Wings 'n' Wheels

[John Privett]

I haven't seen any mention of this on the forum this year, so who's going?

I'm probably going tomorrow (Sunday) having not been to a show this year yet following the cancellation of Blackbushe this year. I see that DB is commentating again at W&W. I'm sure I heard him announce his retirement (again) at last year's show. Perhaps I misheard?

(Typo corrected!)

Edited By John Privett on 25/06/2016 14:25:09

[Andy Shailer]

I will be there, weather looking good too!

[..]

I would of liked to have gone but the drive has put me off, I only did it the other week and cant bring myself to do it again lol.

[Andy Shailer]

Justin...... you know you wonna go!!

[..]

Lol yes you know that too Andy , but with another drive to Luton airport imminent I cant justify any more time behind the wheel on the orbital.

[John Privett]

Posted by Andy Shailer on 25/06/2016 13:53:27:

I will be there, weather looking good too!

Forecast for tomorrow looks good at the moment. I just hope they're having better weather there today than I am round on the opposite side of the M25 - torrential rain and thunderstorms right now! I think my last two visits to W&W have both been cut short be rain in the afternoon...

[Bravo Delta]

Went today knowing the forecast was for rain around 12:00 midday and that wasn't far wrong so did the shopping ( two props and a Lipo ! ) , and a bit of browsing before the rain started . Decided to leave around 12:30 as forecast was for showers the rest of the afternoon

Can't go Sunday due to other commitments

Edited By Bravo Delta on 25/06/2016 15:41:57

[dave parnham]

BD, was it very muddy in the carpark or for that matter along the trade line?

Me and Chairman Richard are going Sunday so wont be at KMFC

[Monz]

The closest I'll get to WnW will be overhead North Weald at 800' to join downwind

[Bravo Delta]

Posted by dave parnham on 25/06/2016 16:29:07:

BD, was it very muddy in the carpark or for that matter along the trade line?

Me and Chairman Richard are going Sunday so wont be at KMFC

Hi Dave ,

Wasn't too muddy at the time we left the car park , one reason for leaving was of course possible churning up from cars leaving later if it rained hard . Not sure how hard it rained after we left

The trade lines are on concrete apron or 'clinker' so unaffected by any rain  Edit though some of the tents are on grass

Edited By Bravo Delta on 25/06/2016 17:55:29

[ChrisB]

Second visit today in 15 years. Not as busy as I remember it but then the weather may have decided that. Good amount of trade and a good selection of models in the bring and buy. DB was just about on form and mentioned they are British several times.....I guess that's all he can say after Thursday 

 

Flying was average. Yet again Horizon Hobbies rules ok and others fit in around them! Again I get the feeling that others have been displaced in favour of the big teams...that has been my feeling at two of the three shows i've been to this year. Do Horizon sponsor the shows these days or underwrite losses, as they seem to fly in twice as many slots as everyone else.

It was the same at Long Marston and to some extent the same at Weston Park but less so because of the other varied teams present.

It seems a trait of shows these days to have team displays rather than individuals flying together. I think the LMA tend to contain more individuals flying together...Cosford will tell!

Edited By ChrisB on 25/06/2016 18:18:27

[stuey]

Are the TJD Warbirds team attending? I hope some other good stuff will be flying rather than all Horizon. I want to see some warbirds! Hoping the going in the car park is good to firm.

[Bravo Delta]

TJD Warbirds were there today ( Saturday )

[Kevin Wilson]

"I see that DB is commentating again"
That reminds me, I must take my ear plugs.

[John Tee]

Went this afternoon and had a few showers , not too muddy but staying nearby to go back tomorrow and the rain has been very heavy all evening so things could be a bit sticky Sunday. Forecast I saw before leaving home gave the impression Sunday should be dry and warm.

John

[Trevor Crook]

The North Weald site is very resistant to flooding and mud - I hope that continues as I am going tomorrow!

[Jon H]

Hi Guys

I am copying my post that was made on another thread regarding the 'underwhelming' flying at wings n wheels.

'I was displaying and WW all weekend and we had a nightmare of a day on Saturday with almost every weather you could think of thrown at us. I even had to belly land my wounded sea fury with an umbrella over my tx as it was filling with water due to the torrential rain that hit just after we took off.

I think this may have put pilots off flying today in what was a pretty serious cross wind. That said, myself and a number of other pilots did make a concerted effort to keep flying and keep the crowd entertained. I had 3 planes with me (Sea Fury, my Russian La7 fighter and 1/4 scale stampe) and flew all of them even though the conditions were not ideal. I don't know if you could see the state of the airfield but the ground was more marsh than airfield with standing water and sodden ground over the whole area.

I can see your point though, i just see it from both sides of the coin and while you are right in many respects please don't forget those of us who still tried to put on a good display.'

 

Regarding the comments about slots it is really hard to get one, so unless you are part of some team or have a model that is 'something else' and needs a solo slot it is very hard to get on the bill. Organising a varied and interesting program is also tricky as not everyone likes everything.

