Oily Hand 2016 from Andy Luckett

For some reason the weather gods smiled on the Milroy field for Oily Hand 2016. After atrocious rainy and windy days during the preceding weeks a huge high pressure cell became resident over the central west for the three days of the event. But isn’t that always the way with Oily Hand. The last weekend of August in ‘Gods Country’ is always perfect for model flying. The days started at dawn with a rime of frost to greet participants along with the now traditional egg & bacon roll breakfast and a blazing fire bucket.

It is always active in the car park at Oily Hand. That pooch found an old C/L model to

chew on in the car boot sales.

Because our flying field is on an operating farm we have to fit in with the farming activities. Brian and Les Robson who own the farm are very generous in allowing us to run all over their paddocks. They manage the grazing so there are no sheep on the field at Oily Hand time. They are currently running a crop rotation to eradicate weeds in the main field. This year due to the canola crop in the club paddock flying arrangements were a little different. C/L and some R/C were flown from the main strip while F/F and radio assist were transferred to the much larger lucerne paddock to the east. This worked very well and we thank the participants

for being tolerant of the changed conditions. We may well be able to make use of the new F/F paddock for while ever the lucerne is in it.

Long time attendee, Phil Poole, has been to every Oily Hand and finishes his models in

yellow because he loves trying to find them in a canola crop. Each morning the sun peaked over the hills to melt away the frost and the days were cool and sunny with slight breezes and free flight models filled the sky. Those who braved the pre dawn frost encountered no thermals to carry a well trimmed model over the horizon. The action at the freeflight went from dawn till dusk as the days were perfect. The inimitable Peter Jackson with his WWI bipes and a selection of Vic Smeed designs refused to stop for lunch so we took it up to him. Peter has become very fond of the little Pesky 0.4cc diesels from PAL and has them fitted to a number of his models. He acquired one for me and it is just itching to get into a model. Warren Leadbeater and some of the crew who post on Barton had bought along their ‘Lolas’, a Vic Smeed low winger from 2008. They put in some very impressive flights. Lola is a model well worth considering for that small diesel sitting in the cupboard. There were a couple of flyaways, but all bar one was recovered. Don’t worry Andrew the lost models always turn up after harvest as there is no growth left for them to hide in.

Hard at work in the open spaces of the lucerne paddock

A good number of the triple finned 42” Apex mk14 that was the ‘model of the meet’ were puttering around. In all twenty one Apexes and their builders turned out for the concours judging which was won by Andrew Linwood whose excellent construction was revealed by clear mylar covering.

ApexiansandtheirApexes

A special ‘PAA load’ event was run for the Apex. There were only three fliers who managed to find time to try out. The result was Peter Norrie’s Apex carried an amazing 709.5 grams. Nearly three times its own weight! Late Saturday arvo is always scramble time. Two scramble events are run at Oily Hand. SAMS Cabin Scramble and an F/F scramble. The good thing about this is that the same model can be flown in both events. One only has to disable the R/C guidance system to turn their SAMS Cabin model into a true F/F scrambler. The SAMS Cabin Scramble allows the pilot to have radio assist in a pre 1960 cabin design using an engine below 1cc capacity. Peter van der Waterbeemd kindly ran the event for us on behalf of SAMS this year as Grant Manwaring wasn’t able to come. Michael Towell was the winner. As the sun sank to the western horizon it was time for the ridgy-didge F/F scramble. A couple of David Owen’s close aeromodelling associates and regular Oily hand participants suggested we run an event to honour David and his contribution to aeromodelling, particularly the oily hand variety. We settled on making the scramble event it. I approached a long time friend and colleague of mine, Phil McNeice, to make a trophy. And what an admirable trophy he made. Phil is an accomplished woodworker and past Canowindra resident. Most of the timber in the trophy is from around the Oily Hand district, Phil being an unashamed wood collector and hoarder. The inaugural ‘David Owen Oily Hand Free Flight Scramble’ was won by the youngest pilot in the event Chris Birch who incidentally won last year’s scramble also. This wasn’t due to Chris being any fleeter on his toes than the older contestants either. Our good mate from Parkes Craig Thornton was to be seen sprinting up and down the field after his Super Sniffer. Not to mention Matt Hannaford sweating after the wayward ‘flying carpet’. Celia and Sam Owen decided to come to Oily Hand to present the trophy. This made it a very special occasion and Cowra MAC thanks Celia and Sam for making the trip. The trophy is perpetual and each winner will have a plaque attached to the base of the trophy. I suspect Chris will have some stiff competition next year. The attraction of having that trophy on the shelf for a year will have a few of you practicing your starting technique and jogging round the block to get fit.

