August was cancelled due to inclement weather (gale force winds and rain). The race weekend was then rescheduled for 19-20th October, being the only free weekend for the Club to run the event. Actually this date was to be the club's Public Display weekend, but the club was too late in obtaining the necessary permit). This year we added a new class to our pro-gramme, that of Formula One (F1 or Good-year racers). This new event was run on the Saturday as a trial to see how much interest we could achieve with this class and num-bers were quite good for a first up event. Our other two events, Texan and Redball 120/30 had full fields with emergency en-tries for both events. The rescheduled date created problems for some entrants and we lost about one third of our entries over-all which was disappointing. However there were still more than enough entries to make it worth while running our Scale Racing — after all this was the only race in Victoria this year. Racing started at midday Saturday with the Formula 1's. Of the seven entries received for this event five were Nemesis Racers with one Cassutt Racer and one Sundowner Racer. One could expect that, by sheer weight of numbers, the Nemesis would take all the places but this proved not to be so as the Sundowner raced by Steve Davis showed a clean set of heels to the rest of the field and easily took out first place. Cliff McIver followed in second with a Nemesis and Steve Green took third place, also with a Nemesis. Interesting note here, all the Nemesis aircraft suffered loose engines and/or loose bulkheads. There must be a message here, can the pilots read the message? Sunday morning and it was time to race the AT-6 Texan's and Redball racers. The Redball class was first away, and some hectic racing took place between the three blue coloured MXS-R's running with 30cc

petrol engines. Byron Simpson was putting in better times than Rick Johanssen who finished second and Murray Ellis in third place. The best finish for the 120(20cc) glo engines was fifth place. It appears that the 30cc petrol engines are getting quicker with every race meet-ing. They are using the smallest airframe with the bigger capacity engines which doesn't seem fair, but them's the rules at this point in time.

Next was the GTR (Great Texan Race) this was the race class that started it all off in Bendigo. Locals Steve and Les Davis orga-nized the event seven years ago to gain experience in racing and it has proved to be a winner. This year we had a new pilot in Andrew Ward, racing for the first time. Andrew be-longs to the CHAMPS club at Kyneton (Vic) and the club built a race Texan, for Andrew to compete, as a club project. Andrew didn't disappoint the club members who were in attendance, and pulled off first place, just ahead of Leigh Kellock in second and Rob Popelier in third place. There’s always plenty of excitement in the Texan racing, like Wally Burston hitting the pylon in practice (with no aircraft damage), and Les Sawyer ripping the main wheels out on landing. Dave Brown couldn't get his engine running well enough to get a score in and Phil Pope pulled a wing off in a turn at number one pylon. That wont stop them and they will all be back next year, ready to

race. We thank Model Engines for supplying the Texan fuel and the first place prizes for this event. Thank you to the four light marshals, time keeper/lap counters and the race starter, as we can't race without these wonderful volunteers. Thanks also to the canteen staff, photo boys, and especially the pilots, some of whom travelled very long distances to be here for the wonderful Bendigo Large Scale Racing. (Report and photos from Les Davis)

LARGE SCALE RACING BENDIGO 2013

Byron Simpson receiving his First Place Trophy from Bendigo President, Andy Thomas.


Andrew Ward and CHAMPS club members wth their winning Texan.

The Bendigo Texan on climb out.

Close racing in the Redball event between Dave Brown’s Lazer (top) and Rick Johanssen’s MSX-R (bottom).

Two MSX-R Redball racers powered by 30cc petrol engines.

Steve Davis took First Place in Formula 1 with his “Sundowner” powered by a OS GT55 petrol engine.

Rob Popelier’s Texan suffered elevator flutter but still managed to place third in the Great Texan Race.

Wal Burston’s Texan with its fluorescent paint scheme stood out from the rest of the models.


