WINDSOCK

NEWSLETTER OF THE READING & DISTRICT MODEL AIRCRAFT CLUB

February 2007

Musings from the Model Shed

Well the winter is ticking by, as I write this there is about 3 inches of snow outside and I was oh so tempted to put the floats on my WOT 4 and go and play, but as always work got in the way, ah well may be next time.

Apart from this sudden cold snap, the weather has been slowly improving or may be that’s just wishful thinking on my part, but the nights are starting to draw out ever so slowly. A couple of weeks ago when I left the office at 5 pm it was pitch black, now its still light, February is racing past and before you know it we’ll be back at Dreadnought for summer evenings of fun.

I meant to get a lot done this winter, I wanted to finish the Flair SE5a I have half built, but as things are going that won’t happen! I did finally manage to fly the electric HET Tucano I bought at the LMA do at Cosford in July, I know its only supposed to take a few evenings….. I finished it just before Christmas, had it running on the bench tripple checking everything was correct when the new motor I had bought for it suddenly stopped dead. After much head scratching and substitution, I decided the motor had failed and taken the ESC with it, or the other way round, anyway neither component worked! Following a phone call to Overlander both items were promptly dispatched in a jiffy bag and very shortly after replacements arrived in the post – very good service indeed. They even took the trouble to cut off my battery connector from the old ESC so I could use it again.

New motor fitted, all running fine, then weeks of windly weather – TYPICAL!!!

When I finally did get to commit it to the wide blue yonder, its superb, nice to fly, and looks great!

With the weather what it is, the ocassional lunch time blast with a small leccy job in the local park is my main aviation fix at the moment. Accompanied by a friend who, over the last 8 months, has come on from first flight with an electric glider and yours truly holding the buddy box and offering moral support, I would stop short of saying teaching :o) to completely solo on an electric foamy. He fly’s a Multiplex Scooter, nick named the ‘Moped’ for obvious reasons, and for about Ł30 inc 400 motor and gearbox it’s fantastic bang for the buck, really tough and great fun to fly. We now have a third Muskateer joining us, once again with electric glider, from small begginings as they say. I did warn him he was at the top of a very slippery slope and that once you venture over the top and buy that first model there is no turning back, but he didn’t listen and like the rest of us is well and truly hooked.

I’ll have to have a word with HR to see about some funding for a Xerox Model club in Welwyn :o)

Happy landings.

Paul Joslyn, 8 Fairfax Road, Chalgrove, Oxon, OX44 7RS.

01865 400603, 07771 963200 paul.joslyn@xerox.com

The trials and tribulations of Flying in Oz

G’day, members of Reading and District Model Aircraft Club.

My name is Barry Clements and before migrating to Western Australia with my wife and family almost 13 years ago I was a member of RDMAC. When I found your club site on the Internet I noticed that there are quite a few guys that I remember from the old days. I swap Christmas cards with Jack Bishop and Pete (the painter) Walters and also with Ian Coles who now lives in Adelaide.

I thought you guys might be interested with an insight into the model-flying scene here in WA and maybe an anecdote or two.

When we arrived in WA it took just over a year to buy a block of land and have my house built and get it about the way I wanted it (that’s a laugh, I’ve been in the house 12 years and I’m still doing things to it) and then I started to look around for a model flying club to join.

There are 2 clubs in my immediate area, The Whitfords Model Club and the Wanneroo Areomodelers. I chose the Wanneroo club because there are absolutely no restrictions on flying times. The Whitfords club fly at the Wanneroo Raceway and of course there is no flying allowed when race meetings are held. I should add that the Raceway hosts car and motorbike racing---something like Goodwood in Sussex.

Wanneroo flying site is a dream. It is situated at Pinjar which is an area with just a few smallholdings and very few houses roughly 20kms inland and about midway between the coast and RAAF Pierce. The land is leased from the Shire of Wanneroo. They are happy to have us there and there are no signs that they will ever foreclose on the lease.

