Sandown Model Symposium 2004.
Sandown 2004 was billed as being a vast improvement on recent years, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Our weekend kicked off on the Thursday, where we travelled to Weymouth, then drove up to Guildford where we were staying. We arrived in Guildford early in the evening, and as the weather was decent, we went to do some mini-pipering nearby. Conditions were a little breezy, but we had a good laugh up on the hill, getting some good lift from the mild slope.
Next morning, we were to meet up with Pete Rondel from Jersey, before heading to Kempton Park Racecourse for a bit of a practice / test day. There was a little rain early on, but stopped by the time we got to Kempton. Others flyers at Kempton included Ali Machinchi, Dave Stephens, Malcolm Corbin, Mike Williams and Chris Madge. Dave Stephens kicked things off, having a play with a new mini-Capiche built by malcolm, powered by electric using LiPo Batteries. It was very impressive, as you'd expect being an exact size-down of the Capiche 140. After that bit of fun, it was Ali's turn. He had brought with him a 3.5m Composite ARF Yak 55. This was a beast and a half. Considering it was only on its 2nd or 3rd flight, Ali certainly put it through its paces. The aircrafts flight was cut short though when the fuel tank bung fell apart, and clogged up the fuel lines. After that impressive display, someone else had to fly. Me. With the Fun-fly wing bolted onto my Capiche, the motor was run up, and I had a fairly gentle flight, doing a bit of prop-hanging and harriering, as I hadn't flown it for 3 or 4 weeks. The wind was also a little gusty, which with the fun-fly wing can be very interesting. The other aircraft we had at Kempton that we all wanted to see fly was the prototype Capiche 90 3D, built by Chris Madge, who this year was a Sandown rookie, just like I was the year before. Still, he flew it well, and seemed very comfortable with the way it flew.
After a while, we headed to Sandown Park, where we could have a look around while traders were setting up there stands, and seeing what aircraft other people would be flying during the weekend. After a while, there was nothing left for us to do, so we headed back to Guildford for the evening. We did dome more flying with the Mini-Pipers before it got cold with the breeze, and headed off for something to eat and drink.
Next morning, we had to leave sharp for Sandown as we had to be there no later than 8:45am. The weather was excellent, and we got everything set up, bolted my wing on, filled up the tank etc, ready for our first slot. Pilot's Briefing was similar to the previous year, outlining the safety boundaries etc. Always good to be reminded after 12 months of not flying there, and being such a high-profile event.
I had a total of 3 flights on the Saturday, all with the Fun-fly wing, and the only Capiche flyer with the Fun-fly wing other than Pete Rondel, and he only flew his once on the Sunday Morning. I had great fun. We did some formation stuff too...Blenders, harriers, hangs, parachutes. I felt so much more comfortable than the year before, really mixing it with the others, instead of flying around high up keeping out of the way. My best slot of the day was the very last slot, which was a Carbon Copy slot. Only one other plane flew, and that was only up for a couple minutes, so for 5 minutes or so, I had my own solo-slot where I could do pretty much anything I wanted. When I landed right on the boards all the Island Hobbies guys cheered and clapped, a fantastic feeling. Not many people get to fly a solo slot at Sandown so I really made the most of it.
On Sunday, the weather was just as good, bright sunshine and calm winds. The first flight of the day was almost chaotic. 6 Capiche 50's up together. I almost had a mid-air with Mike Williams, but somehow we just missed each other. Other excitement included Dave Stephens losing sight of his C50 when Pete started prop hanging between Dave and his plane. Another interesting flight we had was the Island Hobbies Showpiece flight. Ali flying a C140, Chris flying the C90 3D, Mike with a C50 with the standard wing, and me with the C50 funfly. Very interesting, as we kept the 3 smaller planes high to let Ali show off the 140. He really is a very talented flier, very spectacular at very low level. I remember on one pass he did, I had to move transmitter so his wing-tip didn't hit my aerial!
So, that's pretty much all the Capiche stuff dealt with, except for the two electric ones. Dave's C140, running on 90 LiPo cells, and Pete's C50, also running on LiPo's. Both of these aircraft really demonstrate how electric flight technology has changed in the last couple of years. Both of these aircraft flew just as well their IC counterparts, and I'm sure that many more models will now be flown by electric power.
So, What else was at the show? Well, as usual Motors and Rotors put on some good displays with both heli's and fixed wing. ATS flew a squadron of the newly re-released Cambrian Fun-Fighters, all powered by Leo 37's. Stupidly fast, but great fun to watch none-the-less. All of the Pete Tindal regulars were out in force with their Spin-Doctors and Smooth Operators among others. Weston UK were there, demonstrating their Cougars and Hypes, the re-designed MagnumR (even quicker than the old Magnum!), and the new ARTF Tigershark delta, and the new Freestlye Groove, flown by Dave Stephens.
With no CPLR this year, someone had to take his place...Ali Machinchi. He flew all sorts. A massive Cap, with which he put on some exhilarating 3D flights. A Eurosport Jet, one of only 2 turbine powered aircraft at the show, and a Quarter Scale Vario Jet Ranger.
Unfortunatley, on Sunday Afternoon, during an end of flight decent, something appeared to fail and the machine folded up in the air. It appeared as if maybe a vibration caused one of the main bales to fold, and it fell from a height right onto a concrete parapet, with a very sickening thud. What made this a bit of a predicament for half a dozen of us was that the next slot was a Capiche 50 slot, so while we watching this, we weren't starting our planes. After a minute or so, we'd all started up and got into the air, to keep the show moving. However, that was not the most spectacular crash of the weekend. Earlier in the day, a Raptor 50 and a West Tornado were involved in a mid-air collision, while both doing extreme 3D. The resultant cruch, and the aftermath spread across the runway told the story...not much left from that one!!
Other heli-flying included the British F3C team demonstrating the type of flying you have to do to be able to compete in F3C championships. Century UK were also demonstrating all of their helicopters, in a well-practised form, with Mark Tilbury providing the rather OTT commentary during the slot. But probably the best heli-slots was the Bob Johnston Solo slots. At the beginning of his slots, he flew a Hornet 2 micro-heli, and surprised everyone when he started doing some 3D flying with it. But then came the real deal, the new Robbe Millennium 3. He flew it in his usual spectacular style, death spirals with a pull out below the height of the fence, aerobatic auto-rotations including a blade-stop, and inverted hovering with the blades cutting the grass. All very spectacular stuff indeed.
So, that's about it for the highlights of Sandown 2004. Maybe next year can be better still? Who knows, we'll just have to wait and see.
Now, have a look at a selection of photo's taken over the course of the weekend: