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Christchurch and District Model Flying Club |
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FUN AT LONGHAM, BY DAVID BINTCLIFF Dear Aeronauts, A small group had fun at Longham Lakes this am Phil Hudson flew the Ex Trevor Mew gull on floats ...it went well after some float fettling...Phil had added a water rudder and stiffened up the float chassis from Trevor’s original arrangement. In doing so the floats moved slightly rearwards and the fuz had slightly less incidence: this made it hard to take off without slight correction/adjustments...now all completed...flying looked good. Roly Nix flew his Catalina ...he’s been into single engine practice recently ,cleverly arranging for one prop to “feather“( ie fall off!). (Dynam Catalinas seem like Marmite ,except that most don’t actually like them!) Peter Hudson had. very successful flights with his faithful Tidewater ....it was going really well....he was so keen to land it close that it drifted into the weeds ...this was clearly deliberate as we could see he was desperate to cool off wading into the water! Finally the “piece de resistance” was a real Bucking Bronco ride with the Macchi Red Racer...initial non cooperation with radio not binding sapped my confidence...then a reluctance to take off...followed by removal of half of the lead weight on the front of the floats ,was rewarded with a 1 minute bucking bronco ride ....after refastening my cycle clips the plane was taxied in undamaged....my pulse eventually dropping to a more normal 120 bpm!( streuth)
Best wishes David Bintcliffe Martin B asked if it was the Seibart ARTF: Dear Martin No the Macchi I have got is a very different beast to the Seibart ARTF..It’s a different Model No ( M3) and was made by an engineer who lived in Ferndown called Ray Randall. He unfortunately died some years ago, and I bought the Macchi and a Flair Schneider racer model of the Short Crusader (infamous for the full size crashing due to incorrectly connecting the aileron cables) The Macchi was designed to fly with an OS 61 glow which I replaced with a large electric motor for use on Longham...The Short Crusader is yet to be converted to electric. Both are beautifully crafted jobs ...built to the highest standards.Compared to designs by Ivan Pettigrew they are heavier... I am somewhat put off by the Seibart model as it has small wheels under the floats ,suggesting that it is really a landplane ...they have a lot of up thrust on the motor ...I’m not sure if they are still available..they are expensive ...they do seem to fly well! Best wishes David B |
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