TARMAC NEWS FEBRUARY 2007
The weather gets blamed for all manner of
things, almost all of which affect us personally, if briefly. In the last month or so the weather guessers
must have really taken a pounding from frustrated model bods who wanted to fly
but were not prepared to risk models in the extreme conditions which have
prevailed. Not just high winds, but very
high temperatures.
The few regulars who fly Saturday afternoon at
Whiteman, were reduced to telling tall tales while waiting for wind and heat to
subside. Bush fires were in the area
but, fortunately, did not get near the field.
As a precaution and an indication of the seriousness of the situation,
all flying was cancelled.
Charlie Stone sent some photos of an incredible
museum scale Spitfire being made in the UK.
The project has taken years so far and is accurate to the last
rivet. Speaking of rivets, the last
count made it about 19,000 – riveting!
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1/5th scale Mark 1 Spitfire.
Also on the subject of rivets, the above
figures remind me of my old friend Earl Van Gorder, now deceased. Van did some flying in B52’s and told me
that the crews referred to this monster as “Two million rivets in loose
formation.”
With a lot of luck there should be a photo of
Fred Adler and his new “Wombat”. It
flies very nicely, but very minor trimming is needed to get it spot on. Very impressive in the air.
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Fred Adler and Wombat.
A few new “Wombats” should be flying shortly
and it will be interesting to see what engines the Wombatteers can find to keep
the “spirit of things” in the spirit of things. Lack of a G.B. 5c.c diesel should never be penalised!
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Peter, Peter, Stunter beater………..Peter White
For those who knew of Arne Hende, we are sorry
to report he has died, aged 74. He
built beautiful engines and will be sadly missed.
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A couple of the many engines made by the late Arne Hende. A master craftsman.
A late note from Charlie.
A couple
of Saturdays ago, I was at home early in the afternoon. At the flying field, the weather was not good for flying.
I had been at TARMAC’s new Lumen Christie field at 1 pm as usual, but
due to the lack of other modellers, the strong breeze that for once was as bad
as forecast, and the fact that I was getting wet decided me to take the risk of
returning home. I say risk, because at home lurks something that I would prefer
to avoid. Namely the garden; or
more accurately, work to be done in the garden.
I decided some time back that it was not a place for me except when I
want somewhere to make up a set of lines; and only then because the garden has
more space than (for example) the bedroom or toilet.
If you have ever made up a set of 70 foot lines in the toilet, you will
know what I mean.
With
some time on my hands I thought that I should pass on a couple of reminders to
TARMAC club members. The first
reminder is that as probably every control line person in WA will already know,
we can fly at Lumen Christie college in Gosnells on Saturday afternoons from 1
pm. Someone, (usually me) will be
there at 1 o’clock to unlock the gates and unleash the flood of enthusiastic
aeromodellers and their cars into
the premises. Even if the weather
is rotten and seemingly unflyable, I will go down there for a while in case
someone turns up. But I won’t
stay all day in those conditions and will only hang around for half to three
quarters of an hour. Should I not
be there at the appointed time (having contracted some interesting disease like
bubonic scurvy) and not passed the key on to someone else, you can still get in. Park on the driveway (there is room for half a dozen cars)
and use your legs to transport a model and accessories through the access way to
the right of the gate and on to the flying area. That isn’t so hard is it?
The other reminder regards the Club library. In case you have forgotten, TARMAC has a supply of interesting magazines, books and videos available for loan to club members. Examples are: Stunt News issues from November 93 to current, Speed Times issues from July 93 to April 2000, All 11 of Bob Hunt’s Stunt video series, how to build I beam wings by Bill Werewage and many from Windy Urtnowski. The only possible fly in the ointment is that lots of the videos are in the American NTSC format, so you need a video player that can read them. Just ask the librarian (me) for more details on how to get your hands on them.
While I
am here I should also tell you about an interesting thing that I found on the
Internet. This should be of
particular interest to Dick Gibbs who has had a number of
run ins with rotating propellers over the years.
The news
is that in the USA researchers
are trying to find ways to regrow fingers in the same way that some animals such
as Axolotyls (Mexican walking fish) can regrow legs. Recently reported is the case of Lee Spievack, a model shop salesman in Cincinnati, who severed his
right middle finger in August 2005 while helping a customer run an engine on a
model plane behind the shop. "I pointed to it," Spievack said,
"and I put my finger through the prop." The spinning plastic prop sliced off his fingertip. The
missing piece was never found. A
hand surgeon recommended a skin graft to cover what was left of the finger.
If Spievack, now 68, had been a
toddler, things might have been different. Up to about age 2, people can
consistently regrow fingertips, says Dr. Stephen Badylak, a regeneration expert
at the University of Pittsburgh. But that's rare in adults, he said.
Spievack, however, had a major
advantage. His brother Alan, is a
former Harvard surgeon who had founded a company which makes an extract of pig
bladder for promoting healing and tissue regeneration. The federal government
has cleared it for use on humans.
The summer before Lee Spievack's
accident, Dr. Alan Spievack had used it on a neighbor who'd cut his fingertip
off on a tablesaw. (This could have
uses for Jim Stivey too J) The
man's fingertip grew back over four to six weeks, Alan Spievack said.
Lee Spievack started applying the extract every two days. Within four
weeks his finger had regained its original length, he said, and in four months
"it looked like my normal finger."
None of this proves the powder
was responsible. But those outcomes have helped inspire an effort to try the
powder this summer at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, on 5-10 soldiers who have
far more disabling finger loss because of burns.
(I can see other uses for this interesting technology, but good taste (and fear of repercussions) has decided me to refrain from putting them in print. CS)
WANTED TO BUY
Original MILLS .75 or IRVINE MILLS .75
MUST BE GOOD RUNNER.
CONTACT :
KEVIN HOOPER – 9447 0482