RCU Forums - Early 90s Aussie Pylon Nostalgia

Thought some of you pylon people might find this mildly interesting

(crosspost from Australian regional forum)

When I was a lad, I was a bit of an R/C Flying nut. I was into pylon racing for a little while and today I found some old old photos and thought I'd share with you lot.

First of all here's a couple of my planes that I took with me to a state pylon event in Toowoomba one year. Don't ask me which, I have no idea. I remember I was probably about 13 at the time so that would put it around 1994/5

http://ringburn.net/pylon.jpg
On the left is my sports pylon plane, I'm not exactly sure what the model/maker is for this kit but it was expensive, and had a brand new donk in it at the time - all I remember is that in the first heat with this airframe I mid-aired with a guy flying an old piece of snot - my plane lost a wing and ploughed into the ground, a complete loss. He flew on to finish the heat. I was a little pissed off.

On the right is a little Bolly Viper - awesome piece of 1/2a gear. It was powered by an OS .11 CZ engine, which cost a whopping $300 at the time, and could smash out 32,000 rpm + - I loved that plane. It went in due to radio failure during practice one time. Sad. I really wish I could get a kit for one of these. If Les Bollenhagen is on the boards, mate gimme a 3-view! I'd love to make a modern Viper! If anyone has one, in all seriousness let me know if you want to sell!

Next photo is another sports pylon (.40 novice group) plane that I flew the year before. This model's (and my) claim to Aussie pylon fame is that it beat Chris Callow in one heat of novice pylon at a toowoomba state pylon meet.

http://ringburn.net/sports1.jpg

No idea what model it was either.. But here's the proof of my claim. You can see my awesome 1st heat time in the picture below, let's not focus on the other heats, ok?

http://ringburn.net/callow.jpg

This was a great event - Bruce DeChastle had unveiled his latest weapon, seen in the foreground of the picture below. It was fast, unconventional, and rule bending - with wheels in the wingtips and one single central wheel in the fuz. Also a v-tail! This plane flew awesome until Bruce lost a prop blade in practice.

http://ringburn.net/concourse.jpg

I must tell the story about that plane.. After Bruce had his prop-blade loss incident, the airframe sat about the pits for a while, looking a little worse for wear but in tact. A flying buddy of mine and I decided we wanted it and offered Bruce some cash for it. We bought the plane, and took it home complete with Bruces' engine (which we had to send back without opening the crank case as Ranjit Phelan had done some secret squirrel modifications or something like that..) - The plane became a sports pylon model (such a sad fate for a cutting edge, FAI design, from what I know a one off DeChastle plane) - and I have no idea where it is today or even if it still survives. I was eventually bought from me by another friend who I have not heard from in over 15 years.

http://ringburn.net/halfa.jpg

Lastly here's a photo of me with a 'lil devil' - for a while there i thought this was a plane id designed myself.. I was confused. mustn't have any photos of that one.

Well I hope there are some seasoned Pylon junkies out there who have found this post relatively not-boring. :p

Happy landings!