Issue No. 32 AUSTRALIAN MODEL NEWSAustralian Model News page 5 Indoor Scale at Sandringham Held at Sandringham in December this is the major scale event for the indoor flyers and is

February 2015

Issue No. 32

AUSTRALIAN MODEL NEWS

Australian Model News page 2

Contents

3. DAVID REGINALD FEATHER 4. RASCAL REPAIRED 5. INDOOR SCALE AT SANDRINGHAM 8. HOBBY AND MODEL WAREHOUSE - THOMASTOWN 9. NEW ZEALAND MODELLING BRIAN BORLAND’S VAMPIRE 10. SAM 600 AT COHUNA 12. TERRY COSH’S GLOSTER GLADIATOR 14. NHILL AVIATION HERITAGE CENTRE 16. SAM 600 AT BALLARAT 18. GARY SUNDERLAND’S FOKKER V.21 20. REMOTELY PILOTED AIRCRAFT

COMING EVENTS

WARRNAMBOOL MAC FUN FLY

BAIRNSDALE

STATE FIELD EASTERN GRAND OPENING

ARARAT

3DHS FLY LOW IN

NORTHERN FLYING GROUP “TWINS AND MORE”

ECHUCA-MOAMA MAC

ANNUAL FUN FLY

NSW FREE FLIGHT SOCIETY RICHMOND SCALE RALLY

This newsletter is published bi-monthly to feature scale model building and flying together with other modelling events in Australia. Contributing material and requests for inclusion on the distri-bution list may be forwarded to — John Lamont Unit 5, 1326 Main Road, Eltham, 3095 Ph: 03 9431 0044 E-mail: [email protected] Visit our website at - https://sites.google.com/site/australianmodelnews/

The period over December-January is usually quiet on the aeromodelling scene so, with the Nationals held over to Easter 2015 and a couple of other events blown out by in-clement weather, I have had a struggle to find newsworthy material for this issue. I had hoped to receive a couple of interstate reports but as they were not forthcoming then I have to present a slightly smaller publication than I would prefer. I’ll try to do better next issue. Another couple of scale modellers in Bruce Cullen and David Feather have left us in the last month and Nevil Bird’s tribute to David Feather can be seen on page 3. I trust that readers had a good Xmas with lots of modelling gear in their stockings. I wish everyone a Happy New Year and look forward to some excellent events in the coming year. John Lamont.

On the Cover. Brian Evans’ 1/4 scale Fokker Dr.1, built from a Balsa USA kit, flying at the Monty Tyrrell Memorial event at P&DARCS.

From the Editor

David Reginald Feather was born on 30th September 1925 in Folkstone, Kent, in England to Vincent and Sally Feather. David was their only child and Vincent was a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force. David joined the RAF in 1944 just as the war was coming to an end. By now his father Vincent had the very senior rank of Group Captain and had some influence on David’s postings in order to try and keep his only son as much out of harm’s way as possible. David tried to avoid any special treatment by telling people that his father was a bin man and not Group Captain Feather. As a new recruit his early service involved clearing bombed out houses and his only war wound was sustained while running for an air raid shelter when he fell on a broken pipe and gashed his leg. David became a commissioned officer in the RAF, training as a navigator and flight engineer. There are many stories of his active service as a navigator/flight engineer and Da-vid did a lot of hours in DC3’s (C-47’s) including flying into Berlin during the airlift to break the Russian blockade. In 1949 the RAF was looking for someone to do a two year secondment to Australia’s RAAF and David made a snap decision to go. The journey to Sydney was via sea, as there was a shortage of aircraft, and the voyage took up to six weeks. On board he met and fell for an Australian girl named Lesley. David and Lesley married in December of 1951 at St. John’s Church in Toorak and then returned together to England for David to continue his service in the RAF.

