Weston Park 2011 - what did you think?

[Pete B]

Posted by Barnesyboy on 20/06/2011 16:17:21:

 

80amp is small isnt it

 

Touché, BB!

 

Pete

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

Nah, this is small..

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Fistly BB, no I'm not just being negative or trying to "do down" the organisers. I take my hat off to the people who oversaw it and those like yourself who took part in the flying. And as for the trade I think I've already made my sympathy for their plight obvious.

 

But,....the fact remains it cost me £93 just to be there. Before I'd spent a penny on the trade. And what I'm saying is that, in this day and age, that doesn't stack up for me anymore in terms of what available and what I get out of it.

 

I'm not saying that everyone isn't doing their best - just that I'm having serious doubts about wether its worth £93 for what I'm getting out of it as a customer. Think of it in terms of any product, if people aren't prepared to pay the price the product costs to produce then, no matter how good it is or how sincerely everyone has tried their best, maybe that product doesn't have a future in that form. Also I'd say take the comments constructively from someone who has in past been a good supporter of the event. Which would you rather we do, tell you it isn't working for us, or just not turn up one year?

 

All I've done is ask the question - and it seems I'm not alone in the veiw that possibly the appetitite among club flyers for the big showground, display pilot, type event is waning. Not because it no good, but perhaps beause; we've been there and done that, because the instant internet means there are no surprises anymore, because costs on traders mean fewer "deals. But most of all perhaps because the costs are simply too high for what is possible.

 

BEB

[Olly Giles]

I didnt go this year, by the sounds of it a good job i didn't.

 

Never mind entry costs etc. who exactly are the shows for? Are they shows for moddlers by moddlers or are they shows by moddlers for the public? From a moddlers perspective i can see how these shows get boring, i think Cyclicscooby said there is only so much an aeroplane can do. In some ways that's true because once you have seen one 30% extra hover inches from the ground it becomes less of a spectacle the year after. But there are so many more aspects to flying that arn't included in these shows. Have you ever seen anyone fly an F3A scedule at a show? How about a fun fly comp demo? Excluding the nats many aspects of model flying are overlooked. Im propably going to be lynched for saying this but I honestly think flying F3A is more skillful and more impressive to watch than flying 3D. But no matter where it is shows are all pretty much the same.

[Barnesyboy]

BEB - thank you for a retorte, I see your opinion clearer now.

 

Olly- good point and one that i completly agree with on the F3A, BUT Im sure people would loose intrest all the same with a quiet model flying a shedule. Ive often thought all disaplines should get a crack. Like F3A/IMAC/Funfly at least pylon is getting a look in now.

 

On a whole the "display" had everything -

fun "club" models like the Funfighters and EDF slot on sunday which had 26 planes in the air.

Big scale jets

fast aerobatic jets,

impressive show models,

nice scale works of art,

performace 3d machines,

AJ with a great heli slot,

fantastic evening diplays in cluding the very good midnight heli syncro with fireworks

full size

Pylon Racers

 

Pretty good mix for me.

Edited By Barnesyboy on 20/06/2011 17:29:35

[Tim Hooper]

Surely it's all relative to the distance travelled and the number of people you're paying admission for?

 

Whilst BEB spent £93 taking and feeding his fambly, that doesn't apply to all the punters, surely?

 

In our case, just two adults (£19). We travelled a whole 10 miles to get there, and took our own food.

 

From my particular perspective the day was an absolute bargain! We bought lots of balsa at well-below shop prices, and easily saved the admission charge. Some splendid displays to ooh and aah over, met lots of friends etc.

 

Having said that, the penny dropped several years ago that I far prefer to attend a fly-in, crash some models and meet lots of others on an equal footing.

 

So see you at Greenacres!

 

tim

[Colin Bernard]

I also share the views of BEB and the others but before I comment further I cannot praise Steve and the team highly enough for the organisation of the show. That is first class and the work involved cannot be underestimated.

