Vagabond ready for it`s maiden flight!.

Just come back from 1/2 dozen successful hand launches at local football field.

Hacker Vagabond built & ready to go

Tim has been busy and managed to get the all new Hacker Vagabond Ultrabatic RC glider finished and ready to fly. Here are some pictures of the completed vagabond glider.

 

Thanks Tim for another mega build!

 

Hopefully be out at the weekend flying the Hacker Vagabond Ultrabatic glider. Will try and get some flying video for you all.

My Latest Soarers Are Ready To Go !

Hi all,
I recently bought a Mini Blade from Mike Richards of SRFC, but didn't have time to put it together. It was virtually RTF, all I had to do was put in an rx and battery , plus work out how to get the ailerons and flaps working on a 6ch rx and DX7. I have now succeeded in finishing it. The Blade is full carbon fibre and I can't wait to see it in action. Here's a few pics for you all.....

 

 

I will give an update when it has flown (successful or not !)

I also performed a swap with Terry Burnal of HDRCMC this week of my FVK Elektron powered glider (2m) for a Filip 400 slope soarer, I am very happy with it and also can't wait to fly it - some more pics of the Filip -

 

I hope to fly them both very soon - I will update you when that happens - good or bad !

Rob

Dont catch your bits on the barbed wire !

Clint, Tim, Graham and me (Paul) met up on a sunny and not so busy Ditchling Beacon. It was one of those days for me! If it could go wrong it did, which meant all my models stayed in the car. Tim brought along his new M60 glider that had its maiden flight early on when the wind was at its best. Then it was downhill for the rest of the day, literally.

We moved along the hill as the wind was still NNW so we all settled in for some good thermals but week and unpredictable slope lift. Here is a compilation of the aircraft flown.

Both Clint and I spent time retrieving models from behind the barbed wire fence at the start of the slope. It was very high and I was sure I was going to snag a vital part of my anatomy on it at some point - Ohhh Matron!

Clint scaling the fence - Again!

 

1st time flying this Butts Brow bowl.

                                          Best viewed in YouTube.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        SD card was nearly full, so this is all I have of todays  footage. Some of the other flights were very smooth except when some massive thermals went through! Liked the site, check out Slopehunter for details. Spent a couple of hours there flying the Mijet and Fusion, definately use again...

Ditchling Beacon midweek turnout!.

We had Rob, Tim, Marc and myself  up at the Beacon about 11.00hrs for what turned out to be an excellent session! Lift was a little marginal to start with but as everything warmed up it became a pleasure to fly. Rob  maidened  his Stargazer (ex Clint`s hangar), which flew well in the light winds about 7/12ish mph with only a slight increase of aileron throw to make it a joy to fly. Tim got plenty of stick time with his Jart, I must say it is a very responsive exciting `plane to fly! Thanks Tim. Marc was honing his skills and coming along nicely not really having to rely on his model finder bleeper! A good time was had by all, I flew my veteran Mijet.

A new blog is born

Here is my latest blog: http://hackervagabond.blogspot.co.uk/
Its a place to share video, build blogs and flying stories specifically for Hacker Vagabond pilots.
If you just ordered one, let me know and we can share build information and hopefully more.....
Just leave your comments below and I will send over an invite to post on the new Vagabond blog.
Its being built so please don't expect too much just yet. I need pictures, information, video from all you guys who have taken the plunge and bought a Vagabond.
You know its going to be fun !

Vagabonds go on pre-order for despatch next week.

Hi
I have had 5 - 6 people Interested in purchasing the new Hacker Vagabond. I was hoping to buy a job lot in and save a few quid on postage etc but it will be a nightmare to collect money from all Interested parties. T9Hobbysport have just sent me an email where you can order these individually and get them sent to your home. These should be available from alternative sources as well over the next few weeks. Here is the link to the T9 store:
http://www.t9hobbysport.com/hacker-vagabond-1500mm-epp-vtpr-ultrabatic
Just ordered mine!

Soaring like an eagle over the Ashdown Forest

Graham and I ventured out this morning onto the Ashdown Forest with our Dreamflight Libelle's. Here is one of the vids that was shot. Hope the spinning don't make you feel sick?

I did end up in a holy tree on a previous flight and nosed it in as I went to catch it on landing and missed resulting in a cracked nose (for the model that is!) anyway I will post the bloopers video another day.

 and Inverted!

 

 

Aberdaron slope flying over beach (Parts 2 & 3)

Sorry if North Wales vids are getting boring. I promise these are the last two. Both are flying from Aberdaron and both flying the Ninja.

Part 2 - East Beach Aberdaron

Part 3 - West Beach Aberdaron

 

That's it all done!!

Aberdaron Beach, North Wales - July 2014 (Part 1)

The beach at Aberdaron is spectacular. Long wide open expanse of smooth sand.

Both myself and Tim flew from this spot next to grave yard - Ideal for a 'dead stick landing! (sorry, blame that one on Rob) and a higher cliff further along (Part 2) and from the beach itself. Here we are up on a 100' high bank (not really a cliff) above the sand. The bank worked well close in and if you pushed out over the beach the lift carried on and I'm sure the lift was from the gently up sloping beach (part 2 demonstrates this better). If you are looking for a peaceful, beautiful, quite and with slope soaring possibilities then the Lleyn Peninsula is the place to go.

Below is a picture from the beach looking up at the bank we were flying from.

I hand launched the Ninja from the beach under the sea wall. Managed to soar away from the beach and had a great time beating up the beach then back up on to the wall and soared away again. If the Ninja can do this then anything can!

