Latest News

December 2011

Congratulations to RCAC member Angus Balfour who was appointed R/C Aerobatics Secretary

at the recent MACI AGM.

Some members who enjoyed the hospitality of the Willows Restaurant in Navan for their Christmas

get together.

November 2011

A proposed Club Logo can be viewed in the Member's section of the Club Forum.

August 2011

In August our esteemed member, Angus Balfour, participated as aprt of the Irish

Team at the World F3A Championships in Indiana.

Angus came 19th. overall and his performance helped Ireland to finish in 10th

place out of the 31 competing countries giving us our best ever result at the

championships. In recognition of his achievement Bill presented Angus with a

Mullingar Pewter whiskey tumbler on behalf of the members of the Royal County

Aeromodellers Club.

The Angus Balfour Fan Club.

The inscribed tumbler presented to Angus.

Bill Thompson, Club Secretary, makes the presentation to Angus.

The Club Forum is back up and working, however the format is slightly different from

the previous version. Select the link on our Home Page to access it. Note that the

"Club House" can contain information which is only relevant to the our club and access

is therefore restricted to our paid up members. Whenever a member resisters as a

user they will then be given the additional permissions.

This version should make it easier for you to include photos in your posts. Just follow

the instructions in "General Chat". There is also a "Trade Stand" forum included, the purpose

of which is to allow the trade, any trade at that, to highlight special offers which they

may have available.

Remember you need to to post early and often to make the forum a success.

July 2011

The Club gets a new Wind Sock.

June 2011

Trim Flying Club Fly In and BBQ.

Once again this year, the RCAC was invited to attend the annual Trim Flying Club BBQ and Fly In. Unfortunately, due to the unfavourable weather conditions, the event had to be postponed fromSaturday June 25th to Sunday 26th.  As is usual there was an excellent turn out of aircraft.  Cessna and Piper were particularly well represented in addition to several Ultralights, a two seat Autogyro, the Air Corps Cessna 172 and the Sikorsky S-61 SAR helicopter
A number of members went along for the day and a lot of interest was shown in Bill’s SE5A and Gordon’s Bristol M1C both of which were on static display.   The flying was left to Angus who, as usual, put on a stunning aerobatic display with his 85cc petrol engined Raven.  Angus achieved this despite having to cope with the challenges of an unfamiliar location, a severe crosswind and turbulence and a critical audience.  Suffice to say that he received a well deserved standing ovation when he landed.
All our members who attended really enjoyed the event as we extend our thanks and appreciation to the TFC for their hospitality.

Club Activities.

Chris Straight and Level

Paul Cullen's Cessna on approach.

Damien's Piper Cub.

April 2011.... 

Club AGM

The AGM was held on the flying field on Sun 17th April and was attended by
Approximately 13 members. 
 In the absence of the Chairman, the Secretary, Bill Thompson, gave a summary
of the year just finished and complimented all who contributed time and effort
in running the affairs of the club.  In particular, special mention was made and
thanks given to both Joe Reilly and Alex Cuipers who did sterling work on the
maintenance of the flying field all year.   It was agreed that while both Joe and
Alex wish to continue with the work this year, a number of backup people
should be available to step in should either of the lads not be available. 
A number of members volunteered their services.

Bill Thompson, as Secretary, gave a summary of club activities for the year
gone by.  
The club had planned to run a Scale helicopter event in August 2010 but was
forced to cancel this as the organising member was unable to devote sufficient
time to its preparation.  
It was suggested that the club should run a general Fly In combined with a car
boot sale this year.  Bill will check the MACI calendar to find a suitable day.
Bill and Paul Gaffney are now B Certificate qualified.  This means that with
Liam Butler the club has three A Test certified examiners. 
It was agreed that this year a number of members should be encouraged to
take their A Test.   Over the coming weeks members will be nominated for the
A Certs and will be coached during A Certificate training sessions.

In the absence of Ron McDonnell, our treasurer, Bill Thompson gave a summary
of the club’s finances. 
Given that most of the outstanding money from last year has been collected,
the club faces a healthy balance after provision is made to pay our landlord at
the end of the year. 
Ron has held the post of Treasurer since the club was founded in August 2006
and has managed the clubs finances very well, however as he has been
experiencing a period of ill health recently he has decided to step down as Treasurer. 
The committee and the membership in general extended a sincere vote of
thanks to Ron for his efforts over the years and wish him a speedy return to
good health. 

The new committee was then voted on and the makeup is as follows:

Chairman                             William Bowles
Secretary                             Bill Thompson
Treasurer                             Alex Cuipers

All members present were reminded that each individual member is a Safety
Officer in their own right and should be vigilant in promoting safe flying particularly
as we are approaching the turfing season.

Bill then closed the meeting.

Club Trip to Hendon

On April 2nd. a number of our members travelled to London for the day to visit the RAF Museum

in Hendon.Travel arrangements were made by Bill and the group took an early flight, 7:30am, from

Dublin and following a full English Breakfast in Heathrow took the Tube to Collindale which is only

a fifteen minute walk from the museum.

The museum is a great experience for anyone with an interest in avation. The exhibits are very

well laid out and all are in pristine condition. Everyone was in awe of the sheer size of the Lancaster

and Vulcan and the fragility of the WW1 Fighters.

The group spent the entire day wandering among the various displays, simulators and 4D! film show

before heading back to Heathrow for the 8:30pm flight back to Dublin.