The only model that I was able to bring to Australia was a High Sierra glider in the boot of my wife’s Honda Prelude that we shipped over so it was trips to the model shops to find my “first” model. I hadn’t done any flying for a few years so opted for the inevitable high wing trainer.

At this point I should tell you that we have a reasonable amount of model shops in the city and the metropolitan area----but----this is Australia and the metropolitan area covers a good few square kms, in fact over 7’000 of ‘em, so, although there are a fair amount of shops they might take some time getting to. I live about 30kms north of the city and I can drive down the freeway or catch a train. Either way I’m there in 30 minutes.

The shops offer a fair selection but are probably not as well stocked as are the shops in England although a lot of the guys now do their buying on the Internet.

I well remember the wonderful array of R/C goodies on sale at the flying symposium at a racetrack just outside of Kingston. I used to walk around the stands with my tongue hanging out. We have nothing here to compare with that.

It takes me about 20 minutes to drive to the flying field. Although they are country roads they are excellent and there’s not one set of traffic lights to negotiate. Viewed from the air the flying field shows as a clearing in the middle of a pine plantation and bush. The pine trees are too far away from the strip to pose any sort of problem. The bush is scrubby and not too dense and all of the trees seem to stop growing at about 9 ft. There is no sign of human habitation for miles and miles. The field is reached by a single limestone track with passing places and is about 1km long. The surface is good but we have a 20km speed limit. One of the reasons is the kangaroo’s that abound in the bush. I had a collision with one; he actually hit me when he came bounding out of the bush into the side of my car. He was OK. He picked himself up and bounded off back into the bush. Fortunately he was only a Joey and my car was unmarked. Had it been an adult it could have done quite a lot of damage, they grow to quite a size. I travelled up to Shark Bay one weekend and borrowed my daughter’s 4 wheel drive. Early in the morning on the way back to Perth two ‘roos came out of the bush straight at me. There was nothing I could do to avoid a collision but fortunately (?) I only hit one of them. That was enough to demolish the front of the vehicle but I managed to limp back to Perth (a ten hour drive) minus the air conditioning which was stuffed, no joke when its 40 degrees plus.

At the end of the track is plenty of hard parking and the member’s car park is right next to the pits. The pits and recreation areas are all undercover and we have in and out taxiways to the runways, these are concrete as are the runways. The runways form an X and have marked thresholds and centre lines. At the bottom of the X we have a limestone runway to cater for the “ockerd” wind. The concrete runways are about 100 metres long and 8 metres wide. One of our members who used to fly as a crop duster said that he could get a Tiger Moth in and out on the runways. Between the runways and the pits areas is grassed and is serviced by pop-up sprinklers supplied by our own water-bore. We have flush toilets, a kiddies play area with swings etc and of course the inevitable BBQ area and facilities.

We have a wonderful climate here in WA. Very reminiscent of the Mediterranean except that our nights and evenings are not sultry and we suffer with very little humidity. For 9 months of the year it’s endless blue skies and sunshine and the winds are predictable. Before lunch they are Easterlies and after lunch the “Fremantle Doctor” smiles on us and in come the westerly’s, straight off the Indian Ocean. Life here would be uncomfortable without “The Doctor”, he helps to cool things down a little. There’s not much evening flying as we are in the semi tropics and it gets dark around 7 pm. Of course the sun is shining at around 5 in the morning and this is usually when there’s no wind at all. Our winters are short and nothing like those in England. Nights and early mornings can be a bit chilly but by around 10am you can get in yer shorts. We get a lot of rain and when it rains it hammers down, real torrential stuff and then out comes the sun and --- fire up yer engines. One of the main differences flying here in Oz is the “uniform”. Gone are the wellies and the oil-soaked hooded anorak and I haven’t seen a Trannie-muff since I’ve been here. There are not many days when the guys are not wearing shorts, singlet and thongs (flip-flops), of course hats and sunnies are essential. Most people have jeans, socks and trainers in their car boot in case they have to go into the bush to retrieve a downed model. They say that the fangs of a snake will not pierce denim. There are plenty of snakes here and some of them are bad buggers but you only usually see them if you go looking for them. I saw more snakes in my garden in England than I’ve seen here in Oz---mind you, I lived a lot longer in England than I have here, ‘spose I’ve got time to catch up!!!!

