Got some photos from Vincent's camera. He manage to take the 'Masala' while in the air. The new livery looks very nice in the air.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Flying activities at South Tuas
Saturday usuall spot...South of Tuas
David's plane doing a low pass just before the sunset
David trying to locate his plane
Vincent collecting his plane while David's plane is on it's final approach
Vincent inspecting his plane...Rudder! good to go, Throttle! good to go, Elevator! good to go
Francis doing the final inspection
Someone with the paraglider!...but never manage to take off
The three of them...Vincent, Francis and David
Francis was trying out Vincent's Easy Star
Vincent and hisn colorful Easy Star...way to go Vincent!
Vincent and his camera...trying to spot Francis little plane
Francis and his new bird "Swift"The usuall flyer which turn up today at tuas are Francis, Vincent, David and myself. There were also some paragliding activites were spotted. As mention earlier on, Francis was flying his new bird and he was very please with it but having a hard time spotting the plane as it was tiny. Vincent brought his Easy Star from Multiflex and he was struggling at first due to some setup problem. After setting it up properly with the advice from Francis and David, it flew very well. Manage to capture some of the activities.
Re-maiden at South Tuas
That's how you do it, self launch a 3.5m glider!....up and away! Pictures was taken by Vincent...Thanks a million Vincent.
My new livery!!!
My new livery!!!
After changing my "Masala" livery and some minor repair, it's time to take it to the sky again. Vincent fetch me up from Bukit Batok Aeromodelling Flying Club and headed to South Tuas for the usuall Saturday flight. This time I brought my own camera so that Vincent will have the chance to be in the photo too. Anyway, weather was a bit cloudy and humid. Once arriving at the site, Francis was already flying his new bird which he just purchase the day before. It's called the "Swift". A very agile aircraft. So, after being a busy body inspecting his new bird, decided to set mine up. Took it up to the sky and it flew beautifully regardless of the previous damage. Very happy with the new outlook and performance of it. Even Vincent was please with the new colors.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
"Pilot Masala" new livery
Flew my "Masala" last few weeks back and had a slight damage on it's wing as I hit a little rock which was hidden by the grass on the field. Damage wasn't that severe and it was a hazzle trying to get it repaired. The mid wing joint came off and had to epoxied it back with the carbon rod. After that I decided to change the outlook of it. Went down to Singapore Hobby to get some oracoat. After cutting and ironing the new bird to ready to take the sky again. I have use the Reichard Blizzard color concept and did some slight modification on it. Will post some of the new livery once i have down loaded it to the computer. ( should be this evening i think )
Apart from that, I'm also looking at the "Pilot Tumeric" as my next plane but at the sametime I'm also looking at some carbon composites glider. Just couldn't make up my mind..oh well, might just as well put it on hold for now as I still can decide. Will do more browsing.
I have browse the web and found that there are some nice quality gliders around. Mostly in European countries as there is where the best gliders would come from. If you are browsing the net, you should try http://www.valentamodel.cz/ or http://www.topmodel.cz/ They have a very wide varities of glider models. Apart from that the US website are also very nice. Try http://www.soaringusa.com/
Sometime, you just can't decide which glider to purchase due to the wide varities. As for me, I'll just stick to my own preference which is more to thermal soaring.
Apart from that, I'm also looking at the "Pilot Tumeric" as my next plane but at the sametime I'm also looking at some carbon composites glider. Just couldn't make up my mind..oh well, might just as well put it on hold for now as I still can decide. Will do more browsing.
I have browse the web and found that there are some nice quality gliders around. Mostly in European countries as there is where the best gliders would come from. If you are browsing the net, you should try http://www.valentamodel.cz/ or http://www.topmodel.cz/ They have a very wide varities of glider models. Apart from that the US website are also very nice. Try http://www.soaringusa.com/
Sometime, you just can't decide which glider to purchase due to the wide varities. As for me, I'll just stick to my own preference which is more to thermal soaring.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Some new links added
Just added some new links which I got it from Mr Phang ( www.soaringcomposites.com ) It's all about their trip for the F3F Typhoon race. A very interesting blog with some nice photos taken. You can browse it at my link.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Baracuda flight at South of Tuas
Finally...I get to test the full potential of my Baracuda last weekend at South of Tuas. The weather was superb and the thermal was great. The Baracuda flew beautifuly and it's very agile too. Did a very low pass and "swooossssh!!!" it went. Vincent was there to take some beautiful pictures of it and he was impress too. It was indeed worth the penny. Will up load some photos taken during that afternoon.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
What is thermalling all about?
