Zoe
Quilter
takes an unexpected 8th place in Basic Carried Deck.
Carrier Deck
09 Aug 2007
Zoe
Quilter
The
Carrier Deck
is now ready for use, although a few minor repairs need to be
done, and has been flight tested by yours truly.
As there is a tradition of naming the Control Line Decks in the UK,
this one I have Christened, 'Scuttle Bucket' for fairly obvious reasons.
If you fancy a go at carrier, or belong to another club and fancy
trying your luck or skill as the case may be, I can be contacted
here
I am planning to adapt some of my
old models to accept an
arrestor hook, so you won't even need a model.
Bilston
Control Line Comp.
10 Jun 2007
Anon
Three
members of
the Leicester Club attended the Bilston Club's first Vintage vintage
Fly-In event of the year with Vintage Stunt, Weatherman Speed, and
Carrier to have a go at. Bob and Ken Stanley entered the Weatherman
speed event and Zoe Quilter entered her first carrier event. Good
weather, cloudy at first but calm helped keep things comfortable.
Bob
(kneeling) and Ken (right)
Zoe
with Hellcat
No firsts or prizes brought home but a very enjoyable day.
More on
this event can be found
on Zoe's personal
website
LMAC
CL Team Race Events
Zoe
Quilter
As
this is the only event we run on a regular basis, so it's worth giving
an insight into the rules. These races are a bit of a misnomer, a more
accurate description may be Time Trials. The reason being we don't have
enough willing people available to organise anything approaching true
team racing.
The races are run on the first
Sunday of each month.
There are three classes (which
bear only a passing resemblance to true team race, past or present).
The rules have evolved to be as inclusive and simple as possible
to encourage anyone to have a go.
All engines must comply with the club 82db noise limit. In other words,
be
fitted with an effective silencer.
1)
Race run over 100 laps, with one compulsory pit stop.
2)
Line length is actual line length, not centre to centre.
3)
Class 1/2A
- any model - line length 12.8m (42') - any engine up to 1.6cc (.10)
The aim of 1/2A is
to encourage beginners as the pilot flies and pits his/her own model.
4)
Class A
- any model - line length 16.8m (52') - any engine up to 3.5cc (.21)
Owner of the model
pits, any competent pilot flies the model. Owner can still pit and fly
if they wish.
5)
Class OPEN
- any model - line length 16.8m (52') - any engine up to 6.5cc (.40)
Owner of the model
pits, any competent pilot flies the model. Owner can still pit and fly
if they wish.
Bitterfeld World Cup Competition (Germany) 28
& 29 April 2007
Peter
Catlow
During a conversation with Rob Kitley at last
year's World Championships in Spain, it was suggested that we should
enter the Bitterfeld World Cup F2B event in 2007. As we are both
learning German, it seemed a good way to get both flying and language
experience. In the end Rob was unable to go to Germany for various
reasons, including the birth of a new daughter, so I set off alone in
my van for the 750 mile drive to East Germany. I have friends who live
in Jena, 70 miles west of Bitterfeld, so the plan was to spend time
with them, before and after the event, and make the trip into a weeks
holiday.
Having arrived at the competition site (one
tarmac and two grass circles) and set up my tent, it was time for a
practice flight. This did not go well, as the White Knight staggered
through the schedule with a rather slow engine run. However, some
needle valve tweaking soon had the motor running better, but I decided
to avoid further embarrassment and not have another practice flight. In
any event, it was almost impossible to get into the circle, the Czechs
and Slovaks do practice a lot!
This gave me the opportunity to see what was
happening in the other circles, namely Speed, Team Race (F2C and F2F),
Mini Team Race, Combat and Scale; something for everyone! There were
competitors from 11 countries, with 24 in F2B, 41 in Combat and 7 to 10
entries in each of the other events. In addition, there was beer and
sausage for sale on site!
