Patch News – January 2018

January has been and gone already and we’re rushing towards spring, it will soon be time for all those winter projects to emerge. This spring that will include the new club model that you’re all busy building. You are building one aren’t you? It’s the Mini Blitz, a free plan from the December 2017 edition of RCM&E, and it’s a very simple 3 channel delta built from balsa that can be knocked up in just a short space of time.I know there are some that are already finished and several more, like Page Boy’s pictured above, are under construction. If, like me, you haven’t started yet there’s still plenty of time to get one built. They need to be ready for judging at the ‘show & tell’ club meeting on 3 May and, weather permitting, the first flights will take place the following Sunday, 6 May. The magazine article says they can be built in a day so you’ve got time to build more than sixty of them before the deadline! Oh, and by the way 1066, it’s got 2 fins, TWO, got that?!

As expected January saw some pretty awful weather, very little snow but certainly plenty of wind and rain. The patch, in fact the whole field, is pretty boggy and the parking area is a quagmire. But we still managed several flying sessions and the Friday Afternoon Rural Trimming Society (Farts) rolled the patch a few times to try to flatten it out prior to the growing/mowing season starting. The club is going to buy an electric fence to put around the patch when animals are in the field, hopefully that will stop the hard work of the Farts being ruined by the bullocks. We’ll still have the problem of them being ‘over friendly’ of course but at least we will be able to console ourselves by admiring the lovely patch while they trample our models in the pits. STOP PRESS: 29 Jan, the field if full of sheep!

After one spell of bad weather a few of us got quite desperate to fly and did so despite a gale force wind. In the photo below the models are inverted in an attempt to prevent them being blown away and Dougal’s kneeling mat is being inflated by the wind despite his rucksack being on the open end.By the way Dougal, Angie says can she have her rotary airer cover back please, she’s spent weeks searching for it.

Despite the wind gusting 30mph we all flew and got back down again without breaking the models but only Dougal was foolhardy enough to have more than one flight. His Ghost Rider 50 handles the conditions admirably. At one stage 1066 was leaning on Dougal to prevent him being blown backwards. Well that’s what he said he was doing, but I’m not so sure. What do you think? CAPTION COMP: Entries in the comments section please. A valuable prize will be awarded for the best caption submitted so get those comments pouring in!

On one of the better weather days Dwayne Pipe brought along his first ever EDF for its first outing.It’s the Durafly D.H.100 Vampire Mk6 that comes complete with a 70mm fan, motor, esc, servos, and retracts.Our patch is not really suitable for retracts even when it’s in the best condition so Dwayne decided to remove them and rely on hand launching and belly landings. As well as saving the worry of damaging the retracts the model now weighs less and so has more performance. Dwayne had read a review of the model that suggested using double-sided tape to hold the various foam parts together rather than gluing them permanently in place, the idea being that in the event of a mishap the whole lot would simply pull apart without breaking the foam.The first attempt didn’t quite go according to plan as the Vamp failed to get away from the launch, it seemed to lack power and it ‘arrived’ before building up flying speed. The double-sided tape did its job and the model appeared to have re-kitted itself with virtually no damage! Dwayne took it back to the workshop and fitted it all back together again and also swapped out the speed controller which was thought to be causing the lack of power. Next time out there were no problems, it went a treat, after a little initial trimming it flew perfectly and Dwayne is now getting to grips with the slightly different technique of flying an EDF model.

On the subject of EDFs we almost had another member flying his first one in January but things went very badly awry. A couple of months ago, when I featured my F-16, I mentioned that Bob the Builder had also purchased an identical F-16. Bob had bought the kit version as he already had a fan/motor combination that would provide loads of power for the lightweight model. While I was flying my own F-16 recently I asked Bob how his was coming along and he confessed to having had a disaster. He had fitted the fuselage out with all the electronics and decided to power up the motor before attaching the wings and tail but he must have connected something incorrectly as the whole lot burst into flames. Unfortunately the motor and fan were destroyed and the foam fuselage was badly damaged (melted?). As the fuselage is not available as a spare, the project has had to be binned before it got completed. As you know I’m always a sympathetic, polite sort of chap and would never want to mock someone elses misfortune so I wouldn’t dream of renaming him Bob the Burner!

