Patch News History

March was an interesting month for PAM members, unfortunately mostly for the wrong reasons! Having decided at the December AGM to start holding quarterly meetings after three years with none we held a social meeting on 1^st March at the Seven Stars in Stroud. It went very well with about a dozen members attending for a general catch up and natter and it was good to see some faces that we’d hardly seen since the start of the pandemic. We’d waited much longer than the regulations required to hold a meeting because we didn’t want to risk anyone catching Covid but guess what happened…in the following few days almost half of the attendees went down with it! They then spread it on to their wives/girlfriends/boyfriends etc. but fortunately, as far as I know, nobody was seriously ill and all have now recovered. But looking on the bright side, it could have been very much worse, I could have got it! I’m not sure quite how I avoided it as the people on both sides of me went down with it but not me.  Not that I’m complaining… Colin Complain? Never!

The sheep that had arrived in February were gone by the middle of March but with several members struck down with Covid the first half of the month was rather quiet although a few of the Covid free ones did manage to fly on a few occasions. Towards the end of the month everybody was back to good health and raring to go but the weather was rubbish on several of our usual flying days so overall was there was rather less flying than usual. Some of the FARTS mowed the patch one Friday afternoon and Chairman Gordon Bennett kindly took the mower back over to the box when we’d finished. It wasn’t until we returned to fly the following Sunday morning that we realised he’d taken the mower back to the box but hadn’t actually put it away and it was sat next to the open box looking rather lonely. Fortunately the members of the public who had walked along the track in the meantime must have been either very honest or completely blind and all was well!

Gordon redeemed himself by going off to the States for a ‘business trip’ and managed to include a visit to the Florida Jets, a four day event which is billed as the world’s largest RC jet event with no less than six flight lines running each day. Following that he dragged himself over to Arizona where he inadvertently stumbled across the Arizona Warbirds & Classics fly-in, another four day event which is hosted by the Sun Valley Fliers. That’s the sort of ‘business trip’ we would all happily undertake and I’ve already volunteered to carry his bags if he goes again next year! Gordon took lots of photos and has written this for us: Back in the depths of winter I was flicking through my copy of Model Aeroplane News (MAN) when I spotted an advert for ‘Florida Jets’. I like MAN as the articles are very ‘American’ compared to RCME and I enjoy the different perspective. The ad conjured up images of sunshine, palm trees and…. jets! Not only that, Arizona Warbirds and Classics was later in the same week. It had to be done. Due to other commitments, I could only attend Florida Jets on the Wednesday, the show’s first day. I got to Lakeland a day early and got down to the Museum of Aviation (the base for Sun & Fun). It’s a great mid-size exhibition and had a couple of unusual outdoor exhibits in particular a FY2 Sea Dart and an XFV-1 Salmon. The Sea Dart was the only supersonic seaplane and XFV-1 is clearly something Dougal or 1066 should build a model of and get hanging. The next day I was up bright and early and found myself as virtually the only spectator on a windswept, cold, rainy day at Paradise Field. Between the rain showers I trudged past the models hiding in their tents and met a load of super friendly RC aviation nuts displaying their planes. I’ve put together a short video so won’t go into too much detail here but watch out for the Raptor, a model with amazing scale detail (cockpit with active displays etc). In the tent next door I heard English accents and met Ali Machinchy and his son. Being a relative newcomer to the sport I didn’t have a clue who he was but he was super kind and put up with my stupid questions. I was chuffed to bits that he was a big Spektrum fan (!) and only realised the full picture when I later googled him. The sun broke through mid-morning and we were off. In fact, it was Al’s 18-year-old son who was the first airborne, totally unphased by a pretty stiff crosswind. It was an open event so a few professional displays and then everyone else just flying when they wanted, which turned out to be all the time. The standard of flying was spectacular as you’ll see.

On Friday I made it to Phoenix, Arizona and from there a 30-minute drive to Sun Valley Flyers out in the desert. Now don’t get me wrong, I love our 30m patch and its beautiful views down to the IOW. But it’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer scale and quality of the facility they’ve built. The advantage of space means a peppercorn rent from the City Council, also the club has had a super strong 250-person membership for decades. Hence spending $80,000 to tarmac the runway was only part of the ongoing improvements. Arizona Warbirds and Classics was also an open event. There were a few organised spots like ‘let’s get as many WW1 aircraft as possible into the air at noon’ and a few stops for particular displays like the Sukhoi but other than that, endless fantastic aircraft being brilliantly flown. I used to be ambivalent about whether a model should have a pilot in the cockpit. Having seen the amazing scale models and flying techniques it was easy to think you were seeing full size. If a model didn’t have a pilot in situ, it suddenly didn’t feel right. There were so many highlights, a scratch-built Dornier 335, an A10, a 12 year old superbly flying an L39 Albatross and the WW1 gaggle. But for me, the Sukhoi with its vectored thrust and the pair of massive Sabres in ‘Skyblazers’ livery were outstanding. Thanks for that Gordon, we’re not at all jealous! With his very best Film Director’s hat on Gordon shot plenty of video and has produced a five minute extravaganza for us to enjoy:

