Patch News – January 2013

It’s only 11th Jan as I write this and I have already been flying 6 times this year, even though I missed the only Sunday so far in 2013. Good start to the year!
Father Christmas must have been good to some of you as so far I’ve seen 5 new models at the patch, although one of them doesn’t really count as it’s just yet another from Multiple Models Montague. Frankly it would be more newsworthy if he turned up WITHOUT having a new model!
This is another one from 3D Hobby Store, an EPP Extra 330 at 48” span. Unlike most of the other EPP models we’ve seen this one isn’t ‘solid’, it has a built up foam structure over a carbon backbone, carbon wing tube, carbon stiffening etc. The result is a very light but strong structure that should prove more durable than the usual film covered laser cut construction of the Slicks that Steve usually flies. It’s also a lot cheaper!

Nigel Baker has now progressed from his Wot 4 Foam-E to an Acro-Wot Foam-E. It flies really well and Nigel enjoyed a few flights before the usual ARTF undercarriage failure occurred on a slightly dodgy arrival. No doubt it’s been sorted by now and Nigel will enjoy many more flights with it. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing lots more of these Acro-Wots in the club in the future.

Another foam model is Tony Neal’s Durafly Dynamic S from HobbyKing. It’s a fully aerobatic electric glider that is HobbyKings’ copy of the ST Models Blaze that Steve Hastings has been flying for a while, so Tony should soon be doing high speed low passes and hairy aerobatics in 1066 style!

Woody has now finished his Ripmax P51 Mustang and he brought it along to the patch the other day. I had an ‘interesting’ test flight with it which highlighted a rearward C of G and too little movement on the ailerons, but after switching to a larger battery (always better than dead lead) and increasing the movement it is now flying a treat. Next time out he’s going to try a larger prop to give it a bit more oomph and I think it will go as well as it looks… and as you can see from the photo it looks great.

The last of the new models for now is Keith Evans’ Spitfire which some of you may have seen at the last club meeting. It’s an unusual model because apart from being a photo reconnaissance version of the Spit, Keith actual built it all himself! It’s pretty unusual these days to build from a kit (not an ARTF) and even rarer to build from plans, but Keith’s is a mixture of wings built from a Tony Nijhuis plan and fuselage modified to his own design. He obviously got it 100% right because it flew beautifully. I did the initial trimming flight for Keith but then he had to transfer the settings over to his own rather odd Tx set-up, (I think it’s mode 3) so he could have the next flight. He handled it very well, no problems at all, and landed back on the patch at the end. A great success, congratulations to Keith. The photo was taken prior to the first flight, he had a huge smile afterwards!

Apparently Peter Turley was less than impressed the other day when I commented on his thermal underwear, saying that in his case they were Short Johns rather than Long Johns. I don’t want to appear ‘sizeist’ so will now refer to Peter as Burly Turley. Although this is Patch News I feel the need to mention something that he raised at a club meeting. We are all used to Burly Turley doing his impression of a Spread Spectrum transmitter, hopping between a multitude of subjects many times per second. I thought it was something to do with interference rejection although I have heard others mention insomnia cures. Either way the rejection part works! This time he was talking about securing the radio link between Tx and Rx but somehow he hopped into bondage. The members’ reactions were amazing, I’ve never seen so many people shut up and listen so intently! Taking a quick glance round the room I could see how his mind may have wandered into ’50 Shades of Grey’ but it turns out he was highlighting a problem mentioned in BMFA News about taking care at the field to ensure two modellers aren’t BINDING their radios at the same time. So we can all breath easy, Burly Turley doesn’t have any weird desires toward club members, he just wants anyone who is BINDING their Tx/Rx to call a warning to others in the pits. Phew!

We’ve seen in increase of Kites around the field recently, and the other day there 8 circling round. Like the buzzards that we are used to seeing, the Kites show little interest in our models. Occasionally one will glide over for a closer look but they seem to quickly decide models are neither a threat nor edible and they carry on about their business. They are beautiful birds and it’s great to see their numbers increasing.
I recently found this amusing aircraft related video, worth a watch: The correct way to marshall aircraft…turn your sound up and click HERE!
The other day some of us were chatting about the late PAM member Don Hoolahan. Following Don’s death his family brought his ashes to the field and we shattered them on the patch. Some cruel chap remarked it was the only time he’d actually hit the patch! We then speculated that the last wishes of some other members might be to have their ashes shattered over their favourite spot. I’d like to make it perfectly clear that I have no intention of going down the valley and halfway up the other side just to keep Hapless Harper happy when he’s gone!
 As a pilot only two bad things can happen to you and one of them will: (a) One day you will walk out to the aircraft knowing that it is your last flight (b) One day you will walk out to the aircraft not knowing that it is your last flight.
Colin Cowplain