WRCS - November 2005

Warringah Radio Control

Society Incorporated
(Incorporated under the Association Incorporation Act 1984)

Newsletter - November 2005

Simon Press with P-38 Lightning, the winner of the prestigious Tim Cowen Memorial Trophy at Scale Day.

MEETINGSMEETINGSMEETINGS
The last meeting for 2005 will be held on Tuesday, 8th November 2005 at Tennis Cove, Eastern Valley Way, starting at 7.30 pm.
Don't forget the Christmas Party on Saturday, 10th December 2005, entry by ticket only.

PROJECT FOR 2006?? The Committee has decided that next year's (2006) major Scale Day will have additional competition based on a particular type of aircraft. This additional competition will also be held for small and large scale military and civilian models and after next year, each year a different manufacturer will be nominated.
The 2006 competition will be for any type of aircraft manufatured by

De Havilland
(at any of their manufacturing facilities around the world)

This advance notice (10 months) will enable many Members to prepare an model in time for this competition.

APOLOGY It has been quite correctly brought to my attention that many competition winners recently have not been mentioned in the Newsletter by name. I wish to apologise, but let me assure everyone that this is due to the fact that this information is not made available to me in time for publication.
The Competition Results (points awarded to all Members for each event entered) is however on the Website and now up-to-date

Tom Wolf, Editor

WRCS
CHRISTMAS PARTY
4 pm on SATURDAY
10th December

(dinner served at 6pm,bring along your ticket to hand it in!!)
We again are catered for by McGoo’s Spit Roast with lots of yummy food.

Adults $22;
Children 5-12 $10;
under 5 FREE

See Stefy Grech or Brian Porman at the field most Saturdays or send cheque (made out to WRCS) and a stamped self address envelope to:
Stefanie Grech
42 Fuller Street
Collaroy Plateau 2097

plus Lucky Door prize

Raffle tickets (you don't have to be at the party to win!!) are $5 each. Prize is a Sportsman Aviation 46 size ARF “MAD DOG” 69 inch wing span, 47 inches long wing area 595 sq in wing loading 17-19 ozs per sq ft

Second raffle: (you do have to be at the party to win!!) at $10 each. Prize is an ARF Galaxy models P51D Mustang 68inch (1.7 m) wing span for .91 four stroke or .61 two stroke. (donated by Extreme Hobbies)
Kids' Raffle (all the kids at the party are eligible!!) is an electric twin engined 18 inch span Messerschmitt (also donated by Extreme Hobbies)

Tickets from Brian Porman

A MUSICAL W*R*A*M

(Brian Porman spends a balmy Saturday afternoon at the Field, chatting between flights,
to Tommy Sparkes, of TOM SPARKES OBOES - no the ‘H’ is not missing!).

Whatever you do make sure you do not miss Warringah Radio Aero Modeller, Tom Sparkes, appearance on the ABC Television show Australian Story to be aired in early 2006. This absolutely inspiring, story of one man’s ingenuity and compassion to help another person in physical pain and desolation about his future, as a result of criminal acts, will be rivetting stuff.
A pending Court case, when dealt with will trigger an airing date. When we know that date we will post it on the Club web site. This show will tell you more about the type of man Tom is than any anecdote that can be told here. Don’t miss it!

Tom, centre with the famous Graham Jesse and George Grolla playing his own make Oboe by invitation at the Instrument maker, Selme of Paris exposition at Darling Harbour.

Just what Tom did, and how he went about tackling the challenges facing Phil Evans, will be left for the magnificent story tellers at Australian Story, but I will try to give a thumbnail sketch of some other aspects of Tom’s life that will not be shown on that story. When the film crew entered Tom’s Hornsby musical instrument factory to be confronted by a giant scale, 8ft wingspan Sea Fury hanging from the ceiling, they must have wondered.
Tom is a very popular club member, but for those new to the Club, Tom, a past CFI, current Club Champion and Adelaide Golden Era winner (Radial) is a MUSO!!
He has been a Muso since the age of 18, when he learnt the SAX. This was actually the result of a misunderstanding! When asked at age 17 what he wanted for his 18th birthday, he told his parents, who perhaps had some New Zealand background, because they went and purchased a SAX!