While Gordon was sunning himself in the States, back in the cold and damp of Hampshire Dwayne Pipe brought along a new own design F-22 Raptor to fly. Dwayne used the same basic principles of the foamboard jets that he’s designed and flown such as his Sea Vixen but this time he’s ditched the Hobbycraft foamboard and built it from a sheet of  Correx. For those who don’t know Correx is the twin wall plastic board that many estate agents use for their signs and more importantly it’s the stuff lots of us used to make our planes for the Delta Challenge way back in 2015. Just look at all the young blokes in the photos below! Anyway, back to Dwayne’s Raptor and you can see the Correx section pretty well in some of the photos, he chose the material because it’s extremely strong and easy to work with. Although it is heavier than foamboard it’s completely waterproof, no problems with peeling paper on damp grass. Dwayne used hot melt glue for the construction, which works well on Correx, and he fitted a Turnigy Aerodrive D2826/6 2200kv motor, a 30A speed controller, and four 9g servos to move the waggly bits. There’s no mixing required on this one, it’s just straightforward ailerons, elevator and rudder controls. When I first saw the Raptor I thought Dwayne had painted it but it’s actually covered in Fablon. Remember Fablon? It’s a thin sticky back vinyl that first came out in the sixties and I haven’t seen it for years but a quick Google showed that it’s still alive and kicking and is available in a huge range of colours and finishes. It can be found on eBay and Amazon as well as from B&Q and Homebase etc. It’s certainly heavier than iron on films and I don’t think it will shrink with heat but it’s probably good for solid surfaces that don’t have any compound curves. It will be interesting to see how durable it turns out to be. So how did it fly? Erm…well…so far not very well! Dwayne had used an online calculator to determine the centre of gravity, something that he’d used before and found it worked well. But the first two or three attempts at flight showed that the centre of gravity was much too far back so Dwayne fitted a larger battery as far forward as possible for the next attempt. This time it was much better and managed a couple of rather hairy circuits before…err…’landing’. The flight showed what needs to be done and Dwayne headed off back to the workshop to make a few changes to the plane and the control movements but it will be back shortly and I think it will be fine after a few modifications. Sadly only Dwayne and I were at the field that day and I was chief launcher so I wasn’t able to capture any video for you to enjoy.

The next new model to appear in March was also an F-22 Raptor but this one is a foamboard version built by Woody. He was really happy with how his Su-27 from Ali Express flies and while browsing the site up popped the Raptor complete with the motor, three propellers, 30A esc, and two servos for just £23.48 with free postage! Because it comes from China Ali Express have to add tax but it’s still only £28.29. Woody has made a really nice job of putting it together and the finished model looks very smart. Obviously he’s added some lights but only two on this plane, one on each wingtip. The motor that’s included in the package is an A2212/10T which is 1400kv rather than the 2200kv motors most of us fit to our foamboards so it needs an 8x 6 propeller instead of the usual 6×4 that we use. Before it flew we were a little concerned that it might be underpowered but it flies really well, not quite as fast as most of the foamboards but there’s plenty of power and it will climb almost vertically. Woody was unsure about the centre of gravity position but it turned out to be spot on and the Raptor is a delight to fly. I liked it enough to order one for myself! You can see Woody’s flying in this month’s video.

Away from foamboards now and back to Gordon Bennett who has bought himself an E-flite P-51 Mustang. Gordon was browsing the adverts and saw that there was a new version of the E-flite Mustang available in the States and it was much cheaper than in England. He had a friend in the US military who was able to get things posted to England very cheaply so it seemed only right to ask him to order one. After a bit of a delay due to the US military not wanting to fly any package containing lithium batteries (which it didn’t!) the model arrived safely. This is what E-flite have to say about it: This updated version of the E-flite^® P-51D Mustang 1.2m delivers outstanding warbird appeal whether flying or just standing still. It’s now finished in the iconic “Cripes A’Mighty 3rd” trim scheme of George E. Preddy Jr., the top P-51 Mustang ace during World War II who downed six planes in a single day. This replica features a variety of scale details including moulded-in panel lines, a pilot figure, four-blade propeller and more. Plus, its functional flaps and retractable landing gear add to the scale flying experience. The 3S and 4S compatible power system includes an upgraded 70A Spektrum^™ Avian^™ Smart Lite ESC, and the BNF^® Basic version is equipped with an AR631 receiver to deliver real-time telemetry data along with AS3X^® and optional-use SAFE^® Select technologies. Best of all, no glue is required for final assembly so you can have it ready to fly in less time than it takes to charge a battery! And the 1.2m size allows for easy storage and transport without disassembly, or the one-piece wing can be removed and reinstalled quickly for even greater convenience. So, whether you’re an intermediate or advanced pilot, this P-51D Mustang has the details, features and heart-stopping performance—along with incredible handling at low and high speeds—you need to experience what piloting a legendary thoroughbred is all about. Gordon asked me to do the initial trimming and once I’d managed to stop the nose trying to peck into our patch the Mustang took-off and flew perfectly. The telemetry wouldn’t shut up, it kept saying something about low battery which was very unnerving with a brand new expensive model that wasn’t mine (bl****y Spektrum!). While trying to find the retract switch I inadvertently switched the gyro to ‘child’ mode but I didn’t realise until I tried to roll and it fought back and stated resolutely upright! Once Gordon had switched that out I handed the transmitter over to him for the rest of the flight. Despite the dire telemetry warnings nothing untoward happened and after a few minutes of gentle flight Gordon landed the P-51 safely. He is rather worried about the brand new lipo so will be checking it out before the next flight. You can see some of the flight in this month’s video.