David was now in RAF intelligence doing analysis of spy plane reconnaissance photos and by 1962 was a squad-ron leader, involved in analysis of intelligence at the height of the cold war, including the Cuban missile crisis. In 1964, after serving twenty years in the RAF, David retired at the age of 39. Given Lesley’s links to Australia and the idea that it might be far enough away to avoid direct involve-ment in a nuclear war David and Lesley decided in 1965 to take their two daughters Vivienne and Denise to Australia for a new life, eventually moving into a new house that they built in Mt. Waverley. David’s early plans had been to move to the country and start up some sort of new business but, given his experi-ence in RAF intelligence, he walked into a job at Austral-ia’s Defence Signals Directorate, the precursor of today’s ASIO. This didn’t last very long as David couldn’t get on with the public service culture. After six months a contact at Australian Airlines suggested he apply for work, and the airline promptly created a position for him as navigation instructor. After working for TAA for nearly 25 years David reached the age of 65 and retired. Shortly after retirement in 1990 David moved down to his Flinders property permanently, and this is the point where his involvement with the model clubs on the Peninsula really began. David and Lesley separated in 1975 and David took up building models planes again, joining the Westernport club a few years after it was founded in Hastings. In 1990 he joined the Nepean club in Rosebud as an associate mem-ber. David was most active with the Westernport club where he held the position of treasurer for 15 years and was ultimately awarded Life Membership. Most of us knew David through his aeromodelling which, like many of us, goes back to our childhood. In fact Da-vid’s father was a keen modeller and David once told me that the best thing his father ever did for him was to teach him to build models. It was all free flight back when David was a boy and then a young man in the RAF. He recalled flying free flight at various RAF bases during his early ser-vice years, the airfields providing the best modelling site you could imagine. I have really enjoyed David’s company over the years, his sense of humour, his story telling, his knowledge of avia-tion and his great enthusiasm to help and be involved. I’m sure that he will be missed by everyone but I’m equally sure that he will be fondly remembered for many years. Nevil Bird

Wtä|w Yxtà{xÜ

1925 - 2015


“Rascal” Repaired

As you saw in the December issue report on the Albury Float Fly, Bruce Sutton’s big SIG “Rascal” hit the water when the engine cut out and a downwind landing was attempted. The unsuccessful landing resulted in substantial damage to the wings, fuselage and floats. As this was Bruce’s favourite aircraft and he had recently bought another set of wings, fitted with flaps to im-prove the landing and take off perfor-mance, he was keen to repair the

damaged fuselage and floats and use the new wings to get the model flying again. With the assistance of Tim Nolan the floats and fuselage were re-paired, Bruce adding new paint-work and electrics. The completed model is shown in the picture below, ready for its next outing. Another instance of an ARF returned to the sky through deter-mination and a little aeromodelling know-how.

The happy owner with his rebuilt “Rascal”.



Indoor Scale at

Sandringham

Held at Sandringham in December this is the major scale event for the indoor flyers and is usually well attended to signal the end of their flying year. I was a bit late getting there last year and missed the opportunity to photograph the massed display of models during the static judging peri-od. This year I made an early start on the long trip across Melbourne to ensure that I didn’t miss out again. Many of the models have been seen before but there were a number of new aircraft, mostly untried, which increased the interest and provided some entertainment as the builders worked hard to trim and fly their new creations. It’s a very entertaining day and well worth the trip to watch these tiny rubber powered scale models perform. Static Flying 1. Gary Sunderland BE.2 1. Don Bladier Comper Swift 2. Don Bladier Kingfisher 2. Gary Sunderland BE.2 3. Mike Glaister DH.2 3. Jim Fullarton Bristol M1

Final Placings

1. Gary Sunderland BE.2 74% 2. Don Badier Comper Swift 71% 3. Jim Fullarton Bristol M1 66%

Colin Parker’s Bristol F2b Fighter. An Avro Avian by Colin Parker.

Ponnier 1913 Racer by Mike Glaister.

A Vought Kingfisher by Don Bladier.

Colin Parker’s Wright Flyer.


Don Bladier’s Comper Swift. The Comper Swift was one of the better performers.

Mike Glaister’s Aviatik-Berg C.I A damaged propeller put the Aviatik out of contention.

