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Esher & District Model Flying Club

President: D.A.E. Smith B.Sc. (Eng.), C Eng., F.I. MECH. E.
Vice Presidents: M. Charles Esq. J.S. Barker Esq.

COMMITTEE

May 2002

Editors Notes

Bad news folks - it hasn't been wet enough this April! What! You exclaim! The Chairman will explain all.

From the Chair

We are now at the end of April, and at last we have moved into better weather.

From Jan 12^th to April 20^th (15 weeks) we have only been able to fly on 9 Saturdays - the other 6 were wet or windy or both!

During that period, the number of fliers ranged from 10 up to 26 and there was always a good friendly atmosphere.

Colin and Luke have successfully run 2 competitions with a very professional touch - please continue to give them your support on competition days - its good fun and helps improve your flying.

Flying Fields

The strip at Winter Farm has been kept in good order - thanks to those who do the mowing - we know who you are!

It seems likely that we will continue to fly there up to 15^th June; this is because the new strip, which was seeded and rolled by the 1st April, has failed to germinate due to the unusually dry April. Roger (the farmer) said that it was only the 2^nd time during his working life that we have not had rain in April.

The new strip is approximately 35 metres long by 20 metres wide and Roger has promised that he would move our cabin from the previous field to the new site in mid May.

As soon as we know that the new strip is OK all members will be sent a map, showing the site layout, details of parking etc.

We are very grateful to John Barker for allowing use continued use of Winter Farm on this occasion. But when we fly on 1st, 8th and 15th June noise levels must be curbed- so keep the revs down and do not fly on sustained high throttle, otherwise flying will be stopped. Remember that we do not usually fly at Winter Farm in the Summer and people have windows open It is not in our interests for John to get any complaints.

Meetings 2^nd and 4^th Wednesdays - it would appear that we will continue at Ewell SSC until at least September. Don't forget the club notice board, which is being kept by Jeff and is displayed and updated at each club meeting - if you have any sales or wants - then put them on it!

Achievement Certificates - Either Jeff or myself would be happy to demonstrate to you at the flying field what you need to do for an 'A' or 'B' certificate. The rest is up to you to keep practising until you are ready. Don't forget the dedicated test day on 13^th July.

Fun Fly and BBQ Sat 22^nd June - At Brooklands from 9:30 to 6pm flying off of the peg. Volunteers are required for Transmitter Control, barrier marshals, bringing tents, BBQ etc. Please contact either Jeff or one of the Tony's if you can help. As a barbeque is going to be provided there will be a charge of £3 per attendee including all flying and the barbeque. Family are welcome. See you there!!

Keep 'em flying, Tony Major

Diary

Events

The club will be going to Woodsprings this years – probably in cars as there is usually not quite enough people for a coach. I think that this is by far the best show I have seen and would thoroughly recommend it. Unfortunately I can’t find the date for it anywhere, but if you are interested in going contact Alan Dobson or put your name on the Club notice board.

Email Addresses

I got some addresses and I might have also lost a few when I changed PC's this spring. They were used in anger for the first time when I sent out a warning that the field would be shut on 4th May because most people wanted to go to the Sandown Show. If you didn't get the warning and you have email please (re)send an email to keith.england AT connectfree.co.uk and jeff2@blueyonder.co.uk - just put "EDMFC email list" in the title and sign it with your name if your email address is something obscure like "jeff2"!

Safety

A couple of issues on safety have arisen recently which are worth mentioning.

Changing Servo's

I was not happy with the high power Hitec rudder servo in my Excitation as it buzzed a lot. So I got a second mortgage, bought and fitted a Futaba high power servo. Imagine my surprise when I taxied out the following week and the 'plane turned left when I gave right - Lucky I was still on the ground and going very slowly!

At our Brooklands day another very experienced member - who shall remain nameless - stripped the gears on one of the two Hitec servos on his ailerons and was loaned a Futaba servo as a replacement. Full marks to him, he spotted that the servo was reversed because both of his ailerons went up and down together. He reversed the aileron servo on his transmitter checked it was now OK and went flying. On take off he did two very spectacular complete rolls immediately he left the ground but didn't quite make the third one. Fortunately the aircraft is repairable. Looks like it was the other servo - the one that was still going the right way that got reversed.

