My Flamingo Build Nears Completion

This year I’ve been busy building the Chris Williams designed 1/5th scale 3.5m model of the Flamingo HW-4 of which I've previously written a blog that's found on the home page and I’m glad to write that it’s almost complete but I'll be waiting till the New Year to give it its maiden flight.

The model is built and covered and now has a set of decals applied that I made myself and what fun that was.

If you looked closely you might have noticed the hole in the nose where the aerotow hook resides and if I can find somewhere close and someone with a plane to pull it I want to give it a try as well as flying it off the slope.

I made a canopy from a water bottle but I’m not happy with it (it's so big you have to split a two litre bottle down the middle and even then it was difficult to fix to stop it contracting too much under heat), I did make it in two pieces but I’m not happy with the result so I’m buying one from Sarik. The grey frame and canopy hoop were made from spruce, in the plan they are painted on the canopy but I had an hour or two to spar4e so I made a physical one.

And now with the Sarik canopy fitted and a pilot installed.

Normally I would cover a glider with Oratex but weight is less of an issue with this glider having an AUW in the region of 3.5kgs so I opted to use HobbyKing material. I have used it before and I think it’s good value for money and whilst heavier than Oratex and slightly less stretchy I thought I could go with the cheaper option.

Covering the wings was relatively straight forward though I did opt to split both top and bottom into two sections, inner to the Gull break and another outer section. The ailerons are huge and hinged in three places so I covered the bottom separately and the top of the wing and aileron tops were done in one piece.

Covering the fuselage was my biggest problem area as there are multiple areas where the plywood surface changes in 3 dimensions. My first idea was to cover the fuselage with yellow in one piece wrapping it around from the bottom towards the top but in the event I needed as many arms as an octopus. Two arms just didn’t do it, so I ended up with a join on the bottom along the keel and applying a piece of yellow nose to tail on each side and similarly the red; even so it took a lot of pulling, stretching and heat to get a reasonable finish on the front areas.

Making the decals proved to be fun. First the “Aeroclube de Bauru" logo has been downloaded from their website, which of course meant there was detail behind the logo that I didn’t want so I spent three or four days editing out the detail I didn’t want using a photo editor. The other text based decals were easily made using my editor on the laptop and searching for suitable fonts.

Producing the decals though created their own problems - I bought some clear water slide decal paper for ink-jet printand followed the instructions but what it didn’t tell you was to very heavily soak the printed decals before attempting to immerse in water to slide them off, the instructions suggested one spray would suffice but one didn't. I lost four or five A4 sheets before I stopped the colour running at which point I had applied 3 layers of sealant to the decals. Another problem I had was the decals distorting when slid off the backing paper which entailed some fun pushing and pulling them back into shape.

It's Time To Renew Club Subscriptions

 Hi Everyone,

I have sent out an email to all our members reminding them that this is the time of year when we renew our club subscription. If you haven't yet renewed your subs, then please could you take some time to do so.

Also, from 1st December to 31st December is the BMFA renewal window. As we are a BMFA affiliated club, we must have 100% BMFA membership among our club members in order to retain our affiliation. 

In the email I sent out to members are the dates for the renewals and the website and instructions for the BMFA renewal.

Many thanks for your continued support

Rob Stanley (Chairman)

New Club Trainer Model

 Hi Everyone,

We have been training new members for quite a few years and our Flying Wings Spectre was showing signs of distress. The cross-weave tape was deteriorating due to UV light and having already been rebuilt a few years ago by Tim H the committee decided to invest in a new trainer, I went down to Henfield to meet Alan Head and I bought 3 Wildthings from him - 1 is for the new trainer and the other 2 are for me and John Marchant.

Here's the club trainer, I flew it on 3rd Nov with Kevin More and it goes very well. I hope we'll get a lot of years of training out of it.

Flamingo HW-4

Why the Flamingo?
Last year there were a couple of articles in RCM&E which caught my eye, the first was an article about the Ecirtech Hexen slope soarer and on looking at the French website I found that I was drawn to the company’s Bannsperber vintage glider. The Bannsperber would make a great builder’s project but before I took the plunge there was another article in the RCM&E about the 1/5th scale Flamingo HW-4 slope soarer. I liked the idea of both models as they were going to provide a significant build project and after much ado about nothing I plumbed for the Flamingo as I thought it more suitable for the slope.

The Flamingo was a Brazilian glider of 1947 vintage glider with a gull wing and high aspect ratio, the model I’m building will have a wingspan of 3.5m.

Flamingo build
From the RCM&E article I had the free plan but it would have needed a significant amount of copying to make it useable to build from. Over the lockdown I ordered a laser cut short kit from Laser Cut Sailplanes (LCS) and a pack of additional spruce, balsa and plywood from Sarik hobbies. I went to LCS as the guy there was more forthcoming with information regarding the plan than I could glean from Sarik even though I phoned them up.

The wood that arrived from both companies is of good quality and a full size plan is thrown in free of charge by LCS. I’m sure the purist would ask why I am not cutting everything out myself but I have done that in the past and there is enough of a build so I make no apologies for having bought laser cut ribs, frames and other parts that need to be accurately cut out. One half of the fuselage is built over the plan, the whole then being completed by building the second side directly on to the first half.

