Feb 2003

NOTE: Club meetings take place at St Barnabus Church Hall, Emmer Green on the 1^st and 3^rd Tuesday of each month.

Despite that date "Boddo" really will be here. I expect most of you know who he is but if not, he has been modelling for a long time, has run several magazines, built the models and done the flying for a number of well-known films etc. If it will fly, or even looks like it might fly, he’s almost certainly tried it. Plus he’s a genuinely entertaining speaker. Come along and say hello.

Same format as the last time. We will have copies of several of the current range of R/C simulators for you to play with, including the free FMS. I’ll probably also have a few CDs and interfaces available (for a reasonable price) if anyone wants a copy of FMS to take away and drive with their own transmitter.

The committee met on 29/1/03. Full minutes will be published when available but the main points of discussion were :

New Flying field – the planning application will go in some time in February. More when we hear of any results.

Events – see above. Andy Stretton is hoping to arrange Floatplane Fly ins at Beale Park in Spring and Autumn in addition to the Show in August. More details when the dates are agreed. As usual the Spring/Autumn Fly Ins will require A certificate only.

New rowing lake – Tony Roberts had obtained a copy of the plans for this practise lake. There will be little impact on us except that the marina is being moved upstream so we are less likely to get complaints from them.

Charity donation - It was suggested that the club adopt the Thames and Chiltern Air Ambulance as our supported charity. This will have to be agreed by a full AGM but in the meantime we will be collecting donations for them at "teatime" in the clubhouse meetings.

By John Moyler

This is a park flyer which I built from a plan from David Theunissen’s website (www.flyelectric.gateway.net). I would recommend anyone who is interested in electric flight visit this website.

And Now is a small indoor/park flyer with a wingspan of 700mm and a total all up weight of 6 oz. It is built of 3 mm Depron foam, with a ¼" Square spruce spar for a fuselage. The plan is a one page A4 sheet (see last page of newsletter). I am not a fast builder, it took me less than 4 hours to build.

I bought all the materials to build 5 And Now’s for less then £20. This is a cheap model! In a measure of fun for pounds this is very good value.

If starting from nothing you will also need the following:

(These are rough prices as a guide)
Small Receiver (GWS) £20
HS50 Servo’s x 2 £30
GWS A or B Motor £18
GWS Prop 9x7 £5
Speed Controller £15
Flight Pack £15

Total £103

This may seem a lot but if you have a Picostick you will have most of this as the And Now was designed to be an upgrade from the Picostick.

Flying

The first flight was over marshes in Kent because it is lightweight I feel safe in flying this model in places where I would not fly my other models – follow the BMFA code if you fly in similar places.

The model was great fun to fly, with a 8 cell 180 mAh battery I have a flight time of about 5 minutes. I have also flown it with a 7 cell 250mAh NiCad which also flew well thought down a bit on power.

All my flights to date have been outside in light winds, it has been flown in less than ideal conditions 10 mph winds. It coped very well. This is another model I can recommend. There is no excuse for not having one ready to fly for the next indoor meeting (15^th Feb).

I will be in Algeria on business at the time so unfortunately will not be there.

The Web-based discussion forum is no more. I don’t suppose anyone will worry too much because only 2 or 3 of us ever used it and that infrequently. At least we’ve proved the truth of the old saying "If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it".

I expect most you have received your copy of the latest BMFA Handbook by now. Many people are inclined to just ignore it thinking that it will be the same as always. This year I would suggest having a quick read through it. Quite a lot has changed since the last edition as you will see by the change markings down the edges of the pages. There are clarifications to the insurance conditions, information about PCM and failsafes is now incorporated, there are proposed "rules" for indoor flying and lots more.

Well to be entirely honest what I’ve seen has mainly been water, occasionally ice. Although the field hasn’t been permanently flooded it’s been bad enough so that you can’t tell from one weekend to the next if it will be possible to fly on wheels or if it will be floats and boats only. I’ve been keeping the information of the Club website as up to date as I can but things change rapidly.

