Patch News – March 2016

Its April already and time seems to be flying more than I am! But March hasn’t been too bad, fairly typical spring weather I suppose, lots of wind and rain but also several really nice days. We’ve managed quite a lot of flying and have only been caught out by the showers a couple of times.In last month’s Patch News I began by confessing to have crashed my Spirit by flying the wrong model. I still haven’t worked out how to blame Captain Slow (it was his Spirit that I mistook for mine) but in the meantime I’ve managed to repair mine.I wasn’t sure it was worth repairing but once I had stripped out all the gear and reshaped the nose in hot water it looked ok so all I needed was some glue, filler, and another prop unit. HobbyKing were out of stock of the folding props both in the UK and Europe but Dougal Entendre came to the rescue with a spare that had survived the demise of his own Spirit. Thanks Dougal.It wasn’t long before the model was back flying again, with just some slight trim changes required, I think (unsurprisingly) there is more motor down-thrust than previously. So eventually there was a happy ending to the tale; now where’s that Corporal Slow bloke…

I included a couple of photos of Gorgeous Gary’s (the alternative suggested nickname was unpublishable!) Acro Wot last month and explained that it’s his first electric powered model. It’s now flown successfully although I think it will take a while for Gary to get his head round this electrickery stuff.On his first flight I explained the importance of throttle control in order to get a decent flight time and I think he listened a little too well as he was soon staggering around with almost no airspeed. The first couple of flights were fine and if I remember correctly there was 65% left in his 5 cell pack after the first one. But on the third flight the model suddenly stopped flying and, although I didn’t see it, others said they thought Gary just got it a little too slow. It’s easily done when you’re used to listening to an I/C engine and suddenly switch to an almost silent electric motor. Fortunately the damage was light and repairs were soon completed.You can see some of the initial flight in this month’s video at the end of Patch News, and you’ll see that at times it was flying rather too slowly. Meanwhile Gorgeous has been forging ahead with his electric delta and it’s now pretty much ready for flight. It looks great in its red and black colour scheme and I’m sure it will perform well.

During March I splashed out and bought a couple more Multiplex receivers and a 35A telemetry current sensor. The best price I could find was from a company in Austria and the parcel duly arrived after a few days, but when I opened it I was surprised to find that, whilst the current sensor and non-telemetry receiver were simply packed in Multiplex small polythene bags, the telemetry receiver had its own relatively large Multiplex box. I’m not a particularly green eco type person but it just seemed a bit over the top, maybe it’s part of justifying the extra £15 for the telemetry receiver. I had a couple of models lined up for the receivers, I don’t like having to keep swapping them between models, it can cause a variety of problems as Dwayne Pipe discovered when he brought along his Vega electric glider to fly. He hadn’t flown it for a while and it wouldn’t bind to the transmitter. The mouthy and cruel members present (ok, me) said things like “Bl***y Spektrum again” but then Dwayne discovered there wasn’t actually a receiver in the model at all. Even my beloved Multiplex couldn’t overcome that one! Dwayne sorted it a few days later and the Vega can be seen flying in this month’s video.

The first model to get one of my new receivers was an Art-Tech ASK-21 electric glider that Gentleman Jim gave me last year having decided it wasn’t for him. The full-size ASK 21 is a 17 metre span glass-reinforced plastic two-seater mid-wing glider with a T-tail. It is designed primarily for beginner instruction, but is also suitable for cross-country flying and aerobatic instruction.The model is a two metre span moulded EPO foamie that looks really nice and, as far as I can tell, is pretty close to scale. It comes complete with motor, speed controller, and four servos to control ailerons, elevator, and rudder. When Jim put it together we found that although the model flew well it had a nasty tip-stall if slowed up too much. Jim tried moving the CG further forward, cranking up both ailerons a bit to simulate washout, and even added a couple of wedge shaped pieces of balsa on top of each wingtip to try to reduce the stall, but none of it seemed to make much difference. Having scoured the internet Jim found lots of people on various forums talking about the tip-stall problem but there didn’t seem to be any ideas that we hadn’t already tried. So eventually he passed the model over to me where I ignored it until this month. I’ve now fitted one of the new receivers and the current sensor and have had several flights with it, most of over 20 minutes which can’t be bad for a two metre model using a 1000mAh battery.

We’ve had a few animal problems at the patch this month. Firstly the farmer put thirty young bullocks in the field, with the warning ‘Watch out, this lot will lick you to death’. He wasn’t wrong, as in previous years the bullocks proved to be very inquisitive but this lot seemed to be extra ‘friendly’! Fortunately, after only about three weeks, they’ve now been moved back into the lower field and they haven’t done too much damage either by churning up the patch or leaving their deposits. But we now have a different problem, we’ve previously been visited by moles and now they are back bigtime. And I do mean BIG time, we seem to have been invaded by some extra large ones.I mentioned it to George (the farmer) and he said DEFRA are investigating the arrival of Talpa Praegrandis (giant mole) in the South.  Meanwhile all we can do is stamp the earth firmly back down before flying and hope they go away. So far they have only reached as far as the edge of patch, let’s hope they stop there.