But as to the content, what was shown, whilst I can appreciate the skill in prop hanging a big model it is now a case of 'So what', thinking if he wants to hang a model by it's propellor then why not buy a helicopter ?

 

What I am looking for in a show like this is to see those models that I would not be likely to see on the club site. Ali's jets for example or Dave Johnson's fantastic Vulcan. Models that are a bit different. Obviously Steve was a bit tied up but his and Matt's Hawk display is always worth watching.

 

Olly asked the question who is the show aimed at - existing modellers or the general public and I guess the answer is both, so there needs to be flying to inspire us as well as demonstrations of basic models to tempt newcomers. (The Multiplex team was a good example of this, but more could have been made in the commentary about 'If you want to get started...')

 

Another good idea from Olly was to incorporate non R/C. How about a C/L slot. Could be run as a 3 ring circus along the strip with demonstrations of combat, carrier and speed or scale?

 

Finally the food. That has to be exploitation of a captive audience! £1.50 for a small bottle of pop and £4 for a sandwich is 'avin a larf - will be taking my own food next year.

 

Oh yes - I will be going next year - you never know what you might miss if you don't!

[Alan Cantwell]

i would have paid the price just to see that 262 fly,

 

not a vintage weston, but still great atmosphere, i could only go sunday, did anyone like the display of models on the YT stand? i saw lots of photos being taken, i even posed lots of kids with the models for parents piccys, i thought the attendance was down on previous years, but glad to say, Steve Bish KNOWS changes are needed, hes a canny lad, with the wrekin crew, and next year, look forward to more lines, possibly including a scale line, nice to meet BeB, but where were the rest of you? sorry for the ones that i missed, i had to go shopping, and every hard to get item i wanted, i got, i managed to not buy the park zone, mosquito--but i dont know how much longer i can resist

i enjoyed my day, most was spent on the stand, but i got to see the flying, a lot of which was club level, and yes, the pro hanging smoke thing is SO yesterday, but just HOW do you give the public something differant? what IS there thats differant,???

 

and F3a is SO much a pilot thing, and very boring to watch, same with imac, only the freestyle gets my attention, the public want entertaining, so, i ask here , any IDEAS?

answers on a post card

[Erfolg]

I guess the big question, that has not been answered or asked

 

Are more or less people attending these shows?

 

A subsidiary question would be

 

Are the shows profitable?

 

If the answer to the first question is "less are attending", even a positive response to the second question would indicate, it is a matter of time before the shows become loss making.

[Olly Giles]

Posted by A Cantwell on 20/06/2011 17:55:14:

and F3a is SO much a pilot thing, and very boring to watch, same with imac

i dont think thats strictly true. The best pilots are those who can fly accurately and smoothly through every manouver from the moment they start up to the moment they switch off; pilots who fly F3A and IMAC. If these shows are for moddlers then surely there would be a great many who enjoy watching the best pilots fly?

[Barnesyboy]

Posted by Olly Giles on 20/06/2011 18:55:41:

Posted by A Cantwell on 20/06/2011 17:55:14:

and F3a is SO much a pilot thing, and very boring to watch, same with imac

i dont think thats strictly true. The best pilots are those who can fly accurately and smoothly through every manouver from the moment they start up to the moment they switch off; pilots who fly F3A and IMAC. If these shows are for moddlers then surely there would be a great many who enjoy watching the best pilots fly?

 

 

Your last sentence gets me abit Olly. Ok they were not flying shedules but i would argue that you did see some of the best in the business

 

Ali - arguably the best display pilot in the world

Nathan Farrel Jones - One of the best Freestyle pilots in the UK

Craig Baverey - Last month flew at XFC in the states

Paul Bardoe - UK Record Holder at F3D

Ben Jones going to Aus to fly in a month or so for the UK

in addition to that 3 pilots 2 from the UK and one based here that are competing at EXFC in the Chech republic later this year.