Tom at age 15 is seen in Parramatta Park with an own design control line.

Never mind, the other would come. (I’m guessing of course, as one would not be so crass as to raise that issue in this Newsletter ). He does have a handsome son named Cameron, and Caroline, an absolutely funny and delightful wife whom he met, (or more correctly ‘chatted up’) as a result of a gig at St Georges Leagues Club.
Caroline was a singer on Bandstand and singing with the Johnny O’Keefe show when Tom made his suave and debonair approach, Paul Hogan style.
So to be crass the sax led to —oh forget it!
Caroline struck a high 'C' with Tom and they married in 1975. Caroline is one of a number of members wives who travel to various events intra, and inter, state supporting us old kids in our other passion, so to speak. Nevertheless we still haven’t persuaded Caroline to sing for us yet!
As a muso Tom is versatile, he plays tenor, alto and baritone saxophones, clarinet, base clarinet and all the winds, except the Bassoon [Flute, Piccolo, Oboe Coranglais - an English Horn, you knew that, right? ]. He is world renown for his own design Tom Sparkes Oboe. Now isn’t that just another Tuned Pipe? Well the PowerHouse Museum was so impressed that they feature one of Tom’s Oboes in the Australian Innovations section of the Museum. A lot of Tom’s inventions feature on this Oboe.
He has played with the Tommy Tycho Orchestra since 1970, and still does. He spent fourteen years with the ABC Showband until disbanded on the orders of Malcolm Fraser when he came to power, in what is said to be retribution for a prank pulled on Fraser by the band in Vietnam.

Tom was with JC Williamsons and the Tivoli. He has done oodles of film work recordings. He plays on all the Hannah Barberra cartoons and plays for Mike Perjanik, known for Theme music such as Country Practice, Home and Away etc.
Tom is well known to various schools for the repairs he carries out on their musical instruments. Actually this is really a front as his factory is ideally set up to carry out aeromodelling ‘thingos’ on his lathes presses etc.
As a kid, and before Sax, he designed and built his own control line models and flew in Parramatta Park with about 5 mates and so they formed a Club. He stated he was right into this modelling hobby until girls came on line! Modelling went off the radar at about 18.

The 2.88 metre span Laird Turner at Blacktown, prior to its certification flight early 2005.

But building things still proceeded. He built two boats. A 17 ft cabin cruiser, with outboard motor and a 24 ft inboard jet cabin cruiser.
Not content with that, he and a mate, Jim Bennett, built a Valacia each, a name they made up. Jim made the plug and Tom designed the underpinning chassis and suspension and built the body from glass fibre.

Tom and ill fated Focke Wulf TA series,.
This WWII high altitude German reconnaissance aircraft Tom and ill fated Focke Wulf TA series, a WWII high altitude German reconnaissance aircraft with high aspect ratio wing ought to have been ideal for pylon racing.

Tom’s Valacia is powered by a 302 Ford Windsor and was raced with the Porsche Car Club of which Tom was a member by dint of having a 911 which he also raced.
Tom enjoys his sports/fun fly planes and recently the Midget Mustang, but he is known for his scale airplanes.
In April 2005 Tom’s scratch built 96 inch wing span [for those who hate metrics!] Laird Turner (pictured) powered with a petrol 85cc 3W Boxer twin motor won the Adelaide Golden era, Radial class, in a ten race contest.
This according to Tom is the easiest of all his scale planes to fly. He rates the best finished as his 110 inch span, Zenoah 62 petrol Mustang which was also raced at Adelaide.
He raced, (and recently sold) a ZDZ 60 powered 98 inch span Miles Sparrowhawk. His electric (4 Astro 15’s) B17 is a well known campaigner at Belrose scale days.
Tom spent a lot of time on his first entry for the ‘Warbirds’ section of the 2005 Adelaide races. All aircraft must be powered by a bog standard Zenoah 62.
Tom’s Focke Wulf was a beauty. Unfortunately on its certification flight it had some sort of power problem which eventually initiated a tip stall, right into the ridge! A very unforgiving piece of real estate.
This then resulted in the birth of the Mustang for the Warbirds racing.
Tom, most recently flew the Laird and G23 powered Focker Triplane at the Shepparton Giant Scale Fly in. As you can see he likes em big!
Keep an eye out for that upcoming TV show!

