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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

BERG AGM Agenda (2007)

Hi all BERG members.

This is the draft agenda for the upcoming AGM.
If you have any item to discuss please let me know so that I can include this in the final agenda.

Regards,
Piet.


Bartlett Egg Radio Gliders AGM


Agenda for the AGM to be held at the flying field on Sunday the
11th Feb 2007 ( H14.00 on)

1) Welcome
2) Apologies
3) Approval of minutes of previous meeting.
4) Chairman’s report.
5) Treasurer’s report
6) Selection of new Committee
7) Safety, Safety officer and frequency control.
8) Airspace and new SAMAA Regulations.
9) Subs.
10)Winches, parachute retrievals and related matters.
11) Removable shade structure and other facilities.
12) Driving on the field.
13) BERG 100
14) BERG calendar for 2006.
15) Club Clothing.
16) Club donation to the F3B SA World team 2007.
17) Other Maters
18) Date of next AGM.
19) Closure



Regards
Piet Rheeders.
(Chairman BERG.)

Monday, January 29, 2007

BERG 2007 AGM

Notice of BERG AGM (2007)

Hi all BERG members, please note that our annual AGM will take place at the BERG field on Sunday the 11th of FEB 2007.
This should be at around 2pm in the afternoon, after we have completed our Postal flights.
Agenda will be made available shortly.

We will be electing a new committee so you will have your chance to vote for them.

I will not be available for re-election as Chairman and hereby nominate Mike May to the position. Both Evan and Charl will remain on as Secretary and treasurer respectively.


Also just a reminder that if you have not paid your subs, it is now due!
Banking details below.

The current fee is:
Normal Member ---------R200,00
Junior Member ----------R90,00
Pensioner Member ------R100,00

Bank: Nedbank account no. 2988514461 (savings)
Branch code 19884100
Branch: Krugersdorp ..

When you do a money deposit into the above account, please put your surname and initials (in this order) in the reference block and if possible email Charl at charlviv@dmip.co.za your prove of payment.
(This is especially important when it comes to your yearly club fees.)

Thank you for your co-operation.

Piet Rheeders.
Chairman BERG.

Welcome Mark, Michel and Michel







I would just like to welcome our three newest members to our club. Mark de Klerk, his son Michael and Michel Zimmerman.


May all your flights be in "Green Air" and all your landings be soft and gentle.







The grass has been cut again and the field is looking good for the Postal competition the next two weekends. See you all there.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

BERG Chairman's Report 2006






BERG's flying field
---------------------
The BERG Club had a difficult yet successful 2006.
First of all, after our second year as a SAMAA register club, our club membership started to stabilize with some members leaving and some new members joining. Our current membership is 30 plus and the active members flying at the BERG field on weekends are +/- 5 to 10.

Earlier in the year, BERG members agreed that the club could host the 2006 SA National Glider championships at our field. The task was tackled by various members of our club but due to a very short lead time of two months when the Welkom Club withdrew their offer to host the event, logistical problems on the BERG field as well as an outcry by the R/C gliding community about the entry fees, saw us withdraw our offer of hosting the Nats. I would like to thank every one of our club members that was involved in this for their efforts that were made even though it turned out to be futile in the end.

However in the true fighting spirit we carried on and apart from flying our normal postal competitions, the club and our activities kept on growing and various milestones were achieved by our club and its members during the year.



BERG Field as Captured by Satellite (Google Earth)



At the 2006 Nat’s, eventually held at the Groen Goud field, the BERG team took the First place Team trophy. Individually, Evan Shaw took the First place trophy with his own design Tsotsi in the 2 meter class, and myself the 3 place trophy in the new RES 100” class.( 2.5 meter Tsotsi)

In the HLT competition we also had good results with myself ending in 6th place , Mike May, 7th place and Evan Shaw in 10th place, putting 3 BERG members in the top 10. The CLUB came in, in 3rd place overall.

