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

[buster prop]

I' m also in the back garden m.f.c . During this cold spell I flew my Blade 120 and my new mini vapour. I flew circuits and 8' s. If my fingers get cold I just go indoors for a few minutes. I can fly the mini vapour around the lounge, just managing an 8. The 120 is a bit too big to fly indoors but I also have a Micro helicopter. When the weather gets milder it' 'll also go windy a s well.Springtime soon!

[scott finnie]

Had a superb 42 minute flight with the radian earlier, was pretty cold but a few bystanders kept my mind off the cold by asking allsorts! no wind at all and a frozen pond to land on

[Pete B]

Posted by Erfolg on 13/12/2012 14:36:17:

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.

Despite your bad luck with the model, it sounds as if you're on the mend, Erfolg

Don't blame what happened on yourself or the demon drink - cat beating can be seen as a civic duty by some........

Pete

[Ian Jones]

Last Monday the air was still and the frost stayed on the grass all day, Tuesday was forecast to be the same.

So I sulked on Monday but on Tuesday it was play time , on skis. The sun shone and I was so well clad that I actually had to take my coat off!

It didn't quite go to plan because though the ground remained frozen the frost did melt from the grass by 1100 hrs. 'twas okay because I had taken a "chuckie" with me. An unfortunate launching accident put a quick end to that though.

Now I'll tell you a story... More than a few years ago I couldn't get my Tutor 40 to take off from the muddy strip. Being new at the time I didn't appreciate that this was because it was nose heavy (that old myth of being on the "safe side" again). At a later date I balanced it properly but on this particular day a very experienced chap hand launched my Tutor 40 for me - my first ever hand launch and it was a doddle .

Back to the present and who do you think turned up at the field? Yep the very same gentleman that first introduced me to a hand launch and what are my skis fitted to? You must have guessed - the very same Tutor 40 from years ago. At the end of the thirs hand launched flight the T40 skidded on along the grass more than previously; it was getting into the afternoon and starting to freeze again so I did something silly. I taxied to the end of the strip and took off and at the end of the first circuit lined up for approach and was nicely setup on finals when the error of my ways showed up. I ran out of fuel. Do skis affect a dead stick landing? No not much, slowed it down a little bit, that's all .

So, a few more flights taking off and landing on skis followed . Great that's me set-up for when the snow comes... yippeeeee

Edited By Ian Jones on 13/12/2012 17:14:47

[scott finnie]

Got some big winds brewing up here so heading out now with the radian, will take my camera and try get a few shots, though will be flying on own hehe

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

5 of us braved the elements this morning for our club's traditional Christmas Lunch fly-in. "Interesting" flying conditions but all models managed to survive unscathed (if somewhat dampened!)

On to the festive part next - well someone has to do it...

[scott finnie]

Posted by scott finnie on 14/12/2012 08:26:50:

Got some big winds brewing up here so heading out now with the radian, will take my camera and try get a few shots, though will be flying on own hehe

FRom my flight earlier had a great 2hours and 23 minutes slope soaring, was well wrapped up and sat in my sleeping bag at top of hill

Roll on tomorrow morning

[Turbycat]

At the field last Tuesday. Bit chilly but a beautiful day!

Had a good 3 hours. No-one else turned up, must have been the -2 temp putting them off!!

Andy

[Terry Walters]

There were two days this last week that were flyable - one I had to commit to an Over 60's committee meeting but on the other day I was invited to fly with Richard Hansford at his Club at Sarlat-Domme. Richard is a member of two clubs and this one is nearest to his home. Still about 90 mins drive North for me tho' but well worth it! The club strip lies adjacent to an active GA full size strip with clear rules about limits of flying

It was very cold but we flew for a couple of hours before it got the better of us! Richard flew his Madness 2 which I think has an OS40 in it that purred away so steadily that if I could have distracted him I might not have managed to resist the urge to'borrow' it!

I took my DB Sort and Scale Tiger Moth (electric conversion), my Boomerang with its ASP52 FS and my Phoenix 2000E HK Glider.

Richard flew his Madness in a very sane way and I really enjoyed watching his careful and precise aerobatic display.

Afterwards we retired to Richard's house (lovely) for a cuppa and a piece of cake before I was shown Richard's engine collection. Wow! I have no idea how many he has in total but it is an extensive collection of all types of IC engines. As a mainly 'lecccy' man with a significant IC leaning (no pun intended!) I'm still in shock! Then the workshops - what a quality of finish on all of his aeroplanes and the build integrity is superb. Marvellous!

A good day out Grommit!

Terry

[Turbycat]

Just had a very good day today at the strip. Had a flight with my Tiger Moth but then it got a bit gusty so that got derigged. Then I ended up flying my Delta and Wot 4. The little Delta is fast becoming my favourite little plane to fly. I might make a bigger one and a couple of flying wing models too!! Could be good time to experiment with depron and edfs too!

Andy

[Bob Cotsford]

About three hours at the strip was enough for me today, mainly because of the bad light. I did discover what happens when you put a 90 2 stroke (ST G91) into a 60 size Katana - on a 14*8 it scrapes in on the noise test but accelerates the model straight up indefinitely, so that's ok. Loops on 1/3 throttle, so overall a good laugh while it lasts.

[Martyn K]

A lucky day at the strip today. Lost the elevator on my modified Webbit, got it down by judicious use of the throttle but in the next field down.. then flew the astro hog and managed to hit a tree on landing approach and recovered it with no damage. At this point I decided that I was now rellay pushing my luck so had just one more flight with the astro-hog and then went home. A cracking day even so with lovely winter sunshine.