For the complete Flamingo build post then CLICK HERE

Big air at Bo-peep 17th September 2020

As the title suggest it was a Big air flying session at Bo-peep on Thursday the 17th September, I had a few days off in the week and this day looked perfect with a NE ENE 20 mph + wind and warm 20'c temperatures.

I put the usual announcement on the what app group and had some interest to join me, I meet new member Gordon, but missed Chris C on the slope but I set myself up, beside four other guys who I've meet before but cant remember their names other than Lloyd from Essex, over on the slope east of the car park.

The models I could see on this day were my F3F Big bird, Xmodels swift and two Aresti 2.0.

The two Aresti's were carrying out every aerobatic maneuver you could think of, then the 7 kg swift was given the slope to itself and was tearing up the sky, the lift was immense, the swift was using the lovely wide ridge to its advantage, producing long slow rolls across the width whole slope, followed by large vertical stall turns, massive loops, flick rolls and many many more, it was pleasure to watch.  

Then it was my turn, chatting to Lloyd, he then suggested I will need my ballast on a day like this, I loaded the 1 kg of full ballast, my Big bird can take, preflight checks and launched.

It flew away perfectly and I eased myself in to the grove of flying my model, after not flying for a month, plus not this model since May.  

It was such a blast, as my confidence increased I too started to make use of the lovely wide slope, tearing up the sky, the model just carried so much energy, high speed runs, large loops, stall turns were possible with ease.

Finally I took the time to setup my crow elevator compensation in air with the Mike Shellims Adaptive program, it again worked a treat, through out the whole crow mix range.

With that done I made the decisions land, first attempted was to get the feel for the approach and the second I landed with a big smile on my face the crow worked perfectly.

This slope has to be the best slope, I have flown on the south downs so far, as long as the wind is strong enough it will keep the paragliders at bay and it's lift is mega, a very wide slope, large landing area, just don't go too far back.

So overall I left with a larger smile on my face and look forward to future flights here.

  

Flying from Ian's field in Wales

 Ian who many of you probably know through our club Slope Soaring Sussex moved to Wales over a year ago, lives in a most beautiful and rural part of Wales close by to the Brecon Beacons. He has some lovely paddocks for his horses with still some room left over top fly his models from. 

After our slope soaring on The Bwlch we met up at his home for some DLG flying and bungee launching of his West Wings Slingsby Skylark. There wasn't a lot of sunshine but later in the day the wind moved round onto a small slope directly in front of Ian's house. The slope provided some light lift as well as thermals. Ian has had many decent soaring flights with strong thermals being kicked of this slope when the wind was a little stronger and with the heat of the sun.

He has made up a very small bungee with light weight rubber and fishing line. Probably about 75ft when stretched out fully. He built his Skylark from a West Wings kit over the winter and the bungee provides a very efficient method of launching from his own land.

Finally back on the slopes

During a weeks break in Wales, I met up with Ian and went slope soaring at The Bwlch. This was the first time out slope soaring for nearly eight months. We waited for a cold front to go through and the wind swung round to NW and after the cloud lifted and the air dried out we were left with a wonderfully clear afternoon and great conditions. 

It was a real pleasure to meet up with Ian again and enjoy barrelling along the slope with my M60 and my Merlow F3F. Ian brought along his scratch built AR-1 which had its maiden and flew really well for an eighties vintage glider. He also flew his euphoria which as ever eat up the sky well given its age and condition.

Here are a few videos taken during our flying session.

Chris Foss Phase 6 finally completed

Here it is finally completed, my Chris Foss Phase 6 sport, I started the project last year in January and posted up my build ideas and progress. I took the chance in March and April this year to finally finish it and Maiden it at Itford Hill in June.

The results are its kitted out with 4 savox sh-0255 in the wings for flaps and ailerons and New Power XL-17HMB and 17MB which I had spare for the elevator and rudder.

2000mah eneloop 4.8v battery, Frsky X8R receiver.

The first flight went great, nice and level from the launch with very little trim, only nose down elevator but soon discovered it would not roll, I had setup the aileron deflections at the trailing as per the instructions.  

I landed the model safely and after discussions with other Phase 6 owners I needed far more movement.

After a successful maiden, I made the adjustments at home and had my second flight at a later date, at Mill Hill Shoreham by sea.

It now rolled fantastically and I progressed on to seeing how the crow setup worked, I soon discovered I needed more elevator compensation at full crow.

Long story short I spent a few further flying sessions adjusting the compensation and was nearly spot on, but shortly after I decided to install Mike Shellim https://rc-soar.com/  active elevator compensation program to my model setup and now I have inflight compensation which works amazingly and have implemented for other models now too.

Further setup mixes have now been added to try, Aileron and flaps mixed plus snap flap.

Another Brand New Vintage Slope Soarer

In the search for a traditional slope soarer model that would tolerate my (occasionally) imperfect landings I came across this 'classic' from the 1970's on the OuterZone website. Conveniently, RCM&E also rediscovered it and published a revised version of the plan with their magazine a couple of years ago.

The designer, Dave Hardaker, called it the Kwiksilver, but the magazine editor of the time renamed it Quicksilver, either way it suits my needs since both the wing and tailplane are attached with rubber bands allowing them to knock-off when necessary. The ready made ribs and formers are available from Ebay which is a bonus.

