DLG Flying - The thermals are coming!!

Now we have secured our new flat field flying site in Hassocks, its time to start thinking about the soaring season ahead. I'm a massive fan of DLG (Discuss Launch Gliders) and currently have two in my fleet. One is a Dream Flight Libelle which is a very capable DLG with foam wings and a fiberglass body, Nice and cheap and you can buy the complete package including servo's and battery for £120 from T9Hobbysport and my second one is a Topsky 2 Disser glider which is made up of carbon fibre overlay wings and a carbon fibre & glass fus. These are a little more expensive at around £200 but the performance is better.
These hand launch gliders are so much fun and not only can you fly them from the flat but also up on the slope (as Graham, Steve and Rob) will vouch as they have DLG's.
Here are a few video's of me flying my Libelle I thought you might like to see.

As the ground starts to heat up I will be out on our 12 acre flying field and taking advantage of the natural energy the sun provides us and hopefully catching a few thermals. Last year I hooked a great thermal from a flat field site and my little glider went from 50ft up to a tiny dot in the sky in no time.

Given a few of us already have DLG gliders why don't we have a friendly competition?

This is gliding at its most natural and basic with no motor, no bungee or winch, just spin and throw and your away. Come along and have a go as the warmer days are on there way.

Membership still available, so why not support our new model flying club and join 'Slope Soaring Sussex' for just £50 and get use of a huge flat field site - 7 days a week!

Ringstead West Dorset.

Four days near Weymouth. Due to the unfavourable wind direction only got a few minutes of air time despite visiting three venues! Portland looked a little daunting with sheer cliffs into the sea with no realistic way of retrieving a wayward model. Maiden Fort looked interesting not least because it is the finest Iron Age fort in the country  it also  caters for most wind directions albeit not the one blowing when I was there! The little video was taken at the NT site overlooking Ringstead Bay. The local paragliders couldn`t get airbourne my Mijet with camber selected managed a couple of short scratching flights. `Floppy` would have been fine but didn`t have enough space to take it.

Mark Kettle's EPP Vulcan

Just ordered one of these wicked looking machines - an EPP Vulcan. Thanks Steve A70 for the heads up!

Designed and manufactured by Mark Kettle for £79 delivered (limited offer - limited availability)

Here what you get for your money.

List of Vulcan parts

Two inner wings with engine locating slots in trailing edge

Four outer wings with elevon mounting step in trailing edge

Two Foam elevons taped to lite-ply

12 Fuselage parts  - Fin with woods  - Cockpit   - 4 foam nacells

Plan - Build instructions - Various inserts

Five Spars 6 mm  - min size - woods  - some bevelled ends & marked where to use them in wing

Two triangle 6 mm spar support

Two Inner front fuselage 1.5 mm ply sides

Connected as one -two lite ply 30 x 3 mm used on base inside fuselage - marked on where to use

One roll velcro - 0.5 mtr x 20mm wide -to be used with above lite-ply for ballast holding and removeable front ply for battery, RX placement and nose weight.

One 1.5mm ply hatch markings  - magnets 10mm dia x 2mm wide with    - warning note - and a  skewer

Some non-stick paper -  40 grade grit sanding block - soft sanding pad used when decorating - brown parcel covering paper

UHU contact adhesive  - PVA 500 ml doesn’t need thinning  - Tub of Lite Filler 400 ml size

Control parts Two 30 x 20  x 6 mm wooden blocks to take screws under lite-ply -horns x2 -screws x4 -clevis x2 -rods 2 mm x2 -2 mm balsa  servo hatch x2 marked with slot for standard size servos One elevon measuring tool printed on photo paper

Box  - free Postage delivery  -

If your interested (like me) then you can contact Mark on 07958 772 123 or email him on markskettle@gmail.com

A470 Soaring

Hi guys at Slope Soaring Sussex. Paul has very kindly allowed me to post on your blog and to share some of the things we do in S Wales with you. And with that in mind, I'd like to point you in the direction of a build project that my good mate Phil has just finished.

He has built a Impala jet trainer for the slope made from correx, corrugated plastic in 2mm & 4mm thickness. The whole build, excluding RX only cost £48.

He gave it it's maiden flight on Saturday at the Wrecker on the Bwlch, an awesome bowled cliff, known for its huge lift. Phil said it flew well beyond his expectations and only requires a little nose weight removing.

I was supposed to be building one as well but I just haven't got the time at the moment with model repairs to do before my Cornwall sloping holiday, (my Wildthing is coming along nicely Rob, lol), a rebuild of my Polecat EPP60, and completing the PSS Lightning I bought off Paul. So as Phil currently has some time on his hands, he is going to make a start on my Impala.

