Utterly bonkers! No, not the club members, this time I’m talking about the June weather. As I begin writing this edition of Patch News it’s mid-morning on June 25th and the temperature in the shade is 31 degrees and climbing. We called off our usual Wednesday morning flying session on 24th June as it was just too hot, dangerously so for us oldies, but Friday was a little cooler so a few of us flew. The last Sunday of the month was still hot but much more pleasant because there was a really blustery wind blowing. Utterly bonkers! 
Earlier in the month we had more normal weather so we flew a lot and in the pleasant sunny period before the heatwave hit the farmers cut the whole field (leaving our patch of course, and a 5metre border all around to encourage wildlife) and were able to get the grass turned and then baled before the rain came along. We are fortunate to have a great relationship with our farmers, George, Oliver, and Will of Meonside Farm, (click the link for more information) and they do a lot for the good of the countryside and local people. 
As well as allowing Petersfield Aero Modellers to fly on their land they also have MVSA (Meon Valley Soaring Association) flying slope soarers and the Sky Surfing Club who fly hang gliders and paragliders from Wether Down when the wind direction is suitable.
As part of their diversification efforts they do regular educational trips for local school children, exploring the farm in a tractor towed trailer and explaining about the various aspects of farming. The trailer often stops at the top of ‘our’ field where there is a great view over lots of their farmland while George tells the kids all about farming, and then he’ll do a slow drive-by near our patch so they can see a little of our flying. The kids all seem to love it and who knows, we might even gain some young members from it!
Several new models were flown in June, as well as some older planes that we hadn’t seen for a while, including Catapult King with his Wingnetic and his Sunbird electric glider.
Lots of PAM members had Wingnetics several years ago so it was good to see one in the air again. I’ve still got one of those tucked away somewhere, I really must dig it out and fly it!
Both Catapult’s Wingnetic and Sunbird can be seen flying in this month’s video.
First up of the genuinely new models was MacFly with his rather lovely E-flite Sportix.
The Sportix was a new one to me and I must say I rather like it. Here’s what the Wheelspin Models website says about it: The E-flite Sportix 1.1m PNP (EFL10775) is a modern sport aeroplane designed to be the ideal next step after a trainer and a no‑hassle everyday aerobat for experienced pilots. With a 1100 mm wingspan, it remains compact for transport and storage yet large enough for excellent visibility and confident handling in typical flying conditions. A factory‑installed brushless power system, four digital metal‑geared servos and a Spektrum Avian 45A Smart Lite ESC deliver precise control and strong performance on both 3S and 4S LiPo batteries. Assembly is fast and straightforward thanks to a snap‑plus‑bolt design requiring no glue or special tools. A two‑piece wing with hands‑free servo connections simplifies field setup, while the top‑mounted hatch offers easy battery access. Functional LED navigation lights enhance visibility and orientation, and durable aluminium landing gear with wheel pants completes the clean, modern look. MacFly got a good deal on his PNP E-flite Sportix from Wheelspin Models and everything went together as it should, with no problems.
The only change he made was to ditch the spats and fit larger wheels that are more suited to our grass patch. I did the trimming flight which went perfectly with virtually no trim changes required so MacFly has been happily getting used to flying the Sportix himself.
The plane flies beautifully but MacFly has had one problem, I’ll let him explain: After the first morning of flying, I tried to set up the brake on the motor to lessen the chance to damage the prop on take-off and landing, when tipping forward. But being a Spektrum ESC it needed the Spektrum ESC programmer device to alter the settings and after purchasing this unit I found that it did not work. When connecting the plane’s battery, it went into manual set up mode with all the bleeping sounds and it would not stop.
I was unable to find the manual method for programming online for this Spektrum ESC. Following the process of elimination, the system would work correctly again after changing the ESC and the receiver. I changed the ESC to the Ripmax Quantum which brakes fine at home, but not when flying! Very strange MacFly, I can’t imagine why both the ESC and the receiver had to be changed but Spektrum does have a few oddities sometimes. Anyway, you can all see the Sportix performing in this month’s video.
Last month I included some photos and information about Dougal Entendre’s latest model, a Freewing Flightline Velocity. At the time Dougal hadn’t had a chance to fly the model but he brought it to the field in June and it’s now had lots of very successful flights.
This is what Dougal told me: A few thoughts on the Velocity, now that I’ve flown it. First, my worries about torque on launch were completely unfounded – I can go off at full throttle without it rolling to the left. Second, it’s fast! (but I think we guessed it would be). Third, I can get a good 5 minutes duration and come down with at least 30% in the pack.
This is way better than the Rare Bear or my E2K racer, which only get 3 to 3-and-a-half minutes from the same packs. It’s pretty good at smooth aerobatics for a model of its size, but can do the flicky stuff as well. It normally comes out of inverted spins reasonably quickly, but not always, as I found out the other day! (fortunately I had enough height, and it stopped spinning when I put a bit of power on).
The wings look like they flex a bit, particularly when doing a fast low pass in turbulent air, but they haven’t snapped yet. All in all I love it! Thanks Dougal, yes it flies really well, and yes, those wings certainly do flex a lot! It’s in this month’s video so take a look.
