MODEL AEROPLANE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 69, 14 December 1935, Page 31

MODEL AEROPLANE NOTES.

BY

AILERON’

With tlie approach of summer model flying in New Zealand should have a good season. Contact between clubs has been improved, activities are becoming wider, and members are becoming more ambitious. Perhaps the biggest event of the season will be the meeting and conference to be held in New Plymouth on January 13 and 14. This is to comprise flying competition, talks between the executives of the clubs concerned, a dance, and a great deal of talk generally. It is the first attempt of its kind in New’ Zealand, and it appears to be w’ell on the way toward success, since clubs from as far away as Auckland, Wellington and Napier will be sending their representatives. The standard of flying will almost certainly (if the weather is favourable) equal that seen in England, Australia and ‘the United States. Anyone interested is cordially invited to attend. They will not regret it. For further information, write in to “Aileron.” As far as can be gathered, the New Plymouth meeting will be the first to see several petrol-driven models at the one place. They have been flown before; two in Wellington, and, I believe, one in Christchurch; but New Plymouth will be the first to see them in any number. Here, it must be stated, that a “gas model” provides one of the greatest thrills possible. Imagine a model aeroplane, about six to twelve feet in span, weighing up to ten pounds. Instead of rubber it has a tiny two-stroke petrol engine which turns its propeller at up to four thousand revolutions per minute and makes a noise that would put any full-sized aeroplane to shame (just about, anyway). The model is fast, and looks and flies just like a large aeroplane. Properly made, it will take off and climb to a height of several thousand feet, flying for about twenty minutes on just over an ounce of fuel. This sounds impossible, but it is a fact that in the United States, where dozens of “gas models” are seen at the one meeting, models have, with this amount of fuel, flown completely out of sight in the sky above, to lie found later, miles away from their starting point. Apart from these elaborate craft all the more common types of models will be represented. Spar models, large and small, fuselage models in their various forms, real scale models of full-size aeroplanes (some to rise off the water, i.e., seaplane models) and gliders. The gliders will be of the hand-laundhed and towline-launched types. In the latter, the model is towed by a long thread till it is as high as possible; the thread is then dropped off and the model soars round in large circles, often climbing on the wind current like a hawk, till finally it lands or goes out of sight, straight up. A lost model? Certainly, but the loss of a valuable (model in this wav never worries anyone, for it is all part of the game.