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N E W S L E T T E R

April 2013 Editor: Simon Hilson

Diary Dates

Saturday 30th MarchAdvanced Aerobatics

Club Field from 1pm(Brought forward from Sat

6th April)

Thursday 11th AprilThe Monthly Club

MeetingTalk by Tony Nijhuis

Battle of Britain Club 8pm

Saturday 13th AprilWork Party

Club Field from 10am

Saturday 20th AprilBasic Aerobatics

Club Field from 1pm.

The projects evening thisyear was well attendedwith many models ondisplay at varying stagesof completion.

Long term builds throughto ARTF foamies werebrought along. Theprojects evening is formembers to show whatthey have purchased orare working on. It’s a greatopportunity to swapbuilding tips and to seewhat will soon bemaidened at the field.

Mathew Dawson’sHurricane and RogerDarvell’s Dauntless wereamong the larger modelsattracting attention.

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FPV FindsTwo lost planes were rescued from the roughto the right of the field in late February thanksto the clubs First Person View (FPV) plane.

With Chairman Mat at the sticks and Charliewearing the goggles, Jason Parker’s recentlydowned Ripmax Bossanova was quicklyspotted by the FPV plane’s camera.

David Orr and son Charlie went to retrieve theplane and also discovered Ron Barber’sWOT-4 a few yards away from theBossanova.

Both planes were returned to grateful owners

Work Party called forSaturday 13th April

The Committee have called awork party for the 13th April.Start time is 10:00am

It’s not all work - a free lunch isprovided and its a greatopportunity to a catch up withclub members you may not haveseen for a while over the winter.

This time we will be filling potholes at the upper part of theroad up to the field. Also,strimming the grass on the lefthand side as you approach thefield. This is to clear the areaaround the stored astroturfbefore it is unrolled andinspected to see how much wehave for extending the strip.

Bring gardening gloves,wheelbarrows, shovels etc if youhave them.

David and Charlie return with their finds which are placedon the table for inspection. The FPV plane is also on thetable top left.

RonBarber’sFokker D7built from aFlair kit andready forit’s firstflight

Projects Evening

Simon’sDuraflySea VixenEDF jetwhich wasmaidenedthefollowingday

Roger Darvell’s 2.2M wingspan Dauntlesspowered by a King 90cc engine weighing inat 28lbs. Retracts are from Robart. The planewas assembled from a Ziroli kit.

Mathew Dawson’s 89” wingspan Hurricane buildcommenced 3 years ago from a DB Kit. It’spowered by a MVVS 38cc petrol. Construction ismainly balsa and ply with glass over solid areasand Solartex on the open parts. Mat needs to makea muffler and sort the wiring.

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Several members havebeen wearingtransmitter mitts duringthe cold winter monthsbut Bill has taken theconcept to a new level!

After a day in hisworkshop, Bill arrived atthe field with his solutionto frozen fingers. HisTurnigy transmitter mitthas been fitted with aHobbykingthermostaticallycontrolled heater unitdesigned to heat R/Ccar tyres.

The heater pads arefixed either side of thetransmitter and thecontrol unit fitted into aplastic box to which acharge port for thebattery has been added.

A new hole has beenmade in the plasticcover to suit the DX-7’saerial location and theneck strap mount hasbeen changed to holdthe clear cover wellaway from the sticks.

Bill’s Winter Warmer

Your own caption here

Mitt with heating unit and DX-7

Do you have a caption suggestion for the picture of Bill wearing thetransmitter mitt? Send your ideas to the editor. Anything relatively clean andprintable will be published next month. The editor has a couple of ideas butthey can’t be printed here!

New Arrivals at the Field

Several new planes arrived at the field inlate February. Above and left is Mike Pugh’skit built Tiger Moth, above and right isSimon Hilson’s foamie Durafly Sea VixenEDF jet and below / right is Tony Parrott’sfoam Hobbyking GeeBee. Its oversizedwheels and spats give it a cartoon-likeappearance. Tony reports that it knife edgeswell - probably because of it’s amplefuselage area.

Gee Bee-R3 1.4M Wingspan running on 4S complete with monster truck wheels

DH110 Sea Vixen. 1M Wingspan, weight 1.4kg, powered by 4S 900W Leopard fan

Mike’s Tiger Moth was built from the old DB sport and scalekit. The wings were made several years ago, and the fuselagewas completed over the winter. It represents a plane from theelementary flying training school, RAF Cambridge.

It’s wingspan is approx 60" and it weighs about 6 1/2lb,including 1/2lb of lead in the nose. The engine is an OS 52four stroke.

GordonTarling’sHexacopter. 6motors, 6 speedcontrollers, 3pairs ofpush/pull propsand a gyro makefor a very stablecamera platform

Hexacopter!

Two more twinducted fan DynamME-262s arrived atthe field in earlyMarch. This bringsthe club’s total tofour! These two areowned by JohnSmith and PeterDorow. The1500mm WingspanARTF foamiescome complete withfans, ESCs andservos preinstalled.All that is requiredfor completion is areceiver and a 4S5000 mAh LIPO.

