During 2009 a couple of events had occurred which provided me with some new models to pedal in 2011. At the Nats I had observed the soaring ability of the Lawicki Ducks and advertized here on the groups to find one for myself. I was fortunate enough to procure an old wood Duck which I got ready to campaign the Rich Kiburis 2M series in Florida during 2010. I also had an unfortunate incident where I accidently kicked a brand new “High End” belonging to Jack Strother during the Nats F3J and became the proud owner of a High End to fly as my primary TD ship in 2010. Some practice over the xmas break with the High End had me rather excited about the different speed at which it flew and it’s ability to range out further and I had high hopes for the season ahead. It was with much anticipation that the year began for me with the annual FSS series starting at our home field on February 20. This series of TD events is flown at multiple locations throughout the year and is generally a two day contest with winners in both Expert and Sportsman classes on each day. At the end of the year the results are added up and the best 4 or 5 scores are counted towards a year end total to decide an FSS Champion in each class. The number of scores dropped depends on how many contests are held or how many scoring opportunities are available. The first 3 rounds of the FSS series were so thoroughly dominated by Rusty Carver and his Onyx that it would be a tough job to haul him back...Continue Reading

It was ironic that my first contest back after 23 years would be at a discipline I had never flown before. Hand launch or DLG were not a contest format in the 80's in Australia and I had never hand launched an RC sailplane into lift in my life before. It waa either a bungee or a winch. Ed White (a long term Orlando Buzzard) befriended me and taught me how to throw the Blaster I had purchased. He also did some mock contest flying with me so I could learn what the tasks would be etc. The Blaster was certainly easy to fly and seemed to be able to go up on a sparrow fart - but I was still unable to keep her aloft at will every flight - no doubt partly because my launch technique was erratic and the height achieved fairly pathetic compared to Ed, and also my lift reading was virtually non existent. During the week leading up to this first DLG contest at Gainesville I contacted Dave Forbes about buying a Vixen from him at the contest. Scraping together just enough funds to pay for the new plane and gas to Gainesville for the weekend - I set off on my first RC Soaring contest adventure in USA. The missus was in Australia so it was going to be a weekend away for play.
The first thing I noticed about the DLG crowd there on the Friday was how friendly and helpful they all were. I was fortunate to have Dave showing me the ropes with my new bagged Vixen and Gerald Taylor saw me struggling and kindly offered much advice to get her trimmed better and my new 9303 radio set to the correct...Continue Reading

It's Nov 2008. I have been living in USA for 9 1/2 years after moving from Australia in 1999. I have just stumbled across the Orlando Buzzards flying site with my son. It is 23 years since I held a transmitter in my hands and the words moldie and sailplane had never been used in the same sentence. I was re entering a world which had changed completely. The sailplanes I flew were now in a special class called Nostalgia! But I knew two things the minute I saw my first Pike Perfect and spoke to the pilot.....It was a thing of incredible precision and beauty that I had never imagined and I was going to get started flying right where I had left off 23 years ago.
I did not know anything about the aircraft people were flying. I didn't know anything about the radios either. There was much to learn. I was specifically intrigued by the idea that you could actually hand launch sailplanes into thermals consistently enough to have contests doing it. I had to see that. I began to research RC sailplanes on the Internet and within days I had a handle on this board and RCUniverse (aussief3b.) I had searches set up on EBay for radios and planes and I was furiously listing a garage full of old car parts for sale on EBay to finance the new/old hobby. I visited the Buzzards flying field two more times to watch and learn about the hobby. I couldn't wait to get flying.
My first purchase was a used Blaster HLG on this forum and I bought a used JR9303 radio on the RCU forum. Jim McLean at the...Continue Reading

When my son Nathan was born the family began to command a lot more attention. The models got moved around in boxes as we moved from the country town of Warwick to the "big smoke" in 1992 and again into a much larger home in 1995 where there was actually room to display some planes. My F3B sailplane and 2M TBird adorned the ceiling of our pool room in Brisbane for five years as the kids grew up. But still the planes did not fly and my attention was entirely on building a family and a career. Interestingly enough we spent 7 years of our life living within 5 miles of the official Brisbane Model Soaring Clubs flying site and I didn't visit our former flying friends even once. In 1999 when the kids were in their teens my work provided an opportunity to move from Australia to USA. This was an exciting time for us as the adventure of re-locating our lives took hold. The models got packed up again and stored inside a shipping container which I bought to store our stuff in Australia while we were away overseas. And that's where they have stayed for another 9 1/2 long years ------------Until a fateful day in 2008.
We now live in Orlando Florida. The boys are now in their twenties and leisure activities are generally car related these days. As a family we have built cars......... lots of cars, car engines, race cars, show cars, street cars, turbo cars, supercharged cars and generally kept the boys very involved in the garage as they went through school and beyond. We have...Continue Reading

