2010 Newsletter Issue 3 (November)

Transcription

1 2010 Newsletter Issue 3 (November) The front page will always feature a photo of a club model or models so make sure you help by sending your photo s (and articles) to anthclif@tiscali.co.uk if you want to be in line for a front page feature. Ian Bottell s 92.5 inch Ryan STA on a dead stick final approach. It is the Black Horse ARTF powered by a CRRC GP26 petrol engine. CONTENTS Editorial To The Manor Born Out In The Park Undercover Club Comps Out And About Deeside 60th Anniversary Fly In The Nats Future Events Caption Competition Club Web Site: BMFA Web Site:- The comments contained within this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the opinion or judgement of the committee or club members unless specifically stated. Neither the editor, nor the club shall take responsibility for the content of articles submitted or published in this newsletter. -1-

2 Editorial Well this is the last newsletter of 2010 and for the first time last week the snowflake symbol appeared on my car dashboard, which is never a good sign. This week, real snowflakes. Mutterings have started about winter builds and Wednesday evening flights stopped a good few weeks ago. Personally I have a few projects lined up, including the identical twin for Ian s big Ryan which I promised to start last time (and yes I know Ian had the cover photo recently, but this was another really good picture). One aircraft finally off my bench is the old Whimpy that Brian Jones used to fly. It has been reinforced, slightly remodelled, recovered, painted and finally flown again. Not everyone s cup of tea, but with a 75 inch span, big wheels and no spats it will be ideal for a winter field. Last year my winter idea was to go electric to reduce prep time and avoid fuel freezing my fingers. This kind of worked, but despite by background in electronics there is something about a proper engine (close your ears Roy) and I still did some nitro. This year I can see me doing a mix of electric and fuel flying but I still worry for my freezing fingers. I have tried fingerless gloves for warmth, latex medical gloves to take wind chill off, and golfing gloves with their thin rubber fingertips. All work to a degree, but it is still a compromise between cold hands and the feeling of unhindered control. I have seen the muffs that go over the transmitter and they seem a good idea, but somehow I can t see myself using one. There is one other possibility I suppose, and that is to follow Andrew and spend the next few months in New Zealand, skipping winter completely! One final note would be congratulations to Steve Atkinson who has gained his A certificate since the last edition. Well done Steve. Ant To The Manor Born First Thursday of the month is club night at The Old Manor club in Wallasey. Club business is discussed for the first part of the evening and over recent months safety issues on the field and future finances of the club are among matters that have been covered. One item brought up at the last meeting was what to be done with an engine donated on behalf of the late Ivan Mottershaw. It was decided to raffle the engine off at the hotpot and use the proceeds to purchase a trophy for scratchbuilt and kit models in his memory. We now have a membership of very nearly 50 and it is the future of your club that is discussed at these meetings, so come along. -2-

3 Out In The Park Summer has been and gone, but at least there have been some good flying days. That said we seem to have had a distinct shortage of balmy wind free evenings. The field at Arrowe has been a hive of activity on Saturdays and Sundays, and occasionally even busier on Wednesdays. A mixture of kit builds, ARTF, sport, scale, fixed wing, rotary wing, large and small have graced the flightline. The odd one has not survived the summer, including a couple that were grabbed by the tree gods. I remember being told once that this just gave a chance to try something new, although that s little comfort at the time. -3-

4 Undercover We are apparently just into the indoor season, but flying at Pensby sports centre has remained popular all summer. In fact it has recently been extended to three hours. Over the last few months there has been some serious scratch building centred round indoor flying as well. The first of these scratch builds is a team effort between Mike Checkley and Graham Roscoe. They have designed a couple of ultra light indoor 3D models that they are now producing as kits for sale. I was with them when they went into the hangar at the Nats to fly one, and were approached within minutes by someone with cash in hand, which tells you just how well they fly. There is an Extra and Yak available at the moment, both featuring milled depron parts, custom spray jobs and everything to fly bar receiver and battery. Both types have appeared at Pensby and if you want to see them in action I am sure they will appear there again. The second scratch build was Adam, who after spotting some sheet EPP at the Nats decided to have his first go. He found a fantastic website with 3 view shots of a ridiculous number of aircraft which gave him a start point for the outline shape (the site is He picked an Extra 300 and scaled the printout to the size he wanted then altered the wings a little to reduce wing loading. Spraying with paper stencils and using cheap but very light gear he assembled the airframe and mounted servo s etc mindful of balance. The finished model has flown, but he is awaiting delivery of some LiPos that actually give the duration stamped on them to test it properly. Not bad for a 14 year old! For those thinking of indoor but wanting cheap instant gratification I made quite a find recently. The find is the ERC Micro Stick distributed by JP and available in just about every model shop for just over 50. For your money you get the aircraft, 2.4GHz transmitter and two LiPos (one slightly bigger for outdoor on a very calm day). The aircraft itself makes no pretence to be scale in anyway so is a classic stick design in miniature with 3 channels. It will fly very slowly and gently (rather like an Ember), but push the throttle and it can fly vertical, easily going from near stall to pulling a loop. Despite 3 rudder control it will turn on a sixpence and I have even pulled a half loop and gone round the hall inverted. The clue for its agility should have been the included ribbon for combat. Indoor combat, now there s an idea! -4-

