A very enjoyable day out!

Had a splendid day over at the HDRCMC club yesterday. I was joined by Ian A and Graham T. The Horsham guys have a huge field with a nicely mown strip near the centre and a new steel cabin as a club HQ. The day started with a detailed briefing given by Pete Glover and Kevin Beale on the do's and dont's of the field and joined by Colin Paddon to offer help and assistance to us novices.

So initially the sky was overcast with light winds but not much sun to be seen. I had my Maxa 4e (F5J) and my Experience Pro (F3J) Ian had his Super Starlight (F5J) and his Nan Shadow (F3J) and Graham flew his Nan Shadow (F3J) and his new Top Flight model (F5J).

Kevin had set out his F3J winch and two bungee's for us all to use. I had never tried a high powered winch launch before so opted for a bungee to start with. I watched Ian winch launch his Shadow and gave it a go. Wow! was that a scary experience but a total adrenaline rush at the same time. Kevin launched it and I just stood there holding the transmitter till you get to the top and with loads of speed you give it a gentle nudge forward on the sticks and then pull up eating up all that speed to gain as much height as possible. I think Kevin said it was a 120m line out to a reverse pulley which gave me a height of 118m on the first attempt. With no sun on the ground and my nervous flying I was soon back on the ground. Myself and Ian thought we would leave the gliders till later and wait for the sun.

There was a great turn out of Horsham club members there also with a wide range of gliders big and small, old and new. Lots of banter and chat going on. Great time just to sit and watch others flying as Kevin and Colin were kept busy all day with fettling, trimming, on hand assistance at the launch point as well as tons of useful advice.

As the sun came out so did the thermals and the Buzzards. Out came the Maxa for several flights. Up so high I was getting a crick in the neck having to keep chucking out full landing flap and crow to get back down to a reasonable height and then try to climb away again. Even with it's 4m wingspan the Maxa is a pussy cat to fly. Floats around gracefully and I found it was better for me sometimes just to point it into wind when in a thermal and just do nothing and it would climb away very happily.

Later we got out the gliders again and me, Ian and Graham took winch launches (I love the bonkers speed these things go up the line!). Graham took it easy with his repaired Shadow nut the repair proved to be very strong and he took the plunge of the winch. Graham was so confident that he even managed a loop of the top of the launch. We were all impressed by that G. My last winch launch I managed just over 140m and pulling up straight into a thermal. Climbed away up over 330m and opted for the prone position (lying down looking skywards) as my neck was killing me. Occasionally having to make a 90 degree dash away from passing micro-lights. I had about 45 minutes flying with Ian and then it was time to call it a day as the sea air came in and killed the lift.

I had a thoroughly good time at a lovely place with great people on a fantastic thermal day. What more could you ask for?

Now some big 'Thank You's'

• Thanks to the Horsham club (Pete Glover and his members) for hosting the day and letting us use their wonderful flying facilities and to the power guys who gave up their flying day to let us attend this event.
• Thanks to Kevin Beale and Colin Paddon for their valuable help and advice. I learnt a lot and realised how much more there is still to learn - Cheers guys!!
• Thanks to all the others that came along and for making us feel so very welcome.

And finally (thank god I hear you cry!)............

Horsham BMFA F5J League Event - Sunday 7 May 2017

Horsham and District RCMC are hosting a BMFA League F5J competition at Lordings Farm, Nr Billingshurst, West Sussex on Sunday 7 May 2017.  We will be running a relaxed and fun competition for both existing competition flyers and new pilots alike. All welcome.

I think Ian and myself will be entering just to give it a try. I will let you know how we get on.