Thermal came from a greek word which means "heat". For all gliders, thermal will be the fuel and power source for it. Without it, gliders will not be able to soar in the open skies. And even birds rely on it too. A very good example of birds which soars are eagles, hawks, cranes and even swift.
The main source for thermal is the sun. The higher it stand in the sky, the more light and warmth it emit to the irridated surface below. The sun irridates everything around it be it water, soil, trees, roads and even houses. Anything that reflect light will also reflect heat and eventually thermals are form . As thermal gathered together it will develop into a bigger thermal called thermal columms. Apart from that, there are also thermal called "Boomer Thermal" which you will only encounter it at high altitude and it will take you several meters in a minute.
Back in the 1954, Carmichal started out with 3 standard models:
Strong thermals
Weak thermals
Wide thermals
Strong thermals refer to thermal updraughts that produce maximum rate of climb of 6 meter per second. The radius of such thermals are small, Charmichal's measurement gave it a maximum of 200m.
Weaker thermals are less than 3m per seconds for the rate of climb and in the center of the thermal, it can reach up to 5m per second. Weaker thermals have slightly a larger radius and it can be up to 300m wide.
Besides the irridation of the sun, the temperature is also one of the key factor. As we all know at our latitude temperature is much warmer compared to the to higher altitude. When warm air break loose, it will raise up till it cools down when it reaches certain altitude. So if the ground temperature is low and the differences are minimal, then you won't get any good thermals. In the tropical place such as Singapore, Malaysia or event Thailand, you will get thermal almost everywhere. It's only a matter of how wide and how frequent the thermal are produce.
There two main different areas which causes thermal develop which is dark and light areas. Light area consist of area such as corn field, open field, dry grass field, stone quarries, buildings, housing estate...etc whereas dark areas are humid meadow, forrest, empty car parks, mash,..etc
As we all know that here in singapore we do not corn fields, but we can take advantages of our surroundings such as open land ( tuas area ) or open field ( old holland road or even bukit batok )
The best time to hunt for thermal will be between 10.30am to 4pm. During this time, there will be lots of indicators to show you whether there is a thermal near you or far from you. A very good example of thermal indicator are the birds call "swift". They are masters in finding the core of the thermal as they feed while in the thermals. As we all know that whatever in the thermal's way will rise, so does insect which will be the "swift" food. You can tell whether if there is a thermal by seeing the "swift". If the "swift " flies chaoticly means there is thermal bubbles or a none rotating thermals and if it a rotating thermals, the "swift" will normally fly in an accordingly to the direction of the thermal rotating.
Another way to locate thermal is to see a sky predator ( eagles & hawks ) circling the skies. If you happen to come close to the eagles or hawk and start following them, you will notice that your glider will start to ascend.
What if there is no "swift" or eagles in the sky? Is there still thermal around? Yes, there is. How? The clouds!..clouds ( Cummullus ) will give you a very good indication of thermal activities around you. Try observing the clouds, you will notice there is a new cloud and old clouds. Thermals are normally present in the birth of a clouds. But the cloud are decepating so does the thermals.
What about in the evening, does it still have thermals around? Yes, there are and it comes from the dark areas like the forrest, sand quarries, roads, emptied car park. These dark area absorbed the heat during the day and released it during the evening time during sunset. But thermal that you get from them are aomewhat weak. If you are flying a 1.5m glider than you may have the chance to catch the thermals.
I won't go in details on how to read the clouds as it's indeed a very large episode. Anyway, I've got this book called " The Secret of Thermal Soaring" by Markus Lisken and Ulf Gerber. The book explain the fundamental of thermalling as well as giving you the better understanding of thermals. I got mine from RCS ( Radio Control Sports ) and it was the last copy of it. I believe you could get it from the net. Besides books, there is also some DVD's from Radio Carbon Art which you could get from www.soaringcomposites.com
Apart from that I have also some website which I have browse thru and it will actually help you to have a better understanding about thermals.
http://www.quicktechhobby.com/articles/thermal_surfing%20part%201.htm
http://www.quicktechhobby.com/articles/thermal_surfing%20part%202.htm
http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/thermal-soaring.html
There are many more websites in the net which i didn't mention about thermals and soaring. Try searching the net and you will be surprise that there are lots of information about thermals.
The main source for thermal is the sun. The higher it stand in the sky, the more light and warmth it emit to the irridated surface below. The sun irridates everything around it be it water, soil, trees, roads and even houses. Anything that reflect light will also reflect heat and eventually thermals are form . As thermal gathered together it will develop into a bigger thermal called thermal columms. Apart from that, there are also thermal called "Boomer Thermal" which you will only encounter it at high altitude and it will take you several meters in a minute.
