Dear Diary….
Well, it's been a hectic month on many fronts here at home, not least of which is the aeromodelling one!

In a whirlwind of activity (well, a whirlwind compared to the speed it's gone before) a second hand Futaba Field Force 6 was acquired from a member of another nearby club, LADMACS in Louth and fitted. The installation was a fairly simple affair, with the servo tray and control horns etc already in place from the previous owners set up. Again, the experience gained from boats & cars came in handy…Now I can hear some more seasoned fliers saying 'not a good idea for beginners, best to go for a new radio control' and if I were a complete beginner, that's exactly what I would have done. Having had fairly extensive encounters with radio control during my boating and car racing days, I had a good idea of what to look for, and this set had certainly been looked after.

After warming up the airwaves with several mobile calls to Wayne Langrick from the SHARKS, we met up at the airfield on a balmy evening where Wayne gave the Kyosho the once over and pronounced it fit to fly…well, almost anyway.

After a couple of 'mods' to the radio set up (a couple of channel reversals were necessary to get the control surfaces wiggling in the right direction - hope I'm not getting too technical for you, folks!) the tank was filled and the SC46 fired up. A few adjustments on the mixture front, and I retired to the far side of the strip for a range check. All seemed in order, so after handing the transmitter back to Wayne, I stood back, camera at the ready to capture the first tentative steps on the ladder to becoming airborne.

Without further ado, Wayne gunned the throttle, and the Kyosho was off and within - to my mind - a very short distance, she was up!

I breathed out… didn't realise I was holding my breath, what a great feeling! My aeroplane was flying! After a few small adjustments on the trim controls, Wayne pronounced himself happy, and proceeded to fling the Kyosho around the Lincolnshire sky in what can only be described as a heart stopping fashion, nearly stopped my heart once or twice! - One day Wayne… one day….

He did briefly hand the transmitter to me, but as it was set up for mode (1 or is it 2) it was a short, scary moment, so I handed it back in short order. My previous dalliance on the sticks with Waynes Kyosho was mode (2 or is it 1) so even with such a short amount of experience' under my belt, it felt really 'alien' to me.

Waynes offer to 'reset' the transmitter back to mode (1 or 2) was eagerly taken up, and the Kyosho was packed away amid a euphoric haze. Amazing that such a simple thing as seeing your model aeroplane fly can induce such a good feeling… hope it has that effect every time. Judging by the look on Wayne's face, I think it probably does…

Cheers!
Rob