Horsham glider training day

Good to see a few of you at my glider training day at Horsham. I think we all had a good time with some good thermal activity. Hope to see some of you at the F5J

Glider training and F5J comp at Horsham

Hi all you are all welcome to come to the Horsham glider training day as shown in the previous post. It is planed to be fun and hopefuly we can all learn something.
If you ard coming please make yourselves known to me or other Horsham members and I will give you a quick breifing, it's our club field and we will have a few rules to follow, boring I know but we have to follow them.
If anyone wants to entre the F5J comp the following Sunday, it will be fun and you don't have to be the next word champion to take part. I will get you paired up with a good comp pilot to ensure you get the most out of it with out having to worry about knowing the rules and how to time the flights.
Hope to see you Saturday all day.
Kevin

Just a reminder about next Saturday

A group of us will be heading over to the Horsham club field (near Adversane) next Saturday for some training and set up help with their thermal training day. So far Ian, Will, Graham and me will be going but its an open invite and even if you don't want to fly then why not come along and see what's going on.
See details below.....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Beale & Colin Paddon are holding a thermal training day over at the Horsham club on the 29th April and we have been invited to go along. The venue is their club field (described in the post below about the BMFA F5J event). They will be helping pilots sort out models, learn techniques and just fly. They have a winch available and a couple of bungees as well as electric gliding. They may run a simple competition just to get the competitive juices going.
I am definitely going - anyone else interested in going?

Directions to the field can be found here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/WADARC+SSB+Field+Day/@51.006585,-0.4774387,459m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xbad0546393cf519f!8m2!3d51.0063672!4d-0.4743782?hl=en

The following week they will be holding F5J comp open to all. I'm going to see how the training day goes before committing myself to my first comp.

Should be an excellent day (weather permitting). Come along next week and see what this F5J soaring is all about!!

What a cracker!!

Hi all.
A good turnout up on Ditchling Beacon this morning. Tony (our newest member), Ian, Rob, Scott, Richard, Paul & Will all trudged over to Ditchling West. The sky was full of moulded gliders which I don't think I have seen before today.
Tony brought his brand new Wildthing and was helped through the maiden flight by Rob. Tony managed 3 flights with three hard landings, but that's OK for his first ever flight. Rob then set up the buddy system on the transmitters , so Tony was able to remain in the air for much longer with Rob making adjustments if needed. Well done Tony, a great first day's flying.
Paul, Ian and Richard all flew their respective mouldies with great skill and Rob flew his Moth foamie firstly before trying the Impulse mouldie which flew extremely well. He was helped with the landings though !
Will flew his mouldie and made two very good landings - that makes three successful landings now - keep it up Will...
Scott flew the Valenta Dragon , again he flew very well, but like Rob requires some assistance with the landings.
Later Scott, Paul, Ian and Will all flew combat with their M60s and Wildthings whilst Rob and Tony were flying buddy on the Wildthing a bit out of their way !!
Throughout all of this Richard continued to carve up the sky with his 4 metre mouldie (F5B he tells me), with great skill.

Here is a group shot of us all and the collection of gliders that I think all flew.

Tony (for those who haven't met him yet) with his SAS Wildthing

Rob with his mouldy

Richard with his huge 4m mouldy (FS4000 by Sport Klem in Germany) that he flew so very well. Hopefully when  I  get around to editing the tons on video from today there will be some good video of Richard flying. The model is not really that big it just Richard is very small.

And finally (for now) here is a video of Ian flying his Euphoria a warp speed.

More video to come, So please bear with me!

New RC Flying Link Blog

I have had an idea for a new blog - The blog would provide access to a whole host of links relating to all things RC Flying related.

It's going to be called - RC Flying Links

The idea is for all you guys to send me links to all those sites that you find interesting and visit regularly.

Now these could be for shops where you get good priced radio / flying gear or maybe a weather related site that you think gives great weather info for your area. Then there could be other soaring blogs that you visit and enjoy reading there posts and think we will enjoy taking a look.

Here is the opportunity to share what you find interesting and useful.

The blog is still under construction but will grow and develop with all your help

I hopefully will grow and continually be  to added too over time but I need your help. Everyone that uses the Internet must have many sites they regularly visit (and I don't mean the ADULT ONLY sites!).

Share the links and lets share the Interest.

• Shops
• Blogs
• Weather
• News articles
• Funny
• You get the idea..............

Please either send the links to me - paulhampshire2013@gmail.com maybe with a short description to let other know where they are going or add your links to the comments box below.

In theory if everyone sends me 5 links to site they love to visit then this will turn out to be a very interesting place to stop and surf the web.

