Restoring my 20 year Gentle (Old ) Lady.

I am currently restoring my CG Gentle Lady that I bought in 1987.
Actually it started out as a my first ever electric glider and the kit was called a Electra by CG. The kit with the motor but excluding the NiCad battery pack cost +/- R700.
The electric motor was similar to that found in RC model cars at the time.

The combination of the electric motor and battery pack was capable of giving a running time of +/- 10 min but due to the under powered motor, did not have a great rate of climb.

Even so, I can clearly remember a number of flights over 30min and at least one flight of more than an hour endurance. Unfortunately the electric motor broke down, so I had built the nose back up to that of conventional fuselage and also fitted a tow hook for bungee or winch launching.

Apart from the strengthened wing (fully sheeted top skin D box and extra strength (3 ply doubler's in the fuse) the dimensions are the same as a normal Gentle Lady.

Finally, about 2 years ago I stalled it close to the ground on landing and broke the right hand tip and so it landed up on my “Ag one day I will repair it again -Shelf "

Evan’s resent call to get our old gasbags out and to dust of their wings for the RES/100 Challenge, has prompted me to revamp it

The pictures here show the scars of many years of flying and it has maybe more carbon in it than most Gentle Lady’s.

Once I have it completely restored it I will post more pictures of (Then (1987) and Now (2007)).

Ka-4 Project ZS-GED

I cut my wings for the Ka-4 on the weekend whit a lot of help from my building partner Peter Karner. The root cord of the wing is 427mm amd the span is 4.16m without the tips.






Here are some pics of one of the cores on the cutter.



Here is Peter sitting next to the completed set of cores.


Note the standard battery harness in the center of the wing.



The next step will be the construction of the spars and the caps.



PS. This is a bigger project than I thought it would be. But as Mike always says "Go big or go home".

International Visitor

BERG played host to International visitor Klaus Christiansen who popped in today to test fly his Tabooish before the F3K Jamboree next Sunday. Klaus is currently based in Switzerland, he has represented his native Denmark at both the Canadian and Slovak F3J World Championships.

Klaus and his family arrived on the same plane Craig Goodrum flew out to Switzerland to compete in the 2007 F3B World Championships.

Sunday 1 July 2007

Craig and Mark flew their HLG models
Heinrich and his Totsi






Photo's taken by Kurt.

Midweek freak weather in BERG country

Never a dull moment in BERG country, we are always flying something, even if it is the Blue Bull flag. This is the weather that we had on Wednesday at work.

Meet Jo Cool.

Hope this will warm the harts of our neighbors north of the Jukskei river.We try to persuade this fellow to stay but by this morning he was found all melted away.

RES/100 Challenge Round 2 at BERG.

With the Nat’s held in KZN this weekend BERG club members that did not enter were out in force on Sunday at The BERG field with their RES thermal ship’s to fly a very close fought competition

This is what a thermal looks like – (provided that you have the correct dark glasses that is WSB standard issue- also note spy satellite vapor trail in bottom left corner)

Tony's 2.5 meter Tsotsi .

Evan getting read to Fly (Standard 2 Meter Tsotsi )

Flying in Grand Style (Al Capone-Zimmie)

BERG Pits

BDSALL(Barn Door Stops All) nothing is ever small on Mike's models

Mike's 2.8 meter RES with Pathfinder fuse.

Mike relaxing while Evan is working out the score.

Evan's 2 Meter Tsotsi.

The Results:

1st Evan Shaw 2083 - 2 met Tsotsi

2nd Piet Rheedres 2076 - 2,5 met Tsotsi

3rd Mike May 2009 - 2.8 met Own design (Built-up wing on Pathfinder fuselage)

4th Peter Eagle 1874 - 2 met Tsotsi (Borrowed from Evan)

5th Tony Roberts 1836 - 2,5 met Tsotsi (Rudder, Elevator only - No Spoilers)

Possible Max 2120. It can be seen from the results the scores were particularly high and as mentioned earlier a close fought battle ensued for the top spots. In the end it was the landing that separated the top three.

The Club Score is 4193 out of a possible 4240

Shongololo # 5 is Born

The proud owner of another new Shongololo, Henk Kapp.

Black Fuselage with a Carbon/Aramid Canopy
Yellow and black wings

Final F3B Practice before departure to the Worlds

The final Practice for the F3B team was held at BERG on Saturday. Thanks to all who attended!

Meet the team:
Craig

Michelle

Dion

The Team

Craig waiting for the thermals

The team is in need of funds so if anyone wants to make a donation please contact Wolfgang. Golf Shirts (R250) and Tee shirts (R150).

Please support the team and order you shirt right away!

We wish them all the best!

Good luck

F3B Practice at BERG

F3B Practice #3 at BERG on Sunday morning. There were a total of 4 rounds flown in distance and some speed thrown in at the end for good measure.

9 participants, the F3B team Craig, Michelle & Dion, and then Wolf, Peter Eagle, Rodney, Piet, Derek and for one slot Ian. We missed you Peter Joffe! What happened, you did not pitch? Hope you can make it next Saturday!

A huge thanks must go to all you guys for offering up your time to help the F3B team with their practice. Distance is the one section of F3B where the teams does not get a lot of practice and needs other pilots to fly against.

BERG will be hosting another practice session on Saturday 16th from 11h00 onwards. This is the last of the F3B practice session before the team starts preparing to leave for the World Champs next month. Therefore, we would like to see a much bigger turnout, so we can send the team off in grand style. If you can make it, please try and be there. The team really needs your help and support.

Another big thanks must go the the long suffering "Base B" flagmen. Gordon, Heinrich & Tony. Here seen stocking up on some much needed sustenance before the next stint at Base B. Guys, without you F3B distance cannot happen. It is people like you that are willing to give of your time to help others that make all this possible. Thanks a million!

And last but not least, another thanks to Martie for providing us with food and drinks yet again. You have set a wonderful standard that will be be hard to beat. It's so great to get a hot cup of coffee or soup on those chilly mornings and the burgers and sarmies are great.