Patch News History

I’ve begun writing this blog on Sunday 24^th November when I should be out flying, but storm Bert has put a stop to that. The wind has been blowing at over 30mph all weekend with gusts of over 50mph so I doubt there has been any outdoor flying anywhere today. The rest of November has been pretty much normal although there was a little snow in the middle of the month which is unusual in November down here on the south coast. In the last few days of the month we had storm Conall blow through with strong winds and some very heavy rain. But some of the hardier members have been flying regularly throughout the month and on some of the days the conditions were surprisingly pleasant. On the last Friday of the month there was just 1066, Woody, and me at the field. It was a lovely sunny morning but the wind was stronger than forecast (OK MacFly, you were right!) and at 90 degrees to the patch. Despite just being the three of us we mowed the patch before flying.While we were mowing we spotted the contrails of four aircraft that were obviously flying together in a loose formation. A quick look at Flight Radar 24 didn’t show them and then, just a few minutes later, another four flew over on the same track, very mysterious… Was it Russian missiles? USAF planes flying in? No, Woody later looked on the Facebook pages of EGHF Lee-on-Solent and RAF Coningsby Spotters Group and found the answer, it was two groups of Typhoons returning to Coningsby from Albacete Airport in Spain.

After all the excitement of conspiracy theories and mowing we had a few flights in the now increasingly strong wind and finished the morning by cleaning off the mowers for winter. Multiple Magnificent Mower Maintainers? Maybe! Club members will hopefully have read the email from our chairman about the upcoming AGM. For those of you who missed the email the AGM will be held at The Hampshire Hog on Wednesday 8^th January, starting at 7.30pm. The meeting agenda will be circulated in due course but, as always, one of the things to discuss will be the annual fees. Please put the date in your diaries and make the effort to attend. As always I will be running a raffle so make sure you come along with your pockets stuffed full of cash!

Now for some good news, not that there’s any bad news to follow. Our chairman Paul Bennett (affectionately known as Gordon) has been awarded a Certificate of Appreciation for his contributions to Petersfield Aeromodellers Club. This came about because Woody had applied to the BMFA Awards Committee to put Gordon forward, explaining that when the club lost the field late last year at extremely short notice after around 50 years of flying, Gordon had negotiated with the farmers for us to have the use of a different field. Gordon then amended the Constitution and rewrote the Site Rules applicable to the new site. He coordinated moving equipment between the sites and the setting out and mowing the new patch. Everything went smoothly and we have now been using the new site for almost a year with no problems. Woody told the Awards Committee that Gordon did all this while holding down a day job but we all know he just plays with boats now and again! Oh look, a pair of leaders! But seriously, many congratulations to Gordon for receiving this well-deserved award, and well done and thank you to Woody for putting him forward.

I didn’t spot any completely new unflown models at the patch in November but Terry flew his newly repaired E-flite Apprentice, a model that I had missed at the patch previously. Apparently, one day while I was away, Terry had crashed during a take-off attempt and some repairs were required. Whilst undertaking the repairs Terry changed the nose-leg as he thought the single wire was deflecting and making the Apprentice veer off line. He has now fitted a leg that supports the wheel on both sides and has also increased the size of the wheel. I’m not sure it’s made a big difference as the Apprentice still wants to turn hard right but in this month’s video you can see Terry’s first successful take-off.

Captain Slow brought along his Durafly Auto-G2 Gyrocopter to fly in early November. He’d had a few flights with the autogyro quite a long time ago but the flights had been a bit erratic and eventually it crashed. Back in the workshop Captain Slow discovered a problem with one of the servos so he swapped it for a new one and then completed the necessary repairs. When he brought the model along his time there was a crosswind and the grass was wet and a bit long so the model struggled to get off the patch. On the last attempt Slow tried going along the full length of the patch rather than directly into the wind but the crosswind caught him out and the autogyro tipped sideways and broke a rotor blade. I think a hand-launch would have been better although none of us have much experience of autogyros so who knows. It’s an easy repair so we should see it flying again very soon.

Away from the patch now, many of you will know that Mini-Mike recently went mad and splurged several year’s worth of his modelling cash…on a trip to Australia! So what has that got to do with Patch News I hear you ask? Well nothing really but it does have an aviation link as while he was there he had a flight in a float plane with Sydney Seaplanes. I don’t know about you lot but personally I’m very jealous, it’s something that’s been on my bucket list for ages! Mike’s flight was supposed to be in a de Havilland Beaver but the Beaver went unserviceable at the last minute so he was switched to a Cessna Caravan Amphibian instead. Although a Beaver flight would have been great, a real classic aircraft powered by a huge 450hp Pratt & Whitney radial engine, I imagine the Cessna would be much more comfortable and a great deal quieter as it’s powered by a turbo prop engine. The Caravan is larger than the Beaver with a wingspan of 15.9M against the Beaver’s 14.6M and it has much better visibility with more/ larger windows. The Caravan can carry twelve passengers against the Beaver’s seven although if I remember correctly Mike said there were only two passengers anyway so they would have had plenty of room each! Mike said he was surprised at how smooth the take-off and landings were, not as bumpy as he’d expected and he thought the flight was well worth the money. I thought it sounded fairly expensive until he told me the cost of the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb that he also did. Not only was the ticket expensive he then discovered that no cameras or mobile phones are allowed on the climb (in case they get dropped onto the road below) so if you want photos you have to buy the ones the organisers take during the climb. Oh well, it’s another thing that just has to be done I guess. It looked like you had a great time Mike.

