a year further on....

From the archives, a day from this time last year. Can't quite remember what happened, so feel free to make up your own story line involving grown men, rubber and long stiff things.... 

a higher calibre of rubberiness

V-bat

The TVSF chaps brought some nice kit along....

 pristine Ellipse

pristine Luna

Gulp DS 2 (just in-case you were wondering)

Wabbit tucked up and toasty in its survival blanket.

It didn't think much of the choppy air atop Castle Hill.

 '28 went well though

 Jim (blue overalls, wetsuit and snorkel) waits expectantly for the forecast rain,
meanwhile Eric (right) sports a fur lined willy warmer to help stave off the chill.

Happy New Year

An inauspicious start to the New Year sees the Goodwind data banks infected with a virus.

As a result, there now follows a short intermission....

It is hoped that normal service will be resumed shortly.

Failing that, volunteers will be required to help launch my PC off Beachy Head.

scraping the bowl

Birthday celebrations in the Goodwind hanger....

Ms Thunderflies' scratch built wing, mainly starch / glucose / lipids composite construction.

Maiden ended with a successful belly landing.

Without a doubt, the most useful birthday gift

 for years.....Diamond tape is a sloper's best friend.

Just to clarify.....that is actually a finger.

In memory of...

Sad times.....the 'Hols' is no longer with us, and flying

opportunities have gone the same way. Let's reminisce with

some images from our recent past when all was different....  

The vintage beauty in her final hours 

hmmmm! balsa, fabric and sunlight; food for the soul.

The Hols and her maker, little did we know she would

soon meet her maker.....for good!

perhaps the pilot's lack of digital dexterity was to blame?

Alas we shall draw a veil over the ending and enjoy

her in completeness

meanwhile the birds have the right idea

and bugger off for the winter

we watch them with envy as dew forms on Solarfilm

Duke's not fussed, the long evenings mean more

opportunities for the most time consuming phase of

the build/crash/repair cycle

Back at the cars, Mark also has repairs on his mind.

However it turns out that the Ebay spray gun / compressor

bargain of the century's former life was in a tanning salon.

Come next season, all his scalies will be glowing

a healthy pastel shade of 'Tango' to aid visibility at altitude.

Dear Santa...

Constantly drawing a blank when asked what you want for Winterval?

Slope side attire need updating?

A quick Browse on Ebay finds the solution for you!...

...and for the remaining 364 sloping days a year when just a t-shirt

isn't enough on the hill, this bloke does hoodies too.

flying famine

It's just not happening at the moment is it!

Maybe now's a good time to catch up on that backlog of aero-modelling literature....

x-rated x-c

Deep from the archives we find Mr Phil Taylor attempting a cross country jaunt to Hollingbourne. The 'Goodies' inspired transport initially seemed like a stoke of genius, however it appears at least one of his spotters can concentrate on nothing except Mrs Goodwind getting her leg over.

Cornish air

Mission Inaccessible

Sloped off to uncharted territory for a few days

Full report to follow soon.....

 3mph, sheer cliffs and no chance of landing out...let the fun begin!

No wind, no slope and no right to roam!

This is where they come to rust in peace.

Luckily we're armed with EPP!

Firle again...

We braved Firle on a weekend...it turned out to be jolly decent!

The day began with a bit of traffic congestion, but
it was interesting to learn that Renault's new
range of lorries is aimed at the bottom end of the market.

anyway, onto the slope and Simon prepares the smaller ASG for its maiden

 Final cg check like a pro... on finger tips, on windy hillside

plenty of full size action to keep us entertained while Simon continues to faff 

Mark deems the conditions suitable, but issues a warning about the 500% daddy long legs replica that is hogging the slope

quick twiddle on mini-me's joy stick for good luck

hmm, like a true pro there's just a bit more programming to do....

Mark's on launch duty, he's still got his eye on that multi limbed pest of a scalie... 

she's away!

all's good!

she does loops, rolls and all sorts of other crazy stuff....though don't go getting any ideas

if you happen to own the full size version

tip fins pending....

some rather nice hardware on display

Dave is nominated launcher for the PSS maiden

no problem!

meanwhile Simon cruises in for an arrival

happy with that! 

the full size boys circle the patch to signal their approval

...my mistake, it's a monster thermal with Mark (invisible to the naked eye)

at the top of the pile!

Sloperacer prototype testing

 ganglion attacks!!

automated camera tracker got a bit confused by

carbon fuselages and 2.4 radio signals...

we rounded off the day with a UFO

escape of the space johnny