Bendigo Radio Controlled Aircraft Club
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Pylon successCongratulatons Matt!
Calendar 2013
| Date | Day & Start | Event | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18-19 May-13 | Sat & Sun | F3A Vic State Championships | Pattern Aerobatics - Henry Hutchinson |
| 27-May-13 | Monday 7:30pm | Meeting at YMCA | |
| 2-Jun-13 | Sunday | FUN DAY - COMP | Fun day events 40-46 size aircraft. ie spot landing etc |
| 16-Jun-13 | Sunday 1pm | GLIDER - COMP | 4 Flights for 20 mins Total |
| 24-Jun-13 | Monday 7:30pm | Meeting at YMCA | |
| 30-Jun-13 | Sunday | OLD TIMERS - POWER | Club Texaco |
Twins and More Day - 28-4-2013
Have you been to one of their Twins and more days at our State field? Yes/No? Do you know what Twins and more is all about (well its not new born babies)? Its any aircraft with multiple number of engines, like twin (2) engine, tri (3) engine, quad (4) engine or even more engines.
Being that I had never been to State Field and it was a free weekend for me, and I had been invited by 5 or 6 of the Scanner Race pilots from the weekend before to come and watch them flying these multi engine aircraft, I decided to go. Its a special day for the Northern Flying Group (caretakers of the State Field).
I decided to ask Bill Matthews if he would like to come for a ride with me to the Twins and more day, well Bill put the camera in the car first then he got in and away we went. About an hour and a bit later and we were on the dirt road that leads into the State Field. First thing that we noticed was it had lovely Green grass on the runways, (a little bit jealous) and very nice clubhouse facilities, including shower and toilets etc.
We had not been there more than five minutes, and the conversation from the locals had turned to the Scanner racing. We had so much fun, when will the next race be? We are coming and there will be more of us. The answer was, "can't say, but we let you know when it will happen again".
About ten minutes later and this time it was from members who had heard all about the racing they were congratulating us on such a great idea, of Scanner racing. They though it was great to have racing at a fun level, and with inexpensive aircraft.
This isn't what we came for, we got invited to come and watch some very pretty multi engine aircraft in a flying display, and there was some great flying with a fair amount of one engine out landings , without many problems. I was quite amazed how well they handle aircraft. Bill Matthews had been given right to enter the pits to take as many photo shots that he wished, he was also joined by Ken Thomas (RCMN) and Joe Fincocchiaro (VMAA editor), all three were clicking and flashing away, then getting the names, makes and models etc.
Another member of our club, Graeme (Robbo) and Joy Robinson had also come down for the day to have a look at the Twins and more, and the next thing I knew was the control line Mosquito I built for the Model Engineers Exhibitions that are held here in Bendigo many years ago came to life out of the back of Robbo's Ute!
Now I had photographers wanting shots of the Mossie and myself. I only went to this event to be a spectator as invited, and finished as more or less a contestant.
At the end of the day there was very little done damage done to any of the aircraft, the Twins do really sound great, but the electric DC3 when flying was a bit like watching an old black and white movie without sound, without noise its nothing.
If you get the chance to go to a Twins and more day, (its only one a year) its well worth the effort. I'm glad I went, even if I got hounded, and I know Billy enjoyed it as well. Check out Bill's photos.
Report by SCP. (Snap Crackle Pop)
21st April - Scanner Challenge
Circuit racing for the Phoenix Scanner Aircraft, Supported by Model Engines.
Well after months of planing the day had come, it was time to had some fun with the (Phoenix) Scanner Aircraft. The entries had grown to 16 which is ideal for what we wanted. The weather gods were kind to us, so we were all set for a great day of fun. Entries had come from Ararat, Seymour, Shepparton and Kyneton clubs and of course our own local members.
With the triangle race course all set up for our circuit racing, pilot boxes marked out, pylon lights connected to the electronic timer and counter, we were ready but how are we going to identify 16 Scanners that are the same size , same shape and almost the same colour schemes? Wwhere theres a will, there's a way and we did it, thanks to the our President Andrew and the 3 teenagers he had to help him in the lights cage at number one pylon.
Two rounds of Challenge were run before the lunch break, some very hairy flying was seen as there were some pilots who were attempting this for the first time, but the look on their faces and the laughter said it all, they were having lots of fun and that's what this day was about, having a good time.
During the lunch break the wind increased quite a bit, coming through the trees on the north side this makes the air quite turbulent. This should create even more fun when racing in the cross wind legs, not to mention the landings which were becoming a little bit more difficult at times.
A couple more rounds were flown with lots of near misses and a little bit of Grass parting, which seem to bring more cheers and laughter. It was very entertaining.
Come the last round and this is where most pilots really go for it. All in, nothing to lose. Graeme Beagley and Steve Davis had been swapping the lead back and forth all day when Graeme cut too tight on pylon number 3, trying to turn inside of Steve's flight line and it happenned. He hit the pylon, one Scanner no wing, pylon fine, that's racing !