I’m sorry to say that Bob the Builder must revert to his old title of Basher Bob for a month! He was flying his XFly Tasman at the same time Captain Slow was flying his Nigel. The poor Nigel was flying along, nice and slowly (obviously) when the Tasman tore right into it. Perhaps I should explain that Nigel is actually a Junior 60 that was built by the late Nigel Baker (AKA Chris P Bacon) so when Slow bought it he named it Nigel in his memory. Fortunately Nigel appeared to escape unscathed but the Tasman lost most of its rudder. Basher Bob landed safely with no further problems. Now you might be wondering how it could be Bob’s fault when the only damage was to his rudder, did he reverse into Nigel?! It’s simple, whenever there’s a mid-air collision it is always Basher Bob’s fault, it’s the rule!

Early in the month my wife and I visited the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, using some tickets I’d received as a present. We’d visited once before, on the first weekend the museum opened over thirty years ago, needless to say there have been a lot of changes! The museum is excellent and covers all the activities that have happened at the old race circuit in the past including motorbikes, cars, and of course, aeroplanes. I won’t bore you with too much information, but if you want to know more visit their website HERE Amongst all the aircraft here were a couple of items that immediately caught my attention. Firstly, there was a notice on the museum Harrier about the test pilot John Farley. The longer serving PAM members will remember that John came to our club meetings a couple of times and gave us some extremely interesting talks about his career as a test pilot, in particular the development of the Harrier, right from the early days of the ‘Flying Bedstead’ (Rolls Royce Thrust Measuring Rig) through to the P1127, Kestrel, and Harrier. John, who sadly passed away in 2018, had been a keen aeromodeller and was a member of Chichester & District MAC, and he came and flew at one of the early electric flight fly-ins that I ran for Southern Area BMFA at the Winchester MAC site many years ago. The second thing that caught my attention was this stand about Sir Sydney Camm. As an aeronautical engineer Sir Sydney Camm contributed to many Hawker designs from biplanes of the 1920’s to the Hawker Hurricane and even the Harrier mentioned above. I found this online: Such was Camm’s fondness for model aircraft that he played a principal role in establishing the Windsor Model Aeroplane Club in 1912. The WMAC was chiefly concerned with designing and making model aircraft, but it also began designs for a man-carrying glider. This black and white photograph was taken at a time close to the WMAC’s inception and depicts its members. So, from left to right: Frederick Camm, Barton, Sydney Camm, Mainwood, Saunders, Stevenson, Stanbrook and Clayton. If you haven’t been to the museum I can thoroughly recommend it, it’s well worth a visit.

For this month’s action shots I’ve delved into the archives for some of Kryten’s older pics: Video time now, this month with footage shot by myself, MacFly, and Dougal Entendre. 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 I know you’ll all be disappointed but this month I don’t have a joke for you, just this: Merry Christmas! Colin Cowplain

It’s November already, the clocks have gone back and winter is well on the way. So how was October? Better than expected overall, we had several nice sunny days with light winds. Life at the patch continued as usual, we managed a fair bit of flying on the better days, often cutting the grass beforehand, making flying a reward for our hard work. As the weather is now turning colder mowing will hopefully be a rarity for a few months.
A herd of bullocks joined us for a while but were rarely a problem, once they realised we weren’t there to feed them they just wandered off and left us alone. Later in the month the bullocks went and were quickly replaced by a flock of sheep. Sheep never seem to be any bother other than the ‘presents’ they leave us! The last Sunday morning of October was a glorious, calm and sunny day so we took the opportunity to mow. As we finished mowing, right on cue, in the nick of too late, newbie Patrick turned up to fly. Patrick is fitting in well with the club and it’s about time he had a blog nickname so I’m wondering if being called Patrick Mower would nudge him into action. Of course that might make him think we see him as an 80’s TV star so maybe Patrick Non-Mower would be more appropriate!

