Never mind the weather - who has been flying, then?

[GrumpyGnome]

Aye, very much so. Hope yours was as well....

[martin collins 1]

Arrived at the field around 2pm and flew till 6.30, only one there which surprised me as the weather/ wind was perfect, apparently there are three or four going late tomorrow afternoon, best of luck with that forcast is 30mph winds and possible light rain. These two four stroke models were todays fliers, perfect for the nice weather. 

[Merry Mark]

A ‘champion’ couple of hours at the field over a long lunch today in God’s own county.  Then back this evening to maiden my older boy’s, Seb’s new model.

 

Lovely summers day. First maiden of the Wot4 on a 55 AX and hence an unlimited vertical performance! 😬
 

Nice to catch-up with the Wed afternoon club regulars before heading back to office.

 

[Piers Bowlan]

8 hours ago, martin collins 1 said:

These two four stroke models were today’s fliers, perfect for the nice weather. 

‘Mr Wimpy’ looks like a nice model, what is it Martin?

[David Davis]

Yesterday was a superb flying day and half a dozen of us turned up.

 

Benoit flew the green and white model which had been given to us by some grieving widow. He's installed a modern radio and a large OS two stroke. It flies it magnificently with great presence.

 

Being a French flying field there is always at least one Baron in attendance. Francois id perhaps the best builder in the club.

 

I flew my electric powered Super 60 and my Calmato Alpha. Chalk and cheese I know.

 

I had just finished repairing the Super 60 having crashed it on take-off last time out through using too much power. This time it took off alright and climbed out then it turned to the right, I became disorientated and the model crashed in the adjacent field snapping off the nose. I put it down to pilot error.

 

Then I flew the Calmato. It flew ok but I am flying it rather quickly. I have not yet managed to land it on our tarmac runway. My landings are rather hot at the moment but the model has survived and no I did not crash it into the maize! The OS 46 AX is turning a Bolly 10.5 x 7 prop. Perhaps an 11 x 6 would be better.

 

It seems that I can fly a sports model but not a basic trainer. Oh well I have a couple of unemployed little four strokes in my cupboard, maybe I'll convert it.

 

The dogs enjoyed themselves.

Edited August 15 by David Davis

[Adrian Smith 1]

Nice looking day for you, David. I would always find a way to "pancake" in the crops! 

[leccyflyer]

Decent day yesterday with 10 flights, split between the morning on the flat and afternoon on the slope. Morning turned out windier than forecast, but got some good flights in with a series of Messerschmitt Me109Es - Ripmax, Volantex and SEMFF depron profile - as my annual reminder of Adler Tag 13-15thAugust 1940. First time for the Ripmax 109 off the dolly which went well after a couple of test tailwheel settings to counteract the model's natural sharp left turn. Bit blustery for the SEMFF Emil, which was struggling to penetrate the 10-12mph breeze. The wee Volantex handled that wind with it's usual aplomb. Sadly the Bny Shark had to stay in the car.

 

With grass cutting commencing at lunchtime and the wind strengthening further it was time to decamp to the slope, fifteen minutes away, with the heather coming into it's annual splendour.  Conditions were near perfect for a couple of very enjoyable successful maiden flights of the recently restored Mini Phase and Mini Phake, both of which flew beautifully and exactly what I'd imagined an R/E glider of the period would fly like. Very relaxing, apart from rearing up into a zooming climb from the first hand launch.

 

 

Less successful was the PMP Tucano, which really needed a bit stronger blow to be able to crack along, a series of launches resulted in the Tucano settling into the heather, before a slightly stronger wind gave at least a few minutes flight. One for a windier day.

 

Highlight was clubmate Jim's maiden flight of his very impressive 3m composite ASW24, which went away beautifully from Murat's hand launch and climbed out like a good 'un. So realistic in the air the sailplane just looked perfect against the blue sky, just like the real thing, which, of course, it is. Well worth the effort of the rather fiddly pre-flight assembly ritual.

 

 

Edited August 15 by leccyflyer

[Tosh McCaber]

Hmm- pity I couldn't make it!  Grr!!!

[leccyflyer]

You need to stop making appointments for during flying hours - make them for in the dark 😉

 

You would have seen Jim's Mosquito as well. Lovely job.

 

 

 

 

 

[GrumpyGnome]

Windy and wet :-(

Edited August 15 by GrumpyGnome

[payneib]

32 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said:

Windy and wet 😞

I'm free all week next week to bring the kids up the field, with the exception of Tuesday when I've got a tattoo booked. Get your batteries charged up Monday night, because I guarantee Tuesday will be the only good flying weather all week. 😂😂

Edited August 15 by payneib

[GrumpyGnome]

Sad but true....

