Patch News – August 2015

I am writing this on 1st September which is classed as the start of autumn but frankly August seemed like winter much of the time; it was mostly cold, windy, and very wet. However, some days weren’t bad (as you can see in the video) and most fliers managed to get some flying in at some time during the month.

I’ll start with the model I ended with in the last Patch News, my HobbyKing Cri-Cri. I bought it in the recent sale where it was discounted by 75% and the cost including postage was a mere £30.40. The model is a Plug’n’Fly so the ‘build’ was pretty straight-forward, the main problem was that, with the battery secured by the pre-installed strap, the CG came out much further forward than the position given in the instructions. So I moved the both the strap and the battery as far rearward as possible but the CG was still a little too far forward. Other than that there were no major problems, just a few small niggles that were easily sorted. OK, so it still looked like a bargain but this month I had to fly it.2015-08-02 10.50.00The Cri-Cri is a scale model so it has tiny scale sized wheels and spats, not an ideal combination for our grass patch. When I tried to take-off for its first flight I opened the throttle fully and the plane didn’t move an inch!DSCN6140So Steve 1066 gave it a chuck and away it went…sort of… The elevator was very sensitive and it needed some up trim but at least it was flying. Then I throttled back and the nose went up really violently and the model promptly tip-stalled. Not good. After a few minutes I decided to land but each time I throttled back the nose shot up and I had to add a load of down elevator to hold level flight. Fortunately she landed without damage other than stripping the gears on the nose-wheel servo. Some of the eventful first flight can be seen in THIS MONTH’S VIDEO.

Over the next few weeks I added some up thrust to the motors, moved the battery pack as far forward as it would go, cranked up both ailerons a few turns to help stop the tip-stalling, replaced the nose-leg completely, moved the main undercarriage forward 30mm, fitted larger wheels, and ditched the spats. The flight before last it managed to take-off, just, but the following flight it didn’t make it again. I think I need to move the main wheels even further forward.2015-08-07 10.52.45But overall it’s not flying too badly now, there is no pitch change when I shut the throttle, it has heaps of power and is pretty fast (as is the full-size). It rolls well and is very nice to fly inverted, but with no rudder the loop isn’t too good as it’s not possible to correct any skew out, and it doesn’t really do much other than fly around. I may add a rudder to make more manoeuvres possible. So was it a bargain after all? Well even without the airframe and one stripped servo I’ve still got two motors, two speed controllers, and three servos so I suppose the answer had to be yes. But will it ever be my favourite flier? No.

In the same HK sale that I bought the Cri-Cri Steve H (1066) bought a Wingnetic which turned out to be a much better choice. Most of you will know that the Kinetic and the Spirit mini gliders are virtually the same thing, the biggest difference being a different motor although the performance of the two is almost identical. On balance the Kinetic seems to be the better choice as the motor is more durable and has a stronger mount. The Wingnetic is a flying wing version of the Kinetic, the front of the fuselage, motor, motor mount, and prop appear to be exactly the same. But instead of ‘glider’ wings and normal tailplane/fin arrangement the Wingnetic has a short stubby wing, two vertical fins, two ailerons and an elevator.2015-08-02 11.27.56

It’s available an ARF, ARF plus motor, or PNF, so you can choose whatever suits you best. How does it fly? Absolutely brilliantly! It’s like a hairier, even more aerobatic version of the Kinetic but without such a good ability to soar of course.2015-08-02 11.27.091066 was good enough to let me have a flight with his and I immediately felt comfortable with it. It’s very good value even when not at a sale price, I thoroughly recommend it.

We were joined in August by father and son JP (John-Paul) and Monty Bland. Both had been learning to fly at the Elmbridge Model Club in Surrey but a recent house move to Petersfield has brought them to PAM.2015-08-02 12.53.28They come fully equipped with an ST Discovery (electric powered of course) and a Futaba buddy box set-up, ideal. They’ve had a bit of a layoff due to the relocation but both were soon happily flying again although the winds we endure up on the South Downs seemed to be a bit of a shock, and our small patch is concentrating their minds. Both are doing well and I don’t think it will be too long before they take their ‘A’ certs, Monty seems very keen to beat dad to it!

Captain Slow recently maidened his BFG 1600 electric glider. It’s yet another EPO foam model from the HobbyKing stable and is very much like a larger (1600mm span) version of the Spirit in appearance. Like the Spirit it comes with a pylon motor mount so you can choose between a nose mounted motor and folding prop or pylon mounted with a fixed blade prop. Captain Slow chose the former.2015-08-09 09.55.39The model comes ready equipped with a 1300kV 2208 motor, 20A speed controller, and 4 x 9g servos. It’s ‘flap ready’ and includes the hardware but not the servos for flaps, an option John has chosen to go for and they seem to work well. It uses the small 3 cell lipo packs that many of us are using in the Spirits; the specs say 1100-1300mAh although John is using some 1500mAh packs with no problems.2015-08-09 09.56.09It flies well, and is fairly sedate on the 3 cell pack, but will perform mild aerobatics if you get bored with thermal hunting. You can see the model flying in THIS MONTH’S VIDEO.