Dave, Dave, Bill, Manuel, Paul and Gordon with the Hurricane outside the RAF Museum.

November 2010

Damage to our Flying Strips

We recently had a couple of unwelcome visits by people in the area what resulted in

damage to our flying strips. In the first instance we had someone drive over the runways

and inflict tyre damage which was easily fixed up and in time the grass recovered itself

and all was OK.

However, the second visit was more insidious. It turns out that the same people arrived

with spades and proceed to dig up over 40 holes at the start of the main runway. When it

was discovered it looked dramatically worse than it actually was. Both Joe and Alex and Joe’s

grandkids spent a good few hours fixing the jigsaw of sods and matching each sod back into it’s

own hole. This was followed by a reseeding of each area and as of now that part of the runway

is now back in a healthy state. We then replaced the 20 or so plastic stakes at the periphery of

the strip that they broke and I believe, Joe has now repaired damaged Peg Board !

All in all, it was a very unsavoury episode. However, we did make our complaints to the

authorities and I believe the Garda are looking into it.

The Move to the Dark Side

As 2.4Ghz radio sets become more plentiful and eliminate the need for frequency checking, I have

recently taken the plunge and moved over to this secure form of radio transmission. As most of

ye know, I use a Graupner MC-24 transmitter which I really like. I have always preferred the

European style of transmitter, ie the flat tray type with the ball adjustable aerial such as the

Graupner, Multiplex and Robbe/Futaba. However, Graupner had introduced their own version of

2.4Ghz called Graupner IFS, however, they only people I could see using it was the German

National Aerobatic Team..!! Since the origin of the species in the 2.4ghz world was Spektrum

Technology, I had toyed with the idea of buying their equipment but this would have left me

without my beloved European style tranny.

However, Spektrum came to the rescue as they market an extensive range of Spektrum DSM2

(their latest iteration of their system) modules for retrofitting into other brand transmitters.

Lo and behold, they had a 2.4Ghz DSM2 module for the Graupner range of transmitters including

the MC-24. It is sold in 2 versions, ie one with a Spektrum 9 channel receiver and one with a

Spektrum 12 channel receiver. As there was ony £15 of a difference I decided to go for the12

Channel unit. While I had read a review of the installation of this module, it gave me a small

dose of the frightners as it involved some tricky soldering.

In the end, I went to Gliders Distribution in the UK (http://www.gliders.uk.com/ ) and I agreed

that they would supply and fit the module for me. In the end the did a lot more as I got all of the

following work done:

· Upgrade of the MC-24 ROM module as it was around 8 years out of date

· Installation of Spektrum DSM2 module and supplied with Spektrum 12 channel receiver

· Installation of additional 2 position switch in specific location on transmitter

· Replacement of both plastic sides to support neck strap supports which had broken

· Overall service of transmitter and testing of new 2,4Ghz module

· It includes new steel backplate with SPEKTRUM embossed on it and also has a hole

to access the bind butto

· Ship back to Ireland.

Total cost was just under €380 but bear in mind the Spektrum module with 12 channel receiver

costs around €210. The ROM upgrade was around €110, shipping was €22, switch and sides

around €50.00. At least I have the comfort of knowing it was professionally upgraded.

It took them about 2 weeks to finalise all the work and I have to say I am well pleased with my

new albeit circumcised transmitter. It almost feels crisper and sharper when I operate

the Spektrum receivers and existing servos. All in all a job well done that has left me

totally and utterly in and on the Dark Side !Q!! Herewith a picture of the conversion.

A Certificate Exams

On Sunday 4^th Oct, we held our first session of A Certificate examinations to continue the personal

development of the club membership. We had a total of 6 candidates who were available to take

the test. We were visited by MACI Examiners, Steve Quigley from the Newbridge Club and in

conjunction with our own Liam Butler, also a MACI Examiner, they proceeded to give us a run

through of the procedures.

We had already met in the coffee shop that morning and between ourselves read through and

answered the various questions to our best ability and covered the flying schedule as well.

Bill was first off and answered all the relevant questions and performed a good flight to end

with a Pass to his delight. As we had all elected to use the Club Trainer, it was refuelled and

prepared for Alex who was next. Unfortunately, Bill had inadvertently moved the throttle trim

and when Alex performed the Intentional Stall, the motor quit forcing Alex into a deadstick

landing. This necessitated a complete rerun of the flight test which Alex passed no problem !!

Then the remaining candidates, Manuel, Joe, Paul and Damien sailed through the various

sections of the test and we achieved a 100% score in that all candidates are now fully A

Certified !! Congratulations to all concerned. Some photos of the day are next.

Damien going through the motions !!

Manuel getting familiar with the Club Trainer !

Alex pleading with the Examiners after his dead stick landing !!

Alex learning the Irish solution to an Irish problem !!!

A Happy Group of campers in front of our mobile clubhouse !!

The Club Trainer has notched up it’s first 6 Victories !!!

Liam Butler’s very nice YAK 54. A lovely flyer.

Gordon’s Hangar 9 Soptwith Camel.. flew very realistically.

Steve getting his Seagull Pilatus ready. Nicely finished in Irish Air Corps colours.

A good turnout of high quality models on the day. Some great flying also.

The smiles of 2 new A Certified Aeromodellers.. !! Manuel and Joe !!