So - you have been warned, its caught out two experienced modellers - will it catch you out? Hitec Servos are reversed with respect to Futaba Servos. If you swap out a servo of any make ALWAYS check very thoroughly that the controls are still going in the correct direction. Just to confuse further, I have some Hitec HS80 servos with red writing - these do rotate the same way as Futaba Servos, those with gold writing don't - so even changing a Hitec for another Hitec may get you into trouble. (Worth knowing about if you are trying to use a Y lead though!)

Flying Other Peoples Models

A new model, even a trainer, may be far from perfectly set up. The result could be a handful to fly even for a very experienced pilot. 'Planes do crash (you only had to be at Brooklands on 27^th April to know that!) and it is a given (worth repeating here) that Instructors only agree to fly another members aircraft on the understanding that they are not held responsible for any damage that might occur (They will, of course, do everything the can to get a 'plane down in one piece). However, if a club member who does not hold a 'B' certificate, damages someone else’s aircraft it might be concluded that the Club had not exercised due diligence. So please note: Test flying of other people’s models must only be done by members with 'B' certificates. This is not intended, in any way, to prevent Ian (say) giving Dave a go of his Wot 4 - it is a tried and tested 'plane, Ian knows Dave's flying ability and is, by offering him a go, willing to accept the (hopefully small) risk.

Brooklands Day Out 27^th April

Flying on Brooklands huge runway is a great experience - as is the chance to see the club's jet aircraft in action. Despite threats of rain and high winds, by 10am a good turnout of club members had their aircraft lined up along the edge of the runway like a military parade. The rain held off except for a few drops and the wind wasn't too high - but it was gusty and almost across the runway.

Do you ever get the feeling a day is jinxed? Landing on a VERY hard runway with the 'plane jumping about in gusts certainly put a few people off and, I noticed, by lunchtime quite a number of aircraft had found their way into the backs of cars without ever leaving the ground. However, the incredible number of accidents we had that day nearly all had little to do with the weather and involved experienced pilots - the list is frightening:

• John Bransgrove started it when, landing his venerable old Jabberwok, he collided with a tyre on the runway. His undercarriage ripped off and the wheels went through both lower wings.
• Geoff Ward was next when, on pulling a loop with his Wot 4, both tailplane halves snapped off - hitting the soft ground beyond the runway from a vertical dive didn't help reduce the damage much!
• There was hardly ever more than 2 aircraft up so the odds that both pilots would choose to land at the same time were tiny.
  The runway is huge so the chances of 2 aircraft landing on the same spot were minute. That both were concentrating so hard on their 'plane in the conditions that neither saw the other or called "Landing" was less surprising (so let that be a lesson to all of you!) The result was Ian Kenyon's Wot 4 landing on top of my Excitation. I got away with a damaged prop but not before it made several slices through Ian's wing and undercarriage!
• The saddest accident of the day was Gus' big Mitchell Bomber - and it didn't even fly!
  After failing to fly it at two previous Brooklands events because the engines were not running well enough. They ran smoothly this time and, conditions having improved, Tony M taxied it out for take off with Gus hanging on to the tailplane to stop it taxiing too fast. Suddenly, Gus slipped on a large pebble on the runway and went down like he had been poleaxed. Desperately trying not to fall on the Mitchell, Gus landed on his face instead but still caught the tailplane and one fin - breaking both off. While everyone fussed around Gus, (his face looked a mess and we were quite worried about shock) Gus was much more upset about the Mitchell and all the fuss. Both 'plane and owner will make a full recovery, I gather.
• One of the Pringle team was next - but with what looked like the first luck of the day. Landing with a bounce their Cub got picked up by a gust and thrown up and over on to its back and off of the runway - to land inverted squarely on top of a nice soft tyre - I don't think any damage was sustained.
• Finally there was the spectacular Aileron reversal mentioned above.

I don't think I've forgotten anybody - but if I have I'm sure they are glad about that.

