Nick Cripps
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Posts posted by Nick Cripps
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I had a great day's flying yesterday, and even scored a hat-trick!
The morning was spent at the "old" field where I flew my latest acquisition, a Graham Dorschell-designed depron Vulcan. Lovely flyer but the ESC kept getting hot and bothered so will require upgrading (or maybe I'll have to figure out a way to get a decent flow of cooling air through the fuselage).
Next up was a bit of free-flight, with the Smoke Trail and Tomboy getting an airing.
Then it was home for lunch, swap some models out and into the car, and off to the "new" field for the afternoon/evening to meet up with some of my longer-standing club mates for a bit of a Nationals reminiscence where we flew a few control-line and free-flight models.
I used to fly control-line when I joined the club 50 years ago as a junior member. I had a break for a few years for the usual interests until my late twenties when I rejoined and carried on where I'd left off - flying control-line. Interest in CL waned over the next couple of years so I moved on to RC and have only flown CL on odd occasions since the mid-90s. The 1/2A combat wing I bought at least 10 years ago but I had only had a brief attempt with it last year. This was not terribly successful as the 50ft lines I borrowed were too much for it. I'd spent a couple of hours the previous day making up some more suitably-sized lines which were much better although it seemed a bit light on line tension. The Superstar was built by club mate Terry McDonald around 35 years ago and was a model I'd flown many times at club displays. Terry gave it to me when he became deeply involved in vintage team-racing and no longer had the interest in aerobatics himself. I got a bit dizzy but managed to avoid crashing either model, although I came close once or twice!
I chose not to risk my FF models this time as the River Trent runs along the western edge of the field and, even though the wind was light, it was from the east. Of course, the inevitable happened to Paul...
... but he had the foresight to bring along an inflatable canoe for just such an event and successfully completed the rescue mission:
Yann was not so fortunate and his model drifted clear across the river before disappearing behind the trees on the far bank. A quick search before dark failed to find the model but plans were being made to use a drone to search amongst the brambles and nettles today.
All in all though we had a great day and finished it off with a curry in the nearby town.
Hat-trick? Free-flight, control-line and RC all in the same day - it doesn't get any better than that!
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6 hours ago, Edgeflyer said:
heat produced is current X resistance squared
This is incorrect
Heat is proportional to current squared x resistance.
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That's a shame, now I'm going to have to spend the weekend avoiding jobs 😉
It's also unlikely I'll get to the rearranged event as we have family visiting that weekend.
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Fantastic achievement, well done!
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Just a quick trip out to the local field today to check out my newly-repaired Carbon Cub. Although it was pretty windy, it needed
doing so it's ready for the Don Valley MFC open weekend over the bank holiday.
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Potentially yes, that would be the case. That's why having the 2 options available is useful as it allows the instructor to have complete control over the set-up of the model initially but you can then progress to more advanced capability as the student's skills develop.
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The other option is "programmable master" and you have to set up the slave transmitter exactly the same as the master on all settings.
This mode is useful for later on in a student's training as the instructor can then allow the student to try out more advanced operation of the transmitter such as retrimming, control of throttle safe and, maybe, flaps.
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If you're using the "pilot link" option for buddying the transmitters then the master transmitter only passes the 4 primary controls to the student.
All the other switches including rates, flaps, trims, throttle cut, etc. remain under the control of the master transmitter.
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Another glorious day at Old Warden today. I had a flight each this morning with the RV-4 and Little Toni before making my way across to the free-flight area to fly my Smoke Trail and to maiden the Tomboy I completed earlier this year.
It was great to have a more extensive area than the club field to fly from and I made full use of this with the Smoke Trail as I finally got the opportunity to lean the Boddo Mills 0.5 out a bit and let it have its head. Some great flights and, with just a bit of wind drift, I didn't have far to walk to retrieve it.
Then it was the Tomboy's turn. I'd carried out a few test glides on Friday evening and decided it need the tailplane TE packing up by 1/16' for best glide, along with a smidge of left rudder to give it a gentle turn. The Boddo Mills 0.75 was new so I gave it a couple of short runs to check it out before launching the model very undercompressed and rich, with very little fuel in the tank, just to see how it behaved under power. Everything checked out so I refilled the tank, started it up, tweeked the comp screw and needle a bit and let it go.
After about a minute's engine run, two things dawned on me: (i) a passing thermal had shifted the wind round such that the general direction was taking the Tomboy towards the boundary hedge and road beyond and, (ii) I'd put rather too much fuel in this time and the engine was still running strongly! After what felt like ages the engine spluttered and finally died, at which point the Tomboy transitioned into a perfect glide. I was pleased I'd got the trim spot-on but concerned that every turn was taking it closer to the boundary hedge. I was hopeful it would stay on the airfield but one final turn took it over the hedge and I heard it land in what sounded like the farm field over the road.
I had to walk about 200 yards along the hedge to the airfield entrance before turning back on myself to walk down the road to where the model was last seen. Amazingly, after about 30 yards, a couple came walking round a bend in the road towards me carrying the Tomboy and another lost model. They told me that they were out for a walk when my model came down near them, and only a few yards from the other model. I had no idea who had lost this one but I left it at the control tower with one of the officials. Hopefully the owner got it back.
I was pleased with how well the Tomboy flew and more than a little relieved that I had got it back quickly and in one piece. I decided that I'd had more than my fair share of luck so headed back to the RC line to enjoy the rest of the day.