In the postal results I took 8th place, followed by Evan in 9th and Mike May in 12th place and the BERG team in 4th place overall. I came First,Peter Joffe and Tony Roberts came 2nd and 3rd receptivity (first 3 places in the 2 meter class). Once more we had two pilots in the top ten(open class).
Other BERG members Tony ,Gordon, Chris McNeil and Peter Joffe also join us frequently at the away HTL competitions, making a second BERG team.






----------Emoyeni="upon the wind" Translated from Zulu To English.---------

Building group activities carried on at Evan’s Skunk works and 2 meter as well as 2.5 meter Tsotsi’s are a common site at the BERG field. During the year two more Skunk works came about as more and more of our members want to build and design their own creations. Mike May with the Ventus, Pathfinder and Stiletto projects and I took over the Zagi production form Evan as his skunk works also started the production of his Emoyene thermal duration glider. These Skunk works are just about to finish their first runs and we should be in for a treat later this year.




Gordon’s has recently acquired a AVA and Phil is in the process of building a Modified / Own design “Brilliant Vee” and new member Jason’s has thrilled us with his electric flight glider that he converted from NiCad’s to a LiPo/Brushless setup. (This has really improved the climb rate drastically, taking him up to thermal land –talking about stick time)

Jason in Thermal mode


Ventus in motion Rosendal 2006

Also during this year slope soaring became very much a part of the BERG calendar and various trips to Vloksrust were made with the Black Eagle event (that was re-introduce by ETB) a major success. A picture of Evans model Black Eagle even appeared in the International Soaring Digest Magazine and is now part of this years soaring calendar. Mike May’s 5 meter Ventus was also a show stopper at the annual Rosendal event, also attend by +/- 5 BERG members by name, Charl, Peter Karner ,Mike May, Len Thomas, Evan Shaw, Peter Joffe and myself. I sincerely hope that this facet of our clubs activities will expand as this is truly a great flying experience and just as great team building exercise.


Sun Set -Late afternoon At Volksrust (2006)

In September this year the BERG club took another step forward when we entered our club activities on the World Wide Web with the creation of the BERG Blogspot on the Internet. Mike, Evan and I regularly updated the blog so as to keep our members informed of our activities (both at the flying field and at our Skunk works).

This turned out to be a major success as not only did we attract viewers from other clubs in and around SA but also from other countries, as far afield as Mexico, Australia, Germany, Sweden and even China. We encourage all who view our blog to please leave us a comments and not to forget to leave their name and where they are from.
The hit and monitor/trace counter has registered +/- 1800 hits in the last 4 months, an average of 450 visits per month.

We ended the year 2006 in good BERG tradition with a clink of Champagne glasses
(Ha, ha! I know what you are thinking!)

I can only think that if the BERG club continues with its current trend that we will become one of the biggest and best RC soaring club in South Africa.
I therefore thank everyone of our members for all their efforts no matter how small or how big that made the year 2006 another great BERG successes.

Go BERG GO!!!,
Piet Rheeders.

Chairman 2006.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

STILLETO BACK ON TRACK

There has been no recent post as I have been busy for 3 weeks now making the plug for the wing tips. The idea is to build the left and right tip as one piece and cut it in half . This will also make a very strong 1 piece wing for a hot slope ship.



The tips were cut from blue foam using accurate templates , the taper was hand sanded to a nice rounded shape . This was then covered with 3 layers of 163 gram cloth and epoxy resin . This was then sprayed with polyester spray filler , water papered down and finished with 2k.


































For some reason 7 round blisters appeared, I assume that paint or thinner got to the foam and melted it, not detered I cut these out and filled the hollows with paste of epoxy/balloons, sand again and spray again , as you see in the photo it looked ok, but was not smooth enough, so I finished it with a coat of 2k clear (a bit old I think) .


The result was a finish like crocodile skin (old crocodile skin) . It also refused to harden so could not be sanded, out with the scaper , lots of hours later I was ready to spray again.


Success at last , it came out well, but .............while I was admiring the finish I noticed to my horror that the wing had warped badly on the right tip, it looked like a propellor DAMM IT


I decided it was back to the drawing board, I can only assume that different densities of paint, filler and epoxy had pulled the thin trailing edge up, a blue foam plug was not going to work for me.




