The awsome Dawn patrol with some of the best scale models in the UK

at least 4 current IMAC competiors

To name but a few!

and of course me!

 

BB

Edited By Barnesyboy on 20/06/2011 19:17:40

Edited By Barnesyboy on 20/06/2011 19:19:14

[Alan Cantwell]

F3a is not a razamataz please the public scenario, public display needs WOW, POW, and this part of the sport does not apeal, the F3A line at the nats is not exactly busy, but the nats showline is acres deep in folk wanting entertaining, granted, a one off display, will give the public a taste of what its all about, but it is not, and never will be, public non flyer pleasing, but, anythings worth a try, innit?

[Olly Giles]

BB I wasn’t saying that Weston park didn’t have some fantastic pilots. A Cantwell was suggesting that watching a demo of F3A or IMAC would be boring; I was arguing that the crème de la crème of pilots are F3A and/or IMAC competitors, so would be entertaining for moddlers to watch them. So it would be nice to see demos from these disciplines at shows as a refreshing change from the usual.

Edited By Olly Giles on 20/06/2011 19:52:52

[Alan Cantwell]

wouldnt do any harm to demo Olly, might get more folk into that branch of the hobby, might be an idea though, to give the public descriptions of the manouveres in the program

[Stephen Jones]

Hi ,

I too took the family , I normally spend a lot of money at these shows , but this year I only spent £150 a lot of that was on keeping the kid z amused .

We took are own food and drink , and I have to say we enjoyed the day out A

although I have to say what a disappointing fair hardly any thing their , My 9 year old son would of liked to of gone on the quad bikes but felt he was too big as the bike where tiny little things .

My 6 year old Daughter had a go on them and enjoyed it .

They both went on the fun house and the bouncy castle and that was it , how disappointing I could not keep them entertained long enough to have a good look round the stalls .

I wanted to get a decent trainer for Paul as he wants to go in for his `A` . the planes he has been flying are foamy jobies that you can not do touch `n` goes with.

So I just bought some wood for the one I have designed for him Although I did feel compelled to come away with something so I bought a D-ZEE form Brit-flight for him , he wasn't happy , he wanted something with a proper engine in it and could practise his landings with ( kidz ) .

I had to explain to him that I would still build the plane I have designed for him but this will do in the mean time .

But in summery I think we all enjoyed the day out and although their weren't any bargains to be had it was nice to watch the planes , pyrotechnics and would go again .

[Codename-John]

Well i enjoyed it anyway, that 262 and glider was amazing, the full size stuff great, some amazing scale models, i aboslutely loved the bombing raids on both days, even tho a couple of the aerobatic lads are members of my club and i see them flying all the time, some of the stuff they do still amazes me with a model costing as much as those in money and effort, there was also the cars and boats up the top end and heli`s the other end of the site so i dont know how people got bored with that much to see

went for the whole weekend camping for £45, there was lots on after the daytime show had finished - band, night flying, fireworks etc, took my own food and drink etc cos where ever you go to any kind of show the burger vans etc are extortionate, i did have a couple of good buys early on saturday, most had gone by the afternoon, but the early bird catches the worm as they say

the way i see it you cant blame event organisers / traders for the price of fuel, food etc everything has to be paid for and they`re obviously not just doing shows just for the love, everybody has to make money too, there are some obvious ways of saving yourself a few quid with a bit of effort, im going again next year and cosford next month, if we dont keep them going ill stake money there will be threads on here moaning about the lack of shows in the future

 

 

 

[Stephen Jones]

I agree with you Neil ,

I too will be going to Cosford and the museum is great especially if the weather gets a bit nasty .

[Ian Jones]

Unfortunately I couldn't make it, great pity because I've always enjoyed Weston in the past. I usaully get the next 6 months worth of fuel supply while I'm there too. It doesn't save me money - just offsets the cost of going there a bit.

