Sloping Off - March 2005
Chairman's Chatter
by Clive Spencer
5-11-04. A good afternoon's flying at Howard's in the company of Trevor Hewson, Steve & Chris Morris. Wow, how Chris has improved recently. I watched in admiration as he threw his Western Hype around the sky with gay abandon. I managed finally to fly my Great Lakes bi-plane without any help. Now that the CG is sorted & some lightening mods carried out, she is a much more likeable model to fly, although still not for the novice. My Reflex model flight sim is now working much better. I'm not sure of the reason for this improvement as I changed two things at the same time. I should have known better than to do this. I am now loath to touch the thing in case it stops working. The alterations made were to download Service pack two for Windows XP & connect the input cable directly into one of the computer USB ports instead of the extension cable I was using. Since the changes, I have noticed that the Reflex web site has a warning relating to not plugging the transmitter into a USB hub. It seems that these hubs do not have the required power output to run the system. It is a shame that this was not explained in the original set up instructions, as it has taken me six months to figure it out myself. Now that this system is working properly it is without a doubt the best model flight sim on the market & unlike some other Sims there are many downloads for planes & flying sites on the web.
Friday 12-11-04. Mike Roach was scheduled to give a talk on producing model aircraft insignia using a PC & colour printer. He duly arrived & was helped to unload the computer from his car. This is when the mayhem ensued. Someone, I know not who, as I was acting tea boy for the evening, managed to carry the printer in upside down which then dumped the contents of the black ink cartridge all over the floor & a bright yellow table. In the ensuing panic to clean up the mess with toilet paper the bright yellow table turning a pleasant shade of deep purple as the ink, now nicely spread, started to dry. More panic, finally a bottle of cleaning fluid was spied & the clean up commenced. I decided that a sarky comment about some members needing more washing up practice would be unwise, so proceeded to make the tea. Finally Mike was able to give his talk & produce some nice examples from the dreaded printer. A second round of tea was produced & after a general chat, a highly entertaining evening drew to a close. For the club members who don't attend these club nights, you should try it some time, you might enjoy yourselves!
26-11-04 Indoor flying at Oakmead. I had not been to an indoor meeting recently for a variety of reasons and was quite keen to see how our free club nights were progressing. I was amazed to see the progress that had been made. Gone were all the Und-Nu's & IFOs to be replaced by the new Shock Fliers with their brushless motors & Lithium batteries & boy how they fly. There were quite a number of new club members & guests at this meeting, flying the usual planes in the main hall whilst the rear hall was full of indoor heli brigade. I had a very nice evening flying & chatting to some new members & guest flyers. One such guest I recognised as a BMFA examiner from another club. He said that he had rejected electric indoor models in the past but was converted when he saw the Shock fliers in action. I later saw him flying rolling circles around the hall with one, which impressed me greatly. Electric flying in general seems to go from strength to strength, and is dragging more & more new people into our hobby. Long my it last.
10-12-04. The Christmas bash & paper plane competition was well attended with free tea, minced pies & sausage rolls being handed out to our impoverished members. I would have liked to have had more time to chat to everyone during the evening, but as I was acting tea boy & minced pie hander outer I didn't get much time for socialising.
10-1-05. I spent some of the Xmas holiday modifying the landing gear on my Eolo helicopter. This included increasing the leg length by 25mm to give more ground clearance for the tail rotor, adding tail boom support struts & two u/c cross bars. Hopefully this will be more able to withstand some of my more robust arrivals. I am also attempting to add some coloured L.E.D lights for better orientation whilst flying. I obtained these from a flashing bow tie, which was acquired by devious means, not to be revealed here.
14-1-05 This was the club's 'Bring & Buy' evening attended by about twenty club members. In addition Terry Sullivan & Terry Antell had arranged a mini auction for the Tsunami appeal. They did this off their own back by asking local stores to donate goods, which were then auctioned at our meeting. The auction was great fun with people trying to outbid each other & being egged on by other members. They raised approx £100.00, a fantastic effort which does them a great deal of credit. That's all for now, so here's to the new flying season & I hope to see you at the AGM.
