Star Wars day on Kilspindie

May the Forth be with you!!

Star Wars day saw me heading for Kilspindie with my newly painted Ascot and my trusty Spark.

The Spark got heaved off first and it was going well in the big lift. The wind was bang on the south-west slope and blowing about 30-40mph and the tweaks I have made to settings on the Spark have improved the way it goes. I wish I had had this model when I first started flying F3F because it is such a great flying model and still no slouch. The wind freshened a bit at times and the 50mph wind was proving a little too much for it to make decent headway. It still flew really well but I would be happier to see it heavier. When Dave Watson built my Spark he did incorporate a ballast tube and I really must make up some lead slugs because it is a great standby model. The poor model tends to get chucked off any new hill first!

Ascot and Spark show a family resemblance!

 

My repaired Ascot has now been painted and looks more presentable and it flew well with the addition of ballast although I found the elevator a little too touchy and I have backed it off a bit. I got it really high at one point and dived vertically all the way down for a rapid low pass along the slope. Weeeeeeee!!! Yippee!!

I had to repaint one of the red sunburst panels on the Ascot and I found a company on Ebay who make up an aerosol of paint if you know the REL number. VV Models website has a list. The colour match is excellent and I am well please with the result. The actual paint finish could be better but I am sure the wing surface and the paint were a little too cold on the day to take the paint well. Halford’s “Appliance white” is a great match for the white surfaces.

I am ready for some F3F fun again although I would be happier if my Extreme was flyable but it is still very much a work in progress. Matching paint colours is the least of my worries at the moment!!  

Big Lift on Pole Hill

After stuffing my Extreme on EL last week I headed for Pole Hill for a change of scenery. I decided it would be a good day to get more stick time on my Ascot and also took along my Spark and Weasel Evo. Getting ready to head up the hill from the car park and putting the Spark wing panels in the bag beside the Ascot

I realised I only had one Ascot wing panel. The other being in the shed at home after painting. Oh bother!!! What a Muppet!

Hugh Barker was already at the top but the increasing wind was getting too much for lis lightweight model. He also had a new Sunbird but it stayed in the bag waiting for a lighter day.

Ian Stewart arrived just after Hugh had headed home. Ian had brought along his ever faithful Tragi and it was going really well in the big air and lots of ballast. Ian also flew his M60 foamie getting in some practice for the foamie competition next week.

Ian's Tragi on landing approach

I flew my Weasel Evo but the 35-40mph wind was a little too much for it but my Spark went like a rocket. After the first flight I had a fairly exciting time landing the Spark because the elevator compensation under crow was way out. A few tweaks on the tx and a few more landings saw it sorted. I found some great lift at one point and the Spark got really, really high and I bottled out and put the brakes out. It still climbed. Yippee!!!

Ali Sutherland joined us with his Strega but only had a very brief flight because an aileron servo began doing its own thing! A careful landing saw Ali heading home early.

Spark Self portrait.

Ian in action

Wet knees!

Extreme bites the dust. Again!

My Extreme is now on 2.4 gHz was going well with full ballast in big wind on East Lomond. Bit bumpy on landing approach but the brakes were just about right and all was looking good until about 2 metres off the ground the left wingtip shot up and the model flipped onto it's back. Bang!!

Broken again but it is the other wing this time and the damage in in the same area as the last time at the dihedral break. The change in angle at the dihedral break must provoke a twisting action when the wing smacks into something solid (hillside) and the drag spar folds and the whole wing bends back snapping the leading edge. Some damage to the rear of the fuselage and one tailplane half too.

The spar initially looks intact this time though. I still have the wing jig I made for the last repair. (Being positive here!!)

 Hacked off? Damn right L

F3F Summer league 1. Cancelled

The forecast was for very light westerly wind swinging south west in the afternoon which is less than ideal for racing so Peter cancelled the first of the 2013 F3F Summer league.

Peter suggested we turn-up at East Lomond with DLGs and Alulas for some fun. East Lomond being a much easier walk than Bishop! I arrived early and found a light westerly wind blowing along the slope so I flew my Longshot DLG on the far end of the slope. By the time some wheeling and dealing had happened in the car park and the rest of the guys turned up the wind had picked up a little and swung west south west and we could fly F3F models as well as DLGs and Alulas.

My Longshot. I took this picture as I was flying it :)

Peter's Stinger

Concentration!

It was quite thermally at times but it was great to get out and have decent fly. Everyone had some good air to make up for the poorer stuff.

Dave's Needle

Nice to see a scale model

Errr..... Don't ask; but if you must try touch and goes in soft snow the model will vanish!!!

A great mixture of models, Stinger, Needle, Ascot, Tomcat, Bannana, a couple Blasters and several more DLGs and Alulas as well as a scaley!

