The News Letter Of
The Bury Metro Model Flying Club

Edited by Warren Sherman & William McElroy
Photos by Rob Tomlin & Eb Swarbr

November 2008
A New Build

Peter Futers latest project is a Flair Astro Hog.
I am delighted to highlight this build for the simple reason is that it is indeed, a build.
This is a traditional balsa and ply kit which requires traditional skills to transform a box of strip wood and sheet into a first class flying model.

Just in case your wondering why all the flying surfaces appear to be stuck on cocktails sticks, it’s because they are.
After a thorough sanding they have been treated to a coat of sanding sealer prior to the application of Solarfilm and the cocktail sticks keep them safe whist they are drying.

As you can see from the photos Peter is well on the way to the point of applying the covering but before he does so he has to decide on how to power the model.

A year ago and Peter, a confirmed “Nitrohead” would never have been faced with the dilemma of I.C. versus electric but how things have changed! Having seen the amazing advances in electrics over the last 12 months he is seriously

considering electrification. We’ll have to wait and see which side of the fence he falls!

Maiden flight.

Eb Swarbrick’s MS Bulldog foamie had proved a bit difficult for him and after a couple of attempts he asked me to give it a whirl and see if I could trim it out for him.
The first flight needed tons of “up” to maintain level flight and the aileron response was so sluggish that even with a mass of rudder it barely made at round at the end of the take off run.
Eventually it dumped itself un-ceremoniously on the hedge by the fence.

As it had escaped with no damage I wound in the “up“and tried again. This time the elevator was fine but after attempting a turn it simply refused to acknowledge my signals and once again ditched into the long grass. We gave it a coat of thinking about and after one more flight came to the conclusion that four ailerons running of one 9g servo was the cause of the signal loss and the mushy response was due to the supplied connector rods bending like soft spaghetti!

Apart from that it wasn’t too bad a model. Isn’t that like asking Mrs Lincoln how she enjoyed the opera!! Piccies to follow.
 

October Meeting’s Bring a Model Night

After official business, a motion to place a plaque in memory of the late Bernard Hoolihan on the inside of the gatepost at the field was voted on and passed unanimously.
The second half of the evening was “Bring a Model Night" and although the body count was low a goodly number of models were displayed and the piccies show just some of them.

New member Ian Watts Top Flite Spitfire Kit has been electrified, fitted with retracts and test flown.
It really looks terrific in the air and since the meeting has had the final finishing touches which include cannons and a proper paint job as seen here on the right.

Next up is a very nice Flair Fokker DVII built by Andy Watts and his class of students for a school project (nice work if you can get it) which looks almost to good to cover, although Andy tells us that the special lozenge design Solartex which has cost and arm and a leg will do the build justice and we all look forward to seeing it down at the field for its maiden flight soon.

 

 

 

The picture left, shows the Fokker in the foreground, Rob Tomlin’s Stampe in the background and some sort of “rotary wing” effort in the middle, not quite sure what it is but it could be a He**co**ter or some other spawn of the devil!

 

A very nice Black Horse EP mosquito from the hangar of Andy Monks is almost ready to go and the fuselage is packed to the gunnels with electrickery equipment.
It’ll either fly or make contact with beings from another galaxy very soon! Of course electrification in twin and multi engine models really does make life vary much easier for the pilot even if the build and wiring is somewhat complicated

 

 

 

Two Large scale “Oilers” were present in the form a Space Walker and a 1930’s DH Sparrow Hawk low wing racer which were beautifully finished and BIG! Sorry I don’t have more detail than that but the pictures speak for themselves I think.

Austen Ogden’s 65 inch Thunderbolt was looking very smart and is intended for a .70/1.0 4stroke, but Austin reckons a conversion to electric power is on the cards. The picture far left shows him and Andy Monks inspecting the retract system.
Yet more new models!

Despite a looming recession and the credit crunch we are still seeing our members throwing caution to the wind (and not an inconsiderable amount of folding stuff) on new models.
The first of which is Dean Walmersley’s Sebart Shark. Around 60” span and powered by a .40 electric equivalent motor this is one aggressive looking model. Dean of course is a novice and therefore passed the maiden flight over to Andy Monks but sooner or later Dean is determined to master this “killer of the deep”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not exactly a new model but an addition to an existing model, Rob Tomlin replaced the bomb on his Decathlon with a tiny twin EDF “stealth” style model.
The little foamie is one of many now available and usually flown indoors but fastened to the bomb release mechanism and controlled by a second pilot this diminutive model was taken to a reasonable height and released.

The difference in flying speed of the two models immediately became apparent as the bomber virtually stood still as the Decathlon continued it flight path.

After a moment or two it started to make progress and was flown back to the pit area after a fashion.

Good fun but not as good as watching Rob drop the original bomb and almost knocking himself out when it landed inches from that well know shiny target which encapsulates what we think is his brain!