Brrrrrr, winter's here, how much flying are you getting in?

[MikeS]

Not been to the club for a week or so now. Mostly due to work, no fly days at the race course and the weather being so cold. There have been members down the club on days at 0c.

[bouncebounce crunch]

Ahh you bunch of Nancies, (no offence to ladies named Nancy but blokes different story) at least your grass is green ours doesn't look like grass at all. pllu thh. plluthh. can't be that cold or hot..

[Greybeard]

Any weather that is (a) wet (b) windy or (c) below 18C is, in my opinion building weather.

[bouncebounce crunch]

Pull your socks up man, there is plenty of weather better than an ear bashing from the control tower at home. below 18C that is a blessing in my scorched land.

[Martyn K]

Went out yesterday morning (Sunday) - the field was frozen solid...

Flew my modified Webbit and the Delta. Didn't bother with IC - it was actually raining first thing but that lifted about 10:00 so only had about an hour spare before christmas shopping beckoned.

Had the whole field to myself after the heli pilots gave up when their fingers went numb so tried to practice knife edge flying with the Webbit. I have decided its a lot harder in practice than it is in theory. Either that or my brain went numb as well.

Packed in when one of the tip fins on the Delta became detatched on hitting a frozen tussock on landing.

Martyn

Edited By Martyn K on 03/12/2012 12:45:30

[Turbycat]

Went to the strip yesterday. It was about -1 when I arrived and had only got up to +2 when I left 3 hours later. The weather was excellent tho'. I even managed to maiden my own built delta.

I have built it in a tailwheel configuration as it suits our strip better. It flew beautifully. Needed a lot of up trim on the maiden as I wasn't sure how to set the elevons. So I got it down safely and adjusted the linkages. After the first go I just couldn't stop flying it. It weighs in at 1.7kg and flies well on an old Thunder Tiger GP25 I had hanging around in the shed. It struggles on the ground as our grass is very long and the strip is quite bumpy. Once in the air it goes really well.

I'm already thinking that a Jen 37 and tuned pipe might be the way to go with it but it doesn't hang around on the GP25.

Andy

Edited By Turbycat on 03/12/2012 12:59:51

[bouncebounce crunch]

Thats not too bad a looking wee beastie there Turby. I would need some black,blue or black to help with orientation.

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Martyn K on 03/12/2012 12:44:06:

Went out yesterday morning (Sunday) - the field was frozen solid...

Flew my modified Webbit and the Delta. Didn't bother with IC - it was actually raining first thing but that lifted about 10:00 so only had about an hour spare before christmas shopping beckoned.

Had the whole field to myself after the heli pilots gave up when their fingers went numb so tried to practice knife edge flying with the Webbit. I have decided its a lot harder in practice than it is in theory. Either that or my brain went numb as well.

Packed in when one of the tip fins on the Delta became detatched on hitting a frozen tussock on landing.

Martyn

Edited By Martyn K on 03/12/2012 12:45:30

I had intended to fly on Sunday - unfortunately other matters got in the way and I was cursing all day instead .

[will -0]

A beautiful but cold day yesterday. Took my SE5a and some other models which all few bootiful. The nice thing about sunny days in winter is that even if there is a breeze, there's no thermals around so it's not usually gusty. Hence bipes and whatnot are no problem!

[Glenn Philbrick]

Flying is OK, Very cold but water certainly stops a model quickly.

Edited By Glenn Philbrick on 03/12/2012 17:36:12

[Hogster]

Very chilly at our site but no so bad if you wrap up warm. I managed to get some flying in on Saturday and Sunday. Even managed to successfully maiden my Midget Mustang

[Devon Flyer]

Finally managed to maiden my Multiplex Contest Line Milan at Woolacombe on Saturday. Bloomin' cold, so the winter slope soaring suit was dug out for the first time this Winter.

Milan had three good flights, with minor adjustments between each one, and now flies like a good 'un!

Went to Chivenor on Sunday morning to have a chuck around with the WOT 4 - had one flight then retreated to the coffee!

[Turbycat]

Hi BBC,

The delta is not to bad orientation wise. The Purple stood out quite well. Unfortunately it ripped off after 5 flights. Now replaced by super sticky bright red! The under side has bright yellow bands running front to rear. I was very surprised at how easy it was to fly after getting it trimmed out. I think it may be a tad nose heavy but it flies ok so I'm not going to mess with it.

Get building you know you want one!!

Andy

[Stephen Grigg]

The head says yes the knees say no no no.

[Martyn K]

Posted by Ian Jones on 03/12/2012 13:12:07:

I had intended to fly on Sunday - unfortunately other matters got in the way and I was cursing all day instead .

It was quite a nice morning Ian, 3 fleece layers plus jacket and T shirt and I was as warm as toast until I took my gloves off.Using fingerless gloves is a far better indicator of battery life than a timer.. I can only stand 6 minutes without a warmup - the flight battery will last for 8 minutes

I left at about 11:15 after getting bored waiting for batteries to recharge. To be honest a couple of hours flying at this time of year is probably enough.

Martyn

[Terry Walters]

Just made good use of a cold beautiful blue sky afternoon with light wind at the club flying my Boomerang with the ASP52 FS to practice the black art of IC flying - lovely! Just a trace of white smoke against the blue sky and that pop pop sound - even SWMBO loves it!