 

Anyway the real reason I started tapping away at the keyboard was that after reading back through this thread it seems to me that some expectations were not met. Which raises the question "What does make a good show?" I can just sit at the in the sectators line going "wow" all day and that'll do nicely.

 

Perhaps the organisers of such events would welcome some constructive comments from this forum?

 

Ian

 

Next stop Cosford for me.

Edited By Ian Jones on 20/06/2011 21:22:23

[leccyflyer]

Posted by Tim Hooper on 20/06/2011 17:52:03:

Surely it's all relative to the distance travelled and the number of people you're paying admission for?

 

Whilst BEB spent £93 taking and feeding his fambly, that doesn't apply to all the punters, surely?

 

In our case, just two adults (£19). We travelled a whole 10 miles to get there, and took our own food.

 

From my particular perspective the day was an absolute bargain! We bought lots of balsa at well-below shop prices, and easily saved the admission charge. Some splendid displays to ooh and aah over, met lots of friends etc.

 

Having said that, the penny dropped several years ago that I far prefer to attend a fly-in, crash some models and meet lots of others on an equal footing.

 

So see you at Greenacres!

 

tim

 

You said pretty much what I was going to say Tim.

 

My preference has long been for fly-ins rather than the big shows, of which more later. With being away so much later and with a forecast ba day in the NW a last minute decision saw me arrange to pick up a pal and head to Weston Park for the first time in many years.

 

The £9.50 entrance fee wasn't extortionate, IMO, parking was easy and there was a decent selection of stalls. The balsa in the SLEC tent made it worthwhile attending, and paid the admission cost, in savings made, I picked up a bargain ARTF too.

 

There were huge numbers of small foamie toys, co-ax helis and RFT models, more Extras and Yaks than you could shake a stick at, but some more interesting kit and bits hidden away too.

 

 

The food was grimmer than a grim thing, with big queues and high prices, but that was expected. Served me right for not bringing any butties.

 

The full size displays were great - loved the Fox glider doing continuous rolls on the towline and those Spittie-look-alikes.

 

I think the flying side is actually more for those participating, and the members of the public who haven't seen it before, than it is for the non-participating modellers. Much of the general flying isn't all that different than that available at a busy club site.

 

With the exception of the big Me262 an the massed bands of the Dawn Patrol I didn't see too many modellers standing watching the flying. Too busy buried in the bargain hunt maybe.

 

Didn't stay until the end, for the pyrotechnics, and so was able to make an easy get-away without any queues. Only sorry to have missed you on the day, Tim!

 

 

 

Edited By leccyflyer on 21/06/2011 00:05:52

[Tim Hooper]

Lesson for us both, Bri - a simple phone call, eh?

 

tim

[Lee Smalley]

i know the lads flying there do so for the love, not for the money, but for me it was just too samey, everytime i looked up there was large aerobatic models prophanging over and over again, or jet powered elans doing reversals etc, i am sorry but there was too much of that stuff, the actual bits i loved were the bits that everyone walked to flight line to see, the pylon racers the carnage of the pyro show and the massed ranks of the dawn patrol and the edf launch, more of this stuff less of the massive models we can't afford nor fly how about trade slots where for 10 mins eflight have to fly their entire range and pylon race em !!

 

i do not find the entrance fee expensive, nor the food stalls, keep it going just liven up the flying display, dont let it go down the woodvale route!!

[ken anderson.]

my take on things is--- it must be a nightmare/labour of love for anybody who has the job/responsibilty to oversee any large show.........as for us who attend......i think after seeing umpteen extra's,edge's and whatever doing their gravity defying displays over the years...its more of the same again....and we dont get the thrill we first did....and in the UK the weather tends to spoil what could be a good day out for all......

 

ken anderson ne..1.

[Erfolg]

I guess a lot comes down to who you are and what is the objective.

 

I the show is just for modellers, then an individual fe of 10 is perhaps OK. As there is just you.