Results for BRCAC,
| 1st | Matt Young |
| 2nd | Steve Davis |
| 3rd | Les Davis |
MODEL ENGINES Prizes, two very nice AFR kits , first one was to go to the lowest placegetter with at least four out of five scores in, and that was Brodie Hunter from Ararat.
Second was for the pilot that finished in the half way point on the results list, and that was Les Sawyer from Shepparton. The rest of the visiting pilots received a bag with something to eat and drink on the way home, oh yeah, Mossie Heard got a prize for his good looks...
We must thank Model Engines for their support and the suggestion that we run this day. It worked out well with lots of happy flyers, can't ask for more than that, not forgetting the pilots that came to our race day to have some racing fun.
We also must thank our light Marshalls who did a marvellous job for us, as well as the canteen staff, and the two camera boys, Bill and Joe who have taken lots of pictures to remember this day and the fun we had.
Will it happen again next year.....................? We'll wait and see !
Report from C D, L D. (Bill's photos here)
7th April - Radian Glider Comp
What a wonderful day it was. The sun was out, the winds were light, you could say it was almost a perfect day for flying, but where were all of our Radian glider Flyers ?????
Can't blame the weather this time around, anyway with the five entries that we had we all had a good time except for Ernie, who lost sight of his glider through the sun and couldn't manage to recover in time striking the grass at an obtuse angle, doing some minor damage, and putting himself out of the comp in just the first round.
With the now common 2.4 radios all flyers can fly together at the one time and that's how we ran the comp after the first round, (poor Ernie). In round two the air was dead nobody scored more than 2m 54s,that's including the 20 second motor run, this was a disappointing round.
At the start of round three the CD announced, this was to be the thermal round, and lo and behold it was, all flyers did scores max, even our John Newman was having a ball 3 rounds in and had landed on or near the strip 3 times and had 2 max. scores to his name. What did John still have left in his bag of tricks, just wait and see !
Round four was a hit and miss affair. The lift was there, and next second it was gone, half of the pilots got some lift, and the others totally missed out, so now it was all up to the final round, with no one managing four max scores to this point, the fifth round would be the decider round. If one could get the max on this round they turn out to be the winner.
Well we all got max scores, yes the lift was back and it was nice to finish the comp with a full list of max scores for this round, so now lets check to see how they all finished.
Equal first was given when both contestants had the same score and on the count back there was only one(1) second between them, which is less than one percent allowed for human error. And can you've guess who has pulled another trick out of his bag and finished in equal first place ? Yes its John Newman.
Results,
| Third Place was | Les Davis |
| Second Place | Brian Deason |
| Winners were Equal First | Alan Uren & John Newman |
Thanks to the time keepers and our photo man Bill for his pics, it was a near perfect day for flying and to those who missed out on today, "stiff cheese"
Report and CD for the Comp, Snap Crackle and Pop !
Vale - Alan Watkins
Alan was known as one of our favorite club members.
He passed away on the 16th of March at the age of 86 after a long illness.
A funeral service will be held at the William Farmer Victoria Street Chapel, 12 Victoria St. Eaglehawk on Tuesday the 26th of March at 1.30pm.
R.I.P.
17th March - OLD TIMER TEXACO COMPETITION
Well I had been watching the 'very marginal' forecast for quite a few days and from 11am on the day there were mean winds above 30 Kmh and gusts recorded above 50 Kmh which meant our models could be pointing into wind and going backwards at 30Kmh during a gust.
Not highly recommended but the model went in the car and out to the field hoping for a miracle.
While we had three flyers and a timer turn up, all models remained in the cars and we called the comp off due to the wind..
Les had been looking around the end of the strip for a lost battery from a Friday accident so we all went down for a look - First up a servo was found and much later the Battery was also found so the only winner on the day was the owner of both items duly returned to him - Congratulations Ted.
Alan U - CD
10th March - GLIDER COMP. 4 in 20
On quite a warm Sunday and with a northerly wind blowing the contestants started arriving from 12 noon until 1 o'clock. It took a while for the contestants to get prepared before we could have the briefing. Rules were stated as four flights for a total of 20 minutes flight time.
The entries fees were collected, the bungee was set out, we're ready to go down the paddock with the tent now erected, its time to fly!
We had Seven entries but Roy Butterfield did not feel well so he withdrew and went home leaving six of us to fight out this comp.
First Round:
Les Davis fired first, had a good launch and picked up a thermal. He clocked 9 minutes 30 seconds. Lucky Les!
Brian Deason had a good launch but found bad air with no thermals. His time was 2 minutes 17 seconds.
Matt Young launched. But had some problems and bombed out. He was given a second chance at end of the round.
Alan Uren fired next and clocked 2 minutes 23 seconds.
Ernie Cleijne had a bad launch and clocked 50 seconds.