SCALE DAY - 16.10.2005

A gloomy and overcast day awaited us with Bureau forecasts of rain, but this did not deter about 200 Members, family, friends and visitors from attending a fantastic day.

With 42 aircraft on display (and 25 were flown on the day) it was a fantastic turnout for the premier event of the year the pictures will attest to the high standard of models on display. Additionally, Col Simpson also demonstrated turbine power (pic left) and Julian Smallwood put on show his P-38 Lightning kit.
Although the competition was open to static models for the "Pilots Choice" award, in fact all models which were awarded were actually flown on the day

After his mishap with the larger model, Grant Furzer brought along his smaller Tupolev TU-95 "Bear" which flew beautifully again

Chris Hebbard brought along Col Simpson's old AT-6 Texan, Out of mothballs, Chris was so busy commentating all day that he didn't get a chance to fly the model.

Harry Hubman/ Barry Campbell's Dornier Do27 was 3rd in Small Military

Dennis Grech's Stuka construction is well advanced

Right: The cook's a bastard ... the bastard's a cook ... Mark Rickard with Simon Press' award winning AT6 Texan.
Mark with his team of Tom Wolf, Sandy Wolf and Sandra Rim kept the assembled crowd fed with a successful sausage sizzle.

Last pic of Kerry Smith's C47 Dakota which was an early casualty when one engine cut out on final turn on landing approach.

Was Col Simpson's P51 Mustang battle damage caused by the FW-190A in the background?
No, it was suffered in a losing a battle with gravity and the trees

Tom Sparkes' Laird Turner was 2nd in Large Civilian

Al Zuger's white Cub was 1st in Large Civilian, Al was assisted by Monte Udrzal

David Pound entered 2 Spitfires, the smaller one (see also "From the Workshop") was 2nd in Small Military. The model had an ejecting parachutist who committed suicide when his chute didn't open. The larger one won the Large Military at May Scale Day

1st in Small Civilian was Dean Schuback with his Velox (with previous year's small military awardee Spitfire in the background)

Peter Coles came 3rd in Small Civilian with his Clipped Wing Cub

Pilots Choice and 3rd in Large Military was the Graeme Swalwell /Jim Masterton DH98 Mosquito

The Simon Press Air Force:
- P38 Lightning (winner of the Tim Cowen Trophy)
- AT6 Texan (1st in Large Military)
- P47 Thunderbolt "Jug"

2nd in Large Military was Stan Begg's P40 Kittyhawk

Doug Radford's Luton Minor was still considered worthy of 2nd in Small Civilian after more than 20 years

Col Simpson's FW-190A came 1st in Small Military

THE FLIGHT LINE (PITS AREA)
This area which was kept clear to all but pilots and observers while flights were occurring ...