Personally I’ve given up trying to fly down there in the hope of actually getting some of my stockpile of kits built. I’ve also been having a play at indoor flying, both R/C and Free Flight. Indoor FF in particular is like a different hobby. Built of super light balsa and tissue or 2mm wallpaper foam. Powered by rubber, CO2 or electric (1 or 2 cells). You actually have to trim the planes properly if you want them to fly. It takes me back to when I was just a youth….I could never get those KeilKraft rubber-powered fighter kits to fly then either.

Many thanks to John for the write up on the And Now – there’s still time to build one for the Indoor do if you’re quick. Any articles etc for the next newsletter to

Steve Lewin
505 Northumberland Ave
Reading, RG2 8LZ
Tel: 0118 986 1231
email: steve@rdmac.org.uk

The Annual General Meeting of the Reading and District Model Aircraft Club was held on 3^rd December 2002 at St Barnabus Church Hall. 42 members attended.

Item 5 Chairman’s report

The chairman thanked the committee for its work over the last twelve months and acknowledged that some of the members had found attendance more difficult due to changes in working patterns. The chairman thanked Brian Smith for his continued work in keeping the strip in good order and Dave Grey for the training he does on Saturdays and helping at the Tuesday training events. Also thanks to Steve for producing the newsletter. The chairman made a plea for more members to receive the newsletter by email to help reduce the work involved.

The chairman reported that the Tuesday evening training events had proved very successful and popular. It was planned to continue this programme for next year. Club events had also been successful even though there had been late cancellation of some speakers. The ‘bring and buy’ had probably been the best ever. RTP had also been fun.

Tuesday evening training turned out very successful and it is planned to continue the arrangement next year. A good number of A certificates and a few B certificates were obtained. This was encouraging.

Events held included and indoor event organised by Dave Belcher at the bus garage. This was very enjoyable. The Spring event at Beale Park was successful, but the autumn event coincide with gales and was cancelled. The joint boat and floatplane show at Beale Park was successful though would have benefited from more B pilots being available. The Royal Victoria Country Park event saw the loss of the club model for reasons unknown as the model was not found. Fewer flew at Cholsey this year though it was a good show.

The proposed new flying site at Upper Bucklebury is on hold awaiting submission of a planning application. There is the possibility of a new road bridge in the Dreadnought Reach though its location is not known. The rowing lake on the other side of the river is due for completion in the spring and its effect on the site is unknown. Both these issues serve to confirm the need to acquire a new flying site. The latter is expensive and the club needs to remain in a good financial position.. The club is in a good state but needs to try to retain more of its membership. The turnover is about 31% per annum. One possibility was to promote more activities at the flying site to improve standard of flying. There is also a hope that more people will attend club evenings.

Item 6 Treasurer’s report

Expenditure has been reduced due to efficiencies of method of sending out newsletter. On cheque for membership was bounced which cost the club a fee. There is additional cost for committee meetings as the club now pays for a meeting room. The David Lloyd centre having introduced a requirement that anyone using the bistro bar at the site become a member, the minimum charge for which would be £40 per person. Outstanding expense are for the Dreadnought site for which we await a bill. Overall there will be a surplus balance of £74.43 after transferring £2000 to the savings account as reserve for a new site.

Arising from the report there was discussion about where the club holds its funds and it was report that the Nationwide do not charge clubs. It was also suggested that the Red Cross be asked to come to talk to the club about its activities. Although it does not currently attend club events, the Red Cross could be asked to do so in the future.

Adoption of the accounts was proposed by Tony Roberts, seconded by Pete Talbot and agreed. Mike Russell was thanked for auditing the accounts.

Item 7 Election of Officers

Dave Grey had agreed to continue as safety officer on Saturdays. The meeting thanked him for his work and agreed that he should continue. Brian Smith had agreed to continue with cutting the grass and maintaining the strip. The meeting thanked him for his work and were pleased that he was going to continue.

Item 8 Flying field

The new rowing lake beyond the river will be in use next year. It will be 2.2 Km and goes from opposite the new canoe club down to Sonning Eye. Although the main activity area will be at the Sonning end, it impact on the club is not known at present. The plans will be viewed and there was discussion about likely impact. Although in principle there should be little impact, it is possible, particularly if models stray over the other side of the river, that there will be safety concerns. The situation will be kept under review by the committee, but all members are reminded that the limit of our flying site is the near bank of the river.