Overall it has been a fantastic weekend at Old Warden, helped in no small way by the glorious weather. My thanks to the organisers, ModelAir, for putting on an excellent event.
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A busy flightline at OW today, thanks to the glorious weather (at last!).
It was good to catch up with fellow forumites Ron Gray and Chris Walby, plus many others all enjoying the unique atmosphere of Old Warden.
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I can't imagine how incredibly hard this must be for you and your family but here on the forum we're all rooting for you.
You are respected member of our community and we all look forward to seeing you get back to enjoying your hobby, alongside all the pleasures of family life.
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Cracking photos, Mark!
By the way, have you ever thought of writing copy for estate agents 🤔😂
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As mentioned elsewhere, I spent the day at the fly-in hosted by the Don Valley MFC near Doncaster. There was a breezy crosswind which reduced the turnout today (compared to yesterday, so I'm told) but good fun was had by all.
I took along the RV-4, Spitfire, L-39 and, seemingly, everyone's favourite model, the Cosmic Wind Little Toni; well, a couple of people told me how much they enjoyed seeing it fly!
Current plan is to take the RV-4 and Little Toni down to Old Warden to fly at the Modelair scale event next weekend... but it all depends on the weather.
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Another good day out at Don Valley MFC, despite being a bit blustery at times but at least it stayed dry.
Good to meet up with Zflyer again and the other regulars, and thanks to John and the team for the usual friendly welcome and good organisation.
This picture was taken later in the afternoon when things were winding down. In the foreground are a couple of my models with Paul Marsh's squadron and Chris Barlow's Wot 4XL behind.
Looking forward to the next one over the August bank holiday weekend!
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I just discharge them through a car headlight bulb for a couple of days outside then strip back the insulation and twist the bare ends together. I then take them to the local recycling centre and put them in the battery box or leave them out for the council guys to deal with.
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Hopefully another weekend away in the caravan for me but, with such fickle weather at the moment, I'll leave it to the last minute to make the decision.
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Not much flying today it seems so you can have a few more pictures of the RV-4. These are courtesy of Roy Maddison.
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I can get only make it on the Sunday this time.
Of course, that's assuming John books the right weather 😉
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I've received some photos of the RV-4 from yesterday's impromptu flying display for the camera club.
Here's a couple of them:
Credit: Malcolm Casey.
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Great day at the field today. I spent the morning helping my former trainee with some more advanced lessons and test-flying various models for a couple of new members. These were a Wot Trainer, Junior 60, Bixler and an Easy Pigeon - none of which types I'd flown before so new experiences for me. All went well apart from suffering a deadstick with the Wot Trainer. This surprised me with how long it would glide meaning I had to abort the crosswind landing on the short strip and haul it round onto the remaining half of the main runway.
I then had a couple of flights with the Laser FT200-powered RV-4 which I'm now finally getting comfortable with. Before the 2nd flight, 4 guys from a local camera club came onto the site to take some photos of the nearby Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station which is due to be decommissioned at the end of September (UK's last coal-fired power station). They joined me in the pilots box and were happily snapping away as I flew low passes down the runway with the power station in the background.
I thoroughly enjoyed this as it gave some purpose to the flight rather than just bumbling around and making it up as I go along. The landing was probably the best I've ever done with the model too! After the flight I passed on my email address and asked them to pick out a few shots and send them to me. Here's one I took on my phone:
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You might want to consider skinning the forward section of the floats (ahead of the step) with 1/64" birch ply. Floats can take a bit of a battering in this area when running the model back to the edge of the lake.
I've recently completed a set of hot-wire cut floats and skinned them in poplar veneer with glass-cloth over the top. I found the poplar ply to be a bit soft but with a distinct, harder grain in places. I'm thinking that over the winter I will strip the lower front section of the skinning and replace it with 1/64" ply. Not cheap but I think it is worth it for better damage resistance.
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I'm planning to stay at Buckminster in the caravan from Thursday through to Sunday.
I've got my FT200-powered RV4 for the Laser day on Friday, a Wot4 and anything else I can get finished for the Best of British weekend, including a couple of free-flight models if the weather is suitable.
I may even dig out a Warlord and fly a bit of control-line.
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Have a look at the Spektrum DXS and AR410 4 CH Receiver manual here.
Buried near the bottom of page 9 is a reference to low Tx battery voltage is indicated by beeping and flashing red LED.
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55 minutes ago, RICHARD WILLS said:
when watching a flying video , I always fast forward to the landing first . That will tell you more about a model than all the fancy aerobatics
Absolutely spot on, Richard. That's the most important part of the flight to me, too.
Never mind the weather - who has been flying, then?
in Flying Field Reports and Chat
Posted
The old autumn thread is still locked so I'll just have to post on here...
Another great day's waterplane flying yesterday at Kitridding Farm near Kirby Lonsdale. We had the odd spot of drizzle here and there but not enough to bother us, and the wind was calm all day making it probably the best conditions of the year for our fortnightly visit to this beautiful location in the Lake District. It's electric only at this site so the seven members present brought along the usual array of foamies: Rangers, Skippers, Timbers, Icons and the like. We all had plenty of flying from 9:30 in the morning right up to 7pm, with a break for the usual excellent lunch of pie & chips in the farm restaurant.
Here's a couple of photos of the Skippers and Timbers which @Merry Mark and I enjoyed flying together. Hopefully Mark will be along later with his usual selection of super photos showing more of the day's events, including the odd mishap!