Personally, all this 3d prop hanging business does nothing for me. I am not trying to detract from the skill of the pilots or anything like that, I am just saying it is not my thing. A nice slot of tiger moths on the other hand? sure, let me have some of that slow flying action. But, what of the guys who like prop hanging and think tiger moths are slow and boring?

Also at a show what do you want to see? And this is a serious question as I am curious myself, but would you guys rather see the one off special models that no club modeller would ever be likely to operate from their club patch, or would you rather see club models you can actually operate and buy for less than the price of a half decent hatchback? Personally I like a balance of both, but what do you guys think?

 

 

 

Edited By Jon Harper - Laser Engines on 26/06/2016 21:10:04

[ChrisB]

Jon, its certainly not an easy question to answer. I saw you fly on Saturday afternoon with the Sea Fury, P47 and the LA7. What kit/plan is your LA7?

I remember the old days of Cosford in the 90's when DB was playing Tina Turner on the PA and Steve Holland was flying his Catalina together with 3 B17's, 3 Wellingtons a couple of Lancs, some DC3's and some fighters, the 3rd scale Rawle Spitfire and Ghost Squadron. Most people were individuals who were slotted together and I think it gave everyone a chance to fly, even if it be with relative strangers.

It seems that today we have teams such as TJD, Dawn Patrol, CARF and Horizon. The latter seemed to fly twice as much as anyone else at Weston Park, Long Marston and WW. The names Ajay White and Sonny Millgate seem to be mentioned on the PA more than anyone else. Don't get me wrong, they are superb pilots.

In the old days aeromodellers built the plane and flew the plane and if it crashed they repaired it. Today it seems that the pilots assemble the plane, fly the plane and go to the van and get a replacement if the first one crashes.

When I go to a show I want to see models that I can aspire to, models that I can buy on the day and models that are beyond my wildest dreams. They seem to be present these days but the range of models is lacking. Sports jets and umpteen patternship/aerobatics...same old stuff, supplemented by some proper models (in my view) such as WW1, WW2 and general aviation stuff like cessnas, cubs and Tiggies.

CB

[John Privett]

Here's a few of my photos from today at W&W;

A good day, I thought. Not as busy as many in the past, but at least the weather behaved. Once again DB announced his retirement from commentating - just like he did last year. I expect he'll be back next year!

I must admit to feeling a slight feeling of, I don't know, perhaps nervousness photographing Shane Harding's Hunter in flight. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely plane but as I said to Shane afterwards, the last time I had a Hunter in my camera viewfinder things ended rather badly. (Shoreham, last August - 'nuff said...)

Finally a little full-size interest - not actually part of the show. First a Spitfire that did a low pass over the active runway (not the one the show was on!), then after model flying finished a P40 did a fast pass and then landed.

I'm sure Dom will be along soon with some of his Essential RC photos and videos.

[Gregg Veasey]

just to point out that we (TJD team) build all our own models which take between 1 and 2 years per model. we are always building and have a big fleet but we are all precious of our toys as they take sooooo long to produce.

[Dave Bran]

I have stopped going to shows. Why? Because the models flown have little or no relevance to my flying. I don't aspire to them and will not ever aspire to them because of my situation. This is not a complaint, I'm quite happy not to go, save the money, and buy models I can operate!

I'm not averse to watching the occasional large jet or warbird or large model Dawn Patrol, or large 3D plane or Heli (I fly Heli's and race quads as much as fixed wing). I don't want to see an overkill of models that are so far from the club norm though.

Another major reason is the usual commentary standard. "He's British you know" and "he can go lower than that" in a scale slot is to my mind an inane unending uninformative diatribe I do not want to be deafened by.

So, to be positive, what I WOULD like is to see a decent balance of models being flown inc ones that I can buy and operate, .91/20cc max, under 7.5kg. Able to operate from average standard club grass strips, meet noise regulations, etc. If individually these are considered too boring then spice them up by mass flying but a top pilot REALLY wringing out even an ARTF Trainer is something that is to me worth watching (briefly). What of this took place?

Was there a race quad demo at W&W?

Mass flying of anything ARTF and under £250?

Fun Fly Competition demo?

FAI aerobatics (FW and Heli)?

[Dom (Essential RC)]

Posted by John Privett on 26/06/2016 23:25:31:

Here's a few of my photos from today at W&W;

A good day, I thought. Not as busy as many in the past, but at least the weather behaved. Once again DB announced his retirement from commentating - just like he did last year. I expect he'll be back next year!

...

I'm sure Dom will be along soon with some of his Essential RC photos and videos.

 

Thanks for the pictures John and especially the one of my UltraFlash. For some reason no one ever seems to get a decent picture of it in flight! Sorry but I won't be sharing much in the way of photos or videos as I was flying the UF and an EDF SuperViper, and relaxing for a change. I have video'd most of what did fly over the weekend at other shows so actually walked around and took video of some of the boating and car/truck action. Easy to forget that there are immensely skilled and dedicated modellers from other parts of our broad RC hobby who attend and show off what they can do. Highlight for me was the 1:44 scale aircraft carrier. Mad amount of detail and moving parts. The owner was proud to show off what it could do.

