Bendigo Radio Controlled Aircraft Club

2010 News Archive

5th December 2010 - Christmas Break up

It was, Ho, Ho, Ho, time again!

Every year about this time, it happens. What happens? Its the Club's "Christmas Break up", of course.

Hasn't this year gone quick? Doesn't seem that long ago the field was dry dusty bowl. Within a few weeks it became green, then became lush, with long green grass, then followed a wet soggy period, before the rains turn our field into "lake type" conditions.

How quickly the weather has changed, in this last 12 months, as did our club. It has also had quite a few changes, with new executives members now leading the way.

This was their first Christmas break up to organise, which they did in a different way, different style, to other years, but was enjoyed by all just the same, so well done to all that helped make this break up such a success.

We had the best numbers for years, and a beautiful Sunday morning. Not windy, but a bit on the warm side, ideal for our breakup. Thirty four of our members turned up , plus visitors, wives and children, talking the total attendance up 45 in all. What a great turn up.

The day started early, with Paul Thompson putting in 4 flights before I arrived at 10 am. Then it was on, with 3 and 4 planes at a time flying. Why not it was ideal flying weather, time to make the most of it. At about 11.45 they called lunch. What a choice of foods , Snags, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Pies,Pasties, sausage rolls and plenty of salads, to start with, followed by Muffins and drinks. Then we were all full, time to sit down and rest until it was time for the Presentations.

Just before the Presentations started, we had something different this year. What was it? Well a lolly drop just for the adults, (the more senior/most, members of the club) the lollies were boxes of smarties with a streamer attached, so they could be seen, and also easy to find in the grass.

Seven lollies with streamers, well sort of, as one lolly packet, had a piece of pink lace attached, instead of a streamer.

When the lollies were dropped, over the far end of the field, this made a few run like they had never run before, just to try and get the lolly with the pink lace. Um, makes you wonder!..

Now into the the offical part of the day. The Presentations, started with a speech from the President, on how the club was going, and to thank all the members for their support during the year.

First up was the presentation of gold and/or bronze wings to 4 of our members. Glen Weeks,then the Two Frosty boys and Robbo.

Next it was time for the Clubman Awards. Noel Young was first to recieve his trophy, then Bill Hughes, John Newman, Mike Fields, Ian Heather, Graeme Beagley, Mal Fields and Darren Touhey. This brought us up to the final three placings.

In equal third place, or second runner up, it was Brian Deason and Billy Matthews, first runner up was Alan Uren and club champion this year was Les Davis.

Well done to all the members, who had entered the comps this year, and good luck for next year.

There were more trophies given out, including the "Mitre 10", presented to Barry Thomas, who was unfortunately not present at the time. Other goodies were also given out to special members and helpers. To finish the day ,prizes were given to the lolly catchers. The members who caught the lollies with the streamer were given a reward for there effort, not forgeting the lucky member who got the pair of pink lace personals.

The President then closed the Presentation off, and wished everybody a Merry Christmas, and a happy and safe new year. As the big black cloud started to roll in for the south, complete with lighting, that was it, all over for this year.

Heres something to think about. The Club will be 60 years old on the 15th of Jan next year 2011.

Report by Les Davis - Photos here

27 & 28th November - Scale Aero Tow

Six enthusiasts turned up and waited for conditions to improve on Saturday ( they did not). The following night saw 50 ml of rain ( 2inches in old Times ) so on Sunday three faithful caterers Andy Alan And Greame turned up.

Morning meeting saw the fliers Call off the event , the fliers then decide to head for Hollow back( Brave souls that they are). Thanks to Greame Beagly and Alan Uren For frantic phone calls. In total we had 100 mls or 4 inches over the week end. Sad! Because this is the first time in 15 years it has not been held.

The pictures tell the story. (Thanks, Bill!)

14th November - Glider Climb and Glide

It didn’t seem very likely to happen even just 15 hours or so earlier, Saturday being consistently so wet. But..

The day cleared early to a fine and mild day, albeit overcast by afternoon. The breeze was coming consistently from the West, averaging 8 knots which was ideal for this type of flying.

As well, there was notable lift at various altitudes so it was relatively easy enough to achieve the 5 minute target duration with the first 60 seconds under power. It mostly came down to judging the landing which was more often than not, dead on the 5 mins or just 1 second either side.

All pilots seemed happy with their flying and , with the ideal conditions, it was evident that the placing would be right down to the wire.