Here are a couple of taster pics but you can see all of them on A470 Soaring under the title of Correx Impala Build.

Modellbau Joost Tracuer Mk 2 Glider For Sale - Now Sold !!

Finally I have today received a large box with 5 x  Traceur Mk 2 model kits in the box. These fantastic low speed aerobatic gliders are now not being manufactured anymore and given the length of time we had wait for these last few I don't think they will be around again, so here is an opportunity to buy one of the last available.

I have sold 4 off the kits but I have just one for sale. For just £70 you will get the EPP foam kit with virtually everything you need to make the kit, other than glue and your radio gear.

I know I'm biased as I'm selling the kit but these gliders are amazing and fly in very light winds (see the Seaford Sea Wall video above) and then up to 15mph + winds. They are very manoeuvrable and will do everything  you could imagine. You will find a build blog (kindly created by Tim) in the menu bar above the post's that will explain the build and what kit you need to put in the glider.
If your Interested then feel free to email me: paul.hampshire@shelf-space.co.uk
An ideal glider to move on and upwards from a foamy Wild Thing' style glider.

'Slope Soaring Sussex' flying club has now got a flat field site to fly from!

Today Rob met with the owner of our new flat field site and signed the paperwork and paid the rent for a year. It's a done deal - well done Rob!!!
We visited the field yesterday (see pics from our walk around). Looks great but we have a few things we need sorting out as time goes by.

The steaks you see are in the middle of the field. The boundary is the hedge line in the distance. It's huge!

As you can see from the pictures, its a big field. We have some work to be done and a load of fence posts to be removed but luckily the posts are loosely set in there holes. We need to remove them and back fill with soil (on-site). These works don't have to be completed straight away but the sooner the better if we want to use all of the 12 acres. Membership is still open for the bargain price of just £50 for your first year. 7 day a week access to the field. If your Interested in joining us then feel free to get in contact with me or Rob at any time.

Short but sweet

We re met with a beautiful bright clear sky and a good 25mph Northerly wind when we arrived at Ditchling Beacon this morning. Tim, Rob, Scott, David, Les and me flew from our usual place but boy was it breezy. Les flew his Jet Provost PSS glider, which looked superb!

Tim had his latest M60 maidened successfully and then went on to fly his EPP Jart. The lift was booming with no problems staying up but it was a little more difficult with the landings.

Rob flew his Ninja and scott had his foamy together with David. Bit more of a struggle to get these into wind which by now was blowing 35mph +. David finished off his flying with a very good landing. Les also got some foamy flying in to add to his excellent morning.
I was surprised to see that a lot of the bushes and small tree's had been removed from the edge of the slope. I took advantage of their demise by having a blast with my M60 fully loaded up with ballast and stood right on the edge of the slope - It was brilliant!!!

Given the wind strength, somewhat cool temperatures and upwind conditions looking like rain, we called it a day just after 10.00. Thanks guys for the company and well done for the very good flying given the conditions.

For Sale : Seagull Ka8b Scale Electric Glider - NOW SOLD!

I have for sale an lovely Seagull Ka8b scale glider. Ready to go with everything fitted.

3000mm wingspan fitted with a quality (long shaft) electric motor, speed controller, good servo's and comes complete with 2 x Zippy Lipo's.

Has a Spektrum receiver fitted and can be left in if required.

Also has a SkyAssistant Logging Voice Vario inside which transmits directly to a small radio or earpiece so you can hear if the glider is rising or sinking.
Beautiful looking model !

Kitted out with quality servo's, ESC and Lipo's

And when you have finished flying, she packs away nicely into it's original box.

Lovely glider that is fitted with spoilers for accurate and controlled decent.

If your Interested then give me a call on 07834 859018 or email me paul.hampshire@shelf-space.co.uk.

Who's flying this Saturday?

Hello all
This Saturday looks good with a forecast wind of 15 - 22mph N - NE wind with some sunshine.
I'm planning to be up at the car park early. Meeting Les at 9.00am for a few hours of what currently looks like some good flying.
Good slope, good lift & good company - what more could you want?
Hope to see some of you up the hill on Saturday morning.

A warm welcome in the valleys!

After Steve's visit last weekend it was my turn to make a return visit to South Wales. Met up with the guys - Steve, Mark, Phil and Josh and flew a new slope to me called 'The Fochriw' which was not far from Merthyr Tydfil.
It was a 'bang tidy' 1377ft high slope that you can drive up to virtually to the slopes edge. It was a little cold - FFFFreezing actually. 3 degree's sitting in the car and I'm assuming a minus something wind chill!
Mark gave us a very impressive display of how to fly a Mouldy, and it did shift across the slope!!. I flew my M60 loaded up with ballast and the old trusty Valenta Dragon. I am getting into flying the Dragon now. Its old but can still whistle along when needed. Even managed to get it to fly around inverted for a while which is a new one for me.
Big Phil was there with his Hawk and Half Pipe and Josh (Phil's son) both giving a good display of their flying skills. Mark was later flying a Chris Foss AcroWat with the engine and under carriage removed as a slope soarer - different!
Here is a video of just some of the flying at 'The Fochriw' . Make sure you watch it to the end where you will see me suddenly fall to the ground just as the model is about to land. Silly fool fell down a big hole and landed on me face, lucky I was flying a foamy!!