It wasn't all bad though. Tony M is getting comfortable with his Gas Turbine powered Vector and put on the kind of display you'd pay to see. It was worth coming just for that. Three of our less experienced members, Ray Evans, Dave Roberts and Geff Thiel showed up the rest of us by flying, incident free and seemingly almost continually all day. To fly that well in those conditions they should ALL be going for their 'B' certificates - net alone their 'A' certificates Mr Roberts! Keith

Competitions

The Story So Far - Comp1

It was a fine sunny cold day for the first competition of 2002.

The ‘olduns’ were out in force chatting about nothing in particular and cracking jokes.

The spot landings started with the experts league one. Competition was hot with no less than six nearer than three metres of the spot. Then came Tony M. Tyre marks across the target 2 cm away from the centre! A muddy tail wheel mark was then left by Jeff C 6 cm from the centre!

I had to persuade a few reluctant flyers from leagues 2 and 3 to have a go at a landing and fortunately all agreed. Continuing with the Comp’

Les F didn’t really want to have a go but I asked him to

"let me know when you are going to land and we’ll measure it any way."

Les thought that he would sneak in a landing, maybe practising, but he was spotted by the old……..s sitting in a row, One screamed,

"Les has hit the Spot". We measured the tracks and he beat most of the fliers of the day. Well-done Les.

Ps. Les didn’t offer to repeat it!

Comp 2

The Limbo competition was on a cold and windy day with a crosswind and turbulence, which made flying through the limbo very, very difficult!

Keith England was first to start of the few who had the guts to compete.

After some skilful flying Keith’s time was noted as 27 seconds with his Limbo dancer. Next to fly was Luke Shaw with his Flair Cub. After the plane missing the tape by inches and turbulence blowing the plane on a near collision course with the pilot, the time was read as 22.93 seconds.

Next was John Bansgrove who won with a great time of 17.7 seconds with his funfly, beating the favourite Jeff Cosford by only 0.3 seconds!

It was John Bansgrove’s first ever Limbo competition and he won.

Next up was class two with Geof Thiel the only competitor for almost the whole day. In spite of hitting the pole on the first try (no damage) he had another go but still couldn’t conquer the ever-increasing turbulence and crosswind. After some encouragement no one else apart from Ian Kenyon had the guts to follow who ended his flight in spectacular but successful style by crashing across the line on the final pass! Well done to both Ian and Geof.

The competition for class three was to fly a timed figure of eight and then to repeat it as closely as possible. The difference in times would be the final score. Well done to Colin Shaw for winning by a significant margin. Thanks go to Dave Roberts and Dennis Fernie for Participating.

Two Excitations and a Cub then rounded of the Action packed day with some entertaining and skilful formation aerobatics.

Both days were great fun and enjoyed by everybody. Well done to all those who took part.

Competitions only stand a chance of working if as many as possible take part. Everyone gains some points just by taking part Luke

Results So Far

League 1

League 2

League 3

Competitions coming up:

If you have any suggestions that might improve these comps I would be glad to hear from you.

Any aircraft can enter; from mini IFOs to ducted fans. Competition number 3 onwards are detailed below:

3. Timed take off to land- 11^th May. As close to 1 min as you can get. If aircraft does not land on the runway then 10 sec’s is added on to the time. For class three this does not apply, however if they do manage to land on the runway the flyer will be given bonus points.
4. Glider target landing. 1^st June. This involves a glider landing as close to a 30 by 30 cm box as possible. There is just one class for this as this is a separate event with just one cup. We encourage anyone with a tug or short bungee to come. (We should have a small tug going by then). Powered gliders are also welcome as well as Zagis but they can’t be crashed onto the target . Please note - everyone can have a go as Zagi's may be used and all of the Zagi owners are happy to let anyone fly them as they are indestructible. Who wins, gets the Cup!
5. Scale competition June 22^nd. There are no classes for this one because there is a separate cup for this event. Any model based on the full size from any period may enter. A member of the committee plus dad and myself will collaborate to gives the marks for flying and scale accuracy as follows:
   • Marks out of 50 for scale detail
   • Marks out of 10 for each of the five manoeuvres:
   • Take off
   • Climbing circle
   • Circuit
   • Low pass
   • Landing
   • 10% will be deducted from the flying marks if the builder does not fly the model.
   • Scale will be flown alongside normal flying so as not to hold up flying on the day.
     More details are available via Tony Major
6. Water carry 6^th July
   This involves carrying a container of water that is rubber banded onto the centre of gravity
   • Class1: The plane has to take off do a loop and land with as much water as possible still in the container.
   • Class 2: take off and landing with as much water as possible in the container.
   • Class 3: taxi from one end of the strip and back again (the plane is allowed to stop during the course)
7. Touch and goes comp. 7^th September. For class 1 and 2. 10 loops for league 3. Luke

