108
| SUNRAYS OCTOBER 2014
ONLINE:
SCTXCA.ORG
PHOTOS BY WES ODELL
I
f your hobby of choice involves controlling a model vehicle with a radio,
then come fly, boat, and drive with the Sun City Radio Control Model-
ers. Started in 2010 as a SIG of the Sun City Amateur Radio Society
(SCARS), the club received its CA club charter in September 2011 and
has since grown to approximately 140 radio control enthusiasts.
The RC Modelers meet every Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. in the Florence and
Georgetown rooms of the Cowan Creek Amenity Center. We fly helicopters
and quadcopters, show and tell about our latest models, and finish with
an informative program on some aspect of radio controlling. We practice
our skills and teach new members to fly with a flight simulator program
shown on a big screen so we don’t risk crashing an airplane. After the
meeting, and on Saturday mornings, many of us go to Berry Creek Pond
to sail and race our sailboats. We co-sponsor an annual Victoria Class
regatta with the AustinModel Sailing Club. Every year, this event draws
outside participants and spectators to Sun City.
An RC club requires a place to fly, boat and drive vehicles. In 2012, the CA
Board of Directors and the Golf Committee authorized us to fly electric-
powered airplanes on a golf course driving range when it is closed. Usually,
we can be found flying at one of the driving ranges on Mondays, and at
the Cowan Creek range in the evenings after the course has closed. We
sail and run power boats on Berry Creek Pond, and drive our cars at The
Worship Place parking lot on Sunday afternoons. One Sunday a month
we fly small indoor models and run cars in the Social Center Ballroom.
We are working to get a dedicated flying park when Sun City expands;
this would allow us to fly whenever weather conditions - mainly wind -
are favorable, rather than being at the constant mercy of the wind gods.
Although the club is about camaraderie and enjoying our hobby, we give
back to the community by participating in Junior Camp every year. Two
groups of older campers come to the Legacy Hills area to run boats on
the pond, fly planes on the simulator in the Pavilion and race cars in the
parking lot.
If any of this sounds like fun, you can join the club for a $12 annual family
membership. Visit us on the Sun City website at
> click
on Site Index > click on Radio Control Modelers.
Boys and
their Toys
(Ladies welcome!)
By Tom Mitchell
Ground
Air–
Rotocraft
Water
Air