Thanks again to Steve and the his friendly mates. Hope to see you all again soon.

Steve's Safari Day Two (by Paul, with inserts by Rob)

After yesterday's marathon flying session with three sites visited, todays flying opportunities seemed somewhat limited. Rob, Steve, Ian and I met up at Itford at 10.00am and were greeted at the top by a bright sky and a WSW wind that had been forecast. Soon the wind swung round to SW or even SSW (we know this because Steve brought along his windsock).

There was wave activity about with a long standing wave cloud (lenticular) going from way out to sea at one end and going all the way in land for miles. This I think was providing lift from broken wave as the wind was coming from the SW but still strong lift way out in the valley but hey what do I know?

Steve had his mouldy screaming around the sky with huge loops and roles. Ian was demonstrating some good flying with his Wildthing and later on with his Vagabond.
Rob flew his Stargazer but after a very good landing the elevator was broken in half. Thanks to Cyano from Steve and some Kicker, it was soon in the air again. After a second soft landing, the entire right-hand tail section came off changing the conventional tail into a modern looking V tail design - looked good Rob!

Well, that teaches me (Rob) to check what you're buying second-hand for only £30 !

We had loads of fun aerobating the Traceur and Zulu nice and low to the ground. It was a great few hours of slope fun. Lots of greaser landings from Rob and Ian and only one broken model - Result.

 

Here's Steve enjoying himself up at Itford Hill.
Thanks to everyone who made the weekend a success and a huge apology to Graham U for us not making it up to Colley Hill yesterday.

From Rob -
Steve, I'm sorry about that mid-air at Mount Caburn on Saturday, it was entirely a mistake, unlike those at Mill Hill later in the day with Alan Head and the SAS guys, who deliberately targeted our Ninjas. They didn't make any impressions on us though despite some big hits, the Ninjas are bullet-proof.

Back to Paul -
I'm on safari up in Wales next weekend and hoping to go flying with Steve on Sunday which should be fun.
Again tons of video to come guys. Even one of me being attacked and knocked to the floor by a very aggressive Traceur being flown by someone I won't mention other than he is on his way back to Wales as I write this !!

Steve`s Safari didn`t make it to the North Downs. This is a vid from Colley Hill.

Steve's Sloping Safari

We had such a good day that I would be here until midnight tapping away but here's a brief flying report from day 1 of Steve's Slope Soaring Sussex Safari.
The grand master plan fell apart by 7.00am with the wind more SSW than SW that was originally forecast. Rob, Steve, Jack and I met at 10.00 down at Newhaven Fort. Once up on top of the cliffs the wind was blowing well - about 25mph and still there was some nutter on a paraglider trying to kill himself on the side of the cliffs. We were soon joined by David and we all had a good fly in smooth lift. After an hour or so we packed up and made the decision to go and try Mount Caburn.
It was a trek up to the top of Caburn via a long uphill path to the top. On arrival we were greeted by some other flyers all ready enjoying the fantastic views and not bad lift. We werethen joined by Graham T and his Ninja and Fusion.

This was the first time for most of us to fly up at Caburn and I personally loved it up there. We all had a loads of flying with David and Graham getting to grips with their landings and both doing a very good job of it too. I flew my big mouldy as did Steve and Jack gave us a good demonstration on how to do proper aerobatics with his MiniVec. Rob was beaming from ear to ear with the superb flying and the amazing views. All in all a champion place to fly, just a pity about the long walk to the top and the long walk back down to the cars. From there we made the short journey over to Mill Hill.

I rushed off to fly my Phantom jet and just as quickly broke the wingtip off as it cartwheeled into the hill - Opps!! Then a group of us took our Ninja's down the hill to the 'Combat Zone'. It didn't take me long to completely loose my model and had no Idea where it had ended up. 'Its right down there, Mate!' Somehow it ended up at the very bottom of the hill with a stripped servo. Its a long way down there you know. We carried on for a bit longer then fatigue set in and one by one we set off home.
The weather and the great company made for a superb experience that I really enjoyed. Walked miles, broke two planes, got a sunburnt nose but also had a thoroughly good time, thanks guys.
Tomorrow: Rob, Steve and I (possibly Ian D) will be out flying of day 2 of our sloping Safari but were the hell we are flying, I don't have a clue yet. One forecast says one wind strength and direction and another shows the opposite. I am meeting Steve at 9.30am in Crawley. Maybe by then I might have clearer Idea of where to fly?
I have loads of very good video both on-board and the old helmet cam but thiw will have to wait a few days for me to upload.