Another new Petersfield Aero Modellers member Terry Small flew several times in October with his little HobbyZone Apprentice STOL. With a wingspan of just 700mm span the model is a scaled down version of the very popular E-flite 1500mm Apprentice.
Terry also owns the larger Apprentice but I hear he damaged it while I was away for a few days. It’s almost ready to fly again now but Terry is awaiting delivery of a new wing spar.
Terry flies quite well with the smaller Apprentice and is using the gyro SAFE system in the Advanced mode as his skills improve. He was complaining that his simulator doesn’t mimic our long grass and windy conditions very well…welcome to the real-world Terry!

As well as the last Sunday of the month having perfect flying weather the morning was improved even further by Woody bringing along celebratory cakes for everybody!
His birthday was actually on the Friday before but the weather was not flyable that day.

Early in October Gordon Bennett managed to break the fuselage of his Multiplex Extra 330SC in half when landing. Gordon blamed the small wheels and spats, saying they stopped the Extra moving forward on the wet grass, and instead it nosed over and broke the fuselage at the back of the wing when the fin hit the ground. His solution was to remove the spats and replaced the wheels with ones about a foot in diameter.
That might be a slight exaggeration but the wheels are much larger than the originals and don’t exactly enhance the look of the Extra. I think I know where he found his inspiration! However, never mind what they look like, as you can see in this month’s video the bigger wheels do the job and Gordon has managed several flights without damaging anything.

Last month I reported on the Multiplex Joker that Leo had bought at the Popham Model Show and subsequently sold on to Dougal Entendre. In October Dougal sorted out some of the things he wasn’t happy with on the plane and had a few flights at our field.
Here is Dougal’s report:  Many years ago I designed a 12ft wingspan glider which I called Mr Blue Sky. I did a foam wing using obeche veneer attached with epoxy. The wings were heavy, which gave it an unfortunate characteristic of “digging in” when I tried to do slow thermal turns. This was probably due to tip-stalling, so I never had any success with it. Other designs with lighter built-up wings never seemed to suffer from this problem. When Leo purchased the Joker at Popham and we were heading back to the car with it, I worried that the wings seemed heavy, so it might suffer from a similar characteristic. Fortunately, when Leo had installed his gear and I got to test-fly it, it proved to be a fine performer with no nasty vices. I suspect the Joker performs so well due to its under-cambered section, straight wings (where Mr Blue Sky had polyhedral) and the really smooth epoxy covering job which the builder did. However, after the test flight, we still had to make a snagging list of things which were going to have to be sorted. It read as follows:
1. No ESC brake, so the folding propeller would not fold.
2. Flaps would only work like ailerons, i.e. one went up when the other went down!
3. Vibration at full throttle.
I bought the Joker off Leo, got it in the workshop and approached each problem in turn. It had an Arrows 50A ESC fitted (which I think is the same as used in the Marlin), so I downloaded the instructions and tried to engage the brake.
This proved impossible – the ESC didn’t respond to programming using the throttle stick as it should, so I replaced it with a different ESC where I knew the brake worked. I suspect the Arrows unit doesn’t actually have a brake, even though the instructions suggest that it does! The flap problem was solved by removing the Y-lead which the original owner had put in the wiring harness, and driving each servo off a separate Rx channel, with suitable reversing. I did the same for the ailerons, removing the second Y-lead and using separate channels so I could program some differential (more up aileron than down). The propeller seemed to be well balanced, but using a 4s pack at full throttle gave a nasty vibration. Throttling back to about 75% gave no vibration at all, and the model still proved to have a good climb rate, so my temporary solution is to put a limit on the throttle when using 4s batteries. In the long term I may go down to 3s, but that will mean changing the ESC connector! In the meantime I’m using a 4s 3700mAh pack, and used less than 20% capacity for a 12-minute flight in fairly still air.
I have no idea what the motor is (and I’m not going to remove it to see), but I think a 3s pack should be fine if I add a bit more nose-weight. Thanks for that Dougal, good stuff.
The Joker has connectors mounted in the wing roots that mate with ones in the fuselage so there’s no faffing around with connectors when it’s assembled at the field.

It looked great in the air and floated around well even though there appeared to be no lift.

Following a mid-air collision that wrote-off his E-Flite F-15 Eagle Woody saved all the important and undamaged parts and has now fitted them into an F-18 Super Hornet that he bought from AliExpress. I can’t tell you which one as Woody seems to have bought the last one and it’s no longer listed. It was a bare airframe listed at £29.98 but by the time VAT and delivery had been added it cost around £56, so not quite such a bargain.
Woody fitted the F-18 with the 64mm fan and motor from the F-15 along with the 40A speed controller and four servos. He finished the Hornet with acrylic paints and of course, as this is Woody I’m talking about, he also added a reheat led light ring at the rear.
A pair of light rings would have been the more appropriate but he somehow managed to blow one up! The finished model looks smart and being much the same size and weight as the E-flite Eagle it should have enough power, so does it fly? Yes! Woody was unsure of the correct centre of gravity position and the first attempt at flight showed that it was much too far back. So lots of lead was temporarily added to the nose and another attempt made. This time the C of G was too far forward and the Eagle wouldn’t climb away from the launch so some of the lead was removed. The next attempt showed the C of G was now correct and it went away from the launch and flew very nicely. Well done Woody, try not to break it! All three attempts and successful flight can be seen in this month’s video.

