CLOUD TRAMP POSTAL CONTEST 2012
Once again I thank you all for your support and participation … as usual we have some new names on the list but, sadly, many past ones missing … a steady decline of the past few years is still evident, only 15 participants compared to 23 last year.
Accordingly I have decided, with some regret and reluctance, to discontinue this annual Cloud Tramp Postal with my sincere thanks to all those who have participated during the past eleven years and in so doing have enjoyed the remarkable flying qualities of this simple model.
In this respect I have to offer my congratulations and admiration to Gary Hinze who has carefully refined his techniques to produce a steady two-minute model. I would love to hear of a Cloud Tramp maxing out … even winning … a Category III Mulvihill or Nostalgia Rubber event in the near future!
I have posted the undernoted entries and scores to the CT event within the 21st. WorldWide Postal, which closes June 30th, 2013. However, as you did not specifically enter the WWP as such, should you feel that you could better the scores posted here then please feel free to fly your CT’s again before that date, and I’ll happily substitute and update the results in that contest.
The main thing about this ‘contest’ is that everyone has had fun. There’s no better motive or incentive. Will those who submitted scores on behalf of others please pass these results to same accordingly.
Thank you again – one and all – and at this time of year may I wish you a very happy forthcoming holiday season – and good flying in 2013, no matter what your F/F or other interests might be.
Jim Moseley
jjmoseley@look.ca
Results :-
* indicates discarded longest/shortest flights.
1. Gary Hinze USA 51* 77 146 147 189* 370
2. Ole Torgersen N 81 66 78 84* 64* 225
3= Jim Moseley C 50* 74 80* 70 79 223
3= Sam Burke C 82 84* 77 62* 64 223
5. Bud Matthews USA 111* 68 93 51 2* 212
6= Leon Cameron UK 62* 66 71 73* 71 208
6= Hildur Lundhaug (Ms) N 75 69 64 77* 63* 208
8. Richard Barlow` C 63* 72 58 74 89* 204
9. Baptista Pereira P 47* 87* 53 56 51 160
10. Les Sayer C 56 88* 38* 51 44 151
11. Ron Boots USA 53 50 56* 29* 40 143
12. Don Smith USA 46 47 28* 40 95* 133
13. Don Martin USA 40 33 24* 59 59* 132
14. Bob Morris USA 18 50* 49 40 11* 107
15. Bob Langelious USA 32 42* 18 22* 22 72
Canada
Norway
Portugal
United Kingdom
United States of America
Gary Hinze: I made several minor improvements. Made a two hole bearing to keep the prop from wobbling around, moved the motor hook forward to the leading edge of the fin, resized the motor. I used a 1.8 P/D prop and right rudder tab, as last year. I was disappointed with the early flights, nothing over a minute, then finally a 1:30. I found that I needed to move the wing a bit aft, somehow it had got moved too far forward, and I needed to put more turns into the motor, going progressively slower at the end to let the rubber cool. More turns required right bank at launch to prevent left dive into the ground. Finally got flights over 2 minutes, which was my goal. Wind picked up a bit, but I went for one last flight. As it climbed, I could see that the wind had changed direction, as well. I lost the plane over some tall trees and couldn’t find it on the hillside until the next day. After a two hour search, I returned to the corner of the fence to have one last look back up the gully and when I turned to go home, there it was, at my feet, in the shade between two sagebrushes.
I put the telescoping retrieval pole where I stood and backed off to get a picture of the landing site. You can barely see the wings and you can see the top of the tall tree it flew over in the background. I had walked along on the other side of the fence to the left the previous day. I had come up the hill and walked just beyond the wood rail in the background. Both times within a dozen feet of the Tramp. It has been up on these hillsides so many times, I may rename it Hill Tramp. Heavy fog and wind in the next few days prevented further attempts. I am very happy that I can now regularly get flights over 2 minutes. It is evident that I must find a much bigger field. Climbing a 45 degree hillside against armpit high sagebrush is discouraging. Looking forward to next year’s contests.
Ole Torgerson: Hello Jim, just two flyers this year. As usual rather bad weather in the fall after the farmers have finished their harvest, wind and rain. Can be difficult to keep the models on the field and not in some tall trees.
Baptista Pereira: My flights were made today (30 th sept. ) at a small local field near Lisbon, Portugal. Little wind and 20 ºC, Weights: 21g fus. + 5 g wing. 4 strands of 1/8 rubber 20 inches long. Mike Woodhouse Cheepo timer.
Mike Myers – (CD/Herr OberKommissar In Charge of Der Stoppenwatch ):
These flights were put in immediately after the mass launch at 0900. Flights took place between 0915 and 1030 on Saturday, August 4 . Weather was good; overcast sky, with a mild breeze and fairly pleasant temperatures. The Grassy Knoll is surrounded by trees. Six out of the total of 20 flights wound up “tree’d”, i.e. we had to use a long fishing pole to get the model out of the tree. One of Ron Boots’ flights wound up in the adjacent Lake Balboa. Fortunately it landed near the edge of the water and Ron was able to “fish it out” and pull it to shore. After drying a bit of the water off the Cloud Tramp, Boots put it up for two more flights and took second place. Each of the gentlemen in this postal contest has flown in every Tramp mass launch at the Grassy Knoll since at least 2002. They’re all up in their late 70’s now (and Boots is 81) but I expect they’ll be back for another round next year. Bud Matthews was the winner, although he had a miserable 2.65 second score for his low time flight when his model dove in on launch. The CD ruled that every flight is an official flight—i.e. no attempts. Bud picked up the model after the “crash” and launched it with the remaining winds for about a 50 second flight. Each flyer’s models were fairly consistent during the day, mostly flying between 40 and 60 seconds.
The motley crew of the Grassy Knoll, four of whom took part.
Leon Cameron