Hope this newsletter finds you fit and well.
Well spring has sprung as they say !!!. Over the Easter weekend we had a couple of decent flying days with the Friday and Saturday being warm enough to remove our winter jackets.
Even the flying field showed its spring with a display of daffodils.
As I right this newsletter it is blowing 45mph winds and the temperature has returned to a barmy 5 degrees, perhaps the winter jacket is not ready for storage just yet.
Indoor Meeting 5th April
The main topic of this indoor meeting was a pre season safety brief/reminder for the upcoming flying season. I have to say the turn out was not great.
Anthony (safety officer) reminded the audience of the procedure for reporting accidents/incidents. This developed into a healthy debate. If you did not attend the meeting I would suggest logging onto your BMFA account and reminding yourself of what the procedure is.
There were a few models brought along to the meeting which always lends itself to some constructive debate as well as the odd bit of banter.
I guess many of you will have heard the facebook raffle page called RCOnline.
There are some fantastic prizes to be won all for the purchase of raffle tickets which are purchased online. Now it appears to me that Jake Reid and Andy Moore win every week on this raffle so if you do have ago don’t be surprised to read that either of them two have won again !!
Jake brought along a couple of models the first being his latest raffle prize win. The model is a SAAB JAS 39 Grippen. The model is of foam construction complete with moving foreplanes, retracts and led lights. It is very impressive and should look great in the air. Jakes second model was his Carf Models Extra330LX complete with a ZDZ 195cc flat twin, my first motorbike had a smaller engine than that.
Jake purchased this model second hand and flew it last year but had really bad flutter issues with the control surfaces. The model was returned to whom it was purchased from and sorted out by changes servo gears and linkages. It has now flown (see later flying field report).
I took along my new Multiplex 3 metre Lentus foam glider. This is the second Multiplex glider I have purchased and I think they are a good quality and the version which is ready to fly (motor, ECS, servos all installed) are very good value. Multiplex always use HITEC servos and there own brand of motor/ecs which apparently are Hacker but rebadged, still made in China though.
When I got the glider I researched on how to try and protect the foam. There are several modelling products available but one thread mentioned Ronseal Diamond Hard Varnish. This a water based product that can be brushed on and cheaper than the modelling products. Early indications look promising with a sealed surface and some protection from knocks, and the end of the day it is a foam model so you have to expect some surface marks.
Carl brought along a scratch built Fokker development plane (WW1). This plane is a carousel wing configuration and the normal Fokker shaped tailplane.
Carl explained the covering on the fuselage which was a very thin laminate bonded to the structure and then covered in tissue. The appearance was very vintage like and offered some strength.
Carl had 3d printed some components for the plane and the mock engine is a credit to his modelling skills using Fusion 360.
Look forward to seeing it fly.
Flying Field Report Easter
So as previously mentioned we had two good days over the Easter weekend with Friday being the better day.
Jake brought along his monster Extra and it flew fantastic with no signs of any control surface flutter. The only downside was a fuel leak which cut short his flying with it and there was petrol residue on the inside of the plane.
On the Saturday another fuel leak manifested but was sorted out at the field and more flights took place.
The model has a presence in the air and fly’s on quarter throttle for most of the time.
I test flew my Multiplex glider on the Friday and it was perfect, a couple clicks of trim only needed to achieve hands off flight. I even managed to find some lift on the first flight.
I have since setup thermal and speed modes on it and flown it again, for a foam glider its flies extremely well.
Easter Egg Drop
Yes before you state the obvious Easter has passed.
Sunday 16th April is the annual Egg Drop starting at 10:00am, this is dependant on the weather of course.
The format will be the same as before a set of rules that nobody reads or listens to but most importantly a good laugh.
Get to Costa and get some small expresso cardboard cups and coffee sticks, thats all you need .
Fasten the cup to your plane using elastic bands and you are all set
Trainers
Below is the list of current trainers for the club. Get to know these people if you are learning to fly. Ask them for their phone numbers so that you can ring them to check availability. This save’s wasted journeys which can lead to frustration for trainees.
Jason Reid, Mark Conlin, John Higgins, Brian Holdsworth, Chris Vernon, Andy Harrison, Jim Sheldon, Paul Cusworth, Justin Goldstone and Kevin Watson.
The vast majority of these trainers are in employment so their availability is governed by their work. Please bear this in mind when arranging a flying session
Don’t forget the main training session during the summer is Wednesday nights, weather dependant of course
Hers’s hoping for better weather soon
Chris V