Young Leo has spent the money Dougal paid him for the Joker (but not on 3 cell 2200mAh batteries apparently!) and has bought a HobbyKing Paramotor V2. Bob the Builder built a few paramotor models several years ago, before the first HobbyKing one was available and had rather limited success with them although it was an interesting trial. But the HobbyKing one seems to be pretty well sorted, particularly the new V2 version.
The first couple of attempts at flight didn’t go to plan but after a bit of checking, consulting everyone, and listening to various differing opinions Leo reversed the aileron control and away it went. As it happened there were a couple of full-size paramotors flying as well and I managed to snap some photos that included a full-size one as well as Leo’s.
The shots were taken with a high zoom setting and the at no point did the model get remotely close to the full-sized one. Leo didn’t seem to have any problems with the Paramotor and had a long flight followed by a perfect landing back on the patch.
This is from the HobbyKing website: Following on from the incredible success of the first H-King Paramotor comes this V2. The V2 still retains many of the characteristics of the original version, including the ability to perform loops and rolls with ease after a little practice. The large area high performance 2400mm parafoil wing opens quickly for easy launching and due to its design it will retain its shape even in severe turbulence. The single-skin durable wing is made from 100% ripstop fabric and the new, stronger nylon chords are rigged and ready to attach to the durable aluminium gondola. Just like the original version, there is a high level of prefabrication so assembly time is kept to a minimum, and as it is supplied in a Plug-N-Fly format all you will require to get flying is your transmitter, receiver, LiPo battery, and charger. The Paramotor V2 is fitted with a powerful 3530-1400KV brushless motor swinging a 10×4.7 propellor, has a 50A electronic speed controller with 5A BEC, and 2 powerful 15kg high torque metal geared servos. A 3S LiPo battery is recommended and it can vary in capacity to suit different flying conditions. The recommended flying weight is 1.6~2.0kg, in light wind conditions it is best to put a lighter battery in to keep near the 1.6kg weight. In windy conditions, it is better to put a heavier battery in to fly around the 2kg mark. Ultra-long flights of 20~45mins can be achieved depending on the size of the battery used.
It will be interesting to see how the Paramotor performs in stronger winds but in the light winds when Leo flew it there didn’t appear to be any problems at all. MacFly recorded a lot of the first three flights and you can see some of it in this month’s video.

Watching Leo fly his new Paramotor inspired Bob the Builder to dig out a powered hang glider that he hadn’t flown for several years. Bob has changed his transmitter since the last flight with it so everything needed setting up again but after one false start followed by a couple of adjustments the model flew surprisingly well in the light wind of the day.
MacFly took some video for us but as it was on 30th October it was too late to be include in this month’s video but it will be something to look forward to next month!

This month the ‘action shots’ are all taken from the video so not the best quality I’m afraid:

Video time now, this month with footage taken by myself and MacFly. 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

Marry someone who says things like:
I’m proud of you…
You can do it darling…
I can’t believe you’re mine…
I don’t know where that extra aeroplane came from but it looks amazing alongside all the others and I think we’re going to need a bigger hangar.

Colin Cowplain

I’ve just seen on TV that September was the wettest on record here in the south and Middle Wallop had four times the average September rainfall. I was away in warmer climes for part of the month but it seems there wasn’t much flying in my absence. Of course there was some flying but not as much as we’d hope for in September and we still haven’t seen the Indian summer that our chairman promised. While the month was very wet it was also reasonably warm and the grass continued to grow so was mown regularly.
Woody deserves a special mention as when nobody liked the look of the flying weather one Friday morning Woody took it upon himself to mow the patch alone. 1066 reckons he should be known as the Lone Mower so maybe the mowers should be Silver and Tonto?

