Start of the competition season

Saturday was the day before the first thermal competition of the year. It was forecast to be a nice 10mph easterly wind which meant the local slope (Brownside Farm) should have been great. I was up early and out the house for 9am. Got there in 10min, climbed the hill with slope dog and David F only to find the wind gusting 2 - 6mph. 

We had a few launches in the stronger gusts but there was just no lift to get us to height and then cruise about until the next gust came trough. Thankfully it's an accessible slope because we had a few long walks down the hill and back. 

We called it quits just before 11, game was a bogey.


Sunday was an early rise to go to the first thermal duration comp of the year; 2m and open HLR. There were 9 hardy souls competing and a few others watching or dropped by. Some new models were tested and a couple of refurbished models took to the air prior to the competition start. The wind speed started at 6mph and steadily rose to 10mph later in the day. Once again, it was different from the forecast.

There were 6 entries in the 2m class. Standing on the sidelines our view was that the conditions never looked great. It ended up being good enough for most rounds have at least one flyer with close to max score. I lost all faith in the 2m foamie model I had last year after some trimming problems arising from design issues. (crap hardware and crap tail mounting system.) I am hoping to pick up another 2m class model shortly and hope to be out flying it soon. 

We had a quick break for lunch and some test flights then it was onto the open models.  I had a few nervous moments but with some guidance I settled into the 3 rounds ok. There was good lift in most slots and in some cases pilots were only a landing point or a few seconds from max scores. Not bad considering the freezing cold was numbing fingers and conditions were far from ideal.  

My new open model launches very well and I won't have issues reaching height/upwind with it. Some trimming and tweaking of the set up is required to get it flying spot on but it's a good starting point as the 10min flight I had in round 2 proved. My landings were poor, now I know the model is nearly set up I will get in as much practice and testing as I can. I will be using a frisbee as the spot landing marker and hope to have the nose in it on landing as often as I can. 

I will post up the details of the next comps and the results for this comp once I have a bit of time to decide on the format of things. In the meantime check the SAA website for details of events. Soaring contest calendar.

some pictures from Sunday.

Early morning flyers...

The wind looks good tomorrow morning for a short visit to Brownside Farm. Aiming to be there from about 9am with slope dog. Won't be there all day as things to do and Scotland rugby game to watch in the afternoon.

Campsies and Fairlie Moor now live.

I visited the Campsies last weekend for a few hours on Saturday morning before the rain came. There was a nice SSW wind about 16mph or so gusting to about 22mph. It tired slope dog out for the rest of the day which was good. :)

Slope dog at the Campsies

This afternoon I visited Fairlie Moor. Met another flyer on the slope which was the first time i have ever done so. He was expertly piloting some big F3F models and put my models and flying to shame!

Slope dog ran about mad chasing the gliders along the slope as per usual. The wind increased not decreased like the forecast was advising. The wind meter registered that it was gusting to 30mph. This was a bit more than the old Graupner and New Ridge Ryder can handle. They both flew but struggled to penetrate at times, both got blown back into the rotor which did not end well. Thankfully this never caused any damage to either models.

I definitely need a model that can handle wind and take lots of ballast. If only the budget would stretch to a nice new shiny F3F mouldie and gear. Hopefully The Dumbarton Model Club auction provides a good second hand bargain. Fingers crossed.



New content live: Fairllie Moor & Campsies

Neilston Pad

Neilston Pad page is now live. I just need to upload photos when I get the chance.

EDIT: Neilston Pad photos are now live. 8 Mar 15

Content coming slowly but surely...

I have put together the Brownside Farm slope soaring page and pushed it live after sorting a few formatting issues. View it here Brownside Farm slope details I will hopefully get the other location pages completed over the next week or so.

Please get in touch via shout box or comments if there are other slopes that should be on the list.


Here is a picture of the best £20 I have spent on models. A great flyer in marginal to light conditions.

Orange Box Glider - Rudder, Elevator controls circa1800mm wingspan for slope and thermal soaring.

A blast from the past...

A fitting start to this blog...

I got sent this 'slide' by an local glider guider of many years. This is Neilston Pad circa 1975. Numerous models and flyers on the hillside. Do you recognise anyone or any of the models?

I only took up rc gliding last year after an impulse purchase at a local rc club auction. (the best £20 I have spent in modelling, more on that later)

All bar one slope session so far has been a solo affair. I suspect there are other flyers out there who just need to have a meeting point and some encouragement to get out flying.

The primary purpose of this blog is to link rc flyers in the Glasgow area and get out slope & thermal flying on a regular basis. The secondary purpose of this blog is to detail the best slope and thermal flying locations in Glasgow and the surrounding area.

so, lets begin...