My name is Dave Whiston, I work and live in Portugal. Previously I worked in Mexico (hence the name) and prior to that 5½ years in Brazil and 3½ years in Spain.

I was looking through my camera files the other day and found these shots of the Whiston Armada being packed up and readied for transport from Mexico. Having already moved over a large distance, I had first hand experience of what happens when damage occurs, basically the insurance DO NOT PAY UP. So I constructed a wooden coffin which theoretically could withstand a direct hit from a small atomic device, (so how was I to know that a Mexican baggage handler is more lethal??) Having measured up the fuselage and wings each was then fitted into the case and supported with polystyrene foam, and just to be on the safe side I dropped in bags of Silica to reduce the chances of damp getting into anything important. Everything was then supported and cross braced, surprisingly the whole thing did not weigh too much and two guys easily carried it out to the truck. The problem is obviously what happened between the truck and the ship !! To be honest I did expect more damage, but it is always saddening when something gets knocked about. I took a shot of the Cessna front, I know it’s not a difficult repair but I like many of you just do not have the time available so unfortunately my favourite plane is pending at this time! As you can see the interior also got slightly trashed. But we should try to remain positive about these things so I am going to use the opportunity to revamp her a bit, I never liked the push rod installation in the plan and have always wanted to move the rudder and elevator servos more to the rear of the fuselage to shorten the push rods and clean the layout up a bit. Now in the last write up I got to the maiden flight of the Decathlon, well it was not with out event, we got to the site early and set up, the magnum 52 fitted fired up straight off an we reset the needle valve setting to run just a tad rich, range checks with engine running completed, Mike pointed her down the runway and I opened the throttle. Initially everything went great tracking was easy to handle with a touch of right rudder and she broke ground after about 90 feet, climbing out smoothly until the engine cut (OOPS!!) Luckily there is a bit of a run off at the end of the runway so I managed to glide in resulting in a slightly bent wing support. Back to the start up point and off we went again (Double checked engine this time) just as the first attempt, straight down the runway and up and away, I got up to about 2 mistakes worth of height and started a circuit, noticing the aircrafts lack of interest in turning. So I brought her back down and we had a look at it. Nothing could be seen to be out of whack and I knew the throws, balance etc was exactly to the manual, so just for fun I doubled the throws on the ailerons (It was a nice day and I was feeling lucky!). OFF again and now we were flying much better but I must admit she still feels a little vague, I might try moving the C of G back ½ inch to see if that makes any improvement.

Now in the last write up I got to the maiden flight of the Decathlon, well it was not with out event, we got to the site early and set up, the magnum 52 fitted fired up straight off an we reset the needle valve setting to run just a tad rich, range checks with engine running completed, Mike pointed her down the runway and I opened the throttle. Initially everything went great tracking was easy to handle with a touch of right rudder and she broke ground after about 90 feet, climbing out smoothly until the engine cut (OOPS!!) Luckily there is a bit of a run off at the end of the runway so I managed to glide in resulting in a slightly bent wing support. Back to the start up point and off we went again (Double checked engine this time) just as the first attempt, straight down the runway and up and away, I got up to about 2 mistakes worth of height and started a circuit, noticing the aircrafts lack of interest in turning. So I brought her back down and we had a look at it. Nothing could be seen to be out of whack and I knew the throws, balance etc was exactly to the manual, so just for fun I doubled the throws on the ailerons (It was a nice day and I was feeling lucky!). OFF again and now we were flying much better but I must admit she still feels a little vague, I might try moving the C of G back ½ inch to see if that makes any improvement 2 days later back at the field with no further changes to aircraft, she suddenly developed a violent swing to the left at take off, resulting in slight fuselage damage (already repaired) Engine still refuses to run cleanly so I will try raising the fuel a bit, we ran on 15% in Mexico and the magnum ran sweetly, in Portugal 10% is recommended and to be honest it runs like a dog! One thing I will definitely miss from Mexico are the Buzzards, Seagulls just are no fun. I spent many a happy hour dog fighting a Buzzard or two with my Albatross, I almost got the tall feathers of one once but he somehow managed to tuck his bum in at the last moment!

Anyway found a few shots of some of my mates models in Mexico so I thought I would share them with you! First up are a couple of turbine models, both of which seemed to be good trainer types, (But having never flown a jet I have absolutely no idea!!) anyway both had engines which I understand are copies of an engine produced in Spain. The engines being “knocked up” in some ones garage in Mexico City (must be a bloody fair garage!) The delta wing suffered a flame out whilst flying some way down wind and as we were late to get home the last I saw was the owner disappearing into the distance (about 2 miles away) These things are pretty damn quick so when things go wrong the model is actually going away from you in big strides, which itself equates to a lot of ground to cover to find the model afterwards (perhaps they should fit one of those lost model things) it’s a lot of money to lose! Next up is this very nice Chipmunk ( I think that’s what it is !) anyway it really did fly nice powered by an OS 120m four stroke it had flaps and retracts, the landing looked so solid and straight I even considered one ( perhaps later ) Now this is a strange one, from what I could find out it was a Home design, the wing is about 6 ½ foot. You can see the wing is in 3 sections, the tips come off just out board of the twin booms. The engine is an OS 60 2 stroke with a pusher prop. Undercarriage is fixed and the model is not fitted with flaps. I understand this is the third one he built (didn’t get his name) numbers 1 and 2 proved unstable and had a coming together with the ground! This one seemed a bit twitchy to me but the owner got another person to get it off the ground and set up the trims. Watching it in flight, I thought if they reduced the rates a little it would make it less nervous, once lined up for landing the model seemed to track in nicely, the engine size seemed to be spot on .

This “was “ my Arresti. In fact my 3rd Brilliant model, and none of them were lost due to pilot error! #1 was lost due to a failure of a transmitter an old Futaba (Which if I had any sense I would have thrown in the bin along time ago !!) It now is used solely on the computer flight simulator. #2 Lost due to receiver switch failure, unfortunately we put it down to crystal or receiver problems. This of course was only identified after it resulted in loss of #3. But if I can find another !!! See you soon!

Article by Dave Whiston from Portugal
For Bumpy Green Model Aerodrome
From the archives of 2005