Don Bladier’s Peanut scale Ayres Turbo Thrush. The newly built Turbo Thrush proved difficult to trim.

Jim Fullarton’s newly built Peyret-Lignel. Still a keen competitor, Jim installs the rubber motor into his new model.


The models assembled Static judging. People are, from left — Andrew Fullarton, Don Bladier, Jim Fullarton, Ron Neve (static judge), Mike Glaister.

Jim Fullarton’s Langley “Aerodrome”. The Langley “Aerodrome” in flight.

Gary Sunderland’s Fokker F.VII. The Fokker in flight.


HOBBY & MODEL WAREHOUSE

THOMASTOWN, MELBOURNE

In mid-December I needed to make contact with fellow Greensborough MAC member Steve Axford and as Steve lives in Flemington, an inner suburb of Melbourne which is a long way away from my home in the north-eastern outer area, we agreed to meet at this hobby shop in Thomastown where Steve spends some Saturdays assisting his friend and proprietor of the shop, Ian Harris, who is also a member of the Greensborough MAC. It’s been many years since I last entered the Hobby and Model Ware-house, first owned by Rod King (another GMAC member with Ian pur-chasing the business from Rod a year or so ago. I usually obtained my model supplies from Roj’s Hobbies but as Roj has now closed down his shop and as I needed another supplier in my area then this pre-sented the opportunity to again visit H&MW. Ian has the shop well stocked with the usual small items required by model builders together with a range of engines and radio equipment. The relatively small area does not allow a large display of kits but these can be supplied to order and include cars, helicopters and air-craft. A number of nicely built aircraft are suspended from the ceiling to whet the appetite of prospective purchasers. With 1/2 hour parking right outside the door it’s easy to access and very attractive to modellers in the northern area of Melbourne.

Steve Axford (left) with Hobby and Model Warehouse proprietor Ian Harris.

The nicely presented range of goods available to the hobbyist.

A very handy range of the small items required by all model builders.


Brian Borland’s

De Havilland Dh.100

Vampire

NEW ZEALAND MODELLING


COHUNA

The weather forecast for the weekend of the 8th-9th of November was 37ºC and strong winds on Saturday with a change later in the day, and cooler with 15 – 20 kph winds on Sunday, so it was decided to cancel Saturday and fly four events on Sunday. As it happened, even if it had been calm on Saturday, we couldn't have flown because of the total fire ban. Sunday dawned cooler and calmer, as was predicted, so off to the field we all went. A good turn up considering the weather forecast. At 10:00 am it was a bit blowy with upwards of 7 m/s being recorded so again it was decided to have a coffee and wait until 10:30 when the weather was a little better. The first event was 1/2A and the first casualty was Brian Stebbing when his Stardust went out of control and landed, broken, well down field. This put him out of the event, but the other five flyers all reached the fly-off with Lyn Clifford and his ever reliable Stardust top scoring. Electric 1/2A saw the same number of entries as I/C, again with five of the six entries reaching the fly-off which was won by Steve Gullock with a 26 minute flight— well done Steve. We the stopped for the usual gourmet lunch put on by the Cohuna club members, then it was into Texaco. A good turn up in I/C with eleven entries but only two entries in electric, one sad part of the event was Don Grant who put up two terrific maxes to qualify for the fly-off but on landing the wind caught his model, tipped it over and broke the wing — a sad end for a great effort.