And so it was..

1st	John Newman
2nd	Mal Fields
3rd (equal)	Les Davis, Alan Uren, Brian Deason
4th (equal)	Roy Butterfield, Mike Fields
5th	Billy Matthews

Thanks mates, for coming out and making this one of the best glider comps this year.
Mal Fields C.D. (photos)

7th November - RCGA High Perfromance Gliders

On Sunday, 7th November, the BRCAC once again hosted an Open Thermal Competition as part of the RCGA's Thermal League Competition. This year the field was in fantastic shape, ideal for the 9 pilots who entered the comp.

Winches were setup in the longer grass while the landing tapes were placed off to the side in the mowed strip.

The conditions were ok but there was extensive cloud cover and a good stiff breeze from the NE. It had been forecast to expect showers and a possible thunderstorm.

We kicked off around 10:15 and were running with 3 pilots in each heat with 3 heats per round.

Early rounds were good with some strong lift moving through, however as the day progressed the conditions became somewhat harder and this was reflected in flight times and the landings.

Strong sink and turbulence made the flying all that more difficult.

We managed to push through 5 rounds before the weather turned nasty and ended the competition.

There were many fine moulded sailplanes present and all flew extremely well. There were also many excellent winches and these launched the models really well and high even from the 150m lines.

The results are as follows-

1st	Jim Houdalakis	4993
2nd	Max Kroger	4799
3rd	Gerry Carter	4722
4th	Joel Pedder	4497
5th	Graham Norman	4390
6th	Bernie Sizer	4224
7th	Brad Wilman	4120
8th	Alan Mayhew	3436
9th	Theo Arvanitakis	2771

As C/D for the day, I would like to thank the BRCAC and RCGA and to all the pilots who came and entered in the competition.

Terry Passalaqua - Contest Director

(Here are Bill's photos of the day.)

Raffle Winner - Open Day

Every time we have our Public Display Day -- Mini Air Show a raffle has always been run, and this year was no different.

The prize this year was an aircraft package containing a Classic Trainer aircraft with engine, an OS 46 LA, with a prop and some glue.

Now the lucky winner, whose name is Tom, was not present at the time when his ticket was pulled out of the barrel, and when the winner was announced.

So the prize was brought back to me, and I was asked to contact the winner and arrange for the prize to be collected from Aero Aviation Hobbies, along with any support or help for construction work, if that was required.

Monday night following the Open Day I rang the winners phone number. A nice lady answered the phone. I then asked could I please speak to Tom and the nice lady said "No". Well, I said, I would like to speak with someone who was at the aeroplanes yesterday please. Her answer was, yes we were there, but only for a short time.

I then informed her that Tom had won the raffle, and she started to laugh a little, are you for real, and I said yes "Tom's name is on the winning ticket". She laughed a little more, then explained that Tom was a 2 year old and he was in bed asleep.

She did go on to tell me that Tom had not stopped talking about the aeroplanes all day Sunday, he was totally fascinated by our flying machines.

The prize has been organised to be collected in the near future, so well done to TOM !

Reported by Les Davis.

24th October - Display Day

At last, the great day finally arrived! Although it started slightly cool, the sun was out and all day it just got better. Here's a few photos to help us remember some great aircraft. If you weren't there... why not!?

17th October - Bunnings Sausage Sizzle

On Sunday our club members took part in a sausage sizzle at Bunnings to raise fund for the Club's coffers. At 8.30am Bunnings had the BBQ site all set up, ready for us to go ahead and try and sell as many snags as we could over the next 6 hours.

By 10 am sales were slow, had only sold 8 snags, and then it started, a very steady stream of customers, which kept us on our toes for the rest of the day.

Before long we were out of onions, and Alan Roshier was the go getter, not once, not twice but three times we had to send him for more supplies. Next the snags were running out, so Beags was off to obtain more supplies of these fabulous snags, that were so popular. So good were these snags, we had return customers coming back for seconds!

Smidge was on the front counter, chirping away all day to the customers about our Open Day coming up next Sunday as he was grabbing the dosh, while Steve D. and Neil Frost shared the cooking duties during the day.

Alan Uren and myself looked after the bread and onions, to kept the production line running and it did all day long.

By 4 pm our supplies had all run out, snags and onions were all finished, 52 kgs of snags and about 8 kgs of onions had been cooked and sold.