PLEASE HELP ME GET THIS PAGE UP AND RUNNING

Saturday's Flying

Hi all
Saturday looks the best of the weekend for any possibility of some slope soaring. The current forecast looks like almost identical to the weather we had on the Bank Holiday on Monday.Satrting with a NNW wind around 13 - 17mph swinging to the NE later at 11 - 15mph around midday. Cloudy and with a chill in the air. As we did on Monday may I suggest we fly over on Ditchling Beacon West and move round as the wind shifts round to Ditchling Beacon main bowl.
Shall we meet up around 9.00am a wander West through the gate and along to our usual flying site?
I know Ian A & Will are flying anyone else?

Our YouTube Video Channel

I need your help!

Our Slope Soaring Sussex YouTube video channel has been going now since 2013. I want to drive more viewers to the channel and to do this I need more subscribers. If you haven't already subscribed could you go on and click the 'Subscribe' button? So far the channel has had nearly 78,000 views but we only have 85 subscribers, I need over 100 to improve the video channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOI88Pb9F9sJAvKBbKzSKXw

Click on the link above to find over 220 videos of our many flying trips all around the country. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. It's just a click of a few buttons guys!



Our Easter Monday's Flying

I had left the flying report for last Monday's flying report until now as I have been having trouble editing the video. My new 4K camera needs masses of storage space and different editing software (just need to learn how to use it). Anyway, here is the video filmed in 4K (HD).

You will see Will's first attempts at landing his Ascot moulded glider up on the slope and didn't he do well. After a few circuits with flaps out ready to land he got it just right and nailed the landing. Well done Will !
Both Ian and myself suffered model failure before we even launched off. My new LS7 rudder fell off and Ian's large mouldy had a servo horn failure. The good news was this happened on the ground and not in the air.
Ian flew his Super Starlight and his M60 and I flew my Merlow. Just hope Ian didn't damage the barbed wire fence when his M60 hit it. Long story short it bounced on touch down (touch & go) and got airborne again with not enough airspeed to clear the fence - real bad luck Ian.
Then down the pub to drown our sorrows with a pint of Harvey's.

Easter Monday

Hello all.
Had a chat with Ian earlier and discussed the forecast for tomorrow. A light NE wind is forecast (8 - 10mph) on the Beacon so we thought we would start out up at Ditchling Beacon around 9.00am and then see how things pan out. If the wind continues to be light or even decreases then off to the club's flying field for some electric action.
Anybody up for some light wind soaring?

Thermal Hunting Today

Not a huge turnout today at the field as many of you had prior arrangements but I met up with Ian and Graham for some electric soaring. A mixture of sun and lots of cloud made for some thermals but not a classic soaring day. A real challenge to stay up. Ian flew his DLG and nearly but not quite got away. The wind was playing its part also. We all flew our electric soarers giving us access to the higher up thermals. I flew my Spectra which again proved itself to be a superb electric glider and I had about 10 minutes motor off gradually thermalling downwards.
I enjoyed the few hours we had and learnt loads when flying the big Maxa. It will take a lot of practice to get the hang of flying a nice balanced thermalling turn which is needed to make the most of our UK thermals.
I think we are all (Graham, Ian and myself) looking to fly on Monday at Firle Beacon. Good NNW wind forecast and a good place to fly with a large landing area.

For Sale

FlyFly DG-808s 4m
All servos fitted
Never flown
Needs some work to get it flying.
Nose cut off where electric motor was fitted.

 £60.00

Contact Tim at t.hampshire@tiscali.co.uk

Easter Weekend Flying

Hi all
The Easter weekend is nearly upon us and its a four day weekend for those of us who have to work (oh to be retired!). Anyway, four days of possible flying and looking at the weather forecast it doesn't look great (what do you expect for a long bank holiday weekend?).
There is no rain forecast but a Westerly air flow for almost every day but drifting between NW and SW. Where to fly will be the issue. Could be Devils Dyke / Itford / Ashdown Forest.
Be good to know who (if any) wants to come out to play as a late decision on timings and location might have to come into play as the conditions are variable. You let me know if you want to fly on what days and I will do my best to organise something.
Whose flying when?
Paul - Fri / Sat / Sun / Mon
Ian A - Fri / Sun AM / Mon
Scott & Will - Fri AM
Graham - Fri / Sat am / Mon
Rob - Sat / Sun / Mon

A short video of Orange Thing at Devil`s Dyke yesterday.

