2019 Indoor Christmas Bash

XMAS BASH 2019

On Friday 20^th December we held our annual Xmas Bash and as usual had a good turnout of 15 members. 

The big change this year was provision of Hobby King gliders as sourced by Ken Humphries.

Message from Ken 23^rd October “Pleased to say that the x24  Hobby King gliders for the indoor Christmas bash arrived this morning. …. The all seem to be pretty much O.K.

As there were x6 of red/blue/green/purple colours, there are twelve different colour combinations possible whereby with each one there is a different fuz/wing/tail colour.  …

I have "repackaged" them to reflect these possibilities - so there are no "single colour" models.”

So there we have it -a brand new squadron of planes EPP foam 480mm span chuck gliders.  

 The Depron gliders built and provided by Dave Laycock for previous years  required  anything from minor repairs to complete rebuilds – so Ken Humpries took pity and sourced these gliders at a price  that would not even pay for the materials for the Depron gliders.

Task 1 Spot landings  

Not any old spot this year but a 380mm tall model lighthouse with a rotating light beam.  This was approved by the waiting competitors.

 First round went to Steve H as is usual.

Second round the ‘sea’ surrounding the lighthouse had a dozen foam board discs representing ‘whirl pools’ to catch the unsuspecting glider. Not one plane was sunk, this time Keith S was the nearest, 

Third round as per round 2 but addition of Depron crabs to catch the unwary glider. Not one plane was nibbled by the crabs, however Ray K landed his glider a creditable 400mm from lighthouse.

Task 2  Through the gap.

 The object was to fly through a gap between two horizontal  poles  

These  Knobbly King gliders were proving tricky to trim both in altitude and direction.  

Three flights per pilot were allowed  that is 45 in total, however only four gliders  found the gap launched by Ken S, Tony W, Steve H  and John S

Task 3  Green bottles

Depron bottles balanced on 2 metre long horizontal pole, the object was to knock down as many as possible. The bottles had to be hit fairly, hitting the framework and dislodging did not count.  

Three rounds flown – first round only John Mac had a hit of three bottles,  the second not one bottle was dislodged whilst the   third round Ken H managed 2 bottles.

Task 4 Landing strip

This year the landing strip 3 metres by 1.5metres wide was zoned into 4 areas. Planes landing outside did not score.  The best landing procedures were achieved by Ray K and  Ken H. There were several commendable approaches that just overran the ‘runway’ so unfortunately did not score so perhaps extend the landing strip for future years.

These new planes bought a new aspect to the Xmas Bash, between tasks, opportunities was taken by some flyers to correct these wayward Wobbly King planes; however they were reluctant to yield to the wing warping, twisting, flexing bending and their flight paths remained wayward.   Perhaps these planes were in fact not made from EPP foam but memory foam, or could be warping was being over done or perhaps aileron reversal?

These idiosyncratic gliders helped to make an enjoyable evening and that is the object of taking part in MSA Bashing at Xmas

The joint winners of MSA 2019 Xmas Bash were Keith S. and Simon T. whilst Ray K came a creditable third. Bottles of the very finest wine to those gentlemen who where all surprised to have achieved their esteemed, elevated, well won positions. 

The runners up were John S.   Keith D. John F.  Mike G.  John Mc. Steve H. Ken A.  Ken H.  Hugh W. Tony W  and Dave L  in that sort of order-ish.  Dave L purposely came  last to prevent the ignominy of that happening to anyone else ( that’s his story)

Mince pies were provide for munching to end a perfect evening even though no thermals or slope lift was encountered.

Thanks to those nameless gentlemen who did the scoring, provided the planes, and provided the obstacles, runways, green bottles etc.

Thanks to all those who attended and please spread the word for the 2020 Bash.