A successful engine run of my new Harmon Rocket III cheered up an otherwise dull day.
I had attempted to run it on a previous occasion but I hadn't set-up the throttle idle position on the transmitter properly which meant I was trying to start it with a closed throttle - not surprisingly that didn't work!
On this occasion though a good priming had the ASP 80 four stroke engine running in no time. A few more running in cycles on the ground should have it ready to have the engine cowl fitted ready for it's maiden flight and about time too. Although I said it was new I suppose it would be more correct to have said newly built as I've actually had the model for about 5 years but hadn't found time to complete it.
When it is totally finished it will not look too dissimilar to the real Harmon Rocket III
During mid November my wife & I spent a week in the New Forest and a very good week it was too. The weather was pretty good for the time year especially as I recall this time last year we had already had our first fall of snow.
Some friends from the Isle of Wight came to stay for a few days and we all got out and about quite a lot which gave me plenty of opportunities to snap the photographs in the New Forest and also at Hurst Castle shown here. I took a lot more at other locations too but they are being kept for something else!
My new found joy of slope soaring meant I could take my SAS Fusion on holiday with me and so I met up with some chaps from the Christchurch and District Model Flying Club to join in one of their sessions at Barton on Sea and I thank them for their warm hospitality.
I have launched a new product range at IPJ Aeroshirts based around a smiling graphic with the theme "Happy Smileday".
As well as T shirts, there's children's wear, caps, bags, badges, scarves and more. With so much gloomy news about I wanted to create something with a more optimistic outlook so I've used the graphic in several ways: on it's own, with text "Happy Smileday" and or "Tomorrow is a smileday too".
I feel better already. These should be great cheery presents for Christmas too!
Recent
posts have mostly been about my RC Model flying and that has tended over shadow
many of my other activities so perhaps I should summarise some of them.
Photography
is still a keen interest and I have plans to offer some of my photographs for
sale via my web site. The plan is to have a range of images ranging from un-retouched
photos to images so highly enhanced that they would more accurately be
described as artist’s impressions than natural photographs.
With
photography still some time off what is actually happening? Well much of my web
work this year has been for Middlewich Town Council/Middlewich Heritage/MiddlewichVision and Middlewich Clean Team though there has been some other confidential
work too. As previously reported there was the completion of the Woodseaves Miniature Railway Site earlier this year too. There are several potential contracts underway but of course I can’t
mention those any further at this stage but suffice to say there’s plenty of
work to keep me more than busy.
Autumn and rainy days are here!
IPJAeroshirts will be the focus of more work during the next few weeks as I gear up for
Christmas but in the mean time here are the first announcements of a couple of
specials deals:
From 11-18 October
2011 there’s 15% off
of umbrellas using the voucher code RAINBOW.
29—30
October 2011 save the
costs of shipping on all orders. Use voucher code WITCHINGHOUR when checking out.
There's more! I also recently attended the Expert Patients Tutor Supervision Day which is necessary to maintain my Passport to Practice as I am a tutor for the Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT Expert Patients Programme (EPP). The EPP is a six week course for anyone
living with a long term health condition. The Expert Patients Programme
aims to help people with long term health conditions take more control of their health by learning new skills
to manage their conditions better on a daily basis.
On the 7th October I finally made it to The Cloud to fly the SAS Fusion.
There I met up with Dave Gilder with his SAS Wildthing. Both of these aircraft are made of EPP foam, consequently there are very tough but fly very well. They are also suitable for combat flying which boils down to trying to hit each other - not for destruction or anything horrible like that - just to score combat points. It sharpens the flying skills & is great fun.
The rocks were nothing like the problem I had expected and indeed the Fusion suffered fewer knocks at The Cloud than it had done at the Gt. Orme - or am I just getting better!
It was was a great day's flying. There was plenty of wind which was
occasionally a bit bumpy but mostly nice and smooth away from the edge. Here's some video that was shot by Dave and myself at various times during the day.
There were some threats of rain and in fact we saw a lot of it coming towards us but it kindly turned and fell on Middlewich instead and we had of it was a few stray drops as the rain passed by.
If you would like to see more photos from the day they are here.
I need to find a local slope in Cheshire to practice my slope soaring on so that I can visit the likes of the The Great Orme at Llandudno with a little more experience behind me.
I’ve been looking at “The Cloud” aka “Bosley Cloud”. Well it’s near enough to home but it looks a bit of an aeroplane breaker. It looks to me like landing out will very likely involve a tree somewhere hundreds of feet below and though the landing zones may be heather it seems that at times they may very well be a range large lumpy rocks. I’m not chucking anything off there until I’ve watched how a few others do it first!
If you click on the image below you should be able to see what I mean. Perhaps someone with some experience of sloping off The Cloud can give me some advice?