Lyn Clifford took top placing with his Lanzo Racer. Electric was a two horse race with Roger Mitchell taking the honors with a 25 minute flight, although Daryl McCleary wasn't far behind with 24 minutes. Then it was time for the GP event, Duration, with ten entries. This event bought about two very spectacular crashes when Brendon Tay-lor's Playboy's motor wouldn't shut down and gave a very long engine run culminating in the wings breaking at a great height with the fuse-lage plummeting to earth under full power and burying itself in an ad-joining paddock. Then Max Heap, when he applied down elevator to bring his model home after his max, found it wouldn't pull out and smashed into the road. Both models a fair mess. Most models that didn't crash ended up in the fly-off with Kevin Fryer coming out the victor. In electric it was Daryl's turn to be the victor. The next event was Climb and Glide and as it was getting late and we were all pooped we took a vote as to who wanted to fly this event. We all agreed that we didn't want to continue so we called it a day and, I might add, a very enjoyable one. We flew this comp to the new shorter flights as agreed upon at the last comp and at the end of the day we sat down and discussed what we thought. There were some mixed feelings but we decided we would fly the shorter rules again at our next comp and see how we feel then. Another Cohuna comp was ended and, as always, we all had a great time. Thank you Cohuna boys it’s you that make it so enjoyable. Brian Laughton

COMPETITOR MODEL ENGINE RD. 1 RD. 2 RD. 3 FLY-OFF TOTAL

1. L. CLIFFORD STARDUST SPECIAL COX 420 420 - 674 1514

2. K. FRYER CUMULUS COX 412 420 420 624 1464

3. D. GRANT ANDERSON PYLON COX 420 420 - 546 1386

1/2A TEXACO

COMPETITOR MODEL RD. 1 RD. 2 RD. 3 FLY-OFF TOTAL

1. S. GULLOCK STARDUST SPECIAL 600 600 - 1588 2788

2. R. MITCHELL RED RIPPER 600 600 - 1537 2737

3. P. MILLER M G 2 600 600 - 1220 2420


1. R. MITCHELL BOMBER 600 600 - 1542 2742

2. D. McCLEARY RACER 600 600 - 1455 2655

1/2A TEXACO (ELECTRIC)

TEXACO (ELECTRIC)


1. D. McCLEARY BOMBER 465 - - - 465

2. R. MITCHELL BOMBER 30 - - - 30

DURATION (ELECTRIC)

COMPETITOR MODEL ENGINE CC/SEC RD. 1 RD. 2 RD. 3 FLY-OFF TOTAL

1. L. CLIFFORD RACER ENYA 46 8 420 420 - 1331 2171

2. G. GULBIN BOMBER OS 60 12 420 420 - 1229 2069

3. P. KEELY AIRBORN OS 60 10 420 420 - 780 1620

TEXACO


1. K. FRYER CUMULUS McCOY 60 28 300 300 - 1048 1648

2. B. STEBBINGS STARDUST DUB-JET 35 18 300 300 - 904 1504

3. R. TAYLOR CUMULUS YS 63 20 300 300 - 670 1270

DURATION


Texaco Winners From left - Graeme Gulbin 2nd, Lyn Clifford 1st, Pat Keely 3rd.

1/2 A Texaco Electric winners From left - Peter Miller 3rd, Steve Gullock 1st, Rodger Mitchell 3rd.

Duration Winners From left - Brian Stebbings 2nd, Kevin Fryer 1st, Robert.Taylor 3rd.

Kevin Fryer’s “Cumulus” had a serious mishap although it doesn’t look too bad in this photo.

1/2 A Texaco Winners From left - Kevin Fryer 2nd, Lyn Clifford 1st, Don Grant 3rd.

Brian Stebbings’ OS40 diesel conversion in his Duration “Cumulus”.

Preparations in the pits. What’s that up there?


Terry Cosh’s

Gloster Gladiator

The photos are of my 22.5% scale, 2.23m wingspan Gloster Gladiator which has been built from a scaled up Brian Taylor plan. The colour scheme follows the Shuttleworth Collection’s Gladiator at Old Warden in the UK. The model sports a Seidel 7 cylinder 70cc radial engine. The springing of the undercarriage is similar to the full size Dowty system, fully in the wheel hub and seems to work so far.

The Gladiator has had only a few flights so far but handles very nicely and is a good match to the engine. Construction is all balsa and ply, and weight is 33lbs (a bit heavier than I wanted, but lots of wing area). I was aiming at 28 lbs. Covering is prepainted Coverite and the cowl is fibreglass. I am indebted to my good friend Steve Barker who took all the photos of the full size on a visit to the UK. He also cut the vinyl decals.