Alan Roshier launched but it was a wipe out and crash due to a dead battery which tested OK in the morning.
After repairs Matt Young fired again and clocked 2 minutes 32 seconds
Second Round:
| Les | 1 minute 30 seconds |
| Brian | 2 minutes 6 seconds |
| Matt | 1 minute 3 seconds |
| Alan U | 3 minutes 12 seconds |
| Ernie | 1 minute 35 seconds - damaged on landing and out of comp. |
Third Round:
| Les | 1 minute 59 seconds |
| Brian | 1 minute 51 seconds |
| Matt | 1 minute 2 seconds |
| Alan U | 7 minutes 1 second |
Fourth Round:
| Les | 2 minutes 39 seconds |
| Brian | 1 minute 58 seconds |
| Alan U | 1 minute 59 seconds |
Final Results
| First Place: | Les Davis | 15m38s |
| Second Place: | Alan Uren | 14m35s |
| Third Place: | Brian Deason | 8m12s |
Weather was hot, windy and gusty with only two thermals found all day.
Thanks to all time keepers and assistants with equipment.
CD and report Alan Rosiher
Sausage Flyer
What's a sausage flyer, you're thinking? Well it's when a flyer wants to get to the other side of the world to compete in a World Championships, and he needs to raise quite a large amount of dosh to get himself there, and so he has had a sausage sizzle outside one of Bendigo's large hardware stores. No, you're wrong its not Bunnings, it was Home Hardware in Charleston Road Bendigo, on Saturday the 23rd of February.
Both Bendigo Club's, CVRCM and BRCAC,helped Matt Young with his fund raiser. Although this is smaller than the Bunnings set up etc, we still managed to sell quite a few snags. Not being allowed to sell drinks does restrict it somewhat, but every little bit helps to push the total along.
In case some of the club members are not quite sure what the fund raising is for, well Matt Young is the only Junior in Australia at this time eligible to participate as an invited member of the Australia Pylon Racing team to enter in the World Championships in the Netherlands next July. If Matt can make the team it means Australia will have a full team at the World Championships. There is no next year for Matt as he will turn 18 and no longer be a Junior Race Pilot.
L-R: Tim Pithie,(helper) Les Davis,(BRCAC) Aunty Lorna (helper) and Ray Tampion (CVRCM) were the afternoon shift, 12 to 2pm
If you would like to help Matt get to the World Champs donations can be forwarded to the BRCAC secretary Alan Uren or to Les Davis, or straight to Matt Young's Facebook and Matt's phone number is 0458 107 015. So can you help ? Please Please Please.
Scanner Challenge - Circuit Racing. 21st April 2013
Remember last year we had the "Scanner Challenge" and how much fun we had as a part of our Club Sport pylon race day (I.E. The Sport/Trainer Class). Well we've been asked to expand the Scanner Challenger Racing. We have someone who would like to promote it, and in turn give us support in the form of prizes for first place on both of our race days. So after some discussion with the offer that's been put to us, we have decided to ask a couple of the local flying clubs in our area if they would be interested in joining us in this basic form of racing.
Now to save confusion, what we race is not "Pylon Racing". Pylon racing is were the pilots stand in the centre of the course and fly around very close to themselves at very high speeds.
In our racing the pilots stand off the course on the sideline, some 80 metres from the actual race circuit. Yes we still use pylon makers to define the course. In Large Scale Aircraft Racing they have been using this same race format for more than 12 years, and they don't call it pylon racing either. It's just called Large Scale Racing, so I feel a better name for our racing would be to call it "Circuit Racing".
If we look at other forms of Radio Control racing , such as Cars, Boats or Yachts they all stand to the side of the course to race, either on a platform or up on a bank at the waters edge, and that's circuit racing.
From now on its going to be called "Scanner Circuit Racing".
.................................................................................................................
Model Engines gives Support.
Model Engines Australia have offered us support for our Scanner Racing. Managing director Mr Tony Farnan read about our "Scanner Racing" in our Aloft Newsletter and likes the idea so much that Model Engines have said they would like to promote Scanner Racing, and are prepared to donate first place prize, for our two Scanner Race days this year. Naturally they would like all to use OSAX46 engines to win their donated prizes.
Model Engines have done a deal with Aero Aviation Hobbies to keep the price of Scanners fixed at $99 for all of this year, and the same deal on the OS AX 46 MK 2 engine at $149 which are very reasonable prices. May be we could ask for a deal on bright coloured fluorescent trim sheet for colour identification of the aircraft, (should look into that).
Will have more details on this racing later, in the mean time get your Scanner out and start practicing.
Please Note, Please Note, Please Note, Please Note, a change in Contest Calendar, the first SCANNER RACE will now be on the 21st of APRIL, and the Fun Day comp that was on that date has now been change to the 2nd of JUNE.
Les Davis (Here is an Entry Form)
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