I remember one day standing next to a guy called Chris, another ex-pat Pom and he decided to try a flat spin on his brand spanking new model. Well of course it didn’t come out of the spin and came to earth quite a long way into the bush. We took a rough bearing and set off to find it, after donning our anti snake-bite gear. We couldn’t use the old bush-mans trick of using a watch as a rough compass as it was around mid-day and the sun was right overhead so we asked the only other remaining flyer at the field to hang around until we came out. Lucky we did ‘cos after coming across the model we set off back towards the field but after only a short while came to the conclusion that we were lost. In the bush everything looks the same. I tried climbing a tree but because they were all the same height couldn’t see very far, all we could see were treetops. I had my mobile phone with me but how embarrassing would it be to phone your wife and say “Honey, I’m lost. Please phone The Ranger to come and get me”. Fortunately that wasn’t necessary as Fred, the other flyer got a bit worried for us and circled the field with a model to enable us to get our bearings so we were able to make our way out of the bush. I have the consolation of knowing that we were not the first, nor the last that got lost in the bush. One guy did actually have to phone his wife to get the Ranger to get him out.

Another time I was the only one flying, it was a beautiful day, clear blue skies and not a breath of wind. I was flying one of my favourite models “Elly”, short for Elephant, it’s a 72” wing span high winger with an OS 60 up front and very docile. I was flying quite high up throttled back so the engine was just ticking over describing lazy circuits and figures of eight when a guy standing near me said “you’ve got company”. I was then aware of a magnificent Wedge Tailed Eagle gliding in to have a look at this “bird” invading his airspace. I was unsure what to do, I was concerned that the eagle might get injured by the propeller so before it got too close I opened the throttle and went into a power dive. The eagle fortunately didn’t follow me down. I ‘spect he went home and said to his missus “I sorted the bastard out”.

I have heard tell that a thermal glider had its tail section removed by one of these birds.

The club engages in the usual competitions and every 2 months or so a ‘busy-bee” is held at the field on a Sunday morning to get odd jobs and general maintenance done. The lads really put their backs into the tasks ‘cos ‘till they’re done there’s no flying.

Once a year we have an open day that’s featured in the press and we get quite a few ‘civvies’ and their families turning up at the field. The combined smell of the sausage sizzle and aero fuel is wonderful.

With our climate thermal gliding is popular and there are no shortage of thermals. Its quite common to see flocks of pelicans enjoying a thermal with hardly any wing movement. I’ve never been interested in thermal gliding although I have 3 slope soarers and often fly off of the dunes at Mindarie beach. It’s only a 3 minute drive from my house and there is hard parking right next to the dunes. It’s possible to fly off of the back of the dunes in the mornings when the easterlies blow but around noon “the Doctor” puts in an appearance and a westerly blows straight off of the Indian Ocean. The dunes are never crowded. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than half a dozen flyers at one time.

I said earlier that our field is roughly midway between RAAF Pearce and the coast. The pilots out of Pearce are fully qualified pilots and fly PC 9s before moving on to jets. They do their formation flying and aerobatics over the ocean and sitting in my back yard I can watch them perform. On the way to the coast they over-fly our field, they know we are down there and very often one of the pilots will peel off and give us an exhibition of precision flying and aerobatics. It’s impressive stuff. At the end he does a low pass, waves to us, waggles his wings and sets course to re-join his buddies.

RAAF Pierce at times plays host to the Indonesian Air Force and carry out combined manoeuvres just off shore flying jets. At the same time Hercules transports drop SAS troopers into the ocean where they are picked up by fast recovery vehicles. Being a crafty bugger this is when I suggest to my wife that we take the cliff top walk from Quinns Rock to Mindarie. The cliffs are not very high but the aircraft are either below us or at eye level. These manoeuvres carry on for several days and is very entertaining.

