News

 

And the winner is …….

Caterham & District Model Flying Club Presentations 2017

At a fun filled and well attended presentation evening on 18th December, and in the presence of special guests South East Area Chairman  Stuart Willis and Area Vice Chairman  Robert Richardson,  James reported on the year’s events and awarded certificates and trophies in the following categories:

Fun Fly Championship    comprising the following events:

Loops and Land, Triple Thrash, Mastermind Just a Minute, Roop, Blackjack, Water Carrying, Limbo, Touch & Go Bang, Short Landing, Tangerine Drop and Skittles.

Fun Fly Champion 2017                                        James Gordon.

Fun Fly Runner Up 2017                                        Gavin Barden

The awards for Non Fun Fly Events went to:

Competition:                                                            Winner:

Left is Right                                                              James Gordon.

Photography                                                             Colin Ruffell

Precision Pattern                                                     James Gordon

Chuck Gliding                                                          David Colley

Ladies Chuck Gliding                                              Alison Langham

Junior Chuck Gliding                                               Avia Colley

Rubber Endurance                                                 James Gordon

Gliding                                                                     Neil Wallis

Vintage Precision                                                    Graham Harrison

Vintage Spot                                                           Gavin Barden

Vintage RC Free Flight                                           Gavin Barden

Overall Vintage Champion 2017                            Gavin Barden

Concours d'Elegance                                             James Gordon

Static Scale                                                              Neil Wallis

ARTF                                                                        Gavin Barden

Flying Scale                                                             James Gordon

Equaliser Awards  Racing                                      Gavin Barden                                            

Thermaliser Award                                                  Graham Harrison

                                                  Championship Results

 Wrinkly Champion 2017          (Wrinkly Plate)                 Neil Wallis

Junior Champion 2017                                                     Matthew Barden

Championship Winner 2017                                            Neil Wallis

                                                   Committee Awards

 Airframe Trophy 2017                                                    Malcolm Thomas

 Unluckiest Pilot of the Year 2017                                 Shaun Dale

Pilot of the Year                                                              Phillip Langham

Given to the member that we feel that has improved the most, or achieved a notable goal, or done well in competitions and events or has been a real asset to the club.                                                                         

Brian Gordon Club Spirit Award                                       Neil Wallis

In memory of Brian Gordon and awarded to the member that most generously gives their time and effort for the benefit of both the club and its members and this award is left to James Gordon to come up with a worthy winner.

Christmas Presentation Evening. Monday 18th December.

It seems to have come racing around again.  Christmas Club Night is almost upon us again.

If you have not been before, and even if you have,  please come along and bring your partner, grandparents or next door neighbour.   Recognition will be given to those who were successful  in our  wide ranging 2017 calendar of events, one of the most closely contested seasons for many years.

Amongst the awards handed out will be the the highly contested award for Chuck Gliding, in the  male, female and junior categories and trophies will also be awarded to our Unluckiest Pilot and the 2017 Pilot of the Year.

Our Christmas Raffle is always good value for money, but one reason for coming trumps all the others.  Your Chairman and Treasurer slave to  prepare a delicious buffet which means no one goes away hungry.    See you there I hope and please bring some cash for the raffle.  That chap who sells the raffle tickets at club nights will be there.

 

Membership Renewal Forms

Emails have been sent to all members with a copy of the membership renewal application.  They need to be returned by no later than 31 January 2018 to ensure you have a place in the Club next year.

If you have not received yours, please contact Richard A.S.A.P.  on thecdmfc@gmail.com and he will arrange for another one to be sent.

July Update – BBC Filming and more!

Hi Everyone,

Well I hope you've all been enjoying the great weather recently and getting some quality flying time. Apparently the field was packed to capacity last Wednesday and the pits filled up with models - just wish I hadn't been at work! Still there have also been plenty of great weekends too, so all is good.