Then came a clean up, which didn't take too long at all, and we received the all clear from Bunnings, the place was in cleaner condition than when we arrived this morning.

We received plenty of complements on the quality of the food, and the fast service. A good experience was had by those who helped, although a little hectic at times, and we really did, enjoy ourselves doing it.

Profit from the day won't be known for a couple days yet, it will be interesting to see how we went. Thanks goes to Steve D. for organising this with Bunnings, and David Munday for his support.

Report - Les Davis 5620 (Photo by Alan Uren)

19th September 2010 - Glider 5min Drop Out

Six entries arrived at the Marong Field for our Glider Comp, under grey skies and cold weather, but not too windy for gliding.

The comp was a elimination event, using 5 minute as the max score. After flying 4 rounds the top four flyers went into a sudden death fly off, until only one as was left who became the winner.

The club has modified the rules so any size, or type of glider can be used, and the variation was large, from 1.7 metre to 3 metres in wingspans.(?)

In the first 4 rounds ten max scores were recorded. Les was the best with 3 out of the 4 flights, followed by Bill and Alan with 2 max scores, and the worst score for the day, also going to Alan.

At the completion of the fourth round the 4 best flight times went on to the final elimination. They were Bill, Brian, Mal and Les, with Mike and Alan being eliminated.

Les was the next one eliminated with a score of 4m.11s, then followed Mal, with a score of 4m.16s leaving only two to fly off for first and second placings.

Bill was first to fly and could only manage a score of 4m.41s. It was then up to Brian to try his luck in the very cool/cold conditions, and he managed to obtain a score of 4m.59s, making him the winner. Well done Brian.

The results are:

1st	Brian Deason	4.59
2nd	Bill Matthews	4.41
3rd	Mal Fields	4.16
4th	Les Davis	4.11

Thanks to the flyers who did come out to enjoy themselves, and also to the bungee chasers. Please note, no aircraft were killed during the making of this competition. Thats come from the quality of these flyers.

C.D. Les Davis

Here's a few photos from Alan!

Pit Chit Chat - with Les

In this modern world we live in, everywhere you go, there is computers. They're in our homes, in our cars and even in our transmitters, and doesn't that make the aircraft set and adjustment so much easier.

Remember the old way? Screwdriver adjusting pots, using mixing switches, screwing pushrods in and out, shifting servo arms trying to get the required amount of correct travel... A slow boring job, but now with the new computer radios, all done in a flash.

Being that 90% of us now use the computers, in one form or another, our club newsletter will be moving into the computer world just like many other model aircraft clubs have done, and will be delivered via the E-mail.

What's the advantages of using the E-mail to deliver the newsletter? Well the saving to the Club could be around $500.00 a year for starters, (postage being the biggest saving). Next the information contained in an E-mail copy can as fresh as today's news today, not one or two weeks old as the prior printed copy (sent snail mail) was.

Coloured photos of current happenings, reports up to the minute, current stories, changes in dates and times, updates on future comps, 'For Sale' and Wanted columns, even links to our web page for more club information. All this at no cost to the club or its members! Let's all move with the rest of the world, and enjoy our free E-mail newsletter.

PS. A compressed, reduced, hard copy in black and white will be available to those who don't have E-mail facilities.

22nd August 2010 - Great Texan Race

The GTR was conducted again this year under ideal weather conditions, with the biggest entry list to date.

A good number of spectators were present, to watch the Texan Racing again this year. (It's not an advertised event but the racing attracts a crowd.)

The top flyers were in the grove early and had good scores on the board right from the first round, giving the rest something to chase.

It seems that Steve Green has found out how to keep up with the Davis team and pushed them all day, which makes the racing very exciting, with everybody watching the scores.

Brian Green, Phil Pope and Steve White(Browny) were circulating at a good steady pace all day, not that far behind the top group.

Cliff McIver got it all together in the third round, putting in a his best score, but only one good score is not enough. Greg Lepp was the only one to suffer damage to his aircraft during the day, and had to retire in the second round. Gary Flanagan and Leigh Kellack waited until the last round to go for it, and recorded their fastest times for the day.

The Racing all day was good to watch, with the flying skills of these pilots, the passing manoeuvres either under or over, or in between the other aircraft, were really exciting to watch.

