The Great Orme PSSA Fly-In – 12th/13th October 2013

The Easterly ‘Ski Slope’ site sets the scene for the end of season bash in Llandudno.

Report by Phil Cooke – all photos by the author unless credited.

It was a bleak, grey and blustery Orme that greeted us upon arrival early on the Saturday morning.  The Easterly winds which had been dominant on the run-up to the event saw us flying the slopes overlooking the pier, less favourable than the usual SW slope as the walk with models from the car parks always limits the amount of airframes you actually get to the slope each day.  Still, it was dry and windy, and as they say  “the show must go on!” – the Easterly slopes do at least provide excellent lift once you get up there…

Matt Jones and I arrived at the ski slope car park well before 9am and once rigged and packed up we took a couple of small models up to the slope to establish camp and test the air before the masses arrived.  Based on previous bad experiences of landing in the ‘bowl’ near the top of the ski slope, we elected to walk further and lower towards the most Northerly point of the Orme’s East face, where the air in the landing zone is a lot more predictable.   By 09:30 we were flying, our little BAe Hawks and sports models enjoying the buoyant lift generated in the 15mph NE wind.  We were soaring fine, but it was so dark and gloomy!  The models were just black shadows against the threatening grey sky which sadly, would be with us all day Saturday!

Soon, other PSSA members began to arrive and before long we were fully de-camped with approximately 20 flyers on site.  Flying was performed off the peg (for those few still using 35MHz) and as usual sports models were being considerately flown in the mix with the PSS models.

Joining us again from Edinburgh, Andy Conway was one of the first to fly with his NA F-86 Sabre, (right) built from the plans by the late Ron Collins.  The model still flies very well, despite its age, and looked deceptively quick as it passed up and down the slope (a function of the models relatively small size) – it certainly proved tough to photograph well in the poor light!

Martin Middleton had travelled with a squadron of models and having made a couple of shuttle runs to the car and back he managed to fly most of them at some point on the Saturday.  Sadly his recently refurbished Victor bomber was grounded due to some damage to the high set tailplane incurred during transport, which proved difficult to fix on site with cyano alone.  His foam Me-163 Komet was airborne on numerous occasions, often fitted with the effective smoke pellets in the tail pipe, which could be seen well against the dark grey skies.  Martin also flew a very neat looking business jet, the EPIC ‘Victory’ (right) built from the Graupner ARTF EDF kit.  This little model looked great in the air, it showed great promise as a glider and had a superb jet like performance under power!

John Pearson had again made the trip over on the ferry from Northern Island to join us.  He had travelled this time with his lovely wife Roisin and fixed on top of the roof of his van, the massive one-piece fuselage of his 4m span O/D Boeing B-52!  What must they have thought at Border Control when John rolled through with this on the roof!!?   Ray Jones had also joined us (Ray had also travelled with his large O/D B-52) but on the Saturday they both elected to fly their smaller models, indeed they twice put on a very nice dual display with their Aermacchi MB-339s and Fouga Magisters. (below)

For those that don’t know John now manufactures and distributes both of these model kits under the Island Models stable name, of course Ray is the original designer of both types and it was great to see them flying the models together.

Lleyn MAC member Michael Jones had joined us with a very smart Fairey Battle, (below left) built originally for power by a fellow Lleyn MAC member but now well proven as a capable PSS machine.

Michael relayed an interesting story behind the model where many years back the designer and builder had witnessed the full-size aircraft crash land on his farmland in Wales.  The model was built quite recently, an O/D built from a simple 3-view drawing and the photos of the crippled full-size example taken at the time of the crash!

Its always nice to see new aircraft types flown at our events, I think this is the first PSS Fairey Battle to the best of my knowledge – but I wonder why? – It’s a design ideally suited with its clean lines and well proportioned wing!

Despite the grey clouds and poor light the lift remained fairly consistent all day in strength and direction and somehow we managed to avoid any rain.  Having flown my BAe Hawk to death I bit the bullet and test flew my new Aermacchi MB-339 (below right) built from a modified Island Models kit.  John Pearson was stood by my side as the model was flown and he was really pleased (as was I!) with the performance of the RG-14 wing section supplied with my particular kit.  The model was finished with speed in mind and was built strong and robust for the slope, eventually weighing in at nearly 7lbs – almost twice that of the original prototype.  In this guise, the model has a lot of energy and can really cut a groove nicely in the sky with the revised wing section.

Despite me flying it with over sensitive controls (no expo or rates set up on my new Tx at the time!) the model performed very well and the twin servo spoileron wing setup really helped slow the model down for a safe approach and landing.  The Tx is now fully programmed and I look forward to the next outing with this model.

I’ve finished my Aermacchi in the colours of the Peruvian Airforce in an attempt to differentiate a little from the number of -339’s soon to be seen on our slopes following the successful revival of the Dragon Models kit by John and Island models!!  If you want one, see the link HERE.

