| March certainly tuned out to be a blinding month for good weather and good luck. First let me say a big THANK YOU to Ben from Birmingham who saved the What's Old section of this column for years to come by responding to my plea for 1977 Radio Modeller magazines (see end of What's Old for full story). Numerous days of flying were had
by all with visits to Bumpy Green which included a test flight
of Tony's new Freestyle.
The Thermal 220 had plenty of air-time especially with the wind and thermal activity just right. Flight times in excess of 30 minutes on the 3000mAh NiMH packs and an even longer flight on a 2100mAh Nicad when a breeze picked up and wafted the glider skywards for almost an hour. That flight only had to be cut short for someone on a shared channel to fly.
The Zephyr from Ripmax also proved to be a great success on the 3000mAh cells with fully powered flights of over 20 minutes. Exception handling even at very low speed, with plenty of power on 7 cells to haul it skyward. It really is a wonderful plane to fly on a calm day with no hurry to get anywhere and can easily be flown within half a football pitch without any problems, (unless of course the footballers complain). The Modeltech Magic went out with it's new carbon undercarriage and wheel spats, looking very pleased with itself. And rightly so, it is one of the easiest planes to fly I have built and one of the most enjoyable to build.
Since going with Tony to film the Freestyle in action I have admired it for the fantastic aerobatic model that it is, as well as been impressed by the multitude of colours schemes I have seen them in. Tony is the proud owner of the latest Freestyle off the hand made production line and the owner of Freestyle models came to visit Bumpy Green to finalise the setup and engine tuning with Tony. |
Big
news this month of '77 was the formal Public Inquiry by Bromley Council
to discuss a total ban powered model flying in the parks of the large
London borough. With the full story yet to be reported it seemed there
was cause for concern over action being taken against individual and
clubs flying in the area. the SMAE was out in force supporting the modellers
with an appointed lawyer and barrister fighting the case for some of
the site which had been flown on for years. The outcome of the enquiry
would not be known for some months.
Pavel Bôsák was not impressed with the boxy trainers
of the day so set about designing something that flew like a trainer
but looked much more like a real plane. Many subjects were available,
Cessna types and the Piper Cub range all made excellent scale models
that could be flown much like a trainer but Pavel was still not impressed.
His design takes after the Vought A-7 Corsair II US Navy jet fighter.
With the detailing and colour scheme used it looked much more like a
scale model than a trainer but handled so gently it could be flown by
a relatively inexperienced pilot without difficulty. With a wingspan
of 59", the Corsair was designed for .61 size engines to be flown
on 4 channel standard radio equipment. Simple all built up construction
with straight forward techniques used throughout made the design appealing,
even to the novice builder.
Featured plan was the Sopwith Baby designed by Brian Downham.
Taken from the original Sopwith Tabloid design that became known as
the Sopwith Schneider after Howard Pixton won the coveted Sea-Plane
trophy race for Britain in 1914. Subsequently sub-contracted for Royal
Navy construction order it was also built as the Blackburn Baby.
Motor Miscellany with Peter Chin saw two very different designs
on his workbench this month. The Cox Conquest .15 was a rear exhaust
port type which featured a special silencer that allowed normal side
fitting if required. A new venture for the American engine company,
famous to this day for it's range of Tee-Dee engines. 
Kavan Alouette 2 report part 2 from Tony Bray continued his
assessment of the latest rotary wing model available. Having experienced
tail boom vibration during the first flight Tony details the cause and
his solution to the problem from the manufacturer. Other modifications
included strengthened rotor hub, transmission baseplate and tail rotor
gearbox. Additional strengthening parts were added for the landing skids
and tail boom to improve on parts shipped with original kits. With Kavan
actively sending parts to registered model owners and all new kits being
shipped with upgrades included it went a long way in restoring confidence
in a model with; as the reviewer puts it: "most scale like appearance
both on the ground and in the air."
Dave Hughes (editorial
director of RM) was looking into the possible conflicts of interest
between slope soaring modellers and pilots of full size gliders and
hang gliders. With increased interest in all three aspects of flying
the SMAE and the British Hang Glider Association (BHGA) had mae official
contact through the Central Council for Physical Recreation (CCPR)
to minimise problems and increase awareness of safety at shared flying
sites. Also under scrutiny was the activity of cross country flying
with the possible implications of passing through model club controlled
airspace and causing problems with radio frequency usage.
Blackburn
MAC turn out for a WWI scale Fly-In event. With a grey sky and a wind
chilled day there was still a good turn out for the event with many
fine models displayed.
A
very happy (and young) Mick Reeves reveals his latest
plan design. An 80" span 1/6th scale Hawker Hurricane with veneered
foam wings and built up stringered fuselage to keep an absolute scale
look to the model. Destined for release as a kit later that year it
was sure to be of interest to Battle of Britain warbird modellers.
Final
shot is from one of the Riddlesdown Model Flying 'Smugglers Cup' gathering.
Such meetings were held regularly and included exciting contests including
timed flight to landing with mandatory manoeuvres, hot spot landing
and flying relay race. Other events hosted by the club have included
the BBQ's, charity fetes and two shows, one of which drew a crowd of
10,000.
