SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

14
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RC Club Newsletter

Transcript of SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

Page 1: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

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Page 2: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMAC News - 2 - March - April 2010

Field Lease Peter Short confirmed that we will take up our five year lease extension offer. A rent increase, the first in five years has been negotiated with our landlord. Peter also advised that we have several years still to run on our current council permit to operate at the site. While our lease situation is secure, due to the continuing industrialisation of the area the committee will consider any new field options that may arise. Field Security President Ron Paine raised for discussion a number of security issues.

Our gates have again been left unlocked. On the most recent occasion the gates were locked at about five one afternoon, but were found unlocked by early the following morning.

There have been a number of acts of vandalism, the nature of which suggests they have been carried out by a club member. The perpetrator is urged to raise any grievance/s openly with committee member or at a General Meeting.

Members seem reluctant to take their rubbish home with them.

Pit mats have been left out. Equipment Donations While donations of suitable items are welcomed, members intending to leave at the field equipment of any kind, including unwanted aircraft, are asked to clear it with the committee first. Twilight Fly-In The next twilight Fly-In is scheduled for Saturday 24 April. All members are invited to:

bring a plate to share around; bring their own after-flight refreshments; sleep over in the club rooms if they wish.

Further regular events are to be scheduled. Instructor Course The MAAA is yet to provide a date for the proposed course. Ron Paine is to follow it up with the MAAA’s new CFI, Murray Ellis. Sausages and Drinks The Sunday morning sausage sizzle nets the club between $30 and $40 per week. For some time the sausages have been supplied by committee members, who take it in turns to buy them. While they’re happy to keep doing so, other members are invited to spread the cost and labour burden around by placing themselves on the sausage supply and cook roster – about $10 once every few months if a few more join in. The club will provide cold cans of drink for purchase on hot Sunday mornings. Fund Raising Graeme Lewis reported on further local and state government grant opportunities that may be pursued.

SEMAC Web Site It was suggested that SEMAC should establish its own web site – i.e. semac.org.au. Ian Hunter, Michael Turner and Jason Gibbs (as our resident internet gurus) are to investigate. Safety Issues A number of safety issues were discussed:

the VMAA advice to not arm electric models until reaching the flight line – and how caution is needed when carrying IC powered models out of the pit area;

the need to avoid priming IC engines with the glow driver attached; and

the need to carry out a range check before the first flight of the day;

Members are reminded that small children: must be under effective supervision at all times; and are not permitted on to the flight line.

Members are asked to keep an eye on any littlies and bring any problems to the parent’s attention. The Bomb Award The Bomb Award went to Roger Puehl for a fairly spectacular roll into the ground shortly after takeoff – fortunately with not too much damage. Roger’s investigation revealed that his receiver battery pack had dropped a cell, causing his receiver to “go off the air”. While this is likely to cause problems for any receiver, apparently full voltage is especially critical with 2.4GHz gear. Show and Tell We had, as always, some extra good items. Alex Evans displayed and discussed his well advanced Hawkeye project – another great example of the lengths to which a dedicated scratch builder will go in order to produce a detailed and complex model. Ron Paine displayed his recently acquired 1930’s Mini Moa glider, as shown below. With a wingspan of about 3.5 metres, the silk covered Moa is a marvellous example of the scratch builder’s skills.

JA Photo

Page 3: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMAC News - 3 - March - April 2010

Grumman E-2C Hawkeye, Part 5 – By Alex Evans OK, have you ever tried to vacuum-form something? No, neither have I, that is until now. The next challenge ahead of me was to construct / form the 2 engine nacelles… The initial plan was to fibre-glass them over the blue foam plugs I made, same way I did the nose (if you can recall a year ago). Then I thought again… Fibreglass is messy, and to get a good shape, I will need at least 4 layers! When I placed the fibreglass nose on the kitchen scale – I get 160 grams! Hmm… The engine nacelles are going to be heavier no doubt, and 2 of them will be around half a kilo. No way! So, what’s the alternative? A friend of mine is constructing his own helicopter bodies out of plastic - High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS). Depending on the size and shape of the item, you choose the thickness of the material, and on his advice and experience. I got a sheet of 0.75 mm thick which comes in size of 1370x760mm, and you cut them into slices to fit inside a domestic oven – so you get 9 sections. To go through all the experiments, I bought 2 such sheets – they are each around $8 or there about. The HIPS is available from Profile Plastics at Unit 1/55 Barry Street, Bayswater. Here are some views of the tool you do the vacuuming with. It is not complicated, but this time I opted to use what he had, instead of spending time to build my own.