We flew on until 17:30 on the Saturday and in the last hour the wind swung round to the North which saw those still flying doing so in a relatively narrow band of lift from the point.  Unfortunately during this final hour Tim Mackey lost his gorgeous looking BAe Hawk to the sea below (built for PSS from the Hobbyking EDF ARTF kit) – the model failing to get into its groove from this location and with Tim unable to obtain sufficient height after launch to enable a recovery attempt on top.   This is not the first model to be lost from this site, it offers no land out options should you go down below the launch point, you simply have to keep flying in the hope of finding lift.  Another reminder why this particular location on the Orme is not best suited for our pursuit with bespoke scale models.  To his credit, Tim took the event very well, comforted to some degree that this was an ARTF conversion and not a 500hr scratch build effort.

Saturday evening saw a group of us meeting for an enjoyable meal at the Italian restaurant in Ross on Sea, a good opportunity to relax with other flyers and their partners away from the slope and relay stories of old over a few beers!

Sunday dawned with Easterly winds again and with the strength a little less than on Saturday we elected to fly closer to the ski slope where the strongest lift seems to be generated – however, this now saw us circuiting and landing in the bowl – and as the day wore on this would cost damage to a few models with heavy arrivals.

Having had an unusually quiet day with his PSS models on the Saturday, Simon Cocker made up for lost stick time with his NASA Lockheed TR-1 (below left) on only its second outing – the model having been test flown at the Lleyn event in August.  This proved an ideal model for the conditions, as at times the lift proved a little scratchy during the morning sessions for the more heavily loaded models.  The TR-1 did not suffer here one bit and flew very nicely, Simon putting on a good aerobatic show with the model when the clear airspace allowed.

Andy Conway flew a number of models throughout the second day, his interest in dual role EDF/PSS models paying dividends whatever the conditions. He successfully flew a very nice Hobbyking ARTF Sea Vixen and, for the first time from the slope, his gorgeous O/D L-39 Albatross (above right).  Both models performed very well over a number of sorties both with and without the EDF assist.

Ray Jones and John Pearson again both flew their Italian MB-339s together, and Ray also flew his O/D Alpha Jet, a model that has been around for many years but one that still looks to be in very good condition!   Around lunch time John decided the time was right to rig and carry over his huge O/D B-52.

I helped carry this 28lb behemoth over from the car and by the time we got it to the slope the winds had died off to a whisper and a persistent rain shower was grounding all models.   We used this time wisely and after a number of group photographs had been taken with the big BUFF centre stage the conditions were much improved, indeed John began his pre-flight checks whilst Simon limbered up for the launch.

This impressive model, built mainly from pink and blue foam and using the Clark Y wing section, set off very smoothly in relatively light lift but John had no trouble safely gaining height – the model stormed gracefully around eating up a lot of sky and looking every inch like the full size machine.

John’s design incorporates a 3-piece wing and I noticed this naturally enables the full-sized characteristic wing bend when the model is loaded in flight, enhancing the illusion!

John flew the model very smoothly for 20 minutes or so, at times in good sunlight (the first of the weekend!) before calling a landing.  A couple of circuits were performed round the back and through the bowl, the model kept on trucking and looked unlikely to slow up in the relatively calm conditions, so two overshoots were performed.  John’s next circuit was perfectly tailored for the landing zone but the bowl effects came into play, even with the models AUW of 28lb, and the model tracked away a little resulting in a cross wind landing on fairly rough terrain slightly below where we were stood.  Sadly this broke the spine of the one piece fuselage, but John assures me this is already fixed and the BUFF is once again ready for action!  An impressive model for sure, we look forward to the meet next year where we hope to combine this model with the similar scale B-52s of Ray Jones and Simon Cocker for an O.T.T. scale 3-ship mission!

Matt Jones flew his superb Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker later in the afternoon when both the lift and the sunlight were at their very best.

The model, built by Matt from the Andy Conway plan and fitted with a true scale wing, revelled in the conditions and Matt was able to show us what this model can do.  It penetrated nicely and I was amazed how well the afterburner LED lights fitted to this model showed up in the bright conditions, I enjoyed photographing this stunning model in flight in good light for the first time.

There were of course many more models on show and in action throughout the weekend that have not been mentioned, the photos linked HERE  hopefully capture more of the action than I can describe easily in words.

In summary I think this was a successful round up event for the PSSA with a good turn out of flyers from all over the UK despite us being forced to fly on a less favoured slope.  We had a number of new models and new flyers in attendance which is undoubtedly good news for our sport.  I would like to thank everyone who took part, especially those travelling huge distances!

The 2014 season promises the arrival of a number of new, large scale models which we know are approaching completion in workshops around the UK – these will no doubt go on to generate more interest in what we do once they are proven.  There were plans discussed regarding a possible PSSA visit to Northern Ireland to join John Pearson and his gang at an Irish PSS event, it looks like 2014 may also be the year of a mass build project for PSSA members – more details will be posted on this site very soon as we finalise details with suppliers – so we end the season with a good feeling about PSS in the UK.  Roll on 2014!!