The last new model this month belongs to young Leo and it’s yet another foamboard. But this one is a bit of an unusual model as it’s a J-31. What’s a J-31 I hear you ask? Well it’s a Chinese aircraft made by Shenyang which is sometimes known as an FC-31 and it looks pretty similar to an F-22 Raptor, some say it’s a copy. Leo’s model is another of the range from Ali Express and it came with the same electronics pack as Woody’s F-22 with an A2212/10T 1400kv motor, three 8×6 props, a 30A speed controller, and two servos. It flies extremely well, most of these foamboards seem to fly better than a flat plate of foam should be expected to fly and Leo has been demonstrating how he can fly it inverted at ridiculously slow speeds. Take a look at it in the video and prepare to be impressed by it.

For the monthly ‘action’ shots this month I’ve taken stills of some of the lovely models from Gordon’s video. The first one is of a Yak 130, the same as mine so I’ve included mine to see if you can tell the difference. No? OK, I’ll give you a clue, mine has the wheels up:

Video time now which this month includes footage shot by Peter F, Captain Slow, Dougal Entendre, and myself. 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

A man was sitting in a Heathrow bar when he noticed a beautiful woman. He thought “Wow, she’s gorgeous, must be a flight attendant. But which airline does she work for?”

Hoping to pick her up, he leant over and uttered the BA slogan: “To Fly. To Serve?” She gave him a confused look and he immediately thought “No, she doesn’t work for BA”. He remembered another slogan and leaned towards her “Something special in the air?” He got the same confused look. Another no, so he crossed American Airlines off the list. Next he tried the Virgin Atlantic slogan “Everyone can take on the world?” This time the woman turned to him and snapped “What the **** do you want?” The man smiled knowingly, slumped back in his chair, and said… “Ah yes, Ryanair”.

Colin Cowplain

With spring fast approaching we seem to be rushing through 2023 and are looking forward to lots of long sunny windless days…possibly. The February weather was generally quite kind to us and there were some good turnouts at the field with members bringing a few new models along. The FARTS had to mow the patch once in February and it will need mowing again in early March, a sure sign that the weather is gradually warming up. Another sign is that the farmer has brought some of the livestock back out to the fields and on Friday 24^th February three of us arrived to find lots of sheep in ‘our’ field.
Sheep aren’t too much of a problem to us (other than the ‘gifts’ they leave) but last years’ bullocks are back in the lower field and there are some younger bullocks in the third field.
The very young ones can be a right pain as they tend to be annoyingly inquisitive at first and can get a bit aggressive as they get older and bigger, but we can cope with them ok.

When the pandemic hit the monthly club meetings had to be suspended and the flying sessions stopped during the lockdowns and strictly limited in between them. We could have held committee meetings over Zoom or similar but with no meetings and little flying there wasn’t really much to discuss so if anything urgent came up we just communicated via emails, WhatsApp, or phone. But on 1^st February we had a committee meeting, the first one for about three years. We held it using Zoom and all seven committee members were present online. All went smoothly and the main business was to arrange a club meeting as at the AGM back in December it was agreed to hold quarterly social meetings.
So if you’re reading this on the publication day of 1^st March don’t forget that this evening the first club meeting of the year will be held at the Seven Stars at Stroud from 7pm onwards. It’s really just a social get together but I’m sure our new Chairman Gordon Bennett will have lots of interesting things to talk about. Of course if you’re reading this after 1^st March and weren’t there then you’ve missed it and it was a brilliant evening!

Straight on with the new models now starting with one that I forgot to include in the last Patch News, Gordon Bennett’s Arrows Hobby Viper. I included the Viper flying in the January video but forgot the photos and write-up and I don’t want Gordon sulking!
It’s a bog standard ARTF Viper and this is what the Inwood Models website says about it: Sleek, powerful and perfectly formed the Arrows Hobby Viper will be something of an eye-opener to anyone who still thinks EDF jets have some catching up to do. Experience the Viper in action and you’ll quickly realise that nothing could be further from the truth. Packing a jet-like 50mm 11-blade fan that’s spun up by a precision 2627 4500KV brushless motor, this 3S-fuelled pocket rocket will find favour in the hands of all who seek smooth, flowing aerobatics, a cloud punching performance and exceptional speed. But that’s not the half of it, the Viper is also a beautifully practical jet that exhibits exceptional low speed handling, is small enough to transport in one piece, retract free (hassle free) and enticingly budget-friendly. All this grace and performance from a 3S LiPo will almost certainly have you reassessing your EDF spend. So good is the Arrows Viper we’re convinced it’ll become a frequent flyer in your air fleet and, as we all know, that equates to superb value for money. Gordon chose the model after seeing how well 1066’s Viper flies and I think it’s safe to say that he’s very pleased with his decision. I see that Inwood says the flight time is 10+ minutes on 2200mAh LiPo. I know that Gordon gets longer flights than throttle bender 1066 but I don’t think he gets near to 10 minutes.
He’s had a couple of dodgy launches and has now decided to abandon self-launching until he’s practised on other models and perfected his technique. But 1066 self-launches his Viper with no problems, a gentle lob and away it goes every time, sickening eh Gordon?!