5 Club Comps The annual flying competition was moved from September 19 th to October 24th after weather that resembled a full monsoon. As it turned out the rearranged date was a little chilly but otherwise a glorious day for flying. Judging of F3A and Freestyle was done by Brian Dillon, Sport was judged by Colin Martin, Novice by Bill Bonner and Scale by all club members present. F3A was first up and the trophy was taken by Lindsay Todd, who bizarrely was test flying his model for a magazine review. Next was Freestyle which was taken by Mike Checkley with the only helicopter in the competition. Sport was taken by Billy Bennett flying his Extra. Scale was taken by Steve Muscat and his massive Yak. Novice was taken by Kevin Sergeant with his Australian Air Force PC9. The day was a great success thanks to all those who took part and those who helped organise and set up. -5-

6 Out And About The Deeside 60th Anniversary Fly In Just a couple of shots showing we do get out and about locally. The Nats August Bank Holiday arrived and on the Friday Adam and I set off to Barkston Heath for the BMFA Nationals for the 3rd year running. We set up camp just off the runway by the three caravans containing by Roy, Mike and Graham to be joined the following day by tents containing Ian, John and Dave. After a night in the hangar the competitions start on Saturday morning, but something wasn t quite right. The high pitched whine of engines being tested usually starts very early, acting as an alarm clock for non competing types, and there was hardly any noise. A quick look outside showed a windy overcast start to what was going to prove a frustrating day. A quick trip for a bacon butty was followed by exploration of some of the flight lines, then a wander round the massive trade presence as not much flying was going on. We spent a while watching some of the scale models struggling to survive and then went in the search for control line pulse jets as Ian had never seen them before. It was about this time that the heavens opened and me Adam, John and Ian spent much of the rest of the day diving in and out of cover. By the -6-

7 end of the day most competitions were way behind schedule and needed an early start the following day to try and catch up. The evening brought time in the hangar again with the three areas of drinking, free flight (and small RC) and shockie madness. After watching the shockies for a bit (including 2 WW1 tri-planes that would prop hang!), Ian, Adam and myself decided how hard can it be to build a tissue covered free flight?. The following 2 hours showed that the answer was quite difficult, especially when the only tools you can find are some scissors and a tube of cyno. Still, they all flew, and they all folded in half as soon as we stepped outside the hangar! Sunday morning did not get off to a good start, it was silent! The wind was blowing the grass flat, and any flying attempted was very rapidly stopped. Still, Sunday morning is the most enormous swapmeet, so off we went. To be fair, there was a lot of stuff on offer, but not as much stuff that made you want to dip your hand in your pocket as the last couple of years. That said Ian and I grabbed some restraints at a fiver each and John stumbled across a replacement wing for his Super Chipmunk. Unfortunately that was about it for Sunday as the wind was so strong that nothing flew for the rest of the day. Looking round the trade, many of them were now operating without tents so that they could pack away at the drop of a hat, and many did. All things considered I decided to follow Ian and Johns example, pack up and go home. So I joined the ranks of all those people fighting to stop awnings and tents becoming kites, had one final trip round the trade, and left. I believe the Monday, although windy, was flyable and competitions continued at the crack of dawn to try and catch up. But for me the pilgrimage was over for another year. Future Events The first Sunday in every month Indoor Flying Pensby Sports Complex (behind the boys school), 10am until 1pm. 8 to fly. Free parking. The first Thursday in every month Club meeting The Old Manor House, Withens Lane, Wallasey. 8pm. Thursday 2nd December is the AGM. The Annual Hotpot Dinner 3rd February. The Old Manor House. Rearranged due to logistical problems. The same food, drink and chat, just a month later. Free to all members, but please confirm whether you are going or not to a committee member at least a week prior to the event. -7-

8 Caption Competition Not really a competition, but it could have been! What caption would you put on this? -8-