COMPETITOR 1 2 3 4 5 SCORE

1 STEVE DAVIS DNF 182.9 178.4 183.6 187.2 732.1

2 CLIFF McIVER 152.2 152.3 156.6 145.1 606.2

3 STEVE GREEN DNS DNF 164.6 165 170.9 500.5

4 BYRON SIMPSON 160.3 c Cut 3 153.2 165.6 479.1

5 JAY EVERETT 155.7 140.9 c 150.6 DNS 447.2

6 MURRAY ELLIS 143.4 151.2 DNS 294.6

7 RICK JOHANSSEN DNF DNS 0

FORMULA 1 RACING


1 BYRON SIMPSON 163.9 DNF 169.1 153.6 168.1 654.7

2 RICK JOHANSSEN 129.3 c 150.3 157.9 148.7 152.4 609.3

3 MURRAY ELLIS 149.7 147 c 144.3 143.7 144.9 585.9

4 JAY EVERETT 121.8 c 122 c 131.1 139.7 142.2 535

5 ANDREW WARD 114.5 DNF 132.1 132.2 147.9 526.7

6 DAVE BROWN 82.1 118.1 128.2 117.2 129.1 492.6

7 LES SAWYER 147.1 154.6 161.4 DNF 463.1

8 LEIGH KELLOCK 146.4 147.1 293.5

REDBALL 120 RACING


1 ANDREW WARD 127 131.1 129.1 143.7 530.9

2 LEIGH KELLOCK 110.5 c 120 138.1 132 127.5 517.6

3 ROB POPELIER 130.3 139.6 136.2 87.8 c DNF 493.9

4 WAL BURSTON DNF 102.7 126.6 123.7 132.6 485.6

5 LES SAWYER 137.7 140.5 117.1 c 395.3

6 DAVE BROWN DNF DNS DNS 0

7 PHIL POPE DNS DNS DNF 0

GTR TEXAN RACING

Andrew Ward’s Redball model flew nicely. The MSX-R Redball racer of Rick Johanssen rounding number three pylon.


“The Way it Was” Radio Control in the 50’s

Radio control of model aircraft was in its infancy in the 1950’s. Much of the equipment was homemade by amateur radio buffs and the few commercial sets on sale were simple units that provided only rudder control (sometimes!). I had a page to spare in this issue so I thought that I would pop in a couple of pictures and a few diagrams of our earliest radio installations to allow some appreciation for where we are now in our hobby. It’s another indication that the often quoted “good old days” were not, in some respects, all that good.

◄ The assortment of bits and pieces used to operate a simple sequen-tial rudder movement. The receiver required a tuning check before each flight and frequently the relay in the receiver also had to be re-adjusted.

◄ The rubber loop driven actuator rotated a crank and when the relay pulled in, releasing the crank lever, the crank arm turned anti-clockwise through 90º to pick up again on the relay lever and give a sequential rudder movement — left— neutral— right—neutral. A repeat of the same command required a quick blip on the button to pass through the opposite com-mand before the model could react. The rubber drive had to be re-wound before each flight and as control time was determined by the number of turns the tank size was important. The model only de-scended when the motor stopped so the actuator drive had to have enough turns left when the motor stopped to allow control for the landing. The number of turns and the con-sequent rubber tension was also important. If the tension was too high, the pressure of the crank arm against the lever could be too strong for the actuator relay to pull in the lever. It was always a bit of a juggling act getting the electronics and me-chanics to work reliably.

▲ A typical installation in the model. 45v and 1.5v batteries and the receiver mounted on a rubber band suspension to damp vibration. The relay used to pass the current to the actuator operated on a receiver current change of only 0.2ma and, with its necessarily small gap, was susceptible to any vibration.

This is what you got if you bought a commercial r/c set for the equivalent of a week’s pay. Some basic wiring was still required and the transmitter was housed in a large box, again containing 45v and 1.5v batteries, with a 2.4m vertical aerial attached. The transmitter sat on the ground and had a long lead with a micro-switch at the operators end.

Twin Cities Model Aero Club conducted their 30th Anniversary Sea-plane Weekend on Lake Hume, near Albury over the weekend of Oc-tober 25th, 26th and 27th. With the lake at near full capacity and perfect weather for the three days it made for one of the best events in recent years. It was hard to visualize, standing on the shore line, that only a few years ago you could not see water from the same loca-tion. When you con-sider that Lake Hume, is six times larger than Sydney harbour, that’s a lot of water. This year’s event attracted nearly sixty float plane enthusi-asts from Sydney, Melbourne, South Australia, Tasmania and regional Victoria. A quick count of aircraft in the pit area indicated over 100 models present. This being the 30th Anniversary of the event a special com-memorative trophy was awarded as a ‘Pilots Choice Award’. The tro-phy was awarded to Sydney based pilot Tim Nolan for his beautiful large scale model DHC-2 Beaver. This magnificent aircraft has been displayed at Albury in the past and always attracts lots of attention. Tim is a member of the Rise off Water Club in Sydney, this club as the name implies, is a dedicated float plane club who regularly fly off the lake in Sydney built for the 2000 Olympics.

