Patch News – March 2017

Well March certainly lived up to the old rhyme “March winds and April showers…” Let’s hope the April showers aren’t as prolific as the March winds have been. We still managed to get some flying in although on the really windy days it was left to the more experienced fliers. As usual the Sundays seemed to get the worst of the weather.

Whatever happened to the ‘good old days’ when we would fly in virtually any conditions? I found this old photo of one such idiot, no idea who it is but he’s flying a Splot with what looks like an OS 4-stroke.I’m not sure if he’s wrapped up against the elements or if he’s expecting a chemical warfare attack!

We heard a couple of bits of sad news during March; firstly that Mick Preedy had passed away on the 19^th February. Mick was a long term modeller and had been a PAM member for quite a few years. I first met him back in the sixties when he was flying control-line stunt models along with our President Don Eades. In those days he lived in Madeline Road in Petersfield and later he moved to West Meon where he lived for the rest of his life. Mick is probably best described as a ‘character’; he could turn his hand to anything and was always willing to help anyone who needed it. Several current and ex-members of PAM attended his funeral on 9^th March, which, although it sounds a bit odd, was the most enjoyable funeral I’ve attended. I’ve certainly never been to one where the processional music was by Jimi Hendrix, excellent!

The other piece of sad news we heard was the death of Ralph Hubbard who died a week after crashing a toboggan on the Cresta Run in Switzerland on 15^th February. Ralph was the pilot who used to fly over our patch in either his Tiger Moth or Yak and would often treat us to aerobatic displays. He even landed the Tiger in the field a couple of times and came to say hello. I spoke to him of the last occasion and he said he’d tried flying radio control models but it was too difficult so he stuck to full-size!When Basher Bob built a Tiger Moth last year he finished it in the colours of Ralph’s Tiger G-APMX, so his memory will still be flown at the field. Although none of us could say we knew Ralph we all appreciated his impromptu displays and he will be missed.

March didn’t see much in the way of new models, one of only two I spotted was Gentleman Jim’s Red Eagle electric glider. The Red Eagle was designed by Ton van Munsteren and featured as an RCM&E article along with a free plan.My photo editor has an ‘enhance’ button to improve the quality of photos. Sometimes it produces odd effects, this is what happened when I enhanced the one above!RBC Kits in the Netherlands produce a laser cut kit of the model and that’s the route that Jim took. It’s a 2 metre span 3 channel model, so it doesn’t have ailerons, just rudder, elevator, and throttle controls. There has been quite a lot of magazine coverage and forum features of the Red Eagle and there have also been some comps specifically for them so it’s a well rated design. Jim has made a lovely job of his Red Eagle and has fitted it out with a 28-30 1000kV motor with a 10 x 6 prop, a 30A esc, and a 2200mAh 3 cell lipo pack.I was looking forward to the test flight but then spotted that one wing had developed a warp. It was strange as I had examined the model when Jim was assembling it down by the cars and it all looked straight, but having sat in the sunshine for a hour a twist had developed in the right hand wing. We decided to fly it anyway and it duly took to the air. All was well apart from the twisted wing making it a bit difficult to keep straight so having proved the power train etc. was ok we called it a day and Jim went off to do some straightening. He said the trailing edge wood provided in the kit had been very soft and thinks it wasn’t up to the job, so he has now stripped off the covering and stiffened the structure somewhat. Once he’s got it all covered again we’ll have another go and I’m sure it will be a good performer so look for a full report in the next Patch News.

The other new model that flew was Basher Bob’s Bitty. The Bitty was a free plan in RCM&E and is billed as ‘perfect for the slope or piggy-back launching’. It’s a tiny two channel glider that in Basher’s case is launched from his Seagull Swift. The original plan shows a conventional built-up balsa wing with a lifting section but Basher has modified it by building a Depron wing with a Kline Fogleman section featuring two steps. It has balsa leading and trailing edges and a carbon spar to provide the strength.Other than the wing the Bitty is as per plan and features rudder and elevator controls with the servos and receiver being powered by a tiny single cell lipo via a voltage booster. Basher has constructed a Depron cradle that is simply rubber banded to the Swift wing and carries the Bitty. The Bitty is held in the cradle by a rubber band that hooks over a servo arm. Once a suitable height is reached, the servo releases the band and the Bitty glides back to earth.Well that’s the theory anyway, although in practice it hasn’t worked quite that perfectly so far. The main problem seems to be holding the Bitty in place firmly but not too firmly that it won’t release. The Swift flies faster than the Bitty’s flying speed so it tries to lift out of the cradle and tends to tip to one side or the other. On some flights it released itself, presumably the forces pulled the band off the servo prematurely, but every flight was completed safely and neither the Swift nor the Bitty suffered any damage.So Basher has gone back to the workshop to make a few changes to the cradle, and hopefully the next time out will be better. The glide angle of the Bitty wasn’t too good so while he’s in the workshop Basher is also building a wing with a lifting section as per plan. You can see the very first flight in this month’s video at the end of Patch News.