The red tailed ME-262 belongs to Peter and theyellow is John’s. Both planes were successfullymaidened by John Smith. These models fly very wellwith a large speed envelope. The twin ducted fansgive plenty of power for big aeros and fast passes.

Gordon’s scorpion-like Hexacopter looks great on the ground and in the air

‘’I’m sure it came with 2 wheels’’

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Some members have been practicing formation flyingwith foam Warbirds and EDF jets. The aim is toeventually progress to larger warbirds (such as the H9P47) in time for scale day, providing sufficient time can befound for practice. The committee have agreed to aformation flight or two on scale day and for members topractice at the field.

The smaller foam EDF’s will be used for the jet flights asthese are quieter than the larger composite models andseveral members already have foam jets. The picturesbelow show a Durafly Vampire and Sea Vixen attemptingto fly straight and level for a pass along the strip. Keeping

height and speed consistent between models especially ifthey have different power and flying characteristics is notso easy as can be seen. The picture of the ParkzoneCorsair and Mustang is the result of Tony and Simonflying a little too close. Both planes were safely landedafter the mid air contact and the bits recovered from thefield. Foamies are simple and quick to repair so it wasn’tlong before the planes were back in the air.

If any members would like to have a go at someformation flying, contact Tony or Simon.

Formation Flights Planned for Scale Day

April Rules !As a forward thinking group,it’s important that weencourage suggestions fromthe membership that mayimprove the club. However, it’sequally important that we alsolook to the outside world forinspiration. An example of thelatter this month comesfollowing a site visit by twonon-members on Feb 31st thisyear. Dick Witt and HughJampton are regarded byseveral, mainly themselves, asluminaries in the model flyingworld and their ten-point planto increase the number ofmembers who fly regularly,and increase the amount offlying, makes interestingreading.

1) They propose the club splitinto two groups. Group onewould be those that attend thepatch a minimum of fifty timesa year and who rack up asignificant number of flightseach and every visit. Thisgroup would be known as the‘Frequent Flyers’ whilst therest would fall into the ‘Sitters’category.

2) To give the ‘FrequentFlyers’ the best possibleaccess to the field they wouldcontinue to use the current carpark with a new ‘pay anddisplay’ car park built for the‘Sitters’ just inside the

gate.

3) During the long hike to thefield no ‘Sitter’ shall impedethe progress of a ‘FrequentFlyer’. To this end they shouldkeep to the edge of the trackand be prepared to throwthemselves into the hedgerowshould the need arise.

4) The club house, and itsfacilities, should become ‘FFs’only with the ‘Sitters’ movinginto Des’ mower shed. Thearea immediately in front ofthe club house would becomea ‘members only’ enclosureand other than to serve tea orproffer edible gifts no ‘Sitter’may venture into it, gaze uponit or enter the ten-metreexclusion zone surroundingsaid hallowed turf.

5) All but two benches, whichwould be painted pink andyellow, would be for ‘FFs’ useonly.

6) In order to minimise wastedflying time no ‘Sitter’ mayengage a ‘FF’ in conversationunless previously spoken to.

7) To aid identification‘Frequent Flyers’ would beissued smart uniforms withmatching wet-weather gear.The cost of which would bemet by a ‘Sitters’ levy.

8) In line with many poshclubs around the world thecommittee members wouldhave their own designatedparking spaces. Anyoneviolating these sacred spacesrisks having their car clamped,towed, burnt and thencrushed. Though notnecessarily in that order.

9) All flying restrictions to belifted for ‘Frequent Flyers’giving them the right to flywhatever, whenever andwherever they choose. Thiswill include, but not be limitedto, touch-n-go’s on the roof ofthe ‘Sitters’ new club houseand warbird-tastic low passeseither side of the flight-line.

10) Any ‘Sitter’ looking toupgrade their status would be,in line with various hard-coremotorcycle gangs, promotedto the rank of ‘prospect’.During this time they would beexpected to fly extensively yetstill find time for variouscharacter building tasks.These would include checkingthe tickets in the lower carpark and maintaining the high-voltage electric fence aroundthe FF’s enclosure.

These are some prettysweeping suggestions.However, if adopted, theywould offer much

better access for those that flyfrequently. Clearly, a few ofthe points do fall foul of theBMFA’s rules and as suchthey would need to becontacted for their input.

Likewise, a number are illegalwhile others clearlycontravene current ‘Health &Safety’ legislation. This isoffered very much as a ‘workin progress’ and, as such,changes are inevitable. Forthe time being though, thechairman welcomes yourviews. All correspondenceshould be via the Royal Mailand in these days of prolificidentity theft you will need toprove you are who you sayyou are.

In order to do this you mightconsider including a personalcheque made payable to thechairman along with yourBMFA number. If you can getyour mum to countersign it, somuch the better.

Time is pressing, people! Theclosing date for amendmentsprior to it being presented tothe committee, the BMFA,HSE, the membership and ourlegal advisers for approval isthe 1st April. Last year.

A little far apart…. Better Oops…