Pete Milne send off - surfer style

Whew, there was a mob, all catching up on some yack yack before the formalities.















Sneaky one of our thermal legend Mike Summers with MB5 above and Kobus in foreground.















Look carefully and you see the circle of paddlers in the sea - spanning generations.
















The surfers head out for the closing paddle.















The landlubbers joining in - all go to throw a flower stem in the sea.















Some of Muddlers in attendance, spanning the generations as well. Seano, Michel, Russ, Sy, Kobus, Glen, Andre and John.
















John Acutt chatting Merl Milne, Pete's missus.















The were a number of Pete's very special paintings on display, along with PSS models and surf boards. The one at my home was a presentation to yours truly at the 2000 slope races. A painting of the Charlies Rudnick Silver Falcons Impala (the crappy cell pic does it no justice). Charlie was active in F3B and flew the Berg Cross Countries. Tragically died at an airshow when the wing of the Silver Falcon tore away.

The surfers have a gospel of their own and it brought back memories of "Endless Summer", listening to the fascinating tales about Pete from four surfers and two of the grandsons. Kobus kept the soaring side up with an excellent upbeat chat of his own, incorporating some interesting excerts from the bible to illustrate Pete's very special character. The summarised history of Pete is located elsewhere on the blog.

Neat slide show on surfing blog:

http://www.thebombsurf.com/thebombsurfslideshows/322/peter-milne-memorial

Mr Springfield soars away - RIP Pete Milne

This sms from Kobus Visage, Pete Milne's Springfield soaring buddy of recent years:

"Pete Milne passed away last nite peacefully in his sleep while on his bed listening to his music."

Hope to add more of Pete's chock a block history at a later stage, kinda sad at the mo. Our own legend.

The pic of Russ and Pete at our last Springfield slope session with ole Pete, just recently. Pretty damn good for 86!

UPDATE FROM KOBUS:

"The celebration of Peter Milne's life will be on Tuesday 19th January at Point Yacht Club (Vetchies Pier) at 2pm. Dress Casual. Bring boards if you want to partake in the paddle out. Regards, the Milne and Payne families."

Viva Velocity - wind the sound up full!

Nothing like an after work session - most favourite e foamy ever.....

The new year with Springfield Chickens

First pic is the year in making Christmas present Spirit of St Louie foamy that flew most creditably on rudder elevator control only.

Second pic is our first Tuesday evening in ages at the pristine Umhlanga college parkie site to start 2010, blessed with perfect weather - Paul on the Rainbow sticks under the watchful eye of the Nelson clan.

Third pic is another magic early Saturday morning session to start 2010. Mike Smith joins the Electron clan, with Mark Phillips holding the little Voodoo Mustang after its successful maiden. This lightweight came from Radio Active complete with 400 brushless at an excellent price and flew straight off with not one peep of trim on any control surface!

Final pic is Russ Conradt's beaut glassing completed Toksix (Toko wing and Phase 6 fuselage) to take on the Tossers at the forthcoming Toss 2010 comp. Turns the excellent Toko wing in to a useful aerobatic machine.

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

The chickens also ventured out to Summerveld for an interesting first Bill Vos thermal league comp for 2010. No less than 16 pilots competed, unfortunately forgot to take some pics! Four happenings in the first ten days - maybe control line next.....? ;-)

Ze Ultimate parkie aileron trainer?

Mark picked up this little gem parkie, called "Rainbow" from Fun Fly for a measly R260. It was covered in clear wrap so he replaced with iron on covering and passed to Paul. Paul then bolted the little cheapie Witblitz suppo motor (nogal), cheapie green 800mah pack and two strips of sticky lead to balance, it has a very short nose obviously originally intended for something far more gufty. After a couple of sorting sessions, Paul is now happily trundling around at telephone height on half throttle. The craft is absolutely viceless and will not stall despite the neutral elevator trim - it happily hangs on the prop at 60 degree nose up angle and simply will not bite. Much can be attributed to the friendly fat wing section but we are still at a complete loss to explain the lack of stall, it just mushes and refuses to drop a wing - magic for novice aileron flying.

