Its the end of another year.........

As we are just a few hours away from the start of a brand new year, it seems appropriate to take a brief look back over 2015 and look forward to what 2016 has to offer us all.
I've enjoyed a good year of flying and have made some fabulous new friends during the first year as Chairman of our new club - Slope Soaring Sussex.
Through the sterling efforts of our very own Rob Stanley (Hon Treasurer & Secretary) and the enthusiasm and support of our growing membership we have built up a club that is definitely going places.
Exactly where we are going is still to be decided by you - the club members.
Rob and I have got the club up and running and now its time to share the control and direction of the club with our membership. Here is where you can help shape the future of our club and help take some of the strain of Rob's shoulders by joining the committee and help us build a club for the future.

For the next year we need a Treasurer to look after the day to day running of the club's expenses. We also need Facilities Officer who will be responsible for the day to day looking after of our club field. This role doesn't require a huge amount of time dedicated to sitting on a tractor mowing but you would co-ordinate the maintenance of the field getting the membership involved (many hands and all that).
Rob and I are club Instructors but I personally feel there are better qualified and hugely talented members in our club who could do this job far better than us, so we will be looking for a new club flying Instructor.

There are opportunities for many new positions to be created on the committee but we need ideas. If you feel you have a particular skill or talent that you could share with us for the good of the club then please let us know. We have an opportunity to build a club that is run for the members but that needs the input of the membership!
Feel free to contact either Rob or myself to chat through the available committee posts or suggest some new positions - paul.hampshire@shelf-space.co.uk (07834 859018)

Both Rob and I are of the agreement that committee members should serve no longer than two years at any one time, in order to keep the committee fresh and bring new blood in with new ideas. So the door is open to everyone - young, old, experienced and the not so experienced. Come and make it a club that you want!

We have finished our first year and Rob has done a fantastic job what with keeping up with it all and I hope you have all now received your membership cards and you all have your 2016 BMFA Insurance? The idea is to extend the membership you have already paid for up to the end of March 2016 (this being the date that we have to pay the rent on our flying field for the next full year).
Between now and the 1st April we will be negotiating the rent with the field's owner and we can then decide on next years subs that will be due on or before the 1st April 2016 (on receipt of your subs you will be issued with a new membership card).

AGM - As you would expect from an organised and well run club, we will be having an AGM to discuss any matters that need discussing and vote in new committee members etc...... we will also be presenting the club's finances to members , these will have been checked by a competent independent accountant before the meeting.
We have fifteen members and if all of you turn up for the AGM (which I hope many of you will) then we need a suitable venue to hold our meeting. Can anyone suggest a venue that can take between 10 - 15 members that is central to us (Haywards Heath is smack in the middle when Rob plotted all of our locations on a map). A small hall, a Pub's meeting room but not a pub bar as per another club's AGM's we used to belong to or maybe one of you have a large house but I'm open to suggestions. Please let me know ASAP.

Well that's the end of my long post and it just leaves me to thank you all for your enthusiasm and help during 2015 and I wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2016.

Paul Hampshire

Chairman
Slope Soaring Sussex

Mill Hill Tuesday 29th Dec

Hi All,
This morning I picked up Andrew and we headed to a deserted Mill Hill for 09:30.
The wind was straight on the hill and gusting at about 25 mph.
We launched Andrew's Zagi and then he was away for about 1.5 hours with the occasional landing and short breaks , otherwise he flew solidly.... definitely his longest and by far, most successful session with loops, rolls, and a good number of landings. Well done Andrew...
I had my Moth which I also flew for quite a long time, with only 1 occasion where I hit the Zagi , but it was not intentional.
By about 10:00 we were joined by Scott with his Wildthing and Les with the Cliffwacker, Jet Provost and Middle Phase...
The Wild thing was great, as they are, and Scott was carving up the sky doing all sorts of manoeuvres...
Les tried the Cliffwacker first which needed a bit of weight adjustment, then it flew well, the Jet Provost behaved much as usual - short flight followed by hard landing - not Les' fault, that model just WON'T behave.... Finally Les resorted to the Middle Phase which was of course pretty good.

At 11:00 we had all had enough, so we came home...
A very enjoyable session

No pics or vid - sorry  Rob

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Well, what a year we have had - we started by trying to get a club together and affiliate with the BMFA - we needed 5 members to do that and only just made it.
Since then, we've grown through friends and contacts to become a club with 16 members, a 10 acre flat field and a lot of equipment like bunjee, winch, battery, charger, etc....

Paul and I would not have guessed last year that we would be entering 2016 in such a great shape.....
and for next year we are looking to extend our membership and make better use of our field. 

One of our associate members - Kevin Beale is the SE Area Chief Examiner for Silent Flight and another full member - Bernie Jones, is a BMFA examiner, so between them I'm hoping they can lead us to get our 'A' or 'B' tests which a number of our members have expressed an interest in.

Until then, Paul and I would like to wish you all the very best of the season, a happy new year and many thanks indeed for your loyal and enthusiastic support this year.

