A trip to Wincanton Falcons fun fly day last year.
After slaving away during the winter months to build a quarter scale Spitfire, all I wanted to do was fly the model at one of the local shows. Due to the foot and mouth epidemic there were no other shows on in the area except the one hosted by the Wincanton Falcons. The trip there was no more than an hour for me so off I went to see if I could fly there. I was made most welcome by the Falcons and had a great day's flying.

It so happened I met a chap there known to some of you, a Mr Steve Vine. He was full of wit and made the day even more fun with his comical observations. I am glad now to call him one of my friends. Any way on to Steve's design, the TITAN II. After seeing the TITAN team display at woodsprings and watching Steve Holland throwing his yellow beast around the sky I made my mind up to build one and join the Woodsprings team in 2003.

After approaching Steve Vine about construction and purchasing a set of plans, construction was underway. The plans are 1/2 scale so a bit of measuring and tweaking was in order, nothing an 11 year old could not do. Simply multiply by 2 as easy as that.... Lo and behold a TITAN II appeared before my eyes in a short time 1 week from start to finish as basically all it is, is a big box .The foam wings proved to cause a but of a there headache, as they are 3.3/4 inches thick. And I didn't have access to any thing larger than 3 inches. (The foam silly). A scout around work and my prayers were answered by a piece of blue foam 8 inches thick now I was in business. Due to the density of the blue foam 10 lightening holes were made in the wing to try and lighten it. A quick call to Glen's models and a brand spanking new ZENOAH 62 was sat on my bench with all the fittings such as tank and trumpet, etc so the plane was duly finished, in glass skin and profilm. Steve kindly appeared at my flying club with his TITAN for me to twiddle the sticks and WOW, it did every thing I could wish for in a plane, in fact more than I was capable of doing. Steve put the plane through its paces and I had my own flying display right there. I went home happy and determined to fit the radio and get the beast flying ASAP. So to the test fly, the Zenoah was fired up and run in at home so nothing was stopping me from flying the TITAN. I flicked the prop and the engine burst into life, a quick taxi to check the ground handling and away she went no trim was needed and she preformed as well if not better then Steve's. (Due to a more rearward C of G Steve said later.)

I had missed the Woodspring venue for this year so I took the plane to Exeter fun fly day and had a couple of proving flights on their fantastic strip. While I was there I meet up with the Exeter sec (Colin) and invited him to fly my Spitfire. Colin was impressed with the Spits flying and decided to come up to our club site, for a days flying. I decided to leave the Spitfire at home that day as I needed to improve my TITAN flying. The Zenoah was tanked up and away she went, me with a big smile in my face as all watched the TITAN doing giant loops and rolls. I bit of height and an expert bunt was achieved but to my horror every thing then stopped working. The TITAN carried on bunting merrily on its own while I checked that all transmitters were off. Calling out to all to look out as the TITAN carried on bunting - still all on its own! NOTHING WORKED, not even the failsafe kicked in. As the TITAN carried on bunting; all I could do was watch in despair as it carried on to its inevitable destruction. It was now being blown down wind bunting all the way. Cars were got and the chase was on I stood on the patch watching my latest creation bunting 1/2 a mile away. The TITAN ( in a bin bag ) was brought back to the site and a post-mortem was preformed.





All the radio which was well wrapped in foam worked as soon as the wayward battery was plugged in. Yes the receiver battery had broke away from its Velcro strip and pulled out of it socket. The new Zenoah was totalled and the plane was written off. A very expensive lesson but one I shall take to heart never but never rely on Velcro to hold your battery pack in place (not on it's own anyway). The TITAN project is on hold for a few weeks while GLENS models gets back with a repair bill for the engine.

Oh well Happy Flying.

Twas very sorry I was to see the wreckage of the model, having only once before seen such total destruction when a wing folded up on a large model of mine. That was something which could have been prevented by the addition of a better wing bandage and Poor Phil's mishap could also have been prevented too. The mistake Phil won't make again is to forget the gravity of the situation :)
Just imagine the weight of the battery when suddenly subjected a 10 G negative manoeuvre i.e., six or seven ounces times ten! Yes the battery could suddenly weigh SEVENTY OUNCES!
Can the Velcro really hold that much? Ok so now we can all learn by Phil's unfortunate event.

I know that Phil won't be without a Titan for very long because I can still see the smile on his face when he flew it :)

Article by Phil Parmiter
8th September 2002