NZMAA Affiliated.
Last updated 8 November 2004

October/November newsletter
On the weekend of Novermber 6/7, the Tokoroa RC Club held its twice-annual Jet rally, an event which attracted turbine fliers from all around the North Island.
As was the case last November, the weekend was blessed with fine weather and just enough wind to make take-offs and landings easier.

Full-sized air-traffic was very light and the models had almost uninterrupted use of the sky and the 850m of sealed runway that the Tokoroa airfield provides.

Unfortunately I was pretty busy working over the weekend but managed to get a few pictures which are included on this page, and some video which those interested can obtain on CDROM or VCD if they want.

The most unusual model to turn up was a turbo-prop-powered bird that attracted a great deal of interest. Unfortunately there were a few problems on take-off (it was the test flight after-all) and it ended up sustaining some minor damage that meant we didn't actually get to see it fly.

Pete McGreggor brought along his Eurofighter and A-10, both of which impressed many of the public who turned out to watch. Pete's getting pretty good on the sticks of that A-10 and it was suggested by someone who will remain anonymous (don't worry Darren, I won't tell him it was you) that his landings were even better than Dave's :-)
Allen Lawrence showed up with his resurected F4 Phantom, nicely repaired (but still showing the scars) after a rather sudden and unscheduled "arrival" at the previous rally, and it clocked up a few good flights.

Dave Hodges was once again on-hand to act as test-pilot for those who felt the need for an expert hand.

Despite quite a bit of flying going on, there were no really major incidents and everyone seemed to have a pretty good time.

As usual, I was onhand to provide the odd nuts and bolts and to provide some engineering resources for those who needed to carry out the odd repair or two.

Hopefully we've convinced a few members from nearby places like Hamilton, Rotorua and Taupo that it's worth their while to drive less than an hour and come visit a little more often.

Anyone interested in coming over for a fly on a weekend or week-day evening should drop me a message or give me a ring first (021 1131962) just to make sure that the strip isn't being used for some other event on that day.

Here are some more pictures from the weekend's event

This Chinese Landing (one-wing-low) produced little damage

Pete's A-10 sure looks nice on its landing approach

Allen's F4 Phantom takes to the air

Hmmmm... yellow!

Hmmmm... blue!

"No Dave, it's tab A in slot B I tell you!"

Is it a model or a real one?

What do you mean I shouldn't stand here to take a picture?

Other News
Since many of our club members are "out of towners" who can't always attend regular meetings (not that we have any), we decided to hold a special meeting on the Jet weekend to put a bit of structure into the club.

To date, poor old Owen has been doing all the work but now yours truly (Bruce Simpson) has been elected to the position of President (that's "el Presidente" to you) and Secretary of the club, with Owen taking care of the treasury.

As part of this reorganisation, we're also working hard to drum up some new members and the weekend's activities certainly attracted quite a few locals with an interest in the hobby. Hopefully we can turn a few of them into active fliers.

The club has finally bought a sign which we'll be putting up on SH1 whenever we're flying so that members of the public or visiting modellers will find it easier to track us down.

We've also had the kind donation of a few fold-up canvas chairs, most useful on these balmy summer evenings when taking a break from the flight-line.

And a warm welcome to Edwin, a new member with a gas-powered Laser, who has already put in a couple of appearances at the field and done a bit of flying.

Hopefully he'll become another regular to swell the ranks of those of us who spend far more time than we should out at the strip. We'll have his webpage up soon.