Rob Stanley
Hon Secretary/ Hon Treasurer

BMFA Newsletter

Hi All,
I have just received the latest BMFA newsletter which I have emailed to club members -

For anyone reading our blog who isn't a club member please follow the link below to get the latest BMFA newsletter -

https://www.bmfa.org/Clubs/Club-Bulletins/ArticleID/2327/Club-Bulletin-224-December-2015 

This takes you to the BMFA page where you can download the pdf file to read...

Best regards
Rob

Slope Soaring Sussex Re-Affiliated to BMFA for 2016

Hi All,
Today I received all our BMFA paperwork for 2016 including our members' BMFA insurance document and member stickers, the club membership document, our club affiliation documents and club insurance documents.

This means that all of you who renewed your BMFA through Slope Soaring Sussex for next year are now covered under the BMFA insurance and the club insurance.

I posted earlier in the month that there are a few beneficial changes to the insurance and they can be found on the BMFA main website.

I will be processing your documents and printing new Slope Soaring Sussex membership cards for 2016 and hope to get them in the post very soon, however, you are now covered to fly beyond 31 Dec this year in case you don't get your documents before then (which I hope you will).

May I take this opportunity of thanking you all for your loyalty and great support throughout our 1st year....

Best wishes

Rob Stanley
Hon Sec / Hon Treasurer.

South East BMFA Newsletter is now Available

Hi All,
I have now received the latest edition of the BMFA SE Area Newsletter from our area editor.

I have emailed a copy to all of our members, but if you are reading this and NOT a member of Slope Soaring Sussex, but want to see a copy of our area newsletter (and are a BMFA member), please contact me at - rob@littlehobland.co.uk and I will forward you a copy.
It is not available online, so I can't post a link to it unfortunately.

Rob

Saturday at Mill Hill

Hi All,
Andrew and I arrived at Mill Hill at 9:15 where we were greeted by a herd of 'Dexter' cows in the road and all around the flying area, plus a very strong wind of at least 30 mph maybe gusting to 40 mph.
Andrew's wife , Claire, also came along with their Doberman 'Dexter' and went off for a long walk with him.
We tried Andrew's Zagi, but it flew backwards towards the cows, we landed it and swapped to the Ninja which flew very well in the blustery conditions.
After a short flight we decided to wait for Paul and Steve to arrive before carrying on.

When Paul and Steve arrived at 9:45 they launched the M60 and Steve's Polecat which both flew extremely well and they were racing around the sky. Both models needed ballast really to get the best, but they still pushed on through the strong winds and proved more than capable given the conditions.

Meantime, I got distracted by the cows which had blocked the car park entrance, so I had coax them into a safer place.
After that I was playing games with Dexter (the dog , not the cows !!), throwing his Frisbee and trying to get it back from him.

Rob

Please Note - Saturday's Flying will be Mill Hill about 9:30

Our mate Steve is bringing the Welsh weather with him this weekend and he calls me a weather jinx??
Looking at the weather for the weekend its not the best but we might be able to salvage some flying on Saturday. Strong SW winds with grey cloudy skies. Sunday don't look that good.

BMFA Renewal for 2016

Hi All,
Well, it's that time of year when I have fill out all the BMFA forms to renew our club and members' BMFA insurance.

I got the club 're-affiliation' pack this morning in the post and thanks to you all paying your subs for BMFA into our bank account as I asked,  I was ready to renew everything for all of us.

However, as we're only 1 year old and I have never done a 'renewal' before - I felt it necessary to call the BMFA office for advice on which forms to fill in, which bar-code stickers to put where, how to change 'lead club' for quite a few of our members (from country member to club member), how to notify them that Bob King has move home, etc.......

So after 2 hours of work I managed to complete the paperwork and I can announce (subject to confirmation from BMFA), that all of you who asked to renew through us have now been processed and I have posted a large envelope of papers to BMFA this evening....
Paul and I would like to thank you all for your loyalty and support this last 12 months and look forward to even better things next year (whatever that might be ?)

As far as I know - we will all be covered by BMFA for 2016 - unless I get that phone call from BMFA  ...............


Rob

SOLD 3m F3B Full-House Mouldy For Sale

Hi folks,sorry it's been so long. Work and life in general have kinda taken over and I'm at a point where something has to give and - with a baby due in less than 3 weeks - it's sadly my newly discovered hobby that's bearing the brunt of it!

 

Anyway, as you'll probably remember, I blogged a few months ago about buying a pretty stunning used F3B plane called a "Europhia", made in Germany by Martin Weberschock.

 

The reality is that I'm not going to get the chance to get this beast airborne any time soon (perhaps it was wishful thinking when I bought it). Rather than it sitting on top of my wardrobe gathering dust, I thought that I would sell it on so that it can be used for what it was intended for.

 

It's by no means a perfect plane and I bought it as I wanted the best big-wing mouldy I could get my hands on for around £150. In the end I paid £200 for this one, but it is a pretty awesome plane and would be a great model for someone looking to get a big-wing mouldy without risking big money.

 

Comes complete with metal geared servos (and I have all the various flap/crow settings etc. written down) and a battery, so all it needs is a receiver and it's good to go. Also has some old wing bags to get you started.

 

Here's what the dude selling it too me wrote:

 

I think you'll find an awful lot of flyers would like a mouldie for £150.00 but, if your budget can stretch to £200.00 I think I might have just what you want. It's a "Europhia", made in Germany by Martin Weberschock. It's an F3B plane, it's fully fitted out with servos, it's a VERY good flier which is only let down by it's scruffiness. It's fully structurally sound, full of carbon parts and, I think anyway, ticks most of your boxes. Why not rummage around on the web to find the ads and YouTube videos that are there featuring Europhias and then mail me back if you are interested. This is NOT a mint condition plane at a giveaway price, it's a good, strong,long serving, knocked about mouldie that could, I believe be exactly what you want - pic attached

 

 

 Anyway, not looking to make a profit or anything but just trying to claw back a bit of money to help with the seemingly endless baby-related expenses! If anyone is interested, give me a shout and you're welcome to pop round and take a look and make an offer if you like what you see.

 

I'm probably going to be away from the slopes for a bit but hope that I'll be abele to resume a little further down the line once everything's settled down a bit.

 

My number's 07855916434

http://slopesoaringsussex.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/buying-glider-from-other-side-of-world.html

New 'Drone Aware' Initiative Launched

Hi All,
The BMFA and the CAA have launched a new website to help those people who operate 'drones' or multi-copters, to observe the law and act responsibly -

http://droneaware.org/

Let's hope it works, because it is these people who are getting all of us legitimate fliers a lot of bad press coverage lately !

However, I can't help thinking that if you have a drone and fly regardless and don't know (or care)about the BMFA or CAA how will this website help ?

Unless there is some registration or awareness campaign at the point of sale it won't be of much use - or will it ??

Please let me know what you think

Also, the BMFA insurance benefits have changed - please refer to this website for details -

https://www.bmfa.org/News/News-Page/ArticleID/2317/Improved-BMFA-insurance-arrangements-for-2016


Rob

Itford Saturday Morning

Hi All,
Paul and I met up this morning at 8:15 in the Itford lay-by in the glorious sunshine and cloudless sky.
We then walked up to the usual place near the top. At the bottom there seemed to be no wind, but by the time we got 2/3 of the way up, the wind was picking up from WSW direction.

I launched my little Moth to test out the conditions and surprisingly it went pretty well in a very light wind (maybe 10 mph). The lift was coming and going, but no thermals were present at that time.
Paul set up the Willow and launched that, it was doing pretty well in the conditions and we were both flying away merrily with varying degrees of lift, etc...

Within the hour we were getting thermals and managing to stay in the air much easier.
The Moth had a few hard landings when the lift disappeared and the Willow had a fairly difficult landing with something being not quite right. However, it survived, but one elevator seemed out of alignment, so the Willow was put away.
The rest of the 2 hours was spent with us both flying the Moth.

Paul got some good video of both models, but then his hat-cam fell off and the camera didn't want to work after that.

We reverted to Paul's phone camera and got some good low-level flying shots where we were each trying to get as close to the camera as possible without actually hitting the cameraman.

Altogether we both had great 2 hours .

Rob

BMFA Subscription for 2016 - up by £1

Hi All,

The BMFA have announced that subscriptions for 2016 have been raised by £1 to £33 for each senior member.

The information can be found here -

https://www.bmfa.org/News/News-Page/ArticleID/2318/2016-Membership-Subscriptions

For all those who told me that they will renew through our club for next year, please could you transfer the £33 to our bank account or write a cheque to 'Slope Soaring Sussex' and post to me ..

I will send you an email with the details rather than post it here !


Best regards
Rob Stanley

Hon Sec / Hon Treasurer

Minus 6 Wind Chill - Brrrrrrrrrrr !!

That's right -6 degrees wind chill on Saturday (and that's at ground level).
Put this together with the 30 - 40mph gusting NNW wind and its going to be blooming COLD..........
But I'm up for a challenge so I might give Devils Dyke a go on Saturday afternoon. No chance of paragliders or hangliders flying as far too windy for them. The met office are showing a brighter sunnier period around 2.00pm. At least its worth a drive out to see the view if nothing else.
Sunday is a lot calmer but with a 8 - 10 mph NW wind (or less) and grey skies but a lot warmer.
I think I will take a punt at the Dyke on Saturday (2.00pm ish) with a mouldy and see what Sunday brings on the day.

The cold and the strong winds have made me have a re-think regards flying today - sorry guys I have wimped out!! Let's see what tomorrow brings?

NAN Omega For Sale

I have a beautiful Nan Omega 2 metre powered glider for sale. The great thing about this model is that she flies from the flat as a thermal soaring glider or power up and us it as a hot-liner and also off the slope, proving to be great slope model in various wind conditions. So this model covers most flying sites and weather conditions. Nan modes are renowned for their quality. The Omega comes with Carbon D box wings for strength and rigidity.
For the full spec on the model CLICK HERE for details.