Sorry, not particularly exciting...

Electric Gliders For Sale

E-flite Mystique RES 2.9m
Complete with:
Servos, E-flite power 25 motor & 60a ESC.
2 x 3s lipos.
Approx. 5 flights only.
Original box for storage/transport

£220.00 or
£240 with Spektrum 6 channel rx.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Multiplex Solius
Complete with:
Servos, motor & ESC, 2 x 3s lipos
Original box for storage/transport

£110 or
£125 with Spektrum 6 channel rx.

Contact Tim at t.hampshire@tiscali.co.uk

Glider Training Day

Kevin Beale & Colin Paddon are holding a thermal training day over at the Horsham club on the 29th April and we have been invited to go along. The venue is their club field (described in the post below about the BMFA F5J event). They will be helping pilots sort out models, learn techniques and just fly. They have a winch available and a couple of bungees as well as electric gliding. They may run a simple competition just to get the competitive juices going.
I am definitely going - anyone else interested in going?

Horsham BMFA F5J League Event - Sunday 5 May 2017

Horsham and District RCMC are hosting a BMFA League F5J competition at Lordings Farm, Nr Billingshurst, West Sussex on Sunday 7 May 2017.  We will be running a relaxed and fun competition for both existing competition flyers and new pilots alike. All welcome.

 

Directions to the field can be found here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/WADARC+SSB+Field+Day/@51.006585,-0.4774387,459m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xbad0546393cf519f!8m2!3d51.0063672!4d-0.4743782?hl=en

The main points for BMFA F5J comps are:
- Either Open or 2m may be flown, not both.
- Motor restart may be used (results in a zero flight score), and therefore you need only use your eSoaring switch BUT you must reset the (200m) height limit to 300m this can often be done easily by using a reader, otherwise use a computer.
- As in eSoaring, you must provide a reader, so that your timekeeper can check your launch height immediately after landing.
- Minimum of 4 rounds to be flown.
- CD will announce whether or not a Fly-Off will be flown before the start.
- Book in from 9am. First flight’s at 10am

Entry fee £10.00 (BMFA requirement) payable on the day.
Proof of insurance (BMFA membership card is sufficient) required
Closing date for entries is 6.00pm Friday 5th May

In the event that there is any doubt as to whether the event will be run due to forecasted inclement weather, a final decision will be posted on the BARCS and Esoaring websites by no later than 4pm on Saturday 6th May.
We look forward to seeing you on the field.
Kevin Beale - Contest CD
 


Flat Field Fun Days

Last Sunday was the first flat field day I and many others have enjoyed so far this year. There were lots of different types of models from DLG's, large F5J's and even foam wings that were enjoying the soaring conditions at the field.
We need more of this type of day to bring the club together and enjoy the facility that our clubs subs pay for each month. For this reason I would like to suggestions from the membership on how we can make more of the field.
This could be by holding some informal and 'FUN' competitions. No fancy rules and comps that can be run with any glider powered or non powered. The emphasis needs to be on having fun and enjoying learning about thermal soaring. There could be members that who have never flown from the flat before and haven't got a flat field model to fly? Well I have a old 2 channel powered glider that is just sitting doing nothing. Come along and have a go!
Have you got a glider with a tow hook or got one that can take a tow hook. We have every type of launch method at our finger tips - tow line, bungee and a winch so there should be no excuses why you can't fly just really come's down to - do you want too?
DLG's are a perfect way to get into flat field flying. They don't need to be expensive but they will give you hours of fun and not only that, they will teach you some many new flying skills.
So how about 1 weekend a month we schedule in a comp and once every month a flat field training day?
Instructors on hand to help with any training needs and hopefully some experienced pilots around to help with the specifics / techniques of thermal flying.
I love thermal flying and we have a huge field at our service so why don't we get out there and enjoy.
We are lucky enough to have some of the countries best pilots in our club so lets see if we can't tap into some of that extensive knowledge and experience.
Colin Paddon a UK team member with Kevin Beale has offered to come down and run a training / flying day for us and show us what F5J offers and share some of his experience with us all.
You get the message that I am keen to use the field - please let me know your thoughts or if you want to take part in any of the comps / training days.
It also could be a good place to enjoy a BBQ and enjoy some social time.
Lets here what you have to say on the subject..................

