Christchurch and District Model Flying Club
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EDF, by Trevor Hewson

My foray into EDF’s started out rather differently from Peter’s - it’s all Frank Bayes’s fault! Bargain watcher that he is, Frank dutifully pointed out back in the Summer of 2017 that HobbyKing had reduced their 39in span, 70mm fan Hawk to the ridiculous price of £29, and it was in stock in the UK warehouse. Okay, this didn't include any servos or a motor but it did include the fan unit. At that price, stocks were clearly not going to last long so an instant decision was called for so, figuring that I was more likely to regret missing out on the deal than I was to fret about the waste of £29, I ordered it. 

Unlike the well sorted models that Peter has described, getting the Hawk flying reliably was more of a challenge - as those of you who witnessed early attempts will know. However, once sorted, it does perform remarkably well.

My next contact was with Peter’s larger Hawk when we test-flew it at Strawberry Field. It was immediately clear that it was in an altogether different league. Although I was impressed, I wasn’t really tempted. Then I too witnessed the Avanti flying at a much larger, more open site and suddenly the attractiveness of this style of flying became clearer. The fact that the Avanti’s colour scheme is nice and visible helped too. 

By the time I was ready to succumb, the Avanti was out of stock and it was when searching around Motion RC’s website that I saw the Venom. I have always had a soft spot for jets of this era as I used to see them regularly flying overhead when flying control line models a schoolboy in Lincolnshire. If the model had been a Vampire rather than a Venom, I probably would have bought it there and then. In the event, I managed to dither long enough for the Avanti to come back into stock so duly joined the Avanti club. 

The Avanti sits on the rack in my car in one piece so tends to go with me whenever I’m going to a suitable field. I concur with everything Peter has said about it’s flight characteristics, which cannot be faulted - and after the traumas in hand launching the little Hawk, take-offs with the Avanti are an absolute delight!

You can read more about my Hawk and Avanti at:

Hawk: 

http://www.bartonhewsons.uk/home/modelflying/scale/hawkreview.html

Avanti: http://www.bartonhewsons.uk/home/modelflying/sport/avantireview.html

Launching the Hawk, Peter C and Trevor H above, self-launch below (it has a gyro to keep it straight and level at the critical moment).

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