History,
flying field and planes overview:
OF has been operational since early 2001.
The
flying field is in Arcadia, Sydney - Ed and Gill Drakes' back yard! It comprises
a paddock approximately square and very nearly 1 hectare in size. In 2002 this
was greatly increased by removing a magnetic fence between two paddocks. There
are some trees about - which cast their inevitable magnetism upon all frail
craft - but for an experienced flyer they are no problem. The earth ultimately
turns out to be the greater danger. In the ongoing war between aircraft and
earth, the earth maintains a dominant upper hand....
We
specialize, flying only Gliders in the 2 - 3 metre range. Some
are electric powered. In summary, we have the following gliders in the club:
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1
Gentle Lady (2m). This is Claire's plane and now lives near Harboard,
on the coast.
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3
Aeroflyte Albatross' (2.5m) - Phil's completed July-2001. One now lives
at Harboard. The remaining two have been converted to budget priced electric
power. See article.
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1
Sequel (used to be a 2m BUT NOW a glorious 2.5m mullet) - and more
recently, a tacked-together pile of rubble! Currently(July 2003) awaiting
rejuvenation.
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1
old, OLD Brolga (2m). This plane is more often referred to as 'The
Dog' pronounced 'Dawg'. This plane recently met
its demise at the hands of one fanatical electric flyer in desparate need
of wings, Anth-na-teddy! He tried a barrel roll at 30 metres over the
eucalypts and ended up confetti-ing the wings on the main
trunk of an immovable object.
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1
High Sierra - the only plane with glass fuse and veneered foam. It currently
suffers greatly from broken wing joining tubes. This plane now upgraded
to "Barry" wings and still in a crashed state.
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1
Stepp 3 (by Model Flight),
a 3m floater with airbrakes - Anthony has lovingly modified the body to
achieve a far greater degree of rounding. Now lives down at Harboard.
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1
Multiman (2.5m). The only 'full house' glider we have. It is not yet completed
and looks ominously LARGE! Ailerons and flaps will be a treat though!
See article... Lately the Multiman is being
converted to electric (2005) |
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Members
Noel and Mathew own a glider each - names escape me at this time. Noel,
sadly, passed away Nov-2001.
Mathew
built a Bird of Time in white finish. We had a lot of trouble trying to
launch this glider and it eventually chucked all of its lead weighting.
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ASW-17.
Phil built this 3m scale plane from plans. He has since added rather small
flaperons right inboard on the trailing edges. He plans to enlarge these
for more effective braking. A very elegant looking plane. |
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Omega
(2.1m electric) and Omega (1.83m electric) both with Magnetic Mayhem motors,
50amp controllers. Both have flaperons for aerobatics and flap landings. |
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2
x Spirit 100" full house soarers. Each has 6 servos - Rudder, elevator,
flaps, ailerons. Phil's is fully operational while Ed's is still being covered
as at July-2003. This plane has amazing braking response and is a pleasure
to land - right on the spot. |
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A
new, second hand electric winch for launching the non-powered gliders. This
works very well off the car battery. With about 400m of line on it the full
diagonal of the extended field is still not enough to allow full use of
the line available. |
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2
x ElectraJets - pusher, delta-wing, electric powered. Hardly flown as yet. |
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6
x 2 Basic soarer currently being built by Geoff Blakemore. |
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2
x Hitec Eclipse 7 radio control sets used by Ed and Phil. Now these open
up many avenues forcreative flying.
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Bungee
Usage:
Our
latest bungee has 130metres of space to work in. With 15metres of soft rubber
and 75metres of 60lb fishing trace we are managing 80 to 90 metre launches and
more into even the slightest wind.
As
of June 2001 we are monitoring bungee usage to check value for money! The bungee
cost $110 for 30 metres of tubing! The first 15 metre section seemed to last
fairly well but perished rapidly after 6 months heavy usage. I am expecting
an amortised cost of about 5 cents per launch by the time the latest 15 metre
section finally fails.
With
the arrival, recently (June 2003), of the electric winch, the bungee has been
demoted to emergency launch status only.