So last September, having gathered all the materials, I set to work...

Here is the completed structure. Interesting features include no front hatch (for extra strength) and an all-flying tailplane on a plywood cradle.

After 11 months on the workbench I finally finished the covering and installation.

The butterfly stickers came courtesy of my 7-year-old daughter.

Connecting the push rod to the hidden elevator horn involved an LED torch and a dental mirror.

The battery and receiver are stuffed in the nose with plenty of padding.

At over 1200g it's no floater, but the broad cord should provide a reasonable wing loading.

The colour scheme is deliberately patriotic - now I just need an opportunity to 'fly the flag' and strap the bits back together after a rough landing.

Happy landings.

Russell H

Beautiful 1/4 Scale K6e Glider for sale - NOW SOLD

My 1/4 scale K6e glider is up for sale for the bargain price of just £350.

Its a stunning looking 4m sailplane which comes with all servo's and a new battery pack. It is covered in cream solartex on the wings. The model has been beautifully built to a very high standard. It has a full scale cockpit and pilot.

Open for viewing - contact me for further details: paul.hampshire@shelf-space.co.uk

It has been a while since I have been able to get out flying. I met up with Scotty and Robert Powell at Mill Hill yesterday morning. ATC were duly notified and asked us to keep an eye on our height as the previous weekend had seen some models flying higher than they would like.
Scotty flew his little red Messerschmidt which went very well (as always). Robert flew his needle and erwin which both looked very graceful and smooth in the air.
I flew my Strega which was going lovely until the right aileron linkage came loose and the model did some very funny things at not a lot of height. Partial control was regained, just enough to get her back to the landing site (aka a bush). Luckily no damage, just need to rescure the linkage.
I then tried my repaired again phase 6 but somehow the model had disappeared from my transmitter. quick bind and setup and she was ready to go. She flew well having been put back together with glass and poly C both inside and out on the fuselage. Had some lovely flying and looking forward to getting back up on a hill soon.
John

Flying anyone?

Hey guys, it's Steve here from A470 Soaring in S Wales.

I thought I'd check out your page here and can't see that anyone has been out flying? So have you? If so, where are the stories, pictures & videos?

Here in Wales we were restricted to only travelling a maximum of 5 miles until 2 weeks ago, but now that has been released the guys have been finally getting out. So check out my video below of my 1st excursion to the slopes and I look forward to seeing what you've been up to again soon.

Last Easters Flyings Fun

Last year during the Easter break I was flying in Wales with Ian A and Nick......

Click here to watch the videos

Nearly seven years of friendship & flying fun

Hi all and a happy Easter to you. I hope you are all staying safe and well in these uncertain times.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Steve and I have the A470 Soaring blog and I'm from SE Wales where we have some of the finest sloping in this fair land. Well that's what I believe anyway, and I believe Paul Hampshire believes this too as he makes the trip to my neck of the woods quite regularly and brings a model or two with him.

Paul and I first met in October 2013 when he and a friend came to S Wales to fly at the area known as 'The Bwlch', (Bwlch in English means gap and is pronounced Bulk), which is situated between the valleys villages of Nant-Y-Moel and Treorci and consists of seven slopes which all have names and face all points of the compass, so there is always a slope to fly whatever wind direction.

Paul turned up in the morning and I met him on the Ice Cream slope which faces north westerly and we had a light breeze blowing into our faces. The sun was shining and it wasn't cold so it was looking like being a nice day. However, that light breeze was to set the scene for many further visits by Paul because it seemed that whenever he did plan a trip, the wind Gods would not be in our favour and we'd be cursed with having to scratch around for lift as you can see from this first video of our first flying session together. After lunch the wind had shifted direction, as the forecast had predicted and we had to move to the westerly facing slope called Mickeys.

Then in March 2015 I visited W Sussex for the first time and Paul took me to several slopes over the two days. Everyone there was really friendly and we all had a good time.

In the summer of 2016 Paul brought his family to S Wales for their holiday staying in a cottage at Rhossili, which was where he fell in love with what is most probably the best flying slope in the whole of the UK. This slope develops so much compression lift it's unbelievable. On this first trip we began with a light breeze of around 10 mph, but by the time Paul had to leave to rejoin his family I was chucking my models around in 30 mph.

The following August 2017 Paul was back at Rhossili and this time the wind Gods were truly with us and we measured wind speeds of 50 mph in the compression zone which made for some truly awesome flying. Apart from the usual glass models we had a great time racing man on man EPP60 models, Paul with his NCFM M60 and me with my Polecat made by Rocket Ron Broughton. I won of course lol 😂

  August 2018 and Paul and I headed off to the Bwlch for a flying session. The light breeze was coming from the north and so we flew from the VR98 slope for a hour or so before deciding to move on and take Paul to a slope I'd been keeping a secret and is probably my favourite north facing slope in S Wales at Hirwaun. When we got to Hirwaun we found that the wind here was north westerly. Not that this mattered as Hirwaun has a NW facing slope also and Paul absolutely loved this slope with its smooth air, long grassy landing zone and spectacular views of the Brecon Beacons.

 Our final flying session together was in April 2019 when once again Paul brought very light winds with him. We were at the Bwlch and began flying on the NW facing Wrecker slope before the wind direction changed to S/SE and a short walk over the hill brow to Back of Wrecker was needed.