Gentleman Jim spent some of the bad weather days refurbishing his Eflight Pulse. It’s had lots of flying and was starting to get a little tatty around the edges so Jim stripped off the old covering and replaced it with a fresh new scheme.2015-08-11 10.20.33 2015-08-11 10.20.10As you can see he’s made a cracking job of it and it looks very nice in its non-standard colours. It flies as well as ever; the model doesn’t seem to mind its change of clothes.

Richard King (still looking for a nickname, he wasn’t keen on my last suggestion!) has built an F22 Raptor. I was away on the day he brought it along but Dougal Entendre sent me some photos. I don’t have any details but I’m sure it’s built from a Flite Test plan/kit. Dougal said it was made of Correx but if it’s the Flite Test one it’s actually foam board.2015-08-16 11.05.49If you aren’t aware of Flite Test you need to check it out so CLICK HERE  It’s a great, fun, site with loads of very good information and an ever growing line of models that can be purchased in various forms, with or without the electronics pack etc. Mark test flew the Raptor and says it was a little marginal on power with a 9×4 prop. A 9×6 prop improved things a bit but Richard hopes to try either a 9×7 or 9×8 for more speed, or maybe a higher kV motor, the current one being a little low at 1000kv.2015-08-16 11.06.11Anyway, it looks fantastic and I’m sure Richard will give us the full details later. In the meantime I want a go with it mister, please, pretty please!

Modelling Clay has been splashing the cash again. Having learnt to fly in a ridiculously short time on his ST Discovery (despite 1066’s best efforts to bin it!) he progressed to a Wot 4 Foam-E which he mastered in a couple of outings. So now he’s gone for speed with a Durafly EFX Racer.2015-08-09 11.33.12Durafly is one of the HobbyKing ranges and at 1100mm span the EFX Racer is designed as a kind of club flier pylon racer that will take either 3 or 4 cell lipos. Tim is using 3 cells at the moment but I don’t suppose it will be long before he tries it on 4 for a bit more speed. Mind you, it’s far from slow on 3 cells and I think Tim is finding it plenty quick enough for his skills at the moment.2015-08-09 11.33.24The EFX Racer can be seen in THIS MONTH’S VIDEO.

Tony Neal brought his new Pilatus PC9 to show us at a club meeting a few weeks back. It’s from…yes I know this is starting to sound like an advert for HobbyKing but if you keep buying them…! I think Tony bought it in the recent sale as he said it was only £79, at the moment it’s showing as £127 from the UK warehouse although I’ve just had the ‘one time offer’ at £118 pop up. The Pilatus PC-9 was an improved version of the earlier PC-7, but it featured a larger cockpit with ejection seats, a more powerful engine, and a host of structural improvements. It has been used by numerous countries as an advanced trainer aircraft. It was even built under license by Beechcraft and used by the United States Air Force as the T-6A Texan II. The model is 1200mm span and is Plug’n’Fly so comes ready fitted with 6 servos, a retracting tricycle undercarriage and a 3648 650kv motor coupled to a 45A esc. All you need is a 6 channel radio and a 4 cell lipo of around 2200-2600mAh. It has a rather unusual feature, you have to plug the battery pack into a socket on the outside to open the servo controlled canopy so you can then put the battery inside the fuselage and reconnect it. Tony didn’t like that at all, partly because the canopy servo operation restricts access considerably, so he did away with that system and simply removes the canopy manually.2015-08-09 10.12.38It’s finished in an Australian colour scheme, that of No2 Flight Training School of the RAAF and looks very smart. The first time Tony brought it to the patch the retract sequencer packed up despite working perfectly until then. He thinks it may have been due to having removed the canopy system which is also run from the sequencer. After a couple of weeks a new sequencer arrived and all was well once more so he brought it along again.2015-08-09 10.12.55With everything working he went for the first flight but the model didn’t quite get away, it lifted off (just) at the end of the patch but appeared to be lacking speed and it did a mild cartwheel. Fortunately the only damage was a neatly removed fin which will be very easily mended. I’m not sure what Tony’s plan is for the next attempt; possibly change the scale 4 bladed propeller? No doubt he’ll soon get it sorted; it’s a lovely looking model and needs to be up in the air where it belongs.

August seems to have been Wot 4 month, Woody bought a Wot 4 Foam-E which flew very nicely, as expected, and he managed to remove the undercarriage after a few flights, also as expected!WP_20150816_004Don’t feel bad Woody, it happens to all of them, easily fixed.

John Warren splashed out on a proper wooden Wot 4. Actually I think it’s the HK Student 64E Intermediate Trainer but to you and me it’s a Wot 4. I’ve no idea what the 64 is, the span is 1200mm not 64 inch.2015-08-22 11.31.09John got me to test fly his new pride and joy and it shot off the ground at a remarkable rate on just under half throttle. It flew perfectly, just didn’t need more than about third throttle at any time during the flight so I asked John a few questions about the power train. It was on 4 cells as that was the packs he wanted to use but he hadn’t checked the wattage or current draw. So after the first flight we put a watt meter on it and found that at full throttle it was pulling about 80A and over 1000 watts!2015-08-22 11.31.48John has gone off to try some smaller props to reduce the power to a more sensible level and tame the beast somewhat. I think the answer is to use 3 cells, it probably needs a different kV motor really but it might be possible to sort it with a prop change.2015-08-22 10.57.17Otherwise John’s best bet is to flog it to Smiffy, although he’d probably still say it’s under powered!