The Gladiator was developed from the Gloster Gauntlet as a private venture by H.P. Folland's team at Gloster to meet Specification F.7/30. F.7/30 demanded a top speed of at least 250 mph (400 km/h) and an armament of four machine-guns, while encouraging the use of the new Rolls-Royce Goshawk evaporatively cooled in-line engine, which was used by most of the competitors for the specification. This engine proved, however to be unreliable, and Folland realised that the Gauntlet could be quickly revised to meet the specification. To reduce drag, the new fighter, the SS.37, had single-bay wings instead of the two-bay wings of the Gauntlet, and was fitted with a cantilever main undercarriage incorporating internally sprung wheels. The SS.37 first flew on 12 September 1934, powered by a 530 hp (395 kW) Bristol Mercury VIS radial engine, but was soon fitted with a more powerful engine, reach-ing 242 mph (390 km/h) while carrying the required four machine guns (two synchro-nised Vickers guns in the fuselage and two Lewis guns under the lower wing). On 3 April 1935, the Royal Air Force commenced operation-al evaluations, while Gloster planned a further improved version with an 830 hp (619 kW) Mercury IX and a fully enclosed cockpit. The Gladiator was to be the last British biplane fighter and the first fighter with an enclosed cockpit. The Gladiator had a top speed of around 257 mph (414 km/h) yet, even as it was introduced, the design was being eclipsed by new-generation monoplane fight-ers, such as the RAF's new Hurricane and Spitfire, and the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt Bf 109. The Gladiator was largely replaced in front line RAF service by the Hurricane and Spitfire at the outbreak of the Second World War, though two squadrons were used in the French and Nor-wegian campaigns. It would, however, see service in more peripheral campaigns during the early years of the Second World War. The clas-sic biplane fighter was also one of Britain's biggest pre-war export successes, seeing service in many countries. One of the best-known campaigns fought by Gladiators was the siege of Malta in 1940. The fighter force defending Malta was, for a period of 10 days, a small force of British-operated Gladiators found in crates on the island, the Hal Far Fighter Flight, giving rise to a myth that three aircraft, named Faith, Hope and Charity, formed the entire fight-er cover of the island.

The aircraft names came into being only after the battle was over. In fact, more than three aircraft were operational, though not always at the same time; others were used for spare parts. The Finnish Air Force was the last to use the Gloster biplane in com-bat. So it was under Finnish insignia that the Gladiator achieved its last air victory.

Specifications Manufacturer: Gloster Aircraft Co. Engine: 830hp Bristol Mercury IX Wingspan: 9.83m Length: 8.36m Height: 3.15m Weight: Empty 1568kg Loaded 2159kg Performance: Max speed 414kph Armament: four Browning .303 machine guns


In November 1919 a de Havilland DH.6 was the first aircraft to arrive at Nhill when it landed on the Nhill racecourse. The next important occasion in Nhill’s aviation history was in June 1930 when Amy Johnson arrived in her de Havilland Hawk Moth VH-UNW. In 1938 a new Aeradio was built at Nhill as one of fifteen communications and guidance systems installed across Australia and in the same year the aerodrome was visited by a flight of RAAF Hawker Demons from Point Cook. In 1941 Nhill aerodrome was completed as a RAAF Training Base and from 1941 to 1946 ten thou-sand RAAF personnel were trained at the base using mainly Avro Anson aircraft in this role. The Nhill Aero Club remains active and the aerodrome continues to be used for pilot training. The Air Ambulance, Victoria Police, Angel Flight Australia and other emergency services use the aerodrome, together with visiting businesspeople, dignitaries, aviation tourists and private aviators. Surgeons fly private aircraft to Nhill making it possible to perform surgery at Nhill Hospital and attracting patients from as far away as Mildura. In 2008 a small group of people met to discuss concern that, with the passing of time, much of Nhill’s aviation history could be lost. In November of that year a public meeting was held in the Nhill Aero Club rooms and a management committee formed to establish the Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre. Following this meeting a derelict Anson airframe was gifted to the NAHC and restoration commenced with the aim of returning the Anson to taxiable condition. A new hangar has now been erected through the assistance and generos-ity of a South Australian engineering company and will house the finished Avro Anson together with many other relics of the aerodrome’s wartime past. The Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre was officially opened in May, 2014 by the local State Member of Parliament the Hon. Hugh Delahunty.