Both Woody and Bob the Builder recently bought SU-27s from the XDRC store on Ali Express and both models have now flown. At the time of writing they are shown as £21.36 with free shipping but VAT will be added at the payment stage bringing the cost to £25.63. That seems like a bargain to me so be quick if you want one, the site shows that there are only a few left in various colour schemes. Postage is from China but says 15 day delivery so it shouldn’t be too long a wait. I note that the slightly Chinglish advert states that it’s made of “Anti-broken PP Material”! I’m not sure what that is but it seems like pretty good stuff.
Woody plumped for the Ukrainian version and the finished model looks very attractive especially as Woody has (obviously, this is Woody we’re talking about!) added some lights. He has fitted a Turnigy Aerodrive 2866/6 2200kV motor and uses a 2200mAh 3 cell lipo for the power. The Sukhoi is the same as the HobbyKing version in that it comes with both ailerons and elevators that can be linked and each side moved by a single servo effectively making them both elevons. The hinges are simply parts of the foam and initially Woody had problems with the linkages being very stiff but once he’d sorted that out they worked well enough.  Having had some trimming and centre of gravity problems with Woody’s Chengdu J-10 from the same manufacturer I was a little wary about the Sukhoi but it flew perfectly with just some minor trim adjustments needed. It has a larger wing area than the J-10 and it shows in how it flies. I’ve always said the SU-27 was the best of the HobbyKing foamboards and this appears to be the case with the Ali Express ones as well.
The lights that Woody has added actually show up well, especially the ‘afterburner’ strips under the back end and hopefully you’ll be able to see them in the video.

Bob the Builder’s Sukhoi is in the red and blue Russian colour scheme but is otherwise the same as Woody’s. According to the website there are none left in stock so you’ll have to choose either the green camouflage Russian scheme or the Ukrainian one like Woody’s.
Bob chose not to link the ailerons of his and is purely using the elevators as elevons which is the same as the HobbyKing Mig 29s. It works perfectly well and appears to fly the same as Woody’s but presumably there is slightly less control for the really violent manoeuvres. Bob is using the same motor and battery set-up as Woody so the performance is pretty much identical. Both Woody’s and Bob’s SU-27s feature in this month’s video.

Young Charlie bought a couple of models that had belonged to the late Ian Daniels, both of which were in need of some repair. So far he has completed the necessary repairs to one of them, an ST Model Blaze, a high performance electric glider. The Blaze is distributed by Ripmax, here’s what they say about it: This is a model that is all about performance. From the vertical climb as high as you can see to the super fast dives off power and the full aerobatic schedule she can perform, the Blaze is guaranteed to put a smile on your face!! The 1130kv outrunner, brushless motor is pre-installed as is the the 30A ESC (with brake if programmed) and Deans connector. A tough, engineering plastic, 10 x 6 folding propeller on the front combined with these is more than enough for that straight up climb. All you need to provide is an 1800-2500mAh 20C battery and your own receiver and you are ready to go flying. When you go flying, the Blaze will blow your mind! Even at relatively slow speeds, she is pretty efficient and pure gliding performance is very impressive. Like all hotliner type gliders, she will stall, but it is predictable. Loops can be tight or wide, rolls can be fast or slow, it’s entirely up to you.
Several PAM members have owned (some still do) a Blaze and they are very well rated models with an excellent performance. The nose was snapped off on the one Charlie bought and it was a little rough around the edges but basically sound. Charlie (no doubt with the help of Nadine and Craig) repaired the nose, ensuring everything was nice and straight, fitted a new Hitec receiver, and did a bit of general tidying up. The test flight went perfectly with little trimming needed and the Blaze flew like a Blaze should. The only niggle at the moment is that the brake isn’t set on the speed controller so the prop windmills with the throttle shut but that’s a minor irritation that no doubt Charlie will sort out when he reads the instructions! I was a little concerned the Blaze might be too hot for Charlie but he’s been flying it with no problems so it’s been an ideal purchase for him.

Bob the Builder sent me a link to a YouTube video that he’d spotted. It shows an EDF model that was shredded when it hit a fence (not something any of us can relate to obviously…!) but was rebuilt even though it appeared to be a write-off. Well worth a watch.Bob said, and I quote “I know I’m good but I’m not that good.”  You’ve had lots of practice!

The second new model that Charlie flew in February was one that he bought at the Popham model show back in August. It’s a second-hand HobbyKing Lancaster that he’d spotted for sale on one of the stalls and he haggled the price down to £80.
It’s the V2 version of the Lancaster that HobbyKing have produced, the V1 had servo operated bomb bay doors and a few other details that have been dropped on the V2 version making it 200g lighter than the V1, definitely a good thing. They have since produced a V3 version that has no retracts and is lighter again. The battery is fitted in the bomb bay and on Charlie’s V2 the bomb doors are held closed by magnets. The battery will fit either in the nose or in the next bay back below the wing which is where the instructions say it should go and is where Charlie had fitted it when he first brought it to the field.
But when I checked the CG it was was obviously much too far back so Charlie took it home to reconfigure it and make a couple of other minor changes that I suggested.
There were plenty of willing volunteers eager to help Charlie get the Lancaster flight ready!
HobbyKing say to use an 1800-2200mAh battery and Charlie is using a 3300mAh which would obviously make the CG further back than intended but having read some comments on various forums people are saying to put the battery in the nose as the model is very unstable in pitch with it further back. Charlie’s Lanc also came with a gyro fitted which makes me think perhaps the original owner had stability problems with it. Once Charlie had moved the battery forward the Lanc seemed a little nose heavy if anything but that was definitely the safest way to be. When I tried to take off the grass was a bit long and the Lanc simply tipped on its’ nose even with full up elevator so I asked Leo to give it push.
That did the trick and the Lanc took to the air with no problems at all. I did a few circuits before handing the transmitter over to Charlie who flew it well before handing it back to me for the landing. It came in fine but maybe a little fast and when it touched one of the retracts pulled out. I’m not sure but maybe I ran out of elevator so for the next flight we’ll increase the elevator movement a little and maybe move the battery slightly further back. But overall the flight was a success and with a bit of tweaking I think it should only get better from now on. You can see some of the flight in this month’s video.