I missed the Popham Model Show so I’ve asked Dougal Entendre to tell us about it: Popham this year was pretty much its normal self, but with marginally worse weather. Leo and I went on the Saturday, as this seemed to have the better forecast, though I think the Sunday turned out pretty much the same. Anyway, there was no weather-induced break in the flying while we were there, despite the odd light shower.
Having scored a winner with his Salto purchase the previous year, Leo had brought a wad of cash along, so we headed straight for the Bring-and-Buy. In almost no time at all he had parted with much of it for a rather nice Multiplex Joker glider (with electric conversion), and a slightly battered 3D Hobby Shop AJ-Slick (same as 1066’s, but with more history written all over it). This meant two long walks back to the car park to deposit the goods in the back of my estate.
Our legs were starting to show the strain, as was Leo’s wallet, so we headed for the flying displays. It was mostly a mix of Futura-style jets, petrol-powered 3D aerobatics, and the odd jet-powered glider. We were particularly impressed with a 12-year-old 3D pilot, and a couple of half-scale Piper Cubs which put on an excellent display of synchronised aerobatics:
On one of the trips back to the car we bumped into Captain Slow and Woody, and later on we met Patrick and his son Joe, who seemed to be enjoying the show.
Back at the trade stands Leo fell for a second-hand foam biplane (I can’t remember the details, but it did seem like quite a good price), so that used up even more space in the back of my wagon. When we left in the early afternoon there were still a few unsold items at the Bring-and-Buy; among them was quite a nice autogyro, fully equipped except for radio, which the guy offered us for a knockdown price. Realising I might be in trouble with Leo’s Mum if I let him buy that too, I hastily closed the deal myself, so we came back with quite a car load.
Subsequently Leo brought the Joker and Slick along to the patch, and both flew well.
The Slick has a motor which won’t take more than a 3S pack, so it’s not 3D capable, but it still seems like quite a good aerobat. The Joker had amazing performance, though there were several things which needed sorting (ESC, flaps and rudder), so I struck a deal with Leo – the Joker is now mine, and he has the autogyro (some money also changed hands)! I’m looking forward to getting the Joker in the air once I’ve sorted the electronics, and I hope we see Leo’s autogyro at the patch soon. So all-in-all a very enjoyable morning, with plenty of purchases to show for it!
Thanks for that Dougal, it sounds as if I missed a good day as well as some bargains. Leo shot some video at the show which he has added to his YouTube channel in two parts.
Take a look at them on his YouTube channel by clicking  HERE

I’ve trawled the internet for information on the Multiplex Joker that Dougal has now bought from Leo but have not managed to find out much at all. As far as I can tell the Joker was discontinued many years ago, there’s a suggestion that was due to the cost of production being too close to the selling price. The obechi veneered foam wings span 3333mm (virtually eleven feet) and the 1350mm long fuselage is moulded in fibreglass. Dougal tells me that on his Joker the wings have been beautifully glass-clothed. I have only found specifications for a glider version but there are several electric powered ones around so presumably there was an electric version available. It appears to be very well rated in everything I can find, no doubt I’ll be able to tell you more next month.

When writing Patch News I use the internet a great deal to find information on models etc. and very often Google comes up with stuff that is only very loosely related to my search but is quite interesting anyway. While I was looking for information on the Multiplex Joker I stumbled across a piece about full-size gliding which has a bit of local interest:
Robert Kronfeld, the famous pioneer, showed the way when on June 17, 1930 he flew from Itford Hill (East Sussex) to very near Portsmouth, a feat which amazed the other pilots at the time. An extract from his book is well worth repeating here: “I only cleared the last small hill near Petersfield by three hundred feet. In view of the noiselessness of my flight and the advanced evening hour it struck me that I was very indiscreet in flying over a small wood swarming with courting couples. I imagine that it was not exactly considerate of me to call out at the top of my voice “Whcre’s Portsmouth?”
Just outside Petersfield back in 1930? Bob the Builder was probably there!

Last month I showed you a couple of photos that 1066 had sent me of the Dancing Wings Cub that he’d started building and I promised some more info on the build this month.
Well, there’s been a development, this photo is 1066 with his Dancing Wings Cub…but it’s not the one he was building. The Cub that 1066 had started building was a 1200mm span version but then he spotted a larger used ready built and ready to go Dancing Wings Cub for sale locally which he snapped up. This one is the 1775mm wingspan version and is the actual Piper J-3 Cub that was built by Rob Lawes of the RC Model Geeks YouTube channel in 2017 and featured in several of his videos. It’s powered by a Propdrive V2 3548 900KV brushless motor linked to a Hobbyking Red Brick V2 70A speed controller. It’s fitted with four Corona DS339MG digital metal gear servos and the whole lot runs on a 4 cell lipo. The model features a proper sprung undercarriage as per the full-size Cub, two hefty 10mm carbon fire tube wing joiners and working light alloy main and jury struts.  The struts attach to the fuselage on a pin with an ‘R’ clip which ensures quick assembly and disassembly. Dougal took the photos when 1066 took it to the field for its first outing and since then he’s added some trim and lettering to brighten it up a bit. In this month’s video you can see that the registration he’s added is G-JEPH, I’m not sure why he decided to call it Geoff but apparently he’s having trouble with his speel chequer! So what has happened to the Cub 1066 was building? He says he wasn’t really enjoying the build so, having the larger one, he’s decided to sell it part built. It looks as if he’s done lots of the work already
I believe Chas has shown some interest but as far as I know it’s still available.