The above picture shows the base box, with the vacuum attachment connected. It can be made out of wood too, but he just had something made out of aluminium and used it as is. He just used some gray masking tape to seal the corners, so as not to lose suction. The next picture shows the frame that is made out of two bits of chip wood (this has air bubbles and is a good insulator). Once the HIPS is inserted in between the two parts of the frame, tighten all around, goes in the oven.

The oven is pre-heated to some 230 degrees, and after experimenting a few times (and destroying some of the sheets) we concluded that for this thickness and shape – 80 seconds in the oven will do the trick. The end result looks like this.

And just in case, if you wonder – what is inside the HIPS, well – it is one quarter (or one part) of the blue foam plug I created – which used to look like this…

All photos by A Evans

Page 4: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMAC News - 4 - March - April 2010

The reason for slicing this into 4 parts is simple – you can’t vacuum form the whole thing in one go. You must make “Parts” which are then glued together with special plastic glue, to form the shape you wanted. For simplicity, and so that I don’t end up with an article that consumes 4 pages, I skipped of course a few “details”, but I am sure you can get the idea. One BIG Warning… Never make the plug out of any foam, if you intend to vacuum form over it. The HIPS coming out of a 230 degrees oven “sinks” into the plug, damages it badly, and the end result goes in the bin… Back to square one. Well, I tried coating the foam with wood putty, it helped but not 100%, and in the pictures that follow you will still be able to see the places where the heat sank through the putty despite everything I did. Once the 2 halves of the back section are joined and sprayed with automotive putty / filler – it looks like this:

The smudged areas are where I had to fill in the bits that sunk in with the heat, to compliment the part to its intended shape. Then you spray putty again, sand it down again, wait for it to dry and sand all over again. The actual work is in making the plug, and making it from the right material, then there is little to do other then finish it, I have learned my lesson – the hard way of course! The glue for joining bits of HIPS is from hobby shops, at some $6 - $7 for a small 50 m/l bottle – I got mine from Hobbyman in Dandenong - Revell Contacta Professional glue which is a glue for plastics (or similar). This thing is magic. It kind of melts the two parts and creates a seam like welding bond. Then you sand-paper the extra hanging bits to form the shape you need, spray putty over it, finish it off and conclude with a few coats of your chosen paint for the colour scheme you need. Oh, and to paint plastic – you need a first 2 coats of primer used by car companies before painting bumper

bars – check out the following link for an explanation: http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray‐paint/adhesion‐promoter.aspx. 

The above picture shows the end result of the 2 front parts, joined together, puttied, primed and fish coloured sprayed. The back bit is still WIP raw result of the 2 parts glued together, and just one coat of spray putty, and I am sure you can see that there is some work needed there to finish it properly. At this junction the whole lot weighs 104 grams, and by the time I am done with it’ this will be probably around 120 grams – which is a much better result than I would get using fibreglass. My hand in the picture will also put things in perspective. As you know, it is an 80” wingspan model – and the nacelles are accordingly large. Now, gradually – you can start getting the idea, of why am I working on it for some 2 years now, and I am nowhere near done with this project. The ‘End’ result of all that looks now something like the next picture. From this picture, you can already see the intended colour scheme – that is, for those of you receiving the newsletter by email.

Until next time, fly safe ‐ Alex 

All photos by A Evans

Page 5: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMAC News - 5 - March - April 2010

Exhaust Canister development Mario Acquis tells us how to design and build a very neat exhaust system. Since making my own exhaust mufflers I wanted to make a canister for my giant stick. The first one was made from a spray can but only lasted about half dozen flights before it broke just after the weld on the inlet pipe. The material is not quite thick enough to handle the vibration from the engine, so I started looking for a better alternative. Working for a car company, I came across a part that I thought would make a great canister. It is a receiver dryer used in car air-conditioning and I was able to get a couple from our company panel beater from crash repairs jobs. I cut the end off where the tubes bolt on, removed the filter pellets from inside and was left with two nice aluminium canisters which can be joined end to end, which saves making ends caps. The next step was to drill a 25mm hole in the bottom of one for the inlet pipe and 16mm on the bottom of the other for the outlet. I joined the 25mm pipe to the 16mm pipe to go inside, with holes for the gasses to enter and exit. No baffles needed and it was ready to be welded. Only problem is the receiver dryers are too thick, at about 2.5mm wall thickness, for me weld with the gas torch. I tried but couldn’t get it hot enough to take, so I looked around for somebody to weld it for me and found a place in South Dandenong who did a great job for $50.00. Needing a header pipe to fit the Ryobi, I bought a couple of 90 degree mandrel bent 25mm steel pipes, which were cut at

