Tosh McCaber Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 Looks like a beautiful finish, Jeff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Smith 1 Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 Ah! yes, Peter. Solartrim is such versatile thing - used it many times in the same way as you 😁 ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Lewis 3 Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 3 hours ago, Peter Jenkins said: My club mate and I met for only the second time this year to fly F3A. We were practicing for the competition I'm running next Saturday and the wind was testing us to the maximum! The other problem with the blue sky as both of us had difficulty seeing the aircraft when it was at the top of the box and against the blue sky. At 900 ft the aircraft seemed to disappear into the blue! Very difficult to maintain the correct flight path in the circumstances! Landing was a bit problematic for me as I got hit by a gust which rocked the wings left and right by about 50 degrees leading to an overshoot. Next time I ended up tapping the port wing on the ground and as it's tarmac, took a small piece out of the port aileron tip! Nothing a bit filler and Solartrim won't sort though! Braver than me Peter, I saw the forecast and thought "no thank you". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Jenkins Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 37 minutes ago, Philip Lewis 3 said: Braver than me Peter, I saw the forecast and thought "no thank you". Desperation Phil. Both Mark and I needed the practice. It's always so much easier when the wind is kinder. It makes you realise how very good the top guys are when they fly in such conditions and it looks like they are flying in a flat calm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Lewis 3 Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 Totally agree Peter, but in my competitive sailing days I was often asked "how do you learn to sail in strong winds" and my answer was always the same, go out and sail in strong winds. I think I got that from Lawrie Smith one of the best Olympians we have ever had. I think the same applies here. Total respect to the devotion though, best of luck in the competition to you and Mark. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 I think you may also need to practice for wet weather flying too Peter! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ashby Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 Good weather and a busy weekend at the RC Bootcamp here in Kent. The instructors gave flying lessons to 11 Scouts and 2 leaders on the Saturday and 10 people (a mix of kids and adults) yesterday. Over 100 flights on Sat and 70 flights yesterday. With the 8 laptop simulators providing constant back-up training it was satisfying to see how quickly people started to fly (real world) circuits and figure-eights by themselves. Flight demonstrations at lunchtime were well received too. The 4 Bigfoot trainers were worked very hard indeed but have stood up well. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Smith 1 Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 I was blessed with a window of opportunity this morning with a couple of days off from part time work. Firstly, sometimes it pays not to take any notice of the local met office forecast as rain was being promised, but there was not a drop at 1pm when I came home. A very benign WNW wind almost down the strip at 4-5 mph along with highish clouds, no sun. Right then, off for some fun! I wheeled out my SkyWing 74" Edge for a blast for the first time for some weeks. Cracking flights all round on a Dualsky 3500 racing motor and she proved to be very precise - indeed I could almost rename here as a "Slick" and not "Edge" such was the accuracy of positioning. Not sure I had too much to do with it as she is just that easy to fly snd a pussy cat to land. Lovely morning's fun 😁 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 Just got a few flights in this morning - windier than forecast but pleasant enough. Unfortunately the retracts on my P-51 refused to come down and so that failed it's pre-flight and will need some remedial work before the next session. Flew my PZ FW190mwh9ch was fun, but looks like I've stripped the nylon gear on one aileron, so that wasn't fit for a second flight. For once I was travelling light with just a few models and that retract failure reinforced that as a bad idea - so I won't do that again. Forecast for the rest of the week is pretty grim. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Jenkins Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 After last Saturday's strong cross wind that rendered my attempts at flying the schedule I'm competing with, this afternoon's weather felt like a flat calm - I know it wasn't but it was so much easier to fly the schedule that it quite buoyed my spirits! I was also able to give some coaching to one of our new members and the good thing was that he visibly improved in the 4 manoeuvres he was practicing. Anyway, here's a photo of the pits showing the windsock in the background and my Anthem in the foreground. With just two of us, we managed to get in 5 flights for him and 4 for me. Excellent prep for the forthcoming competition although that looks like the weather will be back to normal with wet and windy conditions. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Smith 1 Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 She's a beauty, Peter. Nice patch to too. ✈️ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Davis Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 When I retired to central France I bought a lot of fuel from Southern Model Craft including five gallons of straight fuel, i.e, fuel which contained no nitro, because this was the recommended fuel for old Lasers at the time. It was a very pleasant day yesterday with sunshine and light winds so I took my vintage Big Guff powered by a Laser 62 to the flying field. I wanted to see how well it would run on straight fuel. It fired up straight away, I adjusted the main needle for best performance but did not adjust the bottom end because the needle is rather inaccessible in my installation. Low speed running was rather uneven but impatient to get the model into the air, I took off. It flew well enough but on the landing approach I needed a burst of power so I pushed the stick forward. The engine responded then cut. In the subsequent arrival I broke the propeller but as I only live a few kilometres from the field I went home and took another propeller from my collection. This turned out to be a 16x4 as opposed to the 14x4 which I had been using. I drained the fuel tank and filled it with 5% nitro fuel. Again I adjusted the main needle and engine ran perfectly. I enjoyed two more flights. Guess I'll buy some 10% fuel and mix it with the straight. As the weather was so fine there was a good turn out. There were at least four good builders there but with one exception, they had all left their own creations at home and they were flying electric powered foamies. The exception was Francois' newly built Baron which crashed on the maiden take off bending the undercarriage. Mine was the only i/c powered model there. A sign of the times I suppose. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Jenkins Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 Thanks Adrian. We must fix that visit soon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 Busy day today..... mowed the field, did some tuition, and got some flying in myself. Tuition on the Apprentice - turns out flying straight and level usn't dead simple 🙂 Flew the Timber, Aerobat, Wot4 - variety! And had some company - Kev, Jerry, Ben, Bob and Ian. Windy and raining now of course. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Roger Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 Sometimes it’s the last minute things that give the most pleasure, and so it was when a handful of us grabbed some planes and met up at the Thirsk Club for an impromptu session last night, unable to resist a balmy evening under a big blue sky. Mark showed how much Fun there is in a FunCub, Paul ate up the entire sky with his own design CNC Hurricane, while son Elliott spent his Friday evening more purposefully than most 12 year olds, perfecting his 3 pointers. I dusted off my 25 year old Highlight glider to prove I still can’t find thermals, and finally moved into the 21st century by switching to 2.4G with my trust Cub as Guinea pig. I’ve been getting ribbed every time I pull my 35MHz aerial out🤭 We flew until dusk. Happy times. Thanks to Mark again for the camera work. I think the video is worth it if you can be bothered to wait for the download 🙂 5705660b-7caf-42cb-b034-7421f3946236.mov 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 Sunny and warm steady breeze, only me and the Tempest here + some lambs that won't keep off the strip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 Managed a good 3 hour session yesterday morning - forecasts said wet n windy - twas dry and calm..... Flew my Sea Fury, TimberX (now with switchable coupled flaps), Typhoon, Hawk, SE5 and Aerobat. Selected because they fit in the car in one piece - useful if rains some. Exhausted all my LiPos so came home just as the wind picked up; arriving home 7 minutes later, it started raining. Satisfied. Just me on my own so no pics - you've seen all my models on the ground before.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 51 minutes ago, Eric Robson said: Sunny and warm steady breeze, only me and the Tempest here + some lambs that won't keep off the strip Pilot taking a breather, Eric, or is he chasing sheep? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 1 hour ago, Ron Gray said: Pilot taking a breather, Eric, or is he chasing sheep? I have a new pilot,he's at a pre flight briefing, the previous one became dislodged when the Tempest left the dolly prematurely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 Ah, that explains it. For a moment I thought yours had joined the ghost squadron along with Richard's. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Macleod Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 Two test flights successfully completed. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 Well done Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Freeman 3 Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 We had a Bank Holiday in South Africa so managed 3 days of flying. Byron was a busy boy as he had some test flying to do. We flew the Beaufighter which gave him a hard time and also a big Mustang for a friend. He also played with my Mick Reeves designed 1/6 Spitfire which I scratch built. Great flying aircraft and is my 4th one I have built. I did my usual poor filming but you can see how well it flies. Just added another 100 grams of lead to the nose as it was originally balanced before painting. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Freeman 3 Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 This is the Mustang that was flown, Wessie is busy with a refurbishment and wanted to see how it flew before doing the final detailing. Flies very well with plenty of power and nice sound as well. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 Very impressive! Just need a small club member to get inside and fly it.......... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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