The members of the club are regular attendees at Albury and can be counted on to bring a wide range of aircraft to the event. A new dimen-sion was added to the event this year with the introduction of an ‘Electric Foamie Pylon Race’. This event, planned and organized by local member and builder of the models, Tony Gyoles, was a hit with

the spectators. To see a dozen small aircraft racing around a very small circuit was great fun. I am sure this event will be a regular feature of future Albury Sea-plane Weekends. Events such as this weekend are made all the better by the support from many sources, particularly the aeromodelling suppliers. TCMAC wish to thank the following suppliers for their support — Albury Hobby Centre, Albury RC Models, Model Engines, SC Models, Hobby Headquarters, Chris-

tian Traders, Col Taylor Models, DB Aeromodelling, and Small Aero-Modelling. We should also acknowledge the support from the VMAA, particularly the Secretary Chris Caulcutt, whose support over this weekend was invaluable. Finally, this event could not have been run without the continuing sup-port that our club receives from Albury City Council. David Balfour.

Twin Cities Model Aero Club 30th Anniversary

Sea Plane Weekend.


Tim Nolan of Sydney’s “Rise Off Water” club received the Pilot’s Choice award for his DH-2 Beaver.


Shade shelters and models lined up lakeside at Lake Hume. The contingent from my local club at Greensborough flew an assorted collection of models.

The electric “foamies” and their pilots lined up for the start of the pylon race.

ARF “Rascal“ from SIG Manuf. is 2.8m wingspan and powered by a Saito 150 four stroke.

Steve Weatherspoon’s electric powered J3 Cub being launched by Tim Knight

A “Sportster” on floats by Bill Pearce of the Greensborough club.

The Anderson “Kingfisher” is a popular model, frequently built using fibre-glass components and plans produced by Tim Nolan.

Tim Nolan’s “Beaver” on the water.

(Trevor Pugh photo)

(Trevor Pugh photo)

(Lucy Simpkin photo)


FLYING ONLY RESULTS

CONTESTANT MODEL RND 1 RND 2 TOTAL

R. CARRIGG STEARMAN 2076 2181 2129 1

N. WHITEHEAD RV-8 2005.5 2242.5 2124 2

G. LEPP PIPER CUB 2043 2055 2049 3

D. ANDERSON MEW GULL 2105.5 1933.5 2020.5 4

G. WHITE EXTRA 300 1872 2116.5 1994 5

I. LAMONT YAK 54 1825.5 2053.5 1940 6

G. THIELE THUNDERBOLT 2017.5 1824 1921 7

J. LAMONT YAK 54 1821 1939.5 1880 8

G. GEDYE FLYBABY 1953 1734 1843.5 9

R. DICKSON MUSTANG 1779 1870.5 1824.8 10

J. BUTTIGIEG PIPER CUB 1627.5 1786.5 1707 11

M. PETERSON RV-8 1572 1560 1566 12

D.WHITE SBACH 342 1246.5 1803 1525 13

CONTESTANT MODEL RND 1 RND 2 RND 3 TOTAL

D. LAW DECATHLON 2397 2308 2478 2437.5 1

P. STEFURAK EXTRA 300 2236 2393 2344 2368.5 2

T. GRIEGER SUPER CUB 2221 2206 2266 2243.5 3

CONTESTANT MODEL RND 1 RND 2 RND 3 STATIC TOTAL

N. FINDLAY FOX MOTH 2283 2062 2323 2745 5048 1

G. SUNDERLAND NIEUPORT 27 1957 1831 1940 1835 3783.5 2

R. DICKSON FW 190F 1765 1965 DNF 1835 3700 3

SCALE RESULTS

GIANT RESULTS

The cold and windy weather of recent weeks finally broke and this event was held on a sunny day with moderate wind, drawing a good number of entrants. Unfortunately the late allowable starting time of 10:00am at the Melton field, together with the large entry, limited the Flying Only section to two rounds despite the use of two flight lines for this section of the competition. The lost time, and the significant charge imposed by the club for the use of the field, might be worth considering when planning future events.

VICSCALE at Melton

David Law’s latest large model is a Blackhorse ARF “Super Decathlon”. The model is 1/3 scale with a wingspan of 3.3m and weighs 15kg. Powered by a DA100 petrol engine driving a 28x8 propeller.

Rob Dickson’s P-51 Mustang in flight.


Rob Dickson’s FW190 is back in action after an extensive rebuild. Tony Grieger’s 1/3 scale Cub took time off from its usual glider towing duties.

Noel Findlay’s World Champs Fox Moth is still in immaculate condition. Garry Thiele from Bacchus Marsh is a newcomer to scale competition.

Mark Peterson’s RV-8 on a landing approach. Gary Sunderland’s Nieuport 27 performed well.

Peter Stefurak flew a Red Bull Extra300 by Fliteworks. Model spans 2.6m and is powered by a DLE 111 petrol engine.

Gavin Gedye from Ballarat flew this Bowers Flybaby.


