The weather has changed at last.

 The weather has improved at last, it was even warm in the sun. There was a good turn out of members on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon, last week. The old workhorses have come out of the sheds, a quick wipe over to get the dust off, and they were up in the air. There were a couple of new models out, with more to come I think.

 

The flying strip and pits are getting a regular mowing, the grass is currently short enough to allow most planes to get away without too much trouble.

 

 

 

Hopefully we will be in for a great flying season. 

First day at the field this year.

 Tuesday the 10th was the first flying day down the field this year. The area around the entrance gate is still a bit soft and muddy, wellies are recommended. The strip has had its first cut of the year and is OK for ROG take-offs, but not with small wheels. It will get better after a few more cuts.

Myself Mark GS, Dean P and Jon W turned out despite the early morning fog and rain around the area. The weather improved throughout the day with a gently SW breeze, plenty of flights were made and everything went home in one piece. 

Mark's scratch built Ballerina, a Peter Miller design. It was on its maiden flight and all was OK. It flew very nicely with no issues. 

 

The winter build season has arrived

 The nights are starting to draw in, and the building season has started. I managed to pick up a balsa USA Fokker D VIII 1/6th scale kit for a reasonable price, the box had been opened, but it looks like all the parts are there, only time will tell. The instruction manual is very comprehensive, and the hard wear kit looks to be OK. 

I've made a start on the wing and it's going well, at the moment.

Inner wing panel. 

 

 

outer wings  

 

I've joined the 3 wing sections together, there was quite a bit of fine adjustment to get the spar lined up straight when clamped together, but it went together OK in the end.

You can see more by clicking on the Fokker D-VIII on the right of the page.

A bit of Sunday afternoon flying

 The weather is being surprisingly forth coming at the moment, so a few of us arrived at the field for a bit of quite electric flying. Scott, Jeff, Keith, Les, Ben, Robert and my self turned out. The strip is in good condition, having been mowed a couple of days ago, the wind was a little stronger than anticipated, but everything went home in one piece. Scott successfully maiden his foam Wot 4, it flies nicely, gets off easily but floats on a bit when landing.

Robert brought out his Gloster  Gladiator, for a few fights.

 

 

 

Tuesday,s flying Session.

 The weather was perfect for a spot of aviation down at the field. The wind was very light, and it was surprisingly warm for the time of year. The only fly in the ointment was the Sun was in the wrong place, maybe we can ask God to move it to the right a bit. The usual suspects turned out to enjoy the weather. |Lucian came along for a bit of tuition and is picking it up nicely, he made his first landing today, well done.  👏👏

 

 

 

 

Not a bad day for flying

Fairly light winds a bit over cast but still a nice day to get out flying, a few members turned up, me, Mike, Dave, Jim, Keith and John also a potential new member Ian. He brought along a nice scratch built Tiger cub

I flew the RCB combat with 4s and managed 98mph on the GPS.

 

Ian's Tiger Cub

 

 

 Keith's home brew model, an interesting concept, still looking for a brave test pilot.

 

 

Proof of the 98mph I'll take a bit of nose weight out and hope for the TON

 

 

 

Building tools

 

 I've made a few useful tools for the latest build project. A couple of sanding blocks, 150X50mm, that I stuck 120 and 240 grit paper to, when they wear out you can prise off the paper and replace, or if that dose'nt work they only take about 30 minutes to print. I also made a sanding block that fits the servo cutout holes in the wing, it's 34mm at one end and 44mm at the other and 4mm thick. I also made some magnetic right angle jigs, the magnets were for another project but were not used, they are quite strong, so care is needed. They were made to fit between the wing ribs to hole them upright when glueing. 

I also made a box to hold round and flat scalpels, it's got a bit of foam in the bottom, which can be replaced, to protect the tips.  

Overall, I'm pleased with the Bambu P1S, I've had few print failure's and there has been a minimum of tweaking required to get good prints.