The possibility of a new river bridge was also discussed. Its possible location is unclear. The obvious route would be where the new canoe club has been built!. Other option are not known, but space is limited given the move of the marina and that new rowing lake.

The site at Upper Bucklebury remains a possibility. The secretary explained that the planning application had not been submitted yet. In discussion with the agent for the landowners it was decided to delay the application until some of the hostility over the gravel extraction had died down. This had been exacerbated by the contractors not installing a wheel washing unit before starting work and there being mud on the road. The landowners are now also paying for the road to be altered to make it safer. Once this work is completed, and when the agent judges appropriate the application will be put in. The secretary said that he hoped that would happen soon so that, if successful, work could start on preparing a strip in the spring.

Item 8 Membership fees

The BMFA has raised its fees by £1 for all classes of membership. Senior membership will be £23 and junior membership £13. The treasurer had details of family group membership.

A motion was tabled that the club increase its fees by £5. After some discussion during which one member proposed reducing the fees to attract more members and thus increase total revenue, but others pointed out the the club was still the cheapest in the area, a formal proposal was put to the meeting that the club fees for senior members rise by £5 to £38 (plus £23 BMFA membership fee). Proposed by Kevin Mercer, seconded by John Moyler the proposal was carried by a vote of 35 in favour and 1 against. For 2003 senior membership including BMFA will be £61.

A proposal was made that the joining fee for senior members rise to £25. After discussion it was proposed that the motion to the AGM be altered to raise the joining fee to £35. This change was proposed by Roger Price, seconded by Peter Biggs and was carried by a vote with 1 vote against and 1 abstention. The motion was then put to the meeting that the club joining fee rise to £35. This motion was proposed by Roger Price, seconded by Peter Biggs and carried.

It was proposed by Martin Dance and seconded by Andrew Stretton that junior membership of the Club rise by £3 to £8. The motion was carried making junior membership for 2003 £21 including BMFA membership. There is no joining fee for junior members.

Fees for those in receipt of state retirement benefit (pensioners) would remain the same as last year. Motion proposed by M Dance, seconded by A Stretton and carried.

Item 10 Training

The training system as operated this year would continue next year. Dave Grey had indicated his willingness to continue with Saturday training which was very much appreciated. All Tuesday evening meetings through the summer will be training evenings. These will start with the second meeting in April and end with the 2^nd meeting in September. All help will be welcomed.

Item 11 Charitable donation

It was reiterated that we should invite the Red Cross to attend a meeting and talk about their work. At present the club donate £150 per year to the charity plus any monies received as a result of displays such as Cholsey. After some discussion about the passing on of money received from events, two motions were put to the meeting. The first motion was that the club donation remain at £150. This was proposed by John Moyler, seconded by John Hartsell and carried in favour with 1 vote against.

The second motion was that monies received by the club from displays and other activities be donated to charities at the discretion of the committee. This was proposed by Ron Perkins, seconded by Mick Caton and agreed.

Item 12 Any Other Business

It was proposed that the club restrict joining to three set periods through the year. This would assist in the management of training and administration of membership applications. The proposed periods were from the AGM until 31 January, 1^st May to 31^st May and 1^st August to 31^st August. After August the membership would be closed for the year. The motion was proposed by Dick Tiller, seconded by Jack Bishop and was carried.

The secretary read out a proposal from Andy Warlow that the club waive its membership fee for Dave Grey in recognition for his contribution to training . The motion was seconded by Ron Perkins and agreed.

A request was made that the length of the strip be extended. It was explained that our landlords had previously refused such requests. The committee agreed that it would ensure that the length of the strip did not get any shorter but would not approach the landlord to have it extended.

It was suggested that the club send its fee for Dreadnought to the landlords. However, it was advised that this would not be a good idea. The chairman agreed to pursue the matter through the solicitors that had acted during the leas agreement.

Mike Russell was thanked for auditing the accounts.

The secretary informed the meeting that the Beale Park show would take place over the weekend of 2^nd and 3^rd August 2003. He hoped to arrange the usual fly ins for all members in the Spring and Autumn and would try for an additional one in the Spring

The meeting closed at 21.58