Results:

First Place	Steve Davis	656.5	BRCAC
Second	Les Davis	644.9	BRCAC
Third	Steve Green	640.1

During the lunch break the new class of racing was tested, using Aerobatic aircraft, (Red Bull Type) and it was lots of fun! Very easy to fly and race, hopefully we will see more of this in the future.

Thanks to all the club members, who helped to make this another great day.

Les Davis.

Result details: AT6, and "Red Bull".

Thanks to Bill for the photos!

7th & 8th August - VPA Comp and AGM

This report is by Fernando Monge of the Victorian Pattern Association.

On the weekend of August 7 & 8 we were fortunate to be enjoying the most magnificent weather for a Pattern competition. Due to a situation out of our control, the August competition of the Victorian Pattern Association calendar was left without a venue. At very short notice, the Bendigo RCAC quickly responded to the VPA’s request to host the competition at their field.

As has become customary, BRCAC put on an excellent spread for lunch. They also managed to provide us with some delightful weather to go along with the food.

The competition gathered 25 Pattern pilots from all over the state. We had a strong contingent from Mildura, people from Hamilton, from Wangaratta, from Melbourne and a few locals as well. Four categories flew a total of six flights each. A total of 150 flights were flown over the weekend.

Competition began at 9:00 a.m. on both days and we were all on our way before 4:00 p.m. on the Sunday. A few of those manoeuvres in the schedules are still keeping many of the pilots on their toes and many of the spectators wondering, “What on earth is going on?” It all makes for some light entertainment!

Final results were as follows:

F3A

1	Bill Bloodworth
2	Glenn Orchard
3	James Nugent
4	Tom Bloodworth
5	Ron Schulz
6	Fernando Monge
7	Cliff McIver
8	Dennis Travassaros
9	Gary Schmedje

Expert

1	Gavin Wallis
2	Bob Hurst
3	Rob Clarke
4	Christopher Simmons
5	Norm Morrish
6	Henry Hutchinson

Advanced

1	David Nugent
2	Brian Green
3	Peter Newman
4	Doug Dorrat
5	Matthew Bailey

Sportsman

1	Will Crossman
2	Geoff Jenkins
3	Peter Bailey
4	Russell Edwards

Here's a few photos taken by Bill Matthews.

BRCAC in the community - Chum House Day Hospice

Les Davis recently had the opportunity to talk about our hobby to people how don't get about much, and yet have great memories of the aircraft of many years ago. Here's some photos.

BRCAC in the news

Andy tells the ABC what it's all about and promotes the club at the pattern weekend.

Here's the report, and here's the video.

1st August - Plyon Racing, CPR and Q500

We had 7 entries for Q500, half of them were from out of town which made up for good numbers. 5 rounds were flown in some windy weather but we all handled it well with only 1 pulling out due to mechanical failure. The racing was fairly close considering the conditions, even though the scores might not show it.

CPR was flown after lunch in the 4th round of Q500 thinking that the weather might turn for the worst. 4 entries were taken with Geoff Jenkins being a newbie to Pylon, unfortunately crashing out in the first of 3 rounds (bad luck Geoff), leaving Les, Darren and myself to fly. Conditions weren't great but the CPR'S handled it very well with Les coming out on top. Well done Les.

Thank you to the helpers in the cage, as it was very cold to be out there just to push buttons.

With CPR being a fairly cheap way to get into Club Pylon why not build one and come out and have some fun.

CPR Results

1st	Les Davis	316
2nd	Graeme Beagley	446
3rd	Darren Touhey	533
unplaced	Geoff Jenkins, who "will be back!"

Quickie 500 Results

1st	Mark French	360
2nd	Gary Davidson	379
3rd	Jim Orenshaw	390
4th	James Hurley	397
5th	Graeme Beagley	439
6th	John Schmidli	596
unplaced	Barry Townsend

Report from Graeme Beagley, CD

27th July - AGM

Thanks to all who attended the AGM. After many years of magnificent service two of our senior office holders have made way for new blood. Andy Thomas has passed the mantle of club President to Graeme Beagley (taking on Vice President himself) and Neil Friswell has allowed Alan Uren to be Secretary. Both the newcomers face a collossal challenge in meeting the standard set by the 'old guard', but we know they have what it takes.

Let everyone in the club support these guys, as well as Barry Thomas who continues as Treasurer and Mal Fields who will be editing the club magazine.

Thanks, guys. Where would we be without you?

25th July - Glider 2,4,6,8

Nice and sunny with a cool SSW breeze and a little cloud. Nine competitors put in some good times considering the conditions.

