Patch News – September 2018

It’s autumn time again and September gave us a mix of some really lovely and some really terrible weather, but I suppose that’s what we should expect in autumn. The patch is getting better and better, it was mown regularly in September but it shouldn’t need many more cuts this year. I snapped this shot of Dougal Entendre, Norwegian Nick, and Woody all trying to stay awake while waiting for Captain Slow to finish one row with the mower.Farmer George moved the bullocks out early in the month so we haven’t had any problems with them but he’s recently said that they will be back shortly. Stop press: 26th Sept – bad news they’re back!

We were walking back to the cars after flying one midweek morning when we heard the distinctive sound of a Chinook. It sounded close but we couldn’t see it at first. The sound grew louder and louder and we suddenly spotted it. We’d made the foolish mistake of looking upwards but it was actually below us, down in the valley south of the field! It had climbed a bit by the time I got my phone out to take this photo:It went eastward, not over the field, but it was scarily low and could just as easily flown right over the patch. We enjoyed seeing it and I know we are always careful but it does serve as a warning to be extra vigilant if we hear a full-size aircraft heading our way. I managed to take a short snip of video which I’ll include in this month’s video.

Last month I featured Dougal Entendre’s new Freewing Moray that had suffered some damage when it crashed on just its’ second flight. Dougal had climbed to height to check out the stall but having stalled the model inexplicably failed to recover. Well Dougal is now pretty sure he has found the problem, an overheating speed controller. He says the model felt down on power as it was climbing so it seems likely the controller was overheating and when the model stalled there was little or no power to recover. Dougal sent me a photo of the offending controller, explaining that this was how it came out of the model, he hasn’t cut the heat shrink afterwards.He also confessed “That’s the last time I buy a sub-£5 40A (supposedly) ESC on eBay”.

A couple of months ago I pictured Norwegian Nick with his new EDF Hawk which looked great but didn’t have enough thrust to fly. Nick was using a 12 bladed ChangeSun fan and a 3 cell lipo pack and the consensus was that 3 cells weren’t enough to drive the ChangeSun fan, so he swapped it out for a 5 bladed Lander fan.He’s now using a 4 cell lipo and a 4000KV motor which flies it beautifully as you can see in this month’s video.Nick currently only has one 4 cell pack so needs to raid the piggy bank to get more than one flight per patch visit.

Nick has also built a new Depron flying wing type model called E-Shark from the designer Graham Dorschell.It was free plan in RC Model World and this is what the Traplet website says about it: This is a simple sports or slope (using a folding prop) 41 in. span model design by Graham Dorschell built up from 5mm Depron using the ‘folding wing’ method, with some balsa and Correx board and using basic tools with two 9g servos for delta mix. With just a few parts to cut it turns into a quick model to fly with a 35mm 1500kv brushless motor, 60 Amp ESC, 8″ x 6″ prop and a 3S 2200-3000 mAh lipo.

Norwegian Nick has fitted his with a 3536 1400kv outrunner motor, a 60 amp esc, and is using an 8×6 prop. It flies extremely well on a 3 cell 2700 lipo, only requiring around third throttle for stooging around so the flight times should be long. It failed to climb away from the first launch but then Nick realised the elevons were slightly down with the stick centred so he adjusted those and it went away beautifully from the second launch. I took some video of the E-Shark that you’ll be able to see in the next edition of Patch News.

There seem to have been some very strange fashions on the PAM catwalk at the field recently. Last month I pictured Woody’s refurbished Seagull Swift in its’ new Blue Angels colour scheme and this month I snapped the man himself with the model… ‘Built the model, bought the T-shirt’!Whilst Woody’s T-shirt is understandable some other fashion statements on the PAM catwalk are less so, here we have Dwayne Pipe modelling a rather snazzy pink bin liner that is usually reserved for carrying his crashed models.And Captain Slow (AKA Billy No Mates), feeling rather lonely, tried his “I’m hoping to become a Freemason” look!At least they made the effort and got to the field, 1066 just stayed at home and napped on the couch.Perhaps I should explain that he’s had an operation for a torn retina…ouch! I bet he’s really pleased that his wife Jen put the photo on Facebook for me to copy. Not sure what that odd lump on his head is though, maybe Jen clouted him for being so lazy! But don’t worry, he’s fine now and back flying again.

New members Nick and Matt are continuing their trend of having almost identical models! This month they both bought Sbach 342s but they aren’t the same, Nick’s is manufactured by Dynam and Matt’s is from HobbyKing. First, a bit about the full size: The Sbach 342 is a two seater unlimited aircraft manufactured by XtremeAir GmbH, it’s the first ever certified all composite aerobatic aircraft. The lightweight aircraft features the solid Lycoming 6 cylinder air cooled motor and massive control surfaces to provide it with the low speed aerobatic handling needed in the most advanced and testing aerobatic schedules.