This Saturday 15th July is our Vintage and Retro day at the field from 12pm. I'm really looking forward to this as most of my collection falls well into this category! Retro is basically anything from the 60's, 70's, 80's or even early 90's, so have a look in your attics and see what's lurking up there and bring it to the field on Saturday, flyable or not! It would be great to step back a few decades and see what we used to fly back then...

There will also be competitions for vintage models over the afternoon, which will be Vintage Precision Pattern, Vintage Spot landing and Vintage R/C Free Flight! Should be a nice relaxed afternoon, so hope to see you there.

This coming Monday 17th July is Club Night and will be an ARTF competition for any ARTF model, but hopefully with some modification or personalisation. John will be handing round voting slips for you to vote on your favorite. It will also be a Bring a Model Night for any model that you would like to show us - the more the merrier! There will also be the usual raffle, so prize donations are always very welcome.

Following this week's committee meeting, I thought I'd just bring you up to date with some other club news....

- Mike's model show at Caterham on the Hill a few weeks ago went very well, with perfect weather and a good amount of spectators watching us. We flew pretty much non stop for about 3 hours and flew all types of planes including some balloon bursting, glider piggy back, scale and skittles, which I can report gets quite exciting when your ball gets caught in a tree!! Thanks to Mike for arranging the day and thanks to Dave B for his usual superb commentary and thanks to all of you that supported the event. A very well done also to Phillip for his first public demonstration with a superb flight that must have surely inspired some other kids into hopefully starting in our wonderful hobby.

- Speaking of Phillip, the BBC filmed at our field a couple of weeks ago, following up on Phillip's progress since his 'Dengineers' programme. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole afternoon and I think the programme will do a lot to promote model flying and the club. The weather was perfect and the field looked great and the whole crew were very complimentary about Phillip and the club. They filmed Phillip flying as well as Gavin flying his Sea Fury and Mega Fusion and Mike W put on his usual first class display or 3D flying. Matthew also put on a very professional demonstration that was a credit to his continued hard work and his obvious skill. We then had to try and teach the programme's presenter, Lauren to fly a model on the buddy box. I was at the end of the buddy lead and Gavin had the job of instructor...let's just say Lauren found it slightly more difficult that she first thought and according to the producer, the footage is 'tv gold'! The best part was after our best efforts and some quite epic saves, Phillip then took the transmitter and pulled off a perfect landing having never flown a Fusion before! I can't wait to see the finished programme, though Gavin's not so sure! I will of course let you know when it's due to be transmitted. I've attached a couple of pics taken by Phillip's Mum Alison. Thanks to Phillip and his family for involving the club in his programme too.

- The Bmfa News arrived this week and hopefully you will have seen Gavin's great article on the Nationals Fun Fly competition that we as a club run at the August Power National Championships. We've already had some enquiries about the Nats and one person asking where we got our club flag from!! If you haven't been to the Nats before, it's something you really should do at least once. It's the only place where you can see every type of model flying in one huge airfield and is pure modelling heaven. Also the evening free flight jamboree is legendary and has to be witnessed. This event is in doubt for future years, so this year might be your last chance to see this amazing event as it is. Come and join us for the weekend, you won't regret it!

- Another part worth reading the the BMFA news is Manny's part on setting failsafes on page 4 and your legal responsibilities on setting your failsafe on any model. We will be doing some spot checks on failsafes at the field for safety's sake. There is also an update on page 6 on the ongoing EASA regulations and what it means to us.

- Lost Property - While strimming behind the benches at the back of the pilot's box, I found a large carbon tube, which I think must be a wing joiner. If you're missing one, please let me know.

- We have received the new contract for the field this week and are in the process of signing it and sending off the cheque!

This is always a relief to get that done and please do keep up the good work in looking after our wonderful site by making sure the field is always secure and keeping noise to a minimum.

- Unfortunately we have had a couple of complaints from members about engines running for long periods in the pits. We obviously don't want to stop anyone running engines, but to try and keep everyone happy, we have decided that if you want to run an engine in a model for any length of time, please take it out of the pits. There will be an area mown just the other side of the far west end of the pits where you can run models that will hopefully not be a distraction to the flyers or people just wanting a quiet chat in the pits. This will be done this week.

