As some of you may have noticed from our event calendar we've been forced to suspend our float fly events at Sal Lake. We have not been given detailed information as yet other than all activities have must be suspended at the lake. We plan on working with our contacts at the Salvation Army and hope we can work out a plan that we allow us to enjoy flying off water again in the near future. We will post more information when it becomes available.
Pylon Race 1
Written by Phil Leech
Monday, 16 March 2009
Sunday, March 15th was the date of the first Pylon Race for the 2009 season at Trentadue field. The weather was a little raw but the turnout of guys to participate was spectacular. Nineteen guys! On a cool, wet day with rain and breezy winds forecast. It was my first time to compete in the Pylon Races and it all turned out just great. I had one of the best experiences of all my R/C flying days. And what a great bunch of guys too. We hit the pylons a couple of times and even took one out for a while. It looks to me like the Pylon Races are destined to be one of WCF’s best and most popular events ever. All this with nice, silent electric airplanes. Hope I can convince you guys who haven’t tried it to give some serious consideration. Next race – Sunday, April 5th.
Pylon Races, March 15th
Written by Adam Clement
Wednesday, 04 March 2009
Pylon season is here again. And the first
race is March 15th (delayed from March 1st due to rain). We are adding a
new class this year in addition to the T-28s.
The T-28 class has an addition
also. Some of you own the Park Zone F4U
Corsair, and since it comes with the same
power setup and prop we have decided to let
these race together. So now it's the T-28/F4U
class. Same rules apply as last year, no more
than a 2200mah battery and no
modifications other than decals and paint.
Try to make your plane
different from everyone else. That makes it
easier for the counters and corner people to
tell one plane from the next.
The other class we are trying this year is
called 450 warbird. You can race
any foam warbird 40" and under. Thunder
Tiger makes one of the strongest but there are
other models out there. We
are running E-flite 450 sized outrunner with
either a 8x8, or 9x9. The props are undecided
as yet but I will let you know at the next
general meeting. Batteries are no more than
11.1V, but you can run any size mAh you
want. Just remember - the bigger the battery
the slower your plane goes. So choose wisely.
Speed control is also up to you but the motor
well run fine on 20-25amp controllers. This
should be a fun class, about 10-15 mph faster
than the T-28/F4U class but not too fast. I did
some testing and the plane was going around
60mph. It was fast but very controllable. For
those that need more speed this is your
class!!!
We are going to try 3 rounds per class and
if it takes too long we will knock it down to 2.
So if you race both classes make sure you
have 6 packs or can charge at the field. Since
we’re going faster in the other class (fast
enough to do some damage) helmets will be
mandatory.
It should be a lot
of fun so come out and play the first Sunday of
each month - or just come and watch the fun,
we always need spotters and corner marshals.
$5 per class, pilots meeting at 9:40. Racing starts
10:00am sharp. Late racer's can
still fly but will just miss round one. Any
questions contact Adam Clement or Steve Cole. See
you at the races.
2009 Hobby Expo
Written by Patrick O'Halloran
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
From 72nd scale static models to an 88” RC B-25, they were all on display this weekend at the IPMS Santa Rosa Hobby Expo. This event is held each year at the Petaluma Community Center with space for local hobby clubs kindly provided through the sponsorship of HobbyTown USA, Petaluma. Representing aero-modeling in the area were Wine Country Flyers and SAM 27. Located in the south wing along with RC cars, rock crawlers, robots, tanks and boats - we spent the day answering general questions on aero-modeling from parents, their children and people either in the hobby or those considering getting involved. It seems modern electric park flyers really allow people to experiment with an RC model without either a serious time or financial commitment. And so many of the people interested in joining the club already have a good idea of what’s involved and are interested in moving into more capable or more specialized models. We raffled a RTF Super Cub (kindly sponsored by Awesome Hobbies, Healdsburg); gave away Gillow gliders and had an RC flight simulator available. Thanks to all those who helped with the display including Sid, Adam, Merle and many others. Also thanks to IPMS and Steve Eliot of Hobbytown USA for making the event possible. View the complete event album here, or view the slideshow.
Visit Guy Nicholas' WCF Photoshop albums.