Omega Progress Report #3

Time to tackle the fuselage...
I laid the 3"x1/8" balsa sheet under the plan, went around the outline with a pin and cut it to shape, then cut the 1/32" ply doublers to suit and glued them and the triangular corner strips into place. The two sides were then glued around the formers and nose cone:

1/8" balsa sheet was added cross-grain top and bottom, along with a cunningly constructed hatch and the whole unit was carved and sanded to shape thus:



The end result is very pleasing and puts me in mind of a shark on the prowl.
I'll think about reinforcement inside the fuselage where the wing tongue passes through later, meanwhile I'll start laying up the wing and thinking about how to add wing servos to this vintage design:

Building an R/C model from a plan with no kit-of-parts or instructions is hugely rewarding but frustratingly slow with a good deal of pondering and planning before each part of the building procedure. I won't choose such an elegant and sophisticated design again in a hurry, the next model will be a quick and dirty one like the Ridge Rat!

Cheers for now, Russell H

New Member - Richard Wade

Hi All,
Just to let you know that we have just got another new member, he's Richard Wade from Framfield near Uckfield.
Richard met Paul, Tim and me through buying some of our models on the BMFA website and has also been along with us to fly on Devil's Dyke and such.
Richard came along with us yesterday (Sunday) to the club flying field and joined up on the day.
Richard has a lot of experience and is also a member of the Brighton RC Flying Club.
I'm sure you will all join me in welcoming Richard to our club and you'll meet him some time on one of our flying sessions.


Rob Stanley
Hon. Sec.

A decent day at the field

A very good turnout today as we met down at the club field for the first time this year. Rob, Ian, Will, Mark, Tim and Richard (welcome to Richard a brand new member). We had a load of maiden flights. Both mine and Rob had our first flights with our new E-Flite Opterra.

I was so impressed with the Opterra. It's a beast on the ground but in the air it was a pussy cat. Good climb with plenty of power. Then switch the motor off and its glides for ever. As the thermals got going I had about 20 minutes of soaring in the strong thermals. It will slope soar well I am sure. I also had a go at FPV flying with Ian standing along side me. The flying side of things was fine but the orientation will take some practice. Then I flew my new Maxa 4. A huge 4 metre span F5J powered glider. Its maiden went ok and initially soared away but an issue with the elevator servo (we think) was making it stall and a decent landing ended that flight.

Ian flew his new f5J model - the Super Starlight previously owned and competed by Chris Foss. This flew beautifully. I was allowed on the sticks and it soared away well. It's got an amazing colour scheme that shows up well when airborne.

Will did very well with his mouldy going off the bungee. After a few lessons on the bungee with IAn he was away and on his final flight off the bungee he found some decent lift and found himself way up high.
Richard flew a few different models including what looked like a Fox or a Swift. This model was rocket powered and was flown amazing well albeit at VNE speeds. I don't think I have seen any glider fly that fast from the flat of a field.
We had a lot of DLG action from Rob who maidened his new DLG and Will flying and then buying a DLG from Ian. The final flight of the day was from Ian flying his DLG and finally getting away in a thermal until the model was a small speck in the sky.

Isle of Wight Flying - you didn't miss much!

As our flying trip was cancelled decided to make the day into a family trip. Lucky for me, I had left my M60 and transmitter in the boot (what are the chances of that eh?). Anyway after some family things I drove across the Island with low cloud on the hills and showers and made it to the low cliffs at the Pearl Factory. Not the best flying it has to be said!