Patch News – April 2013

I’m writing this on 1st May so it must be time for the April Patch News. Despite the fact that Multiple Models Montague has gone fishing in Florida for 2 months I’ve still got lots to write about. That must mean the weather has picked up at last and the sunshine has brought more people out to fly.
I’ll start where I finished last month, with my Sea Vixen. OK, let’s get it over with, I’ve ‘modified’ it slightly. I had a few flights since adding the new rudder linked to a gyro and it seemed to do the job, the plane was much steadier in blustery weather. Sadly a few Sundays ago it suddenly decided to half roll into the deck. Wasn’t me guv honest!
My ex mate Nigel very kindly took a photo and as you can see both ailerons are in the full down position. When I checked it out back at the workshop I found one aileron servo had failed at full deflection and of course my correction would have put the other aileron at full deflection, and that’s how it hit the ground. At least it had the decency to do it on a busy Sunday when loads of you were there to enjoy it! Everything (apart from the aileron servo) still works fine, no problems with any of the hardware at all so I will get it flying again soon. Not certain whether to try repairing the wreckage or simply buy another airframe…watch this space.
 
Sticking with Sea Vixens, Norwegian Nick is building a ‘real’ one from the Chris Golds plan. He’s got the airframe built and it just needs some sandpapering etc to be ready for its paint finish. It’s a proper twin and uses two of the tiny Knight & Pridham fans and motors. It’s looking really good Nick, can’t wait to see it flying.  
 
Newbie Nigel (my ex mate) has recently bought a Durafly Mk24 Spitfire. It comes complete with retracts, split flaps, and nav lights and it looks great and flies beautifully. So far Nigel has asked me do all the take-offs and landings but he is enjoying the rest of the flight himself and says he’s achieved his boyhood dream of flying his own Spitfire.     
 
Meanwhile Smiffy is having a break from EDF and is flying a Wot 4. This one’s not a foamie one, it’s a proper wooden I/C version that he’s converted to electric. In typical Smiffy fashion, when sorting out battery pack access he’s gone for rear entry…

 
We’ve been joined by a couple of new members recently, John and Mark. Sorry guys I haven’t learnt your surnames yet. Both are already experienced pilots so no training is needed, a welcome change! So far John has been flying a Czech made V tail electric glider but purchased a Wot 4 Foam-e from George Worley of 4-Max at the last meeting. Mark is flying a hairy twin pusher motored foam wing, the name of which escapes me and I also forgot to take a photo. The most important thing is that he lives in Cowplain so he’s obviously a great guy with tremendous taste!
 
Keith Evans has been experimenting with aerial photography this month using a very cheap digital camera strapped to the nose of his electric glider. He’s had some good results so far with stills and is intending to try the camera in video mode soon.
 
Nick Squire has recently added lots of old PAM photos to the website and if you look at the Gallery under Past Pictures on page 3 you’ll find an aerial photo I took of some members waving from the edge of the patch about 30 years ago! I put a 35mm (film) camera inside my Merco 61 powered Veron Super Robot with it looking out of the side under the wing. Of course in those days I could only take one photo before having to land and remove the wing to wind the film on ready for the next shot. How things have changed! The quality of Keith’s digital photos if much better than anything I took and we didn’t even dream of video in those days, so I’m looking forward to seeing Keith’s efforts.
 
Viv has been flying lots recently with a variety of models. I photographed two of them, his Gee Bee and Cessna Bird Dog. The Gee Bee is a large foamie and despite what you’d expect of a racing machine it’s a real pussycat to fly. The Bird Dog is one of Viv’s old I/C models that he’s now converted to electric. It flies just the same as it always did but it clean and quiet now.
 
 
Finally its congratulation time: both Mike Smith and Tony Neil have passed their ‘A’ certs, well done to both. There aren’t many active fliers left now that haven’t passed their ‘A’s, that can only be a good thing.
A BA 747 pilot had waited for take-off clearance for 45 minutes. A German 737 was cleared immediately. The BA pilot asked the tower why the German aircraft had been given clearance at once. Before the tower could reply, the German pilot came back with “Because I got up very early in zee morning and put a towel on the runway!”
Colin Cowplain