[Adrian Smith 1]

A familiar sight for this time of year greeted me at the field this morning .....

 

 

It made things slight tricky given the cross wind, albeit only 6 mph. I thought I was going to be thwarted before I started as one of the steel wing bolts wouldn't tighten in the claw nut 🤔. I had a spare steel bolt to try, but same result therefore the claw nut thread seemed U.S. I happened to have the original nylon bolts which came with the kit in my tool box so last throw of the dice it is...... Lo and behold the bolt tightened nicely and saw me through this session of flights. Now I can do an inspection job back in the safety of the work shop. With a cross wind and the long moment of the fuselage I needed to really concentrate on using the rudder more to keep me on track (it's big enough!) An all round good morning after all. 😀

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

12 minutes ago, Adrian Smith 1 said:

I had a spare steel bolt to try, but same result therefore the claw nut thread seemed U.S.

That would have been the last straw for me, luckily you were baled out with a plastic one.

[GrumpyGnome]

Arrived at 8:00 - calm and sunny. Did some tutoring with Ben and his Riot, as the wind got stronger and stronger.

 

Mowed the bits of the field I didn't do on Wednesday.

 

Kev arrived with his Chipmunk and Hellcat.  Had a couple of flights. My Double Trouble refused to play - but I wasn't overly bothered for some reason.

 

Mikey came and chatted, leaving his small light foamies in the car.

 

Then Kev M turned up. Kev has some interesting planes. "What have you brought?" I asked.... "My Yak" he said.... "Look".

 

An hour later, it was assembled...

 

 

It is BIG! Didn't fly it but did some taxiing after I'd left.

Edited August 16 by GrumpyGnome

[Simon Chaddock]

I flew this last Sunday.

A powered conversion of the basic 1m span chuck glider but in addition I added bottom hinged flaps.

They have three settings 0, 10 and 45 degrees on a 3 position switch. A Tx mix adjusts the elevator for each setting. It uses a 5.3x3.3 folding prop and weighs 344g with a 1500mAh 2s on board.

1st stage flap gives the minimum power requirement. Flown gently it lasted for 30 minutes power on and that's with a really old LiPo.  

 

[Stephen Jones]

9 hours ago, Simon Chaddock said:

I flew this last Sunday.

A powered conversion of the basic 1m span chuck glider but in addition I added bottom hinged flaps.

They have three settings 0, 10 and 45 degrees on a 3 position switch. A Tx mix adjusts the elevator for each setting. It uses a 5.3x3.3 folding prop and weighs 344g with a 1500mAh 2s on board.

1st stage flap gives the minimum power requirement. Flown gently it lasted for 30 minutes power on and that's with a really old LiPo.  

 

Looks great Simon, 

Looks like it's a mix and match air frame. 

I like it 👍🏻👍🏻

[GrumpyGnome]

Snatched a few hours this morning.

 

Double Trouble behaved but it was a little breezy! W4 did what W4s do.... the new little Volantex F4U had a go before it was too breezy.

 

Old Kev gave his big Spitty a run out with its new wings. Flew great. And his W4XL did what W4XLs do.  (For those who have lived under a rock for a while, W4s, normal and XL are great fun..).

 

Mikey flew his Bigfoot and Blizzard/Blaze clone. 

 

New Kev turned up, and within about 40 mins was ready to fly his mahoosive 170cc Yak. Stunning.   

 

I had to leave early for another engagement, leaving the others to have more fun.

 

I'll post a flying one, and one of Kev's Spitty, when I find them.

Edited August 17 by GrumpyGnome

[Adrian Smith 1]

Wow what a beast! Look forward to the flying video GG.

[Don Fry]

Certainly saves getting muddy knees. Respect.

[Cliff Bastow]

We have a group at my club called the old farts club and we build odd things. Here is our XB90 Valkerie on test flight today. 

Edited August 17 by Cliff Bastow

[john davidson 1]

Depron?

 

[Cliff Bastow]

No a Foamboard wing and balsa fuselage.

[Cliff Bastow]

So far we have done a 4 ship which was 4 small planes fixed together in a diamond shape, a space shuttle, a witch with a kite type cape and superman.

[Merry Mark]

Lovely day with Seaplanes Scotland flying the ‘Kitridding Lady’, namesake of our local water plane club.  
 

Mixed conditions but we made the best of it and it’s worth the trip for the great company and warm welcome, not to mention the beautiful Loch Earn.