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


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I've just looked at the weather forecast for Saturday and there's a strange yellow circular symbol with yellow radial lines coming out of it. I'm sure I've seen the symbol before, just can't remember what it means... smile o

Also a gentle 5 or 6mph breeze, straight down the strip! A little chilly maybe, but looking like easily the best flying weather so far this year. (Not that that's much of a claim just over a week into the new year!)

And Andy, you membership card will be posted to you tomorrow.

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Well I have been twice to the club since October. Apart from being busy at work and family commitments, of course wind and rain had been the main issues. I have seen other members out flying on the good days which of course are when I am on the way to work.

I should get on with the TF P47 build but seem to have to much to do.

Mike

Edited By MikeS on 11/01/2014 18:57:59

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One of my more achievable NY resolutions was to have a go at slope soaring. A clubmate keeps telling me what great fun it is, highly addictive, can fly for hours etc. This afternoon looked ok on xcweather, sunny with a moderate westerly wind, cold obviously but as good as it gets at this time of year. So I togged up and took my new Flying Wings Slipstream glider to the nearest slope to maiden. I have slope soared before, a long time ago in another place. The trouble with wings is that there's nothing to push and my first launch wasn't successful so I asked another flyer to give the plane a heave, he did and it flew out and rapidly gained height. I flew it up and down the slope for probably 15 minutes but had to land because my right hand was getting very cold, no glove on it as I fly mode 2. The next flight was with both gloves on but I managed ok and flew for a bit longer. I self launched, throwing the wing out by holding its nose and using a sweeping throw. Pleased with the Slipstream, flies well, no damage at all after heavy-ish landings (EPP) and it's only 1M span going into the car easily. I'll be going back to the slope again and am already thinking of another soarer!

Edited By buster prop on 11/01/2014 19:07:25

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first flight of the new year was an outing for the Skyraider. great weather and light winds made for a good afternoon (except for the numpties in a full size Westland Wasp helo who though our disused runway was a good place for a low pass and hover (NOT!) they soon eased off so presume they got the message from those of us present.

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douglas a1 skyraider (6).jpg

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A bright day at Lalbenque yesterday for Terry Walters and myself, although the forecast gentle SE breeze turned out to be coming from due North....crook

We had the patch to ourselves, Terry with his Boomerang, Graupner Monsun and yet-to-be-maidened Zlin Z50L and me with my Decathlon, Druine Akrobat and Bixler (just for fun, you understandsmile):

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Terry's now got his Monsun well-sorted and it looks very good in the air - definitely needs a driver, though:

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Sorry about all the blue sky, folks - we really can't help getting it.....smile d

Monsun again, on finals, ASP.91 FS ticking over a treat :

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Big event of the day was the maidening of the HK Zlin, fitted with an ASP.70FS. First flight was minus cowling, to make any adjustments easier and ensure adequate cooling, apparently - what would I know?smile Take-off was uneventful but the elevator was a bit fierce, the 'low' rate set proving to be a bit optimistic. Goes where it's pointed and even running rich, the .70 provided plenty of oomph for scale-ish, rather than 3D flight:

lalbenque 100114 011.jpg

With the touchy elevator, the first landing proved a bit exciting but eventually terra firma was regained with little more than a wingtip scrape - phew!smile

Terry isn't easily deterred so, emboldened by the performance of the .70, the cowl was fitted, a bit of tape covered the scratch and the elevator was tamed-down. Much better this time, she looked and sounded really good in the air:

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Fine in the air but landings proved a tad testing, with a clear need to keep the airspeed up - definitely not one to float onto the ground, this pic was taken a couple of seconds before the u/c parted company with the fus on touch-down - those 3 x 4mm nylon bolts are gonna have to be up-rated!

lalbenque 100114 087.jpg

It's a lot of model for the money, to be sure, but one slight irritation is the tendency for the covering and trim to delaminate, something I've found on other ARTF's - irritating, isn't it?:

lalbenque 100114 110.jpg

I had some good flights with the Decathlon and Akrobat, with Romford Rosie reporting my flight pack voltage and ESC temperature each minute on my DX9.smile Despite me keeping the packs warm, however, performance was definitely down - I have a suspicion that I've a few tiring packs now and I'm going to have to bite the bullet and spend money sooner or later...sad

The Akrobat went to LVC at about 30ft just off the downwind end of the runway so I had no choice but to land out in the adjacent field - and a greaser of a landing it was too, even at 200yds!teeth 2

The important thing, of course, is that all lived to fly another day.....thumbs up

Pete

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Very nice pics Pete and very well edited to exclude my heavy handed landings with the Zlin. A few scrapes to the bottom of the centre wing section (that loose Permagrit surfaced runway strikes again!) and a new aileron servo required!