Mayor Rob Gersch speaking on the aviation history of Nhill.

Part of the estimated attendance of 750 people.

Link Trainers under restoration to working condition.


This is the Anson fuselage as it was first acquired. The starboard engine mount, ready for installation of the first of two refurbished 355hp Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IX radial engines.

Restoration of the Avro Anson to as-new condition is progressing well.

Starboard nacelle with the engine and auxiliary equipment in place Trial fitting of the nacelle and engine cowlings.


This was our last competition for the year and it would sort out who would be the Champ of Champs for 2014 as there were only two points separating the three top men Lyn Clifford, Brian Stebbings and Kevin Fryer, so it looked like being a very competitive day. The weather forecast was for light winds with a chance of rain in the afternoon, so all present were ready to fire up before the rain. The wind was about 15 – 20 k/h but the fast climbing models handled it well. The fly-off scores were unbelievable with only 55 seconds separating the first six place getters. Brian Stebbings came first with his Dubjet powered Stardust built by his late father Fred who has our Champ of Champs trophy named in his honor. Lyn Clifford came second and Kevin Fryer third. We had an early lunch put on by the Ballarat club, it was like McDon-alds only much better, they did a meal deal with an enormous ham-burger, a drink, and a piece of fruit cake for $10. Best value for years, thanks again Ballarat. Then it was Texaco with eleven entries, again fiercely competitive and flown in much calmer conditions. The event was won by the Texaco maestro Steve Gullock with Don Grant second and Kevin Fryer third. In the fly-off Kevin's radio went on the blink before take off so I loaned him my model to fly and, I was pleased to see, he flew it better than me. The ‘38 Antique with seven entries was flown in absolutely dead calm air — no wind, no thermals and a thundery looking sky. The winner was Don Grant and with Kevin Fryer second and myself third. At this point I announced that all three top championship contenders were on equal points and that Climb and Glide would determine the winner, but in my calculations I failed to allocate one point to Kevin Fryer for getting in the fly-off of ‘38, so I should have stated that he was one point ahead at this stage. So off they went in climb and glide. Sixty seconds motor run is a long time for these fast climbing Duration models, and the eventual winner was Brian Stebbings, with Kevin Fryer second and Lyn Clifford third. I then announced that Brian Stebbings had won the Fred Stebbings trophy by one point and I didn't realize my earlier mistake until I got home and started to do the re-sults, which then made it a tie between Brian Stebbings and Kevin Fryer. I offered them a choice, they could have a duel with pistols at dawn to sort it out or they could each have a trophy — they chose the trophy.

It was good to see Chris Lawson turn up for a fly, it has been a long time, perhaps too long, so let’s hope he decides to come back and fly more often. It was sad to see only two flyers turn up for the electric events, one from Cohuna and one from Ballarat. Roger Mitchell won both events with young Brad Cooper getting second in Texaco but I am very pleased to announce that the man that turns up all the time, one of my very favorite people, Roger Mitchell, won the electric Fred Stebbing Champ of Champs trophy, good on you Roger. It was good to see that apart from mechanical problems there were no models lost or smashed which is after all the greatest achievement, take it home in one piece. All at SAM 600 would like to thank the Ballarat boys for their kindness and hospitality and putting on such good weather, it has been so long since we could hold a comp at Haddon in such good conditions.

Ballarat

Texaco Winners From left - Don Grant 2nd, Steve Gullock 1st, Kevin Fryer 3rd.

Duration Winners From left - Lyn Clifford 2nd , Brian Stebbings 1st.