I live opposite to a sizable park and I’ve seen guys flying fixed wing models and helicopters there but it is bordered by houses and I don’t think the Ranger would be too pleased about that if he should happen to drive by and see them.

In the summer months its not uncommon to see “willy-willys”, these are mini tornados and depending upon the area and the nature of the ground its possible to see them coming, certainly at the flying field where it looks like a funnel of sand approaching. Then it’s a case of grab yer model before it becomes airborne.

There are a total of 34 registered clubs in WA and most of them have their own flying fields. About 3 clubs share the amenities of The State Flying Centre at Whitemans park which in my limited experience is a superb flying venue with just about every facility one could possibly wish for although having said that I can think of one thing that they lack-----a licensed bar!!!! Come to think of it, since my last visit there I think they now have one.

I don’t visit Whitemans Park on a regular basis but I do call in if I’m ever in that area.

Once a year they have a “jet day”. I try to attend this if I can. Flyers from all over Australia participate in this event and some of the models are magnificent.

Well guys, that’s about all for now. If any of you would like to get in touch it would be nice to hear from you and if you ever find yourself in our beautiful Perth, it would be real nice to catch up with you and I could show you a couple of the flying sites.

Cheers!!! Barry Clements

If you have any messages for Barry send them to the club e-mail club@rdmac.org.uk or send to my home address and I will forward them to Barry’s e-mail.

The LMA Visit RAF Hendon

Sunday 29th October saw the RAF museum at Hendon play host to the Large Model Association for a static display of some of their models. So, with the prospect of seeing some of these amazing planes up close and a chance wonder round some fine examples of full size aircraft, a day out was planned.

The first hall you get to at Hendon is the ‘Milestones of flight’. Aircraft exhibited here were chosen because they have all contributed something special to aviation history.

For example:

· Bleriot XI – first aeroplane to cross the English channel

· Sopwith Camel – the most successful fighter of WW1

· Hawker Hart – one of the most adaptable biplanes to enter service in the RAF

Right up to the more modern:

· Harrier Jump jet – first production ‘vertical take off’ fighter

· Eurofighter – a key part of today’s RAF fleet

Also in this hall are some excellent interactive touch screen panels, which give more information and video clips on the aircraft displayed.

Moving on, is the main hall where the bulk of the aircraft are displayed including, Lancaster and Vulcan bombers, fighters through the ages, from piston engine biplanes such as the Bristol F2b and Bulldog, several variants of Spitfires, Mustangs, Messerschmitt’s and jets such as the lightning, Phantom, Provost and Hunter to name just a few. Also a good selection of helicopters, from early examples such as the Sikorsky Hoverfly, right up to the ultra modern civilian Merlin EH101 capable of carrying 30 passengers!

On of the most though provoking exhibits for me was that of a Halifax recovered from under water, which has not been restored. The history of this aircraft was that it crash-landed on a frozen lake in Norway whilst on fire. The crew, as we understand, successfully evacuated the aircraft. Unfortunately the fire melted the Ice and the bomber sank to the bottom of the lake where it remained for 30 years. The lack of oxygen in the water and cold preserving the airframe in much the same condition as when it sank. This is how the aircraft is displayed today.

Other exhibits include:

· The Grahame White Factory, moved from its original location at the Old Hendon Aerodrome to its present location on the museum site. This is believed to be one of the oldest examples of a purpose built aircraft production factory and houses some fine examples of early aviation, including a Sopwith Triplane, a Hanriot and the famous SE5-a fighter from WW1.

· The Battle of Brittan hall, which houses many exhibits of the period, and some of the famous aircraft that fought in this historic event. Along with some short films of the history of the day.

Check out their web site from more information at: http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london

On its own Hendon is a great day out, but also present on this day were some fine examples of the Large Model Association’s members aircraft.