the bend and welded together to make the “S” shape needed to fit fuselage. I then made and welded a 3mm steel plate to fit the engine. A couple of coats of high temp paint to finish it off. The header pipe, which was only half the weight of the steel muffler it replaced, was a little heavy but over all with the muffler / clamps etc fitted it was only a little heavier - about one and a half times the weight of the old steel muffler. No noticeable gain in performance but the motor seems to run very well, is quiet and looks great – "this one should out last the model". The photo shows the steel header and the new canister made from the receiver drier and joined together with a Teflon pipe.

SEMAC GENERAL MEETING

Tuesday 6 April– 8.00 PM Dingley Community Hall

Marcus Rd Dingley Melway 88 F6

Come along for: all the latest news and reports show and tell a friendly chat Colin’s excellent supper.

Bring your mini helicopter along for a Chopper Fly-In after the meeting.

M Agius photo

SHUT THE GATES People are still leaving the gates open and/or unlocked. Remember:

our three gates must be kept closed at all times; and last one out must lock the first and third gates.

Page 6: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMAC News - 6 - March - April 2010

GREAT PLANES RV-4 KIT REVIEW Gary Curtis’ nifty little RV-4 sees action at last – if only briefly. After four years I finally decided to try and get my Great Planes RV-4 plane into the air the other Sunday. After a couple engine starts with the assistance of young John Andrews it finally took off into the air for about 50 feet until the engine stopped and with a straight ahead landing it came back down and bent the wheels. Apart from that no other damage and at the time of typing this piece it has been repaired for its next adventure. Liking the challenge of kit building, I purchased this kit on one of my country trips when it was on special and took around six months to complete construction. Of course the ARF equivalent is now available, but a bit more expensive than the kit. I believe the kit is still available if you want to have a go and build it. VMAR planes did one a few years ago as an ARF, but I don’t think it was as good. So what do we have here?

Fuselage- 1260 mm Wingspan- 1388 mm Weight – 2610- 2850 g Engine 46 two stroke or 52 four

stroke. Like any Great Planes kits they are very comprehensive, with well laid

out plans and all the hardware you need to complete the kit. The manual which comes with it is pretty good as well giving you all the options to set it up with four or two stroke engines. The book has very clear illustrations to make the construction of the plan very straight forward. With the plane now completed and having the livery changed twice the final colours have turned out not too bad. Next time at the field come and check it out and tell me what you think. Regards, Gary Curtis.  

FUNDRAISING UPDATE - by Graeme Lewis.

Well our grant applications are proceeding at snail pace at the moment. I have a current grant application in with the Department of Planning and Community Development and we should get an answer around the first week of April, although Easter might delay that. I am in the process of placing a grant application with the City of Greater Dandenong under the “Occasional Grant and Donation Program” to raise funds towards the Bobcat mower repairs. This application will be submitted in the last week of March. At the same time I am applying for a grant from the Kingston Council to help buy some audio visual equipment to be used at our meetings and for training purposes at the field. The 1st funding round of the “Small Grants Program” within the City of Greater Dandenong is now open and available for projects during the period Jan 2011 to June 2011. The 2nd funding round applications open in August for projects during the period Jan 2011 to Dec 2011. I had thought that Warbirds day in March/April 2011 could benefit from these funds. But we need to decide as a group if Warbirds day is worth conducting

and are people interested enough to run the day or should we apply for some other program funding. If you have any thoughts let the committee know. We are having a meeting on the 31st March with the Community Property Officer, Sport and Leisure Department, City of Greater Dandenong, which Peter, Ron and I will attend to explore areas of Dandenong that may be suitable for a new flying field. We should be able to report at the next meeting of any outcomes. If anyone has any thought on projects that the club could undertake please let the committee know and I will look for a grant to try and fund the program. Longer term projects are best as the process is slow and grants are only available at certain times of the year. A demographic of the membership that Peter provided showed we are predominantly a senior / ageing membership with more than 50% over 50. There are grants available to assist seniors adapt to retirement, adjust to ageing, to remain active in the community etc, etc. If you don't have a problem with being called "old" (it’s only a word) maybe there is something in this area.

