Well deep joy we have had four days of dry weather with some sunshine thrown in for good measure. Lets hope its the start of some settled weather.
Having dry weather I can take at the moment but please a bit warmer is not a lot to ask for is it ???
Flying Field
The field has had the grass mown and is slowly drying out, yes its a bit spongy still and there are some fairly deep ruts in the middle of the strip but considering what it has been like its a massive improvement. The mowing contractor is hoping to get another cut done soon this will condition the grass a bit and help it recover.
The track down to the field has dried out considerably apart from the area where you turn into the car park.
The top half the track has suffered over the winter with some pot holes which will probably need filling in once the farming contractor has finished driving up and down the track.
The committee are aware of the issue.
Hut Maintenance
A few weekends ago the committee set to and did some ‘freshening up’ of the hut and the decking.
Andy Harrison brought the mother ship jet wash down with containers of water.
It has to be said there where plenty of choice words with regard to a technical issue with a new lance, this was rectified by various spanners, mole grips and I think I witnessed a hammer being used.
Jason was seen sucking water out of a big blue barrel which had been stood next to the hut for the last twelve months. I can only assume that it did contain any Legionnaires disease as I saw him on Sunday alive and kicking.
Once the jet washing was finished the decking and surrounding woodwork was treated to a coat of wood preserver
Below are a couple of photos from the action
Before anybody asks that is not Benny from Crossroads doing the painting
(If you know you will know !!)
Easter Egg dropping Competition
As you well know the competition had to be cancelled on the allocated day due to the weather, the normal rain and gales so it was rescheduled for Sunday just gone.
The weather gods where on Jakes side as there was little wind and the sun did try to come out
As an extra bonus we were treated to a masterclass display by the local Buzzards who where in plenty demonstrating how to find the thermals.
So as is the norm with this competition the first twenty minutes where spent explaining the rules and then people working out how they could bend the rules, in other words cheat.
So the format was everybody had three goes at dropping the water filled mini balloons in the target circle that had been marked out, after each balloon drop the pilot then had to do a spot landing as near or in the marked out circle.
This was followed by a flight with the aim of getting as near to as a two minute duration as possible.
The dropping of the balloon is harder than you think with some people loosing the balloon after take off.
The spot landing element proved interesting and next year could be renamed as the ‘rip your undercarriage off’ round, less said the better.
With regard to the nearest to a two minute flight proved to be very interesting will everybody coming in under the two minute mark some more than others. All I can say is Duncan do not get a job with the speaking clock the country will come to a grinding halt !!!, Duncans two minute flight was 58 seconds, I know he was in a rush but that was nearer one minute.
I should give thanks to Andy Moore who adjudicated the whole event armed with his clipboard and with the approach akin to the speaker of the house of commons.
Well done Andy in keeping the event flowing and giving nothing away with his stern face and not accepting bribes.
Duncan did make amends for performance by bringing some home baked muffins which complimented MrsV’s blueberry and lemon cake.
Now to the results, a bit controversial but the results don’t lie
1st Place Jake Reid (yes the organizer!!!)
2nd Place Andy Harrison
3rd Place Mark Conlin
Well done to everybody who took part..
Below are a selection of photos of the event
Upcoming Event
Please support the event even if you have no glow engined models
Come along and watch pilots flicking away trying to get their glow motors started, only kidding modern manufacturing methods produce some very nice reliable glow motors, well mostly (Saito/Steve Warburton)
Winter Build Project
When I was sorting John Higgins workshop out I came across a box containing building pins, elastic bands, scalpel blades and various other building tools.
Spur of the moment thing I decided I would like to build something and relive my younger days.
I wanted something simple to try first and decided upon a ‘Veron Impala’. This model is from early sixties and is two channel slope soarer glider of fifty four inch span.
I remember seeing this model as young lad and thought it was a massive model. Compared to todays RC gliders its flying abilities are somewhat lacking but I decided it would be a simple build (well so I thought).
Belair laser cutting services do a laser cut rib pack which includes a copy of the plan as well. The pack arrived and the quality of the cutting was excellent.
I then purchased the extra sheet balsa and strip balsa from the Balsa Cabin along with various wood glues.
The laser cut pack and extra balsa and glue had cost me £160, not cheap building models I discovered.
The build was fairly straightforward starting with the fuselage, my workshop was soon 5mm thick in balsa dust.
Next where the tailplane and wing. These are flat bottomed section so easily built flat on the board.
During the wing build I did notice some issues with some of the build notes on the plan and what the plan actually showed. These were mainly around the conversion to two channel modern radio, when the glider was designed this was not available and escapements were used to control the glider.
I have covered the glider in Solartex to try and give it a vintage nylon finish.
My conclusions from the experience are:
I have enjoyed doing it.
For a 54” span model its expensive !!! balsa wood prices have gone through the roof.
The plan has a lot of draughtsman licence on it, in other words its wrong in places and this is then reflected in the laser cutting.
Will it fly ??? yes when there is a 5 to 7 mph north west wind on Longridge fell
Will it fly well ?? its a rudder/elevator flat bottomed wing glider, I suspect it will be limited.
Flying field reminder
Hopefully the good weather is starting to appear which means more flying.
Can I remind members to take their litter home after flying please this includes broken prop blades and other such things.
Regards Chris V