Sorties from foreign fields

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!

Greenacres Fly In

Photo: Richard Sunderland

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.

Flying the real thing.

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!

Webbit Completed

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.

My Webbit gets it's legs

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.

TBG Contact Details:

BMFA B Test

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.

Charity Mass Build 2011

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:

http://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=47521 and if you want to see the IPJ Aeroshirts Mass Build products then go to this link: http://ipjaeroshirts.spreadshirt.net/en/GB/Shop/Index/index/category/Mass-Build-185897

Woodseaves Miniature Railway

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.

UPDATE:
The new website was launched on 15/02/2011 and is at www.woodseavesminirail.co.uk  and the email address for WMR is enqs@woodseavesminirail.co.uk

Delyn Traplet Unlimited Scale Flying Competition Photographs

At long last I have found time to publish some photographs I took whilst competing at this event.

They can viewed at RCM&E's modelflying website. Just click on this link Delyn 2010 Photo Album

15% Discount On all Orders

Free P&P has finished for the time being so here's another special offer instead.

www.ipjaeroshirts.co.uk/