Slope Soaring Safari - The Master Plan (possibly) !

I have put out a few shouts but thought it would be good to post my idea's for our marathon flying weekend that's just a few days away now.
Here's an outline of a plan but this will be flexible given the wind direction on the day.
Saturdays weather looks good with it being warm (yes warm!!) and a SW possible SSW wind. I am hoping to meet up with Steve in Crawley around 9.30am and then make my way down to Mill Hill (Shoreham) which should get us at Mill hill for 10.00 ish. Lets say we have a few hours flying (a bit of combat) and then pack up and move East. Depending on the wind direction I thought we could either swing down past Newhaven Fort and try the sea cliffs or carry on to The Long Man's SW bowl. You can easily park at the Fort but The Long Man is a bit of a walk from the car park which is 2/3rds of the way up the hill (if there are spaces in the car park). If we aim to be there at 1.30ish (which gives us time to grab a bite to eat) then 20 mins to walk up to the mega SW slope up on the Long Man and then when we have had enough back to the cars and then dependent if we are fed up or not and If Steve's ready to call it a day or not we could take a trek North and try out Colley Hill near Reigate.
There is a lot of driving but how many of us have flown at three sites in one day before?
If the plan works then it will be a fantastic day's worth of flying. If you can make it to one of the hills that's better than none.
As I've mentioned before. If you want to join in the slope soaring safari then please let me know. We will be going where the wind takes us so the master plan could be in the bin by 10am, so I might need to call you or text with changes to the program.
I'm very excited about trying out all these hills and would love as many of you to come along and enjoy the day.
I will be out again on Sunday and again we will try and get to a few slopes but I will update you all on Saturday after flying if that's OK as then we can gauge the Interest as well as the weather.
My mobile number is 07834 859018 if anyone wants to check any of the arrangements etc for either day.

A brilliant afternoon at Devils Dyke.

Ian flying his Wildthing and me with Mijet also gave the Fusion an airing.

A whole weekend of flying !!

Steve from A470 Soaring in South Wales will be visiting us this weekend and I thought it would be nice to show him around as many of the slopes we can in the time he is with us. I have got a weekend pass, so I will be flying both Saturday and Sunday with Steve. Currently the weather looks warm and bright for the weekend with SW winds. So if the winds stays as predicted I am hoping to visit Mill Hill and possible The Long Man (both of which have good SW slopes). If we get a little more of a Southerly breeze then we could go down and fly the sea cliffs. If there is not a lot of breeze (maybe on Sunday) then why not get out the floaters or even the DLG's?
Can I ask that as many of you that can get out over the weekend, come out and fly and show Steve what a friendly bunch we are? Maybe we can grab a bite to eat and a pint in between flying sites?
Please let me know if you can come out and play, so that I can keep in contact with you if things change (as they do). Just leave a shout message and I will pick it up from there.
I will update flying times, locations etc later on in the week.

"It's Almost Blue Sky Up There" !

Hi all,
Following the advice of the Met Office Paul, Ian and I met in the Newhaven Fort car park at 12:00 yesterday. The weather was supposed to clear up by midday, so we decided to chance the cliffs. We walked up to the Coast Guard station expecting there to be a 25 mph wind, but when we emerged from the shelter of the hill we could hardly stand up ! The wind was at least 40 mph and constant, no gusts, just solid wall of wind ! It was also raining too, but having go there Paul decided to try his M60. I launched it, but there was so much rotor that it went straight into the deck ! I tried again with a lofty angle and it was away, but making headway was difficult. Once Paul got beyond the cliff it all settled down and he was flying well. Landing was always going to be difficult and when the M60 came to land the wind took it way behind us into the brambles.
Paul then coaxed me into flying the ever-hardy Ninja, so I got him to launch it. Making progress was difficult and the Ninja was hardly able to get to the cliff edge, let alone beyond it. The weather was beating me backwards, so I decided to land - again the wind was fierce and took the Ninja way too far  back into the brambles. After 4 minutes of painful flying I had 5 minutes of painful bramble-bashing to recover the Ninja.

Here's Paul and Ian battling the elements to stay upright . . . . .

At one point in a fit of optimism I was heard to say "It's almost blue sky up there !", but I was wrong and we retreated to the cars and then came home...

At least we tried our best and had 2 short flights in what was probably the worst weather we've ever encountered !

See you soon
Rob