Innehållsförteckning för August 2024 från RCM&E

Welcome to the August 2024 issue of RCM&E. How o ten do you fly? More precisely, how many lights do you make in each session? Years ago, I used to lug one glow powered model and my light-box across a field to my first model lying site and I considered myself lucky to get three lights notched up. But having mostly ‘gone electric’ these days I now take two or three models and far too many LiPos. My usual light count is now four to six lights in a morning, which used to be fine, but now I’m cracking on a bit I find that I’m increasingly tired and achy after a session. And if I try to do an ‘all-dayer’ (as I did yesterday) then by the time the…

In the fullness of time the T31 Tandem Tutor made its debut at CMFC on a typical grey day, with the cloud base barely over our heads. There was one reason to be cheerful, however; at least the endless gales had given way to an eerie temporary calm. We hooked the ‘Flying Airbrake’ up to the tug and shook hands with Aviation. No trouser-altering issues manifested themselves during the tow and then it was time for the landing. This is where the surprise kicked in. I was expecting a graceless dump as the drag overcame the li t but instead a nice floaty landing with a satisfying roll out ensued. ‘Well, I never’, I thought to myself, ‘who knew?’ A few weeks later, during a monsoon break, the chance to…

The Type 6 Kite has been much modelled over the years, small wonder with its attractive appearance and gull semi-elliptical wings etc. It was some years later that the Slingsby concern decided to modify the design to improve its aerodynamic qualities by extending the pylon to render the wings further away from the fuselage. This is a model of the Type 23, as it was named, of which one only was built, and it never went into production. Scaled to have the same dimensions as my previous rendition of the Prefect, this is a very handily sized scale glider whose modest proportions belie its ability to fly. The airframe is almost entirely built from balsa, other than the longerons and spars, plus the ply hatch into which the windscreen brackets…

For those who haven’t been noticing what’s happening down in Dorset, there has been a renaissance of Parkjet activity and a resurgence of the fabled material called Depron - long thought lost to the world - brought about by one man. We are happy to publish an interview with Craig Clarkstone, a yacht designer by trade, who in his spare time has amassed a small air force of jet designs in sunny Bournemouth. BOYHOOD MEMORIES Q: Tell us, Craig, how did you get into model jets? A: My mum witnessed the golden age of jet aviation and she loved the speed and noise of the jets, especially the Vulcan bomber setting off all the car alarms! I caught the bug from her. Throughout my childhood I’d spend hours on making…

Having enjoyed piloting XFly-Model’s previous commercial jet, the J-65 biz jet of near 1.8 metre span, fitted with powerful twin 70 mm EDF units, my eyes were immediately drawn to their new pseudo airliner. I had imagined that it was the same sort of size, but I should have paid more attention to CML’s recent back page adverts in RCM&E introducing their new Twinliner, which is a much smaller model. When the kit arrived, I must admit to experiencing a slight twinge of disappointment, it being a little over half the span of the J-65. But not to worry. It may be small, but the Twinliner is perfectly formed and really does look like a modern jet airliner of the sort that is likely to take you on your summer…

Finally, after what has seemed like an eternity of wind, rain and more rain, the UK competition scene has kicked off and at the time of writing is now in full swing. The inclement weather took its toll on the early season training days that had been planned to be held at Leicester. My own club was waterlogged until the start of May, which firmly wrecked any pre-season training of the new FAI P25 and F25 schedules. FIRST EVENTS The Season Opener was held at Buckminster at the beginning of May with the 1st Centralised event held two weeks later at Hurley, Warwickshire. This competition, hosted by Steve Carefoot and a loyal band of volunteers from the Plane Crazy Model Flying Club, featured a small but high-quality entry, including all…

BUILDING WITH CORREX Phil Stone first started building in Correx in late 2018 and he has since built countless models using it, five of which have been Hawks. In his article Phil shows to make a Hawk T1 PSS slope soarer from this versatile material. There is a plethora of powered models which can readily be stripped out and converted to PSS, as well as balsa kits, but for anyone looking to get into PSS on a budget then building an aircraft in Correx may well be the answer. It is a twin-walled, luted, polypropylene sheet and is generally available in white but also black and a range other colours too. SLINGSBY KITE TYPE 23 As with Chris Williams’ other designs, this month’s Pro-Plan for the Slingsby Kite Type 23…

Some years ago, I bought a plan-built replica Keil Kraft Ladybird airframe at the much-missed Nats swapmeet. I fitted a little electric motor, together with all the electronic gizmos necessary to make it flyable as an electric free flight model. The motor bulkhead was mounted on adjustable screws to allow fine tuning of the side and down thrust at the field. Although test glides were successful, a house move saw the Ladybird stashed in a corner of the hangar where it has sat idle and forgotten for several years. With the advent of my fledgling machining journey - especially with the fabrication of simple carbs to suit my old diesels - I needed a model to house my little retro throttled .75cc DC Merlin engine and the Ladybird seemed ripe…

What a tremendous event the 2024 Free Flight Nationals was! The first F/F Nats to be held at the Walsall venue was in 2015 and since then the event has gone from strength to strength. With the addition of the Saturday R/C competition, the two-day event now attracts entries from across Europe. REALISM IN FLIGHT CLASSES I am not a free flight expert but thought a quick rundown of the basics may help you appreciate the nuances of the contest: Open Class: this is split into two further classes, Open Rubber FFX1 and Open CO2 or Electric FFX2. Both have an equal (50:50) static element and a flight element. The flight is judged on take-off, climb, cruise, descent and landing approach. For the flight to qualify the flight must be…

“A man who is tired of gliders is tired of life, for there is in glidering all that life can a ford”, as Samuel Johnson didn’t quite say. Still, it was difficult not to be struck by the diversity on display at Bickley’s late Spring open glider fly-in. The large North Kent club holds a number of themed gettogethers every year attracting flyers from across the South East. Go back 18 years or so and their electric meets were de rigueur, helping fuel enthusiasm and appreciation for what was then an up-and-coming genre. The more recent electric ducted fan day was memorable too, but gliders, soarers or sailplanes if you prefer, hadn’t featured until earlier this year when a warm and sunny May Sunday provided perfect conditions. “The large North…

'IT was the ‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ when I trundled my trusty model taxi eastwards towards Ashbourne airfield, that altar of wondrous pleasure and dashed hopes, dependant on what state your model was in when returned to your transport after a day’s flying, if you lasted that long. Each year, as Autumn begins to colour leaves and kids think about conkers, the Derbyshire RC Flyers hold their flying jamboree and send out their open invitation to ‘come and play nicely’ with others of the same persuasion. Scale is the name of the game, but that is a mantle that rests lightly on some pilot’s shoulders. Old friends, new faces, all were arriving in greater numbers than we’ve seen for many a year. Models were disgorged from stuffed car…