1. S. GULLOCK BOMBER ENYA 53 10 420 420 - 1332 2172

2. D. GRANT BOMBER ANDER-

SON SPARK

17 420 420 - 1149 1989

3. K. FRYER BOMBER FORSTER 29 SPARK 11.2 420 L/O 420 987 1827

TEXACO


1. B. STEBBINGS STARDUST DUBJET 35 18 300 300 - 388 988

2. L. CLIFFORD RACER YS 63 20 300 300 - 381 981

3. K. FRYER CUMULUS McCOY

60 SPARK

28 300 300 - 366 966

DURATION


1. D. GRANT R C 1 ANDERSON SPITFIRE 44 258 420 420 701 1541

2. K. FRYER CUMULUS FORSTER 99 135 420 420 - 513 1353

3. B. LAUGHTON RC 1 OK SUPER 60

84 420 420 - 442 1282

‘38 ANTIQUE

COMPETITOR MODEL ENGINE RD. 1 RD. 2 TOTAL

1. B. STEBBINGS STARDUST DUB-JET 35 1315 - 1315

2. K. FRYER CUMULUS McCOY 60 862 - 862

3. L. CLIFFORD RACER YS 63 784 - 784

CLIMB AND GLIDE

COMPETITOR MODEL RD. 1 RD. 2 TOTAL

1. R. MITCHELL BOMBER 600 720 1320

2. B. COOPER DALLAIRE 600 600 1200

TEXACO (ELECTRIC)

COMPETITOR MODEL RD. 1 TOTAL

1. R. MITCHELL BOMBER 275 275

DURATION (ELECTRIC)

‘38 Antique Winners From left - Brian Laughton 3rd, Don Grant 1st, Kevin Fryer 2nd.

Brian Stebbings’ “Rambler” with an OS40 diesel conversion engine flying in the Texaco event.

Chris Lawson’s “Playboy “ in flight.

Brian Laughton’s “RC-1” in flight.


The story of the Fokker V.21 begins at the first (German) fighter com-petition when Tony Fokker won both classes - rotary and in-line en-gine powered - with prototypes of the Fokker D.VI and Fokker D.VII cantilever wing biplanes. For the second competition, held early in 1918, the Fokker organisa-tion designed a whole series of cantilever wing monoplanes, mainly concentrating on the rotary engine types, and eventually won with the E.V parasol. Fokker still hoped to repeat his successful “double” win and produced a monoplane version of the D. VII biplane with a fabric covered wing as project V.20. this prototype proved to have many problems in flight testing, probably leading to wing flutter due to a lack of torsional stiffness in the fabric covered wing. At the last moment, with only a week to the competition, the V.21 was built with a new plywood covered wing and other changes to the ailer-on design. Such was the haste that there was insufficient time to paint the plywood wings and these were left with a thin coating of polished shellac. It is likely that the wings were simply replaced on the existing V.20 fuselage and tail to save time. The Fokker V.21 evidently flew in the second competition, but the judges were not impressed. The in-line engine category was won by an orthodox and massively braced Pfalz D.XIV biplane.

As a subject for scale the Fokker V.21 has simple and modern lines but there are only two rather fuzzy photographs of it and only a rather dubious three view drawing. However the popularity of “ flying only ” scale competitions led me to reconsider the V.21. After building three D.VII’s I already had the fuselage and tail drawings for these and the plywood wing presented the opportunity to try out building with the 0.4mm birch ply which is now available.

The wings proved to be relatively simple to build, adapting the meth-ods used in constructing full size wooden glider wings. With only 0.4mm plywood scarfe joints were not possible, not to me anyway, so I used butt joints, backed up with internal ply strips. Another problem was in framing the nose radius in ply. In full size practice the method used is to saturate the ply with water or steam until it is soft and then let it dry over an appropriate pipe or former. The model ply refused to co-operate. After many failures I worked out that there was more glue than timber in the 0.4mm ply which changes everything. The solution was to use the heat from a normal model iron turned full up and form-ing the nose radius by gentle pressure against an internal balsa lead-ing edge. Success at last ! The rest of the model is quite orthodox model practice, utilising a car-bon fibre wing joiner for the two-piece wing and servos for each ailer-on. The fuselage and tail are covered with Koverall fabric, doped and painted with water based paint. The plywood wing is left with just a varnish cover of Estapol gloss and the standard Fokker “streaky camouflage” was applied with a coat of cream to start, and then using a 25mm brush to add the dark green, moving along the surface as the paint is applied until dry and then loading the brush for the next section. The undercarriage fairing is left natural varnished plywood and “metal” areas were sprayed with “Killrust” epoxy grey enamel