VMAA State Field 10th Anniversary

This event, late in November, drew modellers from around the state to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening, in 2003, of the first Victorian State field. Originally purchased with the assistance of MAAA funds the field, which was recently bought outright by the VMAA, has been developed by the resident club, Northern Flying Group, to become one of the best flying sites in the state. Notable annual events to be held at the site include the VMAA Trophy and the NFG’s highly regarded “Twins and More” multi engine fly-in. Many other weekends are allocated to various Special Interest Groups and their events, with all being welcomed by the NFG mem-bers who open their clubhouse and man the kitchen to provide suste-nance to the flyers.

Notwithstanding the seemingly ever present winds that prevail in the area and the possibility of rain showers, some 60 flyers with around 100 aeroplanes attended this event and with the predicted showers holding well south of the field those making the trip to Darraweit Guim enjoyed a fine day. Enthusiasts from as far away as Albury and Bairnsdale came to take part in the celebrations. Many prizes were given out via a pilot’s draw throughout the day and I imagine that everyone who flew must have received some sort of gift. The three major prizes were won by — Ian Lamont (Aurora 9 radio set), Peter Harrison (OS 46AX engine) and Shane Talbot (Phoenix (Sbach ARF kit).


The well established club house and surrounds. Gary Sunderland’s Bristol Boxkite and BE.2 in the foreground

Rod Mitchell’s Black Widow and an assortment of other aircraft.

Michael Thorn’s Westland Wasp helicopter is scratch built and powered by a 30cc Hyrobo petrol engine. The 1/5 scale model weighs 12kg and is 1850mm long with a rotor diameter of 1800mm.

The Wasp drew a lot of attention with its well detailed engine and cockpit. The fine cockpit detailof the Wasp.

1/3 scale Stearman by Gary Flanagan of Valley Radio Flyers, Shepparton. Gary Flanagan’s Stearman lifts off.


A few more of the models in the pits. Michael Thorn’s Bell Huey in flight.

Brian Hutchinson, from Bairnsdale, sorting out an engine problem in his PBY Catalina.

Brian’s Catalina is built from a plan by Iceland’s Sturla Snorrason. Model is 3.3m wingspan, weighs 21kg and is powered by two DLE35 petrol engines.

Flying dinosaur by Chris Anderson of the Greensborough club. Chris’s father, Graeme Anderson, flew this nicely built crop duster.

Paul Winter’s Lazy Ace is a design by Chuck Cunningham. Model is 1.8m wingspan and powered by a Magnum 120 four stroke. Weight is a mere 5kg.

Rod Mitchell’s Lockheed P-2 Neptune in flight.


VICSCALE Victorian Flying Scale Aircraft

Association The Special Interest Group

for Scale Modelling in Victoria.

General Meetings of the Association are held bi-monthly on the first Thursday of the even months at the Field Naturalist Club of Victoria, 1 Gardenia Street, Blackburn. Visitors are always wel-come and a highlight of meetings is the presentation of new models as they are constructed, and discussion on building techniques by members.

The VFSAA Calendar of events is available on the VFSAA website at http://vfsaa.org.au/

Brian Whellan with his scratch built Corby Starlet..

CHAMPION kit for a PIPER SUPER CRUISER, 2.2m wingspan, for 90 four stroke…..$150 SIG kit for a CITABRIA, 1.75m wingspan, for 52 - 70 four stroke………………………...$150 ROYAL kit for a STINSON RELIANT, 2.3m wingspan, for 90 - 120 four stroke………...$170 TOP FLITE kit for a CESSNA 182……………………………………………………………….$170 OS GEMINI 120 twin four stroke, NIB…………………………………………………………..$300 OS 20cc petrol engine, two stroke, NIB………………………………………………………..$300 Contact Darryl Cope Ph: 9702-3815 Prices negotiable.

FOR SALE


New Zealand

Lake Forsythe

Fly-in 2013

(Peter Hewson)

