Having a Blast

  No Woollybacks this year but getting my Merlin finished has given me the chance to get the ballast in and have a real blast off the south coast.  I know the Merlin design so well now that a first flight doesn’t seem like a maiden anymore- but that doesn't stop it bringing a smile to my face as the cobwebs and turkey get blown away.

  For having a blast throwing the model about without fear of it biting your just have to go a very long way to beat the Merlin.  It was only the fading light and lowering clouds that sent me back home.

  It’s days out in that air that really spurs you on with the 2016 projects!

Storm Flying

  A break in the weather and I didn’t have to be asked twice if I wanted to get out for a morning’s flying.  So as the cloud base lifted I was heading out to find a suitably big cliff to match the weekend’s winds.

  Any thoughts of F3F practise soon went out of the window.  A heavily ballasted Willow 2 in these conditions is just too much fun! Huge vertical pumps were possible and the clouds touched a good few times.  The waves bellow the cliffs were looking very angry in these big conditions but they were long long way down!

  I always have in mind that these conditions I’d be flying my Merlin- in the past It’s had me grinning for hours in big air like that.  It’s testament to the easy handling of the Willow 2 that I ended up flying my newly finished race model.  You just have to be happy some days!

A Wavey Willow?

Not a new version but I got my lovely new box of models for Christmas.  I'll be boxing up this week and the model look a step again.

  One set of wings for me that I'm really looking forward to testing and playing with are a set of Willow wings with a new waves spar.  Probably the biggest wing I know of to try this spar.  It certainly passes the hand twist and attempted bend across the chest.- Time to get them on a fuselage and flying in the wild winter winds. 

 Sometime you really remember why you build and fly models!

Christmas Delivery

I've been told now that my Christmas delivery of models is on it's way.

I have 2 Merlin models, definitely my favourite sports/racer and when the wind blows that new joiner and tough build make it my weapon of choice.

perfect for winter flying and racing and the best model available today for- £450

Contact me for more details

Thanks for the pictures

Thanks to Simon Jones for the Willow 2 pictures.  As I do much of my flying alone good shots of the model in the air are hard to find!

 

 

A day out and Mark's Willow Maiden

  No pictures from this weekend but a stunning day on Aggies on Sunday.  The plan to get some air time in before the foam arrived didn’t go totally smoothly as the wind swung around for most of the morning.

  The delay in flying gave me chance to catch up with Roger- worth the trip alone!

  As so as the weather was flyable the Willow 2 was the first away again and soon cruising about.  It’s cheating flying a model like the Willow 2, in marginal conditions when parts of the slope are working and other not the pure distance that you can travel from lift to lift always amazes’ me.

  As the Air build up I had chance to add some ballast for a flight.  With only 500G she really did feel on step and so smooth and slippery.

  I know that family commitments will mean no Champ of champs for me this year and so the winter's flying will be more about fun and picking the odd race.

  At the opposite side of the country Mark treble was maidening his Willow 2 and I a comp- you have to admire his confidence!  He was doing well until a receiver battery issue had him strength testing the model.  Here’s a few of his build pictures- lovely work!

Willow vs the Weather

    After being restricted to a couple of light air days flying since the Welsh Open I wasn’t going to miss out on the 40MPH wind forecast for this weekend.

  The Low cloud meant that my new red winged Willow 2 was the ‘sensible’ option, ignoring that I haven’t flown this model before.  Phil Taylor and his Ceres were to be the warm up and cloud base finders.  Unfortunately Phil’s flight only lasted about 10 seconds as he managed to flick 4.5kg of model in to Devon slope.

  This did mean that he was available to launch for me.  I can’t explain how much I enjoyed the flight.  Not a click of trim and the Willow 2 was away, I’d only put around 1kg of the ballast in but she was making good progress and really building up speed.  Hands off on the edge?  Yep she just tracks on and gets faster and faster- More proof that it’s my thumbs which have been slowing down the Willows for all this time.

  I was able to play with a number of different turn styles, each one done well kept her screaming around the slope.  It was noticeable just how little flex or control fade I had.  The Willow 2 remained crisp, smooth and fast through everything.

  A few high turns in later flights showed that the cloud base was coming down.  It’s an un-nerving feeling to watch your model disappear into the grey!  It would take more than that to take the smile off my face!

 

  Great flying