   

G Curtis photo

Page 7: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMAC News - 7 - March - April 2010

Building another Phaeton Biplane Colin Vandersluy’s biplane meets a “Phaeton worse than death”, but there’s a replacement well underway. Early last year I decided to fly my trusty, beaut to fly, Phaeton. It was about four years old, but other projects, like a Mustang (anyone want to buy a Mustang?), had meant it hadn’t been flown for a while.

Down to the field on a beautiful Sunday morning and out with the Phaeton. Better range check all the control movements. Yes, elevator up down, rudder left and right, ailerons up and down. With the old twin plug OS 80 on full song, out to the runway and off we go. Hell, it’s rolling over to the left. More right aileron, but it got worse - bloody hell, “bang”. Walked over and collected the bits, followed by post crash examination. Everything is working, but oops, the ailerons are moving the wrong way. How did I miss that? Our club helicopter pilot looks over my shoulder and quietly says “you looked but did not see”. How true, but a lesson learnt. I loved the old biplane so much, it was off to Addie’s next week to order a replacement, and in about eight weeks a Balsa USA kit duly arrived. A large box of balsa and plans, plus an instruction book. Not quite as good as the old one, but OK. I decided to put an OS 120 four stroke in this one, mounted upside down. This meant modifying the firewall and setting up the required incidences. I also installed a bigger tank while I was at it. Graeme Lewis printed me off some information from the internet – I was very interested in the top wing angle of incidence. Rather than the supplied undercarriage, I decided to use to use my existing modified one – some others have done the same thing. Because of the larger tank I couldn’t find a place for the battery pack, but eventually fitted forward it forward of the undercarriage under the tank. Access is now via a removable plate covering the

battery pack and undercarriage. I managed to salvage a complete undamaged tailplane and fitted it to the new Phaeton. The wings were built using the original wing tips also salvaged from the wreck. The original wing support and struts were also OK to reuse. The wing mounting bolts kept squashing the balsa, so I bushed the holes with aluminium tubing. The throttle arm was reversed on the motor and was a long way from the servo push rod, which had to run alongside the tank. To get around this I made up a special extension to the motor’s throttle boss and can now put the lever anywhere I want. Plumbing from the tank was a problem as the engine mount was in the way. The solution was to come down at 450 then out through the firewall and under the engine mount. Hope it all works. The plastic cowl came in two halves. Unfortunately they’d been trimmed by right and left handed people, as they were different in length and difficult to join. Once joined, I trimmed them up and modified the whole cowl with air scoops, exhaust outlet and carbie needle access hole. I also added another air scoop in front, with a grill made from an electric shaver head. The fuselage was painted with spray can Wattyl Kill Rust epoxy enamel. This went on well over spray can Motorspray primer putty. Hope it’s all fuel proof. The colour scheme is blue fuselage, with yellow wings and tail. The radio was installed as per the crashed one using the same mounting plate and push rods, which just made the length from servo’s to tailplane. It might be on the field by Easter, and if it flies as good as my first one I’ll be very happy. The photo was taken by Graeme Lewis – thanks Graeme.

Happy landing on the grass and not in the hay bales. The Whacky Waco, Colin V.

The Balsa USA Phaeton, nearly ready to cover and spray.

G Lewis photo

Page 8: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMAC News - 8 - March - April 2010

Touch and Go – Rod Clipstone The keen club member and flyer of numerous aerobatic aeroplanes touches down briefly with John Andrews.

Could we have a little background information? I'm 57 years old and Dealer Principal of a Yamaha Motorcycle Franchise in Ringwood. Married to Maria and have two sons, Ben 19 years old and Matthew 15 years old. How did you get involved in model aircraft? I have been interested in flying from the age of 8. I started with control line, spending many Saturday mornings trying to flick start a diesel engine, usually without success. Where and when did you learn to fly RC models? I learnt to fly radio control with the Lilydale Club in the 1970's till about 18 years of age, dropped out until around 1996 then got back into it with vengeance. What was your first RC aeroplane? First RC plane was a Marksman trainer (kit). No ARF's in those days, controlled by an OS Pixie single channel. Who has been the greatest influence on your aero modelling career? No one person in particular but rather all the club members have had something individually to contribute from their specialist areas.