It was a real treat to see these mammoth models up close and chat to the owners. Some of the statistics of them are amazing.

For example, the model of the US coast guard’s C130 J Hercules, often known as ‘Fat Albert’:

· 1/7^th scale

· Wingspan - 18’ 6”

· Fuselage - 15’ 6”

· All up weight – 173lbs

· Propulsion – 4 x 42cc petrol engines

· Undercarriage – main wheels – 8” Nose wheel 6”

· Radio – 16 servo’s, 6 batteries and 3 receivers

· Pre flight has 22 separate checks and takes 1 hour to prep

· To date it has made 103 flights and logged 16 hours

Also present was a part-finished Sky Raider, build as a commission for an international model display pilot. You can judge the size for yourself from the attached photo, but its awesome. Powered by a 5 cylinder petrol engine it uses industrial robot servo’s. The builder spent some time talking to us about it. He had to have the undercarriage custom built in the US as he was unable to find a suitable company in the UK! The detailing on the wing was just superb. Panel lines achieved by spraying over tape then removing the tape to leave a line where the paint had built up. Then each rivet was applied by hand using a piece of brass tube fixed to a soldering iron and burnt into the finish. There were thousands of them!

Other fantastic models present: 3 x Dakota’s, a Hurricane, Pits Special, A10 Warthog, SE5a, and an Airbus in KLM livery. Also still under construction a Lincoln bomber, another A10, Piper cub and Gloucester Meteor to name just a few.

It was, as I say, very interesting to chat to the builders and see the planes under construction, there must have been a 100 meters of electrical wire in the A10 alone! If you get the chance to go and see these incredible models don’t miss it.

One of the good things currently about all London museums is that entry is free, so make the most of this good deal and get out there and visit them!

LANCASTER ON TOUR.

Ps’st – “Wan’na buy a Battleship?” This used to be a well known saying when you wanted to get rid of or sell something, but is not used much now. Most of these marine giants, if you can remember what they were, have been ‘sunk’!

Anyhow, it happened to me as I stood in the pre-Christmas queue, trying to get out of Tesco’s. I had a copy of ‘FlyPast’ in my hand and the gent behind asked me what type of aircraft interested me. When I replied, Model Aircraft, he said, “Would you like a big four engine model Bomber”.

Well, before the wife could stamp on my foot, I had said ‘yes’, particularly as he thought it was a B.17, that had previously flown with four forty size motors.

So, after surviving Christmas and the obligatory sneezes and colds, I trotted round to collect and found, not the expected Superfortress, but a rather ancient and well-worn model of an Avro Lancaster. Without any engines, I might add, and suffering from considerable hanger rash. At eight foot six inch wingspan, it had been some model in its time and must have been very impressive as the four engines pulled it round the sky.

It was modelled on a Lancaster B. Mk I, built at the Manchester factory of Metropolitan–Vickers, number R5852 and went to war as EM-P (P Peter). Whoever built it could have had the history of the occasion in mind, as this aircraft was originally in a batch order to build twin engine Manchester bombers. Due to the unreliable Vulture engines, the specification was changed. Fitted with four Merlin engines, it became the tenth Metropolitan-Vickers Lancaster. This Company’s aircraft were particularly well built and many Mk1’s survived the war. In fact, fifteen of them were reconditioned, flown to Buenos Aires and sold to the Argentine Air Force. P-Peters brother, R 5849, went to Rolls Royce at Hucknall, where it gave sterling service as an engine test bed.

There is a possibility that the model may have been used in a film, but as yet, this cannot be confirmed.

As soon as I saw it, I knew that it was a lost cause as far as I was concerned. As stated, it was not in very good condition and would take a lot of work to bring it up to flying standard, plus the fact that to provide four forty’s would not do my pension any good. Even as a display model, I could not hack it, though some wag said that it would make a unique coffee table. Last but not least, we do not even have an open fire to use it on.