Plan B take the existing center section which has been moulded. glue on two prehaped superwood tips, make some templates and try again.





















Take the templates and start marking high spots and sand , superwood sands well ,as it has no grain, keep checking , you can get a good result if you take care.






















I mark high spots for sanding and later fill low spots with filler epoxy/balloons.




























I now paint with finishing resin ,prior to sanding , spray filler and finish coat.








































I have now been down this road many times, so just to keep motivated I assembled the pieces already built, as soon as we have wing tips moulded .Built the last pieces , then the STILLETO can fly.

I would be very happy to receive any comments form you! Just click on the comment button at the bottom and write in the box provided. Remember to include your name and where you are from. The easiest way is to then choose Anonymous and fill in the word verification and click on Publish!

Monday, January 22, 2007

Fw: [mgasa] F3B Speed Clinic BERG 21st Jan 2007


Results of the F3B Speed Clinic held at BERG on Sunday

F3B Speed Clinic at BERG
21st January 2007
Craig Goodrum18.0817.5717.5516.6315.516.1320.216.83
Michelle Goodrum2017.8320.5617.7317.7317.417.78
Dion Liebenberg20.3922.2918.9719.9217.9421.4918.5219.89
Peter Eagle21.1816.9625.116.5217.94
Mark Stockton24.6620.4622.3817.7823.220.122
Evan Shaw22.0620.9621.52417.2620.4920.87
Piet Rheeders35.531.6934.4826.2422.6728.729.21
Kurt Stockton31.5142.8627.72
Red = Cut at Base B

__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___

Sunday, January 21, 2007

F3B Team Practice at BERG

On Sunday the RSA F3B team had their first practice at the BERG flying field. Evan, myself and 6 other pilots participated in multiple speed runs using the stander FAI speed course of 150 meter.

Craig once again did a sub 16 sec speed run and it is really something special to see an F3B ship at full tilt. On average, excluding his one run of 20,2 secs, his times are 16.89 secs.
Michell is very consistent at around the 17,7 secs and Dion has the potential to get his times down into the late teens.

Evan (flying a Makulu at 2,3kg) and Mark (flying an Eish at 2,8kg) so nearly broke the 20 sec barrier, with 20,49 and 20.1 second runs respectively. I cheated a bit, making use of a thermal to gain extra height and did a 22,67 sec run flying my Ellipse. (I was too chicken to fly my new Makulu)

Peter Eagle did a scintillating16,52 sec run. Well done! By the amount of cuts, it is obvious he is really trying hard to get good times.

Even young Kurt had a go with his dads Eish and managed a 27,72 sec run.

The light breeze, although across the flight line, did not upset the heavy loaded F3B gliders at all and if anything rather helped the launching height.












Members of the BERG team helped to man Base B (here seen taking a moment of rest). Thanks to Gordon an Tony for your help at Base B.



Dion of the ETB club and member of the RSA F3B team winding
in the winch after a good practice session.



Another Hat trick from Mathew, this time he got hold of Evans hat.









Evan's Tsotsi Toy Toying. (That is if you don't want to do a speed run)


A warm welcome to new members Mark de Klerk an his son Michael.


Tuesday, January 16, 2007

BERG Club Fees for 2007

Hi all BERG members,

Please note that your yearly membership fee is playbill by the end of Jan 2007.

The current fee is:

Normal Member ---------R200,00
Junior Member ----------R90,00
Pensioner Member ------R100,00

BERG banking details:

Bank: Nedbank account no. 2988514461 (savings)
Branch code 19884100
Branch: Krugersdorp ..

When you do a money deposit in to the above account,
please put your surname and initials (in this order) in the reference block and if possible email Charl at charlviv@dmip.co.za your prove of payment.
(This is especially important when it comes to you yearly club fees.)

Thank you for you cooperation.

Piet Rheeders.
Chairman BERG.