What has been your favourite RC aeroplane? My favourite aeroplane is a 'U Can Do 3D' plane with the 50cc DL engine. The enjoyment comes from its versatility – slow manoeuvre speeds, hovering and 3D aerobatics. What has been your least favourite RC aeroplane? Starduster. Ask Shorty, he's got a similar aircraft. They are a mongrel - snap anywhere, break off the undercarriage and hard to land. Not pleasant at all. What are you mainly flying at the moment? The U Can Do is my back up but I'm having a lot of fun with the 50cc fitted to an Extra 300. Lots of vertical penetration, snaps, lomcevak, all good fun. Have also ventured onto the dark side – an electric helicopter has my interest as of late. Any particular aircraft you would like to build and fly?Long term plan is to complete my scale Spitfire. If money were no object, what would you be flying? Turboprop Raven aerobatic aircraft. Worth about $20,000. What does the future hold for RC aero modelling? With the availability of cheaper 2.4 gear and the increasing range of electric aircraft and helicopters they may appeal to entry level flyers.

A Hawkeye Disaster Alex Evans tells us about an accident he’s definitely going to avoid. During the construction of my current project, I came across a story about one chap in the USA named Mike Ulkowski, who made an attempt on scratch building a 100” span Hawkeye E-2C, big bird indeed (mine is only 80”). As per what he was accustomed to, throughout his modelling years – you ought to balance your model “Dry”, assuming the fuel will just make it safer and maybe a bit nose heavy. This theory is of course applicable with IC powered models only, and it is probably also right - if your fuel tank is ahead of the C.G point, not behind it. The said

model – had two fuel tanks, each of some 300 cc (one per engine to fuel a Saito 1.25 four stroke). For convenience, in his own words, he decided to mount a tank inside each nacelle behind the motor. The problem was that this point was in fact BEHIND the C.G point – hence, when it was full it added some 0.6 KG to the back of the C.G point, which proved fatal shortly after takeoff. The attached video link tells the rest of the story. http://www.rcuvideos.com/video/Hawkeye-Maiden-wmv

Feel free to nominate a member you would like to see featured in a future Touch and Go (perhaps even yourself). Just send me a note at [email protected].

Many thanks to Alex, Colin, David, Gary, Graeme, Ian, Peter, Rod and Roger for their excellent contributions to this issue. If you fancy joining them next time, we’d welcome your:

construction articles or photographs tales of your modelling or flying experiences – happy or sad

tips and advice gossip or reminiscences advertisements

Email or disk preferred, but hand written OK.

Why not have a photo of your model in the next issue? You could bring it down to the field one Sunday, or send me a photo.

Page 9: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

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Page 10: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMAC News - 10 - March - April 2010

occurs when the motor is being hand started and the engine back fires. Again it is actually the trailing edge of the blade that gets you. These edges don’t need to be sharp at all. This edge must come off prior to balancing. At very least a little piece of 400 grit paper in your tool box is great for cleaning up sharp edges on props. Other than that, modellers think that once the engine starts there is some great rush to do things. Take your time around a running engine. Slow down. Always tune an engine slowly. You can always top up the tank once it’s tuned. Fingers take ages to grow back! (And carry a “chicken stick” in your pocket, Ed). Start, walk and stop. The old modellers’ two step!! One of the most frustrating things that can happen on a Sunday afternoon, or any other day for that matter. We’ve all seen it play out. Engine gets started with great fanfare., a bit of expert tuning goes on…..we pick up the model with a satisfied look on our faces and walk to the flight line with a swagger that Tom Cruise would be proud of……only to have the engine stall!! Arrrrrrrr! Then we do it all over again….and again…and again!! 95% of the time an engine will run for a few minutes and then stall because it is overheating!! It doesn’t take

much for this to happen. The cause could be several things including, a lean needle, the cylinder head not getting enough cooling (perhaps on a scale model,) the prop being too big causing loading or the fuel has insufficient oil or the wrong type of oil. Synthetic oils have quite a narrow temp in which they are efficient. When they get very hot they stop lubricating! Whatever the cause it generally gets down to excessive heat! (This is why it runs ok for a few minutes….till the heat builds up and alters the tuning, then stops.) This will become increasingly noticeable as we get to the warmer months. The only way to fix it is to recognise it and treat the cause not the symptoms. I hope I’ve got a few people thinking with these few hits and memories! …..maybe we could build on the list and include a few more “classic cock ups” in each news letter. Better to learn from another’s mistakes than to follow where angels have feared to tread! I look forward to reading and learning from some other persons classic goof ups! Cheers and Happy Landings! Roger (AUS 65102.)

The end of a good day’s flying. Great atmospheric shot of David Stephan’s P40 Kitty Hawk.

