A flying visit to The Bwlch with my Dream Flight LIbelle

I found myself in South Wales (as you do!) with a model in the back of the car (as you do!) and asked my wife very nicely if I could be excused to go flying (as you do!) and quickly shot out the door and met up with Steve from A470 Soaring up at The Bwlch in beautiful South Wales. Virtually no wind and both of us with our Dream Flight Libelle's. I will let the video tell the you the rest........

Hope you enjoyed the video?

I will be arranging another slope soaring expedition to The Bwlch later on in the year for anyone who is Interested?

Steve from A470 Soaring and his Dream Flight Libelle

A new Libelle DLG blog

It seems that the popularity of the new Dream Flight Libelle DLG has ballooned over the last few months. I know a lot of our regular viewers / contributors have invested in this amazing little hand launch model. For this reason I have started up a new blog focusing on the Libelle and hoping that as many people as possible check it out and if you have a DLG and or maybe just like watching videos etc about them you will find this an Interesting blog.
Here is the link to the new Dream Flight Libelle blog

A bad case of wind!

Sorry, not the best video I've made but I wanted to try out the Dream Flight Libelle DLG with my little 808# camera on board and it was tricky to get the C of G right. It was in my local park. The tree's and building together with too much wind made for a turbulent time.

Flying at the strip

Decided to go and show my face at the local model flying club that I am a member off. Here is a video of me flying my old Parkzone Habu EDF Jet (sorry, I don't have many power models left now but this one is fun and does glide well, so sort of counts as a motor glider).

I then spent half an hour lobbing my Dream Flight Libelle up into the sky. Loads of launches but no real thermals. The sea air had already come in but some reasonable extended flights of a few minutes now an again. Then I flew my Seagull Ka8B which was a glider that had been converted to powered glider (by Tim). Here we see a 30 second power up and then a bit of a up and down glide to earth which ended up in a reasonable (ish) landing.

Hacker Vagabond 1500mm EPP - Ultrabatic

Hacker Vagabond 1500mm EPP VTPR Ultrabatic 'ARTF' Slope Glider

Vagabond is foil covered, with all hardware supplied and almost ready to go, requiring only simple and straightforward radio installation - the perfect way to give this fun and radical style of flying a try without all the wrangling with EPP construction, covering and finishing.

On a regular slope Vagabond excels but with it's low weight and tough-as-old-boots construction, normally hard-to-access and/or fly slopes, dam walls, seaside dunes and promenades suddenly can become an aerobatic playground too with Vagabond.

Vagabond has a stabiliser with mad throws supplied out of the box, providing the opportunity to explore manoeuvres that'll blow your mind in light wind conditions.
I have requested a price from T9HobbySport who are hoping to have these in soon.

Looks good fella's - Let me know if this baby floats you boat. Maybe we could put in a bulk order?

Slope soaring the Newhaven cliffs.

Having arrived at Ditchling Beacon yesterday evening to find that although the clouds were coming from the NE,  there was a sea breeze! An hour later after suffering the rush hour crawl on the A27 I launched the Pheonix from Newhaven Fort...enjoy!!

Clint's first Luna Landing

Maiden of my Pat Teakle 1/4 Scale Pik 20

Here is the edited version of the maiden flight of my Pat Teakle 1/4 scale PIK 20 flown up at Ditchling Beacon on Tuesday evening.

A gentle evenings gliding at Newhaven.

Mill Hill mid week.

Mini DV-808#16 v3 and Mobius Cam.

This is the easiest and safest way to adjust you- cam settings.
http://www.mytempfiles.info/mobius/

Tuesday Afternoon / Evening up at Ditchling Beacon

A great turn out for a weekday with Terry, Graham U, Marc, Graham T, Rob, Clint, Geoffrey and Me all enjoying the sunshine, warm temperatures and good lift up at the Beacon. It was great to see you all enjoying yourselves! I had a splendid time with my first outing with my new (well its 20+ years old actually) 1/4 scale Pat Teakle PIk 20. It was a dream to fly and I managed to land it without to much fuss. Its got a 4 metre wingspan fibreglass fuselage and glassed foam veneered wings. Flaps and electrically operated airbrakes together with a vintage scale pilot (bit tired looking - just like me!)

