Patch News – July 2023

Following on from the hottest June since records began July turned out to be one of the wettest Julys on record. There were a few reasonable days but for most of the month if it wasn’t raining there was a strong wind or both. Chairman Gordon Bennett sourced a nice new mower for us to replace the old green one which has since been condemned. Dougal Entendre gave 1066 some helpful instructions “That’s called a handle, hold it just there.” We’ve kept the old yellow one as it serves as a useful second machine to speed things up. As expected the bullocks returned to the field once all the rain had made the grass grow long enough for them to feed. The usual herd appeared briefly early in the month but a couple of weeks later some more arrived. This herd was a different breed to the usual ones and we were pleasantly surprised that they didn’t appear to be nearly as inquisitive as the others. The young ones are normally quite a problem for a few weeks until they get used to us but these barely bothered us at all and were gone again after just a few days anyway.

After a rather smashing June Peter F has treated himself to a Max-Thrust Ruckus to replace his Max-Thrust Riot. He chose the Ruckus partly because many of the parts are interchangeable with the Riot so he already has a stock of spares should the need arise.
The Ruckus has a wingspan of 1380mm, comes with two 9g and two 17g servos, and weighs around 1500g without the battery. This is what Max-Thrust say about it: After the success of the Riot, we have been constantly asked for a follow-up model that builds on all the best attributes of the Riot but in a low-wing model. We think we’ve nailed it! Not only does the Ruckus fly superbly it looks gorgeous too. Capable of flying on either a 3 or 4-cell Li-Po the Ruckus can be set up to be a tame first low-wing plane or turn the control throws up and fly every aerobatic move you can think of, it will even prop hang! With a wingspan of 1380mm the Ruckus is happy flying in all conditions and will handle the wind with ease and will quickly become your model for all occasions.
We worked hard on the design to make sure the model was tough and could put up with the abuse you will throw at it but without adding too much weight, thanks in part to the tough EPOFLEXY construction and clever build structure featuring an internal ply skeleton in the fuselage for added strength, just like the Riot.
1066 did the initial trimming flight for Peter which went perfectly and Peter is now happily flying it without the need of further help. Peter is using a receiver with a built in stabiliser and is gradually adjusting the settings to get the ideal balance for his level of flying.
He let me have a go and I found with the stabiliser in full stability mode the Ruckus would only fly large circuits around the field, it didn’t allow any tight turns, but that’s ideal for beginners. Peter is well passed that stage so is using the stabiliser in the intermediate mode which smooths out the bumps but still allows a bit of fun when he wants it. As you’ll see in this month’s video the Ruckus looks good in the air and Peter is flying it well.

I know I shouldn’t laugh but someone sent me this recently and it did make me smile:
This was a NATO E-3 AWACS in Greece in July 1996. Apparently on the take-off run the crew thought they heard a thud (possible bird strike?) and decided to abort the take-off, Unfortunately they soon discovered that there wasn’t enough runway left to stop. Luckily all aboard survived although the Canadian Flight Engineer had a few broken ribs.

Early in the month Norwegian Nick flew a second-hand electric glider that he’d bought at the Wings & Wheels show in June. He said lots of other prospective buyers looked at the model but rejected it because it doesn’t have any ailerons, just rudder and elevator.
Nick was told it’s a Red Devil which was built from an RCM&E plan but he can’t find any trace of a plan called that. I’ve just done a quick internet search and I can’t find any sign of it either so if anyone has any knowledge of what it might be please let Nick know.
The fuselage is a pod and boom type and the wings, tailplane and fin are all of built up balsa rib construction.  The model is covered in red transparent Solarfilm which was patched up with Sellotape when Nick bought it. He has done quite a lot of tidying up of it already but says he’s probably completely re-cover it once he’s happy that it flies well. He isn’t sure what the motor it is but runs fine on a 2200mAh three cell pack.
On the day that Nick flew it there were moderate winds and it was fine but he thinks it would do really well in calmer cloudy weather. It looks to be a good all rounder to me.

Many members have pen names that are used in Patch News and many (but not all) have some sort of logic behind them, such as Mr S Hastings being known s 1066, it’s obvious really. I always thought the S stood for Steve but in July it turns out it’s actually Smasher! Poor 1066 didn’t have a good July, starting with his foamie HobbyKing MX2 which buried itself fairly comprehensively. He’s not sure what happened, everything was working ok after the crash so maybe it was pilot error but he doesn’t think so. It was pretty bad but 1066 should be able to repair it. Then later the same morning he did a heavy landing with his HobbyKing MXS and ripped the undercarriage out. It’ll be repaired fairly easily but it was annoying. But then at the next flying session he was doing a fast low level downwind pass with his ST Models Blaze when he got a couple of inches too low. The damage was pretty bad and as the model is a bit old and tatty 1066 might not bother repairing it. So that’s the proverbial three in a row, surely nothing else would go wrong. Or could it!
Just a few days later, when he wasn’t even present, he suffered a severe case of hangar rash when his extended reach hedge trimmer fell on his Cirrus from a great height.
The Cirrus is a great flier so hopefully he’ll be able to repair it ok. Somebody is trying to tell you something 1066, roll on August when normal service will be resumed…hopefully! 