WANTED Two O.S. 46AX crankcases wanted.

Do you have any damaged O.S. 46AX engines? Turn your junk into cash - top dollar paid.

FOR SALE Two damaged O.S. 46AXs – broken mounting lugs.

Cheap. Peter Harrison.

Mobile: 0400 139 477 Email: [email protected]

Like to receive your News by email instead of hard copy? Contact me at [email protected] and I’ll pop you on

the email database. File size is about 1.4 MB - individual email addresses are

not revealed.

D Stephan photo

Page 11: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMAC News - 11 - March - April 2010

Wing De-Warping Made Easy Your Editor takes the easy way out. Now, I know that a good many of you out there are consummate aero modellers, taking great pride in the quality and beauty of your workmanship. Then there are the rest of us. Some years ago, I got the urge to build an Auster. Having seen advertised a nice looking AOP9 kit, I thought ‘that’ll do’, and headed down to the late Gerry Enery’s shop to buy one. Gerry didn’t have one in stock and, in typical fairly blunt fashion, said he wouldn’t order me one in. Some nonsense about it being too hard for me to build. Undaunted, I headed off to another fine hobby shop where the proprietor, not knowing me so well, happily sold me my dream kit. I rather imagine that by now you would have guessed that Gerry was right. I’d built a few kits before, but the Auster, with its plug in wings and cabin structure serving basically as glassed in cabane struts, was a pretty complex kit. Add in a tricky fuselage front end, combined with some poorly cut and ill fitting parts, and construction turned out to be fairly hard work. I had two main problems. One was building the fuselage and wing mounting structure true so that the wing incidence was correct. The other was building the two wing halves warp free. And that’s where I ran into trouble. With the Auster finally completed and looking pretty good with its yellow Solartex covering, everything seemed OK. I was checking though using only a Mk I eyeball – none of this fancy wing incidence meter stuff for me.

The first flight was nearly a disaster, with the Auster entering a tight turn to port as soon as the wheels left the ground. Full right aileron just got it flying in a more or less straight line and I was able to nurse it around the circuit for a safe landing. A large adjustment to the aileron clevices got the Auster flying again, but it never really felt right. On top of that I was a bit embarrassed by the fact that, sitting on the ground, the aeroplane looked like it had enough aileron on to put it into a 900 banked turn to starboard. So, after just a few flights, the Auster sat in my workshop gathering dust. I recently decided it was time to get the wing warp sorted out. By this time I’d acquired a wing incidence meter, which had revealed that the Auster’s wing halves were warped in opposite directions – making the whole thing look a bit like an oversized fine pitch propeller. The obvious thing would have been to have built a new set of wings, but that seemed a bit extreme. Instead, I removed a panel of covering from the underneath of each wing and used a hacksaw blade to cut through several wing ribs between the front and rear spars. As the port wing had a negative warp, I then fitted a balsa wedge into each cut to force the rib halves apart, removing the warp. A balsa plate was then glued across each cut. The starboard wing had a positive warp, so the ribs were drawn together at the cuts and clamped while balsa plates were glued in place.

Sounds rather rough and ready, but it was surprisingly effective. The Auster’s since had a number of flights, flying straight and level first off with only minor trim adjustments required. Have fun, John The Auster’s warp free port wing, balsa plates glued over the rib cuts.

JA photo

WORKING BEE Sunday 11 April

Starting at 8.30 am for about two hours.

Equipment needed for a general cleanup includes:

whipper snippers rakes shovels.

TWILIGHT FLY-IN Saturday 24 April

See General Meeting Notes for details.

Page 12: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMa

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Page 13: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMAC News - 13 - March - April 2010

The DVii - almost there, but still a bunch of things to finish it off

I Hunter photos

South Eastern Model Aircraft Club Inc PO Box 64 Dingley Vic 3I72 http://members.IInet.com.au/~semac

COMMITTEE President Ron Paine 9769 9462 Vice President Daniel Scicluna Secretary/Public Officer David Stephan Treasurer Peter Short 9700 0785 Committee Members: Rod Clipstone 9802 4216 Bob Pheil Roger Puehl 9374 1311 0408 148 518 Mark Sivyer 0412 054 492 Colin Vandersluys 9589 0729

SEMAC News Editor John Andrews 0407 364 390 [email protected] Assistant Editor & Webmaster Ian Hunter [email protected]

Page 14: SEMAC Newsletter Mar-Apr 2010

SEMa

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