Young Leo always seems to have lots of new (to him) models and the last Sunday in February was no exception when he arrived with a Hyperion Edge 540T 25e that had previously belonged to Dougal Entendre but he’d passed it over to Leo in need of repairs.
The Edge had been a second-hand buy for Dougal and it seemed like a good purchase at the time as it came with a receiver and three batteries. Unfortunately he had trouble with the receiver and one of the batteries was duff although the other two seemed fine. This is what Dougal said at the time: I don’t expect it to be particularly 3D-capable. Its empty weight is about the same as my Slick, but the Slick has a 4s pack and a span of about 51″, where the edge uses 3s, and is about 45″ span. Also the tail is fairly thin, and probably not up to the kind of loads we put on it with 3D manoeuvres (I’ve read on the forums that the tail strength has been a problem for some flyers). And the following month, after Dougal had flown the model: My misgivings about the strength of the tail proved correct when, while going straight and level, there was an audible crack and the plane twitched in pitch. Fortunately I got it down safely, but the left hand half of the tail had cracked at the joint with the fuselage, and was only held on by the covering! The Edge is now hanging from the garage roof while I ponder how to make a replacement tail.
Well Leo has now sorted out the tail and made a few other changes so, as Dougal was absent, he asked 1066 to test fly it for him. 1066 had no problems at all and the Edge didn’t need any trim changes so he quickly handed the transmitter over to Leo who seemed to enjoy it. On about the third flight Leo made a rather sudden landing off the patch and when we asked what the matter was he showed us that the elevator had pulled away from the hinges and was hanging off! Fortunately he’d spotted one side of the elevator was loose while flying, hence the emergency landing. Other than that the Edge seemed fine and once the elevator is sorted it should keep Leo happy for lots of flights.

Kryten didn’t make it to the field to take any flying shots in February but he assures me he’ll be back soon. In the meantime here are a few screenshots, some old, some new:

Video time now, with footage by Peter Fothergill, Dougal Entendre, Gordon Bennett, and me. Please watch the video full-screen, it’s much better with small models flying around:
If the video won’t play for you please click HERE

After an overnight flight to meet her husband at his latest military posting the very weary lady arrived in Hong Kong with her nine children, all aged under eleven.
Collecting their many suitcases, the ten of them entered the cramped customs area.
A young customs official watched the entourage in utter disbelief and asked her
“Madam, does all this luggage and do all these children really belong to you?”
“Yes, sir,” the lady said with a tired sigh. “They really are all mine.”
The customs agent interrogated her “Madam, do you have any weapons or guns?”
“Sir” she calmly answered, “if I’d had any of those I would have used them by now”
The official allowed them all to pass without opening a single suitcase.

Colin Cowplain

In the last Patch News I asked if any members had received any modelling related presents for Christmas and apparently some of you had treated yourselves to new models so this month I have several new models to tell you about which makes my job much easier. Members managed quite a lot of flying in January as the spell of bad weather that had plagued us through much of December finally ended about a week into the new year.
The rest of the month was mostly cold but dry and with quite light winds so the hardier members wrapped up well and made the most of it at every available opportunity.

January was the month of ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again’ with 1066, Woody, and me all flying new models that weren’t good at first but ended up flying well.
I’ll begin with mine: In the last Patch News I reported on a ‘toy’ model that I’d ordered in early November which eventually turned up at the end of December and I said I’d tell you more about it this month. It’s moulded from a tough foam that seems similar to EPP but has a pretty poor finish, no sharp edges to the moulding or any sort of surface detail.
It has three LED strips on the top and underside which probably show up quite well in the dark but can’t be seen in the air even on a dull day. Maybe I’ll try a night flight sometime!
So how does it fly? Not very well is probably the honest answer! The plane is controlled only by the thrust from the two motors, there are no servos or moving surfaces, so it climbs or dives depending on the throttle position and turns by powering one motor more than the other. It takes a bit of getting used to and is really only flyable in very light winds. Sometimes it seems to turn quite well but other times it takes half the field to turn 180 degrees and I haven’t really worked out why yet. The only way to adjust the trim is to bend the foam tail which is neither very accurate nor consistent. As you’ll see in the video it almost looped from the first launch but over the next half dozen or so attempts I gradually sorted it out and eventually got it flying quite nicely. But at every session, with different wind speeds, the trim is different each time and it’s like starting from scratch again. But for £24 with three batteries I didn’t expect too much and I’m quite enjoying the challenge.