ChrisBirchreceivingthetrophyfromCeliaandSamOwen

ThetrophywasmadebylongtimeCanowindraresidentandwoodworkerPhilMcNeiceandfeatures

locallysourcedtimbers.PhilbasedthetrophyontheOwen2.5T.

Sunday morning is always catapult glider scramble. A hardy bunch fronts the field at 8am sharp each year only to be beaten by Sam Peden from Parkes. This is Sam’s specialist event and the only one he flies each year. He has developed a line of canards that seem to do the trick. There was a bit of spying on and photo snapping of Sam’s models this year. Look out in 2017 Sam. So whilst the free flighters were having a great old time flick flicking and launching their models over the lucerne field at the main field it was time for The Plank racing. But before departing to the C/L field we had to find Warren Brown so he could participate. Warren would be somewhere flying one of the twenty or so diesel powered creations he crams in the back of his little Honda wagon and drags all the way to Oily Hand each year – from The Dandenongs. Warren’s challenge to himself is to fly each model before he departs Oily Hand. If he flies a model he really likes more than once he has to return on Monday morning so he can complete the task. That is dedication! This year he had a bright red DeHaviland Comet powered by a pair of throttled PAW diesels. There are pics on Barton and a YouTube video for you to track down.

Warren Brown’s flying challenge.

Plank racing now comes in versions, Traditional and Super Plank. It is a most entertaining fiasco and draws the crowd in. Round and round, up and down and into the ground they went. It all ended up with Bill Swan winning Super Plank on a borrowed model and Bob Fisher winning Traditional Plank. Fortunately Bob flew Traditional Plank before Bill borrowed his model and did a number nine on it. “What happened there?” Worthy of mention is Mike Minty who flies Plank every year with an Ollie Tiger up front. Never does any good, but always has a ball. And that is what Oily Hand is all about. Eddy Holley as usual had a display of his handmade diesels. This year was a tribute to the David Owen ‘Mate” a 2cc design that David released for the back shed machinist many years ago. Eddy had used the original crankcase casting as supplied by David on one and machined his own cases for the others. He also had inline and ‘v’ twin versions of the Mate. And, just to show that the Owen Mate is a powerhouse, Eddy had fitted one to a 160% Tomboy with radio assist which he flew to everyone’s delight.

Check out Eddy’s line up of Owen Mates

Maris Dislers has come up with the model of the meet for next year. A David Owen design from the mid 70’s called Fli-Bi. It is basically an Ebeneezer with built up wing and tail. Maris bought his to Oily Hand and did a demo flight to whet the appetite for next year. We are currently finalising the event that will be run for the Fli-Bi next year. It will be notified here on the Cowra MAC website and on Barton. Suffice to say it will be freeflight only for standard sized Fli-Bi’s. A copy of the plan was in this year’s registration hand out. If you missed out or would like to know how to get a copy contact me on 0412820865.

Maris launches the Fli-Bi for a demo flight

Also in the wings is another David Owen design for control line, ‘The Magnum’. This design only came to light recently and Steve Thomas has actually found Mel Gillot has an example and it flies quite well. Steve is finalising the drawing up of the plan. The model has a profile fuse/built up wing and was intended for club level triathlon events. Just the thing for Oily Hand Plank Racing.

My first Oily Hand and lovin’ it. Steve Jenkinson takes a breather.

For ongoing news about Oily Hand, photos, videos and updates regarding OHDD 2017 visit Cowra MAC website http://www.cowramac.asn.au Barton controlline.org.uk (look in the Coming events forum) and Cowra MAC youtube page https://www.youtube.com/user/CowraMAC/featured

SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR AT OILY HAND