Norwegian Nick flew this lovely little Tiger Moth at Buriton before one of the recent club meetings.2015-08-13 19.45.38 2015-08-13 19.45.25I’m afraid I didn’t get any information about the model other than that Nick won it in a club raffle. Obviously it isn’t going to be a suitable model for windy conditions but in the calm evening weather before the meeting it was great, flew beautifully and looked very much the part.

Last but not least this month, Captain Slow sent me some photos of Basher Bob’s parasail as I was away the first time it flew this month. I thought it was a new model but Bob tells me it’s his six year old Hawkeye that he hasn’t flown for a couple of years.WP_20150816_001It was designed for aerial photography before the days of quadcopters and is made from lightweight kite material and carbon rods. It has a wingspan of around 2300mm, a 230watt motor, 25 amp esc and a 2200 3s battery. The controls are throttle, rudder, and CG shift (a Basher mod). It doesn’t have an elevator, more power makes it climb, and another servo operates the camera shutter. Flight times are 15 minutes plus. Basher reports that it’s very docile and easy to land, just shut the throttle! It’s a problem in high winds as increasing the power to make it penetrate increases the angle of attack and makes it climb instead, hence the CG shift mod. It’s always good to see something different from the norm at the patch, nice one Basher.

On Bank Holiday Sunday I went to the Wings & Wheels show at Dunsfold with Jim and Woody. It was a great day and I might include a few photos in the next Patch News.  I was a little short of video this month so I’ve added a couple of minutes of Wings & Wheels at the end of THIS MONTH’S VIDEO.

After boarding the plane at Heathrow Airport for New York and taking his seat, the businessman noticed a very beautiful woman boarding the plane. He realized she was heading straight toward his seat and bingo – she took the seat right beside him. “Hello”, he blurted out, “Business trip or vacation?” She turned, smiled enchantingly and said, “Business. I’m going to the annual nymphomaniac convention in the United States …….” He swallowed hard. Here was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen sitting next to him, and she was going to a meeting for nymphomaniacs! Struggling to maintain his composure, he calmly asked, “What’s your business role at this convention?” “Lecturer,” she responded,” I use my experience to debunk some of the popular myths about sexuality…”

“Really”, he smiled, “what myths are those?” “Well,” she explained, “one popular myth is that African-American men are the most well-endowed when, in fact, it’s the Native American Indian who is most likely to possess that trait. Another popular myth is that French men are the best lovers, when actually it is the men of Greek descent… We have also found that the best potential lovers in all categories are the Irish.”

Suddenly the woman became uncomfortable and blushed. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I really shouldn’t be discussing this with you, I don’t even know your name!”

“Tonto,” the man said. “Tonto Papadopoulos, but my friends call me Paddy.”

Colin Cowplain

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5 Responses to Patch News – August 2015

  1. Smiffy says:

    Very good Mr. P
    Always good to hear what you yokels are up to when you’re not eyeing-up the livestock… they don’t like it up ’em!
    I’m liking Tony’s PC9 and I’ve seen the EFX fly on 4S and it makes all the difference, I’m more than tempted!
    Re John’s Wot4 rip-off, 1000w sounds fine, but I’d go up to 6s to ease off the current… it’s all about getting to that magic 200w/lb 🙂 … anyway if the power can’t be rated in KWH then it’s not worth getting out of bed for!
    Tara chucks
    Smiffy

  2. Colin Cowplain says:

    Glad you liked it Smiffy, it’s good to hear that people read my efforts!
    I’ve got no idea what you are on about with your ‘yokel’ and ‘livestock’ comment…although I was given an inflatable sheep for my recent birthday. I’ve named her Bronwyn.
    Wonky Wiltshire has also recently bought an EFX, I don’t imagine his will be on anything less than 4 cells for long, he has the need for speed.
    John’s 1000 watts might be ok for you but it’s certainly about 3 times more than he can handle! It’s now flown with around 400w and that is more than enough.
    Time you got out of bed for a change and came flying with PAM again, I need some fresh material!

  3. Smiffy says:

    When you say fresh material, I hope you realise that I not going to dress up as Bronwyn for you, at least not for free anyway!
    I will head down … it’s just such a long walk from the car-park, you need a shuttle service!
    Just checking out the EFX 6S conversion…

  4. 1066 says:

    You two need to get a room, or a field.
    Smiffy calls us yokels, has he looked in a mirror lately, can’t he see the resemblance to all the other males where he lives, very small gene pool.
    The buddy box is a bit like the cockpit of an air liner, one seat is occupied by the captain, the other, is there for the copilot, when the copilot oversteps his position to impress the captain things can go wrong, but the captain will always be held responsible, after all he does hold the higher rank.
    besides all that, another great bit of work Colin

  5. Smiffy says:

    I was actually only referring to you 1066.
    Thankfully, nobody looks like you!

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