She comes complete with everything Installed and ready to fly (if you fly with Spektrum) Powerful motor installed, quality ESC and servo's plus she has a decent carry bag for safe transport and storage. I was intending to leave the genuine Spektrum RX in the glider.
Fitted with decent flaps that make the model slow down nicely for a controlled landing.
If you fly with a Spektrum TX (DX7 or above) you can just load the settings from my memory card directly onto your TX and bind and she's ready to fly. No building, no setting up, no hassle!
The basic airframe price new is £305 plus carriage, then add a quality moteor, esc and Savox servo's plus a Spektrum RX and a Hyperflight transport bag and you have got yourself a quality powered glider. I am looking for £500 all in (bind & fly).
If your Interested then feel free to call me or email me for more Information.
07834 859018 - paul.hampshire@shelf-space.co.uk

Flying This Weekend has Been Scrapped

              THE FLYING PLANNED FOR TOMORROW HAS NOW BEEN SCRAPPED

This is due to the latest forecast which gives rain from 10:00 in the morning, so not worth the long walk up the hill just to come back down again almost immediately !!!!

 Sorry everyone, but there's no point going when the weather is against us !

Rob

BMFA South East Area

Hi all,

I have been in touch with Stuart Willis, the Chair of the BMFA South East Area to find out why we've had no contact from the BMFA since we affiliated a year ago...

Stuart will hopefully put that right and apologises to us for an oversight somewhere.... he has also given me the Facebook page for BMFA SE which I have sent to all club members in an email.

Stuart also sent me a copy of the area newsletter which I have sent to members in my email as a PDF document.

Finally, Stuart has invited us to the AGM next week at 19:30 on 18th November at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge. Either Paul or myself (or both) will try to attend on behalf of SSS and report back to you all. Any club member is welcome to attend though.

I have also found the SE area BMFA website - it's here - http://www.sebmfa.org.uk/

Best regards
Rob Stanley

Max the Paraglider pilot.

Some off you have met Max the paraglider pilot. He came into our lives very recently but after a rather cold and unproductive relationship we decided it was best for him to move on. I am glad to say Max has now found himself a new home with a better family than mine and one who can give him the time and dedication that I couldn't.
My wife said he was very much like me - took hours to get up and still lacked any type of decent penetration. Good luck Max in your new home. I would like to say that I was going to miss you but to be honest I am glad to see the back of you !!

Forget the John Lewis Advert...................

As the 'Festive Season' is fast approaching I thought I might see what super deals are on offer that would suit the hardy RC pilot looking for a Christmas suggestion when the family ask what you would like for Christmas.......

Something to fly on light wind slope days or DLG down at the field:

Super Mini Topsky DLG - B Grade

The latest batch of Super Mini Topsky DLGs have small cosmetic moulding imperfections and are being sold as B grade. They are 100% normal strength and will still fly superbly.

The Super Mini Topsky is a fun to fly mini discus launched glider with ailerons, making it suitable for light wind slope soaring as well as flat field thermal soaring. It is very tough and flies excellently, making it a great first aileron glider.

This lovely little model is supplied as a very complete kit, requiring a few evenings to put together. The kit includes a complete accessory pack, including all linkages and a plug and socket for connecting the aileron servos. See the good installation manual (link below) for more info. The manual recommends a bit too much dihedral, we suggest 4º to 6º, so for DLG flying pack up each wing 3.5 cm to 5 cm (or one wing 7 cm - 10 cm) when joining them. If you are building the models mainly for slope soaring you can reduce the dihedral to nothing if you want. The model will be more aerobatic, but will require more skill to thermal correctly.

1000mm / 32'' span (rudder, ailerons, elevator)

For a bargain price of just £89.95 plus P & P

http://www.hyperflight.co.uk/products.asp?code=SUPER%2DMINI%2DTOPSKY&name=super-mini-topsky-dlg-b-grade

Would you like me to make this a regular feature each week? Maybe finding a stonking deal and sharing it with you guys or if you find a great deal that we can feature then please let me know and I will post it up on the blog.

This Coming Sunday - Remembrance Marches

Hi All,
I just want to remind everyone that this Sunday - 8th November is remembrance Sunday, that means that a lot of villages and towns will be holding their marches through their towns to remember those killed in conflict.

I know that this Sunday there is such a march at Glynde village and suspect it will consist of a march to the church (St Mary's), to end at around 11:00 for the 2 minutes silence.

Last weekend I saw signs notifying drivers that  -

Glynde village will be CLOSED TO TRAFFIC during the morning march

I suggest that you avoid Mt Caburn on Sunday unless there's somewhere else to park and walk from ?

I have also looked at the website for Newhaven town and they too are holding a memorial march - details are to be found here -

     http://www.newhaventowncouncil.gov.uk/pdf/events/4420.pdf

SO, with the forecast showing SE to SSE with a good 20 to 25 mph gusts, maybe go to Butts Brow on the outskirts of Eastbourne ?
You will avoid the marches and get a good flying session ( I hope).
Rob

Now I have two models to maiden when my back's better!

I got the Vega yesterday - it's in very good condition with just a small amount of 'hangar rash'. Not much to get it going. I'll need to do a bit of juggling with receivers and batteries, but I think I have enough. Just need to get myself to a condition where I can stand up for more than 10 minutes so I can fly it, and of course I still have to maiden the Algebra. Now I'm totally sorted for sloping with big models... wind 5 - 10kts = Algebra, 10 - 20kts = Vega, over 20 kts = fly the simulator, lol!

Mt. Caburn yesterday...

Mount Caburn in a South East wind ?

