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


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Baltic up here - minus 3 degrees C but managed a couple of hours at the field. Three of us in attendance and I noticed again that the EDF jets perform so much better in the cold, denser air, notwithstanding the effect of cold on the batteries.

 

This might belong more in the Dark Nights Fix Up Thread, but the culmination of it was today's flying whatever the weather.

 

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This was the status of my spare Parkzone Spitfire back in January, following a catastrophic crash. The wing had three splits across the whole chord, the fuselage was in eight pieces and cowl in about five pieces.

Having fixed the wing a while back, I've been putting one piece of fuselage back together at a time, with Gorilla glue, making sure everything comes out straight, Reglued the wing mounts front and rear and, through taking my time with the eggshell bits, was able to get the cowl all back together, save one small triangular piece. I cut out that to a more regular shape with clean edges and spliced in a piece of styrene card.

With the model all together I repainted with B&Q sample pot emulsion, which was a good match to the original. Raked the retracts forward a bit, repaired the plastic U/C doors and cut some masks to repaint the squadron codes. Thought I was all set yesterday, but the vibration on running the motor was horrendous and it turned out it had a bent shaft from the crash. Replaced that and the motor mount this morning and on a frosty day took the model back out for a test flight.

Here she is in more or less the same spot as the first picture this morning.

 

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Phoenix risen from the ashes. 🙂showatt.php?attachmentid=18815077

 

The test flight went very smoothly. The frozen ground was a bonus for the ROG without any sign of the ground pecking that sometimes afflicted this aeroplane and she was away. Not a click of trim needed and she flew just like before with everything that the Parkzone Spitfire does so well. It was -3 degrees C at the field and after a five minute flight the motor was sounding a bit different so I opted to land the Spitfire, Nice smooth landing, but the rutted frozen ground whipped the air intake off cleanly, with no damage - that'll glue back on no bother. The motor note change was due to nothing more than the battery struggling with the cold and EN398 has now returned to active service.
 

 

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Not sure about the good flying shots, but I've been trying to get to grips with my video recording sunglasses, having had a pronounced lack of success with even being able to consistently get them to record video. Positioning of the glasses to actually see the model has been a challenge. If I put the video glasses on my forehead, above my flying glasses, it brings the model a bit more central and towards the bottom of the frame, wheras with them on my flying glasses the model was usually off the top of the frame. Still got the issue that the model is too small and I need to investigate some way of addressing that.

 

Anyway, here's a wee clip of the check flight of one of my winter hack models the HK Sukhoi Su26.

 

 

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Dreich old day today, couldn't have been more different than in the week. Very misty and drizzly, 100% grey low overcast and a light SW wind, which meant just grabbing a flight between the rain showers. Just a few brave souls, but we managed a mad few minutes with the wee fellas darting out the sky, joined by John's latest - a twin pusher prop stealth fighter from Lidl, which went very well indeed. No piccies as it was just a grey curtain, but flew my EFlite P39 Airacobra and Parkzone Spitfire again.

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A bit of a wet one today, still 8 turned up and spent the time flying in between staying dry under the awning.

 

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Tasman 'bombers' ready to go (they're both equipped with the HK Toffee Bombing units and were dropping Whistle Bombs today)

 

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The main strip's windsock had departed company from the pole during the week so time to effect some repairs

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Kev thought this would be a good idea

 

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Pre maiden mug shot (so we know who to blame)

 

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Weather this morning was much better than forecast -it was supposed to be 14mph+ winds and rain showers, but on arrival at the field it was calm for about an hour, before the wind started to get up and we were treated to a couple of rainbows from what looked like heavy showers that just missed us. That rain had been well switch on overnight and everywhere was pretty wet. It won't be too long before we won't be able to get our cars into the field.

Quite a challenging sky, in terms of lighting this morning, almost lost the P-39 in exactly the same place as the Spitfire yesterday, turning to land, got the orientation all backwards and it took some recovering, them didn't have the power to get back to the strip. Put the emergency procedures into place - flaps up, gear up, nose down and made a gentle landing into wind but 20m short of the strip.

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Another good day in the North East, no wind. I flew my Warbirds Replicas Spitfire and Acrowot. Thanks to Paul Johnson,   the modified retract mounting works very well on the Spitfire, helping to make perfect landings on our strip, not always kind to retracts. The Acrowot unfortunately chose to clip the power cables crossing the edge of the field, it was the last flight I had planned but despite not saying so it definitely was. It is not to bad and will fly again. 

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1 minute ago, Engine Doctor said:

Shocking !

Not quite as shocking as one member a few years ago, he had an 80" span model and hit the wires at speed,  there was a flash and an explosion at a junction box in the next field with a black cloud of smoke coming of it. On reporting it to the farmer he said the electricity had cut off and he reset the trip and it came back on, the model didn't fare so well.

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Indoors yesterday. Flew my CrackYak, little XK110 heli, and Blade 150. Attendance us dropping off earlier than in previous years, so we'll need to re-invigorate folks. It really is great fun and teaches a lot about rudder and throttle control.......

 

I do need some new batteries as the autumn chills are highlighting 'tired' ones quite mercilessly! Definitely needed as my baby F4U shares the XK LiPos.......look out AliExpress.

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On 01/12/2024 at 14:57, Ron Gray said:

Maiden flight of Kev's Bonsai EDF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_9326.MOV 16.06 MB · 0 downloads

 

 

 

 

 

Followed by the second flight, a bit better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_9327.MOV 17.47 MB · 0 downloads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_9326.MOV 16.06 MB · 0 downloads

 

 

 

 

 

Followed by the second flight, a bit better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_9327.MOV 17.47 MB · 0 downloads

 

 

 

 

 

I missed this post until now @Ron Graybut the videos are unavailable!