Woody spotted some foamboard models on Ali Express and ordered himself a J-10 along with an electronics pack containing a motor, speed controller, propeller, and two servos. To give it the correct title the plane is a Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon, a single engine Chinese multirole fighter than can reach Mach 2.2 and fly in all weathers. It has a delta wing layout with canards and is fitted with fly-by-wire controls.
On Woody’s J-10 the foam is not the same as the foam on the models from HobbyKing, it has a smoother surface which takes printing better and I think it’s slightly denser so it’s probably a bit heavier. There are no instructions with the kit but construction is similar to the SU-27 and Mig-29 so Woody was able to get it all put together with no problems.
Woody added some lights and also a couple of extra pieces to stiffen the airframe up a little. To check the centre of gravity is correct there is a small hole near the top of the profile fuselage and the kit includes a piece of cord and ‘handle’ to dangle the plane from. The finished model looks good and the general opinion was that it should fly well and would probably be quite fast. With no instructions Woody had set the surfaces to neutral and guessed what control movements would be needed but when we tried to fly it we quickly realised that it needed some reflex as the first few launches resulted in it sinking to the ground. So we adjusted the surfaces to add some reflex and it got airborne but it wasn’t pleasant to fly so more movement adjustments were made which improved things a lot. Although the C of G was where indicated the model seemed nose heavy so Woody enlarged the battery opening to enable him to move the battery 20mm further back. Eventually, with the C of G about 15mm behind the stated position the J-10 flew well. Woody is still experimenting with the control movements but it’s now a good flier, quite fast flat out but it will slow up nicely and has no nasty habits. It looks good in the air and I think it will be a strong and reliable model which is just as well as I have bought one for myself!

Woody’s is the Red & Blue version so I ordered the Dark Blue one but it’s also available as the Chinoiserie which is…err…different! According to Wikipedia Chinoiserie is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other East Asian artistic traditions. Ali Express is rather like Amazon and sells stuff from a variety of shops which have a range of foam models including the SU-27, J-10, J-31, and JF-17 all available in various schemes. The prices shown on the site are without VAT but the price you will pay adds the 20% tax so there’s no need to worry about import duty. My J-10 was £25.99 including tax from XDRC store and I also bought an SU-27 from U-Angel-1988 Speciality Store for just £13.35 including tax but that is just the foam parts, no linkages or carbon rods etc.
Both my planes arrived at the same time, both much sooner than stated on the sites and the J-10 was in a nice cardboard box but the SU-27 was just in a jiffy bag!
Some of the foam parts were a bit bowed but neither plane had crushed or missing parts. The printing on the SU-27 says Hornet in several places and I think it looks more like an F-18 Hornet than a Sukhoi SU-27 so I’m going to call it a Hornet from now on.
Bob the Builder has since ordered an SU-27 from the XDRC store so it will be interesting to see if it’s any different. While I was looking around the Ali Express site I came across a 40 second video of a foamboard plane being flown. I’m not sure the BMFA would approve!

In the November Patch News I included a couple of photos of 1066’s incidence meter being demonstrated on a new model he was building. The model has now been finished and flown so here’s what 1066 has to say about it: Let me start by saying I am no builder or designer but sometimes I get ideas in my head that fire up my creative juices LOL!
The idea I had, and the brief I gave myself, was to build a winter hack with a materials cost for the airframe of £10.00, and that would fit in the car in one piece.
Straight away two things came to mind:- 1. Make it a high winger for ease of everything, and 2. Use 5mm craft board from Hobbycraft for cost. The build started with the wing and in my mind the plan was to produce a symmetrical wing. I did consider doing some trials on the wing construction but this would have eaten into my four sheets of board, therefore the first attempt was the one I used. I decided on what chord looked OK in relation to the maximum span I could get from a single board and cut a piece to twice that figure. I then cut out a vee on the centre line, making sure not to go through the second layer of card (mistake number 1 as this led to a very sharp leading edge which did give me some concerns). I then made many more score marks either side of the central vee to a point where I thought the main spar should go. The next stage was to glue three pieces of foam board on edge, along the line of the last score marks. Finally the board was gently folded back on itself, gluing along the spar, and at the trailing edge. Two end caps were then fitted on the tips. It was at this point I thought the span looked a little short so I decided to fit what have since been named Illusion tips which probably do nothing for the flying but did improve the plan view of the wing.  The ailerons were simply cut to a pleasing size and a second strip of card added at the front edge in the Kline-Fogleman style, to add strength and also to allow top hinging with packing tape.
I now moved on to the fuselage, nothing clever here, just a box made to the maximum length I could get from one piece of material, the sides are two thicknesses of board to just past the wing. The firewall was a piece of board laminated with a piece of ply and slightly set back between the sides to get as much glue area as possible. Two pieces of 3mm ply were glued inside the fuselage where the undercarriage plate is fitted just to spread the landing loads. The wing cut-out was positioned so that I had one and a half times the wing chord to the leading edge of the tailplane. I did put a bit of thought into the battery bay; instead of traditional vertical formers I used a horizontal piece fitted at a slope along the whole length of the nose. This created two compartments, the first being accessible from the wing cut-out, this houses receiver and speed controller, and the second is accessible from a hatch on the underside and has room for the battery.
Finally a piece of 5mm ply across the fuselage at the rear of the wing takes the wing retaining wood screw. The tailplane was cut to a pleasing size and shape (good rule of thumb here is to make it about 25% the area of the wing). For the first attempt I laminated two pieces of board, again Kline-Fogleman style for strength, but I did not like the exposed foam and card on the leading edge, so after making a paper template, the second attempt was folded at the leading edge. Stronger, more aerodynamic, and far more pleasing on the eye. The elevator was cut out, again using the ‘if it looks right’ method and the rudder was then made in the same fashion.
All that remained was finishing and fitting the electrics.  Mistake number two was that I tried some painting but this had to be done freehand as any attempt at masking just ruined the card. I would have been very proud of the results if I was 50 years younger! After painting and the use of coloured tape for decoration the whole model was covered in clear packing tape for weather resilience. The electrics were robbed from other models and went in very easily, but as it turned out this was when I made mistake number three which became apparent during flight trials. Initial flights showed that I had a very rearward CG, partially caused by fitting the elevator and rudder servos at the rear of the fuselage when I had ample room in the front under the wing. Add to this way too much movement on elevator and the first flights were tricky but showed the potential. I also felt the model did not track very well in the air, the fin did look a little too small.
So after fitting two 10mm combination spanners in the battery compartment to correct the CG, reducing control throws etc. I had a well behaved model. Back at the workshop I made a new fin and rudder, 50% bigger than the original, and made some other small changes. On the next trip to the field the model proved itself very capable with all the attributes of a high wing plane. In summary, did I meet my brief? I think so, if you take out the mistakes and wasted card it could have been done with three sheets for £7.50.
The only other thing I purchased was a roll of clear packing tape for £1.00 from Aldi, everything else was from the scrap box. Will it survive the elements? So far so good, it flies in varying wind and has spent a few hours sitting on wet grass. As a flying machine it has very few vices, is almost stall proof, not a 3D model but a very capable aerobatic plane. Three things to remember and almost anything will fly, just depends on how well, so get the correct CG, supply enough power, keep all the incidences correct, and if it looks right it probably is right. I know that’s four! So have a go at not designing a model, stick what you can see in your mind together you may surprise yourself. Thanks for that 1066, I can confirm that it flies very well indeed. Judge for yourselves in this month’s video.

