The event started out with a couple of members discussing the number of De Havilland models in the club and suggested a De Havilland day. After some massaging and further discussions we have the inaugural TCMAC Classic Airplane rally.

It was decided to host the event as a non competition rally, as a lot of members prefer a casual fly rather than a competition. The day was open to anyone from within TCMAC as well as visitors from other clubs.

The rules were simple, any scale model where the full size type first flew between the years 1910 to 1950. The name for the event came from local aircraft restorer Jim Williams’ business Classic Airplanes, and Jim was invited along to judge what he believed to be the best model.

To be eligible, models did not need to fly, or even be fully completed, but as described earlier, needed to be first flown between the years 1910 to 1950.

We had 42 entrants in total which was an awesome effort for the first event with entrants from the Wangaratta and Mildura Model Clubs enjoying the day along with TCMAC members.

Judged as the best model on the day by guest judge Jimmy Williams was the Fairchild belonging to TCMAC member Rob Sargent. Rob only finished the model the night and was spied test flying it at 6am on the morning of the event. As is obvious by the pictures of the model Rob has once again done an exceptional job.

Club President Graeme Frauenfelder Winner Rob Sargent Judge Jimmy Williams and Event Director David Balfour

Jim Williams with Rob Sargent and the winning Fairchild

For more pictures of the day slip across to our Gallery page.

A great event which will only get bigger and better for 2019, so mark keep an eye on our events calendar page for the date of next years event.

APA CHAMPS.

What is, or are, the APA champs you might well ask? Well here is a quick answer. The Australian Precision Aerobatics is a special interest group that controls F3A pattern flying in Aust on behalf of the MAAA and, as was pointed out on the weekend, have been holding there championships at TCMAC now for over 15yrs because its one of the best sights in Australia, and the are always made welcome.

Now to the event itself !! We had 25 entrants with 21 attending the weekend of which 3 were from TCMAC in 2 classes ADVANCE AND EXPERT. In Advanced Rob Hullett & Myself had a close struggle all weekend with only 70 points in total to separate us over 4 rounds .

I had run into some problems with my $200 prop delaminating on the 3rd round so Rob loaned me his model so I could carry on, and this was quite interesting, as I had only had a short fly of the model on Wednesday prior whilst doing some trimming and was not prepared for the difference in how it flew compared to mine, but with a lot of help from my caller Chris Henry, we got through, so a big thanks to Rob in trusting me with his pride and joy.

The end result was Wassa first & Rob in 2nd and Tony from Tasmania in 3rd.

In Expert class John Bran cleared out from the rest but a “HOT“ competition was going on between Chris Henry & Phil Spence from the ACT with Chris ending up in 2nd & Phil in 3rd with only 14 points diff over the 4 rounds, very close indeed, with a total of 8 in this class. The top class Masters was once again taken out by Dennis Travassaros who was a cut above the rest although Russell Edwards in 2nd place had his own problems with a strong wind coming through and picking up his model and breaking the rudder off, so he also had to fly with someone else’s model and Geoff Healey took out 3rd. This class had a total of 9 entrants. The windy conditions lasted all weekend, which made flying more challenging, but we all got through with no incidents model wise and yes, there were some very expensive toys out there, especially one biplane which certainly set a new standard in looks.

Now to the club members especially Rob Hullett who gave of their time to set up and run the canteen so as to make some funds for the club and this also applies to the ground staff who as always gave us a perfect flying sight.

“A VERY BIG THANKYOU FOR YOUR EFFORTS.

All in all a great weekend with some difficult flying conditions “WIND” was had by all but talking about the WIND I watched the wind sock rotate 180 deg in a 1 min time frame and this happened all day.

NEXT EVENT IS THE SCALE DAY SO BE THERE.

Cheers, Wassa

Wassa has some pictures to add once he learns how to send them – Editor