Good Friday on Kilspindie

With winter dragging on into spring and no sign of big changes in the weather anytime soon a bunch of us rocked up to Kilspindie on Good Friday for a fly. Dave and Robert had already setup base-camp when I arrived and I headed up the hill to join them. To make the conditions even more interesting on my way up I stuck my right foot deep into a pool of smelly muddy water hiding under the snow. Very pleasant. Not! Yuk!!

A quick "Happy New Year" to Dave and Robert and despite the light snow and the threat of more to come imminently I flew my recently repaired Ascot and it went well in the lightish winds with 400 grams of ballast. Great to see it in the air again and I will get it painted now. Eventually! I had to land after 15 minutes because the snow was starting to build-up on my glasses. That is a new one on me!

Peter turned up not long after me closely followed by Ian Stewart and Ali. A great turn-out for a weekday! We could have had an F3F race!

I took a few pictures and if you look carefully those short white streaks are slow flakes!

Dave at Kilspindie base-camp getting his Cyril ready.

Peter launches his FS3

Model too fast for me to catch both pilot and model in shot! 

Looks like snow on the way!

Peter flew his FS3 and Stinger, Dave his Needle and Cyril, Robert his P3, Ali his Race M and Ian has his Tragi and his Skorpion.

The first F3F race of the summer league is scheduled for next week. I hope we get some warmer weather.

F3F Winter League 5. NOT!

The forecast last night looked like we would get a few rounds in before the rain arrived at lunchtime so Peter called the competition on.

A nice frosty start to the day looked promising but the drive through didn't look so good with rain all the way and when I followed Peter into the car park at Craigmead it was snowing. Sam and Ian turned up and we stood around in the increasingly heavy snow before I chickened out and headed home before the roads got too bad. As soon as we got down the hill it turned back to rain.

Only one race back in November out of a possible five. I think I have only been out about twice over the winter and I broke a model on it's maiden flight on the last outing. Train-set required?
No pictures today cos we have all seen snow before!!

I really hope we get some better weather for the summer league or I will be taking up indoor flying. Or buying that train-set!

Bishop Hill and Ascot Maiden

I was all set for getting up at 3:30 am for the trip down to the Hole of Horcum but the forecast for light and variable winds meant Jon called the competition off on Friday evening. As an alternative Peter suggested climbing up the front of Bishop Hill because light westerly winds were forecast. I wasn’t too enthusiast at the time but by morning I had sent a text to Peter and headed for Kinnesswood and the long climb.

I arrived before Peter and he can just be seen walking up from the bottom.

I had switched models, left my Extreme at home, and had taken my unflown Ascot. This would also be the first time I had flown an F3F model on 2.4gHz. After a good range test and countless “final” checks of the controls and that they were moving in the correct direct the Ascot took to the air and flew really well. Very smooth in the light wind although a little up trim was needed for level flight. Turns nicely. Peter arrived at this moment and conformed it was looking good. I put it down to his fitting out of the Ascot!!

The first landing was very smooth and I put in the wing ballast for the next flight. The wing ballast moves the cg back a little and I was able to take the up trim out. A dive test showed no tendency to pull out or tuck-under so the cg must be close. Excellent.

Peter had brought his Stinger and it was going like stink and carving nice smooth, tight and fast turns. Peter’s Stinger always looks smooth and in the bright sunshine it looked a picture as he kept one eye on all the paragliders and fullsize gliders flying along the slope. One fullsize glider seemed determined to claim “his” bit of air and was often weaving in and out of the pillowcases!

Busy up here.

Stinger too fast for me to catch with my wee camera!

Paragliders turning away and giving us room

On my third flight with the Ascot the wind suddenly swung at right angles from the north and was blowing along the slope. The air was now very bumpy and sinky so I pushed out from the slope to wait for the wind to come back on the slope. It didn’t! Peter suggested I head the model over to the north end of the hill hoping to find some lift and I was already heading the Ascot in that direction. Nothing, only BIG sink and it fell out of the air right on top of a wire fence. “Oh bother!” The wire had cut into the leading edge of one wing in two places and taken a notch out of the flap on the other wing and knocked the flap servo loose. The leading edge damage is a pain but repairable and structure should be sound. The aileron neutral position on that wing has move so will need investigation but it could have been much worse. Still hacked off though!

After I had retrieved the model Peter pointed out how many of the paragliders were now landed out at the bottom of the hill and the fullsize were back down at the airfield so I wasn’t the only one caught out.

The wind stayed blowing from the north so we heading back to the cars passing several paraglider pilots trudging up the hill.

Apart from the damage to the Ascot it was well worth the big climb and my Alula wasn’t needed.