.
A couple of light-years ago, David Whitehead,
Arthur Hume and I looked for a place to fly our single channel, rudder
only R/C models. David had a 6 foot wingspan, own design glider powered by
an O.S Pet.09 on a pod and a Tyro high wing model. Arthur had a high wing
trike morel and a superb .049 powered Cessna. Control was by an escapement
powered by a long rubber band. The band was wound up by a crank at the
rear of the model so that each press of the button on the Pixie T/X caused
the escapement to move the rudder left or right. The trick was not to run
out of turns of therubber loop, but to be over the field when the band or
motor cut out.
I had a Mk1 Hustler, Rudder only. Control was by a torque rod from the
servo to a harness on the rudder. The model was powered by an O.S 19 with
throttle as I was able to buy an O.S motor servo which had a four position
sequence
Most of the T/X were button controlled, ie. One
press-right, two press - left and three presses for motor (perhaps) in
sequence , low, medium, high. You needed a very fast thumb to get the
motor positions. The models I had were a Fokker D7 bipe rudder only, and a
Boddington. Santa Maria.. The D7 had an O.S 15 and the .Santa. a Cox .049.
We often flew opposite the old Ross River meatworks on what is now the
Murray Sporting Complex. It wasn.t a good place to fly rudder only because
of the massive thermals and .willy-willies.. One morning David and I were
both up , David with his glider and I with the Hustler when a massive
thermal took both models beyond our control. We chased them and lost sight
of the Hustler but watched the glider come down in what is now Riverside
park, undamaged. The Hustler was missing for three weeks till a fellow
pinching sand discovered it in the bush. He rang me so I went and
collected it paying the reward printed on the fuselage. The model was
undamaged , so after a battery replacement it flew again.
We sometimes flew out at a private property near Deeragun.
It was a .cowpat. field so we would take a wet cloth out with us in case.
Cattle and horses were run on the field. If you landed near cows they
would run away, but not so the horses. They would approach the model and
paw at it with a hoof thus causing damage. So if you landed near a horse
you needed to pick up a stone to heave at Neddy!. One day I said to Dave
and Arthur .I wonder if we could fly on the empty field opposite the Army
Helifield on University road?.. .Yes., said the Lands department, "but you
will be built out and you cannot put a structure up.. So Dave , Arthur and
I hacked out the chinee apple trees and mowed a strip. It became very
popular as many came to fly off it. Sometimes Silvio Toigo and Mario from
Ingham would visit us and Silvio would show us how it was done with a
superb display of flying. One day Mario was filling up the tank with a
fuel bottle when he noticed a large hole in the ground beside the
undercart, so he squirted some fuel down it. Out came a very large angry
spider hopping amongst the fliers who all took off!!
One day I was flying my FokkerD7 over the field when
something was seen to flutter down off the model. I handed the T/X to Dave
and took off to catch it - the rudder! When I was setting up the fin I
always gave it 3ْ left so
that to keep the model straight I only had to give one press of the
button.( Dave's glider was set up
similarly. ed).
The D7 continued to circle until the motor cut out and the
model landed in the long grass undamaged. Bob Wigmore said .The pilot sent
the rudder down for repairs.. My T/X was an R.C.S and I had tin O.S
servos. I also had a Hinode T/X with servos. The R/X had a tuning slug on
the face so you could tune with a screwdriver in the slot. I built a Beat
Frequency Oscillator . I wired in a speaker from an old tranny so when T/X
and R/X and the BFO were switched on you could hear the hiss of the
carrier wave and when you pressed the T/X button you heard the squawk of
the signal, and could tune the Hinode R/X to the strongest signal. I often
got strange signals when I just switched on the BFO and some said they
came from the .drome at Garbutt. I was having intermittent signal trouble
with the OS T/X so sent it back to OS in Japan. They sent it back saying
they gave it a .viblation test. and could find nothing wrong. Dave took it
home and rang me saying .Come and have a look see, I have found the
trouble..
When Dave removed the circuit board he fond a small ball of solder running
around between the circuit board and the tin case of the servo. Thus in
different positions it gave a signal or shorted it out. I had no more
signal trouble. Apart from all the new technical advances, two things
stand out for me. They are better fuel selection and electric starters. So
much for Radio Control flying in those days. It was
FUN and I am glad I did it.
Herb Spilsbury
VH 7823.