Hi All,
Well, we decided to try Mount Caburn this afternoon - it was forecast to be SE at 9 - 12 mph and Paul found out that the local paragliders were meeting at Beachy Head, so we were free to try the South East bowl at Caburn.
We met up at 13:00 in the lay-by and then walked up to the summit as usual, except we skirted to the Eastern side of the hill to get the best of any wind.
On the way to the top we felt nothing blowing (except all of us from the climb !) and we desperately hoped there would be some kind of wind at the top - but we were eventually rewarded with a moderate SE breeze which we felt would be good enough for a try.

We all had different models today -

Paul had his Omega with the electric motor,

I had my KA8,
Andrew had his Zagi,
David T had his Radian Pro with electric motor and a flying wing with an electric motor,
Scott had his Vagabond and newly acquired e Hawk (motor disconnected)
Graham U had his Vagabond, Libelle and ever faithful Orange thing with electric motor.

If you detect a theme here, it would be the 'electric motor' theme, it seemed that everyone knew (except me and Andrew) that we would require some kind of backup plan to keep our models in the air....

As it happened, I forgot my wing joiner for the KA8, so that was grounded.

I flew Andrew's repaired Zagi and then handed it to Andrew only to see it crash to the ground - we discovered that the new clevises I had fitted had stripped the thread on the pushrods, so one elevon was out of service. Entirely my fault and I will fix it for next time.

Paul had some great flying from his Omega but it seemed that the electric motor was necessary at times because the lift was questionable.

Graham flew all his models, but primarily the Libelle DLG (with great skill) and the Orange thing with electric motor which was required a number of times to keep airborn.

Scott flew his Vagabond which Paul had trimmed for him and then Paul flew the eHawk just to get it set up correctly.

David got me to fly his new flying wing with electric motor, but after a lot of trimming, battery moving and servo reversing, it just wouldn't fly properly (even with full power), so we need to put a bit more effort into working it out.
I also flew and trimmed David's Radian Pro (with electric motor) and after quite a lot of fiddling and trimming we got it flying really well.
David then took over the controls and had a great time with the Radian. I think David had one of his best flying sessions with us today and I'm really pleased for him.

So to summarise, the lift was minimal, the weather was brilliant and the company was exceptional (as always !)

Thanks guys !!
Rob

Max finally goes Solo at Mount Caburn today

Here is Max. He is a rubbish pilot with not a clue how to fly. He is all arms and legs but does have control right and left but doesn't penetrate very well. That's probably why he is so depressed !

2015 Flying Site Guide

I found this 2015 flying site guide on the Southern Hand Gliding website: http://www.shgc.org.uk/siteguidepdf
I thought it could possible be of Interest and gives a good insight into the flying needs of the other users of the slopes around us.
I found interesting !
Just click on the Flying Site Guide tab to download.

Seagull Pilatus B4 For Sale

SOLD !! - Seagull Pilatus B4 - Ready to go - just bind and fly!!

Completed by Tim to his usual high standards but yet to have its maiden flight yet. I am looking to buy another model so this one is now up for sale.

She has a 3.00m span with spoilers. Should be easy to fly and will look great of the slope.

Specification:
Wingspan - 118.1.ins (300cm)Wing area - 902.1.sq.ins (58.2dm)
Spoilers / airbrakes fitted
Factory covered with Oracover
Length - 51.6.ins (131.cm)
Approx flying weight - 5.3-5.7.lbs (2.4-2.6Kg)

Fully kitted out with TowerPro servo's, new 1600mah flight battery and Spektrum AR8000 RX (if required).

 

Comes nice and compact in its original box which makes it easier to transport and store.

Price for a complete ready to fly (brand new and never flown) scale glider - £280 or less if you don't want the new AR8000 (8 channel) Spektrum receiver then the price would be £230.

I would be happy to test fly it for the new owner or help in any way.

You can contact me on 07834 859018 or email me on paul.hampshire@shelf-space.co.uk

Algebra Build 8 - Covering!

Well it's been a while since my last installment.

I have the plane covered now.

One thing I learned -  covering your pride and joy does not hide imperfections, it highlights them! I'm really wishing I'd spent more time sanding and finishing before starting the covering process. Ah well - never been a great one for finishing things off...

I had covered the fuse and tail earlier on in the build process. This entailed cutting out shapes to the rough size  and ironing on. I did top, bottom, left and right sides for the fuse - got a bit fiddly and i really should get sharper scissors!

The blue Solarfilm was part of the job-lot of stuff I got off Paul - not saying it's old or anything....

Fuse and tail covered.

Having learned a bit from the fuselage covering, I decided to get a bit more technical with the wings - I measured the panels to be cut, allowing for overlaps where necessary (the instructions that came with the solarfilm were very useful!), and cut these out on the workbench, rather than trying to use scissors round the edge of the piece after the event. this worked much better.

Cutting out the panel: 

 

The panel in place:

Cutting accurately made it easier to line up the change in colour between the blue and white:

When applying large panels to a solid surface like a veneered wing (rather than an open framework like a built-up wing), the instructions suggest starting from the centre and working out towards the edges. However this didn't work when needing a straight edge for the change in colour. So I did it like this - I tacked the covering at each end, then in the centre, along the line of the join. Then I tacked it again at intervals along the line, relying on the heat of the iron to get rid of wrinkles. Then I smoothed the covering in a 'starburst' pattern towards the leading edge of the wing. Worked a treat!

