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BARCS Open / 100S models of Yesteryear (Pre-2000)


Jef Ott

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... the hard graft of cutting and shaping epoxy board

 

.... the hard graft of cutting and shaping epoxy board
 

 

Cutting and shaping epoxy board doesn't have to be hard graft if you use a Dremel cutting wheel for the cutting, and a powered bench sander for straight and convex edges. Concave edges can be a bit of challenge, but it is nearly always possible to find a Permagrit file that will do the job.
 

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... the hard graft of cutting and shaping epoxy board

 

 

Cutting and shaping epoxy board doesn't have to be hard graft if you use a Dremel cutting wheel for the cutting, and a powered bench sander for straight and convex edges. Concave edges can be a bit of challenge, but it is nearly always possible to find a Permagrit file that will do the job.

 

... or a Proxxon Circular Saw and a sanding block for the final fitting.  

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Tested the polyhedral CC Plus this evening.

Only got two very short flights though.

This was down to

  • lack of time (work commitments - got to drive to Leeds this evening),
  • bad wind direction - meaning only a short winch line could be used - and
  • the line knot coming undone on the 'chute).

Thanks for the tip Pete. The Calypso Contest Plus turns better now than it did with straight dihedral, but I am still not sure I like it, it seems "ungainly". The model may grow on me when I get some proper launches and some more stick time, and I am probably trying to fly it too slowly.

Looking forward to trying out the v-tail electric version though.

Jef

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Presumably you have a Cobra either in storage or being prepared for my hangar then Pete!

Must admit, as I am having Mike Holtby make some V tails for me, I am considering getting some short tips made, so that I can make the Contest Plus a Contest too, if all else fails!

However, when I asked for a pair of v-tails I was asked whether I wanted small or large! This is not apparent from the parts list. After some discussion, we decided that for my use - mainly thermal - the larger tails would give me greater flexibility.

I imagine that a larger tail area will give the model better stability in the turn, hence my comment "looking forward to trying out the v-tail electric version", and have not given up on the Plus yet.

Best regards,

Jef

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  • 3 weeks later...

:blush: Just checked, for the first time, the CG location on my Contest Plus (which is well rearward at more than 100mm behind the LE). Have now added two ounces (58g actually) of lead to the nose and this has moved it to about 95mm from the LE, which may be closer to the optimum position for my style of flying... although I suspect that this may still be too far aft for the big wing T-tail version, which will require a 'safer' balance point than the smaller wing version, as the tail volume is the same on both.  

 

Reduced the additional dihedral slightly and this looks right now, so I am hopeful of a less hairy session tomorrow / whenever the weather looks more suitable.

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  • 1 month later...

So, today in the Tonbridge Multi Launch Comp, I had a line break during the pre-start 30second launch window of Round 1 Slot 1, came off at about 75m and flew the slot out landing in the last second for 9m59s and 30 bonus. What a great model the Sharon is proving to be... the slippery ground surface caught me unawares and the model slid through the spot and out the other side, broadsiding and stopping backwards, with the flaps down. The ground was hard and one of the flap servo arms broke (I was lucky). 

Next round I flew the Calypso Contest 3m and really needed something other than flat calm conditions to get the best from the model. Feeling despondent, it suddenly dawned on me that I should be trying to get the virtually unflown Calypso Contest Plus out, and using the competition to get it properly trimmed. 

A couple of rounds later, the model was circling sweetly and even in the really light lift was able to get to very good height before rolling, looping, flying inverted (and sliding through the spot in the closing moments of the slot! Fortunately without incurring damage like the Sharon). 

Reasons the Contest Plus didn't fly well to start with...

Insufficient Dihedral - just a couple of degrees is all that is needed at the tips.

CG too far aft. The large wing needs either a larger tail volume or a more forward CG than the smaller wing variant with the same fus and tail. Pretty basic stuff when you think about it.

Don't use too much up elevator in the launch preset, I was overstressing the line and causing my line to break and knots to undo.

Not enough camber in, in the full thermal camber position, so when I slowed it in the turn, the wing was stalling. Once I had established that the wing needed more camber, the model was transformed. 

When I was finally flying the model in a proper state of trim, Deryk Collins was flying his Eliminator 134" in my air too (he seemed to think the air was his!) and to avoid a collision, I flew out of the lift for a while, then went back for some more, when his model had climbed 30metres or so. It was nice to have the Contest and the Eliminator doing battle - just as they would have done back in the mid-nineties. 

Jef

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So, today in the Tonbridge Multi Launch Comp......

....When I was finally flying the model in a proper state of trim, Deryk Collins was flying his Eliminator 134" in my air too (he seemed to think the air was his!) and to avoid a collision, I flew out of the lift for a while, then went back for some more, when his model had climbed 30metres or so. It was nice to have the Contest and the Eliminator doing battle - just as they would have done back in the mid-nineties. 

Jef

Did you notice that in one of the rounds at the Tonbridge Multi-launch that I flew my original R/E Airbrakes Red Fendon, some 30 years old and recently electrified. I know nostalga aint what it used to be but it was sure nice to see the very distinct shape of a Fendon in the air once again at a comp. And yes, it flew out the slot too! :)  

Literally hundreds of Fendons were built during RC Soarings heydays, (just wish I had sold as many plans as there were Fendons built!) I used to produce Plan/ Foam Wing Packs of the Fendon for some years before stopping due to starting up my current business which took over all my time. If memory serves me correctly I think I produced close to 140 sets of foam wings which in those days were eagerly snapped up. Seeing one's own design built and flown by so many modellers was a fantastic feeling even when I was beaten (often) with my own design! Great memories.