Had a decent thermalling flight (yes thermals and not the ones I was wearing!) with the Phoenix 2000 spoilt only when someone flying a 1:1 scale model of a 3 axis microlight decided to use the same bit of sky as me and discretion meant a turn and dive away. Guess what? When the microlight had gone so had the rising air so an impression of a hotliner for a few minutes just to use the lipo up followed!

Two more flights with the Boomer and back home for a cup of tea!

Priceless!

Terry

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Beautiful morning and early afternoon - got some in. But became overcast in the afternoon and the wind picked up, so went home a bit earlier than usual. VERY cold!

BEB

Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 08/12/2012 17:22:45

[Tony Bennett]

i finally got out to do some flying at 2:15 today. clear sky, light breeze a bit cold.

got 1 flight in with my funfly design and the motor cut out and would not go above half throttle.

esc has gone poop, gets red hot to the touch under no load now. grrrrrrrrrrrr

was doing well till then.

loops

rolls

stall turns

inverted circuits (though it still wont do an inverted loop for some reason)

luckily the esc did not catch fire.

ho hum, life sucks some times.

[John Privett]

4 more flights with the Katana this afternoon in cold, but otherwise good conditions - bright and sunny, only a gentle breeze.

I'm charging the LiPos now ready for tomorrow, but it looks like being a bit breezy according to the last forecast I saw. Wrong direction wind for local sloping too...

[Hogster]

We had a good turn out despite the cold. It could have been a summers day. The only problem we have is the low sun this time of year. I did lose sight of my model for a second as I misjudge things and flew across it. But I survived and it was a good afternoons flying.

[Nev Haycox]

Finally managed to get some stick time in the back garden this morning with my Honey Bee heli, even though my hands were freezing I did manage to hover nose in for about 30 seconds which is by far the longest I’ve ever managed before putting it into the flower beds.

I have a T-rex 500 that I put together some time ago but have yet to fly it, hopefully I will pluck up the courage soon and give it a go.

Nev.

[Olly P]

Still no flying for me - Work, early darkness and generally being busy have kept me away from the bench, and all my models need some bench time before they get to the field!

[MikeS]

Still suffering for a chesty cold I woke up to a nice clear blue sky and cold temp of 0c. Car resembled a snow man but decided to get out down the club. Took the P40 and the trusty Piper Pawnee. Took the P40 up first then the Pawnee. Got some fifthteen minutes with the Pawnee and went up very high. On landing I noticed I had ice crystals on the wings. Some other members came down but the temp dropped down to around -1 so called it a day.

[Startazz No1]

No stick time for me sorry to say,the flying field i use has just been to wet for my foam warbirds and EDF's,but i did get some flight time in a couple of weeks ago and it was cold,i used my old TX glove with a little heater inside which kept my fingers and thumbs nice and toasty i must say.

[Erfolg]

I have looked out of my lounge window now for some weeks, thinking that the prolonged period of still (and very cold) weather always equates to a time when I am unable to go out to fly a model. This time it has been a lack of will and health.

It is now entering the fifth week of my ill health, and I have felt that i have improved, and should at least get out. First thing this morning I tried a short walk, this afternoon i decided a flight on the golf course was in order.

After lunch, i got my parkflyer down, changed model on the transmitter and made the short walk into the park and then to the short golf course. I was immediately struck by the intense light blue of the sky. Then that the sun is in the wrong place. Low in the sky and almost immediately at 90 degrees to my flight line.

Anyway I thought, lets give it a go, the worse that can happen is that I loose it in the Sun and crash.

A under arm launch had the model climbing nicely, a quick turn before a bank of trees at the end of the flight line. A nice circuit, past the sun. then another circuit, a bit nearer the trees than is prudent, then on the cross leg I lost the line of the model a bit. This required a tighter turn than i would like, which was putting the model potentially overhead of me. Not good, as bad practise and more importantly there are trees directly behind. It did pass in front, but was not flying well, or perhaps I was not flying it well. The cross leg flight had the model in a variety of attitudes, culminating with a turn, consciously using primarily the rudder. The pass in front of me was ragged in some way, a rudder turn had the model far to close, with a wing low, application of aileron, now had the model diving, I shut of the power, feed in elevator, the poor elevator control made for crash.

The model now lay on the ground broken in half, I walked over, picked up the bits. Disconnected the battery, then the Tx.

I set off on the walk home, possibly less than 5 minutes after I had arrived. Yet, not feeling to bad, the flight had been interesting, and I was now so aware of the biting cold.

I have put the model on the bench, observing, the break is on the site of the previous damage, which appears to have been poorly executed. As i briefly looked at the model, my thoughts have strayed to i probably need a new model, this one is now to heavy due to patching, no longer flying well.

I am now going to have a medicinal whisky, however much the zealots will view the exercise as binge drinking. What you have had whole glass of whisky a day, what, for some weeks now. My god, addicted, liver wrecked and you are probably a cat beater! Beetroot juice is what you should have, or smoke a joint, which harms no one, unlike cigarette and the demon drink.

Edited By Erfolg on 13/12/2012 14:37:33

Edited By Erfolg on 13/12/2012 15:13:56