Back in the 1954, Carmichal started out with 3 standard models:
Strong thermals
Weak thermals
Wide thermals
Strong thermals refer to thermal updraughts that produce maximum rate of climb of 6 meter per second. The radius of such thermals are small, Charmichal's measurement gave it a maximum of 200m.
Weaker thermals are less than 3m per seconds for the rate of climb and in the center of the thermal, it can reach up to 5m per second. Weaker thermals have slightly a larger radius and it can be up to 300m wide.
Besides the irridation of the sun, the temperature is also one of the key factor. As we all know at our latitude temperature is much warmer compared to the to higher altitude. When warm air break loose, it will raise up till it cools down when it reaches certain altitude. So if the ground temperature is low and the differences are minimal, then you won't get any good thermals. In the tropical place such as Singapore, Malaysia or event Thailand, you will get thermal almost everywhere. It's only a matter of how wide and how frequent the thermal are produce.
There two main different areas which causes thermal develop which is dark and light areas. Light area consist of area such as corn field, open field, dry grass field, stone quarries, buildings, housing estate...etc whereas dark areas are humid meadow, forrest, empty car parks, mash,..etc
As we all know that here in singapore we do not corn fields, but we can take advantages of our surroundings such as open land ( tuas area ) or open field ( old holland road or even bukit batok )
The best time to hunt for thermal will be between 10.30am to 4pm. During this time, there will be lots of indicators to show you whether there is a thermal near you or far from you. A very good example of thermal indicator are the birds call "swift". They are masters in finding the core of the thermal as they feed while in the thermals. As we all know that whatever in the thermal's way will rise, so does insect which will be the "swift" food. You can tell whether if there is a thermal by seeing the "swift". If the "swift " flies chaoticly means there is thermal bubbles or a none rotating thermals and if it a rotating thermals, the "swift" will normally fly in an accordingly to the direction of the thermal rotating.
Another way to locate thermal is to see a sky predator ( eagles & hawks ) circling the skies. If you happen to come close to the eagles or hawk and start following them, you will notice that your glider will start to ascend.
What if there is no "swift" or eagles in the sky? Is there still thermal around? Yes, there is. How? The clouds!..clouds ( Cummullus ) will give you a very good indication of thermal activities around you. Try observing the clouds, you will notice there is a new cloud and old clouds. Thermals are normally present in the birth of a clouds. But the cloud are decepating so does the thermals.
What about in the evening, does it still have thermals around? Yes, there are and it comes from the dark areas like the forrest, sand quarries, roads, emptied car park. These dark area absorbed the heat during the day and released it during the evening time during sunset. But thermal that you get from them are aomewhat weak. If you are flying a 1.5m glider than you may have the chance to catch the thermals.
I won't go in details on how to read the clouds as it's indeed a very large episode. Anyway, I've got this book called " The Secret of Thermal Soaring" by Markus Lisken and Ulf Gerber. The book explain the fundamental of thermalling as well as giving you the better understanding of thermals. I got mine from RCS ( Radio Control Sports ) and it was the last copy of it. I believe you could get it from the net. Besides books, there is also some DVD's from Radio Carbon Art which you could get from www.soaringcomposites.com
Apart from that I have also some website which I have browse thru and it will actually help you to have a better understanding about thermals.
http://www.quicktechhobby.com/articles/thermal_surfing%20part%201.htm
http://www.quicktechhobby.com/articles/thermal_surfing%20part%202.htm
http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/thermal-soaring.html
There are many more websites in the net which i didn't mention about thermals and soaring. Try searching the net and you will be surprise that there are lots of information about thermals.
The Pheonix Glider
After having a chat with Vincent recently and I was reminded about the Pheonix glider which I happen to own one before. It was my second glider and it and average glider. Cheap and good. Not much of a work to get it to the sky. Drawback is the fire wall which is plastic and when the motor gets really hot, then you will have a problem there.
Tips: It's always good to reinforce the firewall with plywood.
Mr Goh "Stuka"
As i mention on my earlier post that I will put up Mr Goh's "Stuka" dive bomber. Here it is...
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Gliders here and there...
The Merlin
&
& Easy Glider Pro
Tried a couple of glider models from a different make and it was a good experience since every make have a different kind of handling characteristic.
The Multiplex "Easy Pro Glider" is somewhat a very good glider be it for beginners to advance fliers. There a is also another glider which is from Parkzone called Radian, which is very good start for some who is new to the hobby but the price of it may be a drawback as it very costly to certain people.