You really have to trust the heat of the iron to shrink the covering and get rid of wrinkles - I gradually increased the heat till i got the right results! 

One thing I changed, wast to make a cover for the iron - I'd lost the cotton one that came with it when it was new, so I decided to make a new one;

  

This allowed much higher heat without the iron 'catching' on the plastic of the covering.

The Algebra is almost finished! I need to re-install the radio gear, make the forward hatch, fit the rudder control cables and fit the tow-hook. Not long now!

Thanks Andrew !

Here is a video clip that Andrew took on his mobile yesterday capturing one of my better landing up on Mount Caburn yesterday.

By the way. Andrew's flying was very Impressive for a newbie. Seems to have mastered the basics very quickly. Another promising pilot of the future to join our growing ranks.

Mount Caburn

Hi All,
Paul, Andrew and I met at the base of Mount Caburn this morning at 09:00 and made our way up to the top for some hopefully good SSW winds.
In fact the wind was very strong and reliable - pretty constant, so the lift was great.
I took the Moth and newly-covered Ninja, Paul had his Valenta Dragon and Traceur and Andrew brought his Zagi.
I flew the Moth and the lift was brilliant, constant and very reliable - even a long way out.

We then got Andrew's Zagi into the air, but he flew a little too far to the left (East) and lost the lift. The Zagi went into a freefall and landed nose down in a very steep bowl.
In fact we think it landed much nearer , but the sheep picked it up and moved it just to annoy us !!!

After we found the Zagi, I let Andrew fly the trusty Ninja which he did for a long time, doing extremely well for such a twitchy model and only his 4th or 5th flight !
I too had a lot of flights on my Ninja and really enjoyed getting the old model back into the air.

Paul flew his Dragon (brilliantly) and carved up the sky and local bird population with it screaming past at high speed. Paul let me have a long go of it (not my first go of this lovely model) and I loved it.

We were then joined by Scott who brought a little foam flying wing and his Vagabond (which he didn't fly because it was too windy).
Scott also flew Paul's Dragon and I could see that he loved it as much as I did - takes some bottle to fly someone else's mouldie !

At one point I asked Paul to give us a masterclass in crow braking and landing - which he then did very well - over and over and over - most impressive - but he IS THE CLUB CHAIRMAN after all !!!!

Make sure you watch the video in HD for best viewing quality..........

We all had a lot of flying and a lot of fun.

Some vid will be forthcoming .................

Hello from the IW.

Hi guys.

We had a good afternoons flying yesterday up at St.Boniface Down IW yesterday, the wind was about 8-12mph and square on the face of the down, I have been experimenting with a Modius cam, trying to get the best position as I like to show the Aileron working, as well as the lovely Island Scenery, I was showing a little too much wing in the first part of the vid I think, Tony, Bill and Paul also had some good flying.

Watch the vid in HD if poss

Chris

Gentle winds today so the Libelle was given another airing...

Ditchling Beacon this morning was grey and uninspiring so had a quick flight and moved onto Firle Beacon, haven`t been there for more than three decades and had forgotten what an amazing site it is! So spent two and a half hours flying three gliders this is the DLG Libelle thermal soarer pootling around...

Welcome Andrew Ledger

Hi All,
I would like you all to welcome our latest recruit - Andrew Ledger.
I number of you met Andrew on Saturday and saw him flying the Zagi (pretty well in fact for a complete newcomer). Well, Andrew has decided to join up and he will be seen on the slopes with us starting this weekend , weather permitting.

Andrew is also thinking about taking over the Zagi for himself and getting a Spektrum tx so we can all help him during this learning process.

So please all join me in welcoming Andrew to the club.

Rob Stanley
Hon. Sec. Hon. Treasurer

The North Wind Doth Blow ..........

Hi All,
Today we decided to meet up at Ditchling Beacon at 14:00 , the forecast was for Northerly at 25 mph, so a good blow !

I picked up our newest recruit - Andrew Ledger on the way and we arrived at just before 14:00 to meet our next newest recruit - Ian Ashdown in the car park at the Beacon.
We decided not to wait for anyone else and started across the road to fly our stuff.....
Ian A had his SAS Star Jet (I think) and I took a number of models including the little Moth which flew very well.
Both Ian and I had a good time and were then joined by Jim who had Will's old Spectre and his own Middle Phase.
Then Paul arrived with his Willow and Les arrived with his Cliff Whacker.
The wind, being in the North was very strong and the lift was working way out in to horizon - I could fly out almost until I lost sight of the Moth, quite amazing.
Most importantly, I introduced Andrew to the Zagi , which he crashed first time, then didn't crash for at least 20 seconds, then flew for 3 or 4 minutes, then flew for 15 minutes with great control.
Jim had a coming together with the ground and the Spectre is now needing a little TLC.
Ian flew the Star Jet and his little Komet brilliantly.
Paul put us all to shame with the Willow which is smooth, fast and very impressive in Paul's expert hands.
Paul then flew Jim's Middle Phase and it performed extremely well.
Les had some brilliant landings with his Cliff Whacker and at one point we all clapped because his landing was so good - at this point Les stopped !!!