The wheels, pilot’s seat, and the pilot, were left over from my old D.VII and the engine is a new OS 200 four stroke. The weight came out at 8kg, compared with the old Fokker D.VII at 11kg with a Moki 210 two stroke, so the performance should be comparable if not better. Gary Sunderland

Gary Sunderland’s

Fokker V.21


Fokker V.21


Helicopters are unusual aircraft, built for a purpose and difficult to fly, and I admire the skill required for the operation of these tricky ma-chines. On the other hand, RPA’s require very little skill for successful operation, due to their novel design and their complex electronic con-trol systems, and are capable of matching the performance of the helicopter. The ease of operation and almost total lack of vibration in these multi rotor aircraft, combined with the availability of small high resolution cameras on sophisticated gimbal mountings, has made aerial photog-raphy available to anyone at a relatively modest cost. The rapid proliferation of RPA’s is raising other concerns such as risk of accident and invasion of privacy, which are being addressed by the relevant authorities, and it was inevitable that new regulations would be issued for the operation of these aircraft. A ruling by CASA that anyone using a RPA for commercial work must be licensed has led to a number of businesses being set up for the training of prospective commercial operators and this leads me to my story. My son works for one of Melbourne’s electricity supply organisations and part of his duties is to inspect poles, cables, etc. to determine their operational status and assess any corrective work required.

This work was traditionally carried out by technicians using ladders and hydraulic platforms to gain access to medium height structures and allow direct visual inspection. Taller structures were inspected using helicopters - a very expensive operation! All were not without risk of bodily injury and, with the advent of digital photography, inspec-tions are now done from ground level using cameras with telephoto lenses and cameras mounted on telescopic poles. There remains a need to view the equipment from above and that’s where the drone fits into the picture. Simplicity of operation has ena-bled trained operators to fly a drone fitted with a camera around and over the electrical equipment, the high resolution of the digital camera allowing accurate assessment of their condition. My son now has a certificate as a qualified RPA Controller with his employers holding the RPA Operators license. The course he attend-ed ran for five days and included practical flying training together with much of the theory required for a PPL. It’s a lot different to walking into a shop, buying a RPA and taking it to the local park to find out how to fly it.

REMOTELY PILOTED

AIRCRAFT

(aka “DRONES”)

The Falcon 8 used for the inspections is fairly old but has all of the usual electronic control systems plus the ability to remotely operate the camera shutter. The motor layout looks a bit different but it provides a stable operating platform for the camera.


The ground station by Futaba seems to be specially set up with the camera shutter operating button on top of the left stick. Additional are the FPV screen (centre) and telemetry to give feed back on flight battery status (left screen) and to show the positioning of the RPA (right screen).








VICSCALE Victorian Flying Scale Aircraft

Association The Special Interest Group

for Scale Modelling in Victoria.

General Meetings of the Association are held bi-monthly on the first Thursday of the even months at the Field Naturalist Club of Victoria, 1 Gardenia Street, Blackburn. Visitors are always welcome and a highlight of meetings is the presenta-tion of new models as they are constructed, and discussion on building techniques by members.

The VFSAA Calendar of events is available on the VFSAA website at http://vfsaa.org.au/


The 1993 International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford. A Buccaneer S.2B flies at 1.5m altitude for the length of the runway.

Documents

Issue No. 32 AUSTRALIAN MODEL NEWSAustralian Model News page 5 Indoor Scale at Sandringham Held at Sandringham in December this is the major scale event for the indoor flyers and is