Well there you go in a blink of an eye another flying season practically over and done.
Overall disappointing weather but we have had some fine flying days. I was speaking with Andy Moore and he pointed out that how windy May/June had been this year, fine and sunny but windy.
I always try and fly every model I own at least once during a season, some of my models are not what you call ‘everyday models’. A couple of weeks ago I managed to fly my German Alpina glider, I was determined to fly it at least once. It turned out to be a nice gliding day with moderate lift.
Compared to my Multiplex Lentus glider which is foam construction the Alpina flies fast and penetrates into the wind this is due to the GRP fuselage and Carbon skinned wings.
Field News
On the day I flew my glider it turned to be a good day at the field as the afternoon progressed more people arrived.
Dave Hindley flew one of John Higgins glider called ‘Krancich’, Dave is getting to grips with this model now after some very interesting first flights with it.
This model has a brushed motor in it with a very old speed controller and it turns out that you cannot programme a brake on it so the propellor windmills for a while when the motor is turned off. Dave had an issue with his transmitter set up which meant the motor only started when the throttle was at 50%, not a good situation when you are doing your first flights. Dave has now sorted this out which will make future flights ‘less interesting’.
We have a returning member to the club who flew a few years ago called Heath. Heath flew his trainer and from what I observed had remembered most of what he learnt from his previous time in the club.
Its like riding a bike, you never forget although I remember big Dave saying to me after somebody had used that phrase ‘Yes but don’t forget you can still fall off a bike’.
Another one of our newer members Stuart turned up with Piper Cub which he had bought second hand. This model was fitted with a somewhat over powered Saito 4 stroke engine, being over powered was an understatement !! anything above 10% throttle and the plane went vertical. I don’t think Stuart would mind me saying that it was not the best built model. Dave Hindley struggled to trim it out as the wings appeared to have twists in them.
Sadly the cub did not survive its first outing, the model appeared to spin into the ground, looking at the wreckage it appeared as though some of the flying surfaces had come detached. Discussions were had as to if the hinges had been glued properly but when a plane crashes many things can happen and you can get drawn into several conclusions as to what happened. If you ever purchase a used model regardless from who you purchased from check it over thouroughly.
Thankfully the Saito engine was undamaged in the crash and can be used in future aircraft. Its a sickening feeling when this happens, everybody experiences it at some point, myself this year I had a crash with a Carbon Cub which is a model I have wanted for a while, it was my own fault I was investigating how slow it would fly with full flaps, well I found out !!! to slow, to low and the ground came up to meet the model. Its always reassuring when you get home and you walk past the kitchen window with wreckage and your wife says ‘not sure that will glue back together’.Yes thank you for the feedback dear !!!
Winter Meetings
The monthly winter meetings have now started. These meetings are normally held on the first Wednesday of each month and are held at The Marton Institute Blackpool (Oxford Square)
Occasionally the nights might swap to room availability and to accommodate our AGM and hotpot supper come quiz night.
Dates for this year are as below
6th November indoor social meeting
4th December AGM
18th December hotpot supper/quiz night, the hotpot is free !!!
Bonfire Night
The club bonfire with be held on 2nd November at the field. The format will be as the norm with a Jacobs Join for the food, please come and join in the event and bring some food, last year the spread of food was magnificent with food types from all corners of the world well four corners of Lancashire maybe.
I am lead to believe the Weeton Flashers will be putting on a night flying extravaganza again.
The highly trained firework team with also be putting on a display with the normal health and safety checks done by the guy with dark glasses and a white stick.
Its a great night come and support it.
October Indoor Meeting
Last week was the first indoor meeting
The turnout was not great but the people who did turn up had a great informal evening.
So Andy Moore turned up with a couple of items to show the people who were there.
The first item was a 3D printer called ‘Bambu Lab A1 mini’. This is a table table top 3D printer with a print bend size of approx; A4.
Andy went through the spec; of the machine, all the features of it, the software you get with it and Andy had brought some examples of items he had printed on the machine.
The features and the simplicity of the machine were very impressive, the items he had printed were equally impressive.
When questioned as to the price of the printer this is when the room went silent !!! it costs £169, yes £169. I for one could not believe that it was so cheap, OK its not an industrial spec printer but for the hobbyist I was blown away. Andy said the software you get with it does everything he wants but does take a bit of getting used to. The software is not modelling software like Fusion 360 but takes readily available 3D files and prepares them for printing.
Andy mentioned that the technical support for the machine is first class and is UK based.
Check the machine out on Youtube.
A couple of photos of the printer
The item on the right of the photo is printed with a silk filament, the finish was like glass.
Second item(s) Andy brought along were some battery packs which he had made himself. These packs were made up of Li-ion cells which people are claiming to be the next big thing for battery packs. There are people claiming impressive performance figures for these packs especially around the current draw. I noticed that on the BMFA classified Facebook page there was a guy selling these packs and claiming some high current draw capabilities, many of the comments on his claim were doubting his claims.
Anyhow Andy had made some 4s1P 21700 hard case Molicell (manufactures name) into a 4500mah packs. These packs were rated at 45amp continuous draw and 60amp short burst.
I have to say the packs were smaller than a lipo pack and appeared to be lighter than a lipo pack.
Andy has done some bench checks on the packs and appear to perform as stated. Since the indoor meeting Andy has flown the packs in of his twin motor planes and he says they have performed as expected.
Andy brought along a portable spot welder which he uses for creating his packs. This welder is a capacitor type arrangement which you plug in and charge the internal capacitor which intern provides the voltage/amps to perform the spot weld on the metal strips that fasten the cells together.
Thanks Andy for the talk on both the 3D printer and the battery packs
We will wait and see if these packs are the big leap forward that many people are claiming.
A photo showing the welder and packs
Club Training Aircraft
Anthony Ollerton has acquired a couple of trainer aircraft for the club. These are IC powered trainers and the plan is to store them in one of the small rooms in the club hut for training purposes.
The first aircraft has had its test flight already. Anthony’s daughter Emily has put a lot of effort in with regard to patching these models up and cleaning out the room in the club hut. Well done Emily for putting the effort in.
Trainers/Trainees
The list of club trainers has been refreshed and their names are below.
If you are a trainee please bear in mind the vast majority of these people work during the day so if you turn up at the field on a Thursday morning for example please don’t get annoyed that there are no trainers there.
A couple of the trainers are of an age where work does not get in the way and if contacted may be able to accommodate mid week sessions.
As a trainee get to know these trainers if needed ask for their phone numbers or use the Clubs messenger group to make contact with them.
Don’t rely on the same trainer all the time, all the trainers will offer the same amount of training and to the same standard/goal.
Trainers :
Chris Vernon, Jason Reid, Jake Reid, Mark Conlin, Andy Harrison, Anthony Ollerton, Dave Hindley, Kev Watson
Regards Chris V