Spring is here again - who's been flying?

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Arty photo Peter. 👍

[Philip Lewis 3]

A lovely day up at Plane Cray MFC Hurley last Sunday.

 

Edited June 6, 2023 by Philip Lewis 3

[Jake Bullit]

Pretty sure it's summer now, but I'll post here any hoo.

 

Up at 4:45 a.m. to drop my daughter off at the airport. Then back home and loaded up to the field by 8a.m.

Was hot and increasingly turbulent as the morning went on. One of the lads captured me flying the recently acquired Mosquito, probably low Res as it was shared over WhatsApp.

Misjudged the landing and took the tip of the vertical. All fixed at the field.

 

great morning with lots of flying.

https://youtu.be/X7vOGdurTh8

[GrumpyGnome]

Lovely day on NE Coast..... about 8mph straight down the longest runway, blue sky, wispy clouds.

 

Pits when Kev (new) and I started; few more members expected....

[leccyflyer]

Club static scale competition and first leg of the bungee competition yesterday  in blustery conditions - great fun though and for once had some decent flights off the bungee, which isn't really my thing. In fact I enjoyed it so much, not having to repair a duff, broken lightweight glider for once, that I stayed on afterwards for a few more flights off the bungee.

 

I'd hoped to have my Flair Beaufighter ready for the comp, but it was still miles away from being finished, so I only entered my Kyosho P-51D - yet to be maidened, despite being finished for more than a year - in the ARTF section. The preprinted covering went all saggy in the sun and looked horrible.

 

This morning I'd intended going to a fly-in, but when I got up it was raining heavily. the rain continued all morning, no bad thing really,  but stopped by lunchtime. However by then I was committed to some jobs in the workshop, so didn't bother going flying in the afternoon.

[GrumpyGnome]

Bit of a mixed bag leccy...

[Chris Walby]

Flew yesterday morning before the wind got up after12 and then again this morning

 

Most of the time it was less windy than the photo and a very variable direction 

 

 

Coffee, canned drinks, good chats and 7 flights, more nose weight out of the P38L and T33 + I'll need to take the nose plate off the Habu2 for the lead removal (lead for 4S lipo, but now flying 6S).

 

 

 

 

[Eric Robson]

Three days of good weather in the North East has seen me flying this one. Laser 100 powered it has now had many flights and the engine is beautiful , starts first time and performs well , ticks over like a watch 6 -10min flights each day, on to my last gallon of Laser fuel so need to order some more.

Nearest model shop 80 mls. away 

[john davidson 1]

23 hours ago, leccyflyer said:

Club static scale competition and first leg of the bungee competition yesterday  in blustery conditions - great fun though and for once had some decent flights off the bungee, which isn't really my thing. In fact I enjoyed it so much, not having to repair a duff, broken lightweight glider for once, that I stayed on afterwards for a few more flights off the bungee.

 

I'd hoped to have my Flair Beaufighter ready for the comp, but it was still miles away from being finished, so I only entered my Kyosho P-51D - yet to be maidened, despite being finished for more than a year - in the ARTF section. The preprinted covering went all saggy in the sun and looked horrible.

 

This morning I'd intended going to a fly-in, but when I got up it was raining heavily. the rain continued all morning, no bad thing really,  but stopped by lunchtime. However by then I was committed to some jobs in the workshop, so didn't bother going flying in the afternoon.

You missed a lovely afternoon, hot, no wind . After a few flights we dismantled the electric fence and strimmed the untidy bits so all ticketyboo now

[aidan mcatamney]

Was at the flying field tonight with my T28 Trojan.   The weather was glorious.   

[Jake Bullit]

Currently having a lovely time on the beach with these two and a few others🌞🙂

[leccyflyer]

Still the best flying small Spitfire of all of those that I've tried, IMHO.  You must be having a great day. 🙂

[Erfolg]

For me it is summer, all the local pubs, cafes and restaurants are filled bursting.  The promenade road has both sides festooned with parked cars. My dream of flying from the beach obliterated by the close proximity of an airport and the BAE, and the CAA proximity  restrictions. So our club field is where I must go.

 

I usually now launch  into a tirade about local road works, which involve a minimum of 45 minute que. Finally the 12 weeks work has now just been opened, new white lines a pedestrian island have been revealed. The Moss road  still months away from completion. I am almost happy.

 

This weekend was the clubs Jet fly-in, having forgotten, I arrive with a fleet of electric propeller models. Showing reasonable FreudenSchade I symphysis that the lack of any wind has grounded most jets, due to field length, apparently landing is the issue.

 

On that basis I had a large number of pleasant flights. This prompted many boots popping open, lots of non jets emerging. A couple of very large foam Spitfires were flown. The days of orange peel finish long gone. An full or several squadrons of foam EDF models were almost simultaneously took to the air. How times have changed, who wants a multi thousand pound jet, when incredibly successful edfs flit around the sky at high speed, low speed landings. No one or more, running around with large fire extinguishers.

