Light wind fun at Kilspindie Sat 18 April

Not enough wind for a competition but six of us turned out for some light wind fun. Lots of DLG/Alula/Miro fun and F3F sport flying when the wind picked up.

The wind was light most of the time and well crossed from the south east. Conditions did straighten up from time to time and later in the day the F3F models were looking good after a 5 minute climb out followed by about seven laps before the speed decayed!

Despite no competition we all had a great day.

A Space Oddesey

In a conversation last year with Ronnie Lampe about the 60 epp models he was flying he mentioned that he could be persuaded to make a few models for others. The upshot of it was I asked Ronnie to make me a ready to fly version which came at a very fair price. Considering the cost of a NCFM Bluto and a receiver, three servos and battery what I paid was a bargain! Bind the receiver, dial in the throws, charge the battery and off to the slope.

By a roundabout route (thanks to Richard and then Peter) I collected my McOdessey a few weeks ago and finally got a chance to get it flown on Saturday on the sw slope at Kilspindie. 30-35mph wind crossed from the north. Did it fly? Absolutely!

Very smooth and positively the nicest foamie I have flown. Feels like a mouldie in the air. No aileron trim required, just a touch of up which has been reduced as I moved the cg back. I’m sure it can go back further. I have reduced the elevator movement down to less than 2mm because it is a bit fierce at speed. Speed? This thing is fast, very fast!! Yippee!! Aerobatic too. The lack of rudder doesn’t preclude stall turns and four point rolls. Outside loops and inverted too. I like it!

Crow braking is very helpful for landing this hot ship! The detachable fin means it pops in the wing bag beside a set of F3F wings so it will be going with me a lot.

Spring weather

Saturday

Light south-westerly winds found me up on Dodd Hill near home with my Longshot. The light breeze was perfect for some slope thermal action. I had it specked-out several times and scraping around below the slope just as often although there was always some slope lift close in. The changeover to my new transmitter only took a few minutes at home and a tweak on the elevator compensation in crow had the model going as well as it ever did.

Longshot

Sunday

Sunday was a sunny day with no wind to speak about. I took my Stinger up East Lomond anticipating a west-south-westerly but if anything it was north-north-westerly. Hopeless. I sat and drank most of the tea in my flask and enjoyed the weather and the views. The whole of south Fife covered in fog while I was well above it. 

It looked a cracking day for a walk so I headed down the north side of EL and headed out along the road to Craigmead.  I thought I might get going from the low north-west ridge on the way but there was no wind so the Stinger stayed in the bag. 

Fog in the valley

Sculpted by the wind

Busy up there at lunchtime. All those poor eggs getting rolled

Busy car park

Great walk with the only downside being my 10kg rucksack plus my Stinger over my shoulder!

East Lomond in the rain

While some of the regulars were down in South Wales for the Winter Leagues Champion of Champions competition I trudged up to East Lomond in the rain on Sunday morning.

The wind was straight on the slope and blowing about 15mph as was the fine rain! Nothing daunted I put my Pike Precision together and, after drying my glasses, chucked the model off into the air. 

The change to the FX30 tx has worked well and I have managed to increase the aileron throw by about 15%. Not that it was ever sluggish in roll but it seems even better than before!

I had to keep landing every so often to wipe the rain from my glasses but by about 12:30 the rain cleared and the sun almost came out. After a few more flights the model (and me) had dried out and I headed home well happy.

Almost all my models are dialed into my new (to me) Futaba FX30 and I can start using the additional features. For example: six flight modes. Normal, Thermal and Speed as usual plus (for my Pike carrying increasing ballast) Speed 1kg, Speed 1.5kg and Speed 2kg. Not that I flew with full ballast on Sunday!

24 hours late at Kilspindie!

Saturday was the last of the Winter F3F league and I couldn’t make it although it turned out that the fickle weather put paid to the competition. Nevertheless I regret missing a day out on the hill even if there was no result. The banter would be good if nothing else! 

Sunday morning saw me heading up to Kilspindie with my Stinger and Weasel Evo. When I left home there was a good breeze blowing in from the sea but although the wind was blowing straight on the east slope the wind was quite light. Peaking at 10mph on the edge. 

Buzzy the annoying/annoyed buzzard was out of his tree the moment I stood on the slope edge but the guys on Saturday must have annoyed him so much he cleared off. Either that or there are no eggs in the nest yet!

After reducing the elevator throw by half my Weasel was flying as well as ever using my new-to-me FX30 transmitter.

The Stinger was next and after a quick range check to make sure all was well with the FX30 in this model it was heaved off just as the lift dropped away. Perfect timing. A touch of squeaky-bottom combined with “Thermal” flap and careful flying got the model back to slope height after a few passes along the slope. I had been quickly working out where the best spot might be to dump it if I couldn’t find lift! The lift picked up again and I was able to get the model up to a comfortable height and switch to normal mode. Phew!

About 12 o’clock the wind picked up to about 15mph and the Stinger was going well. I hooked a big thermal and almost specked the model out before scaring myself silly with a vertical dive levelling out along the slope edge and whipping back round the turn and heading straight towards me! Yippee!! By the time I left early afternoon the wind had dropped back to around 7mph so I think I had the best of the air.

Only the Pike Precision needs dialling in to the new tx and all my F3F models will be changed over.

George (rain magnet) heads for Kilspindie!

I missed the Horcum event yesterday so headed up to Kilspindie with my Extreme and Weasel Evo.

Two more blots on the landscape

I arrived late morning to find two of the local fliers already there. One flying a 5M Alpina which had one of those electric fan things on the front! (Completely unnecessary with the 25mph wind blowing straight on the southwest slope) There was also a “T” tailed Middle Phase in action.

My Weasel was a little bit too lively (un-flyable) in the good wind and will need elevator reducing but my Extreme was going well controlled by my FX30 transmitter. I had to reduce the elevator compensation on crow but everything else was spot on. Only the Pike Precision needs changing over to complete the change from my old FG8.

I ended up with all the ballast in the Extreme and it was stonking along in the good conditions. A few showers passed either side of the hill and I hid behind the trig point when one passed over us. The Alpina owner fled just prior to this.

Rain showers passing to the north

Another good flight was cut short when yet another shower approached and I was forced to hunker down behind the trig point again. 

Starting to get wet

This shower turned into an absolute deluge! Of course, I had left my waterproof trousers in the car and I got soaked. I don’t mean damp, I mean soaked to the skin. I trudged back to the car looking like a drowned rat! The heated seat in my car helped make me feel a bit less soggy on the way home in the now dry and sunny weather.

Still glad I went nonetheless! 

Damp day out on Dodd Hill

Keen to avoid going shopping I tramped along the rather muddy path in fine rain to Dodd Hill. Wind was too far round to the south but looked just about flyable.
Rain eased so repaired Spark was chucked off and it flew fine with a bit of trimming. Lot of up trim needed to will have try some 1/16th ply under the rear of the tailplane next time. The last time the Spark flew was over the quarry on this hill and I smacked the poor thing into the quarry face! Fixed again now though!

New Futaba FX30 working well so more than happy. Plans to fly model a long way upwind to test range were hampered by poor visibility but still had a couple of good flights!

Rain came back on so hid behind a large cairn for a while before giving up and squelching my way back to the car.