So here we are, one year on. The weather took a turn for the worse from October 2019 and it seemed that if the weekends weren't raining, then we only had light winds of 5-6 mph and consequently I didn't get any flying in leading up to Christmas. The New Year was no better and in fact we had huge storms with flooding that actually washed away part of the road that passes through the Bwlch and had to be repaired. This also happened on another slope I fly regularly at Meio Common, just north of Cardiff. Fortunately there is another road that leads to this slope as my usual road hasn't yet been repaired and is too dangerous to attempt without a 4 x 4 vehicle. So I've only had two flying sessions this year, the first on Meio where we tried to fly between rain showers and the second which was just the weekend before lockdown occurred, and although Paul wasn't here for this session I'll include the video here for you to see as this is another slope we have access to and faces easterly at Manmoel Common, which overlooks Festival Park at Ebbw Vale.

So I hope you've enjoyed reading this and watching the videos, and I hope we are out of lockdown soon so that we can get back to some sense of normality and be able to get some flying in. My son lives in Cornwall and I'd like to do a camping trip down there, do some flying along the coastal cliffs at St Agnes and do a spot of fishing also. I'd also like to get away to W Sussex for some flying with Paul but we shall have to wait and see what happens with lockdown as there may not be enough time left of this year to cram everything in.

Stay safe guys and enjoy your flying once you can get back to the slopes again.

Who wants to fly the cliffs at Newhaven?

Today I want to take you soaring on the cliffs at Newhaven Fort in East Sussex. The flying site works well in a Southerly or SSE / SSW. Sometimes we are joined or rather we join the Paragliders who tend to rock up and inhabit the complete flying site.

Here is Ian's trusty old Euphoria. This model has been through a lot in its life and Ian never ceases to amaze me on how well he can fly this battered out heavy mouldy.

The wind was light with very soft lift and I was flying an heavy old mouldy (again my Valenta Dragon) at Newhaven Fort. It was a very memorable session this one as it took me a while to gain enough height to actually be able to land back on top of the slope.

Next we have some M60 racing with Ian again down at the cliffs at Newhaven Fort. Lots of smooth lift and a beautiful view over the sea and Newhaven Harbour.

And now a few landings at Newhaven Fort Cliffs

Well that's it from the sunny cliffs of Newhaven. I hope you are still enjoying the videos.

Any suggestions on what you would like to see next?

My favourite flying site in the UK - Rhossili

Well how are you coping with the lack of flying?
I dont think I have ever been so long with not flying ever. Well for todays offering I am taking you to Gower in South Wales. To be precise we are going off to fly at Rhossili. This is my favorite site I have had the pleasure to fly at. It sits right on the coast above the most beautiful of sandy beaches and offers the most amazing views above the beach and out to The Worms Head. Many of you may have already flown at Rhossili but if you haven't then don't bother as I don't want too many glider guiders knowing such an amazing flying site exists. Its just - WOW!
So here we go with my first Rhossili offering...…...

The first video I hope to entertain you with is with my F3F. I was joined my good friend Steve Houghton (of A470 fame!). This model was really shifting in what was virtually a gale. Steve was filming for me and he kept up well.

This second video isn't flying the main Rhossili ridge but flying along the headland heading out towards the Worms Head with my Merlin / Willow 2 crossbred F3F which I call a Merlot. The wind was spot onto the cliffs so I had to give it a go. From the car park we walked along almost to the end looking over to the Worms Head and I landed just along from the Coast Guard hut. Great lift with amazing views plus a gentle stroll - perfect.

This third video is my of my 4m Valenta Carbonara cruising in paradise in cracking lift and stunning weather. I was joined by my best buddy Ian A and Nick (who went tandem paragliding first before flying his model) The lift is silky smooth and the landing area is huge and covered in soft heather but the sink can still be very strong if you go too far back.

This penultimate video is of our M60's racing as close we could along the edge of the huge cliff top. Diving down towards the beach and sweeping up the slope side hugging the hill and soon re-appearing to go around again.

Here is Ian's Jart (with a freshly sharpened nose) cutting through the air with ease. Ian's flying as ever is spot on.

Can't wait to visit The Gower again soon. Meet up with my very good friends in Wales and have a blast above one of the most stunning vista's in the UK.

Here are some alternative videos that I hope you will enjoy

I've been scratching my head today to come up with something different for todays 'Looking Back' series. So I've come up with alternative videos that don't feature RC Gliders.

Back in the day when I was a member of the Mid Sussex Flying Club we used to hold regular Indoor flying sessions in a local school gym. The gym was small (just bigger than a basketball court) but we used to have loads of fun crashing into walls, other models in the air plus sometimes other pilots on the flight line. The models were super light and generally slow flyers. They tended to be feather light and would get damaged by just breathing on them of like the one in the video was foam and could take some impact especially mid airs. The props used to held on by a small O-ring and they easily dislodged on any sort of frontal impact which made them much safer than conventual power models.

Here was one of my favourite powered aircraft - The Habu. It was a ducted fan jet that flew on 3300mah 4S lipo and was easily hand launched but had a fast turn of speed but slowed down well to a gentle glide on landing. I did actually chuck mine of Ditchling Beacon (without any use of the motor) and I did use it as a slope soarer for a while.