During the evening of Wednesday 12^th July we had the annual Chuck Glider competition which was ably run by the club Competition Secretary Dwayne Pipe.
Earlier in the day the weather had been wet and windy and I was unsure the comp would go ahead but the rain stopped, the wind gradually decreased and the evening ended with a glorious sunset. I snapped Peter F as he launched his catapult glider in the evening sun.
There were two classes to enter, the normal hand launch and a catapult launch using a catapult supplied by Dwayne to keep everything equal. Most people entered both classes, often using the same glider for both. Pretty much any model is allowed in the competition, it’s all just a bit of fun,  and there were several stock bought foam ones entered.
Gordon Bennett felt the need for speed and had bought a Tornado which flew ok but I think it would have been better if the wings weren’t fixed in the fully swept position!
I really like this photo of Nadine with a look of steely determination on her face while Gordon looks intrigued but her son Charlie looks half asleep. It’s a teenager thing!
I think I can safely say that we all enjoyed the evening and our thanks go to Dwayne for keeping everything running smoothly. The Hand Launch section was won by Colin Cowplain with Dougal Entendre a close second and Chas third. In the Catapult Launch competition Dwayne Pipe was first by a large margin, Peter F second, and Woody third.
I’ll include some more action photos of the event later in this Patch News. 

Towards the end of the month Dougal Entendre dug out one of his old models, a Skyartec Mini Skyfun, and got it flying again: Looking back through old editions of Patch New I found that I last tried the Mini Skyfun in November 2021 (yikes! was it that long ago??).
Despite having tried 4 different ESCs, 5 different motors and 2 different battery packs, I consistently had problems with the motor cutting out in flight.
Not surprisingly I came to the conclusion that the airframe was possessed by a malevolent spirit, and left it to adorn a shelf in the workshop. Unbelievably, I found that neither the BMFA nor the CAA keep a register of aviation-approved exorcists, so I was going to have to approach the problem differently. The one other thing which had remained constant was the receiver, a SKY-AP301. I had been reluctant to change this because the servo connectors were the small JST-type, but in order to use a 6-channel Devo Rx I finally accepted that I was going to have to solder new connectors on.
Only once the soldering iron had warmed up did I realise that the servos had 5 wires instead of the normal 3! It turns out that the AP301 has the servo amplifiers inside the receiver, thus allowing the servos themselves to be smaller. This meant airframe surgery to remove the existing servos and replace them with some slightly larger 3-wire ones.
I took the opportunity to hollow out the equipment bay a bit more, so the Mini Skyfun can now take a 3s 1000mAh pack. I’d put in a little reflex on the elevons, expecting the bigger battery to cause the CG to move forward, but found that I needed full down trim on the first flight in the new configuration. I removed the reflex by adjusting the pushrod lengths, and the second flight was much better. On both flights I came down with 60% remaining after 5 minutes, so I’ll try going down to 850mAh packs next time. This should move the CG back a tad, so I shouldn’t need quite so much down held in for inverted flight. I wonder why the receiver caused the Mini Skyfun motor cutting problem, low voltage detection maybe? Anyway it’s now flying really well and it’s in this month’s video.

Remember ex-PAM member Dan Handley, also known as Page Boy? He was a member for a good few years but deserted us to join another club that has a strip more suited to the larger EDF models he was flying at the time than our small patch. But now he’s seen the error of his ways and has re-joined PAM. He sent me a photo of his latest build, something that is eminently suitable for our small patch, a Wasp E2K pylon racer. It looks like Page Boy ran out of orange film and had to resort to yellow for the tail feathers!
It’s the same as the one 1066 flies so there should be some interesting times ahead. It’s actually Page Boy’s second Wasp, he built the first one whilst still a PAM member but I don’t think he ever flew it at our patch so presumably it must have met its’ demise at the other club. Welcome back Page Boy, don’t go wandering off again!

This month I’ll leave you with some photos taken during the Chuck Glider competition:

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

Tower: “Flight number YX7345, it looks like one of your baggage doors is open.”
The Captain quickly scanned all the panels for warning lights but found nothing.
“Ah, thanks Tower, I think you’re looking at our APU door.” (Auxiliary Power Unit).
Tower: “Okay, YX7345, you are cleared for take-off.”
Captain: “Thank you Tower, cleared for take-off, YX7345”
But then, during the take-off roll a few minutes later:
“YX7345… Er… It appears that your APU is leaking luggage…”

Colin Cowplain