After 1.5 hours we all decided that it was too cold to carry on, so we all left for the comfort of home - I really enjoyed today and especially, I enjoyed helping Andrew to learn the basics on the Zagi.

Thanks to all who came along.

Rob

A little soaring in Dorset..

Two short videos taken a couple of days ago...

End of our first year - time to think about next year

Hi All,

This month we celebrate the end of our first year as a BMFA club (and in fact as a club !).

I would like to thank you all for your overwhelming support and dedication to the cause of slope soaring and to the club which Paul and I hoped would do well.

This is the time of year when we need to think about renewing our BMFA membership and I have sent you all an email asking you to let me know what you want to do for next year's BMFA membership.

So far I have received quite a lot of replies, but I need to hear from everyone I emailed before Monday 26th Oct so that I can start the process of renewing the club's affiliation and your membership of BMFA (if you decide to come through us).

So please give it some thought, check your email and please let me know asap what you decide to do.

Finally, I would like to personally thank all of you who come along to our flying sessions and join in with the blog and shout box, we need all of you and really appreciate your input.

Best regards
Rob Stanley  Hon Sec / Hon Treasurer

Algebra Build 6.5 - Joining the wings.

Well, I got so carried away with test-rigging the plane I forgot to tell you about joining the wings.

In actual fact, this turned out to be one of the easiest things.

Firstly, I tested my joining rig. This consisted of a block at the end of the wingtip to get the correct dihedral, and a lot of tape to hold the two parts of the wing in line. Having pre-sanded the ends of the wing panels to 4 degrees each, joining them at 8 degrees would give me a nice tignt join.

It really turned out to be quite simple. I taped across at right angles to the join on the underside of the wing, stretching the tape slightly to hold the two pieces together tightly. Then I mixed up about 4 inches of 5 minute epoxy (4 inches of glue and 4 inches of hardener). I squiggled that into the open joint using a coffee mixer from the machine at the garage, then blocked up the wingtip, using weights on the join to hold it square and flat.

If you didn't know, ordinary vinegar is a fantastic fluid for cleaning up epoxy! It has the added bonus of making your pride and joy smell like fish and chips...

Once joined, a tape is glued along the bottom using white wood glue

 

Once the white glue was dry, the excess tape was trimmed off and sanded to a nice edge.

That was it, the wings were joined!

Now for the covering... 

 

Welcome Ian Ashdown

Hi All,
We would like to welcome Ian Ashdown as our newest member.
Ian has flown with us quite a number of times in the past - if you remember, Ian flies that tiny red  Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet -



It never looks like it will fly, but defies all logic and sense by flying in all conditions and very well indeed.
Ian is most welcome and I know you will all make him feel welcome in the future.

Rob

Wave flying to the edge of space

Some off you have heard me spouting on about 'Wave' and how gliders all over the world use Wave to climb to amazing heights just using the power of the wind. I found this image and thought it explained the concept well and I hoped it might be of Interest to a few of you............

The highest a glider has climbed in Wave this year in the UK was 20,804 from a gliding site in Scotland. The highest altitude ever climbed to in a glider was 50,727 feet (15,460 metres) on August 29th 2006 flying a modified DG500 (they called it the Perlan 1) and was flown by the late Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson. The project was sponsored by Airbus and a new project is underway called the Perlan 11. If you are Interested here is a link to the Perlan Website. They want to soar a glider up to the edge of space - some 90,000ft ASL in a specialised pressurised glider designed just for this project.

More on topic than the last post...

Just to get back to the point, I couldn't resist showing you this photo, which shows the size comparison between the Algebra and my much-loved Stargazer and Spectre

I'm sooooo excited about this plane - can't wait to get it finished!

Alternative Aviation...

Not exactly to do with slope soaring, but some of you may be interested in the kind of aviation I was enjoying this afternoon...

I went and saw my old mate Gray - who has a Boeing 737 simulator cockpit in his garage!

His sim is a generic 737 cockpit, running Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 and allowing use of most of the functions of the real thing.

Of course, we spent nearly 3 hours just getting it going today - Gray having decided to upgrade his nav/Comms computer, lol!

However, once we got it going, we flew from Gatwick to Jersey, with the additional challenge of online Air Traffic Contol while on the ground and leaving Gatwick airspace.

All in all a very enjoyable afternoon - I hope to visit him again soon. 

As I said, not exactly "on topic", so I won't clutter these pages with simming posts - by all means get in touch if you're interested.

 

Oh what a beautiful morning !!

Rob, Scott, Will and I met up at the crack of dawn (well 8.30) and made our way up to the top of Wolstenbury Hill. A little misty but what a lovely view.....

I flew my Willow 2 in week lift conditions and Rob finally maidened his Mini Blade, which went very well in the conditions. Will flew his Tracuer and Scott his Vagabond. A little later Les joined us with his Cliffwacker which was displaying a new Cabriolet look (without its hatch). It was only going to be a very quick visit for me today but a good hour flying is much better than nothing at all.

Me and the Willow 2. A little too light conditions early on for her to really rip up the skies, more like a gentle amble!

Got the europhia home!

Almost bigger than my garden!

Algebra Build 7 - finishing the fuse and test-rig...

So, having built the fuselage it's time to start fitting the wings.