Monday, January 15, 2007

HTL No. 1 ETB 2007




The first HTL of 2007 was very well attended and it seems as if everyone is keen to get down to some competitions this year. With a thermal duration comp planned for the 1st Sunday of each month one will get plenty of opportunity.

BERG fielded six pilots with Piet, Mike, Peter and Evan flying in open and Tony, Chris flying 2 meter.
The conditions were tricky, with long delays between thermals. If you caught one, it had to be followed back in the the fresh breeze that was blowing and then you had to try and penetrate back upwind again in the hope of finding another to extend the flying to the 10 minutes required. Unless you had plenty of height, it was unlikly that the next thermal could be reached.
Piet flew his brand new Makula in Open. He is still getting to grips with the model and I'm sure it won't be long before he is back up amongst the leaders. Mike flew his trusty old Ellipse's, not having finished his Stiletto yet, but did not fare to well in the difficult thermal conditions. Peter again had some problems with equipment and had to switch form the Shangololo to his very heavy Tsotsi and then that also gave up the ghost when the rudders servo died before the start of the 2nd last round. Tony and Chris managed to get through the comp without any problems with their Tsotsi's.
The next Thermal comp is the Postal at the beginning of February.

Friday, January 12, 2007

EMOYENE, AND STILLETO MORE BUILDING

The progress of the two new designs at the B.E.R.G. club is slowish but steady ,hereunder some more building methods.

After the recent photos posted I promised some photos of the tailplane and wing layups,

EMOYENE being vacumn bagged , breather cloth, white lays over the mylar skins in the bag.
Here the mylar sheets are being removed after vacumn bagging.













the EMOYENE is vacumn bagged glass and uni-directional carboncloth over pink foam, this layup is interesting as there is no spar and the rigidity comes from the skins.








EMOYENE mock up reveals a super looking thermal duration sailplane, sleek and elegant.












STILLETO tailplane.
Good preparation is everything, here you see ,yellow sprayed moulds, light weight glass cloth for the first layer always cut at 45 degress so the glass strands are diagonally across the wing ,this helps resist torsional twisting.The sandwich material (not shown) is 8gr per sheet .8mm balsa and finally the uni-directional cloth pre cut to the tailplane shape.








Tailplane joiners etc get bonded in at the correct places before joining the two halves.

















After joining in the moulds with a bead of cotton flocks/micro balloons and resin to a runny paste,all is cured then the tailplane is released from the moulds and just needs some finishing off.



The STILLETO has a hollow moulded wing with a glass herex sandwich and also a layer of uni-directional carbon as well as conventional carbon tow spars, it feels very strong, but then again its a big wing at 3.7 mtr and high aspect ratio, both gliders have a root chord of 240 mm.


















Here the wing centre panel is vacumn bagged in the mould , the dowel sticks wrapped with a breather fabric lie between the moulds and allow even vacumn throughout the sealed bag.







Check out more of the the latest photos soon, and please if you have any questions post them in the comment box at the end.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

PIETS NEW GLIDER


Not to be left behind in the never ending search for the ideal glider, one of the B.E.R.G. pilots was caught out , testing his new glider during office hours on a thursday, afternoon.

We hope it performs as well as it looks ,in this comming sundays thermal event.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

THE NEW GLIDERS PROGRESS

By now I have had some feed back from interested parties about the two gliders currently under development by B.E.R.G. members, our goal was to develop these for our thermal league, but unfortunately they will not fly in the first contest but should be ready for the others.

To cut down on time the two progress reports will now be one as many of the activities are common to both the EMOYENE and the STILLETO.

Here are the latest photos


Completed moulds ,now we actually start building our first gliders.






















After waxing, buffing,masking the moulds the colour is sprayed in.



























Next we lay up epoxy glass laminates as per the design requirements.
I am not to sure what the inside of the secretive EMOYENE has.
The STILLETO is full of carbon.
































STILLETO ready to pull from the mould and

EMOYENE out of the mould.

















































Product all ok, what a relief, in the next series of photos we cover the wings and a tailplane.
Stay posted.