Monday 27 April 2015

Gallow Hill fun

The poor forecast for Saturday was not exactly accurate and I missed some good flying weather. BBC Weather App? Huh!

Sunday morning and I headed up to Gallow Hill with my trusty and much abused Spark. This hill is not too far from home although it takes me about 40 minutes of walking to get to the slope from where I leave the car. An interesting walk with ex WW2 military buildings at the start, an ancient boundary marker stone to pass and the remains of the wreckage of an Avro Anson at the top. Great views to the south and north too.




When I got to the top there wasn’t too much wind and my Spark felt heavy as I heaved it out into the 7mph breeze which was crossed from the right. 


Not much lift and the model needed some hasty trimming but I managed to get it above the slope after blundering around looking for lift. Found lots of sink in the process! The breeze began to die so I pushed the model out from the slope to look for thermal activity. There was some activity but the Spark seemed to be drawn into that sink again. I should have landed when I still had height and the ensuing land-out and retrieval soon warmed me up! When I got back to the launch point the wind had straightened up to the promised north-west and the slope lift was suddenly working quite well and the Spark was looking much happier. Me too!
View looking north west
After about 20 minutes of goodish air the wind died completely. Did I land while I still had height? Another walk of shame only there was nobody to witness it! 

When I got back to the launch point I was really warm this time. The wind had swung off to the west and I was able to heave the model off into the air once more. A bit crossed but ok and quite thermally. Yippee! Then the wind swung round to the south-west and the lift died again. A hasty landing avoided another long walk! The windmills on the distant wind farm were at right angles now. At this point I could see some heavy showers heading my way and I high-tailed it back to the car. Just made it before the hail and sleet arrived and headed home for bacon and egg brunch. 

Monday 20 April 2015

Light wind fun at Kilspindie Sat 18 April

Not enough wind for a competition but six of us turned out for some light wind fun. Lots of DLG/Alula/Miro fun and F3F sport flying when the wind picked up.







The wind was light most of the time and well crossed from the south east. Conditions did straighten up from time to time and later in the day the F3F models were looking good after a 5 minute climb out followed by about seven laps before the speed decayed!







Despite no competition we all had a great day.

Tuesday 14 April 2015

A Space Oddesey

In a conversation last year with Ronnie Lampe about the 60 epp models he was flying he mentioned that he could be persuaded to make a few models for others. The upshot of it was I asked Ronnie to make me a ready to fly version which came at a very fair price. Considering the cost of a NCFM Bluto and a receiver, three servos and battery what I paid was a bargain! Bind the receiver, dial in the throws, charge the battery and off to the slope.


By a roundabout route (thanks to Richard and then Peter) I collected my McOdessey a few weeks ago and finally got a chance to get it flown on Saturday on the sw slope at Kilspindie. 30-35mph wind crossed from the north. Did it fly? Absolutely!

Very smooth and positively the nicest foamie I have flown. Feels like a mouldie in the air. No aileron trim required, just a touch of up which has been reduced as I moved the cg back. I’m sure it can go back further. I have reduced the elevator movement down to less than 2mm because it is a bit fierce at speed. Speed? This thing is fast, very fast!! Yippee!! Aerobatic too. The lack of rudder doesn’t preclude stall turns and four point rolls. Outside loops and inverted too. I like it!

Crow braking is very helpful for landing this hot ship! The detachable fin means it pops in the wing bag beside a set of F3F wings so it will be going with me a lot.

Tuesday 7 April 2015

Spring weather

Saturday
Light south-westerly winds found me up on Dodd Hill near home with my Longshot. The light breeze was perfect for some slope thermal action. I had it specked-out several times and scraping around below the slope just as often although there was always some slope lift close in. The changeover to my new transmitter only took a few minutes at home and a tweak on the elevator compensation in crow had the model going as well as it ever did.


Longshot

Sunday
Sunday was a sunny day with no wind to speak about. I took my Stinger up East Lomond anticipating a west-south-westerly but if anything it was north-north-westerly. Hopeless. I sat and drank most of the tea in my flask and enjoyed the weather and the views. The whole of south Fife covered in fog while I was well above it. 

It looked a cracking day for a walk so I headed down the north side of EL and headed out along the road to Craigmead.  I thought I might get going from the low north-west ridge on the way but there was no wind so the Stinger stayed in the bag. 
Fog in the valley

Sculpted by the wind

Busy up there at lunchtime. All those poor eggs getting rolled

Busy car park
Great walk with the only downside being my 10kg rucksack plus my Stinger over my shoulder!