 

Eventually the jets were fired up, the smell of diesel pervaded the air. One by one they took to the air. Most impressive as flying machines at work, also exquisite at rest. There were a small number of incidents, where models retuned to boots, no doubt for the owners deciding how to progress repairs, if deemed feasible.

 

Now my hay fever got the better of me, I decided to go home, for eye drops and prepare dinner. The journey now much more pleasant using the lanes that the locals use.

 

The high point for me was seeing a home made EDF that many years previously would not fly, different fan, changed to duct work, now streaking around like a rocket when opened up.

 

So why at home today, its club day tomorrow. Where wall to wall sunshine is promised.

 

 

 

 

 

[Zflyer]

Great people out there flying. Today windy, but its the gusts that are a problem so no flying.🙄

[Ron Gray]

A visiting chopper stopped our weekly ground maintenance day

 

 

 

But we still managed to get the work done, our model flying area is now like a bowling green and the rest of the grass runway (full size) isn't far behind!

 

 

 

And there was time to get a couple of flight sin with the Hanky Plan Foamy Foamies and my Viperjet (picture taken at home where the grass is a bit longer!)

 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Does that yellow machine do all the work to get the field looking like a golf course Ron?.

[Ron Gray]

No, we have 3! An old Fergie that tows a 3 gang cutter, that does the main strip. The yellow one does the edges and any long stuff then we have another zero turn powered 3 gang that does the final cut on the model flying area. There is a ‘Cutting Crew’ of 7 members who take it in turns to do the weekly cut, 3 spend just over half a day operating the 3 machines (then go flying!). 

[Stephen Jones]

Despite the strong winds we are currently getting I managed to get a couple of flights in this weekend.

 As I have not flown my Sipa S-200 for a while and never at are new field It was time I got it in the air.

 

It is still as fast as I remember it.

Steve

[leccyflyer]

Good day today, but very brisk wind 12-14mph made things interesting at times. Bottled out of a maiden flight of my Graupner Chilli as it was just too blustery, but had good flights with my P-47D, Spitfire IX, Wot 4 Foam-E and Volantex Spitfire. Successful maiden flights of clubmates huge depron F104 Starfighter and depron T-33 and nothing got broken all day, which was an excellent result. It was a hot one and batteries were all coming down quite warm and with voltage a bit lower than under normal conditions. Will break out my battery cooling tubes before the next flying day.

[aidan mcatamney]

Was at the flying field again last night with the Tiger aerobatic plane. The weather was glorious.   

[Geoff S]

Not been flying much this year (I should advertise and offer a reward for my missing mojo) but went up this afternoon when it had cooled a bit and really enjoyed what little I did.

 

I'd spotted a GWS Formosa in the loft I hadn't flown for some time because I didn't really have any suitable batteries. However, I've just acquired a couple of 1000mAH 3S packs for another model which would suit so I spent an hour this morning soldering XT60 connectors on everything just to make life easier.  Everything went well on its first flight for years - at least for the first 5 minutes when there was a slight hiccup and the motor went dead. Though I say it myself I made a greaser dead stick landing and the front of the model looked like this.

 

 

No wonder I lost power!  I never did find the motor/prop/spinner.  I was gifted this model by another member, a superb builder and flyer so I never thought to check motor security.  Oddly enough, as I left the field at about 7.30 I met Jim on his way in.  He seemed to accept the blame for the mishap, but pointed out that as it had been a gift it was out of guarantee 🙂  It was flying really well until the mishap so a new motor will be fitted but, sadly, without a cowl.

 

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by Geoff S

[leccyflyer]

Bad luck Geoff. Do you have access to a 3D Printer?

 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2316232

[GrumpyGnome]

Another glorious day on NE cost yesterday - 24 degrees, 9mph wind straight down the longest runway.

 

Flew another 6 tanks through the OS in my Double Trouble - the enjoyment is multiplied 10 fold when you're not worried about the engine stopping!

 

Tried my little Viper on 4 cells - faster but not necessarily better; but at least the ESC didn't blow up.... 

 

Ran in the Force 46 on my Ruckus - well almost ran it in.  Still needs a little more. Plenty of oomph though, albeit a slightly more agricultural oomph than the OS.

 

Had some company for most of the morning, and left just as our visiting flyers arrived - hoorah, I don't have to dismantle the safety fence!

 

Looking out of the window, looks lovely again.  Sadly, puppy sitting means an hour flying at most.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Some good stories, this is always one of my personal favourite threads. But summer seems to be in full swing, so I've started a new thread here...

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Spring is sprung (except, apparently, in West Wales and Somerset) so it’s time to reawaken this thread. 
 

Unfortunately I’m engaged on missionary work in East Yorkshire this weekend so missed today’s lovely flying weather and have nothing to report.