Alan Uren in particular got off to good start with a 8 min Max on his first flight.

Most of the others (including my self struggled to get four minutes).

Anyway a good day was had by all. One minor problem for Mike, his wing suffered some stress on launch.

Sorry Bill I did make a slight error with your score, as you did point out, you dropped from 4th to sixth.

The placings.

Pilot	Freq.	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Total	Place
Alan Roshier	605	111	176	255	124	666	9
Roy Butterfield	2.4	120	194	266	212	792	8
Mal Fields	641	51	213	309	245	818	7
Bill Mathews	637	51	235	227	398	911	6
Brian Deason	36	116	231	301	368	1016	5
Les Davis	18	119	239	359	325	1042	4
Ian Heather	12	119	240	354	338	1051	3
Mike Fields	2.4	119	239	359	371	1088	2
Alan Uren	607	114	235	360	480	1189	1

Thanks to CD Roy Butterfield for the report, and Alan Uren and Mike Fields for the photos.

17th & 18th July - VMPRA Pylon Racing

Although the air was cold, the racing was hot! Several aircraft came to grief, either in mid-air or at the air-ground interface. Here are the results courtesy of VMPRA, and here's a few photos thanks to Bill Matthews. Thanks also to everyone who helped out, on the field and in the canteen.

A good weekend was had by “almost all”. The weather was cold as expected, from about 5 to 12 degrees. The weather forecast was wrong for a change and the rain held off until about 4:00 on Sunday. We ran QM and F400 on Saturday, then Q500 and FA1 on Sunday.

As usual, lots of good racing in FA1. Barry and Leigh had 2 mid air’s, which cost Barry 2 aircraft! Many of us were not able to get good times in the conditions there but Beau Murphy was able to put in some really fast races. All times are for 10 ½ laps.

Glenn Matthews, VMPRA

July - Tomboy Rally

The results for the 2008-2009 Tomboy Rally Internationaly Postal Competition are in! Aussies have entered in force, with local flyers doing especially well.

Well done Dete, Brian and Les!

Run out of Italy, this is the second time this event has been run. The next one runs from the beginning of July to the end of May next year, so there's plenty of time to join in and get your flights logged.

It you are interested, check with Les.

20th June - Old Timers / Texaco

Start was to be at 11 am. Having only five flyers turn up we waited until 11:30, but no more came. The weather was cool and cloudy.

Pilots had two and a half hours to complete four flights with lunch after first round.

Rounds were split into two because of a lack of timers. First round saw three max times with Mal Fields having problems with a new plane. Mal's son Mike also had problems with his first go at old timer.

Second round saw another three max's with Mike & Mal having better flights. Round three only one max was scored by Les Davis. Round four saw four max's, with Mike finally on top of his aircraft. Fourth round four max's were reached with Brian Deason hitting panic stations when his plane disappeared in cloud for about thirty seconds before reappearing.

In the end a good day was had by all.

Results were:

First	Alan Uren
Second	Brian Deacon
Third	Les Davis
Fourth	Mike Fields
Fifth	Mal Fields

Report Ian Heather.

13th June 2010 - Electric Glider - Climb & Glide event

A good turnout with 8 entries and a coolish day with cloud cover and a light breeze.

With only 1 Freq clash we set off with a split round of 4 fliers up and the other 4 on the stopwatches. 5 Rounds to be flown with scoring on the best 4 rounds counted.

The event was kept with a engine run not exceeding 1 minute from launch and a 4 minute glide time until the glider had come to a stop. Scoring was 1 point per second deducted from the 5 minute total (either over or under).

After round 1 it was obvious that the 4 minute glide was not a problem as 6 fliers were within 6 seconds of the target 5 min.

Round 2 was 6 within 5 secs.

Round 3 was 6 within 2 secs

Round 4 was 5 within 2 secs – it was great to see everyone taking a real interest in the scores and trying to tweak every little bit out, as this event had turned into a precise timed landing event, 4 min glide? forget it, no problem.

The comp was now that close it was a case of when to touch down – longer slide on damp grass (maybe 4 secs?) or drop it in the rough (maybe 2 secs?) etc.etc

Now to round 5 and down to 7 fliers (1 mechanical failure) – Timekeepers having to count down each sec precisely, and they did it again – 5 within 2 secs.