Pete Coxon, dedicated as ever, had his camcorder recording 99% of the weekend on the flight line. If you are after video of the event I suspect you will find it being published to his 'tbobborap1' YouTube channel over the next few days and weeks. I'm working on model review videos for a bit of diversity. If that's your thing then please drop by 'Essential RC' YouTube channel.

Edited By Dom (Essential RC) on 27/06/2016 07:54:11

[Jon H]

Posted by ChrisB on 26/06/2016 23:07:30:

Jon, its certainly not an easy question to answer. I saw you fly on Saturday afternoon with the Sea Fury, P47 and the LA7. What kit/plan is your LA7?

I remember the old days of Cosford in the 90's when DB was playing Tina Turner on the PA and Steve Holland was flying his Catalina together with 3 B17's, 3 Wellingtons a couple of Lancs, some DC3's and some fighters, the 3rd scale Rawle Spitfire and Ghost Squadron. Most people were individuals who were slotted together and I think it gave everyone a chance to fly, even if it be with relative strangers.

It seems that today we have teams such as TJD, Dawn Patrol, CARF and Horizon. The latter seemed to fly twice as much as anyone else at Weston Park, Long Marston and WW. The names Ajay White and Sonny Millgate seem to be mentioned on the PA more than anyone else. Don't get me wrong, they are superb pilots.

In the old days aeromodellers built the plane and flew the plane and if it crashed they repaired it. Today it seems that the pilots assemble the plane, fly the plane and go to the van and get a replacement if the first one crashes.

When I go to a show I want to see models that I can aspire to, models that I can buy on the day and models that are beyond my wildest dreams. They seem to be present these days but the range of models is lacking. Sports jets and umpteen patternship/aerobatics...same old stuff, supplemented by some proper models (in my view) such as WW1, WW2 and general aviation stuff like cessnas, cubs and Tiggies.

CB

Hi Chris

My La7 is from the YT ARTF but has had some cosmetic tweaks and weathering to smarten it up. The engine is a 300v Laser and gives the model superb performance. Its a great model to fly and while its getting on now it refuses to throw in the towel and just keeps going. If you want more info about it give me a call at Laser some time this week.

Dave

First off I agree that say 50% of the display should be of club models.

But, some of the things you mention did happen. Masses of panic biplanes flying together knocking over things on the runway and so on. All of the models I flew were my normal club models (from a grass field) although I do accept that a 19lb 80'' 300v powered WWII fighter is perhaps the top limit of a regular club model.

My 1/4 scale stampe is from the precedent kit and is now freely available from slec for under 230 quid. Yes you have to build it, but with the Laser 180 I had in the nose it weighs 14lbs exactly and at my normal flying power setting of half throttle on a 20x6 prop it is very quiet and could be flown at more or less any club. While quite large it is not beyond the club modeller in my opinion.

Now I do agree that smaller models of the 60'' span category didn't really get a look in. But even with the display line moved back to the required distance for models under 7kg 'small' models like that look like specs in the distance. The same would be true of a quad race unless screens could be put up to show the FPV view to the crowd. It could be done I suppose, but what would the cost of those screens do to ticket prices, and to make them large enough they would get in the way of the regular flying.

I would suggest you try some of the old warden fly-ins as they focus more on club models as well as free flight and control line. Those shows might be more your style with no teams, just flying.

The other thing is we had the CAA keeping really close tabs on everything we were doing. Following the Shoreham crash (like John I was there) the CAA are all over any public display of aircraft and given the size of some models at the show we were under even greater pressure than normal with additional restrictions on what we could do and even placing restrictions on flying model Hawker Hunter aircraft. I do not know the exact details of the restrictions, just that there was a reason why only an electric Hunter flew this weekend.

[Tim Flyer]

I went to WW this weekend and thought the flying was great. In fact my 8 year old insisted we stop shopping and watch. Considering the weather it was superb. I wouldn't want to risk some of my planes in that. I understand most of the pilots have to pay for and build their planes too. We go to shows to see the planes and shopping. With the disappearance of local stores it's a great opportunity to have a lot of top suppliers in one area. I loaded up on fuel plus loads of other small bits and pieces that are a hassle by mail order. In terms of flying club models , I agree . We fly and seem them all at our club anyway . When going to a show it's great to see the special ones. A drone race would be hard to see unless they had mega screens put up.

We will go again next year.

[Lone_Wolf]

I attended WW on Sunday myself being put off by Saturday’s weather. As I left the site to travel home my overwhelming feeling was of disappointment.

On reflection today this was mostly caused because of the tragic summer weather we are having this year which impacted every aspect of the show. Also from what others have said I also gather the Shoreham crash after effects are also took their toll.

On another note what was DB talking about when he kept referring to a “trade show”?