The wanderer returns

Hi all.
Just back from my holiday in North Wales. Had a splendid week with the family (Including Tim and the dog). While I was there we managed to get some flying in at a few locations nearby. We were staying in a tiny village called Aberdaron which was located on a beautiful beach on the Lleyn Peninsula. Here is a video I took flying my Ninja from a spectacular spot called 'Braich Y Pwll' which was at the very end on the Lleyn Peninsular looking out at Bardsey Island and the Irish coastline.

A 300ft steep cliff located over the sea. No chance if you loose it over that cliff edge. Tim was also flying the Ninja here and we had a great time cruising with the Seagulls. I have many more video's to bore you with but here is the first one. I hope you enjoy it?

One of the most amazing flying sites I have flown at to date!

We took a walk down under where the video was filmed from. No landing place below. At least the Ninja should float!



Colley Hill.16/07/14

First time flying the Libelle off a proper slope. 2/4 mph plus thermal assistance, then when wind increased out came the Fusion.

Here we are, at the NW slope Wolstonbury.

Attempting to fly over the ancient quarry. We moved a few metres to the right for a successful session!. Pls. read David`s report.

Wolstonbury Hill Weds 9th July

Hi all, Some of our group went to Wolstonbury Hill yesterday namely , Marc B, Terry B, Mike S, Graham U and David W

The picture is from Slopehunter web site

These words are from David Wilson who kindly wrote up a short summary of the day-------------------

Walking down non-stop took exactly 30 mins. It took longer to go up and we stopped at the side of the NE-facing bowl where there was a 12 to 15 mph breeze up the southern shoulder which faced NW. However as soon as you launched you got into rotor from the hill shoulder in front and soon there were gliders scattered to left and right on the ground.

We then carried on to just past the peak on the north side and the wind was 28 to 35 mph. We tried over a small quarry, but again got rotor so we moved to a smooth slope to the right (east). There we struck gold and soon there were these specs in the sky, so small you could hardly work out which way to move the stick. I just stayed up for ½ an hour before I had to leave.

 

There are places to park a car or three at the top of the track above the stables, but you probably need a 4 x 4 and I don’t know how you get past the stables.

 In summary:- fantastic views, great sloping, but a heck of a trek.

 

David Wilson

Mountaineering in Sussex ?

Hi All,
On Saturday we were flying at Newhaven Fort when Graham U made a landing at the top of a tree. The tree was about 20ft high, but was down in a very steep bowl. It was inaccessible from the top of the bowl, so it got left till this morning.
You can just make out the Blue Fusion in the tree in the middle of the picture -

Graham and I went to work out how to recover it this morning armed with every tool we could think of, plus a ladder, cutters, 50ft of rope, etc.....

We decided to make a path to the tree from the sea end on the bowl rather than descend the very steep side. We beat our way through 6ft growth of stingers and brambles and traversed the very steep slope till we reached the tree.
Once there, I was able to climb the tree and retrieve the Fusion. The walk back was much quicker along our earlier ready-made path.

Here's Graham after the episode -

All was well with the Fusion - just a very flat battery. We're now nursing many cuts and scratches, but it was worth the adventure.
See you soon
Rob

Don't upset the locals!

This video is for my good friend Clint who loves both birds of prey and his gliders. It features a great location and a beautiful glider but the local chicks don't seem that friendly!

The glider is a 4 metre DG808s and apparently the angry bird is a Black Shouldered Kite. I knew that.....

A Great Afternoon on Itford Hill 6th July 2014

Hi all,
Myself, Clint, Terry B and Marc met up at Itford Hill this afternoon.
Captain Hampshire had other arrangements and could not make it, but he spent hours texting us about how it was going !
The wind at the base of the hill looked disappointing, but we persevered up to our usual West-facing place and were surprised at the strength of the wind. However as you all know - wind doesn't mean lift and we were also surprised at how hard we all had to work to keep our models in the air. After about an hour, the wind and lift picked up significantly and we were all up in the clouds despite only having foamies today.
We stayed till nearly 16:00 from 12:30, so had a good innings.
The score was as follows -
Marc broke a clevis on his Fusion and was declared out;

Clint had a flat battery in his tx and was declared out but his lovely new M60 survived it's unsupervised landing,

Terry B had 2 Wild Things and a MiddlePhase - the latter he decided to land inverted to all of our amazement and it survived ! He was declared jammiest flier of the day although he maintains it was a planned inverted landing - we've asked him to teach us . . . .

I just brought my trusty Ninja which survived everything - I don't know how, but it did.

So, all-in-all we had a good day with the usual ups and downs you get with slope soaring - happy days -
See you all soon
Rob

A breezy Newhaven Cliifs

We arranged to meet at Seaford beach for a first attempt of beach flying in a stiff SW wind. Rob and Graham U arrived to find the seafront blocked off for a bloody Triathlon. This cocked up the plans big time! After a quick meeting it was decided to go to Newhaven Fort to see how the wind direction was. Getting up there the wind must have been 25knts but a good 30 degrees off the slope. We tried one part and was getting severe rotor from a spur upwind of us, so we moved along to the other side of the Coastguard station and hear is what happened.



Stormy Skies

Sorry Terry but another video of a Dream Flight Libelle from my visit to South Wales last weekend.
Here flying the back of the wrecker but with an amazing back drop of a huge rain storm approaching.

This is an enjoyable event!

http://bpmfc.blogspot.co.uk/p/bartons-point-model-flying-spectacular.html

Marc having fun flying his Fusion!!