Young Leo turned up with three new models in January, two EDFs and an electric glider. The first model Leo flew was his very attractive F/A-18 Hornet in the Blue Angels colour scheme. Leo tells me it’s a Park Flite model that is no longer available (I’ve never heard of Park Flite) and is 940mm long with a wingspan of 712mm. It’s powered by a 15L brushless motor that spins a 5 bladed fan and is fed by a 3 cell 1300mAh lipo via a 25A ESC.
To me it seems a very small battery and motor set-up for the size of the model but it appeared to have plenty of power and flew extremely well with a reasonable duration.

The next EDF Leo flew was his HobbyKing T-45 Goshawk which originally featured in Patch News way back in 2013 when it belonged to belonged to a young Dougal Entendre! Since that photo was taken the Goshawk has been fitted with a new nosecone, one of a pair that were moulded in glass fibre by Norwegian Nick who also has (had?) the same model.
The plane flew well but sounded a bit rough, not especially loud but not like an EDF usually sounds. Apparently Dougal has got a 12 bladed 64mm that is going to be fitted as an upgrade so it will be interesting to see how it goes with the new set-up.

Leo’s last new model was a Volantex Phoenix 2000 V2 electric glider, a few of which already exist in the club and are known to be good performers. Leo’s Phoenix flew well, just as expected, but towards the end of the flight the motor started making an odd noise.
Leo landed the plane safely and received the benefit of advice from various members, all of whom had different opinions! Once back home he had a proper look and discovered the problem was a faulty motor, this is what he said: The motor on the Phoenix had fallen apart because the bearing had moved which should not have happened. I went back to Sussex Model Shop and told them about it and they contacted Volantex RC and hopefully they are going to send me a replacement. Fingers crossed they sort it out for you Leo, let us know the outcome. All three of Leo’s models can be seen flying in this month’s video.

A few flying photos for you now and this month they are some of Kryten’s older shots:

Video time now, with footage shot by Dougal Entendre, Gordon Bennett, and me. 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

An English pilot was flying a light aircraft across Australia but the engine failed and he crash landed in the Outback and lay unconscious until he was found the following day.
When he came regained consciousness he was in a hospital bed with a nurse standing over him. Still groggy and fearing for his life, he asked, “Did you bring me here to die?”
The nurse responded “Nah, ya got here yesta die.”

Colin Cowplain

Happy New Year everybody! I hope you’ve all had a great Christmas and maybe even received some modelling goodies. If you did please let me know what you got and tell me about them, I might feature them in a future edition of Patch News. Unfortunately much of the December weather was not conducive to model flying with the first half of the month being extremely cold and the second half warmer but wet and windy. I didn’t spot a single new model t0 feature this month, I think that’s a first. Rather oddly, just like last month, the weather always seemed to be better on Friday afternoons than on Sunday mornings and I took this sunset photo as we were loading up our cars on Friday 16^th December.

But now we’re into a new year, the shortest day has come and gone, the evenings are already getting lighter, and we’ll soon have week after week of glorious long, hot, near windless days that are perfect for model flying…possibly!

December 1^st was an excellent flying day, quite cold but with light winds so no wind chill. I flew FPV with my Volantex Ranger and hoped to copy Dougal Entendre’s cloud hopping that I featured last month. The day was similar to when Dougal had captured his excellent video footage but the clouds that were laying in the valleys stayed stubbornly down in the valleys rather than slowly blowing up and over our field. Never mind, although the clouds were just too far away for me to reach I did manage to get some nice footage and I quite like this shot where you can see the masts directly in front on the plane’s nose.
Back over our field I managed to follow Chas’s Wot4 as he did some touch & go’s.
You can enjoy watching some of the footage in this month’s video.

Away from the patch the first club AGM in three years was held on Wednesday 7^th December. With the various Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions it had been impossible to have any meetings so this was a very important one. After a discussion with the other committee members Chairman Captain Slow chose a room at Clanfield Memorial Hall as the venue and it turned out to be an excellent choice with seventeen members making the meeting.  The AGM began with reports from each of the committee, one of the important ones being the Treasurer’s report which showed that the club had managed to stay solvent despite all Nick Squire’s expensive holidays! Then it was onto the main event, the election of a new Chairman as Captain Slow had decided to step down after three years.

