May blog

Saturday Sunday 23rd & 24th. Best weekend of the year so far weather wise. Blue skies from horizon to horizon not a cloud in sight, glider fliers still complained as nothing to mark the thermals. Why you would want to wear thermals on such a warm day I don't know and as to marking them? What do they get points for content, star quality, entertainment value? Some of the flying certainly got good marks for entertainment value though not quite what the pilot intended. It was warm verging at times on hot, quite a few sunburnt faces around and other round bits. Bit of a pong to! Not from burning bits but from the mixture that is currently being injected into the surrounding grass, a mixture of sewage effluent and gone of milk even my word smithing can't do it justice. It has to be experienced to be appreciated. If you fly on an active farm then these things have to be tolerated, we could be on pig farm. A good turnout both days with lots of flying didn't see any mishaps. Forecast for Bank Holiday weekend????? Chris B.

Derek's Southerner still going well.	Mike's vintage model think it's an own design.
	Lee's Kyosho Spitfire. Close up it looks like most other ARTF Spit's, not very convincing. But watching it in the air from a distance it looks just right and Lee gets the aerobatic manoeuvres just right with the climbing barrel rolls totally realistic of a full size being gentle displayed.

Stan's Harvard.	Paul's Ripmax Druine Turbulent, needs that hole in the middle filled in

CB's Harrier makes it's last flight, no he didn't crash it! It's up for sale.	Ken or Clive's Hawk, most likely Clive's due to proximity to the ground.
	Jim's new pattern bipe Sebarts Miss Wind S 50E Bit of a "marmite" model in that you either like it or you don't. Built to conform to the current rules and to be competitive this is what you end up with. Whatever your opinion it flies superbly big wide smooth open manoeuvres, does look the biz in the air.

Richard off again in his unmarked thermals!	Unknown Yak.

Being so distinctive you think I would know who this belongs to.	And this is Malcolm's Wot 4, but which one?
Left over from the week CB's much modified Lipo was the centre of much merriment. Modified somewhat when my grossly overpowered Multiplex Twin Jet exceeded the capabilities of its servos and did a terminal dive for the ground. Was a brand new 3S 5 amp/hr pack and about twice the size, if I can make them that small why can't the manufactures. If you think that's a mess you should see the receiver that was in front of it! I think it's safe to go in the car now.

Full size visitor dropped in on Saturday afternoon after running out of lift. The glider is a Mosquito G-DEAK flow by Tim Barnes. He sent the following e.mail; "It was nice to meet you guys - you made landing out more fun than it usually is".

May 2010

Gloucester Model Flying Club

Thursday 20th I was greeted by no wind and warm sun. Was I dreaming? I could have been but for the stink of what ever it is farmer Potter is spreading on his fields! There were 10 or so flyers enjoying a summers evening; faces who must have just come out of hibernation. Steve the vet was flying his raptor and newly engineered flybarless twister storm with out a black box. Stan threatened to terrorise us with an old morley in the shape of a Hughes 300. This little beastie wouldn't start so he used his gasser for the job instead. Clive and Richard kept well out of the way with a bit of thermalling. Steve W flew his Funjet and panic. Cookie was flying something! Mike B only had 3 models with him to break. Andy flew his raptor expertly as usual. Nick flew as only he can. Kevin and Ken B flew too. Darren John's Extra I haven't been glider flying for a while because I got a nice birthday present, so I've been spending my flying time at the Gloucester club. This is it: Extra MX by Precision Aerobatics. Power train WAS as per recommendations, PA Thrust 50 motor, PA Quantum 65 ESC, Vox 15 x 7 wooden prop and two Turnigy 2200 11.1V LiPos in series. Wingspan is 58", weight 1.8 kg. unfortunately, the speedo had to go back to Al's, now replaced with a cheaper Dualsky one, which works fine most of the time. I tried everything I could think of with the Quantum ESC to get a satisfactory range check (twisted servo leads, ferrites all over the place, routing the aerial in different places, etc.). I flew it twice, total time in the air less than two minutes, because as soon as it was off the ground and more than about 50 yards away it started glitching like hell and I had to bring it back.
I came to the conclusion that the ESC just wasn't compatible with 35 MHz.Anyway, so far so good with the Dualsky. Now, the Dingo is old hat and I'm not frightened of it any more, which makes flying it much more pleasant. I'm not really frightened of the Extra either, because it's remarkably easy to fly - does what you tell it to do and no nasty surprises. I've only flown it on the low servo rates so far, and the cg is about 4 mm forward of where they say it should be (given to +/- 2 mm) but eventually, look what it's supposed to be able to do! http://vimeo.com/8104007
Tuesday 4th Dropped into the field to see if anyone was flying. Happy to say there isnt much standing water either on the track to the field or on the grass track area. For the next few weeks can you use the right hand gate into the flying area. Nearly forgot, Andy has got a new ic trainer and it was test flown tonight. Malcom had his Wot 4 and he was seen flying an ELECTRIC plane!!!!! Clive was present, not sure if he was flying. Darren