Christchurch

With 93 registered pilots and record crowds at the annual Lake Forsyth Fly-in during late August, the host club was faced with a few headaches trying to find parking for pilots and a large public contingent. Modellers came from both ends of the country, including Invercargill and Whangarei, to enjoy this popular flying event, which features four flight lines operating from a land strip, helicopter area, 3-D and park flier strip and a float flight line. “It is a great event and I’m really glad I came,” said new MFNZ President, Jonathan Shorer from Levin. There were many other first-time attendees as well as regulars who have been to most of the 17 fly-ins run by the Christchurch Radio Fliers Club. “I have never seen such a variety of models anywhere,” said Steve Fox from Waimate. Large jets, helicopters, gliders, float and sea planes, foamies, aerobatic, scale, and combat flying wings all enter-tained the crowd. There was something for everyone. A steady northeasterly dominated Saturday’s proceedings, but Sunday was blessed with sunny calm conditions and pilots made the most of it. Gliders were able to ridge soar for hours on the far side of the lake while a busy land strip and foamie area were rarely silent. A feature of the Forsyth fly-in is the number of prizes, raffles and trophies available. The generous sponsorship of Play Concepts provided many of these with Noel and Tina Welbourne having a presence with their shop tent on site. Club patron, Des Lines, had a difficult task trying to take in all the mod-els as he judged the Best Model award. Paul Lagan had a large trailer full of his models for sale as he tried to “rationalize” his stock of many and various aircraft, motors, and gear which he has collected over a long modeling career. A large Buy, Sell and Exchange tent was also kept busy over two days, as was the food tent which never seemed to be short of customers. Socialising was an important part of the weekend and many people took advantage of the site to camp over the two or three nights.

Another big one from Alec Taylor. This Piper Pawnee is the Gore model-ler’s latest addition to his stable – a 42% beauty at 14.5m and weighing 28kg with a 3w 170 twin capable of 18 horsepower. Alec is going to need a bigger trailer!

A 5m ASW22 on tow behind a 33% Piper Pawnee.

Part of the land flight line. There are four flight lines at the Lake Forsyth event, including lake, helicopter, 3-D and the main land strip.

Beaver antics on the lake.


This large A10 Warthog with twin turbines won the Pilots' Choice for best model.

Jared Scott's Catalina.

This model of the Bristol Freighter by Paul Bolton is 3m wingspan and powered with two OS 90 FS four stroke engines. The marginal power gives a very realistic flight performance. Marked in Safe Air colours, the compa-ny that used to operate these aircraft between the two main islands of NZ. Someone once described these aircraft as "50,000 rivets flying in close formation."

A large marquee made for excellent storage for the many 3-D and electric models.

Best flight was by Richard Race with his large Extra.

AWARDS for 2013 FLOAT & FIELD CUP BEST MODEL: Bristol Freighter (Paul Bolton) PILOTS’ CHOICE BEST FLOAT PLANE: Catalina (Jared Scott) PILOTS’ CHOICE BEST HELICOPTER: Squirrel (Dave Ewers) PILOTS CHOICE BEST LAND PLANE: A-10 (Jared Mulholland) OLDEST PILOT: Des Bryson YOUNGEST PILOT: Corrie Hoult


Most scale modellers would love to try their hand at a Spitfire and John Jewell is no exception. He decided to go for a large one – Mick Reeve’s ¼ scale Mark 9. This model comes in at 110” wingspan and John calculates weigh will be about 35lb (16Kg) with a Fuji Imvac 64 for power. Mick Reeves produces a moulded, semi kit, but also provides other accessories such as the air up / spring down retracts, wheels and marking decals. John thought he was getting a kit which would be straight forward to build, but he has had to do a number of modifications and alterations for his own satisfaction. John’s model, MH 434, is based on the one with Breitling Fighters at Dux-ford and after working on the project for two years, he is now nearing completion. The cannons are held on with magnets over an inner tube (a nifty idea) and the nav. Lights are fully functional. The model splits at the rear of the fuselage, just like the real one says John.

John Jewell’s

Spitfire Mk.IX

Australian Model News

What is the connection between Te Aroha and Swannanoa? Answer: An Isaacs Fury. A scale model project usually involves a good deal of research, but it helps if you have the full size aircraft close at hand or at least the plans. Ray King lives in Te Aroha, North Island, NZ as does Lew Hale who built the original Isaacs Fury that Ray was keen to build as a scale flying mod-el. Lew still had the plans and the only problem was that the original air-craft now resides in Swannanoa, just north of Christchurch, in the care of Des Lines. When Des received a request to help a modeller in the North Island with some photos of his Fury he duly obliged and some time later, when he received photos of the model that Ray had built, he was “blown away” by the craftsmanship and level of detail. The 1/3 scale model has a wingspan of 84” with spruce fuselage framing and plywood sides. The fiberglass cowling is covered with Solartex sprayed with silver basecoat and 2 pot clear. The cockpit controls (ie. joystick, rudder pedals and throttle) operate from a separate receiver. Weighing 8.6 kg, the model is powered by a Fuji Imvac 43 cc engine swinging a 18 x 10 prop at 7,200 revs. A superb scale model, it is truly difficult to distinguish the original from the model, as the photos show.

Ray King’s

Isaacs Fury

issue no. 25 australian model newsornithopter 14. vicscale at p&darcs 16. large scale racing at...

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