Autumn's here, who's been flying?

[Brian Cooper]

Love the Hanky Breadstick Challenge . .

We do a similar game with balloons, but breadstick look like a more insane game.... we are going to have have a go at these. 😃

[GrumpyGnome]

Lovely day on NE Coast - apart from the very industrious little spiders. Fog's gone too!

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by GrumpyGnome

[GrumpyGnome]

Great day. At field from 9:30 to 15:30, minus 30 mins to let dogs out for a wee!

 

Seagull P47 kit-build flies really nicely (started xmas 2020) - sadly I landed short and now need some extensive repairs to a wing ☹️ entirely pilot error!

 

Despite that, a great day.

[Eric Robson]

Lovely day in NW Durham flying my depron Spitfire courtesy of eflightray then my Acrowot. A good turn out of members 

[Erfolg]

For the second Sunday weekend on the run i am trundling to our club field. Apparently I am now so slow that the son-in-law complained to my granddaughter, when they came across me on the way to hockey.  Oh my, that idiot is just crawling. That is Grandad.  There I was doing a nice steady 40 mph from my perspective, in a max. of 50 mph. I am no longer bothered that it will take me an extra minute, maybe two, as at the field I will essentially not do anything important. From the other road users perspective, even with me towards the edge of the carriageway, the problem is that what once was a 4 lane country road at the national speed limit, now has a single carriageway, each way, a myriad of traffic pedestrian islands (no pedestrians), double white lines, a cycle lane. They cannot overtake. On the unrestricted country lanes I now do 30 mph, mainly due to the blind bends. Again I am in the way of those doing 60 mph. Just go to show, you cannot please everyone.

 

The tractors and trailers and the JCB, are starting to create the dreaded (by me) mud slide, down to the field. 

 

Getting out of the car, the car park grass is now at eye level (i do exaggerate, only ankle deep). In summer I worry when this long, in case the catalytic converter sets it on fire. Now I struggle to get my wellies on. 

 

Yep all this is about me, although without others help, I would now go to the field, as their help is much appreciated.

 

I have only brought two models with me, the first is the Nobler that lost half the wing upper covering. It is now repaired, but is it the same as before? The second is my useless electric glider, very much like this months BMFA picture of a "Sans Egal". It is a 48 inch span, a glider that has never glided, always on power it seems.

 

I persuade the clubs most competent flyer to have a go with the Nobler. I launch the model, it gyrates about the sky. That is until he gets the pitch trim, more or less, sorted. Only landing there was a short debrief, on what to check and what to check, back at home.

 

Next up was my glider number 5, about 20 years old. A club project to see if we could conjure up a low cost club contest powered glider model. Any way the model was launched on partial throttle, as with full throttle it goes up vertically. I am surprised that I could ever have seen it after a 30s motor run. I climb away, do a circuit or two. My helper then directs me to a particular area of the outer field. With power of the model starts going up, I am redirected to a slightly different flight pattern, then returning to the same area. This continues for some time. Eventually I beg to be allowed to land, after avoiding a light aircraft that strays into our NOTAM area. Permission was granted. My first approach was to high, I would have landed long, at the far end of the field. I go around again, as I approach the hedge defining the field boundary, I push the nose down, to penetrate, I start a flair, going reasonably fast, I level out, then just opposite me I force the model down. Just like the old days, when their were no air brakes, or reflexed ailerons etc. This was necessary in those days to ensure that a near stalled model, with little in the way of effective control surface, cartwheeling, or just arriving.

 

Now I just hung around watching the myriad of DFs, that now abound, the constantly flying WOT-4's model e's that have bread in vast numbers, the very occasional IC model. After about 2 hours I am so cold, I decided to return home. 

 

On taking my wellies of, I am convinced that the wellies are leaking. But no, it is just freezing feet.

 

In no great rush, I make my way home.  Hmm, in the old days, I would be travelling much faster, just slowing for the speed camera (in the middle of nowhere, no junctions, just on the top of a decline). Time to prepare for Dinner, a few minutes saved in travel, would have made all the difference.

 

Reflecting on the flying, I think to myself, I did it all myself, then again, did I? 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by Erfolg
mistake and paragraph missing

[Futura57]

Today was a Brucie-Bonus day weather wise . Clocked another 4 flights on my Top Quark at Epsom Downs. That's 86 and counting since the middle of July.  High alpha flight into 10mph wind gave zero ground speed. Am beginning to notice the Lipos are not performing as well now the temperature is dropping. 5 mins instead of 6. Might make myself a lipo warmer for this Winter.

 

[John Lee]

Lovely day once the early morning fog dispersed. Just the job for a couple of contrasting 3 channel models!

 

 

 

[GrumpyGnome]

Been raining all day here - I need to watch out for alligators in my back garden..................................... like a swamp!

[Nick Cripps]

A trip out to the field lake today. All I needed was a pair of wellies and a waterplane.

 

Yes, this is one of the runways...

 

[Colin Carpenter]

John Lee .  I spy an Arrows Avanti. I fancy one. Impressions please. Ta ! Colin 

[John Lee]

1 hour ago, Colin Carpenter said:

John Lee .  I spy an Arrows Avanti. I fancy one. Impressions please. Ta ! Colin 

The Avanti is the fourth 50mm Arrows EDF that I've got and in order of preference I would rank them:

 

1) Hawk

2 Avanti

3) Viper

4) T-33

 

That is very much down to my personal preference and I have no doubt that many others would have them in a different order.

 

All are really good (I would not keep adding them to my collection otherwise!), I enjoy them all and one always accompanies me on every flying session.