He’d done a great job of guiding us through the difficult Covid-19 times with several bouts of no flying at all or with only limited numbers allowed and various other complications along the way. Holding the club together when no meetings were possible was a feat in itself which Captain Slow handled admirably.  But who would step up to become the new Chairman? We were very pleased and mightily relieved when Gordon Bennett volunteered to take on the job and within seconds he was elected, before he could change his mind!
The remaining six committee members were happy to continue so with no other candidates coming forward were all re-elected. The topic of restarting club meetings was discussed at length and it was decided to try and hold quarterly formal meetings with maybe some social meetings in between those if members wanted them.  I ran two raffles (Big and Small) with prizes that had been bought just before the first lockdown. The members were extremely generous and the total takings were £111, an excellent result.
Overall the AGM was a great success and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Way back in early November I’d spotted what looked to be a bargain on the Banggood site and in a moment of madness I’d hit the Buy button. It’s sold as an HW-34 and it’s another of the tiny Chinese models that come complete with a transmitter and are fitted with a gyro but unlike the others it’s not really even pretending to be a scale model, it’s much more of a toy. I think it’s roughly based on the Sukhoi SU-34 and I do mean roughly.
The other micro planes that lots of us are flying have the usual aileron, elevator, and rudder controls but this one has none of those. It is fitted with two pusher propellers and control is done by altering the speed of one or both of the motors to make it climb or dive and turn left or right so there’ll be no aerobatics with this one. It is moulded in coloured EPP foam and is said to be unbreakable, there’s a video showing various strength tests.
So why did I buy it? Well partly because it has multiple LEDs for night flying (the lights alone would be enough to convince Woody to buy it} but mostly because the complete package including three batteries and tracked delivery was only £24.12, what could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot as it turns out, it hasn’t arrived yet! It’s coming from China so I knew it would take a while and the estimated delivery was between December 2^nd and 12^th. I placed the order on 10^th November and the tracking shows it was shipped on 11th and went through various parts of China before arriving by plane in the UK on 20^th November. Since then nothing has happened and the Royal Mail tracking simply says “More information will be available when it arrives in the UK” so presumably it’s awaiting customs clearance. I used the Banggood online chat service to query the delivery and Archie (my new best friend) basically said to be patient. So it took 10 days from my placing the order to arrive in the UK and by 1^st Jan it will have been sat in customs for 42 days.

STOP PRESS: The day after I wrote the above it arrived! That was 23^rd December so it only took 33 days to be delivered once it had arrived in the UK. The Royal Mail tracking still shows that’s they are waiting to receive it from China even though they’ve now delivered it!
Oddly although I ordered an HW-34 according to the box it’s an HW-29 that’s been delivered but it looks identical to me. So presumably it’s supposed to be a Mig-29 not an SU-34. I’ll give more info and hopefully a flying report in the January 2023 Patch News.

Despite the very cold and frosty days at the start of December quite a few club members left the warmth of their homes behind and came out to fly. Just five of us were present when I took this photo fairly early in the morning on Sunday 11^th December but soon afterwards several more brave souls turned up as well, a good turnout in those conditions.
From the left it’s Dougal Entendre, Mini Mike, Gordon Bennett, and lastly Captain Slow.

Peter Fothergill dragged himself out in all kinds of weather to practice the flying schedule for his BMFA ‘A’ certificate and flew on days that varied from freezing cold but with light winds to wet, warm(ish), and windy. I admired his stoicism, he must have got very bored flying figure 8 after figure 8, after figure 8 but Peter never complained. Here’s Peter back in July when the weather was rather better with the Max Thrust Riot he used for the test.
Peter had been looked after at various times by Dougal, Chas, Captain Slow, 1066, and me. Both Dougal and I are examiners but as I’d spent more time than Dougal teaching Peter it seemed best if Dougal took Peter for his test. But with the combination of dodgy weather and Dougal’s work commitments it was proving difficult to arrange so when the weather on Friday 16^th December was perfect I took Peter by surprise and told him he was taking the test. All went well and his flying was excellent, Peter said later that being able to fly without the hindrance of gloves and a transmitter muff helped no end! He’d already passed the RCC test which simplified the question asking part of the test and he was able to answer all the questions I threw at him with no problems at all.
Having passed and been congratulated by all those present Peter packed all his gear away and sat watching the rest of us. When I insisted he had his first solo flight he unpacked everything again and had a flight that included several loops and rolls followed by a perfect landing on our small patch. Well done Peter, you’re going to be fine!

Gordon Bennett asked to me to check out his Spitfire one day, I’m sure I heard him say he wanted to see how it looked when it was flown properly! Obviously I happily agreed to help out but then I realised there was a problem, Gordon uses Spektrum radio gear…yuk!

But I managed to overcome my dislike and of course the Spektrum performed faultlessly.

Dougal Entendre and I managed to escape the festivities for a while on Boxing Day and enjoyed some great flying in reasonable weather, chilly but not freezing and light winds.

 
With little flying in December I’m afraid I don’t have any new flying shots so here’s a look back at some of Kryten’s excellent photos that he has taken throughout 2022:

Video time now with footage taken by Dougal Entendre, Gordon Bennett, and myself. 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

Does Father Christmas have to pay landing fees for his sleigh and reindeer?
No, they’re on the house…

Colin Cowplain