Mark's E 2M RE now with a commercial pylon and some colour trim, all ready for some Drakensberg flying. Also tested fine and looking forward to the sms when it achieves its first 20 minutes thermal flight in the Drakensberg. These pre work 6:00am flight test sessions go so damn quick and it is suddenly 7:45am and time for work!

Breakfast run - pylon mount E 2M RE

The mgasa chat on a RE 2 metre postals for 2010, maybe (just maybe) bolstered with launch height limit e power, plus the need for Drakensberg holiday play plane, sparked Mark Phillips to cobble this interesting looking 2 metre together.

A Baker Rascal fuselage mated to a Baker Impulse(?) two metre wing provided the base for a completely home brew pylon fashioned out of foam, resin and glass cloth. Power was provided from an ancient Dualsky 400 brushless and a Rhino 1250 pack from a Witblitz racer.

To say this writer was somewhat dubious pre the sunrise launch would be an understatement....... Even the builder was moved to say a test was a must before applying the cosmetic finishes to the model.

Ir was decided to hand launch to trim and the plane flew out of launcher Mark's hand true as a die and kept going and kept more going, so the throttle was tickled on and eventually opened wide open in to a true off the drawing board first flight. The Dualsky 400 easily prodded the plane up to a thumb suck "launch" height in well under 30 seconds, much to the pilot's surprise.

The plane flew amazingly well and covered sky most efficiently. There was an ever so slight initial nose down pitch if the throttle was poked open, probably a nice feature from a launch stability aspect.

Landing revealed that thread lock was a needed as the motor mounting screws were coming loose - unfortunately something that could not be resolved on the field and the day was called after a couple more test flights.

I had always regarded pylon mount as iffy but this result on a real cheapie power option really impressed and is an obvious improvement on nose mounts for spot landings - definite food for thought.....

Winston turns it on - 16 December - Russ's perspective

There are some days when you make the right call, and yesterday was one of those days. On the way to Gromor, a call to Dave prompted a diversion to Winston Park and maiden the Toksix. What waited for us could never have been pre-empted. Booming lift to the heavens saw a call to a sickly Mark who promptly arrived, with better half Claire in the navigators seat, (a trip to the Pot and Kettle for a woman is never to be sneezed at, no doubt the budget took a dent). Mark thoroughly enjoyed his session with the Hooker Mid phase although a superb landing by Dave, with a fluttering fin trying to convert itself to a v-tail due to partially coming loose.

By his own admission, Dave acknowledged that we don't use these occasions when the wind comes through. Dave certainly enjoyed getting back to flying the cross tail Prodij, and a twiddle on the sticks left me wondering if I shouldn't be getting one of those for the Toss event.

With my new project Toksix, I was apprehensive to say the least, for me personally Winston has always been a venue with the most difficult landing zone, I have broken my Toko's there, too many times to mention. The raw balsa fuz of the Toksix was sure to go home in pieces, but the fear was taken away with two perfect touchdowns. Now to glass the 200gram structure and paint in time for the Toss event.

The best was saved for last as a magnificent Black eagle cruised up the hill from low on the left, being bugged by the ever present yellow billed kites, I was a bit slow in getting my camera, but its wingspan was easily as big as Dave's Prodij.

What an enjoyable couple of hours with friends and my daughter Kelly even enjoying the peace of this truly remarkable piece of hill.

Till next time, I am in the workshop building Phase Six fuzzes for two of my mates!!!!

A very satisfied sloper
Russ

Project X "Toksix" takes to the air

The 16th provided sunny and windy conditions that derailed a visit to the Gromor fly-in but provided perfect conditions for a mid morning visit to Winston Park for the bare bones maiden of the Russ Conradt developed and built "Toksix".

The second shot captures the launch a fraction of a second after leaving Russ's hand. The Winston Park site still a magic local venue and the conditions were perfect. The aim was for an ideal blend of wing performance and fuselage aerobatic shape and the combination proved flawless with Russ now moving to the fuselage glassing final stage.

