Rory Gillies Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 I'm very proud to announce the formation of the Shetland Model Flying Club, the most northerly flying club in the UK, at 60° north between the Atlantic and the North Sea! On 20 February we held the inaugural meeting and the club constitution was adopted and the committee elected. 11 model flyers of various disciplines turned up, with at least another dozen or so ready to join and more interested, not bad for a set of islands with a population of 22,000! After the formalities the conversation turned to the 1/4 scale J-3 Cub on floats and Luna E-V all composite electric slope soarer I had brought to display, and Ernie, the club safety officer, brought his FPV camera and goggles which generated a lot of interest. Our ultimate aim is to secure a permanent club flying site, although we are very lucky in having places to fly on the islands, especially for slope soaring and seaplanes. The club is in the process of becoming BMFA affiliated, and will be fully operational for the 2014 flying season. Anyone interested in joining or visiting us when on holiday on our beautiful islands can contact the club on [email protected] or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ShetlandModelFlyers . The club website is currently in design but will be available at www.shetland-flyer.co.uk in the near future. It's exciting times ahead for model flying in Shetland! Cheers, Rory SMFC Chairman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Congratulations on the new venture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Miller Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 My congratulations too, very well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John F Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Congratulations on seeing your hard work pay off. I dare say slope and float planes would be very popular up there. The Cub float conversion looks very nice indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Great Stuff Rory, We used to have a longest day fly in near Aberdeen. You can probably fly all night. ernie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avtur Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Congratulations on the formation of your club. Over the years I have been a regular visitor to the airports at Scatsa and Sumburgh (for work) so I have a little experience of the beautiful location you enjoy there. Without doubt one of my most favoured locations I have ever visited. I can't think of anything more ideal than living and flying there. Best of luck for the future of your club (P.S. Do you have any work arounds for the often high postal charges for getting your supplies to the ZE postcodes?) Edited By avtur on 23/02/2014 11:05:39 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rory Gillies Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 Cheers Guys, much appreciated! I've been putting a lot of work into setting up the club since October last year but it's paid off and it's great to be up and running. Avtur, most of the RC online suppliers I use all deliver via Royal Mail which is pretty much the same cost and time as the rest of the UK - large parcels being the only exception. I regularly use the Sussex Model Centre, Pegasus Models, 4-Max, Fast-Lad, Model Maniacs, Puffin Models and of course the ubiquitous HobbyKing who all send via Royal Mail, and parcels generally arrive within a couple of days of ordering. We had a model shop that sold some RC stuff (it was mainly car oriented) but unfortunately it closed recently. I've organised some SMFC discount with some of the online suppliers, and there is one shop up here that has offered to stock more RC components providing there's enough interest and sales. Having the club will allow us to pull our resources together for things like LiPos and nitro fuel (we only have a couple of IC guys in the club as fuel is very difficult to get hold of). Cheers, Rory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Crosby Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Hi Rory. I'm Planning to visit the islands this June performing my other "hobby". I hope to complete a LEJOG - Muckle Flugga - JOGLE whilst including the Shetlands classic car show in my Marlin Berlinetta. It's a bit of a push from Cornwall but it's a bucket list thing. There won't be any room in the car for a model (full of Ford spares!!!) but we may meet up there! Good luck with the club. It must be great to have almost 24 hours of daylight in summer although I guess strong models are required in those gales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rory Gillies Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 Posted by Dane Crosby on 23/02/2014 12:27:26: Hi Rory. I'm Planning to visit the islands this June performing my other "hobby". I hope to complete a LEJOG - Muckle Flugga - JOGLE whilst including the Shetlands classic car show in my Marlin Berlinetta. It's a bit of a push from Cornwall but it's a bucket list thing. There won't be any room in the car for a model (full of Ford spares!!!) but we may meet up there! Good luck with the club. It must be great to have almost 24 hours of daylight in summer although I guess strong models are required in those gales. Excellent stuff, and good luck with your journey! I'll definitely be at the classic car show, a friend of mine has a fully restored Bean. I also have a passion for the big stationary engines on display in the Cickimin car park. As for the wind, it is an issue up here with the average wind speed throughout the year a force 4. We get round it by using Eagle Tree Guardians in some of our aircraft (I think this device was invented for Shetland), and fly larger aircraft that can cope with the wind better. It's also one of the reasons I got into gliding, my Radian Pro and Diamond D-2500 can cope with force 4 to 5, and my recently completed all-composite Luna E-V should be able to cope with the stiffest breeze on the slope once I get used to it! Cheers, Rory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 great stuff Rory force 4.... your a tough breed up there, beautiful scenery as well good look with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ashby - Moderator Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Great news Rory, I'll pop a news piece in a future issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rory Gillies Posted February 24, 2014 Author Share Posted February 24, 2014 Posted by David Ashby - RCME on 24/02/2014 10:51:21: Great news Rory, I'll pop a news piece in a future issue Excellent Dave, that would be great - give me a shout if you want more details. Cheers, Rory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 well-done from me Rory and good luck....... ken Anderson ne..1 ....clubs dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Peterson Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Is the model flying club still running? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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