Now here's something different - Its a RC Paraglider from Opale. The little guy had servos' in the arms which operated the guy ropes to make it turn left or right. If it was only that simple. The Paraglider does need to move forward to create lift from the chute. It took me ages to get it set up and this was probably the only time I got it to fly half decently.

and my final video is to do with gliding but not an RC one. Here is a DG1000 being flown from Lasham and doing a ridge run. It was lovely to watch such a graceful glider cruise past us at high speed. The pilot did get in touch with me and offered me a flight but as expected I never heard back from him again. That's a pity!

Some On-board Glider Footage

For todays 'looking back' series of posts I thought we could share some onboard footage from camara's fitted to various RC model gliders.
raUThe first one comes from my old Dreamflight Libelle DLG flying over The Ashdown Forest in July 2014. The camera was the old style keyring camera so the quality of video is not the best but it captures the feel of the flight. This model was launched by hand (DLG) and climbed away in thermals. I fairly sure Rob S and Graham U was with me on this visit to the forest. The model climbed away to a speck and did some spinning to get it back to me for a catch landing.

Please watch these in the highest quality available on YouTube.

Now here is one of my more memorable trips to the Isle of |Wight again with Rob and Jack. Here I was flying my old rudder / elevator 3m Algebra. We flew at Culver Down near Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. Its a little nerve racking chucking your model off a vertical chalk face over the sea. The lift was constant but light so the Algebra was the perfect model for gently cruising around while filming.

The next video I have chosen for you was taken from Ditchling Beacon (West) flying my old Valenta Dragon. The video features some on-board footage and some filming from my headcam. 

Today's last video was filmed at one of my favourite locations - The Bwlch in South Wales. It was filmed on a very pleasant New Years Day with light winds but crystal clear skies. The model is my Nan Ex-Pro which comes out to play in very light conditions. I was joined with Steve Houghton, and Ian A plus some other locals.

I hope you are enjoying looking back on some of my more memorable flying sessions using on-board camera footage?

Slope Soaring Is So Much Fun !

I've looked at the video library and the particularly the most watched video and here she is. I was flying my 48'' Zulu that has control surfaces on the front and rear of the wing. Here I am flying at Wolstonbury Hill in a very light ENE wind.

The Zulu is extremely manoeuvrable with good control even at very low flying speed. I think the video does really explain why I personally love slope soaring.

Looking Back - Day 2

We seem to get a great number of visitors sharing some old memories yesterday, so I have decided to continue with what I hope will be a daily post well that is until you guys get fed up with it!!

So we continue our look back to 2013 and we are flying foamies up at Itford Hill with it gusting 51mph. You can hear the wind howling but the lift is just mega.

Watch In HD for best viewing 

It looks like it was Rob S, Jack, David and me with two Ninja's and a Fusion. The Ninja's doing far better in the very windy conditions.

Moving onto November 2013 with Jack's SAS Wildthing flying at Wolstonbury in the snow. Boy I can still remember how cold that day was. Landing in thick snow and the model just disappearing under the white fluffy stuff. Jack was an good glider pilot but an excellent power pilot being able to undertake the most amazing aerobatics with his 50cc monster RC Plane.

Where to next?

How about Firle Beacon!

Here we are playing 'how low can you go' with the Fusions and Wildthing. Firle is a great site in a Northerly wind and the stronger the better to avoid the Paragliders. Loads of room behind for an easy approach and landing (hopefully).

In these difficult times - some relief.............

I know we are all stuck at home with no immediate hope of getting out flying any time soon, I thought I would look back on some of the many different flying sessions and sites we have flown at over the many years we have been going.
I thought I would upload a video or two each day and share a few memories with you all.

So going back to the very early days I have found these for you.

October 2013 - The Bwlch (South Wales)

I  was flying on the Ice Cream Slope by Jack. Here we are flying the Flying Wings Ninja. The Ninja is a 60'' foam wing with corrugated wingtips. I still have mine tucked away somewhere. Back then this was my 'go to' model as you could fly it in very light winds but also you could push on out in a 50mph wind. I know this because Rob Stanley did in fact fly his in a 50mph blow at Mill Hill.

The Ice Cream Slope faces NW and gets its name from the parked up Ice Cream van that is located beside the slope. This is where I first met up with Steve Houghton from A470 Soaring. Steve has been a great friend over the years and I usually meet up with him somewhere either in Wales or down here in the South. 

We did have a flying trip booked to go flying at The Bwlch this month but as with most things in life at the moment it got cancelled.

I'm a huge fan of The Bwlch as it has big slopes that give huge lift in a wide range of wind directions. I have flown a fair number of the slopes up there in all sorts of weather but it never really lets you down with amazing views over the Brecon Beacons or across the Bristol Channel.

The Ninja makes a great combat wing as it does keep on flying even after a good mid air. Have you ever tried combat? Its great fun but its extremely difficult to deliberately hit another model. Trying to chase a model and knock it out of the sky really does test your skill on the sticks. 

October 2013 - Phase 6 Ditchling Beacon

A really breezy session up on Ditchling Beacon. This is my fully glassed Phase 6 Sport that had no flaps but went really well. I think Rob S still has this and its still flyable. I love the Phase 6 as its a 'do everything' glider. Looks good and also flies well. Over the years I think I have had at least 5 Phase 6's. With my latest one having landing flaps which can be a big help. The wind direction for Ditchling Beacon in NE with a small car park near by which is run by the National Trust. 

