Patch News – December 2012

Winter has certainly arrived now but many of us are still managing to get up to the field regularly.
New member Dan Handley and top of the waiting list Nigel Baker both passed their ‘A’ certs, congratulations to you both. There are still a few that are perfectly capable of passing the ‘A’ but haven’t bothered, you know who you are so stop stalling and get it done. I am always willing to give advice and training, you only have to ask.
Chairman Mick Harper can always be relied on to back me up, and following on from my warning about lipos in the October Patch News he decided to demonstrate the dangers by very nearly burning down his shed! Mick was charging 2 packs using 2 chargers and it seems that one of the chargers developed a fault which led to the attached pack bursting into flames. The packs were both 3 cells and Mick only charges at 1C so he certainly wasn’t pushing them hard. He always puts the packs in an old metal cooking dish and usually (but not this time) puts a metal cover over them. Mick set the chargers going and went into the house for lunch and when he returned found one pack still slightly alight and the whole shed covered in black soot! He was very very lucky not to have lost the whole shed with all his modelling gear. You have been warned, you know the dangers, ALWAYS treat lipos with respect, store and  charge them in a lipo bag or suitable container.
Staying on the subject of Hapless Harper, he caused great amusement a few weeks ago whilst flying his much repaired 3Demon. He managed to lose control out over the Valley of Death and the model disappeared below the hill. Most of us were nattering in the pits and the first we knew was when Mick walked back towards us with a shrug “That’s another one gone” but at that precise moment the model shot skywards out of the valley, motor at full chat! We all screamed at him but of course Mick thought we were joking as usual (as if!) and ignored us.  1066 Steve ran over and snatched the Tx from an astonished Mick’s hands but sadly was too late to save the model. However the damage turned out to be minimal and it was flying again the following Sunday.
However…when flying last Sunday both Mick and Ian Hewlett needed to land at the same time and Mick, being the gent he is, said “After you Ian” and then preceded to do a nice large landing circuit to allow Ian time to land and clear the patch. At the furthest point out over the valley he ran out of battery… This time the damage was not so minimal but I expect the 3Demon will soon return from the grave yet again.

Onto happier things now. Steve H recently bought a small fully moulded pylon racer called Triffik from me. I had bought it at a swap meet a few years back but never got round to putting it together. Steve soon crammed in some rc gear and a motor and it flies very well. It’s probably not quite as fast as I had expected at the moment but Steve is still experimenting with props etc.
Steve cheered us all up the other Sunday when flying one of his profile fuselage 3D models. He was doing his usual 3D stuff at about 10 feet above the patch when he got it wrong! I ran over amid all the cheering and snapped a photo the slightly damaged model. Well you have to don’t you, it is such a rare happening it has to be recorded!

In the last Patch News I mentioned Andy Smith’s F4 Phantom. It has re-emerged with a new airframe and flies very well. Andy is experimenting with a giro on the elevator and ailerons and gradually getting it sorted to his liking. Personally I think he’s just adding something else he can blame when it all goes wrong.  The first photo was after a ‘dodgy’ landing, the second is as it’s flying now after the repairs.

 

 

I took a short video on my phone of the Phantom Flying:

Andy Smith’s Phantom
Several new models have made their debuts recently, including a twin motor GWS P-38 Lightning from Tony Neal, a VQ models Yak 52 from Viv Burgess, and an Edge 540 from Ron Vears. All three seem to perform well and look great in the air.
   


The first flight of Tony’s P-38
Andy Smith videoed my SportJet on Sunday:

Andy Palmer’s SportJet
That’s enough from me for this year so I’ll just say have a Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year, may your stockings be full of modelling goodies. No Monty… the stockings by the tree….
Basic Flying Rules:
    1. Try to stay in the middle of the air.
    2. Do not go near the edges of it.
    3. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.
Colin Cowplain