[will -0]

9 flights and 4 deadsticks yesteday. Still a fun day out!

[Terry Walters]

Posted by Terry Walters on 16/12/2012 16:29:03:

It was very cold but we flew for a couple of hours before it got the better of us! Richard flew his Madness 2 which I think has an OS40 in it that purred away so steadily that if I could have distracted him I might not have managed to resist the urge to'borrow' it

I stand corrected! Make that an OS 70 Surpass 2 - just shows how smooth and quiet it was! (Or how little I know about IC engines!)

Terry

[Turbycat]

Had a good day today. Even had company during the week for once. Three of us out in total. One of the guys liked my little delta so much he's going to build one as well!!

Andy

[Bob Black]

Hi

Had 1 1/2 hours at site today almost flat calm,a bit overcast, dry under foot (field draind last year) had thermal suit on but didnt need overgear and dont say you "youngns"...... I am in my seventys.

Managed 3 x five min flights with 2 x 2200 lipos in a "Discovery"

If it keeps like this untill easter and then warms up that will do for me

Merry Christmas to all

Regards

Bob

[will -0]

A bit more on sunday:

2 flights with my Chippie - tumble tumble spin spin recover repeat. Goes really well but you have to watch it with the throttle as a 12x5 on an OS46 goes tip supersonic very easily in a dive and then you have to put up with the unpleasant noise of the whine from the pits .

4 flights with the NB4. This has an OS26 FS in it hauling a 54" span so it's not overpowered at the best of times. Didn't want to idle too well and then cut after a minute or so in not the best place (too high to go straight in, but messed up the circuit) long walk through the mud to get it.

Second flight also deadstick, but this time just made it onto the threshold narrowly missing a brick.

third flight went OK

fourth flight cut again after a while. Either the cold weather is not likeing it, the plug is ill or the vent is flapping in the breeze and giving varying tank pressures (ran very inconsitently with silencer pressure[ ran OK until you were halfway up the climb out and then went soggy] so I was running it with the pressure line disconected which did seem to help a lot, but not today). Twas OK in the "summer".

Next up was the Chorus Gull. Plenty of fun zooming that one round the sky. Second flight the engine quit for no apparent reason. Maybe the fuel is a bit dirty or something. Last (only other) time it quit the needle valve was blocked. Caught an undercarriage leg on landing which seems to have damaged the U/C beam in the wing, so didn't fly it again. Will have to fit a fuel filter.

Then one more with the Chippie - tumble tumble flick flick spin spin. It likes spinning, but doesn't always like stopping spinning which can be a bit worrying.

Marvelous.

[Terry Walters]

Take 3 guys of a certain age, a break in the horrible wet and cold weather, a 90 metre strip and eight aeroplanes and you get a real life 'Last of the Summer Wine' episode!

Pete B, Richard Hansford and me had a great afternoon out at my club at Lalbenque in the Lot department of France today! Pete B had his Phoenix Tiger Moth, HK Salto and VMAR RF4 Fournier (all electric powered). Richard had his J Perkins Tiger Moth and a very nice aerobatic trainer (that's my way of saying I don't know what it's called) both IC powered. I had my DB Sport and Scale 58" Tiger Moth, Boomerang (IC) and my E-Flite Piper Cub.

Here's our trio of Tigers:

Pete's HK Salto:

Pete's Phoenix Tiger:

Richard's J Perkins Tiger looking beautiful in vintage colours:

Had a great afternoon of mixed leccy and IC flying until the light went and we called it a day!

Lovely - weather gets worse again from today! Roll on Xmas!

Terry

[Pete B]

We were obviously preparing our posts at the same time, Terry - just as well I checked first! I've just ditched my carefully-composed prose...........

Suffice to say, a great day with a Tiger Club Meet in South-West France. Quite a sight to see all three purring and whirring in formation along the runway...........

Some great pics there, too. Richard's low-winger is a World Models Super Sports 40 and flew very nicely - quiet, too!

I made a pig's ear of the keycam video. First is 30 mins long as I didn't switch it off properly at the end of the flight and all the others were 20 seconds long with the camera shutting itself down, so I wouldn't disgrace myself by trying to cobble something together......

Never mind, the mince pies made it all worthwhile.........

Pete

[TheFlyingCrust]

Wind was good at Ringstead yesterday afternoon. Managed to get a couple of good flights in with the Zagi but the temp was dropping and rainclouds were heading towards the hill so, discression being the better part of valor, I called it a day. Retired to the car for a cuppa. It was good to blow a few cobwebs off though.

Ian

[Jon Laughton]

Three very pleasant flights with the Mpx Dogfighter in the fields behind our house yesterday - hoping to fly ic at the field Friday and get the smell of glow fuel in my nostrils!

[MikeS]

No flying here. Was going down as weather forcast suggested no rain in the morning. Hmmmm well alas no. Rain so far and looks in for the day.

Sooooo sitting down Bushy Park with a nice hot choccy in the car. Class!!!!

[Turbycat]

I Was hoping to get out tomorrow. Now I've got my brother coming over and the schools shut early so got to get the kids at lunch time. Wonder if i dare leave them with their uncle for 2 hours!!!

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Nice piccies Terry, those Moths look lovely.

[Terry Walters]

Posted by David Ashby - RCME on 20/12/2012 14:21:19:

Nice piccies Terry, those Moths look lovely.

Hi David - thanks and much appreciated - These were the best of the bunch taken with my Nikon but they would've been much better all round if Pete B's photo gear had been there!

Hope you have a great Xmas!

My hopes rest on the very large box in the attic!

Terry