The downside was that it was quite difficult to
find out what was going on. The competition was fairly relaxed with no
pull tests or compulsory safety straps in F2B and I only discovered, on
Saturday morning, that I was flyer no. 2 (alphabetical order), when
flyer no. 1 was half way through his schedule! Still, I didn't have
time to panic and my flight was ok (by my standards) and my scores
increased round by round as the weather got worse. By Sunday afternoon
the wind was very strong, and the conditions very turbulent.
The competition standard was very high, any of
the top 10 would probably win our Nationals and the next seven or eight
were also good flyers. Down at my end of the competition, there was a
good contest going on between the also rans, so I was quite happy to
get in three scoring flights and finish 20th out of 24. The winner was
Luc Dessaucy of Belgium with a Saito fourstroke powered model, second
was Alex Schrek of Slovakia and third Jiri Vejmola of the Czech
Republic, both flying piped two strokes. Full results can be seen at http://moebi-f2-team.de
Was it worth the effort? It certainly was! The
German competitors were incredibly friendly (most of them speak perfect
English) and could not have been more helpful, so it was a great
experience, I shall certainly enter more World Cup events in the future.
Control Line Models
An
Introduction
(Originally taken from the 2007
BMFA Nat's program)
Control
Line (CL) models have one thing in common - they all fly
connected to the pilot's hand by lines which restrict the flight path
to a hemisphere, and give the pilot control over the model. The
simplest
control uses two lines that allow the pilot to move the elevator that
makes the model climb or dive. More complex systems use three lines,
where the third line controls the throttle to allow the model to fly at
less than full power. Some Speed models (see below) use only one line.
This is known as a 'mono-line'.
Just about all modern CL aircraft fly using stranded steel control
lines that give a good margin of safety and the majority use internal
combustion engines which fall generally fall into two categories, glow,
or diesel, that give more than adequate power. Electric power is also
making inroads at the time of writing.
Control Line flying has been around for much longer than people
realise. It was certainly around in the 1940's, and is never ending
challenge to those that take it seriously. As technology evolves so do
the models, power plants, and ways of flying them. It is far from an
outdated form of model flying, and not quite as easy as it may look at
first glance.
Many
CL fliers fly
just for fun and
build models that give them pleasure in building and flying, without
regard to the rules that regulate competition flying. However,
competition flying gives an added dimension, and can improve technique
and knowledge at a greatly accelerated pace. There are a variety of
classes and many sub divisions where regular contests are held.
Please
be aware
that what follows are extremely brief descriptions to give a flavour of
what goes on, the actual rules are far more involved.
Speed
Fly one at a time against stopwatches. The fastest model wins.
Aerobatics
Pilots fly one at a time before
judges, and describing specified shapes
in the air.
Team Racing
Three pilots fly together. Racing with pit stops for refuelling.
Scale
Miniature versions of full sized aircraft. Pilots fly one at a time
before judges
Carrier
Pilots fly one at a time, take off from a model
carrier deck, fly as fast as possible, as slow as possible, then attempt to land back on the deck.
Combat
Two pilots fly together. Each model has a streamer tied to its tail and
each pilot tries to cut his opponent's streamer.
To
start, if possible it's best to join a
club, or work with an experienced control line flier, this way you
will be able to progress quickly and have your many questions
answered.
It is
always wise to choose a model that is easy to build and repair in
the beginning. Taking advice from a club is the best
option, contact your local
authority to find out what the regulations are about flying in local
open spaces, is wise if you have no other options.
Flying control line models is not a dangerous sport if
approached sensibly, but you will need to learn how to tackle starting
an engine and setting up the flying session so that the risks are
minimised. Learning with an experienced modeller will be much easier,
more
fun, and if mothing else, will help ensure that your model stays in one
piece for
longer!
A web
site dedicatd to Control Line well worth a visit, is:
Barton Model Flying Club, Control Line Forum
At
present we have an established grass circle, which sadly for serious
Stunt fliers,
slopes quite a bit, we also have a recently finished second (level)
circle, which is now usable .