With the scores totalled for the best 4 rounds the results were:
From a total of 960 points

1st	Les Davis	- 1 point
2nd	Bill Hughes	- 3 points
3rd	Ian Heather	- 4 points
=4th	Roy Butterfield	- 6 points
=4th	Alan Uren	- 6 points
5th	John Newman	- 12 points
6th	Bill Matthews	- 139 points
7th	Mal Fields	- 479 points

Next time around I believe we will need to shorten the engine run time to provide more of a challenge to achieve the 4 minute glide component, as this was not a real challenge to-day with the models or power combinations now available and being used – ie hi power combinations or ultra light foam designs.

It was a great day and comp, with all members enjoying themselves especially with such close scoring and friendly rivalry.

Thanks to all for assisting, Bill for the photos, John for the Web updates and to Alan Rochier for his time keeping for the day.

CD & Report – A Uren

23rd May - CPR & Q500 Racing

The first session of our combined CPR and Quickie 500 race day was held on a clear sunny day that grew quite cool in the afternoon.

A fairly small local turnout was boosted by a couple of our Melbourne members attending, and bringing a bunch of mates. Thanks fellas!

This event suffered from having no Context Director. Apparently many of those who want to have pylon racing don't want to help run it! Fortunately Andy, Phil and Les, helped by a number of other members, got the day going.

Once we were organised one round was flown before lunch. That comprised three heats of Q500, and one of CPR. Of the four flyers in CPR two had mid-race problems, and no further CPR was flown. Even in Q500 there was a clear pattern of DNSs and DNFs that lasted all day.

After lunch we got down to it, but of eleven starters only seven finished enough rounds (four) to be scored. The last race of the day was marred by a mid air collision between Darren and John. As he had flown consistently all day Darren still managed to come second. Well done!

Results:

1st	Tom W.	309
2nd	Darren T.	427
3rd	John S.	474
4th	James H	480
5th	Tony C.	496
6th	Barry T.	498
7th	Glen M.	577

Also racing were Bill M, Gary D, Ian H and Igor.

Thanks to all who attended, and we hope to see you all on the 17th and 18th of July for the VMPRA Pylon Racing. Thanks also to all assisting club members, including Gary and Geoff who helped Andy and I all day in the cage.
Report by John Newman.

Update: The CPR results were...

First	Les D	101	Fastest time
Second	Darren T	124	Second fastest
=Third	Ian H	DNF
=Third	Bill M.	DNF

Let's hope for a big turnup for the CPR in August!

15th & 16th May - Aerobatic State Champs

Bill Matthews has provided us with some photos of the event!

18th April 2010 - OLD TIMER COMP

This Comp was run by VOTA (Victorian Old Timer Association) or SAM600 with the BRCAC members allowed to join in for any event as long as they had compliant models.

The Comp was planned to start at 10am and have 4 events, 1/2A , Duration, Texaco, and Climb & Glide events so most VOTA visitors turned up with sufficient models (and backups) to compete in most events. With the large number of competitors and some frequency clashes, two rounds for each heat had to be flown causing a time delay which resulted in the last event (Climb & Glide) being cancelled.

It was an ideal day for the Old Timers with a moderate breeze and some cloud cover.

Ian Heather couldn't get his model repaired for the event so he opened the canteen and fired up the BBQ and drinks and with the help of Margaret, looked after the visitors with hamburgers and snags - great job Ian and Margaret - Thanks.

The 5 BRCAC crew only signed up for the Texaco event so with 17 starters the event was changed to two maxes (10 min) out of three attempts to get into the fly-off . 12 of the 17 flyers achieved their maxes for the fly-off (4 from BRCAC) but unfortunately Les had to be home by 5pm and the fly-off had not started so home he went.

There were 9 flyers in Rd 1 of the fly-off and what a sight, all trying to get up there before the little lift that was around was lost - as soon as one seemed to find some good air then their were 8 others trying to fit in the same spot. Rd 2 saw everyone waiting around for Graeme to finish his flight so that scores could sorted, awards presented, a quick pack up and it was dark before we got away.

A great days flying and VOTA has expressed their interest in another day later in the year. Thanks to Ian for making contact with VOTA and the liaison.

