Woolybacks and D80s

Wow what a week. Had a great comp at the Woolybacks on the Bwlch and then two days later, we received our shipment of Dynamic 80s from Joe Manor over in the USA.

The Woolybacks was great - finally got some good runs in with the Skorpion - although I only came 12th of 20, it was my highest scoring comp so far, so hopefully that means I'm doing something right!

As for the D80's - well - I don't think any of us have anticipated a model so eagerly! And my oh my, they have not disappointed - Joe Manor's aircraft are fantastic. We've had great experiences with the D40's thus far, and these D80's are just incredible. Stiff, strong, gorgeous, great paint - everything bang on. Joe's install kit goes together like a snap as well... Anyway, here's a few pics of the unpacking...

Adam get's unscrewing...



Will dives in...



I get a serious case of Glider Horn!




And here they are - mine's the yellow one...

Skorpion on Rushup Edge...

Flying buddy Will Deighton and I braved -4C today to try to get some light DS in at Rushup... The snow scenery was spectacular! Trudging up the path to the top was fun, with the snow anything from knee deep to nearly up to your hips in the big drifts...

Sadly the wind was waaaay to far off - maybe 45-50 degrees off slope to the West, and too weak. But I sent the Skorpion up anyway, and tried to get her going, but alas, I had to land on my first DS circuit as I just hadn't managed to gain enough height for the decent dive in. Still, she went up again and I enjoyed 45 minutes of gentle thermal flying over the magnificently white blanketed hills.

Splinter goes 169mph!

Yes the Splinter has done it again - this time on the Skirrid... This was all the more remarkable in that it posted equal top speed for the day as a very well flown Opus MCT. What a model!

Anyway, here's some photos from the day - thanks to George for getting the pics of my Splinter whilst I was flying. The Opus is Adam Richardson's triple carbon MCT - stunningly smooth model and looks to be a superb sport model for strong frontsiding as well...

The Splinter with the white tips is Adam's oak one, and the other one is mine - the 169mph one! Adam's oak one went up to 164mph in the end, but I suspect that he finds it tough to really wind his one up - it's the prototype after all, and the only one with that beautiful pterodactyl planform...

Enjoy!

Splinter DS gets 162mph

Well, it's been on the gun - she's gone 162 at Rushup Edge in only 25mph of wind! I have no doubt there's LOADS more to come from this model. Honestly I could not see any evidence of any flex whatsoever. It's just totally solid. Beautiful in the DS circuit too. I just need to hone my circuits and then I have no doubt that the airframe will do a lot more if I can hold onto it! Hopefully Kiwi Steve will have some photos for me from the day - I'll post em up when I get them.

One happy Splinter pilot!

Zim

The Mynd - final BMFA round...

Oh well we were let down by the weather yet again. Mike Evans did his best to get the comp running but alas the conditions were drifting in and out of legal throughout the first round, started at 1330. Still, a good day all in all - I was pretty pleased that I finally managed to do a "proper" cut recovery by pushing some down in when I missed Base A rather than my usual massive series of S banks to make the base. Was pretty happy with the Skorpion on the course, but mostly pretty chuffed that the settings that I had working in big air on the Icecream slope seemed to feel quite nice in very marginal conditions on the Mynd too.

Other notable achievements for the day:

John Sage completed a WHOLE round without cutting - well done John!
Simon Thornton shattered that minute barrier than has eluded him for his entire F3F career, with a 70.
I fell down two rabbit holes, having never done that before.
I couldn't make the range finder for setting up the course work, as I was holding it up the wrong way round to my eye. Funnily enough, it kept coming back reading 25cm.
The Dynamic 40" stayed up - again!
Katherine managed to film Joel thermalling for some time. Now that's dedication!

I'll post some pictures later on in the week. But there's not a lot of point, as there's not many flying shots and we're not a particularly good looking bunch.

Roll on the winter leagues!

Zim

The Skorpion...

Had a couple of flights with it at the Icecream slope yesterday. That was the first time that I have had it out in a bit of a blow - ye gads it was quick! Fiddled about a little with the differential and I think I now have a setting that gets it going where I want it in a reversal. Just need to remember to do it in a comp now! I've also gotten over my fear of having the aileron trailing edge fully follow the flap trailing edge in snap-flap and I'm sure it turns better this way rather than with less aileron than flap. Whether it's safer or not, I really have no idea. Anyway, here's a photo of her - thanks to Kevin Newton for the pic...

Foamies rule!

These two shots are from Day three of the Welsh Open - Paul Middleton and I got a little bored and he generously offered to use up his supply of wing bolts by letting me try to catch his Wannabee (?) as it came running along the Wrecker! Thanks to Alvaro Silgado (Spanish Al) for the pics :)