When ever I fly I try and practice as many landings as possible as I need the practice. Most models that come to grief usually get broken during the landing phase of the flight, so for me the more I practice the easier it becomes. Not that I don't ever get it wrong because I do but the need for a black bin bag is getting less as the years progress.

Anyway. I hope to add more posts each day to try and beat the boredom. Feel free to add a comment at the bottom but please keep it clean!

A Little Bit of Self Isolation on Mill Hill

In today's climate of the fear of spreading the dreaded lurgi to each other the 3 of us intrepid flyers decided to undertake some self isolation up on Mill Hill. Unfortunately, for us a number of other model slope soarers had the same idea.

Rob P, John M and I met at Mill Hill around 2pm, we found John already assembling his F3F 2.9mtr wing span Strega V tail and Rob P brought along his F3F Needle and a Mini Graphite 1.9 mtr wing span produced by Valadmir's Models and I as usual, had my SAS Wildthing 46 inch.

Flying was already in progress by the time we had arrived, so we joined in. The weather was good with a strong blow and good visibility despite the low sun. A number of SAS Wildthing flyers were practicing their combat skills on the lower slope to the left of us with one of their models landing in a tree.

Today was a very good day for the F3F class of model glider. Both John M and Rob P made some very impressive landings, very well done to the both of you.

                                                    Rob P expertly landing his model

Then John M had an unstoppable urge to fly his newly acquired scale model Pilatus. He even managed to return back to his car and have a good rummage in the boot, only to return empty handed. With his head bowed he accepted that today was not the day for the Pilatus to have it's first and last flight. Maybe next time John.

                                           A good turn out of some very nice model gliders

I managed to get some more stick time in today but one of the highlights was being witness to a fellow Willow flyer who attempted to catch his glider as it was about to land. Running towards the incoming glider he stumbled in the grass, managed to grab the glider as he fell but sacrificed himself and fell away from the glider rather than on top of it, which would have been rather expensive. Shame the video camera was not running at that time.

Mill Hill Saturday 7th March 2020

The forecast for today was SW between 9 and 20 mph, so we went to Mill Hill to do some gentle flying.
When I arrived there were two other fellows already there doing some combat and I asked them whether they had called Air Traffic Control and they said yes and were given the OK.
Paul then arrived, followed by John M and we all started flying (the other guys stopped the combat and flew more respectfully). I had my Coyote, Paul had his Highside and John flew his Wisel.
After about 10 minutes in the gentle breeze, the wind got up and became quite turbulent. John and I landed our light models, but Paul was able to remain aloft with his heavier Highside.
I had a couple of flights with the Coyote, but then it got too blustery for such a light plane, so I landed.
Paul was doing a brilliant job of landing without flaps (how ?) as usual with his Highside, but one landing skidded all the way along the grass and took off again - was that intentional Paul ?

Robin A joined us and flew his home-made white wing which also had some difficulty penetrating the wind, but Robin did well and managed some brilliant landings.

Meantime John rigged up his newly acquired (from me) Starlight 3000 (which I got off Chris Foss) and I launched it into the wind and it went straight and true except for needing a little down elevator trim.

After some trimming and testing the flaps, John gave an expert landing considering the blustery conditions. He decided that was enough for the day.

Later, Rob P arrived with two models, one I can't remember (sorry) and the other was a new Mini Graphite. After we range tested the Mini G Rob launched it and it flew brilliantly with another great landing so that Rob could make some more adjustments to the mixes. Later he told me that he had 10 more flights with it, so that's well and truly 'maidened'.

By the way we all had our Operator IDs on our planes despite not needing them until end of June and the other two fellows also had done the same.

A great day but very cold and we retired after about an hour and a half.

Rob 

New project on the horizon

Even though I've not quite finished, my phase 6 sport project with flaps, hoping to be finished soon I've eyed up and committed to my next model.
A Blejzyk Mefisto is it name, some my know the range of models, from the designer and builder Artur Bejzyk from Poland. http://www.blejzyk.pl/en/
They are works of art and receive great ratings, there are many builds over the net to read,  Robin A also has one in the club and from speaking to him highly rates it too.

I've chosen this model since I want a range of model for all conditions, even though we've had a hell of a lot of wind this winter, I wanted something for those lighter days.
This model has a 1.9m wing span and only weighs 370gs empty, so hoping to only weigh 750-800grs finished.
The designer produces his range with a chose of different wing sections, I've chosen the S6063 for slope flying, which is slight faster than the other profile on offer HN1033 .

I hope the build goes well and I'll try to report back on it progress when I start.
Please take a look at this YouTube video link, of one in flight and I aspire to be able to fly like this pilot.

https://youtu.be/x_arPaDyD4I

Slope Soaring and Falconry at Itford Hill

Today must have been one of the driest days we have had lately. Given the chance of some flying I grasped the nettle and charged up my batteries and departed for the flying site. I met Robin at the top of the hill around 12:30. Also up on the hill today were our fellow flying colleagues from the Sussex Radio Flying Club (SFRC) who were already flying their gliders. I did notice on the ground that one foam glider had already sustained considerable damage in the form of a complete fuselage break just behind the wing section. I do understand that repairs will be undertaken and the glider will fly again.