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Unusually, I was able to get out two days in a row with the weather being almost ideal apart from the cool temperature.

 Yesterday, just as I was unpacking my gear I was aware of being watched ........

 

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Looks to me like a buzzard although there are kites about too but I don't think the colouring was quite right.

 

Today was less eventful although no less enjoyable. All set to go soon after 9am with the low sun making a show of itself.

 

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The wind was nice and steady at around 5mph with the temperature +3 degrees C.

A lovely morning of flying, much like yesterday, and as long as the temperature is bearable ( I have electric hand warmers anyway) just go for it even in winter 😀

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Popped out late afternoon to get a flight in on my Puppeteer, i`ve had to do some mods to this since buying it as the single servo fitted for the ailerons was only giving up not down on both sides, this was due to the small wheel type servo arm and the rods from that to the bell cranks seriously binding. The servo was fitted in such a way that the only way to get the small wheel off the servo and free up the rods was to cut the plastic ends off the rods at the servo end so the servo could be removed. Having got that far i decided to strip the rods/bellcranks out and fit a pair of servos, one for each aileron. The model flew as expected now and by the time i landed the dark and mist made a safe retreat to a warm home a better option than another flight.

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Edited by martin collins 1
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Freezing cold today, so very much a case of wrap up warm, plus the snow gates were closed as, despite only a light dusting of snow the ice overnight had been very bad. Passed several cars off the road on the way to the field and it was a longer than usual trip, taking just over two hours the long way round. A decent turnout at the field though, with half a dozen souls committing aviation, with a wide variety of models - I particularly liked Murat's Grumman Albatross that went really well off the cold wet grass. Flew my EFlite P-47, HK F6F Hellcat and my venerable Modelshack Cricket. It was flat calm initially, but as the day went on the sun got behind the clouds, the temperature dropped back below zero and the wind got up to about 10-12mph. Nothing that the wee Sonik Spitfire couldn't handle for the last flight of the day, hovering into the blustery wind and landing vertically.

 

 

 

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Another grand day out flying waterplanes at Kitridding, combined with a delicious Christmas lunch at the farm cafe. Just 8 of us, as my usual partner in crime @Merry Mark had work commitments unfortunately.

 

First flight of the day with the venerable Skipper was cut short as the motor mount came loose and, interestingly, the ESC shut the motor down momentarily causing a quick dive down to the safety of the lake. Here it is on the way out as Peter taxies his Cub back to the shore.

 

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Out came the Valiant but, about a minute into the flight, the motor shut down and I lost all control. The Valiant dropped its nose and dived onto the grassy bank from about 50ft. After retrieval, the cause was traced to intermittent contact on the XT60 connectors on the ESC. These connectors rely on the springiness of the male pin and these relax after extended use so all tension in the connection is lost. I'll be replacing them with EC3 connectors in future - a much better design in my view.

 

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I managed to bodge a fix for the Skipper motor mount using cyano which allowed me to keep that flying up to lunchtime at the cafe. Christmas lunch was roast pork with all the trimmings, accompanied by mulled wine, and followed by Christmas pudding, mince pies and even some Christmas cake. I could barely move afterwards!

 

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We staggered back down to the lake about 2 hours later to find the wind had picked up, and from an easterly direction, which always brings jeopardy due to the hill and trees on the upwind side of the lake. I managed a quick flight with the LED-equipped Tundra as the light faded before a light drizzle sent the few remaining flyers back to our cars and we headed home.

 

Despite losing one of my favourite models, it was another great day out at Kitridding. As Mike had commented earlier, where else in this country could you combine a day's flying with a fantastic Christmas meal on the same site?

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Strange reading about the cold weather, Johannesburg is in the middle of a heat wave with lots of wind and no rain. We are even having to freeze fish tank water to help cool my wife's fish tanks as as the water is now at 30c. Byron and I managed some flying at one of the local clubs who asked Byron to come and join them for some flying. We flew the Model Products P40 with a Zenoah 62 which flew very well. The Mustang had flap issues so we did not risk it, I have changed the servo's and extension leads just to be safe.  

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Cheeky morning flying session before Storm Derragh arrives this evening and was treated to a gorgeous sky, fairly gentle 5-7mph SW winds, tending towards even lighter winds through the morning. The field is pretty soaked by now and if the storm brings a lot of rain, chances are we won't be able to get cars on and off next week, so a last chance for that as well. Just three of us there today, had some good flights with the wee fellas and the Bobs both had good jet flights, from Bob D's wee Su35 differential twin pusher job to Bob M's Viper jet.

 

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Main mission for me today was a maiden flight for my new winter hack bush plane, an FMS PA-18 Super Cub, which I picked up from my pal Sandy a couple of days ago. That went super smoothly and I reckon this will be a perfect model for the winter as a Wot 4 Foam-E replacement. I wasn't convinced by the rather underinflated big air wheels, but they worked very well indeed. The intention is to fit the Super Cub with floats to operate off snow, ice and water through the winter and they are already ordered. She flies like a Cub, the lack of dihedral requires some rudder input for a tidy turn - I don't mind putting it in manually, but will probably program in some CAR. The flaps are very powerful, with a pronounced pitch up on dropping them - so tweaked some down elevator compensation and got that about right by the third flight, which I videoed.

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