 

Clint flew his Luna 2 and did the whole flight which culminated in a superb first landing. I will upload the video tomorrow. The other guys seemed to be having a ball with healthy banter mixed in with some superb sloping. Rob's bought himself a little rocket of a mouldy (Mini Blade) which I look forward to seeing fly. All in all - a very pleasant few hours for me and I hope for everyone else up there.

The NCFM M60

Here is Tim's latest glider - a NCFM M60.

This is a 60'' racing machine with a massive speed range able to fly in a wide range of wind speeds. This one has been fitted with a ballast tube and is capable of taking up to a 1lb of ballast. should be a monster to fly. Clint celebrated his birthday last week and was lucky to also get one of these NCFM M60's as a present. Can't wait to see them racing on the slopes! Maybe we have found our next upgrade for the Ninja's? Not sure you would want to play combat with one of these mind!

Ditchling Beacon Sat 14th June

A somewhat skeleton crew up at Ditchling Beacon this morning. Me, Clint and Kevin Beale flew in a stronger than forecast NE wind. It started of about 15mph and gradually eased as the morning went on. Clint did a splendid job repairing his Luna 2 and after a little trimming he had her going well on some good lift. I flew my Typhoon and Kevin flew his mouldy and one off his own design flying wing's. We were joined by some others including some regulars from Mill Hill.

Still trying with the video editing stuff.....

Low profile self adhesive fastener (velcro equivelant)

I needed a Velcro type product to attach my key chain camera to the wing or fuselage of a slope model. Ordinary Velcro was to thick and rough, so I went on the hunt for an alternative. I wanted something low profile and clear so not to cause too much drag when stuck on to a model without the camera being attached. I found this product (click this link) on eBay.

It works a treat and is easy to apply and has a very strong adhesive. See the video below at Mill Hill. Its what is holding on my 808# camera to the wing of my Typhoon. It snaps the camera on well but also comes off easily on the ground but as far not in mid air! You could use it for may uses including fixing your RX down in a fuselage. I thought some of you might find this product of Interest. It gets a 10/10 from me.

The weekend ahead

Just a heads up for the weekend. Currently the forecasts are showing a Northerly wind direction for Saturday & Sunday. 10 - 15mph for both days but Sunday showing gusting 20mph. Both days with sunshine and the risk of showers but warm. Its been a while since we had a really good turn out, so maybe this coming weekend we might see more of you coming out to play? The wind is currently showing 14 - 24mph (so 20 - 25mph up on the hill) at Ditchling on Sunday evening. Anyone fancy an Sunday evening trip to Ditchling? Maybe fly some of these scary big wing scale gliders that need a blow!

Mill Hill Slope Soaring - On board video footage

Rob, Jack, Clint, Tim, Graham T (late as usual) and I met up at Mill Hill in a reasonable SW wind. The weather must have been good as Jack had his shorts on! I fixed my 808# keyring cam to the wingtip of my Typhoon and took video on my helmet cam. Here are the results (2nd attempt at video editing)

Great to see Clint out and about only days after his op. I did mention he should be at home resting. 'Resting is for wimps' was his reply. How did he get all the way down to the gulley at Mill Hill and back up the hill on crutches? Told you before - balls of steel, that man!

My first attempt at video editing with music

My first attempt at editing video and music together with a theme. Got to be better than listening to me and the wind.

A witty caption required -

We have a winner!

Thanks for all your captions - Well done to Bob King for the winning caption 'Bloody Amateurs'. Photo taken of Jack's 'Gentle Lady' glider flying close to a hovering bird of prey during our visit to the I of W.

