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Control Line Flying a Control Line Model Aircraft offers a very special kind of excitement! It’s that direct connection between you and your model...that great feeling of being totally involved with “hands on” control through two thin wires. Unlike free flight or radio control, you can actually feel the model respond as it soars around the sky. Feel the motor roar in the speedy racer or purr in an aerobatic model as it responds to your control inputs, carving up the circle into loops, squares and triangles. As the people from Toyota say “Oh what a feeling!”
The Control Line field at Bulleen Control Line models can be divided into classes. There are competition aircraft specially designed to fly aerobatics, team race, speed, combat and scale. Then there are flight trainers and sports models that are built purely to have fun. The choice is yours! All that is needed is a desire to become involved.
Most of the control line flyers at Doncaster are casual sport flyers who enjoy the excitement of direct control and are challenged by the demands of various facets of the official aerobatic stunt-pattern requirements. It is a real test of skill as the stunt pilot’s reflexes battle against the unforgivable forces of earth and gravity. Particularly when it gets windy! The idea is to fly a set schedule of manoeuvres as accurately as possible, according to the rules. Judges sit outside the circle and give marks to the pilots as they complete loops, wingovers, squares, figure eights, hourglasses and four leaf clovers.
Noise constraints at our (essentially) metropolitan field, with housing fairly close by, preclude the running of most speed models. All motors must be suitably muffled and may be subject to checking via the noise meter maintained by the Club.
Frank Goding with his Combat Streak and David Nobes with his Predator and Livewire
As examples of the craft at Doncaster, Frank Goding's “Combat Streak” was built from a Topflite kit in the mid-1980’s and has seen a lot of miles over the Doncaster grass! In contrast, David Nobes' “Predator” and “LiveWire” are the carefully crafted recent creations. The aerobatic capacity of both of the new scratch-built models has been fully tested and not been found wanting. Both are very accurate movers throughout the test pattern though David is currently contemplating how the speed of “LiveWire” can best be reduced to accommodate some of the tighter manoeuvres.
The Control Line Pits
Many of our visitors are juniors who are attracted by the simple challenge of keeping a basic trainer in the air then progressing (usually with a slightly more agile model) to loops, inverted flying, bunts, figures of eight in various forms, squares, triangles and sundry other specialties. Over the years many have then graduated to the Radio Control section of the Club but fore-armed with some basic flight knowledge, an appreciation of the workings of the smaller two-stroke engines, hopefully some of the skills of model construction, and some of the disciplines pertinent to safe operation of flying model.
Come and visit us at the field on Sunday afternoons.
More details of the various types can be found at the VMAA Control Line page link below.
Frank Goding (and some text compliments of the VMAA)
Model Gallery
Bruce Jenkin -- B17 Relevant Links
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*** 10 January, 2010 10:27 PM +1000 *** |
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