A pat on the back for those working out how the name evolved. ;-)

It was also the first perfect occasion for Dave at last getting quality time on the Prodij and benefiting from some trim advice from Russ. Well worth the wind burnt face the day after!

We were joined by Umdloti Electron's Mark and Clair Phillips and Mark had the best ever session on his "Hooker" Phase. The final pic of Mark revelling in the perfect conditions.

KZN heli day at Durban Model Centre's Valley Club

There is hope for Natal fever ridden Kzn after all. Youngster Will Cranmer put a lot of graft in organising the Durban Model Centre Helicopter fly in at the Valley club.

Much hard work had been put in to the manicured grass field, complete with peg frequency control and neat litter bins.

09h00 Saturday and the car park surprisingly full already, given the threatening weather. The pilots gathered together and Will gave a most competent briefing, with string emphasis on the safey element. The out of otown vehicle registrations included Howick and Newcastle.

This pair of natty electrics caught my eye and gave an excellent display, to complement the larger gas 3D versions that were mind boggling!

Some of the pit area, a gazebo is the answer for the expensive kit.

All areas neatly sign posted in the beautiful setting.

The only heli exception was Michel Leusch's awesome Sukhoi. Probably not too far from the heli concept as is spent 98% of the flight hanging on the prop!

The Sukhoi pulling away from the dam, moments after splashing the water with the rudder.

Post flight chat.

Yup, you even knew where the port a loo was.

Full credit to Will for initiating the event, which will surely lead to other local events of a similar type.

E Correx

Spotted Andrew doing some after work parkie flying on the way home and had a gander at the these interesting Correx home builds. Reminded just good low wing racer style craft look in the air and flew really sweetly. What was most interesting was that Andrew uses the Turnigy cheapie as opposed to our Suppo motors - the propeller bolting up against a really, really, beefy support and pretty much obviates bent shafts after prop smacks. The two tone colour schemes also magic for sundowner flying.

Sy 1's "I used to be confused but now not so sure..."

No sooner had yours truly whined about the rain when the summer slope winds snuck up on us. An sms from Russ had Pete, Paul, Mark and Dave up at Springfield for the first Summer session on Saturday. Honestly thought the blow would flatten out the lift but conditions were excellent. Russ tested out a new Lazer Kiss for Pete Milne, after tearing up the hill with the Hotrod Toko.

Paul and Mark had their first slope run with the team buddy cord on Mark's Middle Phase.

Russ saved the best for last. A Toko wing on a Pete Milne Kiss fuselage. Looks the real deal for aerobatics without the T tail squirrel rolls and the longer moment length seemed to stabilise the axial rolls as well. The quickie cell pic does it no justice.

So inspired was Dave that he grimed off the plastic slope planes for the first time in ages (since Toss January?) and cycled up for Sunday. The view from the office suggested a Southeaster, which is generally brief before swing toward either of the two prevailing directions. The ships started to tweak slightly toward the NE and hesitation set in. A lunch time sms failed to "Russel" up any support and being loath to visit Derek's Dale alone, more hesitation set in. The SE seemed to settle in, if anything, so it was gamble on the Bluff for the SE but Murphy's Law it had swung SW but the time of arrival at the Bluff. Some frantic calls to Brian Duckitt saw a now 4:30pm arrival at Winston Park. Bill, Mike, Jonathan and Springfield legend Lynn Bowen had all enjoyed some pleasant flying and it was magic to derust with the Le Coquillaj after a long lay off from the Winston slope. Jonathan holding Le Coq with ever cheerful Lynn seated. Must have been a fairly long derust cause the left shoulder was kinda tweaked after, from holding the tranny!

