I need to have something to chuck around our field since ROGs are pretty much impossible at the moment. Good
bet is the Vampire but I almost ripped the bottom out that on the
frozen field last winter so whilst I was doing that up I did something
about visibility too:
A few little jobs on the white Fizza and the blue Jack Rabbit in the bottom right of this picture are needed too. After that I'll be able to get back to fitting out the EF2000 as a slope soarer.
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 need to have something to chuck around our field since ROGs are pretty much impossible at the moment. Good
bet is the Vampire but I almost ripped the bottom out that on the
frozen field last winter so whilst I was doing that up I did something
about visibility too:
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.
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.
On the 7th October I finally made it to The Cloud to fly the SAS Fusion. 
