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

[ken anderson.]

up this end of the colony...we have all day rain again......day 3 there are problems galore with the amount of water and no end in sight to it .....lots of damaged road surface's .....

ken anderson ...ne..1 ....little venice......

[Erfolg]

I expected to see pictures from Flyingtillbroke of water planes taking of from his back garden. A little snow, and the site is awash with models with skis.

Personally i do not have any water planes, so cannot make use of the present weather.

My own back garden is under about 4" max of water, to a minimum of squelching. The Park to the back of the house seems to have massive areas, under water. My own parkfly area, aka, a short golf course (9 hole) is not obviously visible, although the better half says it is under water. The silver lining is that for once she cannot encourage me to have a round with her, as the greens have been closed for at least a month.

I am finding the current bad spell a little confusing, I remain ill enough not to be able or really want to go flying, so why no good weather?

 

Edited By Erfolg on 22/12/2012 15:07:33

[001]

Worst year yet. (See the autumn post) Somebody stole my leisure battery, used to charge lipos at the field, I found my main five big lipos swollen, so had to dispose of them, battery charger has failed, so without a big expenditure I won't be flying power for the forseeable future. Very.

Might get some slope soaring in when the weather warms up. (June 2013????)

[Phil 9]

Posted by Chris P. Bacon on 23/12/2012 06:25:51:

Worst year yet. (See the autumn post) Somebody stole my leisure battery, used to charge lipos at the field, I found my main five big lipos swollen, so had to dispose of them, battery charger has failed, so without a big expenditure I won't be flying power for the forseeable future. Very.

Might get some slope soaring in when the weather warms up. (June 2013????)

I have had lipos swell in the past but I continued to use them and not had ant problems. is this dangerious?

[colin watson]

well i had a week before last week yes that week filled with siberian warmth it started on the sunday the forecast 25mph winds i arrived at the field no one else in sight not surprising the wind staight down the strip but enough to up root houses more the the 25mph well i was here so i flew a windy day model my fun jet ultra it was an eventfull 3 1/2 minutes very fast on the down wind quite slow into wind. i unfortunateley broke the only prop i had on landing so packed up. the next three days the wind dropped along with the temperature but i had three days of perfect flying our grass strip now resembled a concrete one. i flew a vast range of aircraft and helis and thoughly enjoyed myself i was joined by a few ( i mean a few fellow idiots ). by the thursday i arrived at the field to be greeted by freezing fog the areas nearby were clear but persevere i did not enough vis to fly even small park flyers i proceeded out with a heli 1st flight great enough vis if i kept it close. the 2nd flight the headspeed decreased halfway through the flight (the cold must be hurting the batterys). changed battery the same slow headspeed. so i changed heli went out again half way through the flight the headspeed decreased yet again the tail twitching madly quick landing. it was only on inspection afterwards i found 1/8" of ice on the leading edge of the blades. note to one self don't fly in freezing fog again. i packed up i now await another chance to go flying last wednesday the weather was aweful i break up today for a month i just hope the weather lets me get some flying in apart from indoors

Edited By colin watson on 23/12/2012 15:51:22

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Not so much cold today but the ground was waterlogged and the river at the bottom of the patch had broken banks and gifted us a lake......so we thought it would be rude not to use a rare chance to fly from water. First time for me, great fun doing touch'n'gos and the Icon didn't do any U-Boat impressions

[Pete B]

Dad's 'n Lads, eh, David?

How many times did he tell you off for stamping in the puddles?........

If my patch flooded, the village in the valley would be in real trouble (I'm about 300ft higher!), so I took a chance and ordered some HK skis - ready to fit to the Rainbow and just waiting for some snow now..........

Pete

[wayne drinkwater]

Sorry to rub it in but its in the mid 20's here this is a short clip I filmed saturday http://youtu.be/VdhqNjm-vjo ignore the time date as I have not sorted that out yet, it was filmed with a keyring camera taped on my Radjet

Wayne

Edited By wayne drinkwater on 23/12/2012 17:34:36

[Erfolg]

That really looks like a nice model David. I guess it has been reviewed at some point?

What I did not know, is that you had sneaked into my back garden!

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Parkzone Icon A5 Erfolg, no not reviewed in RCM&E but I'll pop one on the site here soon.

[flytilbroke]

Been getting LOTS of flying in as well as keeping clear of any wintry looking flying sites. Isn't Phoenix Sim wonderfull?

Mind it is Thirty Years of Waterplane flying at Loch Insh, September 2013.

[Concorde Speedbird]

I went out today with the Funfly, and Dad had the Wot 4 e but not e(!). No wind, good fun but the fog came which made things interesting! The grass was long and wet, so both of my Funfly landings ended up with nose overs, but no damage and a successful day. The Wot 4 was fantastic, and the Saito 45s with no exhaust sounds brilliant, like a full size and ran perfectly. Great! Next outing may be my Domino...

CS

[Lindsay Todd]

Went up to Delyn Club yesterday, the field was more like a lake but great fun flying over the stretches of water with my Dawn Flyer design, got so low the wheels nearly touched the water at one point as I was too busy watching the reflextion of the model in the water! Had three flights though, and good to get out for the first time this year.

Linds

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Started off very foggy but that cleared by lunchtime sufficient to fly, not particularly cold, no wind - perfect for a maiden so gave my H9 Denight it's first two flights - picked one up from SMC just before xmas when they were doing a very good price on 'em (they still are actually).

I'm using 5S. Flew great, no vices, nice and smooth, holds the lines well, very pleased.

