The Completed Hawk

So the Hawk's airframe is now complete, I just have to add a receiver and set up.
In its previous life a few people commented on how Hawk like it does look when its above you so, I thought I would give it a Hawk look about it, and included some eyes too.
So here is the top view.

And here is the underside

Spook

Big Phil's eldest son is starting to take an interest in flying RC gliders and wanted to build and fly one so, Phil bought from Flyingwings their Spook, which looks a little like a Weasel. I'm looking forward to see this fly.

No flying this weekend

Well as I thought, a misty rain has rolled in and so I suspect The Bwlch will be clagged in. So I guess I'll try to finish off rebuilding my Hawk. I shall post a pic or two once it's done.

Weekend Flying 5th & 6th April

Well it looks like this weekends flying is off, Sunday for definite but I shall have to see what the weather looks like on Saturday when I look out of my window as visibility may be poor and, as a Southerly is forecast, I only have two possible flying location options, Back of Wrecker at The Bwlch, (a long trek only to find that its clagged in) or, Southerndown sea cliffs near Porthcawl, which may be the better option as there's little chance of clag at 100' above sea level.
In a way, it's a good job the lads from Slope Soaring Sussex have postponed their visit until the end of April. Hopefully they will have some better weather then.

" New Stuff" or Laminating

Back in the spring of 2011, I found myself having gone a few weeks without flying my powered models due to strong winds. So I bought myself a cheap, foamy slope soarer, thinking it would give me something to fly on those windy days when my powered planes were grounded. I bought the Flyingwings Hawk, and it being my first foamy plane, followed the instructions and built it.

I took it up a local slope on Twmbarlwm and I was immediately hooked on slope soaring. I've hardly flown powered since.

Well after 3 years I thought it was about time I gave it a new lease of life and have stripped it of its GF and packing tape and recovered it in " New Stuff", or laminate, which is heat activated and doesn't shrink. It offers light weight with incredible strength, so much so that GF tape isn't needed.

I just have a few little things to do to it, connect the servo linkage, add some vinyl decoration and put it back together again, ie, attach wing to fuz and the fin.

So here is what it looked like in 2011

And then it stripped of its clothes

Rubbing down and filling

Ironing on the New Stuff

Watch this space for the completion

Flippin cold in Abertwssyg

Sunday 23rd March 2014 - Well what a change in the weather that was! The previous Sunday we had all been sat on the same mountain top basking in 16 degrees and glorious sunshine. This week we still had mostly sunshine, but it was only 3 degrees with a couple of snow grain showers thrown in for good measure, and in the distance, the peak of Pen Y Fan could be clearly seen, bright white with a good covering of snow on it.

As for the flying? Truly awesome! Wind was around 30mph with booming lift. 100ft high loops were possible from level flight and Mark, (he with suicide bomber tendencies) would put his plane into a steep dive and get a 300ft loop easily.

We went to Abertwssyg because there was an F3F competition on at The Bwlch but, I certainly didn't feel like I had to fly on the second best slope. We are truly blessed in S Wales for not just the quantity of slopes but, also the quality of the slopes.

Here's nearly 6 minutes of Sundays action.

                                  

Back of Wrecker at The Bwlch

Saturday 8th March 2014 - I met up with Mark and Chris on the Back of Wrecker. The wind was blowing a good 30mph from the south and it wasn't too turbulent as it can be sometimes.