Desperate measures

Kzn'ers are going through the normal phase of indifferent flying weather at time of the year. The little electron clan has been fairly lucky at the Saturday sunrise sessions but little else, otherwise. It was thus with some surprise to be heading to work at 6:00am in the damp and dreary morn after a rainy couple of days, to spy this enterprising fella bungee shooting a Zagi off the beach! Obviously very keen cause the shortish bungee, affixed at the outlet pipe, was only tossing the model up max ten metres, if that. A quick roll or suchlike and back to launcher for the next launch trudge. Time was pressing so it was a quick snap and on to work without chatting. The cell pic blows up badly but one can just make out the outline of the Zagi in his grip, a nano second before launch.

The new buddy cord in operation

The lads invested in a team buddy cord to counter the hassles of different modes and avoid the snatch the box syndrome. Only taken Dave about 35 years to get one and an instant success for Paul and Mark!
There had been mutterings about the frustrations of scale slope flying if the wind does not play ball so Mark went one step better and converted a cheapie Chinese soarer (secured off the excellent Berg blog, by the way) to Eflite 480 power. The craft is pretty light and performance surprisingly robust from this excellent value motor. Mark took Russ's advice and tweaked the dihedral to 2 degrees each side. Looks dead right in the air and flies magic.

Local PSS legend visits Umdloti Electrons

We were privileged to have 86 years young Pete Milne join us at Umdloti Electrons Saturday morning. Definitely a die hard modeller and did not hesitate when Russ offered to collect him at 05h20!

Just how early is evident from the slightly foggy but perfect for e flying conditions.

The Cub had been rustled together from cheapie bits to illustrate that parkie flying can be enjoyed on a shoe string - the Cub tootling along fine on the EMax two hundred buck cheapie motor from Denkit, along with ex Witblitz 1300ma lipo and the surprisingly good ex Skylark Chinese radio. Before long, uncle Pete was plotting how to electrify his PSS Cub.

Thanks to Russ for snapping the pics.

Shoreline

I had been intrigued by the pre-promo of the excellent SABC TV2 "Shoreline" weekly series but only actually caught up with the series after it had already ventured down the west coast and was (fortunately) at the TOSS Red Hill venue at Simonstown - which gave that venue an added interest after our slope event back in January.

Been following it up the east coast, in awe at some of the lesser known stunning slope soaring possible spots, but equally engrossed in all aspects of this absorbing local series. There is just so much we do not know about our homeland.....

Kudus to SABC for a magic production, wow. Try catch the last episode or so, if you can, Monday evenings.

My first experiences with the Parkshark had been diluted with the iffy power of two cells and an ever present coastal breeze. Saturday and Monday yielded un-commonly eerie still conditions and the Park Shark proved an absolute delight with three cell power. Even swerved off at sundown for a quick fly then also could not resist another floodlight flight after Shoreline last night.

Really impressed with parkie plank concept but less so with foam so next step is a slightly stretched one of these little Frazzle beasties:

http://www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk/flp_plans_wing.html

Spring has arrived, yippie.....!!!!

Cheers

Dave

Dis 'n dat

Those looking for an economical one off trophy, instead of the flaky and expensive gold plastics need look no further than these natty personalised clocks dreamed up by Dieter Schauerte of the Natal Radio Drivers Association. A damn nice award for just under R50 a pop. Will have pride of place on the trophy shelf, the box just to stop it rolling around at present.

Been scouring the net for something new to give the kind of zing experienced from the Velocity 2 and up popped Russ Conradt with these stunning glassed and pre-painted wings from Craig Baker at Cloudbase Composites - Russ's Blue and white beaut at left:

http://cloudbase-composites.blogspot.com/

Complete with sharkie tips and motor pod, it would be criminal to gouge holes in the glass finish for the gear and bright spark Mark Phillips came up with the idea of fitting the Velocity deck and canopy on to a home shaped foam base and nose cone and thus hold the gear on top (not inside ;-).

Mark holding Dave's Igazi (now christened Vigazi ;-) to illustrate the amazingly perfect fit of the Velocity deck - an order has already been dispatched for three such decks and time will show the success of these super fast moldie wings, reputed to have all the zap of the Roullete with less of the terror!