rubber / synthetic fabric runway

[Harry Curzon 1]

It seems to be quite normal in other countries to lay a special material over the grass to have a smooth runway surface. However I have never heard of this in Britain, and cannot find a UK supplier using the American trade name. Has anyone done this at their club, and know the brand name in use here?

For example, https://www.usfabricsinc.com/products/rcaircraftgeotextile/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2GzsV6jVL8

[Capt Kremen]

Very interesting, what sort of costs for a reasonable 'model' runway?

I have often wondered whether military surplus 'Marston Mat' might make a cheap(er) runway for model flying but perhaps the drainage hole size would not suit all but the large(r) model wheel. Good for the parking and pits areas perhaps(?) Anyone using 'Marston Mat' and can advise costs?

[2W]

Golf courses sometimes use synthetic turf, especially for winter tees. Nam Grass is one such product:

https://www.namgrass.co.uk/find-a-stockist/

William

[Tim Flyer]

Trouble is that the subsurface will still need all the preparation and drainage etc.

Other factors are possible wear and damage. If a big powerful model noses over or crashes into it , the surface could be damaged or possibly loose threads may develop. Also turbines may well damage it.

We considered it at our club but it looked far too costly for our 80m runway

[David Davis]

Is this the sort of thing? The club which ran this competition flies off the local rugby pitch during the summer.

**LINK**

[john davidson 1]

We keep a roll of carpet in the hut for models that tend to nose over , also edfs which are slow to pick up speed on grass

[Doctor Chinnery]

Have seen lengths of conveyor belt laid over grass used for take-offs - not overly impressive, the underlying grass & ground needed a lot more preparation than it received so the surface though smooth undulated alarmingly. Also, although a decent sized conveyor belt looks pretty wide in a factory setting, on the patch it's quite narrow - and don't even think about trying to land back on it!

[Dave S.]

The club I flew with in Finland for some years had a take-off mat which was a used nylon belt from a paper machine. Quite a decent size and free if you knew who to ask.

It was useful when the field was wet, I used it for regular .40 size models such as Wot 4 and Sig 4 Star 40. Made taking off a lot easier but it was a small target when landing.

[Robin Colbourne]

When the UK had a coal industry, the rubber coal conveyor belts would have been used for this sort of thing. Ther must be other sources such as waste handling facilities which use them. A contact with the maintenance people which install the new belts would be the answer. Here is used conveyor belting for sale:

Used Conveyor Belting

Terram do a variety of geotextiles in the UK, maybe give them a call?

Terram Geotextiles

[cymaz]

We’ve laid AstroTurf. No more rabbit holes

[Tim Flyer]

Would be very interested to hear more about your experiences with it Cymaz. Especially your views on durability or repair.

Our strip gets muddy and wet in the winter being on clay . I think if we did use Astro turf we would need to make a firm properly drained surface beneath which would obviously cost a fair bit.

[Mowerman]

The Reading club have a super flat smooth runway in most winters and some summers, for floatplanes. I remember most regular flyers had floats which could be fitted to their models when required.

[Steve Houghton 1]

What about laying a length of pond liner?

[Bucksboy]

We laid at Astroturf runway because of the rabbit hole problem. We were given a used hockey pitch that was being replaced. Used Astroturf is expensive to recycle so they were pleased to give it away. It was expensive to lay, brand new or second hand it’s expensive to lay. However, the Astroturf is indestructible, nothing damages it. Model cars are raced on it, planes nose over and crash into it, it’s as good as it ever was.

[cymaz]

Posted by Tim Flyer on 05/01/2021 10:11:41:

Would be very interested to hear more about your experiences with it Cymaz. Especially your views on durability or repair.

Our strip gets muddy and wet in the winter being on clay . I think if we did use Astro turf we would need to make a firm properly drained surface beneath which would obviously cost a fair bit.

Make no mistake.....it’s very very hard work to lay

we had the advantage of a telehandler, scaffold pole and lots of help. It takes a little getting used to when landing for the first time. There is not much rolling resistance as you would find with grass. Much of the weight with our turf was sand.

there is no rabbit issue anymore. Grass will grow through but it takes several years. We didn’t roll or made the ground level. The turf followed the ground contour, we were going to roll it last year but this never happened. Our biggest costs were buying it and importantly delivery, this stuff is damn heavy

Edited By cymaz on 05/01/2021 20:15:11

[Tim Flyer]

Thank You Cymaz. I thought it might be a bit too much for us . I think we would struggle to do a decent job. We are trying to just improve our grass at the moment.

[cymaz]

Posted by Tim Flyer on 05/01/2021 21:44:16:

Thank You Cymaz. I thought it might be a bit too much for us . I think we would struggle to do a decent job. We are trying to just improve our grass at the moment.

We tried everything to get rid of the rabbit plague and the destruction they caused by digging. We gave up and went for it.

If you have as severe problem as we did.....no amount of spraying, etc will help. Bury them alive is your only course of action

[Tim Flyer]

Lol. We don’t have a rabbit problem as we share our land with some keen shooters who seem to keep our furry friends at bay. Sometimes the odd fox does dig in the autumn to for the crane fly grubs which can make a bit of a mess, but even so it’s much less of a problem than water. Some of our float plane flyers are happy though!
 

Our big problem is water soaking and pooling in the winter as our soil is rather heavy clay. We put drainage in the pits area (big gravel filled soak away trench) which was expensive but very effective, but unfortunately cost wise I don’t think we can afford to do our runway.
 

We are considering having a contractor gradually adding “top dressing” (sharp sand mix)to our runway each year to gradually improve the soil. We estimate we will need about 10tons each year for a few years so that is also quite expensive!!

Edited By Tim Flyer on 06/01/2021 10:08:28

[wingcoax]

We used to have some neoprene matting strips where i worked, designed as non slip and preventing your feet being "drawn" on concrete. About 1.5 mtr wide and as long as you wanted with a yellow stripe down the edges.