Gordon Bennett flew two new models on September, the first being an E-flite Mustang. Gordon’s excuse for the purchase was that he’d had a win on the Premium Bonds, not that he needed an excuse. The Mustang is 493mm wingspan and will fly on either a two or a three cell battery, Gordon is using a 3 cell 300mAh lipo. This is from the E-flite website: The P-51D Mustang is world-renowned as quite possibly the most iconic fighter aircraft of all time! (Flippin’ Yanks, that’s the Spitfire!) Its unique design resulted in it delivering some of the best performance among all fighter aircraft flown in WWII. “Detroit Miss” is a history-making P-51D Mustang that was flown by Urban “Ben” Drew, and in 1944 he became the first USAAF pilot to shoot down two jet-powered Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter aircraft with it. The E-flite UMX P-51D Mustang is an ultra-micro sized model of the famous aircraft that’s a warbird version of the popular UMX P-51D Voodoo racer. It’s equipped with expertly-tuned AS3X and optional-use SAFE Select technologies, is 2S and 3S battery compatible, and provides real-time battery voltage telemetry to compatible transmitters. Because of its ultra-micro size, the UMX P-51 can be flown in more places and smaller spaces including many yards, parks, and sports fields! The fixed landing gear with a steerable tailwheel makes it easy to taxi, take-off from, and land on smooth surfaces, or you can leave the landing gear off for more speed and vertical performance with easy hand launches over and landings on grass. It’s the most affordable, convenient, and easiest-to-fly replica of a P-51D Mustang yet!
On the first flight Gordon had to add full down elevator trim so before the next flight he made some adjustments to the elevator linkage after which it was fine.
The Mustang appears to fly really nicely and the stabilisation cancels out most of the effects from buffeting winds. Overall it’s a great little flier and a good purchase.

In Patch News a couple of months ago I showed you this photo of Dwayne Pipe’s Gnat that had suffered a minor misfortune…OK, a major misfortune…some would say a write-off!

But Dwayne is an ardent builder and he’s not put off by a minor setback like that. As he’d designed the Gnat himself he knew exactly how to undertake the repairs so in September the Gnat re-emerged looking as if nothing had happened. As you’ll see in the video the Gnat went way from the launch ramp well but the battery pack failed almost immediately. Dwayne got her safely down with no damage so just needs to sort out a replacement pack.

Gordon’s second new model was one he bought a while ago at a Southern Counties Swapmeet after selling his trainer there. It’s a Multiplex Extra 330SC which is an 1150mm wingspan full 3D machine moulded in foam with wood and carbon fibre reinforcement.
It appears to be discontinued but I found some information on the AT Models website: F3P World Champion Gernot Bruckmann with the internationally successful Extra Aircraft Company and the talents of the Mirco Pecorari design studio have created an aerobatic model aircraft that has been tailor made for pilots who know what they want, know how to fly, and desire the very best 3D performance that is possible to get from a stunning out and out pattern and freestyle aerobat. That model is the Extra 330SC and if you add Multiplex world-class design and manufacturing experience to the heady mix of talent, the package is further enhanced by a powerful and extremely solid Elapor airframe that sets new standards in the 1.2m class. Its versatile too, and with exceptional longitudinal stability, very precise, conventional, F3A-style aerobatics are a joy to perform. This, then, is a model you’ll instantly fall in love with and one whose secrets will make you look so good, you’ll be reluctant to share them.
The Extra has had some minor repairs but nothing major and it just needed a receiver and a three cell lipo to get it in the air. None of the Multiplex stuff is cheap and if I remember correctly Gordon only paid £80 so I reckon it was a real bargain for a top notch plane.

Gordon asked me to do the test flight and to trim it out. It needed no trimming and is an excellent flier so I quickly handed the transmitter over to Gordon to complete the flight.
Gordon’s still playing around with the settings to get the Extra flying exactly as he likes it but it appears to be good so far. He’s going to remove the aileron Y lead and use separate channels. You can see how both of Gordon’s new toys perform in this month’s video.

For the extra shots this month I’ve used some of Dougal’s photos from the Popham Show:

Video time now, this month with footage taken by myself and MacFly. 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

This is a supposedly true flight safety announcement from a Southwest Airlines employee:
“Welcome aboard Southwest Flight XX to YY. To operate your seatbelt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seatbelt, and if you don’t know how to operate one, you probably shouldn’t be out in public unsupervised.
In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face.
If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before helping with theirs. If you are traveling with two small children, decide now which one you love more.”