As I could not use it, perhaps I might make some money for our local Air Ambulance helicopter. With the post Christmas round of Bring and Buy model auctions coming up, I thought that some-one would take to it and make a bob or two for the charity.

The first event was at the White Horse club, where the Lancaster was carefully inspected by the throng. Held to the end, Auctioneer, Martin Spackman, kicked off with a reasonable bid, but his efforts were greeted with a deathly silence, which resulted in, not a nelly! “OK”, says he, “As it is being sold for Air Ambulance, I am going to pass the collection box round and expect you all to put in at least fifty pence.”

The silence was quickly broken when Jan McClure, in an authoritative voice, said, “Pass it to me first. I’m going to put some money in the box, to make sure Duncan does not buy it!” The laughter, tinged with relief, rang round the hall and soon donations were making the collecting box come alive with its rattles.

A similar situation occurred when ‘P Peter’ turned up at the North Berks auction the following week. It created great interest, but no one wanted to take him home. But thanks to Auctioneer, Paul Goddard, who also sent the box round, the collection was gradually getting heavier. There was a much bigger turn-out at this meeting with many grand models on offer, so it is probable that the guys had run out of loot when we finally got round to the Lanc.

Last but not least was the Reading and District auction. This time, poor old Peter was beaten by quality, if not quantity. However, Ron Prentice, our final Auctioneer, pushed the collection to greater heights. The box by now, weighing around 2lb’s.

Thus ended the, “Lancaster on Tour”, Exercise. Despite transport and assembly problems, P Peter, which could have gone for as little as Ł5.00, ended up making the grand sum of nearly Ł54 for the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance when the box was opened the following Thursday.

We might not get the helicopter to fly far on this, but we can at least lubricate the door hinges for – “The service we hope we will never need”.

Well done lads and lassies, we had a bit of a laugh, and thank you all.

Incidentally, our Lancaster might not be ready to give up yet, as Dave Belcher, of the Reading Club, is intending to put Peter on E Bay. “Someone will want it”, says he. Meanwhile, P Peter lives on in my garage.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !

Should anyone else be interested in furthering the adventures of our Lancaster, P Peter, or make a donation to the cause, please contact me at:-

12. The Ridgeway, Caversham, Reading, RG4 8NX. Tel: 0118 9477794. Email: Trob750@aol.com

I also give talks to local groups. A fee is charged, which I give to Air Ambulance.

Current subjects are:

The History of British Tea

The British Empire and its S23 Flying Boat Airliners

Tony Roberts.

Living with the lone flying rule at Dreadnought

As you will all know, in 2005 we introduced the lone flying rule at Dreadnought. Now while this may have had an impact on some of you, it was done for the ‘greater good’ of the club to safeguard our only flying site at Dreadnought.

It was suggested at the AGM last December that I could set up a ‘members forum’ area on the web site so that anyone could post an ‘anyone fancy going flying today’ type message. I have given this some thought and don’t believe it would work. Most members likely to be able to fly during the week would be either retired, shift workers or the stinking rich (if we have any of those) and as such would unlikely be sat at their computers monitoring said forum for such a message.

However as an alternative, I propose to compile a phone list of members that are available on a regular basis during working hours, and make this list available to those on the list. So if you fancy going flying, you have will have a few phone numbers of like-minded members to ring round to see if anyone else is available.

So if you fancy joining this list please send you phone number, location and days you are available to me, by whatever means you like – phone, letter, e-mail (see below) and I will compile the list. Please note that by joining this list you agree to your phone number being circulated to other members on the list only. The list will not be published on the web site or newsletter. Also please note that flying is not permitted Monday’s or Friday’s at Dreadnought under the terms of our lease, and Tuesday – Thursday flying times are:

Power – 12 noon – 8 pm

Silent – 10 am onwards

Comments, suggestions or articles to:

Paul Joslyn, 8 Fairfax Road, Chalgrove, Oxon, OX44 7RS. 01865 400603 – 07771 963200 or paul.joslyn@xerox.com