One of the Cowplain shops, G D White (Independent Financial Adviser), always has a window display of photos taken by the Horndean Camera Club. Just before Christmas my wife Doreen spotted an interesting one and took a photo of it for me. I thought it was a great photo and worth including in Patch News.I have no idea who took it despite trying to find more information about it. But on the RAF Mini Club Facebook page there is a similar photo that was obviously taken at the same event and the caption says Today we commemorate Battle of Britain Day remembering the brave RAF servicemen and women for all that they did 76 years ago on the ground and in the air. It’s dated 15 September 2016. Great Mini, great Hurricane, and a great photo.

Whilst idly browsing on the HobbyKing website one day I spotted the Ezio 800 electric glider in the Bargain Bin.For a glider, it’s tiny at 800mm wingspan and the quoted flying weight is 220g (less than half a pound) but it comes virtually complete and requires just a receiver and battery to get it flying. It’s constructed from balsa/ply and is film covered, all the purchaser has to do is bolt on the wings and tail and add the stickers. It’s fitted with an outrunner 1811-3900kV motor and two 4.8g digital servos, one for elevator and one for both ailerons. And the price? It was in the $9.99 section of the Bargain Bin which, after the card conversion to GDP, worked out at around £7.75 so I bought three, one for me and two for 1066 for raffle prizes. Those two have already been won by Woody and Modelling Clay. The website says it has a 6A esc but mine says 8A/10A burst on the label. The only downside is that it uses 2 cell lipos instead of the usual 3 cell so I had to buy some but they were only £3.30 each.Mine needed some lead in the nose to achieve the stated centre of gravity which seems rearward to me anyway. It would be nice to fit a 3 cell lipo and not require the nose weight but I’m not sure it would fit and it might be too much for the motor. It flies brilliantly, glides remarkably well for such a small model and loops and rolls well when you get bored with gliding. Some of the first flight can be seen in the video. I had way too much elevator movement so it’s very jerky but you’ll get the idea. Subsequent flights, with less elevator movement, have been much better.

1066 has been tidying up his array of chargers and sent me some photos of his new charging station.He has 3 chargers powered from a single power supply and the wiring was a bit of a rats nest so now he has mounted the power supply inside a plastic box and the 3 chargers on the front of the box.Instead of using parallel charging boards he had mounted 6 connectors on each of 3 pieces of ‘chocolate block’ and has used wire links across the terminals. The balance leads are wired up with 6 connectors be for each position. It looks as if 1066 uses different connectors for 3 cell and 4 cell packs and the balance leads are done accordingly. The connectors and balance leads sit on a brick base on which the lipo packs can be safely charged. Nice one, both neater and safer than before.

Gorgeous Gary had an unusual problem one Sunday morning, the undercarriage leg on his Jive snapped.We are used to undercarriages being bent or ripped out but I’ve never seen the actual wire legs break like that before. The break occurred at the position a wire cross piece had been brazed/welded across the two legs and I can only imagine the heat used had made the wires brittle.

During January Catapult King asked me to check out his Wingnetic, saying it always seemed very twitchy on elevator. I flew it around for a while and found it was indeed very twitchy. I reckoned it had a rearward centre of gravity, so I landed and suggested he add quite a lot of nose weight. A bit later he said he’d added some weight and asked me to try it again. I asked how much he’d added and nearly had a fit when he said “Four pounds”!When I’d calmed down a bit he showed me, explaining that he didn’t have any lead with him and the four pounds consisted of one £2 coin and two £1 coins! It flew perfectly…

Wonky Wiltshire emailed me a link to a video he’d seen recently and said his next project might be to copy the nutter featuring in it. I think I’d stick to RC models Phil! The video is only 3 ½ minutes long, have a look: 

If the video won’t play for you click HERE

Another video link that I stumbled across is from the website of the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics), the American equivalent of the BMFA. It features twins Walter & William Good and charts their part in the development of radio control systems beginning with their first radio flights in 1937 and continues through to the eighties. I’d heard of Walt Good but not his brother, and I didn’t know of their involvement in radio development. This video is quite long at 25 minutes but is full of fascinating stuff and is well worth watching. To view it click HERE