Visibility today was excellent but with a very strong wind.

As usual I opted to concentrate on my circuits and landings. Thankfully, this time I did not land on top of any trees but still found it challenging to land my Wildthing where I wanted it to land, more practice for me required, I think. A number of SAS Wildthings were in the air at one time performing formation flying and maybe a little combat.

For me the highlight of the session today was the arrival of the Falcons, we were given the opportunity to watch these magnificent birds of prey flying at full speed. They were being exercised by the use of an electrically powered slope soarer with a lure extending from the aircraft's tail. We watched in amazement as the falcon climbed to height, retracted it's wings and dived down at full speed trying to catch the lure as the aircraft passed below.

After a few hours on the hill it was time to call it a day and go home. In summary, the highlight of the day for me was the super air display given to us by the all time flying professionals..the Falcons.

Itford Hill 12/02/2020

CAA Registration

Hi All,
As you all know, we have been caught up in the European Legislation regarding the registration of drones (which now also includes all model aircraft, etc.), but on our behalf the BMFA, LMA, FPVUK and other groups have liaised with the CAA to secure the most sensible solution they could get.
As we're in the BMFA, our solution required us to allow our BMFA details to be sent to the CAA to register us as 'Operators' and we have (or soon will) received our 'Operator ID number' from the CAA.
This number is all we need to be legal as long as we attach it to every model we fly in easy to read letters of at least 3mm size. It doesn't have to be on the outside of the plane, but must be easily accessible (like in a battery compartment), without the use of special tools.

We are currently 'exempt' from requiring 'Flyer ID numbers' because we have either a BMFA 'A' or 'B' or have taken the online competency test.

Those who have yet to receive their email from the CAA will do so very soon, and the requirement to attach the 'operator ID number' has been put back from 23rd Feb till the end of June.

This is all explained on the CAA website , but basically what we need to do is number our planes with our 'operator ID' when we get it.

Best regards
Rob Stanley

A very sunny and bright day at Itford hill with friends from the Sussex Radio Flying Club (SRFC)

I met Nick, Robin S and Steve a member of SRFC at the car park and we took the long way up to the top of the hill. By the time we had reached the top Mark was in already in the process of assembling his gliders behind the tree line at the top. This little bit of shelter gave us some respite from the very cold biting westerly wind. We had blue skies, full sun and the visibility was excellent. So, leaving behind the sanctuary of the trees, flying began. We were joined later by Colin and Derek from the Sussex Radio Flying Club (SRFC).
We all had a very enjoyable time flying around in clear blue skies and I counted five SAS Wildthings on the slope today one belonging to me, Nick, Robin S, Colin and Derek had one each. Other gliders flying today was Mark's RCRCM Vector which flew really well in the blustery conditions and he pulled off a number of super landings. Steve flew his Wisper and Derek displayed a Chris Foss Phase 2 glider circa 1969. Robin S flew his Aztec well in the challenging conditions. I concentrated as always on landing practice and again ended up in a tree but with encouragement and guidance from others I did manage to improve my landing technique a little by the end of the session. After about two hours I called it a day as it was really cold and departed the slope along with Nick leaving behind the other guys who were still enjoying the flying. In summary, a really good flying day but very cold.

My SAS Wildthing again in a tree.

View across the valley.

Flyer's getting ready to launch.

The glider park.

My first Mouldie glider

I thought I would make a start on a blog about my first mouldie, write a piece, add photos and spec of my model I ended up with.
After joining the club around October 2018, I started flying again after 12 years with a wildthing 46, which is a real confidence giving model to break me back in, I was hooked and after joining fellow member on the slopes, I got to see what had happened in the world of development of models over the last 12 years.

I was use to building a model from wood and too see these precision moulded machines was an eye opener and I knew I wanted one, one day.
So after watching the BMFA classifieds and chatting with Paul H I set myself a budget, I knew I wanted to start off with a second  mouldie, since a new fully kitted out model was out of my reach.

With Pauls input, he suggested I put a wanted advert out on the BMFA, here I was having a nightmare, I just couldn't  get myself into the system, even after help from the BMFA admin.
So I went to BARCS, within a day after placing my advert with my budget of around £300 I started receiving model offers.
Paul Kindly reviewed them for me and then fours days later I was offered, what I would of said was a gem, a 2.5m F3F moldie, fibreglass carbon reinforced and carbon wing, kitted out with servos ready to go, just add receiver in fantastic condition called a Big Bird.

Photos to follow and I love it, great colour too, red with blue under wing stripes.

I started back flying with Spektrum radio but was intrigued by Frsky and it programing options, so found a Taranis x9d + to try and with some help from Mark and Graham set to work programing the radio.

Story to continue, with photos, setups and flight report.

Do you fly at The Long Man of Wilmington?

Slope Soaring at the Long Man of Wilmington in East Sussex

The Long Man is a well known venue for leisure and competitive slope soaring and works in winds from SW to W to NW to North. It is a scenically very  attractive location and is now a part of the South Downs National Park. All the flying slopes, and there are several of them, are on, or a short walk from, the South Downs Way, a national walking and mountain biking trail from Eastbourne to Winchester.