Results for the Texaco event:

Total 18 registered (Inc 5 BRCAC)

12 eligible for Fly off ( Inc 4 BRCAC)

11 competed in fly off (inc 3 BRCAC finished #2, #7, #10 )

VOTA results

Chris Lawson	1st	2724 points (25min 24 sec)
Graeme Sinclair	2nd	2688 points (24min 48 sec)
Lyn Clifford	3rd	2671 points (24min 31 sec)

BRCAC results

Graeme Sinclair	1st	2688 points (24min 48 sec)
Alan Uren	2nd	2102 points (15min 2 sec)
Brian Deason	3rd	1864 points (11min 7 sec)
Les Davis	Eligible for fly off (DN fly)	1200 points
Mal Fields	Not eligible for fly off	949 points

Full scoring for the day can be found here and some of Bill's photos are here!

Report thanks to Alan Uren

22nd August 2010 - GTR

The flyer and entry form for this year's Great Texan Race have been put on-line! Check out the rules as well.

25th April 2010 - Glider Multi Tasking

A little cloud with sunny breaks and light winds welcomed the nine competitors who entered this event, one of the best turn outs this year so far.

Most decided to do Loops first off, results were mixed the best being 19 and the lowest 4. Unfortunately Brian Deason came to grief with radio problems.

Duration was a mixed bag of times, ranging from a magnificent 12min 42sec by Bill Mathews down to 3min 8secs the worst.
Then we came to Spot Landing similar results ranging from two perfect landings (25 Points) a 20 and 3-15 pointers and two nil scores.

Some constructive criticism about the scoring will be addressed before the next comp.

Final results were:
Loops

Les and myself equal	1st
Mal Fields	2nd
Alan Uren & Bill Mathews	Equal 3rd

Duration

Bill Mathews	1st
Noel Young	2nd
Les Davis	3rd

Spot Landing

Noel & Les tied for	1st
Mike Fields	2nd
Mal, Bill & myself	3rd

Overall Winner

Bill Mathews	1st
Les Davis	2nd
Noel Young	3rd
Mal Fields	4th
Mike Fields	5th

Thanks to everyone who helped during the day, timing bungee etc.
CD - Roy Butterfield

27th-28th March 2010 - Grand Southern Cross Model Aero Rally

Held at the Luskintyre Airfield, in the Hunter Valley.

Probably best described as the good, the bad and the ugly. Why? Well the rally on the whole was good, lots of very nice scale aircraft, the numbers were just over the 100 aircraft. Some very impressive scale flights were put in, during the two days,that was good.

The Large Scale racing was at least, rather poor, small number of entries as some had crashed in practice before hand, on a rather awkward race course, with trees, runway markers and a six metre fall in the land scape.

Eight entries did make it to the start line, and after 4 rounds there were only 4 entries left.

Three Steve's and a Les, Steve Green, Steve Davis and Steve White, and I made up the fourth entry, using our spare/backup aircraft. That was bad.

The ugly part was my aircraft, Texan number 42, had radio failure, and flew some 400 metres on the knife edge before crashing near a crowd of people.

The results of the racing were:

First	Steve Davis
Second	Les Davis
Third	Steve White

The prizes were cash amounts. As we had won two(2) of the cash prizes, we donated one prize, to the Rotary International , who were involved with running the Rally to raise money to support two children from Fiji, who had disfigured legs from birth. The money raised will help to bring the children to Australia for the much needed surgery. At this time one child is booked in Westmead hospital, in Sydney for surgery.

Report by Les Davis

VALE, Gordon Burford, died on the 12/3/2010.

Gordon was the only successful model engine manufacture in Australia. He made engines from the late 1940s through until the early 1970s.

Most modellers would have come in contact with some of Gordon's products, whether it was his range of engines, such as, GB, Sabre, Glo Chief, and the very popular range of Taipan engines, and there were many others.

Even today the, Taipan props and Glo plugs are still being used, products that Gordon had produced to complement his range of engines.

14th March 2010 - Glider Competition

The comp formerly known as The RAMJET started around 1pm with a change of CD to Alan Uren at the last moment. The rules for the day were established on the 4 in 20 style events without the addition of bonus points. Maximum points would be 1200.

The paperwork from Roy and advice from Roy and Les helped get things moving without too much delay as well as Graeme had arrived early and set up the Bungee - thanks to all for the shared timekeeping and bungee retrieval.

The weather was pleasant for a change and 9 flyers lined up for the event which was great to see.

Round 1 saw time scores between 1 minute up to 4:53 so everyone knew that there was not much lift around and the challenge was on from the start to try and achieve the 20 minute total.

