In this Newsletter ...

Please send contributions to appear in future Newsletters to: scsa_news@yahoo.co.uk
Plain text is preferred, with pictures in reduced resolution to keep the file size small.

Rhosili from the air

From : Phil Wright

Tim, Med, me and a couple of WMSA members went along to Rhosilli - Its two hours drive but always worth it, this westerly slope overlooking Worms Head provides constant smooth lift as far out as you can go. It is popular with Hanglider and Paragliders although the freshening wind kept the paragliders down after a bit. I attached a camera to each wingtip, one running in video mode and the other taking stills. Although it is properly balanced the Mirij still needs to be flown carefully with this setup as it tries to spiral into turns - if it got spinning it could be quite difficult to stop. The extra side area ahead of the CG doesn't help here.

Pictures from Sunday 9 July

From : Brian Boucher

West Mendip Soaring Association Open PSS Competition

From : Bob Flook

October 1st
West Mendip Soaring Association Open PSS Competition
Crook Peak, (near Weston Super Mare)
Entry Fee £3-00. Proof of Insurance required
Frequencies 35MHz or 27MHz solid colours
10:00am at NT car park south of peak, (11:00am competition start time)
Contacts:
Bob Flook 01275 842075 or Mobile 07855 903094
email: bob.flook@slopesoaring.org.uk
Website: www.slopesoaring.org.uk

Phil's photos

From : Phil

I have posted some photos at http://www.ebley.plus.com/limbo/?m=D
These are large files straight off my camera and may need adjusting for cotrast and brightness; they are from Haresfield and the common

Proof Reading

From : John Bennett

To All SCSA Members,

I am, I admit, one of the revolting pedants. It stems from spending sixteen-odd years writing and verifying technical reports for the nuclear industry (and an even longer time before that in the aircraft industry), where if there is so much as a comma out of place the report is rejected (doesn't matter if the calculations are wrong - oops what a give-away). With that background I can spot a wayward apostrophe from fifty paces.

I appreciate that many people who make valuable contributions to the club newsletter, create interesting web sites, or send off articles to magazines, do not have the time nor the inclination to produce nuclear industry standard literature, but I, probably along with many other people, am often distracted from the content of such articles by spelling and grammatical mistakes, which are easy to make on a keyboard.

So, as a substitute for attending club meetings, being on the committee, organizing competitions, etc. I am offering a proof reading service to any SCSA member who wishes to take advantage, FREE, of my zero-tolerance approach (let-out clause: until further notice). What do I get? Peace of mind when reading the finished article, plus an opportunity to practise what I preach (and seeing all the articles before anyone else). Just e-mail it to me and I'll try and do it by return (except between 22nd and 31st July).

John Bennett. Email address from Mike the News - I'm not making the mistake of publishing it on the Web again. (Anyone for V***ra?)

Electric Zagi Upgrade

From : John Bennett

Electric Zagi Upgrade

I first electrified a Zagi in c. AD1999, which is a long time ago in terms of electric flight development. My current model, up until last week, was Zagi E Mk 3 which used much the same drive train, give or take - NiMh in place of NiCd and a bit of carbon fibre, but still the old Speed 400. The performance, once considered adequate (i.e. capable of gaining height), was getting to look a bit flat.

So - come the Woodspring show, and lots of stalls flogging cheapo high-tech goodies, I spent an outrageous £35 on a brushless motor and speed controller, then having done some experimenting with props and batteries, another £20 on a Li-Po battery. All this fitted into the Mk 3, which has now evolved into the Mk 4. Initial trials were promising - the power output is about double, taking account of the increased efficiency, the weight is down from 24 to 20oz, and the static thrust is around 17oz. The Gunter prop turns at around 18000 rpm static. (Incidentally, if anyone is interested I have a method of measuring rpm using a music keyboard - works as long as you're not tone-deaf.)

Spec:

Motor: 400 inrunner 2040U-14T from www.rcmdirect.co.uk

S/C: HW 'Melody' 18/22A also from www.rcmdirect.co.uk

Battery: E-Max Li-Po SD2000-2S/1C (7.4V - good for 15C they say) from www.sola-distribution.com

Prop: Gunter 5 x 4, but on a Graupner 2.3 mm adapter, not the standard push-on.

The first trial with the Gunter prop resulted in the push-on hub slipping, due to an excess of torque, and it melted. Using the Graupner adapter (hub diameter 5 mm) means drilling out the prop to make it fit. I was afraid it might come apart in the middle because of the reduced boss thickness, but it didn't.

Today (Friday 14/7) I took a diversion on the way home from work, and tried it out on Minch. As expected, the performance is transformed. It now climbs fast at 45°, and if you build up the speed it will go vertical for a convincing length of time, though it does run out of steam eventually. Problem: it's even noisier than it was before - not so good for quiet Sunday mornings. Today was really a bit too windy, with 15 mph ENE, so I didn't flatten the battery, but I still had a good 20 minutes of varied flying - full power to thermalling. Nothing got hot, despite the battery and s/c being virtually encased in polystyrene foam.