Cycle Assisted Slope Soaring

I'm a great believer in the principle of 'keep it local', and I like the idea of popping out for a quick spot of slope soaring without a lengthy car journey. My favourite local slope is Wolstonbury Hill, just two miles from my front door and a lovely spot for gliding when the wind is from the northeast.
I can walk all the way in under an hour or park at the bottom and walk up, but why walk when you can ride...

Cycling up Clayton Hill was tough going, with the added aggravation of heavy Friday-morning traffic, the driveway up to the Three Greys stable was steeper still and when I reached the bridleway I gave up pedalling and pushed on to the top. At which point I was greeted by a chorus of skylarks, which made it all seem worthwhile.
After a short breather I unpacked my specially adapted two-piece-wing PMP Stage 2 Mk2 slope soarer...

...and spent the next hour happily flying and knocking off the tail-plane with heavy landings.
Eventually I decided to take it home and fix the tail properly. With gravity on my side the return journey was much quicker and easier.
That afternoon, while the epoxy was setting on the Stage 2, I loaded up the Ridge Runt and Xeno (in nylon bag) to repeat the exercise while the weather was still favourable...

The wind was quite gusty and turbulent, but flying and landing these models was less 'eventful' since they are lighter and slower than the Stage 2. I'm told that the Stage 2 soarer can perform spectacular aerobatic manoeuvres, but unfortunately I (as its pilot) cannot, so I'm always looking for convenient opportunities to practice.

 

Russell H

Mini Vec Rebuild - Finished

Hi All,
I have now finished the re-build of the Mini Vec.
I had to cut the pushrods to length and glue them to the couplers (tricky), then set up the servos and centre everything ready to fly -

Next I had to epoxy 100g of lead shot into the nose which again was tricky trying not to spill it all over the fuselage / workbench then keep it nose down for 5 mins while it went off - it usually gets hot, but it got very hot as it was curing - maybe the lead had an effect ? Either way the nose is now full of lead weight -

Only remains for me to add the battery and then set up the final C of G with stick-on weights either side of the battery.
Then, of course, I have to fly it again - which will be a nervous event after last time !!

Rob

BMFA Dart Build

Hi All,
The BMFA Dart is finished - the whole thing took about an hour and a half (allowing drying time), so the school kids should be able to make it in good time on Weds next week.

It's very light and therefore fiddly, so I don't know how the kids will get on with it.

I haven't flown it yet cos' I don't have a hall and it's too windy outside, so I'll just have to leave it for another time. The idea was to make it so I can help the kids, so that's achieved my goal.

I have received the layout of the day from Stuart Willis and am now ready for the kids' questions having made my own one. Both myself and Graham U are joining Stuart at the school and I will let you know how it goes after Weds......

Mini Vec Rebuild (part 2)

Hi All,
After many months I have re-started on the Mini Vec rebuild.
In the previous episode (back in January), I had got all I required to rebuild the model and had installed the ballast tube and made a new servo tray, installed the servos and that was about all.

Now I have made and attached the rudder horn - made from a tiny piece of ply and glued with epoxy into the slot I had to cut for it (carefully) -

Next I had to run the carbon-fibre pushrod through the outer casing and glue an M2 coupler to it and attach an M2 clevis (not yet attached to the horn) -

Next I carefully located my newly-made servo tray and fed all the servo wires through it from underneath to protrude at the top ready for the receiver. Then I glued the tray with epoxy inside the fuselage making sure the wires and pushrods were well out of the way !!

Next, I glued the multiplex wing connectors to the outside of the fuselage -

When all this had dried, I attached the wings and tail (I previously had to adjust the fuselage holes to ensure a good fit) and connected all the servo wires to the receiver to make sure all the control surfaces in the wings still worked OK - which they did.
That's the progress so far, except I have measured the nose ballast weight from the shotgun pellets I got to ensure the C of G is good - I have decided to add 100g in the nose and will adjust the rest with stick-on weights inside the fuselage (like before).

Next I have to cut the pushrods to length and glue the M2 couplers onto them.
I have to epoxy the 100g nose weight into place.
Then I can put the receiver and battery into their final positions and set up the elevator and rudder.


For Steve H - in answer to your question - see pictures below - that's the fuselage side in the picture above. Once the other half of the plug is connected then the whole thing slots inside the wing - see below - 

Hope that answer's your issue Steve ??
The wing is held by 2 lugs which slot into the fuselage and a massive square section carbon wing joiner which goes through the whole lot

BMFA Dart Build

HI All,
In readiness for the school visit next week, I have got my own BMFA Dart to build.
It's so simple to make, you just cut the balsa to length and glue it to the plans, wait for it to dry, then carefully cut round the edges to remove the parts with the plan attached as covering - hence these pictures -

So far it only took an hour to do !
As you can see it's a rubber-powered model, so next I have to glue the tail to the fuselage and glue the wing with some dihedral to the fuselage. Finally I have to make a pin at the back for the rubber motor...
I will update you when I have done the rest...
Rob

Coyote Glider is Finished (Finally)

Hi All,
After 4 months of ignoring this little glider in the corner of the workshop I decided that today I would finish it.
All I needed to do was glue the wings on, then set up the C of G and get it ready to fly.
I have now got to wait for a light wind situation to try it out, but it's very lightweight, so should work well in light conditions......