Round 2 still had a low of 1:14 but 2 flyers had a little lift with a 6:38 and a 8:30 time.

Round 3 finally had a bit of lift with 3 flyers up at the same time and 5 scores from 6:40 to 9:49.

After Round 3, all the times achieved were totalled so that a target flight time for Round 4 was available for all flyers. At this point there were still 7 flyers who could achieve the 20 minute total.

Away into Round 4 and it was immediately obvious that the lift had gone with the longest flight recorded at 4:18 when 10 minutes was needed by some.

Back to the calculations to sort out the placings which were:

1st	Bill Mathews	1198 points (2 seconds over)
2nd	Mal Fields	1193 " (7 seconds under)
3rd	Mike Fields	1137 " (sharing Mals Glider)
4th	Roy Butterfield	959 "
5th	Alan Uren	917 "
6th	Graeme Beagley	863 "
7th	Ian Heather	809 "
8th	Les Davis	790 "
9th	Brian Deason	673 "

CD, Report ,Photos Alan U.

28th February 2010 - Duration Competition

The Duration competition with 7 initial entrants got away to a slow start with numerous early test flights, repairs and re-tuning necessary for the conditions, with a top temp of 21C with winds averaging over 30kmh and gusts to 54kmh recorded at the airport. The comp was split into two rounds of two flights between the eventual 6 starters, the best score of the two rounds only to be counted.

Andy and Alan R. came to assist with the event so we tasked Andy with presenting the Duration trophy to Shaun (for winning it last year) as well as his Runner Up Clubman trophy for 2009. Thank-you both.

Round 1 unfortunately saw one model blown downwind and the parts recovered over 1 Km away. The remainder of the day was spent fighting the elements and readjusting for the conditions more so than the competion.

Brian had his enlarged Wombat out for its initial Comp and was more than happy with a 2nd.

It was great to see all the competitors pitch in to help the ones suffering some problems with assistance, parts or advice. We missed the models photo but still managed the group picture around Les who was still flying after the event working on his mixture settings.

Les also summed up the day with these words:

"The experience the members get from partaking in these simple club events was borne out today by the way that the flyers handled the very strong wind conditions, with most using 3 channel aircraft, rudder elevator and engine controls, its a credit to skill of our members."

Results at days end were:

Rob	DNF
Bill	5th
Les	4th
Ian	3rd
Brian	2nd
Alan	1st

Report & CD - A. Uren (photo)

Announcement - Duration Competition - Sunday Feb 28th at Marong Field

This will be the last of the Thunder Tiger Duration Trophy presentations due to only one space remaining on the Trophy for a name to be added.

This comp is to get members to brush the dust off their old 40 2 strokes (or larger) basic trainer type aircraft and see how long they can keep it up on 150cc of fuel. You even get two attempts in case you have a problem or want to retune. Only the best flight time of the two flights will count. COME AND GIVE IT A GO.

Start time is set for 10am based on the forecast at this time and the number of people who have been practising.

CD is Alan Uren - if you want more details

14 February - Electric Fun Day

Not a competition but there was some goodies for members for different skills on the day.

There was a good turnout of members on the day with a great variety of models - a little windy, which just adds to the fun part.

Models ranged from the indoor micro heli, scale models, sports models, pylon racer, a Piper Cub modified to tow gliders, gliders - Hi performance to foamies ( note the Hi performance one is the one to fly when a foamie gets in its flight path ) quite a display of foam parts descending.

The last two members flying landed when an Eagle became quite interested in them and by the time the models were retrieved we were wondering why everyone was still looking skyward - it was the show of the day - losing count twice at 18+ eagles in a few thermals close to ground.

The camera didn't come out till late so a few were missed.

The goodies were presented by Andy

JohnBest scale model Les Nicest home built AlanGlider flight IanBest prang Phil and BillElectric Tug tow of a 2.6m glider

Report & Pics Alan Uren

31st January - Loops and Duration

Seven members turned up for the first event of the year. Unfortunately before the first round was completed it was decided to abandon the competition.

This was because of the increasing wind speed.
Report thanks to CD - Roy Butterfield

25th January - First meeting for the year

It was a beautiful evening for a meeting, and we had it outdoors at the field. There was a little flying, and not too many items of business!

Of interest were these photos of an 'Unorthodox Models' event held at Keilor some years ago. If anyone can tell us when it would be good to know!