Our amazing trip to the Isle of Wight

Jack, Clint, Rob and I crossed the Solent (with a little help from a Wightlink ferry) at 8.00am on Saturday 31st May in very light wind conditions under cloudy skies. Our friend Chris had already armed me with sites to fly at and on leaving the ferry we headed up to our first slope of the day on the Isle of Wight.
St Boniface Down, Ventnor (Slope 1)

 A beautiful long curving slope located just above Ventnor with a sea facing slope and a inland facing slope. You could drive to within a fifty yards of the slope. We flew the inland side with the wind coming from a NW (ish) direction. It took us some attempts to get up high but after Jack showed us how, we all contacted strong lift and enjoyed gentle relaxing flights. Rob did a good job flying my Algebra and had a decent flight. Not ridge lift nor thermal as the lift was smooth and stationary, so I'm thinking it was some form of wave lift as we had two wave gaps in the cloud that didn't move for most of the time we were there.

I had a few Interesting flights with one ending up half way down the slope in dense undergrowth. Chris did warn me about them snakes.
Jack got to fly with a Kestrel and Clint captured this wonderful shot of glider and bird

After a couple of hours the wind had dropped and the lift disappeared so we packed up and drove to our next slope.
St Boniface Down Map
Culver Down, Bembridge (Slope 2)

A twenty minute drive from Ventnor and take the Culver Down road up to the large monument. Not much wind but what little there was from the North. Out came the Dream Flight Libelle DLG and we had several hand launches from the North face of Culver Down. Jack was flying and got into a thermal with a Buzzard. It was a sight to see. Stopped in the Café for some food and then drove a little further along to the next car park.
Culver Down (Slope 2) Map
Culver Down, Bembridge (Slope 3)

Parked the other side of the pub and dragged out the Libelle again. The first launch was a classic. hand launch with me falling down a big hole just as I let go of the model. I was on my backside and only just avoided a collision with the disused concrete gun emplacement - Phew!. The wind was turning and just on to the Southerly facing sea cliffs. After a few trial glides out over the cliff edge it was working and getting better all the time. Quick, everyone back to the cars. another change of car park, this time a little further down besides the concrete bunkers.

Out came the floaters and we were off flying out in super smooth lift above the sheer chalk cliffs of Culver Down. A little scary if you thought that if anything goes wrong it probably bye bye model. Some fantastic flying was achieved and we al flew while seated on a conveniently placed bench. Then a quick change and out came the Ninja's and Clint' Pzzaz.

Now there is something very disturbing about chucking your model off a sheer facing cliff when you cant see what's below other than a massive expanse of sea. Muggins chucked his Ninja over the barbed wire fence to be greeted with smooth lift (unclench buttocks) and the most wonderful of views.

Another hour or so of slowly increasing wind (well it did hit 10mph at one point!) we were all buzzing with adrenalin and in ore of the location and the fantastic flying.

Rob saw a few gliders flying way off in the distance. So the decision was made to decamp over to where these guys where flying.
Culver Down (Slope 3) Map
Culver Down, Bembridge (Slope 4)
Back down the road about half a mile we pulled into a car park with views over Sandown Bay. We were greeted by a guy trying (and partially succeeding) to slope soar a Twin star twin electric plane!

The slope was strange with a tree lined ridge about a hundred yards away which you had to get passed before the lift would kick in. Flew the Libelle which handled the conditions well and shot up in the lift but the foamies where a little more challenging. My Ninja flight started off with me watching the model pushing into wind and heading downwards below the level of the horizon. Keep pushing forward (all the times getting lower) and eventually past the trees and into the lift. From there it was plain sailing with thermal and ridge lift. We all flew again with Jack and Clint flying there floaters and Rob flying his Libelle and my Ninja. Interesting slope but not as good as the big cliffs at the end.
Culver Down (Slope 4) Map
Isle of Wight Pearl (Slope 5)
A 30 minute drive back along the Island to a flying site I flew at the week before. Out came the foamies and we walked to the cliff edge. Some wind, so launched my Ninja. Wrong decision and a beach landing below was called for. That will teach me...Back in the cars for a short journey back to meet the 6.30 ferry and back home at 9.00pm.

A totally mega day out with some great guys on the beautiful Isle of Wight with lots of amazing flying! Time to book the next trip?