Springfield chickens up north.....

The Umdloti Flyers (Geoff, Mathew, Claire, Mark and junior) celebrating the Currie cup win with the aptly decorated Sharkie - originally a Sticktime Bat which performed magically on its debute at Derek's Dale. Mike and Mathew with the Plane Game Skylark which has proved a revelation for accelerated learning.

Even Uncle Dave has a Skylark (for the god daughter, you understand ;-), which has opened up previously iffy spots for this small by efficient craft - off the back of the Umdloti pimple at sunset, for instance.....

The Inanda Dam view from the west side of Dereks Dale at 7:30 on a Saturday morning - very, very special.....

New blood is an amazing thing. As mentioned in blast from past, Mark Phillips is a product of the early nineties regular beginner sessions and enticed Dave to start up again closer to home. By sheer co-incidence, Plane Game offloaded a dozen or so little Chinese Skylark electric soarers, complete with bat, charger and 35 meg radio, all for R350 a pop. The guys had ou Dave out at Derek’s Dale at 7:30am (this is someone who does not believe in morning sloping) and between the slope lift and getting out of trouble with electric assist, the learning curve was accelerated at exponential rate. The were four of these little Chinese beasties and running between three all flying at the same time did wonders for the heart rate..... ;-) Guess what – a bunch of fun.

Name the Plane

Piet, your chance to win your beer back! Can you name the sloper in the picture? Also, more importantly, does anyone still own one locally. If you do, let me know please - the designer and creater of this strange looking design is asking.(pictures welcome)

Here you go!







Sorry Piet, Mike May beat you to it. Enjoy the Millers Mike.
It is, of course, a J.A.D.E. Telos from some twenty years ago. Richard Jarel is spooling up a limited re-run of these kits if anyone is interested. Here is the link http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=955809
(Thanks Dave for the link in the Comments section)
Mine is already ordered - any more takers? Oh, and anyone aware of anyone local who still has one still?

TOSS slope aerobatics end Jan 2009

Read about the event here:

http://www.toss.co.za/

De Havilland Hornet

Hi Guys,

If you've been wondering what I've been up to, well here she is! 2m wingspan scratchbuilt De Havilland Hornet with retracts and two Mamba Electric engines. The real aircraft came out in 1945 just to late to see action in WW2, so was the last piston engined fighter of the RAF as well as the arguably fastest. As she was to be mostly carrier based (against the Japs) she performs well at slow speeds. Single seater with 4 x 20mm cannon in the nose, she is the younger sister to the famous Mosquito. The real plane had 2000 Horsepower Rolls Royce Merlin engines each side (compare that to a 150 HP skiboat engine or a Beachcraft Barren 7 seater twin with only 450HP a side.

I am in the process of cladding the Nacelles (not easy!) and then have only the engine farings to make as well as the undercarriage doors, cockpit & canopy. I will be giving her a resin coat before spray painting. I started in March this year but will only be finished some time in the new year.

Electric power is a big learning curve. I have chosen 2 Scorpion Brushless Outrunners with 70A speed controller turning 15 x 8 props. batteries are 3000Mh 14.8V Lipo's. The total aircraft weight will be around 6kg's.

Building a monster like this is not for sissys......!