In The Trade

The club has long been associated with Dave and Mick Charles – who I am sure need no introduction to anyone – don’t forget that club members get a discount at Mick Charles Models - but it seems several other members are getting involved with the trade side of model flying these days:

• Both Jeff Cosford and Luke Shaw fly for the Pete Tindals team. At this year’s Sandown Show Luke (one of our youngest members) put on a superb show with an Innovation Pro including low level prop hanging and torque rolls. Luke spent a lot of time ensuring that the model was as light as possible.
• John Bransgrove’s next door neighbour is ATS Mayneline Products so if you want a Dingbat or any of their other products it is well worth a word with John first.
• Now Peter Ross – our most distant member, he lives in Somerset – has gone one further and bought a company. I’ll let him tell his story:

Victor Kayam – Mk II

As many of you may well remember, when I moved to Somerset 10 years ago (yes it really was that long ago!), I effectively gave up flying. Two years ago the bug bit again and I built another VK Cherokee. I have since started teaching two local friends to fly from our own private field. (If you want to visit, you’d be very welcome, we mainly fly Sunday morning, but can fly 24/7.) The electric bug also bit, and I tried a couple of electric gliders, but found I was wanting more.

The choice was either an Easy Street or Crossfire. Having seen both, I opted for Crossfire, and when ordering from Howard Metcalf, he told me it would be one of the last ones he would sell, as he was giving up, owing to ill health. I rang him back an hour later and told him that if he thought of selling the rights to Crossfire, please let me know.

In February I went to see Howard, and bought the rights to Crossfire, and have sold several kits already. People seem to like the style of the aeroplane, which flies really well on a standard 600 motor, and by all accounts is totally ballistic with the new brushless motors – watch out for Jeff and John Bransgrove’s models which will be powered with Jeti 15/4 motors. They are going to be my ‘demo’ pilots, when I do some of the shows later this year (hopefully Woodspring Wings will be the first). At the other end of the flying spectrum, the stall is almost non-existent, as with full up and full up trim at 40 ozs, it just gently ‘mushes’. It is very ‘slippery’, and very, very aerobatic. Flight times of 9 minutes are not uncommon, and one customer told me that he had a flight of over half an hour, when he hit a thermal. As you know, it slope soars well, even with a full battery pack, and even better when you replace the motor battery with an Rx battery and adjust the CG. The uncovered airframe weighs just 9 ozs!

As a special offer and ‘thank you’ to all my old friends in the Esher MFC, I would like to offer you Crossfire at the special price of £49.99, which includes P & P free (normally £4.50). I can take cash (always nice!), cheque (kit despatched on clearance) or credit / debit card (immediate despatch). Delivery is usually next day, by Royal Mail ‘signed for’ delivery.

Contact me on 01749 679739 or email pete.ross@totalise.co.uk. The new web site should be up and running soon, I hope – www.x-fire-net. Hope to see you again soon.

Peter Ross (Rosso!!!)

Stop Press

Just as I was going to print – I got an email from Luke – It seems that his second display at Sandown on Saturday – after most of us would have gone home – wasn’t quite the success of his first display. I’ll let Luke tell it:

"The unthinkable happened! In the last slot of the day I was getting better and better. I could continuously torque roll really well and do climbing inverted flat spins. It was the best I had ever flown! All of a sudden a spin doctor flying low and very fast slammed into the innovation pro in the middle of a really low torque roll. Both planes were almost completely torn apart .It was the most violent and spectacular mid air I had ever seen. Pete is giving me another kit but the amount of work (70 hours plus, doing all the weight saving) down the drain is still phenomenal. It’s a great pity because that was the best plane I had ever flown. It was only its fourth flight. Never mind, at least I have the great but brief memories. The next one will be better." Luke

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