What many users of the slope may not realise is that slope soaring is only permitted under a licence granted by the landowner, the Folkington Estate. The other party to the licence agreement is the South East area of BMFA.

A quite substantial license fee is due each year which was mainly paid for by the South East Area BMFA, but because of the changes to the way Area is funded this is no longer an option.

BMFA SE will continue to be the licensee but all funding from this year will be provided by local clubs. These are the East Sussex Soaring Association (eastsussexsa.co.uk) and Sussex Slope Soarers (slopesoaringsussex.blogspot.com). Consequently, all model fliers outside of these clubs will need to buy an annual permit for £10. There are details of this on the BMFA SE website (southeast.bmfa.org).

So if you want to fly at Long Man do join one of the local clubs or get a permit, Both clubs have very modest annual subscriptions.

The Long Man has been a slope soaring site for at least forty years and we all need to make sure that it continues to be so.

Ray Wells

Secretary, East Sussex Soaring Association

February 2020

Windy day at Itford Hill Sunday 12th Jan 2020

A few of us ventured up Itford Hill today to fly in a strong wind. Estimated 35mph.
Scotty flew his Comet which went really well in the windy conditions, it still amazes me the wide envelope of wind speeds that this model can cope with.
Mark did a grand job of flying his ST Blaze (I think) with a lovely landing only to have the wind pick it up and flip it over after. No damage and it flew again.
Tony flew his Wildthing which was a real challenge in these conditions, they just don't seem to penetrate like Scotties comet. Tony kindly tested the landing in the tree approach for all and I am glad to say it worked (not recommended though). Again, no damage and she was soon thrown back in the air for another sortie.
I (John) flew my Strega with full ballast having made some changes to the elevator linkage. I am pleased to say it went well. This thing can really eat up some sky and does bring your heart rate up if pushed.
Rob Powell flew his Erwin and it looked superb slicing through the strong wind. Nice landings and no dramas here. Robs son James flew the Wildthing but again, struggled to make headway in the strong wind.
We did fly from right at the top today, it was nice to be out of the wind.
We all agreed however, that we prefer to fly from our usual spot by the small depression in the ground further down the hill which has now been officially named as "Hampshire Hole".
Looking for ward to the next sortie, hopefully next weekend.

My first soaring session of 2020

I met with John and we trudged up to the top of Itford Hill. The wind wasn't the strongest but It gave us an opportunity to try out our Wisel gliders.

Mine still didn't fly right but it was flyable. PS..... don't try and catch a balsa built up wing model as it wont end well. I broke one of the ribs. This will mean cutting the film and repairing the broken bits then recovering the wing. John maidened his Wisel and after just a little trimming it flew very well.
Then we were joined by Robin so that made 3 of us on the hillside.
Robin flew his sleek mouldy glider with plenty of landings being practised. I said I wouldn't mention his dodgy landing the other side of the fence (opps!) sorry Robin...…...
I practised many landings with my trusted Phase 6.
After two hours I was having trouble feeling my fingers so myself and John decided to head down to the cars. On the way down we bumped into Rob P, James and I assume Mrs Powell.

Christmas slope safari to Wales

In the holiday period between Christmas and the New Year I drove up to Wales to meet my old mate Ian. Surprisingly the weather for Wales was dry but grey and gloomy for most of the time, which was much better than the usual rain.

The last few times I have been flying with Ian we have had light Southerly winds and for this trip the trend continued. We had planned to go flying on the 'back of the wrecker' but found out the day before there was a F3F competition planned there so our alternative slope options where very limited.

When I drive from my In-laws over to Ian's I generally drive up over the Western edge of the Brecons, over 'The Black Mountain' which shouldn't be mistaken for 'The Black Mountains'. 

The Black Mountain sits 502 metres (1646ft) high above sea level. The hill itself is mighty but beautiful when you can see the view from the top but unfortunately for our visit the summit was covered in thick cloud. 

I met Ian up at the top car park which had about 10 metres visibility but a few hundred feet below the visibility was much better with many smaller slopes below. So we headed down to find somewhere to fly. We parked up and walked off looking for a slope into wind. Watching the birds upwind they showed us the edge of a slope and it was producing lift.

Back to the car to collect a model with my choice being my new Wisel glider and Ian with his SAS Starjet.

Here is a little video from our first few flights from this lower slope above Brynamman.

The Wisel had its maiden flight with lots of trimming needed to get it to fly straight and level. After trimming it flew as you would expect but it does need some weight removing from the nose and soem work to get the thing flying level without loads of right trim. As John M mentioned it soon dissappears into the sky and I am really pleased that I covered it in bright film, especially in the poor visability conditions on this day.

We decided we needed bigger wings for the lighter conditions, so back off to the car to collect my Ascot and Ian's Shadow.

Even with the damp and dingy conditions we had a good laugh and some worthwhile flying. As I have always said if you make the effort it generally pays dividends.

One small issue was the bolder field we had to land on. It was a bit of a gamble or hit and miss shall we say you landed without hitting a rock on your ground run. It was a long way to drive but always a pleasure to go flying with Ian and a pleasure to be up in the Brecons once again.

A small group of us are planning a trip to South Wales toward the end of April if anyone else is interested coming along. The countryside is stunning and the flying sites are amazing so what have you got to loose?

Thanks Ian for the great company as usual !