Also apparently some members are still carrying running models or live electric models through the pilot's box. This is extremely dangerous and off putting to anyone flying and must stop. End of moan 😊

- Also at the field, you will see that Gavin has constructed two more new benches for us, so a big thank you to Gavin, they really do look great! Neil has also donated a garden bench too, so thanks to Neil as well.

That's about it for now apart from reminding you that next weekend (22nd/23rd July) is the Scale Weekend at the fabulous Old Warden. If you haven't been to Old Warden before, you're really missing out. It's a magical place and these modelling weekends are just so relaxing and a joy to be at. Next weekend is mainly scale but anything else can fly as well. A B certificate  is required to fly, but if you are flying vintage then an A is fine. As well as the model flying when you feel like it, there is a good selection of model trade and second hand items for sale of the type you don't see anywhere else. There is also of course about seven hangers housing the unique Shuttleworth Collection of aircraft ranging from the earliest examples of aviation up to the end of ww2 and all the collection's aircraft do fly! There are lots of us camping there for the weekend and it is a lovely place to camp, so why not join us for the weekend or even for a day - you really won't regret it.

If you want any more details on Old Warden or anything else, please do get in touch. Please also keep Saturday 5th August in your diaries for our big annual family Barbecue at the field. More details will follow soon!

Hope to see you on Saturday or for club night.

Cheers for now,

James.

Competition Results May 2017

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to all those who braved the wind yesterday to have a go at the competitions.  I have a few others to catch up with from April, so here we go:

Blackjack (April)

As the name suggests the quickest to get a score of 21 by touching in squares of varying scores on the strip  (10, 5, 2, 1)

Pilot

Time

Position

David C

0:25

1st

James G

0:31

2nd

Gavin B

0:49

3rd

Robin A

1:02

4th

Neil W

1:18

5th

Matthew B

1:36

6th

Shaun D

2:17

7th

Glyn W

2:18

8th

There were no mishaps, which really reflects the flying this year so far (there’s still time for this to change!).  Well done Glyn for having a go, it good to see some new names entering this year.

Water Carrying (April)

Again as the name suggests a cup is mounted on the top of the model and filled with 48 drips of water (official measurement of CDMFC).  The pilot must take off, complete a circuit and land.  Double points are awarded for completing a loop.  This competition really tests the steady smooth pilot.

Pilot

Loop?

Remaining Drips

Score

Position

Gavin B

Y

45

90

1st

James G

Y

42

84

2nd

Neil W

Y

35

70

3rd

Shaun D

Y

24

48

4th

Glyn W

Y

22

44

=5th

David C

Y

22

44

=5th

Matthew B

N

40

40

7th

Robin A

Y

5

10

8th

Well done Matthew – brave the loop next year and you would have been in the top 3!

Scale Flying

Pretty self-explanatory these competitions!  Yesterday saw the Scale flying competition.  Pilots had to complete 5 standard elements (Taxi, Take off, straight flight, procedure turn and figure of 8) followed by 5 of their choice that matched their models ability and full size manoeuvres.  Then just a matter of landing (easier said than done yesterday!  Sores were out of 10, and then multiplied by a K factor against their difficulty.

Pilot

Model

Score

Position

James G

Flybaby

955

1st

Gavin B

Seafury

915

2nd

Neil W

J3 Cub

801

3rd

Graham H

J3 Cub

737

4th

Richard C

Mustang

504

5th

Thank you to Don Coe and Richard P for being judges on the day, there was some really good flying displayed due to the conditions.

Thermalisers

The 1st Thermaliser competition took place and the little models really handled the weather well.  Although this competition does not count towards the overall club competitions it was great fun.  Neil recorded a flight in excess of 15 minutes yesterday (although not in the competition!) which we think is the current record.