1066 has invested some of his hard earned cash in a piece of new technology that has just become available. It’s the Hitec HUD System, the HUD standing for Head Up Display. It uses the telemetry capability of the transmitter but instead of having to glance down at the tx screen the information is projected onto the inside of the goggles.It’s a bit like FPV but rather than looking at a TV screen mounted inside goggles the user is looking at the model in the usual way but through the goggles. They use something called Polar Foil to display the information but they just looks like tinted goggles from the outside. The system seems to work very well and as you can see Steve loves it.

Time for another old photo now, not sure how long ago this was taken or what the event was but the hard hats make me think it was a pylon race competition. I was flying electric, my Two Fun-Eee, so it must have been within the last 22 years or so! How many can you name? Answers below the photo.Standing, left to right: Ken Boucher, Ian Hewlett, Don Eades, Mick Harper, Frank Buckland, Keith Garner, Den Figgins, Reg Street, Graham Head, Doreen Palmer, Don Hoolahan, Dave Rice. Kneeling, left to right: Mike Upton, Andy Palmer, Geoff Berry, Chas Butler.

Those of you that have been to the patch this month will be aware that I have bought another piece of incredibly useful technology (toy). You’ll be aware because it’s probably annoyed you with all the bleeping and talking! It’s a multi-function telemetry sensor, a UniSens–E made by SM Modellbau that simply plugs between the esc and lipo.It will display on the transmitter screen and, if you wish, speak the same functions as the Multiplex current sensors that I sometimes use i.e. motor current, mAh consumed, and voltage reaching the receiver. But in addition it also senses the motor rpm, the lipo pack voltage, and it has a vario and an altimeter. The vario is similar to that used in full-size gliders, it beeps rising tones when the model is climbing, and descending tones when it’s sinking. The altimeter speaks the height of the model above the launch point in metres. There are many settings, alarms etc. that can be programmed and various things that can be switched on or off during the flight. The beeping of the vario can be a bit annoying after a while if it’s not actually being used for search out lift so I can switch it off if I want. I have been using it in my ASK-21 motor glider and after a few flights with the transmitter speaking every piece of info it was receiving I changed on it to just tell me how many mAh I had used from the battery, and the altitude.By using a spare receiver channel it’s possible to switch between ‘live’ reading, max readings, or min readings. So I can fly around listening to the ‘live’ readings of how high I am, how much I’ve taken out of the battery, but can switch at any time to hear the maximum height I reached during the flight, even after I’ve landed, right up to the time I switch off the transmitter. I tried to video the screen and record the beeps and speech whilst flying but the quality was very poor so you are spared that little pleasure. But here’s a photo I took of the screen after I landed from one flight during which I went about as high as I dared.388 metres is 1273 feet, pretty high with a 2 metre span glider. The sensor will work with a variety of radio systems, not just Multiplex. So if you use Futaba, FR Sky, Jeti, Graupner, JR, or Spektrum (with an adaptor) that is telemetry compatible you too could use this very clever bit of kit. Note that it is not compatible with Hitec, presumably the Hitec operating system is very different and that’s why they have chosen to go for the HUD system that 1066 has purchased. Obviously the Unisens-E is most useful if your transmitter has speech capability but that’s not essential. It’s available with a variety of connectors, not just XT60’s and costs just 65 Euros.

Apparently nobody spotted that the blurry photo in Patch News last month was of Dougal Entendre (AKA Mark Agate). It’s not really surprising, even his wife Angie didn’t recognise him! Perhaps this equally blurred photo of Dougal from a similar era will be more recognisable.

Judging by his nostrils it was taken during the coke snorting years!

I’m a bit short of material this month so I’ll show you what I’m building at the moment. It’s quite a while since I actually built a proper balsa model from a plan but this one shouldn’t tax me too much, it’s a 22” span Sharkface.It was a free plan in a recent RCM&E but was originally designed for single channel radio in 1965 by Eric Clutton. I was flying single channel models in1965 and remember the Sharkface very well. I didn’t build one but my flying mate Bill Carter did although I don’t remember how it flew. Bill’s was powered by a Cox 049 and used RCS Guidance System radio. Mine will be the updated version, electric powered of course, and will have an elevator and throttle, not just a rudder! It’s much further along than in the photo and I’m hoping to fly it on the first Sunday in April.

Kryten has been busy taking quality photos again this month and I’ve included some below. They are Basher Bob’s now deceased Splob, Colin Cowplain’s Raptor, Dwayne Pipe with his glider, Basher’s Walrus, and finally Dwayne’s Spitfire dropping its undercarriage, great shots, thanks Kryten.OK, it’s time for this month’s video.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

No joke this month, instead I leave you with a couple of photos. Woody decided he owed me a favour and ordered a couple of printed T-shirts, one for each of us. They pay homage to Woody’s favourite film! Thanks Woody…I think!

Colin Cowplain