End of year stuff

Published: Saturday, 31 December 2011 08:30 |

Here are a few interesting things courtesy of Mr Moments:

Over 2000 free plans can be downloaded HERE. Fantastic - Moments suggests that this will stir the pulse of any modeller. Once you are at the site, remember to add it to your favourites/bookmarks.

Over 200 engines in this miniature engineering museum. Probably not much here for the electric boys, but for the timewarpers and their ancient combustion engines, there is much to keep them out of mischief. So "last century"!

Thermal and electric glider event is Feb 19th. The club bungee will be out several times before then for prospective competitors to get a bit of practice in.

MAAA procedure update

Published: Friday, 23 December 2011 07:15 |

There have been a couple of updates to the MAAA Display Procedures and Member Protection Policy - click on each to download and view the PDF, with changes shown in grey.

Whilst on the topic of compliance, one of our members has suggested a reminder to all that electric models should never be armed in the sheds or in the public area. They should only be armed at the start-up area, ideally the arming bench in the pits adjacent to the entrance to the pilot area or when the model is fully and safely restrained in the pits, and they should be disarmed (ie power to motor disconnected) before they are carried from the pit area into the public area. This reminder is prompted by a recent serious accident in Queensland involving an electric model. Same goes for internal combustion engines, where a suitable and adequate model restraint must always be used (not the starter's spare hand!).

Good stuff, merry xmas and enjoy your flying!

2011 Electric Fun Fly

Published: Saturday, 17 December 2011 08:00 |

From our scribe - Col Buckley...

Apologies re the lateness of this report but Xmas festivities got in the way. Now I am just a tad more sober, I thought now is the time to put pen to paper.

If you have never been to a Fun Day…you are missing out BIG TIME. Sure there is first, second and third but the aim of the event is FUN and LAUGHS and we had that by the bucketful.

Events included flying under the limbo, how many loops in 30 seconds + spot landing, 5 minute flight with spot landing, musical flying..(when the music stops – last one to land is out) etc. Penalties applied if you have ailerons, bonus points for rudder elevator only. Maximum battery size is 22000 Mah.

There was a little bit of carnage on the day but 99% were field repairs and in the end all had redeemed their prized heavier-than-air machine and there were no bushwalks needed.

A HUGE thanks to David Menzies for organizing this superb day and also to those who competed. Can’t wait for it to come round next year. Hopefully by then all the glue will have dried and my ribs healed from the laughs.

Results on the day (but who cares?) were:-

First……..David Foster

Second…..Robert Kaley

Third…….Peter Wyss

See you there next year.

fun1

and here's the trophy takers (2nd, 1st, 3rd):

fun2

Found ME163

Published: Saturday, 17 December 2011 07:55 |

Baz's lost ME163 catalysed several days of searching in the deep bush by several members - to no avail. Total man-hour cost of search opertations - slightly higher than the Paraguay national debt.

Then, to everyone's relief, plane finder extraordinaire, Mark T, had a wander in the long grass at the edge of the field and found the wreckage.

Objects in a pilot's eye may be closer than they think?

marks_find

Lights

Published: Thursday, 15 December 2011 22:21 |

Lighting up the Shed

Four LED strips have been permanently mounted and wired up in the shed where the charging station is. They are powered from the charging station and can be used when needed. The current draw it insignificant (measured 1.5A in total if anyone is interested in the numbers) so there is no reason not to use them if you happen to stay a bit longer in the evening.

There is a button mounted in the corner of the transmitter pound. If left on they will turn off after about one hour, so if you are there really late then you might need to press the button again when they turn off, or press it every 30 mins or so to prevent going into total darkness!

lights1

lights2

Ed's note: Peter also evicted (a couple of times) some squatters in the box where the solar technology sits:

Page 59 of 102