More indoor

Ok. then, here's some more!

Unfortunately we forgot to lock the door behind us and this idiot wandered in...

Yours truly giving the Butterfly some more wear. This time I sorted a longer motor, the full length one proving too heavy and lacking in power, I shortened it by 1/3. Proved just right for the hall, a launch from kneeling height just got high enough to flirt with the lights, then came slowly down with not many turns left.

This pic was actually taken at Elvington Winter show, none of the pics I took in the sports hall were fit to show. Looks like a short motor here, about 6" of rubber. A major hazard in here was the heaters, those big gas fired jet-engine style ones, producing much turbulence. Look closely you can see the twist in the wing, designed to give as flat as possible a left turn by rolling the wing to the right.

Here is Kevin Millington's experimental indoor fun-fly model, rubber powered and with paper leading edge sheeting. Flight pattern was spectacular, seldom upright. It benefited from a dose of downthrust, and later had plenty of flights as a glider, many from the hand of Mrs. Millington, seen here joining in the fun.

Ok, since I couldn't get a picture of Baden Austin smiling, I caught him here in relaxed pose watching his model circle gently past. I think this is one of his Easy-B class models, and certainly one of the easiest to photograph! Baden was having a little difficulty with some motors not giving their best, due I suspect to the low temperature in the hall. A common problem is not being able to have heating on because of turbulence or risk of incinerating models.

Baden passed away early 2008. We miss him.

This, though similar, was another, slightly larger model, and covered in silvery Mylar. Every vibration could be seen shivering through the covering. Unfortunately this one took a liking to the light fittings, and hooked its propeller around a suspension chain. Last I heard it was still up there, awaiting rescue via a fishing pole.

Of course some of the rescues were a little easier, here Nigel retrieves his Butterfly form a ledge. This Butterfly needed a little further training, in the course of trimming it was brought back from the wall (x3), balcony roof, and ceiling girder. Next time we fly I'll try to get a better photo of it, it looks good in blue.

Well that's all the conventional flying for now. We do have some more action though, of a slightly different kind! Nigel brought along his hot air balloon, and after one successful flight, relit for a rescue mission. See here for the story

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