Colin Cowplain

I’ve started the last couple of editions of Patch News by complaining about the bad weather and hoping for better next month. And yes, August was very slightly better. We flew regularly but it hasn’t really been a proper summer, just a couple of decent days here and there. But fear not, our Chairman Gordon Bennett is predicting an Indian Summer, get the sunscreen and iced drinks ready! At the start of the month the farmers gave a flock of sheep their annual dipping and they were in ‘our’ field briefly but they were no trouble.
A few days later farmer George said we were looking lonely so he brought along a herd of bullocks to keep us company! Oddly, despite being the young, normally problematic ones they have barely bothered us at all. We have had to gently steer them away from the patch a couple of times but once away they’ve stayed clear for the rest of the flying session.

On the last Friday morning session they decided to come to the pits to watch our flying.Mowing continued as usual throughout the month and the patch is in good condition.

Several new models were flown in August, I’ll begin with two from new member Patrick. Patrick is going to need a pseudonym for blog use soon and, as his surname is Beagles it shouldn’t be too difficult to come up with something…Poodle? Answers on a postcard…
The first of his new models to fly was a HobbyKing Bixler 3. We’ve all seen Bixlers before, they’ve been around for years in various forms and the version 3 doesn’t look to have changed much but apparently it has angular wing and tail surfaces and it’s bigger than the other versions with a wingspan of 1550mm. It also has an uprated 2620 1400kV motor and an easily removable undercarriage. All ARTFs have those, but mostly unintended!
The Bixler comes almost ready to go, fitted with the motor, a 20A speed controller, and 4 x 9g servos so it just needs a receiver and a 3 cell 2200mAh battery. Dougal Entendre did the initial trimming after which he handed the transmitter over to Patrick who flew the Bixler with no problems.  Patrick’s second new model is another one from HobbyKing, a Durafly Ugly Stick, identical to the one that Woody has been enjoying flying recently.
The Ugly Stick comes ready fitted with a 3536 900kV motor, a 30A Durafly speed controller, and 4 x 9g servos so, like the Bixler, it just needs a receiver and 3 cell 2200mAh battery to get it flying. And Ugly Sticks fly very well indeed, even Dougal managed to make it look good on the maiden flight! You can see parts of the first flights of both of Patrick’s new models in this month’s video which seems to have turned into The Mini-Mike Movie!
A few flights later Patrick managed to break the Ugly Stick slightly but luckily not too drastically and after a few cocktails (by the look of it!) he had it all back in one piece.

Patrick is not alone in breaking a new model and after two Patch News articles on his Fusion build 1066 has written another piece for us about breaking and then repairing it:
We all break models at some point, and we can generally put it down to pilot error, structural or avionics failure. As some may know I recently damaged my new fun-fly model while trying to do fast consecutive touch and goes. The damage was confined to the fuselage, one side had a single crease and the ply doubler had delaminated from the balsa, (poor building here) the other side had two cracks that went through the balsa and ply doubler, all this was within the area of the battery hatch, so the weakest part of the fuselage. This model is not an ARTF (always ready to fail) it is designed with the sole purpose of being competitive in national fun flying competitions. The undercarriage is built like a tank, and is mounted in such a way that it’s impossible for the plane to nose over, the wheels are in front of the propeller, so almost impossible to damage it.
When you look at the forward sweep of the undercarriage, and the way it is mounted, you can see a lot of thought has gone into reducing and spreading the loads encountered when doing a touch and go. During competition these guys are not waiting for a gentle touch when doing as many as they can in 2 minutes. Taking all the above into account, I was totally confused as to the cause of the damage the model had suffered. Was it pilot error? (YES! Ed) My attempted touch and go was a bit faster, and steeper than optimal, however it was straight into wind, we had just cut the grass, and our patch is not full of holes, so therefore should have been well within the models’ ability. I know I am biased, but I’m claiming no pilot error on this occasion, so it’s got to be structural failure. The repairs were very straightforward, and I have taken the opportunity to stiffen things up around the battery access. It was when I came to refit the undercarriage that everything became clear. The kit is not supplied with any wheels, the ones I used needed the hub opening out to fit the large gauge piano wire axles, and it looks like I went a bit too far.
As can be seen in the photos the left hand wheel had locked solid on impact with the ground, probably due to the hub failing and riding up over the bend, and because the undercarriage is so stiff and long this magnified the twisting load applied to the sides of the fuselage. I suppose the moral here is, no matter how good the design, there is always the unforeseen. Thanks 1066, maybe just fit a second collet on the other side of the wheel?