... but flights were suspended and the area was opened up for inspection of the models by the assembled crowd

It got very busy with the large number of models displayed for the crowd to view the models close-up

THE SPECTATORS
The large crowd of spectators were kept clear behind the fence, it was nice to see so many family members and friends supporting the competitors and the event

We apologise, but due to limitations of space, the pics in this report have been reduced in size to fit all of them in. If you wish to see the pics (and many,many more) in their glorious best, please visit the Website ("Photos" page)

FROM THE WORKSHOP

Pics & story courtesy of Garry Welsh

We all can remember having fun with paper planes - drifting up in the classrooms hot air and out the window if we were lucky - while the whole class watched-on breathlessly and we thought that the teacher didn’t know what was going on - reliving his own schooldays I’d guess!
Dave Pound recently flew his "paper" Spitfire with 90 FS, covered with newspaper and thinned white glue and underpants (undercoat)
This is one of the better flying Spitfires seen for some time with retracts, open cockpit, ejecting pilot, FS90 and good detail.

Could this be why we all listened to the “Adventures of Biggles" when we were young?
Could this be why we have been trying to recapture that romance ever since?
Fun Fun Fun!

P.S. Dave competed successfully with this models at the November Scale Day, see the report in this issue of the Mag ... Ed

REQUIEM for a BEAR
RIP - SHEPPARTON

Brian Porman reports on a tragedy

Saturday at Shepparton 2005 commenced a bit windy, which became blowy which became unpleasant, cold and then bloody wet! Sunday was a perfect flying day. A few thermals popping some white cotton ball clouds. The ground organisation was running like clockwork. There were about 140 aircraft
Grant Furzer readied for a morning flight. The TU 95 BEAR with two dummy engines, was running both 0.60 RCV’s at almost identical revs. (About time as one engine was rebuilt by the Manufacturer and the second had been eventually replaced. The various symptoms were, vibration, stiffness and failure to run to revs and perform correctly from purchase).
The take off was very scale like. The climb to height requiring a couple of clicks of up elevator. Looking good on the first lap. Then well into lap 2, on the base leg down wind and some 250 to 300 metres away, as the plane was about to commence the turn into wind, disaster struck.
Eyewitnesses stated that they saw something come away from the plane. The Denis Grech video shows the plane suddenly yawing right and dropping the right wing almost instantly. The plane went into a vertical death spin. The results of the arrival can be seen on the photos published last month.
What happened? Well after thinking about all the usual suspects, like interference, battery failure, structural failure, the thing that was known for sure at the crash site was that the right side aluminium prop spinner was missing. The right engine was seized, the left was not. The object seen by some was apparently the spinner being thrown off as the engine seized.
The radio was functioning OK. Batteries were fine. Grant and helpers bagged up the remains and the bits were transported via Tocumwall (that’s another story!!!) to Frenchs Forest where Grant dismantled the engine And sure enough, there it was! A tooth was broken on the gears. This was a repeat of an earlier failure on the ground requiring that the thing be sent back to the UK.
The RCV manufacturer has a lot to answer for in the opinion of the writer as anecdotal evidence from other modellers seems to point to some sort of problem with at least the 60 size motor

GOOD INTENTIONS

Anon y mouse

Nine years of "I’ll fix that up" out the window! Or more precisely into the 80litre bin. It will take time though! That’s what comes of asking the other half Why are you keeping this?
(To be brutally frank though, and I wouldn’t tell her this as she believes in recycling, today ARFs are better time savers and value, for fun flying, versus buying balsa gluing, sanding painting covering etc and you still have an old model but heavier.

USEFUL HINT
(from old publications) ...
WICKING CYANO When attaching sheeting from the blind or inaccessible side using cyanoacrylate glue, the job is a lot easier if several pinholes are made in the sheeting. This allows the glue to wick its way through to the ribs or formers below.

Greetings Aero-naughtical folks one last time from the UK! This will be the last letter from the UK as I return to Oz and the sunshine in early November. Actually, the last few days have been very sunny here but the evenings are getting chilly, 9 degrees in the van last night!

