Thursday 29 March 2012

That could have gone better :o(

Before

After

Lesson learned? Check elevator direction in ALL flight modes.
What a chump! :o(
It had been going really well too.

Monday 26 March 2012

Kilspindie

Despite the fresh easterly breeze in Monifieth it was virtually flat calm at Kilspindie yesterday :o(
Ali was there tearing up the sky with an electric powered model and Hugh Barker was up at the main slope with a couple of electric powered gliders. Lots of thermal activity if you could get there but the northerly drift meant my Race M stayed in the bag. Fortunately I had taken my Alula so it saw some action. Should have taken my Longshot though!

Sunday 25 March 2012

Extremely busy

With a windless and low cloud day on Saturday and no prospect of flying it dawned on me that if I get my finger out I can have the Extreme ready for the Championship of Champions next week otherwise the Race M will be going as back-up.

So, filler and paint hastily applied. It won’t stand close examination but hard to see the repairs from a distance!
Repaired flap servo in.
Extension to rx antenna added and extensions run up the hinge lines of the tailplane.
New Intellect 1600mAh battery made up and re-balanced the model. Needed a few grams to replace the weight of the 4 cell Eneloop.

Just need to set-up the throws tomorrow or Tuesday evening and hope to test fly it one evening this week.

Busy, busy.
However. The weather looks flyable now so I'm off out.

Sunday 18 March 2012

Sat 17 Mar. F3F Winter League 5

The forecast for the last 2011/12 Winter league event looked promising midweek but became less and less favourable as the day approached however it turned out that a good 20-25mph wind was blowing although crossed from the west and very bumpy at times. There was some thermal activity too although it seldom lasted more than a few laps. It was pretty cold today and a real contrast from last weekend at Horcum. Brrr…!

Quite a small field today because, for various reasons, several of the regular competitors were missing including, stalwart of the winter league, Dave Watson. If Dave had made it along there would have been 3 Cyrils on the hill:o) With the small field it meant we were all kept on the go flying, buzzing, launching and manning the timer. I was too busy to get many photographs today. David Loomes timer continues to work very well and was uploading a live feed to the internet most of the day. David has a mark two version underway!

Peter had to press his trusty Cyril into service after he had discovered on Friday that the fuselage ballast tube in his P3 was loose and needs some serious fettling to fix. Peter flew accurately all day and was able to get the best from even the bad air.

David Loomes also flew his Cyril which was going well and really pulled it off when he got some excellent air and flew the fastest time of the day. He fell foul of the rules later on when the un-taped nose sheath fell off on fly-through and received a zero for that round although this did not affect the overall result.

Mike had his well sorted Ascot in operation and it managed to look very smooth and fast in the rough air.

Robert Carson’s new P3 looked very good on only it’s second outing. Tight turns and fast in a straight line particularly considering the crossed conditions and it shows great potential and a rival for Peter’s P3.


Ian Stewart had his Strega going well and should have had a good results but an unfortunate landing incident early on saw him sidelined. I hope the Strega is fixed up soon although it will need some workshop time before it is back in the air.

Like last week at Horcum I flew my Vikos with full ballast all day and it flew very well. I still need to be less chicken and pull harded to tighten up my turns but nevertheless the Vikos does cope well with crossed conditions. I could do with less aileron control too so I have something to tweak next time I am out sport flying.

Well, that is the Scottish Winter League over for another year. We lost the January and February events so only managed 3 competitions compared to Horcum where they held all 5. Scottish summer league starts on 7 April. I wonder if I can put away my thermals. Absolutely not!!

We have the Winter League Champion of Champions at Horcum at the end of the month so the winter flying isn’t over yet!

Monday 12 March 2012

Hole of Horcum Winter League 5 Saturday March 10

The last of the F3F Northern Winter League events saw me up at 03:30 to arrive at Peter’s house for 04:15 for the trip to North Yorkshire and the Hole of Horcum. Setting off I had a look over at the car dashboard and was reassured to see an almost full tank of fuel:o) We collected Mike just after the Forth Bridge and we were on our way. As we were loading Mike’s stuff into the car I saw Mike give Peter a cd to entertain us on the trip down. About halfway there Peter played the cd and my education was enhanced. Steel Panther. A metal/glam rock sounding band whose songs have an interesting use of the English language and some particularly unusual rhyming couplets!! Hilarious!! A pit stop at Purdy Lodge and stocking up of pies and cakes in the baker's shop in Sleights saw us arrive at the car park at Levisham about 9:15.

The west north west wind saw a move from the Levisham slope to an area farther north and overlooking Newtondale and Skelton Tower. Getting to the slope meant trudging through the heather for 20 minutes which was hard going. I hate walking through heather!! On the way back we took the much easier but longer footpath round the edge of the hill. The wind was slightly crossed from the left and very bumpy and very thermally. If you were lucky with the air some good times were to be had. Mid to low 40s were the good times but some unlucky people were caught by rubbish air and recorded disappointing times. I was buzzing B during one of Jon Edison's rounds and on launch his Extreme immediately dropped about 15 metres and looked like it was headed for Newtondale. After much frantic stick waggling Jon was able to get his model out of the hole in the air it was in and back up to hill height just in time to enter the course! Must be the worst sink effect I have ever seen.












The sun shone all day and the temperatures were very mild. I had to dispense with my jacket and fleece for most of the day. Phew!














Peter had his P3 dialled in really well and set the pace for the whole day. His nicely carved EM turns were definitely the way to go if you could get them right.













Mike had a nightmare of a day and had a string of rounds with rubbish air which seriously pulled his scores down. I had a pretty good day with a round 5 win and a second, third and seventh position in rounds 3, 8 and 7 respectively although my final 12th position was disappointing :o( Such is the scoring system of F3F!!

Interesting to note that several times throughout the day a number of people were questioning if we were on the correct hill and that we should be back on the Levisham slope but Jon stuck to his guns and we stayed put. On the way back to the cars when we got to the Levisham slope the wind was well crossed from the north. Paul Foster and Paul Garnett both flew there and both landed out!! Nice one Jon!

Had a great time though and a stop on the way home in Whitby and the Magpie Café for fish and chips rounded off a grand day out.

Thanks to Jon Edison for organising a great day and thanks once more to Peter for doing all the driving and congratulation on a well deserved win.

A few more of my dodgy pictures.