 

The Avanti flew well right out of the box with very nice control harmony. With 8 flights to date I find it is not as fast as the others in the range, I suspect that this may be a combination of it being a bit more draggy &/or having a more restrictive airflow into the fan, it has a grill over the breather hole unlike the unrestricted others. It  is very 'groovy' in flight & does all the normal rudderless aeros without effort. Low speed handling is exemplary and it gets way from the launch & back on the ground without any drama. It looks good and has a nice 'sit' in the air. I use 1300mAh 100c 3S batteries on all these models which I find adequate, but I can appreciate that many will want to try a 4S in the Avanti &/or try & free up the breathing to give it a bit more high speed urge, but I will enjoy mine as it is. 

 

Hope that helps Colin.

[John Lee]

On 24/10/2023 at 18:31, Futura57 said:

 Am beginning to notice the Lipos are not performing as well now the temperature is dropping. 5 mins instead of 6. Might make myself a lipo warmer for this Winter.

 

 

 

Yes, with the temperature 6 degrees this morning it was time to pop the LiPo warming pad into the carrying sack. Four quid from Amazon/eBay stuck to a bit of insulating bubble wrap using USB power, it has been doing a good job for the last couple of winters.

 

 

 

[Colin Carpenter]

Thanks John. It sounds like a good winter chucker for a soaked winter field. I have the FMS 64mm Avanti which flies on rails. I’m a 9am flyer and unfortunately our field is too wet at that time to get it off soaking wet grass, so it’s back in its box for last 3 yrs. The fact it’s slower is handy as the patch has frequent space limitations. Might ask SWMBO to get it as a Xmas present. Thanks again ! Colin

[Simon Chaddock]

I flew this today as the weather was sunny (once the fog lifted!) and almost a flat calm. The down side was the field was ever so soggy.

It looks like a humble 'pod and boom' pusher but its construction is a bit unusual. 

2mm Depron wing skins over printed ribs with a composite hard balsa/Depron/Hard balsa spar. Printed fuselage pod and pylon. Fishing rod glass fibre boom. 2 mm Depron 'V' tail with balsa spars. A 2624 1450kV brushless driving a 10x3.8 taking 280W. It weighs 743g (26 oz) with a 2800mAh 3s in the nose giving 170W/lb. Unlimited vertical if required along with the ability to do a "slide" take off from grass. At the other end of the scale it 'dawdles' almost silently using just 30W. It glides pretty well too.

Built during Mar 2018 and flown regularly ever since. Not bad for a light weight foamy.

A video taken May 22 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axz4WMclvBU&t=15s

Edited October 25, 2023 by Simon Chaddock

[Erfolg]

Yep, seems you cannot rely on the weather forecast, at least not here. No torrential rain, a clear blue sky, barely a breeze here.

 

Again I took the FF look like pod and boom glider. Once more it performed very well. I am guessing that this flat field, is not, existing with rising ground from the coastal flat land in the distance, with additional boundary slopes. This opposed to the truly flat fields that Cheshire has, with the occasional copse to divert the eye.

 

My flight was in the region of 15-20 minutes, which is a long time for this electric power modeller.

 

Surprisingly to me that the field has been mowed, sometime since Sunday. Very surprisingly as I still needed wellies to cross the field, standing almost still, the ground turned a brown, as the earth covered the grass. 

 

Now was the time for me to fly my power model, other than my model accelerated to a speed where it stayed, right down to the end of the field, when I shut the power of. My next attempt was exactly the same.

 

I had now been joined by another club member, whose foamy was up and flying, with a couple of feet. I now have a more powerful motor on its way, power is the answer.

 

Much to my surprise I was pleasantly surprised that its half term for schooling, the school on my normal route, would normally lined both sides of a country lane. In these circumstances I normally inch forward, topping out at 5 mph, constantly worried about the mothers, as well as the children, never mind other cars etc. coming the other way.

 

Thank Goodness, I am not grumpy, as some have suggested

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Erfolg

[Frank Skilbeck]

Bit of old school training earlier in the week (yes I know, I've told him to route the exhaust away from the model)

 

[john davidson 1]

Erfolg, get a pair of insulated wellies , available in garden , farmer, outdoor type stores. No more winging about cold feet , ok. 

[Ron Gray]

A little while ago I nipped over to my local field and gave my new Butch Bird it’s maiden flight:

 

 

[aidan mcatamney]

On 25/10/2023 at 16:50, Nick Cripps said:

A trip out to the field lake today. All I needed was a pair of wellies and a waterplane.

 

Yes, this is one of the runways...

 

Ah beautiful.   Float flying is my absolute favourite.   Enjoy the lake.  

[aidan mcatamney]

On 26/10/2023 at 16:40, Frank Skilbeck said:

Bit of old school training earlier in the week (yes I know, I've told him to route the exhaust away from the model)

 

Thats a nice looking vintage plane there.  

[aidan mcatamney]

22 minutes ago, Ron Gray said:

A little while ago I nipped over to my local field and gave my new Butch Bird it’s maiden flight:

 

 

Nice plane design Ron and excellent maiden flight.   

[GrumpyGnome]

Strange morning....

 

Blue sky, gentle breeze and a weird yellow hot object observed behind us.

 

Two hours later, it's grey, breezy and 7 degrees colder.

[Adrian Smith 1]

My first outing since the maize was cut and back from holiday. Bright sunny morning early with a heavy dew. Virtually no wind at 9am which was a surprise as I was expecting +9mph. Anyway get on with it. Out came my 91" Goldwing Slick. Bit of a beast but fun to fly.

 

I do hope that pilot bloke makes sure the cockpit de-misters are working as there's a lot of condensation about!

[Kevin Fairgrieve]

My pictures from "The Pilots Ball" are now on my flickr page.

The Pilots Ball.

 

 

 

A couple from the set.

[Ron Gray]

Captured the event well, Kev, excellent shots.