The Easter weekend was mostly typical Bank Holiday weather with the very strong winds and rain of storm Katie, but Good Friday was actually a lovely day. I had family commitments and was unable to attend but Dougal Entendre sent me a report of the days’ happenings. It turned out to be Not So Good Friday when he had problems with his Walkera Devention transmitter. Dougal had switched the Devention software to third party Deviation software over a year ago and it had locked up once causing his Spirit to crash. On Bad Friday the same thing happened again, the software locked up and reset, with the clock resetting to zero, this time causing his Wingnetic to pile in close to Harper’s Oak. He reckons the model is repairable, but won’t be hurrying to complete it.Dougal thinks that the problem was a bug in the Devention software so the solution would seem to be to return to the original Devention software. Let’s hope that sorts it. 1066 also had a problem when a loss of elevator control forced him to make a rapid downwind landing with his Edge. Fortunately the damage was minor but, more worryingly, the elevator was working perfectly after the enforced arrival. I haven’t heard yet if he has discovered the cause of the problem or not.

I also missed JP bungee launching his Vampire for the first time. The model had mostly been hand-launched previously although it had managed to take off a couple of times; it depends on the condition of the patch and the wind strength. But hand launching can be a little variable so JP fitted a hook under the nose and made up a bungee system that, unlike the Smiffy version, doesn’t use a ramp.I’ve since seen the system in action and it works well and gives the model an easy safe launch every time. You can see the first launch in this month’s video.

I finally got round to preparing my Durafly ME163 Komet for flight. I say ‘preparing’ as it certainly didn’t class as building, all I had to do was glue in the fin, connect the pre-made control linkages, and fit a receiver. I also added a telemetry current sensor while I was at it. The first flight was ‘interesting’. I’d set the control throws to the amounts stated in the instructions but found it was very twitchy on elevator and very very very twitchy on ailerons. However, once I’d turned the rates right down and added more expo all was well and the second flight was much more pleasant. It’s now had lots of flights and overall I’m really pleased with it. It can be tricky to get off the ground as the scale detachable dolly has a very narrow track and it’s easy to drag a wingtip on the ground causing it to cartwheel, also it has a tendency to bounce into the air and then back onto the ground quite hard. But once safely away I fly a circuit, drop the servo released dolly, and open it up when it goes like the proverbial rat up a drainpipe. As it’s a flying wing orientation isn’t easy so it’s necessary to keep watching intently at all times, there’s no glancing away to see where other models are when this one is going flat out! But it doesn’t really have any nasty habits and is quite well behaved at reasonably slow speeds, and the landings are pretty straightforward. There are people on the forums saying it’s ballistic on 4 cells but it’s more than fast enough on 3 cells for me thank you. There is the option to fit a rocket in the tail which gives a few seconds of smoke and extra oomph, but it’s mostly for effect and I’m not planning to try it…yet.

The original Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, designed by Alexander Lippisch, was a German rocket powered fighter aircraft. It is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational. Its design was revolutionary, and had performance unrivaled at the time.German test pilot Heini Dittmar in early July 1944 reached 1,130 km/h (700 mph), an unofficial flight airspeed record unmatched by turbojet-powered aircraft for almost a decade. Over 300 aircraft were built, but the Komet proved ineffective as a fighter and was responsible for the destruction of only about nine Allied aircraft.

Continuing with the series of Members Sheds (bedrooms, garages, etc.) this month it’s Modelling Clay’s turn to shine. I am pleased to hear that he’s got his priorities right and soon to be married Tim’s shed is complete, but as yet the house isn’t. Well done that man! It all looks very posh with a model storage area, large workbenches, loads of lights and electrical sockets, and a charging station in the corner. Of course it’ll soon be full of junk like everyone else’s.

Finally, thanks to all who send me information, photos, or videos for Patch News. This month they included Captain Slow, Dougal Entendre, Gentleman Jim, Modelling Clay, JP, and Rusty G (Graham Swan). Here are a few general photos taken in March.

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

And a bonus video from Monty for you. If it won’t play for you CLICK HERE

A BA 747 pilot had waited for take-off clearance for 45 minutes. A Lufthansa 737 was cleared immediately. The BA pilot asked the tower why the German aircraft had been given clearance at once. Before the tower could reply, the German pilot came back with “Because I got up very early in zee morning and put a towel on zee runway!”

Colin Cowplain