 

However, if it is a family day out and is intended to get people interested in modelling. Then £100 is a lot of money. In that instance a family ticket of circa £30 is arguably nearer the mark.

 

Thereafter what is provided would be structured to entertain the ordinance or ordinances being entertained.

 

A real test of success, are the number of shows increasing, static or reducing? Not just did it turn a profit today, will it turn a profit next year, or will there be a next year .

[Jez Harris]

oooops - now posted in right year....

 

Firstly a big WELL DONE to Steve and the Team..

 

Thx also to all who have commented on the Dawn Patrol Slots - nice to be appreciated..it was a big gusty on Sunday and we suffered a couple of incidents landing crosswind..

 

My take on Weston this year...not as good as usual to be honest...

 

Highs were the big 262 and the pylon racer jobbies flown by Ali and co.

The Pyro sloys were ace but the testing of a noisy one during saturdays pilot briefing made us all jump!!

The heli nightime display was great.

The Reds were entertaining as usual.

The Banner pick -up by the Pawnee was brilliant.

The PItts Pair were average and the full size glider dull cos I've seen it too much at Weston.

The mass launch of EDF was fun to watch - I usually detest little lecky slots but the sheer number made it a chuckle..

 

However...I too found the prevalence of Elan type jets and medium to large aerobatics boring....It seemed to be aeros, jets, aeros, jets, aero jets and then an interesting slot followed by more aeros and jets...

 

I admit I like scale stuff- The TJD boys were ace but there didnt seem to be more Big WW2 stuff.

What ever happened to all the big Lancs, BIG spits and other Scale Stuff....I walked up and down the entire flight line many many times the weekend - -it was so dull - a riot of colour yes but mainly ARTF jets and Aeros...

 

I consider myself very fortunate to be able to participate with the Dawn Patrol at a great many shows - it seems that fewer and fewer Non LMA shows attract a big number of Scale type A/C....Why is this?

 

There also seemed to be a few slots that just involved two or three magnums or deltas - not much spectacle to this.

 

So what could be done to improve the show then for me..

 

Demos of stuff like pylon and control line.

I love the idea of a silly comp like limbo or balloon popping

A big aero flying a proper schedule - Steve Mallinder type stuff..

Unique slots like the Wing Walking duo of Steve Holland with the Brietling Stearmans.

Even a club slot showing what "normal" folk fly would be better than endless repeats..

 

In a nutshell more variety please!!!

 

This however relies on the pilots of A/C like these to step up and participate....

 

I've cut back this year on shows due to fuel costs etc....

 

Is this a sign of things to come?

 

Jez

[Noel Eaton]

I,m a rookie to R/C and this was my first ever visit to a model show,

It was Oooo Ahhh and WOW ! all the way for me,

I spent a shed load of money on lots of bit and pieces , all the stuff a newby like me am constantly finding out that i need (mainly stuff to repair damaged planes with !)

I got to see and touch lots of the models I,ve only seen pictures of in mags or on the internet,I ended up buying two kits,

I asked lots of questions and learned quite alot

I bought a neat low wing trainer with servos (My first low winger)for £15 in the swap tent,

so it wont break my heart if/when I crash it ,

I had a great day out and will DEFINATELY be going to Cosworth and Welshpool next month

So I,d say theres still lots of positives ,

But I do realise that for those people who have been model flying and show going for years it can and does get a bit samey,

There will always be a demand for something new, and where else could be better to showcase the new stuff than at a show ? (It was all new to me !)

Being a canny Lancashire lad ,I did and always do take my own butties to events like that ,

and was very glad I had too when I saw the prices being charged !!

But Thats the same at EVERY event like this in my experience, thats never a surprise surely ?

Hence the buttie box !,

See you at Cosworth

I,ll be the guy with the pack sak full of butties  ,Carrying more parcels than Father Christmas, going WOW ! Ahhh !! every time a model flies past,

Noel

Edited By Noel Eaton on 27/06/2011 00:10:02