[Tony Bennett]

Decided to mod an old glider i had for electric assist.

had a nice 1/2 hour flight with that until the poor little motor and esc decided it was too small and packed up.

bigger motor next i think.

then i took the little foam tb-20 out, had to hand launch as the grass was too wet and it could not get up enough speed to rog.

still another 5 flights with that.

all in a good little afternoon.

[Peter Miller]

THick fog all morning but 8 of us went for a natter and guess what, after we got tot he field it lifted. The cloud base was so low that the R/C models were in danger of being clobbered by the control line models

A great afternoon with lots of flying done and no accidents.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Terry Walters]

Yesterday I went up to the club even tho' it was cold and grey. I had arranged to meet another ex-pat to whom I was going to give a buddy box lesson. Go there at 2.00pm - no-one there. The cold was the kind of damp seeping cold that gets thro' your clothes no matter what you wear. I had my Seagull Spacewalker II with me - electric powered . Still not happy with the in flight stability - seems to wander about a bit but can't pin it down. Yesterday it was only a light wind so flew quite well and the landings were good. Light was a little poor but I put my Phoenix 2000E up for a fast a furious run around the sky. Just entered cloud on climbs and then a few aeros and steep dives etc.

3.00pm still on my own - no club members and a text from my friend to say he wouldn't be coming - sensible chap eh!? Another enjoyable but lonely flight with the Spacewalker until the lipo slowed down - I have a hi cut off set and then home by 4.00pm and a little read in front of the log fire!!

Today spent tidying up my workshop so I can get on with my build tomorrow!

Terry

[ken anderson.]

first fly of the year yesterday........11c...warm for up here......6 of us had a go.....

ken anderson ...ne....1 ...northeast of the colony dept....

[Pete B]

Last flew on Friday afternoon - a couple of packs on the WestWings Fournier under thin cloud. Totally clagged-in all day today - can't even see the house next-door - so busy with the balsa hatchet......

Know what you mean about the damp seeping cold, Terry - I'm feeding the woodburner like Casey Jones' fireman today!

Pete

[John Privett]

"Grey cloud" the BBC forecast had said about yesterday, and grey cloud is certainly what we had with a bit of a breeze. The afternoon was brightened up for the (very) few of us that went flying by a full-size Extra or CAP or similar that flew past (twice) and gave us a quick waggle of the wings and two very rapid rolls. Clearly done for our benefit though I've no idea who the pilot could have been or of any connection between the club and such a pilot!

Today was meant to be misty early on, then "white cloud" in the afternoon. Well the cloud was certainly white when I arrived at about 2:30pm, problem was that much of the time we were actually in it! Nobody else was there when I arrived, but two others turned up within a few minutes and eventually there were 6 of us. Only 3 actually had a model with them and one of those departed shortyl after arriving as conditions were clearly not good for his very fast leccy glider. So that left 2 of us with anything to fly. Conditions were very variable with the mist closing in dramatically one minute and clearing a bit a few minutes later. We both had light electric models that could be flown close-in and slow, so not too much of a problem. Finally, just before sunset, the mist totally cleared leaving a nice clear, but rapidly darkening , sky. Roll on summer....

[Paul Travis]

Well two of us turned up today at our club, 1030 am and it was very foggy to say the least, but not deterred we flew close and eventually the fog cleared then we could have some adrenalin fuelled fun.

10 flights in and time flying by before we knew it 230 pm blimey the mrs goin to kill me time to pack up and head home.

what a great day was had pity more members didn't turn up.

roll on summer.

paul

[Chuck Plains]

Hmph. None. :¬D

[Turbycat]

None for me either, but hoping that this week is going to be kind. I will, however, be busy choosing 2 new planes for this year. Might even get my first WW2 warbird.

Andy

[Erfolg]

By late morning I had completed the wall papering of the bathroom wall i am doing. Just one wall to paper and radiator to replace, that will be done another day.

At the moment I am building a replacement indoor/park flyer model, which is on a Blue Foam blank which is sitting on the kitchen table. My wife is away at my daughters baby sitting for the last 3 days. Otherwise I would not dare. Even now I shudder at my audacity, if not rash behaviour.

Looking out of the Patio doors,from the kitchen, into the garden, on into the park, my eyes noted that the trees were quite still. I could see that the mist had now gone, just a patchy mottles grey sky. The trees are now totally bereft of any leaves.

Perhaps now is the time to fly my parkflyer, I will only be ten minutes or so. Wrap up warm, i will be fine. Yes,that is what I will do!

I went upstairs, into my work room, put the Lipo on charge. Retrieved my 35 set, went down stairs. Put a bit more Cyno on the new model, being EPO it works fine, so it seems. Put on my coat, hat, then heard the finished warble tone from the charger.

Walking out into the park, I noticed three things, it is cold, the ground is still saturated, as water squelched under foot, and two dogs were eying me up, or was it the model?

At my favourite flying space on the golf course, I checked for any body being about. No, the course is still closed because of water logging. Launching the plane had it flying , with a heavy turn to the right, and a steep climb. I did manage to trim out the climb, and just about the turn. The model no longer flies well, being fast, prone to stalling and twitchy. I guess weight gain, a rearward drift of the CG, are all playing there part, in emphasising the poor aspects of the basic model. I eventually landed the model, more in relieve, to gather my wits, only to find the Depron body had fractured again, in a different place, with the crack this time bottom towards the top.

I had escaped the confines of the house, congratulated myself on starting the replacement process, as this model is past its best. Then the owner of the dog,which had eyes for me appeared, making the comment, that did not last long.

On my way home I started to worry myself, have you got the right keys in your pocket. If not, you have a major problem. Thankfully I had.

Back home, I continued the build, and I am continuing the search for a good motor for the new model. Enough power to prop hang (hopefully), yet not so heavy, that the all up weight becomes excessive.