Colin

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Yes, well done Colin. It was good to see the Fendon E. There was a good selection of relatively young nineties models there, too.

It seems that the ten minutes originally set for the task is just as hard to get in sink now, as it was then... and landings seem to be easier for those with the time to practise, regardless of their model's age.

I had to laugh when an old design 100"S model, flown by my team mate Tom Frankland, absolutely destroyed the landing spot plastic plate (smashed it into two equal halves)! The model was relatively unscathed and went on to complete the day.

The Contest Plus is very efficient at returning from too low down, then flying through the circle because I still can't believe that I would need to use the brakes, having given up all hope of getting anywhere near the target. 

Defo need more practise!

Jef

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  • 5 months later...

Here's another Fendon, patrolling off Colley Hill on 11/12/13 – a ‘lucky number day”(?) and a very lucky photographer (me) to be there in that special misty weather….

post-2005-0-85903600-1420489263_thumb.jp

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here's another Fendon, patrolling off Colley Hill on 11/12/13 – a ‘lucky number day”(?) and a very lucky photographer (me) to be there in that special misty weather….

post-2005-0-85903600-1420489263_thumb.jp

Do you know whose Fendon this is as it looks like it might be a rare example of the Fendon 4 or 5 which had ailerons and flaps as opposed to the original versions (1,2 & 3) which were R, E and spoilers. Many Fendons were bult from my plans & plan packs but relatively few as far as I'm aware were 4/5 versions. Happy days!

Cheers

Colin P

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  • 4 months later...

From a photo taken at the Malvern Soaring Association Thermal Comp - permission via P.Hayward.

Here's a pair of icons that need no introduction...

 

 

Two Icons.jpg

Edited by Guest
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And the obligatory Eliminator 134" shot, also taken at the same comp as the above post, Spring 2015 

Eliminator.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

Here is a pic of a model from the nineties, that I had not heard of until recently, a Frits Donker Duyvis design called the Fletcher.

Pic supplied by FDD himself!

B) 

 

 

Fletcher.jpg

Edited by Guest
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Thanks Pete,

I really am going to try to be there for this nostalgia day on the 19th Sept - too many have passed me by! It is my wedding anniversary on 20th Sept though, so I will have to dream up something very special for us to do on that Sunday (so that I have plenty of brownie points).

The original post on this thread has pics taken (by my Dad) more than two years ago, of the Proton (while it was on the bungee at Bartletts), which was mine and you now own.

The electrifiable Contest... :drool: Interested to see how you are doing the interchangeable nose thing... and is it a tee or a vee? And if it's a vee, does it have the large or the small tails?  

What is a "high end sport" model? Something for a windy day perhaps? :mellow:

Thanks again for the invite. See you there, if not before.

Jef
 

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Hi Jef

A good friend of mine, Pete Hemsworth of the ISA, still flies his Fletcher today, but as a "high end sport" model, he swears by it....

Regards

Pete

BARCS1702

 

Phil Taylor's got a Fletcher as well. His is in a very classy Mondrian colour scheme. I didn't know it was designed by Frits, though!

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It was seeing a picture of Phil Taylor's one at Thurnham (on the RCMF forum) that prompted me to first contact Phil and then Frits.

A design that sits very well in this section.

 

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Here's a photo of my competition glider circa 1980. It was started by the late Ron Gardner, like me then a member of the Thanet Model Flying Club, with a Proton fibreglass fuselage, a Bluebeast wing modified by me, my own design fin, rudder and all moving tailplane. I named it IRONIC and was quite successful in the Kent Interclub competitions and I still have most of it as one half i.e 6ft of the wing disappeared in 2 moves in my absence between 1994 and 2009. I had previously bought from Ron a solartex (horrible stuff) covered Bluebeast that was shot down in a frequency clash (another person was flying in the wrong slot) leading to an on field purchase from Ron of his Soaron Sunshine 100in. that I flew to beat him in the competition that day to my amusement but not his! I still have the Sunshine that was flown again in 2010 after an18 year rest. Yes I edited my naked body from the photo that was taken in Holland during one of our many annual twinning competition with the Delta Club Vlissingen. 

Ian

Bluebeast StuAdrian.jpg

Ironic ~ 1980 red.jpg

Sunshine 100 Holland red.jpg

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Yes, Pete, I bought the Proton from Murky Knights, in a (too good to miss) deal along with a Balsa Cabin Fantasia 100" RES for my Son, Gary.

Gary flew the Fantasia to good effect in his teenage years, while his Grandad and I were building three Trilogy 6 models. Two still survive 20 years on. We sold the Fantasia to buy a Xantia semi-mouldy for Gary when he was 16.

The maiden flight of the Proton under my ownership was tragic. I had the rudder control reversed, despite checking it several times and reassuring myself that all was well :(.

The wings were neatly packed into a black bin bag and fellow club member and free-flight guru, Bob Wells, voluntarily rebuilt the model and glassed over the tissue on the tips.

I have been seriously lucky with the generosity of my fellow club members (Anglia MFC and EQFA especially, and also Canvey Island MA) on many occasions. :)
 

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