Following the demise of the JP-Si I needed a replacement soarer. This time I went for something quick and agile, the SAS Fusion.
The SAS Fusion is a development from the popular SAS Wildthing. It has a slightly narrower and thinner wing which makes it faster and more agile.Assembly is very similar to the other flying wings in that it is foam (EPP) that re-inforcing tape is applied to and then coloured tape of the top of that. Control is by the two moving surfaces at the back which combine the actions of elevator & ailerons, these are known as elevons. There's a very small Hitec Minima 2.4Ghz receiver fitted and a 2000mAh eneloop battery pack and that's all there is to it.
So I had it built in a few days and then last week it was time to head for coast for a day for a maiden flight. The Great Orme is one of the best slope soaring sites in the UK and there I meat up with Tim Mackey and a bunch of other chaps.
We prepared for the first launch with Tim taking the Fusion down the slope a few feet and whilst I hadn't actually got shaky fingers on the sticks (we all know what that's like don't we). I was wondering what was going to happen once the fusion left the safety of Tim's grip, which needed to be pretty good as it was already quiet windy. "The zagi had ballooned upwards and behind us before I could even react to it", "will this do the same?" I thought. So I a little squeeze of down elevator was called for, but how much - then Tim looked at me expecting the nod to launch so I shouted okay and he did it, he heaved it out and let go .
I'd watched the fusion carefully as soon as he started to heave it forwards, it was a good launch with the wings level so no work for me there and the little touch of down elevator I had applied made it sink gently so I eased it off it a little. Then, suddenly an immense feeling of calm came over me - the fusion was flying straight and level out towards the Menai Straits, fantastic.
When Tim came over and joined me we tried it hands off and it climbed a lot so we spent a few moments trimming it and then Tim must have felt tired because he went for a sit down.
I could write a book about the day there's so much to report, the flying, the banter, the combat, oh yes they're coaxing me into that, well more sort of fight or get bashed really. A brilliant day out flying in 55mph wind (imagine doing that at a club flying field!) and the Fusion was just a joy to fly.
If your are into RC aeroplanes you've just got to try this.
My JP-Si flying wing looked splendid in it's yellow finish and the black trim was really helpfull with orientation. As planned I took it to the Great Orme, Llandudno on 4th August 2011 for it's maiden flight.
I met up with more experienced slope fliers and gained some good instruction on where the lift was. The wing needed a little trimming but apart from that it flew really well "straight from the box". I was made up with it.
It was great to meet up and make new friends and the flying lasted well into the evening.
Unfortunately distractions whilst packing the car to go home resulted in me leaving my brand new aeroplane in the grass next to the car park. I went back for it later but it looks like someone else got hold of it first. I have reported it to the police at Llandudno. If you come across it then please contact North Wales Police on 101 (in Wales) or 0845 6071002 (from outside Wales)
I seem to have been getting around a bit lately. In the previous posts I have mentioned my flight in a Cessna 152 and my visit to Greenacres Model Flying Club with my webbit. Well my travels continue.
On 12th July the Light Aircraft Association were looking for something to entertain their branch and members from my Club (SCRCS) took some models to the LAC farm strip to fly. I took my glow engine powered Red Arrows Hawk and for an extra bit of excitement I took along a Seagull Boomerang trainer on a buddy system to allow LAA members to have a fiddle with the sticks. Also we had helicopters, sports models and another guest brought a jet turbine powered model. A very enjoyable time was had by all and the LAA kindly provided a barbeque on the evening which of course we also enjoyed.
On the 24th July I was again away from the home field, this time flying at the BMFA Fly In at RAF Shawbury, which is in Shropshire. That was a very enjoyable day out too because my wife came with me and my friend Mike Amphlett brought his Spitfire. I took my SE5a and had 4 quite lively flights in the fair old breeze that gusting up to 26 mph from time to time. I've never flown (and landed!) on & off tarmac before so that was a new experience. The undercarraige on the SE5a was getting a bit old and weak and I was concerned that it would not last the day - it did but it was a slightly different shape to when the day started!
Not content with that I have just finished assembling a JP-Si or more simply, a flying wing. This has no power source of it's own. The idea is to take it to the Great Orme and throw it out towards the sea then fly it on the rising air. The build blog is at modelflying.co.uk Watch out for the next post!
The weekend 25-26 June 2011 marked the occasion of the Greenacres Model Aero Club Fly In. A fly In is basically an opportunity to visit another club, meet fellow fliers and to have a fly at their field in a relaxed club sort of way. The chaps at Greenacres are very good at it too - very organised but friendly and welcoming about it.
