March 2009

Sunny warm day with still no sign of rain. The wind was quite light and variable until mid afternoon when it increased and settled to a coldish westerly.

Good turnout with about 15 cars by mid afternoon. Lots of different models flying, great to see Nick Cooke back flying he has a "Pantera" helicopter which he can certainly throw about. Lee had several flights with his Weston Tiger Shark with it's huge fuel tank, and even Darren's put down his new camera putting in several flights with his "glamorous" flying wing.

It may seem to some I am a little paranoid (maybe that should read all) but please be careful of the no fly areas particularly watch the area covering the farm and paddocks. Later in the afternoon the wind settled to quite a moderate westerly, any model with a problem could be carried into this area if flying downwind of the strip, please exercise caution.

At the third time of trying finally got the Radio Queen up to a descent height (well Ken did) and got some quite superb shots of the grass track area. The old Radio Queen has undergone quite a transformation new battery's (5 Amphr LiPo's) new ESC and finally a new motor. Ken made two climbs nearly out of sight both on the charge with still enough power left to have completed a third. To date the best flight has been 18 minutes, with the new set up we should break the hour barrier. Amazing just how electric flight has advanced in such a sort time.

Finally got a great shot (see below), no editing, just as it was taken.

The "Harrier" in flight superb and a wonderful noise?

Has had a few modifications since last week. Removed single elevator servo and added two micros to rear fuselage, a lot more positive also allows battery pack to be secured in rear of fuselage.

Originally supposed to fly on just one 4 cell pack just forward of wing, however balances on C of G with no batteries added so have spilt battery, two 2 cells forward and two aft.

In fact have 8 X 2500 Amphr cells on board running, a 2S4P set up. This gives about the same all up weight as a smaller pack up front and lead buried in the tail.

Need to touch up the paint work and add the markings. And then a VTOL version?????

The "England teams" collection (part off).

(Left) An old aerobatic ship, has retracts, has leak, therefore undercarriage not working. Adrian is after a replacement metal air tank should anybody have one.

(Below Left), Adrian's T.rex 450 and his SJM 180?? (below). Both enjoying the fresh air without walls to contain them.

The good weather continues, sunny and dry with a light northerly breeze.

Made it down the field for a few minutes late afternoon before the indoor flying.

(Right) Stan's Corsair, flew well but a bit prone to tipping on it's nose.

Nice model but a bit spoilt (for me) by the colour scheme. We have some superb ARTF warbirds on the market but the all seem to be let down by bright glossy colour schemes in the wrong shade. Why?

Neal's Telemaster

Ian's Extra 300 and his Yak 54

Wednesday 18th
Another nice day with just a slight breeze.
Ray And Steve flew their Blizzard gliders, David continue with his Heli training.
Nick had some minor problems with his new Pantera

Photos:- The new strip from the air

Keith's Sceadu and Nick's Pantera

Ray with a trainer ready to go

The new strip. Paul and David in the pilots box 

Phil's X-ray

Ray W's Blizzard

Phil

The first really good day of the year. Sunshine with a hint of warmth, light northerly breeze most of the day.

Very good turnout with the usual mixture of fixed wing and rotary. Mark Burnham spent the day instructing and got a few new members airborne.

I test flew my ducted fan Sea Harrier from a Guanli kit supplied by BRC Hobbies. Now those who saw this on my workbench all had a good laugh. I to had nearly consigned it to the bin. But after wiring problems then C of G problems then more wiring problems, followed by more wiring problems on the field, Then to the amassment of those watching it flew superbly, not fast but certainly looking and sounding very convincing in the air. No it doesn't have a vertical capability, yet, but who can tell?

Duration is rather short (under 3 minutes) JetScreamer 1400 Outrunner turning a 70 mm Wemotec fan at over 50,000 rpm drawing 65 amps means you don't get long out of 3700 cells. But now I know it flies I will be working on that one.

Harrier gets easily away from a hand launch.

Landing minus canopy, pilot must have ejected!

This is our last day on this strip, had a call from the farmer at lunchtime to say he would start spreading fertiliser from tomorrow.

The new strip is ready for use although we still have to cut the pits area and an I/C starting box. Please contact myself or a committee member for briefing before using.

Chris Bishop.

We both flew the Funflys. I also brought along my Extra 300s however was unable to fly due to aileron servo problems.

Phil arrived with his Raptor Heli and Wow can he fly this in only 12mth's..  

Photos -  Malcolm with a Trex 600

Mark's Raptor 30 & Keith's Sceadu

Youtube Video