After picking up a 3rd place with my Maestro Mk3 in my first sailplane contest at the Eidsvold Central Qld Championships in 1982 I was well and truly hooked on contest flying. The Australian Aeromodelling Championships were held in Warwick (my home town) that year so I entered the Maestro in both the F3B and the Thermal Duration contest. Even though I acchieved quite a respectable place in F3B with this old bird (12th) I knew I would need different equipment for this type of contesting. I also learned in this my first F3B contest that F3B was a lot more fun than just duration. Though this big bird always launched on winch with fairly bendy wings they got beyond bendy in the 3rd round of the Nats TD contest and the wing tips finally decided to clap hands. That was the end of the Maestro but the new F3B competition that was developing looked like something that could be real challenging. I had joined the Brisbane Model Soaring club and I bought an (approx 110") RTF F3B ship from another flyer. It had damaged wing tips so I shortened them and my "clipped wing" F3B ship became a bullet in the speed task with ballast on board. It had a glass molded fuse and foam cored, balsa sheeted and glassed wings. They were super strong and not flexy at all. For ballast for the speed task I used an extra long 1/2" dia stainless wing joiner bar instead of the stock alloy one. 3 feet of 1/2" stainless rod actually. Practised for the 1983 Queensland F3B Championships...Continue Reading

With a job and my new found freedom of actually having some of my own money and no longer having to rely on the generosity of my brother, I began my RC career. I purchased a kit from USA Ace Radio Control called a Honker. I already had a few Cox .049 engines from the contol-line PT19 trainers from a few years earlier. The black widow .049 was an especially prized weapon to power my new Honker. I don't remember the all up weight of this model but I can tell you a black Widow only just got her airborne with rudder and elev. What a great little plane to learn on when you don't have an instructor. This plane had a simple two piece plank "Jedelsky" wing where the planks were joined at a slight angle to each other to create undercamber. In a matter of weeks I was buzzing around like an expert and was already planning strip ailerons and a third servo so she would roll better. I bought a TeeDee .051 and retired the black widow and now I had an aerobatic 3 channel Honker. I don't remember what happened to her but she was much loved and absolutely flown to death. I advanced to an ACE Pacer which was a tape strapped hi density foam wing 1/2A "pattern" type aircraft powered again by the TeeDee .051. Great plane and lot's of fun though always rather underpowered. I also bought an Ace AllStar Biplane which I powered with an OS .15 and this became my first 4 channel aircraft with the addition of throttle. I discovered the vagaries of snap rolls on early liftoffs with...Continue Reading

I remember having a lot of fun with rubber powered stick models as far back as Grade 1 at school. I distinctly remember making a ramp with a brick and a piece of fibro sheet so I could enjoy the thrill of a ROG rubber stick model. I was 6 years old then. If I wasn't flying kites or playing with folded paper or balsa chuck gliders, I was looking up at the sky watching real planes. My fathers cousin flew in to see us for an over-nighter sometimes (in Warwick Qld, Australia) in his twin engined Piper. He would fly over our house doing steep turns until we heard him and then we would come out and wave vigorously at him. He would then waggle his wings fly the 12 miles to the Warwick aerodrome and wait for us. Dad would drive us out to the strip in the 58 Ford Customline to pick him up. I will never forget the first time he took my brothers and I for a flight over town. That flight was all I needed to be hooked on flying for life. I advanced to my first real balsa model build about 1970 aged 11 when in Grade 6 at school. It was a free flight balsa and tissue sailplane called a Nimbus(Made by Aeroflyte I think and about 3 foot wingspan.) The joy of hooking a thermal off a 150ft towline and nearly losing that plane altogether was the beginning of a lifetime interest in the excitement of finding that invisible rising air and flying my sailplanes in it. I dabbled in control line in Grade 7 and 8 and then through high school with a succession of planes including a Cox .049 PT19...Continue Reading