Pilot

Time (best)

Position

Graham H

5:23

1st

James G

4:40

2nd

Richard C

3:59

3rd

Gavin B

3:26

4th

Neil W

2:44

5th

Glyn W

1:50

6th

The conditions were very changeable, but there were thermals moving through which gave some varying times.  Let’s hope for better weather at the next event!!

Overall Standings

 

Kind Regards

Gavin

Equaliser Racing

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I'd say what a fantastic day we had at the field today. I haven't seen that many people at the field for a long time, with the summer car park full and about 10 cars down the track! The weather was great too with just a fairly light north easterly wind and a nice autumnal sun.

The main event of the day was the final Equaliser race of the year and we had a great entry of 11 battling it out with some very close and exciting flying, especially towards the end! With Gavin away on a well deserved holiday, it was down to me to get things under way.

To start with we just flew some timed practice laps to get used to the course again. We were also joined by a couple of Croydon members with their Equalisers, so this practice was useful for Trevor and Ian to get the feel of it. Here are the times for 6 laps:

Keith L        4m 20s

Nick L         1m 27s

Neil W        1m 43s

James G     1m 29s

Graham H  1m 27s

Richard C   2m 24s

Ian G          1m 35s

Trevor S     1m 26s

Mark M     1m 33s

Shaun M    1m 43s

Ben D         1m 33s

As you can see there were some very close times. There is one time that you might is a little off the pace but when I tell you that Keith is very much still learning to fly and this racing was done on the buddy box, you will understand. Congratulations to Keith for having a go and enjoying it too! These little models don't exactly make a perfect trainer, so well done Keith and well done to Nick for some truly epic saves!!

Unfortunately we lost Richard after that round, but that still left 10 to start racing...

We split the racers into pairs of a similar time and raced over 5 laps this time. This is where the fun really starts!

Name                        Position                         Time

Neil W                       2nd

Shaun M                   1st                                   1m 15s

Trevor S                    2nd

Nick L                        1st                                   1m 07s

James G                    2nd

Mark M                    1st                                    1m 11s

Ben D                        1st                                    1m 09s

Graham H                2nd

Ian G                         1st                                    1m 23s

Keith L                      2nd

A couple of those races were incredibly close and I really enjoyed mine, with me and Mark diving for the line neck and neck - certainly gets the adrenaline pumping!

We then had two semi finals, with 3 in the first and 2 in the second.....

Name                        Position

Mark M                     1st

Shaun M                   2nd

Ian G                         3rd

Ben D                        1st

Nick L                        2nd

These semi finals were great to watch with again some very close racing and swapping of positions. Some got extremely close, but no contact was made, though I'm not sure how in some cases!

We then had our two finalists with Ben and Mark battling it out for top spot and after another thrilling race, Ben just came across the line first - huge well done to Ben for some very smooth flying. I must say at this point that Ben was flying my model (it's just like the chuck glider comp all over again!). Ben thanked me for the use of the model and said that it was a nicely prepared model but that I (meaning me) just needed to learn to fly it better!! I'd better get practicing for the next one then, but Ben's flying is always very accurate and smooth, so a well deserved victory Ben!

Thanks to everyone that took part and especially to Richard, John and Keith for standing out in the field with a flag for hours on end - thanks chaps.

Other highlights of the day were seeing lots of different models in the air and seeing new member Peter getting on brilliantly in his training, looking like he's been flying for years after only about three sessions! I also test flew Brian R's AcroWot that he had converted to electric, which flew beautifully - look forward to seeing you at the field more with that Brian.

To finish with though, we had a real treat with Ian from Croydon test flying his big Lysander with a gorgeous SC 5 cylinder radial in it. That engine just sounded amazing and I could have listened to it all day and the plane looked beautiful in the air. A stunning model to watch and fly and with him letting me land it with flaps down, it ended up probably the most satisfying landing I've done all year!

So as you can see, a great day all round. Hope to see you down there for the Blindfold flying on the 5th November.

The AGM went well last week and hopefully the minutes will be out soon for you to look at.

Cheers for now,

James.