The Multiplex "Merlin" is somewhat like a warmliner and very twichy is you fly in at highspeed. But nevertheless it also floats very well. Mr Goh name it "Chili Padi" since it's a small plane and it's full of power. He normally do crazy stunts with it.
My very first glider
After browsing thru my computer and I found some pictures of my very first glider. Pictures were taken by Vincent. Since then, got hook up with glider. Before that I was only flying helicopters.
It's called the "Cloud Fly" which I purchase it from Jet Hobby. It's really a beginner plane and it's really cheap. Once you get the hang out of it, you can move to a more advance glider. The whole idea is to get us to the controls and oreintation.
Where to get goods gliders?
There are numerous hobby shop here in singapore especially at Fook Hai Building. If you happens to be there, you will find that there are 6 Rc hobby shop located in the same building. These are Singapore Hobby, NTC hobby, Radio control sports, Hobby shack, RCE hobby and Aerosmith Hobby. They have almost everything, planes, helicopter and boats.
Apart from the ones that I mention, there another 2 other more which one of it is located at China town point ( Jet Hobby ) and the other is Soaring composite ( Home base ) at Segar Road.
However there are some other hobby shop which I have not mention here as I have never been to there.
Where do I get my glider? That's a good question...I got my gliders from either Soaring Composites or Singapore Hobby.
Soaring composites sells not only composite gliders and recently they have a new range of gliders from Reichard Models and the prices were reasonable. They have a good varities of glider models from slope soaring to electric thermal models. Apart from just selling kits, they also have a good range of accessories for gliders. The founder / owner Mr Phang, is very helpful with the setting up of the aircraft and suggestion on building the model. He have been involved with gliders since 2005 and he is very knowledgable too. He would be the right person if you really want to start flying gliders. You can also visit his website http://www.soaringcomposites.com/
Apart from soaring composite, Singapore Hobby too sells quality models such as Pilots, OK models, V-pro and many more. They also have some nice helicopters ( nitro and elecctric kit ) Mr Ronald, the owners son are also very helpful and will advice you on your startup to the hobby. Here is their website http://www.singaporehobby.com/
As for the rest of the model shop, they have all kind of parts, accessories, kits, ARF kits, foamie kits, and etc...you name it and they have it.
Here are some of the website which I normally browes :
http://www.skyhobbies.com.sg/
http://www.jethobby.com.sg/
http://www.aerosmith-hobby.com/
http://www.rcehobby.com/
http://shop.radiocontrol-sports.com/
http://shop.rotor.com.sg/
Apart from the ones that I mention, there another 2 other more which one of it is located at China town point ( Jet Hobby ) and the other is Soaring composite ( Home base ) at Segar Road.
However there are some other hobby shop which I have not mention here as I have never been to there.
Where do I get my glider? That's a good question...I got my gliders from either Soaring Composites or Singapore Hobby.
Soaring composites sells not only composite gliders and recently they have a new range of gliders from Reichard Models and the prices were reasonable. They have a good varities of glider models from slope soaring to electric thermal models. Apart from just selling kits, they also have a good range of accessories for gliders. The founder / owner Mr Phang, is very helpful with the setting up of the aircraft and suggestion on building the model. He have been involved with gliders since 2005 and he is very knowledgable too. He would be the right person if you really want to start flying gliders. You can also visit his website http://www.soaringcomposites.com/
Apart from soaring composite, Singapore Hobby too sells quality models such as Pilots, OK models, V-pro and many more. They also have some nice helicopters ( nitro and elecctric kit ) Mr Ronald, the owners son are also very helpful and will advice you on your startup to the hobby. Here is their website http://www.singaporehobby.com/
As for the rest of the model shop, they have all kind of parts, accessories, kits, ARF kits, foamie kits, and etc...you name it and they have it.
Here are some of the website which I normally browes :
http://www.skyhobbies.com.sg/
http://www.jethobby.com.sg/
http://www.aerosmith-hobby.com/
http://www.rcehobby.com/
http://shop.radiocontrol-sports.com/
http://shop.rotor.com.sg/
The DG1000 Electric Glider
It's a beautiful model from FlyFlyHobby.cn but the performance are somewhat average. It tip stall easily and you need to pay full attention to it as it's very unpredictable. Building of this kit need some minor modifications as some of the parts doesn't fit well. Had mine with a slight crooked wing ( very annoying )
Took it for a maiden flight and it flew well in a straight line but when it comes to banking, you will need some power or else it'll tip stall. This glider are somewhat more for slop soaring rather than thermal soaring. It needed speed most of the time.
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