One Sunday morning in August there was a light easterly wind and a couple of paragliders were trying to fly. I say trying because they did manage to get airborne but neither of them was able to gain enough height to stay aloft. A couple of times they each ended up at the bottom of the slope and had to carry their gear back up for the next attempt. We were very wary about flying as they did come along the ridge quite close to us and with just a small change in the wind they may have suddenly appeared in our airspace. Eventually they gave up so we flew but by then it was almost lunchtime. A few MVSA members were also flying but they were no problem to us. When I walked back to my car an MVSA guy arrived and we got chatting, discussing the suitability of the wind for the Sky Surfers, and he told me about a website called Flybubble that the paragliders use and we might find useful:

Flybubble is a specialist paragliding and freeflight equipment retailer and distributor and the interesting thing for us is that their website has weather forecasts for paragliding sites right across the country including Mercury where we fly. Their main website is https://flybubble.com which is quite interesting in itself but the one that’s useful to us is https://flybubble.com/weather/mercury-15469#5  Dougal has revamped the PAM website weather page to include the Flybubble link for Mercury, just click on the Weather heading.
It’s interesting to note that the BBC forecast seems to give the steady windspeed (not gusts), Holfoy gives the actual speed live plus gust speeds, and Flybubble appears to give the highest speeds, so presumably gusts. At the time I am writing BBC says 11mph, Holfoy 9.9 to 13mph, and Flybubble 16mph. Take your pick, maybe take an average of them all!

Following his Fusion build 1066 has got the building bug and has started on a Dancing Wings Cub. Here’s a little teaser of what’s coming in next month’s exciting instalment!

 

Woody has sold his Max Thrust Riot to Captain Slow as he didn’t really get on with it.
It’s actually a Pro-Built balsa and ply Riot rather than the all foam one and is a lot heavier than the original. I’ve just found an article in RCM&E by Kevin Crozier about the Pro-Built Riot which says it’s 60% heavier than the foam one, surely that can’t be a good thing!
Captain Slow only had one flight on the day as something was out of balance which made the plane very noisy. He thinks it was the prop driver that wasn’t running quite true so will be sourcing another one and checking everything properly with a dial gauge before he’s happy to fly it again. But it flew fine apart from the noise and it’s in this month’s video.

At the end of the month Captain Slow dug out his Wot Trainer to give prospective new member Terry Small some flights using a buddy box. I’m never quite sure about the model, it’s become known as the club trainer but I believe ownership is actually split between Captain Slow and Woody. It flies on either 3 cells or 4 cells but as it needs weight in the nose it uses either 2 x 3 cell or 2 x 4 cell packs connected in parallel so it only has the voltage of one 3 or 4 cell pack and gets long flights, perfect for a trainer. It was very windy on the day Terry had some flights with the plane but he seemed to be getting the hang of it.

MacFly bought and flew a very nice new model in August, a JP F38 Hornet Delta Racer.
This is what the J Perkins website says about it: Looking for fast and furious R/C fun? Then you’ve come to the right place. Buckle up, tuck this tantalising F38 under your arm and prepare for a 3S-fuelled thrill that’ll have your clubmates rushing to buy their own. Make sure they get a different colour and enjoy triple the excitement as you go head-to-head in a bout of brute, brushless pylon racing. Packing a powerful pre-fitted 1200KV brushless motor, 30A ESC and supremely capable twin 9g servos, just 30 short minutes is all it takes to get this 3-channel PNP foamie airborne, and 30 seconds to get hooked! Docile, dead easy to launch and furiously fast, the JP F38 Hornet is the perfect all-weather grab ‘n’ go racer. Suitable for any occasion and almost any field, it’s a keeper.
Well they certainly seem to like it! And so do I and fortunately MacFly does as well.
The Hornet is 800mm wingspan and the flying weight is quoted as just 550g so with a 2834 1200kV motor it’s no slouch but I wouldn’t say it’s as fast as the description implies. MacFly asked me to trim it and I found the Hornet good to fly, smooth, responsive, and quick at full throttle but also happy at half throttle and it will slow up nicely for landing.
MacFly has been enjoying the Hornet, it’s ideal for our field as it flies in pretty much any weather from the howling January winds to the August…well not quite so howling winds!
The Hornet comes complete with everything except a receiver and battery so MacFly has fitted an FrSky Archer Plus SR10+ combined receiver and stabiliser and he’s using a 3 cell 2000mAh 35C lipo pack. He’s had a couple of ‘interesting moments’ with the plane, the second one when he decided to switch the stabiliser from the Stabilisation mode which damps out wind buffeting to Automatic Level which, as the name implies, should instantly bring the model to level flight. MacFly isn’t sure what went wrong but it seemed to roll the Hornet inverted (even though he’s sure it was set correctly) and in the race to switch back to Stabilisation he lost and gravity won. A replacement airframe is already on order…

For the action shots this month I’ve been looking back through some very old photos:

Video time now this month with footage taken by myself, Dougal, and mostly by MacFly.
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

Boarding an airliner for the first time, Sharon sat in a window seat in a quiet area.
A man came over and politely said, “Excuse me madam, I think you’re in my seat.”
But being totally unaware of the correct aircraft seating arrangements Sharon replied “Tough, just go away and find yourself another seat!”
He said, “Okay, fine, you fly the plane.”

Colin Cowplain