Now I can get on with finishing the pesky Mini Vector which still needs quite a lot of work .......


Rob

A veiw over the Severn and a 600Km flight

As some of you may all ready know. Ian Ashdown is a full size glider pilot as well as a superb model flyer. He sent me this picture yesterday of him flying over the river Severn.

What's was really amazing was the distance Ian covered. He took off from Parham (Southdown Gliding Club) in West Sussex, flew across and over into Wales then back across to Bicester in Oxfordshire then all the way down to Hastings and then returning back to Parham to cover more than 600kms in a glider that is over 40 years old. He was in the air for over seven hours!
Hats off to you Ian - fantastic flight.

BMFA Education at Warden Park school in Cuckfield

Hi All,
Stuart Willis (BMFA SE Chairman) recently asked if anyone in his area would be willing to help teach some  of the kids at Warden Park school to build a BMFA Dart. Both Graham U and I have volunteered and in readiness for the event I have got a Dart coming in the post so I can build my own to see how it goes together. When I called the BMFA to order it, I explained it was for the education programme and they offered to send me a Dart free, so I am most grateful to them for helping me out. Hopefully it will come before I have to go to the school and I will report on here how it goes !

Rob

The Long Man

As seems the norm lately, myself and Ian went flying by ourselves up at The Long Man. The conditions where breezy but thankfully dry. Nice to meet up with some fellow modellers flying there foamies. Watching them combating was fun. I flew my merlow mouldy and Ian his Jart and both of us thought conditions were a little on the bumpy side. We had a chase around with our M60's, then off home again.
As we drove back past Mount Caburn we saw a full sized glider trying to soar the front face of Caburn. It wasn't doing too well and flew over us and promptly started its engine up and off it went just as the rain arrived. It was a DG400 based out of Ringmer.
It has to be said that we are very thin on the ground lately when it comes to members up on the hills flying. Me and Ian are starting to question if its us or our after shave. Come on guys. we are meant to be a model flying club - lets get out and fly some models!!
Saying that I will be away on my hols and I will miss at least the next 3 weekends (until the middle of July). Its your opportunity to get out flying without the possibility of meeting me up there, I know this will be the encouragement you need to get out flying again.

 

 

Update on changes to UK Regulations (and the 400ft height limit)

This is the latest news from the BMFA website today (16/06/18) - 


The latest meeting between the Department for Transport (DfT), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and representatives from the UK Model Flying Associations took place this afternoon (Friday 15th June) at the DfT offices in London.

The most urgent matter to address was the recent change to the Air Navigation Order (ANO) which introduced (in Article 94A) a 400ft height limit on the operation of all Small Unmanned Aircraft (SUA) which will come into effect on the 30th July 2018.  Whilst the changes to the ANO are primarily aimed at regulating 'drones', the 400ft restriction will also apply to model aircraft below 7Kg.

However, we are pleased to report that agreement was reached that the Model Flying Associations will collectively apply for an exemption from Article 94A to allow their members to continue operating model aircraft below 7Kg above 400ft as they do under the current ANO.  The DfT and CAA were supportive of this course of action and did not foresee any reason why the exemption would not be in place in time for the 30th July.

Negotiations on the other changes introduced in the ANO (operator registration and online testing for pilots) remain ongoing, but for now it is business as usual for members of the BMFA, LMA, SAA & FPVUK.  Happy flying!

Rob Stanley Hon Sec

Scratching Around For Lift

Mill Hill Flying

Hi all
A small group of us met up at Mill Hill on Saturday afternoon. A good SW wind was blowing and again I was up on the slope in a T shirt (lovely). There where plenty of locals there flying with a good selection of models.
Myself , Ian and Robin (where the only club members) up on the hill. Not sure where all our other members are lately but you have missed out on some good flying.
Ian got to fly his newly re-built Europhia which went very well until his last flight when he lost an aileron servo in flight. He also didn't have landing flap as this made his model uncontrollable. After a few practise approaches with very limited control he managed a great landing with just one aileron working - Well done Ian!.
Robin flew his home built wing again and manages really well in the stiff breeze. I managed to fly my M60 and the Merlow without breaking anything to Tim's surprise.
Unfortunately, we missed Rob P who had a good couple of hours flying after we had left around 3.30pm.