Yet another new model has emerged from the building board of Dwayne Pipe. He’s called the model Wilf and this is what he sent me about it: 30″ Splot style own design named after my grandson, weight 1lb 15 oz. I was rather concerned by the weight of his grandson but then I realised he was talking about the model! The motor is a HobbyKing 1100kV 2836/8 outrunner that swings a 10×6 propeller, coupled to a 30A HobbyKing Plush speed controller and a 1300mAh 3 cell lipo battery.  Dwayne uses Spektrum radio gear and the receiver is an Orange one with a built in 3 axis gyro stabiliser. The flight time on a 1300mAh battery is about 5 minutes. I reckon a 1500mAh lipo would fit in there easily enough if Dwayne wants longer flights. I filmed the maiden flight and it went very well, just some very minor trim adjustments needed and Dwayne felt there was a bit too much aileron movement for comfort. It looks great, both on the ground and in the air, very much like a slightly small Splot with some dihedral added. See for yourself in this month’s video.

While I’m talking about Dwayne, I snapped this rather amusing shot of his jettisonable Spitfire wheels the other day.Dwayne takes-off and then drops the wheels on the first circuit. Unfortunately on this occasion he just missed the ‘new’ patch and the wheels landed smack in the middle of the bullocks’ mud bath that was the reason for moving the patch over by a few metres!

Norwegian Nick was good enough to send me a couple of photos of what he calls his ‘boneyard’.He thinks there are ten models there. You’re not trying Nick, plenty of room for more I reckon!

Dougal Entendre snapped this photo of Norwegian Nick and myself at the club AGM on 25 January.Dougal’s accompanying comment was ‘fashion faux pas’ but I just see a couple of good looking chaps with the same impeccable dress sense. The only problem I’ve noticed is that Nick appears to have got his head on upside down!

The last new model to appear in January was club secretary Woody’s Ripmax Easy Street Mk2.I was rather wary when he first said he had bought one as I had an Easy Street Mk1 when they were first available many years ago and frankly it was rubbish. It was in the early days of ARTFs and I suppose the quality control was rather lacking as mine had all kinds of problems. However, the Mk2 is very different, in fact I wouldn’t have recognised it as being the same model at all, it’s bigger, sleeker, put together properly, and it looks fantastic.This is what Ripmax say about it: The original Easy Street was first introduced as a balsa kit and converted by Ripmax into an ARTF back in the early days of EP powered aircraft. In the many years that have passed since the original model, the performance expected of electric models has moved on in leaps and bounds. This new Easy Street is a completely new design, taking the proven format and concept behind the classic model, while taking advantage of modern design and building techniques. Firstly it is bigger, about 110% of the size of the original airframe to reduce wing loading. The outline is completely new, most noticeably a deeper and more stylish fuselage shape. The wing shape is new also and the tailplane and fin have more area for increased low speed control/response. This new design takes the best from the old concept and delivers a new model that out performs the old design in every way. Woody has fitted his out with a Quantum 25 1200kV motor, a 60A Hobbywing speed controller, and 17.5g New Power metal gear servos. At the moment Woody is using 3 cell 2200mAh lipos and a 10×7 prop but it can also be flown with 4 cell lipos using a 9×7 prop. He asked me to do the maiden flight and I’m pleased to report it flew beautifully, nicely aerobatic without being twitchy and seems to have no vices. The only problem that showed up on both the second and third flights was that the canopy retaining catch didn’t do its job and the canopy came off. But that’s a minor problem and no doubt Woody will soon have it sorted, all in all it’s a great model.

Video time now and this month it starts with 1066’s Mirus that I featured last month:

Please watch the video full screen, it’s so much better with small models flying around. If the video won’t play for you CLICK HERE

This month Bob the Burner sent in the following amusing tale:

Conversation overheard on the VHF Guard (emergency) frequency 121.5 MHz while flying from Europe to Dubai:

Iranian Air Defence Site: ‘Unknown aircraft, you are in Iranian airspace. Identify yourself.’

Aircraft: ‘This is a United States aircraft. I am in Iraqi airspace.’
Air Defence Site: ‘You are in Iranian airspace. If you do not depart our airspace, we will launch interceptor aircraft!’
Aircraft: ‘This is a United States Marine Corps FA-18 Fighter. Send ’em up, I’ll wait!’

Air Defence Site: (… Total silence)

 Colin Cowplain