I spent a very happy last weekend at a sunny Southern Models meeting. This was a “biggie” in Kent, lots of flying demos (10 minute slots from 10.00 til 5.00 for two days) lots of trade stands (including this wonderful range of balsa and assorted hardwoods that shows ARTF hasn’t completely taken over yet!), display teams with up to a dozen or so planes in the sky together (plus the inevitable mid-air or two) and a large “bring and buy” area where I got

rid of the flight box, battery and starter that I bought last year when I thought I might be able to do some IC powered flying!
The planes ranged from tiny electric jobs to a 58% size Pitts. This put on an amazing display under the very clever thumbs of James Morris.

He did everything you could think of and more, rolling circles, knife edge a few feet off the ground and, of course, the obligatory hovering. Sadly, his display on Sunday ended in disaster – I overheard the discussion and it was along the “fail safe cut in, cut out, nearly got it back, cut in again and couldn’t do anything then”. It went in vertically from about 15 feet up, not fast, but when it’s over 100lbs of plane it makes a mess as you can see!

One of the more interesting planes, well, for me anyway, was this Blohm & Voss B141. Some of you may know that I started to build an 86” span one about 5 years ago. The wings are easy; the fuselage is round – simple; but the tricky bit is the cockpit nacelle, the glasshouse!

I was working from 3 view drawings and this is as far as I got as I couldn’t work out/find out the cross sections necessary to go from the last regular and visible C/S to the circular one at the end – so I put it on one side, you know, in the “I’ll get round to that later” pile. I talked to the owner of this one and he said he will send me a copy of his plans! I hope so. Here it is in flight and it apparently handles like a trainer providing you get the CG in the right place, and that means laterally as well as longitudinally.

A local club put on a display of fun flying with an interesting competition – burst your own balloon! Yes, you tow a balloon up and then try and burst it (or cut the string) by tight looping. Please note all comp organisers, looks fun to me. Incidentally there were a lot of people wanting to fly, at one point it was announced that there were 108 transmitters in the pound, you can see why from this line up waiting to go.

I was really lucky with this next pic of Nathan Rawlin"s (he’s 16 years old and flies like a demon) F15 Eagle. He was bringing it around at high speed (do they go any other way) and very low, most impressive sound and soooooo smooth. I have to say that I am really impressed with real jets, just wish I had the necessaries to get my own!

At the end of the first day there was a free flying period which extended until it was almost dark. Here is a Spitfire making a last sortie against the sunset.
While in Scotland, I found this gem in a dunny somewhere. Forgive the pic quality as I had to take it with my phone and it says, in case you can’t make it out, “2 whisky flavoured condoms” – only in Scotland!!
I finished up the month back in London and went to my old club field at Hanworth near Heathrow Airport. I met my old friend Jack again and he let me have a waggle of the sticks. He was flying a plane fitted with a digital camera and we took scores of photos (when it worked!) but they wouldn’t download to my computer so I shall have to wait for Jack to send me some (that’s a hint Jack!). It was the first time I had flown there since 1978 – gulp – where do the years go?
On that happy note I close the UK correspondence and, next week, head back to sunny Oz though it may be a while before I do any plane stuff. I had to use my workshop as an overflow store when I rented out the house and it is jammed solid!

See you soon,
regards and Happy Flying,
Mike

Reliable scuttlebutt has it that recently at Nowra, Stan Begg has finally got solo on turbines. He flew Col Simpson's plane with Chris Hebbard's turbine on board.

Nothing puzzling about Dave Pound. Obvious to him is that one way to utilise a too difficult to do crossword puzzle is to hide it under the wing! (see more in "From the Workshop" about Dave's "paper plane")

The only bird that has ever chased Brian Porman was the magpie that chased him over the bridge at the field. BP commented that at his age he would not knock any bird back.

We are told that Grant Furzer in his plight on seeing his "Bear" unceremoniously spread all over the field at Shepparton uttered the famous words ... "Did anyone get the number of the truck?"

Peter Coles has kindly donated a kit to be presented at the FunFly event on 20th November as an "Encouragement Award". Maybe that will encourage some people to enter the comp? This is the second of such awards, the last one was won by Harry Polis earlier this year.

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