This is what Dynam say about Nick’s model: Straight out of the box you will find that this Dynam Sbach 342 model is lightweight, rigid and features a fabulous showroom finish using quality paint and decals that will look great at the airfield and in the air. Efficient and affordable power supply is guaranteed with the pre-installed quality ESC (with ample reserve capacity) and oversized 900kv brushless motor, driving a reinforced two blade nylon propeller will readily translate into an impressive flight envelope. Knife edge loops, 1 roll circles, flat spins, harrier loops, snaps, point rolls and prop hanging are performed with accuracy and grace that belie its compact 1250 mm span. Dynam have chosen an exceptional aircraft to replicate; they have delivered a lightweight EPO foam airframe in a quality finished, classic bold colour scheme and provided a near perfect power-train partnership. In short, it’s a model that can proudly and deservingly display the Sbach 342 badging.

So there you have it, we shall expect to see Nick performing knife edge loops, one roll circles etc. every Sunday… Nick is using 4 cell 2900mAh lipos and the model had loads of power. You will see in the video that it appeared to have a slightly rearward centre of gravity but other than that it looked really good, a promising start.

I think Matt said he bought his HobbyKing Sbach second-hand from someone on Hayling Island. HobbyKing say this about it: The Sbach 342 is made from tough EPO foam, it is a really quick and simple build that requires no glue, the tail plane simply bolts on and the 2pc wings are a plug in set up, also ideal for transportation. The servos are pre-installed, the elevator/rudder servo’s being standard size with plenty of torque for aggressive 3D manoeuvers. Also pre-installed is the powerful brushless motor and ESC, for maximum performance and efficiency, a 2 blade prop is supplied. This fantastic looking Sbach 342 offers both the 3D pilot and sport pilot a very capable model with tons of performance and a whole load of presence, the large control surfaces are perfect for just about any manoeuver you care to throw at it. This superb Sbach 342 will keep you grinning from ear to ear, just make sure you have plenty of lipos to hand, prop hanging the Sbach is addictive!

According to the specs the wingspan and length are both 1400mm and the flying weight is around 2.3kg. Being second-hand I’m not sure if Matt’s has the standard set-up but it should have a 4250 800kv motor, a 70A speed controller and two standard size servos on the elevator and rudder plus two 9g servos for the ailerons.Matt is using 4 cell 5000mAh lipos so his model should have had a similar performance to Nick’s but it didn’t, vertical performance was very poor for a 3D style model. It has a lower kV motor so will need a larger prop than Nick’s model but in fact it had the same diameter but a lower pitch. So the next stage is a larger prop or maybe more cells. Other than the lack of performance the Sbach looked good and I’m sure Matt will soon have it performing well.

Dougal and 1066 are both happy flying low inverted and also both competitive so it was easy to wind them up with shouts of ‘Lower’ at every pass. I snapped a photo of each of them, not at their lowest points but you get the idea. On this occasion I think 1066 came out on top…or should that be underneath???

Chris P Bacon was getting to grips with his new Ripmax Bolero during September when disaster struck.He was rather unlucky, it wasn’t even a real crash that caused so much damage, it was just a relatively minor hiccup on a landing approach. The problem nowadays is that the 3D models are so lightly built in order to give the best possible performance that a relatively minor mishap is harshly punished. The damage probably isn’t actually as terminal as it looks and I think it will repair fairly easily, I hope so anyway.

Two years ago a group of PAM members visited Vulcan XM655 at its’ home in Wellesbourne and were treated to a tour of the aircraft including the cockpit. This year on Sunday 16th September the 655 Maintenance and Preservation Society (MaPS) held a Members Day and, as both Percy Vears and Captain Slow have become members, they were present to see and hear the Vulcan’s engines being run up. When Percy built his lovely EDF Vulcan model he finished it in the XM655 colour scheme so he took it along on the day and found there was another Vulcan model there as well. Captain Slow took some photos and I downloaded some from the official website.

Norwegian Nick was given a part built model recently but had no idea what it was. Most of the model structure is built but it’s missing a fin, cowling, and cockpit so Nick decided to ask if anyone could identify it on the RCM&E forum (modelflying.co.uk). It took just 8 minutes for someone to identify it as a Chorus Gull designed by Brian Peckham and featured in RCM&E in February 2002. The design was loosely based on the Percival Mew Gull and was originally designed for a 60 size I/C engine but of course Nick will be using an electric motorto power this one. Various posts on the forum provided photos and a link to a company selling the plan, cowling & canopy. Another post had a link to a build blog on different forum. Nick has already ordered the plan. He says the model is beautifully built and he’ll now get on and complete the model. Isn’t the internet a wonderful thing?

Thanks to Dougal and Captain Slow for their video and photo contributions this month. Kryten has also sent me lots of great ‘in air’ photos, here a selection, I’ll use some of the others next month:

Video time now:

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

On an airplane, I overheard a stewardess talking to an elderly couple in front of me. Learning that it was the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary, the flight attendant congratulated them and asked how they had done it. 
“It all felt like five minutes…” the gentleman said slowly.
The stewardess had just begun to remark on what a sweet statement that was when he finished his sentence with a word that earned him a sharp smack on the head: 
“…underwater.”

Colin Cowplain