Photo: Chris Bott
I've thought I'd like to attend one of these for some years and the meeting of Charity Mass Build 2011 Webbits for a mass fly at the fly in was more than enough to draw me to this immensely popular & successful event. I built my webbit to carry a SLEC bomb release and bomb. The nose of the bomb is filled with flour so that when the bomb is released it dives downwards, splits open on impact and releases a cloud of flour. It works a treat. I'd like to show you some photos but I was too busy flying to take any at the time! However one of those jolly good chaps at Greenacres, Chris Bott has kindly let me have some of photographs shown on this post so thanks go to Chris for those.
I should add that I had the opportunity to speak to Steve Webb himself and he was able to tell me that so far we have raised almost £600 - I think we will pass that when the final count is done.
Went up for an hours flying with Flight Academy Barton in a Cessna 152 on 03/06/2011.
It's a small trainer/private type aircraft and it was great to actually gets my hands on the controls. The Instructor got us airborne and then gave me a domonstration of the controls. After that it was "hands on" for me. After some practice we flew to Southport, down along the coast then inland towards Winter Hill.
All too soon time was up and we headed back to Barton. The instructor did the landing of course, after all that is the hard bit!
Here is my completed Charity Mass Build 2011 Webbit. Since its a bomber variant I've decided to call it the Webbington Bomber.
It's powered by an AP15 glow engine turning a 9x4 prop to a maximum of 10500 revs. The airframe itself is a combination of ply and balsa. I am using my Hitec Eclipse 7 2.4ghz system for radio control of the aircraft's "New Power" metal geared servos. The servos connect to Sullivan snakes to operate the control surfaces and a lighter nylon snake for the throttle control.
As mentioned in a previous post the undercarriage was custom made for me by TBG Bradwall Plastics Division and has a slot in the middle through which my bomb release mechanism can pass. The bomb release works fine and the bomb is loaded with a small quantity of baking flour which is released when the bomb strikes the ground.
I haven't flown it all the way to an empty tank yet but the flight duration will be around 8 minutes.
The maiden flight was a bit hairy as it seems to be quite sensitive on the elevator but now I've adjusted for that it's okay but the engine could do with moving a little to give a few degrees of down thrust.
The big test will be at Greenacres Model Aero Club 25-26/06/2011 when we are going to have a mass fly of Webbits involved in the mass build.
A chance conversation with a fellow Charity Mass Build 2011 Webbit builder, John Thompson and his wife Lady Sarah Thompson, has provided me with a tough but slightly flexible undercarrige for my Webbit.
It turns out that John runs his own GRP business TBG Bradwall Plastics Division and so naturally chose GRP as the material to use for his undercarriage and made one for me too. As you can see I have just been to collect it. The red undercarriage on John's Webbit is the prototype and I asked for mine in black to match my aeroplane.
This one was custom made for me with a slot in the middle through which my bomb release mechanism can pass.
If anyone else would like one then contact John with details of your requirements. Likely cost is around £3.00 to £4.00, depending on the work involved.
TBG have a lot more plans for GRP products in a wide range of markets and seem to be able to make just about anything but sticking to the theme of radio controlled aircraft he showed me the prototype moulding for GRP spats which he is going to produce in a range of sizes and these too will carry a very attractive price tag. There's more! He is also working on a very wide range of cowls which should be hitting the market before too long.
I took my BMFA 'B' test yesterday which as the names implies is the British Model Flying Associations 2nd level of their achievement scheme. In 6 months time this will raise my instructor level from 'Approved' to 'Qualified' and I will then have the option of being assessed for being an examiner.
I had originally planned to take this test some years ago and undertook some training at the Paul Heckles School of Flying and even after the 4 years since then found that training very useful indeed.
My friend Eric Robinson took his 'A' test on the same day and he was successful too, well done Eric.
The model aircraft magazine Radio Control Models and Electronics (RMCE) has a web site (www.modelflying.co.uk) which in turn has a forum. To cut a long story very short, some members of the forum came up with an idea for a mass build of a model aircraft in a set time frame. Then with the support of Steve Webb models at Frodsham in Cheshire (http://www.stevewebb.co.uk/) the idea then came forward to make it a charity event mass build of the"Webbit" model aeroplane. The charity that will receive the donation is Arthritis Research at £5.00 a model. Pretty good going!
Later came the suggestion of having T shirts to mark the occasion and that was proving somewhat problematic. Again to cut a long story short, IPJ Aeroshirts has applied the Mass Build logo to a number of products the entire profits of which will be donated to the same cause.
If you would like to know more about the Charity Mass Build 2011 then follow this link:
The next web site by IPJnet Web Developments is taking shape nicely and will soon be ready for launching. The site is for Woodseaves Miniature Railway and will provide features for enthususiasts and casual visitors alike.
The Woodseaves Miniature Railway is a narrow gauge railway originally started in 2003 and has recently been lengthened to 400 yards. More railway furniture has also been added and a steam engine has been purchased.
The upgraded and improved railway is ready for 2011 and beyond.
In preparation for the new web site a news blog WMR News has already been started.