When I built the fuse sides,  part of the process was to drill small, 1/16", pilot holes for the wing joiner dowels. These dowels are very thick piano wire, bent to the required dihedral angle (seen here already installed in the covered fuse)

Once the fuse has been assembled, these holes must be opened out to accept the dowels. I first drilled out to a slightly smaller diameter than the dowels, then used a small file to gradually adjust them to suit.

Inevitably, there were some inaccuracies and the incidence of the two wings did not quite match up. So I marked the required adjustments and filed accordingly

Eventually I was satisfied and of course I absolutely _had_ to do a test rig...

Cor... big innit!?

So, the main parts of the aircraft are finished, and the test rig has gone well - now for covering. More soon :-)

Another great day at Wolstonbury Hill

Hi all,

Sorry no photos - I was too busy flying!

We had a great session today at Wolstonbury. When I arrived, Jim, John and Graham were already there, but not in the air. If you know Wolstonbury then you'll know that the first part of the bowl is very sheltered if there's a lot of East in the wind.

As I walked up, it seemed dead calm, and with everyone's gliders on the ground I was thinking  the wind was not present. It was very misty as well and gave the impression of a windless, misty day.

As it was, the sheltered section of Wolstonbury tricked me - there was plenty of wind and it was just coincidence everyone was on the ground at the same time.

Jim had his trusty 'Whisper' polyhedral model, a bit light for the conditons and struggling to penetrate. John was flying his Phoenix to great effect, alternating with a nice little flying wing - sorry John I didn't get the name.

Graham had several models - the Hacker Vagabond is the only one whose name I remember!

I really must take a notebook if I'm going to blog regularly. 

John's flying wing was showing some nasty tendencies to 'tuck' in turns - John said the c of g was a bit too far forward. I don't know a great deal about flying wings, but I've heard that the c of g position is absolutely critical. John made some adjustments, bringing the c of g back towards the recommended position and the model seemed to go a lot better - anyone able to comment more on this?
 
Jim's Middle Phase went a lot better today, now the battery is back in its proper home! He's thinking of building another wing for it, with a little more dihedral, after having a go on the Stargazer. Jim had some really good flights, cruising back and forth along the slope, practicing the art of letting the wind drift the model back towards the slope, rather than the dreaded 'slopewards turn'! He made some good 'saves' today - good one Jim!

Graham had some excellent flights, the Vagabond's elevator travel was quite a surprise for me! It moves to nearly 90 degrees! Some very interesting manouevres ensued...

Graham also pointed out that Jim's Middle Phase had a lot of aileron differential - just not the right way round! The ailerons were going down a lot further than they were going up, whereas they should go up a lot further than they go down.

While flying the Middle Phase I hadn't noticed any marked adverse yaw, but then I'm not really that experienced - Graham's call was a great one and I'm sure it'll help with the Middle Phase's handling.

We were joined mid-session by Marc with his 60" Wild Thing. This wing looked super in the air and flew very well in the variable conditions. Marc was joking that he was happy when he landed the model the right way up, but he produced a lot of great landings actually!

A little later in the session, some paragliders appeared on the more Easterly part of the hill - there really wasn't much lift there today so we were all a bit surprised when one of them (bravely I thought) launched. A slow and steady decline followed, with a long walk back up the hill. They paraglider guys tried a few times more but with little success - I considered going over and inviting them to fly on the same part of the hill as us, but was unsure of the protocol.

I had my Stargazer and the ever dependable Spectre flying wing. The Stargazer went very well and once the wind increased I switched over to the Spectre. I had over 2 hours on the sticks today, an indication of how nice the conditions were. When I'd been in the air for quite some time, Graham gently asked me "how big is the battery in that?". It made me think - I'd never flown the Spectre for so long. Nice one Graham - a very diplomatic way of reminding me I might be getting low... I haven't charged her up again yet, but it'll be interesting to see how much she takes.

A great day's flying again :-) Thanks to all the other pilots for some sociable aviation!

A Good Slope Session

Hi Guys

We had some  lovely club flying this afternoon with Solent Heights, and for the guys that came over to the island earlier in the year,  it was the slope on the way up to Stenbury Down on the left hand side facing East.
We could have done with slightly stronger wind as it turned out to be a lot lower than the forecast had suggested, no change there!!!

The wind was also fairly marginal for most of the time and  direction was all over the place,  but all in all we had some good flying, you will see Tony flying his carbon Wing, this wing has been designed and built by himself and is still in the development stage, in stronger winds it is extremely fast as it is such a clean section there or not even any surface control rods or horns showing they are all concealed within the wing, he has made a lovely job of it.

Happy Flying

Chris

News from the IW>

Hi Guys

At last I have got my M60 ready to fly, it has surprised me just how much work was in it, I have added a lot of carbon and Glass reinforcement so I am hoping that it should survive some heavy impacts, as you can see from the photos that I have posted, I have finished it in the same colours as my moth, I have found that this colour combination does stand out well.

Myself Bill and Tony now have got set up with some head cameras, so should be posting some video soon of our flying here on the island.

Tony has been flying  his carbon wing of his own design and build, and to say that it is fast is an understatement, should be getting some photos and videos posted soon.

Happy Flying

Chris ( Isle of Wight