In the May Patch News I wrote that Comp Sec Dwayne Pipe had confirmed the Chuck Glider comp will take place at Buriton Recreation Ground on Wednesday 15th July at 7.30pm. There will be two classes, hand launched, and catapult launched (catapult provided). If the weather is bad it will be delayed to the following Wednesday, the 22nd.
But what I hadn’t realised was that I’ll be away on 15th July…doh! So the comp will go ahead without me unless the weather is bad and it has to be postponed until the 22nd when I’ll be back. Guess who’ll be doing a rain dance on the evening of 15th July!
Of course Dwayne is also in charge of the various fun-fly tasks that are open to all PAM members and can be attempted at any time during normal flying sessions. Each task has two classes, one for BMFA ‘A’ certificate holders, the other for ‘B’ cert holders. The tasks include Spot Landing, Max Loops, Max Glide, and several others, all the info you need is on the club website. So please have a go at some or all of the tasks, it’s all just a bit of fun.
I managed to hit the spot with my Max Thrust Riot in June and at the moment that’s the only score that’s been recorded in any of the tasks! So have a go, just ask someone to witness/measure/time/count and let Dwayne know your score. Good luck to all.
When 1066 broke the foam nosecone off his Arrows Hobby Viper at the field one day he just carried on flying without and said he’d probably just tidy up the break and not bother trying to refit the nosecone. I half-jokingly suggested he found a suitable sized spinner and glued that on instead, it would be much sturdier than the original nosecone.
A few days later he sent me a couple of photos showing that he’d done exactly that! I can’t help thinking that he could have made a rather neater job of filling in the redundant propellor cut-outs but 1066 says it’s an old model and he had his hot-melt gun to hand! 
Fair point, The Viper flies as well as ever although it’s a tad nose heavy now, I wonder why!
New member young Tom is now the proud owner of a Durafly Ugly Stick. It’s not a new one, Tom (no doubt helped by grandad Dom) bought the plane from Woody who had decided to sell it as it was surplus to requirements, plus he needed the space!
The Ugly Stick is an ideal next model for Tom, the Arrows Hobby Mustang that he also owns is a big step up from the little QIDI-560 Maule M7 that he can fly really well.
This month Tom had lots of flights with the Ugly Stick and he’s flown it superbly with no problems at all. On the last flying day in June there was a strong and gusty wind that was challenging for all the fliers, but Tom had several successful flights with the Ugly Stick.
On every flight he took off, flew around, did some touch and go’s, and finished with great landings back on the patch. Despite only starting to fly very recently he coped with the conditions much better than many of the established pilots! I filmed Tom flying in the blustery conditions so you can see how good he is at the end of this month’s video.
In June Bob the Builder turned up at the patch with another new creation that he’s built.
This is what he told me about it: My BobScout is based on the Flite Test Simple Scout. Wing span is 800mm, the maximum I could get from a single sheet of Hobbycraft 5mm foamboard. The whole thing is made from 2 sheets of foamboard.
I just wanted something that I can play around with, so it has fairly large control surfaces and a low wing just be different. What could possibly go wrong?
SunnySky 2216 1400Kv motor, 30amp ESC, 1300 3s lipo, 4 11gram servos. Currently using a Fly Sky S8R stabilised receiver. Spray paint finished to protect foamboard paper covering and to make it look better. All up flying weight 640 grams, about 150 watts/lb.
Cheap and easy to make and repair, fun to fly, room for variations, uses parts most of us have laying around. Would make a good club build. Thanks Bob, it looks like a nice all-rounder. I don’t have any video of it flying yet, hopefully I’ll be able to shoot some in July.
Bob also sent me some information about a new giro he’s been trying out: I have purchased an FMS Reflex3 giro and fitted it to my Skylark. I am hoping that the FMS name will ensure some quality and it has a useful feature that allows the gain to be adjusted from a phone app. Seems OK so far and it makes the Skylark a lot easier to fly. 
I’m not sure what giro Bob was using in the Skylark previously but it did seem to give him a lot of problems so hopefully this one will prove to be better.
This month, as last month, the action photos were all taken by young Tom:
Video time now, this month with footage by me, MacFly, Dougal, and Captain Slow:
Please watch the video full-screen, it’s so much better with small models flying around.
If the video won’t play for you please click HERE
The Final Funny:
Many years in the future a young pilot is flying around in his spaceship, and after flying for quite a while he lands at a convenient fuel station to refuel his spaceship’s tanks.
Once he’s filled up he asks the cashier where the nearest bar is. The cashier responds with “Pop over to the next moon, there’s one called The Keyboard, you’ll find it easily enough.”
The astronaut thanks the cashier and flies off to the next moon. Once he’s landed he finds The Keyboard easily enough, just as the cashier had said, so he goes in and sits down.
The bartender asks him what he would like “Just a drink or something to eat as well?”
“I’ll just a beer for now please. Oh, and tell me, why is this place called The Keyboard?”
The bartender says “Because it’s a space bar…”
Colin Cowplain
