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Featured Modeller - Ron van Heerden
Aero modeller Ron van Heerden has been patrolling New Zealand airspace with his Rhodesian Hunter FGA 9! Unfortunately its flight came to a premature (and terminal) end due to an apparent electrical malfunction.
As former Zimbabwe Air Force pilot Ron explains; “The model is of a Hunter FGA 9 as used in the Rhodesian Air Force by 1 Squadron. The kit is made from high density foam and comes pre-painted in Royal Air Force colours so I had to strip it down and start again. The colour scheme I used is from the early 1970's with the roundel but no serial numbers on the tail.
It is powered by a 3900kv Electric Ducted Fan which runs at around 50 000rpm on a 24 volt lithium polymer battery. At full chat you get a good five minutes of flying which doesn't sound like much but you get a bunch of 'beat ups' well over 100 kmh.
All up it weighs 1.8kg, is 117.5cm in length and has a wingspan of 86.6cm.
The decals I made myself from images on the net and printed at home on decal paper. I can’t remember the exact paint code I used but it is called NATO Brown and NATO Green.
The plane itself is completely to scale with flaps and retractable gear, she flew like a dream. Sadly on flight number five what I think was an electronic glitch caused a loss of control on down wind after lowering the first notch of flaps. It rolled, inverted and impacted the ground nose first - CAT 5 un-repairable.
Initially I suspected a flap problem, but inspection of the wreckage showed both were properly deployed. Fortunately all the expensive stuff still works, the engine ran perfectly on the bench after the crash. I will make some modifications to the electrical system and I hope by the next RV to have another one flying. The good thing about these models is that a complete airframe is only AU$165, so will be saving my pocket money for another!!”
(First published in 'Contact! Contact!', Rhodesian Services Association Newsletter June 2011. Visit www.rhodesianservices.org )