The Monsun is a YT one and as Pete said is well sorted out but the scale flaps I created out of the full width ailerons need to get to 60 degrees to provide drag rather than lift! It's heavy but it floats like you wouldn't believe!

Pete's Decathlon and Druine are well sorted out aeroplanes and were most impressive as usual. The noise the 'leccy' Decathlon makes is really good as it flashes by!

A good day out Grommit!

Terry

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Had a couple of flights with PCat yesterday - windy and bumpy. Distinctly unpleasant..

Today looks better - cold though ! Planning on Taking PCat, Inverza, CRay, Spirit and UMX SBach. Might try and squeeze the ST FW190 (repaired yet again..) into the car with all the riding paraphenalia, wife and child. Not easy in an Audi A3 convertible

Happy flying all.

GG

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Got to the field at about 10.45 to find that I was the first one there. Flew the Super Sixty with an OS 40 FP engine and aileron wing for the first time. I believe the wing was a Penn Models wing because it has inset rather than strip ailerons. By getting up some speed I found that I could roll the old girl! I then had a flight with the foamy WOT 4.

By now four other blokes had turned up but it was rather cold and one of them chose not to fly. By 13.30 we'd all had enough and then my vehicle got stuck in the mud. Two clubmates pushed it out for me.

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At present much of the country is suffering from a variety of natural weather phenomena. Here in the NW we have not been untouched, having received some heavy rainfall which has left our field waterlogged. Yet compared to many locations in the south we are untouched.

Whilst many modelers have been unable to fly, lhave been lucky being able to get out frequently. In fact the same faces are at my new club whenever I go, I guess others are flying more frequently than me.

Although the forcast had predicted high winds for today, early today there was not a breath of wind, just bitterly cold.

I took three models, a. Delta, my electric trainer and my pushy cat. I handed the PC to the guy test flying it for me. He has put a lot of effort into getting the model just right, now his efforts had been had beenrealised with a excellent ly flying model ready for Green acres. The model was handed over to me for my first flight which I enjoyed. The question is now, how frequently do I fly it, before the big event? I think you just fly it.

I then turned my attention to my delta, which seemed to be down on power, is it the cold weather? Even after a few minutes it did not pick up much. The whole flight was rather sedate to the landing, needing full throttle much of the time.

By this time I was to cold to continue.

What of the others you may ask, they, are made of sterner stuff than me. I watcheded two Mig 15s chasing each other about the sky in a both convincing and spirted manner. Then there was a Clipped wing Chipmunk that repeatably undertook aerobatic routines in a most convincing manner. The flyer reconded that the cold was effecting his flying, how I wish to mimic this impaired performance. Another member campaigned a large PP model, also flown annoyingly well.

Most of us succumbed to the cold, scuttled to our cars and trundled of down the bumpy lane to our homes.

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Yesterday, as I briefly mentioned a little earlier, we had sunshine, blue sky and a gentle breeze straight down the strip. There was a good turnout and we flew until sunset, even if it was a little colder than the last few weeks.

Today however was a different story. "Grey clouds" the BBC forecast said, though they changed that just before I left to "mist". Which is exactly what we had. Well, it was sort of misty, with a touch of drizzle later on. I just put the pushycat in the car not being convinced that anybody else would be flying. There were however a few fellow idiots intrepid flyers braving the conditions, though in the end the conditions beat us and we gave in around 3:30.

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Generally only dry weekend days will see me getting out there, if I don't have to fix the car or go somewhere for Xmas.

I had a very nice hour or so flying across the sunset yesterday up at Little Haldon. I'm gradually flattening the wing tips (and the batteries haha) of my Bixler and finding some very interesting benefits re extra lift. The wind was 2mph at most but she floated on like never before. Quite satisfying.

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Finally got out to the club on Saturday - lovely sunny if breezy and cold day. Just took the one aircraft: my old RCME coachman (freeplan from 1996) trainer which I built in 2002ish. It's fairly uncomplicated to fly (being a "trainer" and a bit of a chugger on it's original and very well used 25LA, but given good energy management it's very nimble and aerobatic within limits!

It was up to it's usual trick of cutting out after 5-10 minutes. I suspect there's a hole in the clunk tube. Anyway after a few flights like this, I took the tank out and glared at it which seemed to do the trick as the next flight was a good 30 minutes.

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Got out on Saturday for a couple of hours. Maidened my Flea Fli - 3 flights but had to hand launch as the strip was too muddy/bumpy for the little wheels.

Also got 1 flight in with the AstroHog. 3 aborted take offs due to model sinking in the mud and nosing over then Engine died after 4 minutes in the air and I called it a day. No damage though

Really looking forward to a prolonged dry period - or very cold so the strip freezes over..

Not the best days flying I have had

Martyn

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