December Trinity newsreel
Mostly Keil Kraft Elves
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEjmiuHZZik
Non Elf related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8XG5ofU_RQ
I'll sort out a few stills in a day or so.
Some stills from the 12th of December Trinity meeting. As we were holding our (more or less) traditional Xmas Elf party game most of the activity was Keil Kraft Elf based but there were a few models that weren't Elves being flown.
Andy Blackburn photos
1 - Alan Trinder's Elf
2 - Bob Lee's
3 - Chris Brainwood's
4 - Dave King's
Andy Blackburn photos.
1 - Lurk's Elf at rotate.
2 - Pete Brown's festively decorated Elf. Won the "Prettiness Prize" :)
Chris Brainwood photos.
3 - Alan Trinder & his Elf.
4 - Dave Monk & his Elf.
Andy Blackburn photos.
1 - Andy's own design all sheet Euler D VI
2, 3 - Gerard Moore's Helios Stallion
4 - Nick Peppiatt's Midson Supa Lounger
Andy Blackburn photos.
1 - Pete Brown's peanut Andreasson
2 - Pete Brown's rescaled* KK - umm I've forgotten.
3 - Peter Smart's FW-190. About 13"-14" span.
4 - Rob Funnell retrieves his Talgiafico Slugger, "helped" by Colin Hutchinson.
*For next year's Keil Kraftlet party game. Any KK sport cabin model, except the Elf rescaled to a 16" span.
Squirrelnet photos.
1 - Pete Brown's Festive Elf. "I'm ready for my close-up Mr de Mille."
2 - Peter Smart's Cessna 150 & MK I Spitfire
3 - Peter Smart's small FW-190
4 - Steve Haines' pistachio Currie Wot based on the Moorhouse plan
Some of my snaps now.
1, 2 One of Dave Monk's
I didn't make a note of the design, but it flies nicely. Dave was reluctant to let me photograph it because in his words, "...it's 30 years old and a bit tatty." I insisted because we all look a good deal tattier than we did 30 years ago.
3,4 Gerard Moore's Helio Stallion.
G had been having trouble trimming it when he last brought it to Trinity. The problem turned out to be a warped tail plane which put the model in a permanent dive. One new tail plane later it's flying a treat.
If you were lucky enough to go to the IIFI in November you will have seen this flying. It's Mike Stuart's Blackburn Shark and it is (as usual with Mike) a delightful piece of work. Trinity flyers will have to go Walsall in April if they want to see this flying indoors.
A work in progress. At the beginning of the year Richard Preston turned up with a model of an aeroplane which had yet to make its maiden flight, a Sonex Highwing. It flew "off the board" so we (RP & me) decided it was worth tidying up R's plan. Which I did but I ran out of time to build it. Enter John Whatmore who *cough* "volunteered" to do the test build of the cleaned up plan. This is where he'd got to by the 12th. When it's finished and trimmed it'll be written up and submitted to AeroModeller for use as a free plan. For weight obsessives, 16,6g as seen.
Last from me for now.
1 - Richard Preston's lates development of the Serene series, the Coupé
2 - Richard Preston's scaled down Mercury Matador for rubber
3 - Richard's Matador in company with my Wireless Countess, a 1/6th Radio Queen for rubber.
First Trinity of the year and thankfully the hall was warm. A lot of high wing monoplanes this month taking part in the delayed Nov. scale event. No order to what follows.
1. Andy Blackburn's Hannant Bede BD4 - temporarily grounded while he worked on fixing the prop.
2. Barry Dunkley's Ikara Antoinette. These are popular at Trinity, they seem to be guaranteed to fly and fly well.
3,4 Bob Lee's Bill Dean Sky Ray CLG in Depron. For an OMFC comp. Test glides looked good.
1, 2 Bob Lee's Chrislea Super Ace from Mike Stuart's plan
3,4 Squirrelnet's big* Cub which is covered in his build thread on the scale board. A lovely piece of work.
*By Trinity standards.
Some from Gerard Moore
1-3 inc. Helio Stallion. Won the party game hands down.
4 His Malmstrom Mimi. This is a delight to watch flying.
John Winfield had an interesting mix with him.
1 - Hangar Rat. I must have missed a memorandum somewhere as several of these have appeared at the last couple of meetings.
2 - His entry for the comp. Veron Gypsy engined Comper Swift
3, 4 Veron Nieuport 27. Very light.
1 Mick Langford's VMC Me. Bf-109. Kicking myself that I only took the one photo. It is a really nicely put together and finished article. Saw a couple of trimming flights and it looked promising.
2,3 Mike Stuart's Atalanta GB10 from a French plan. He did tell me whose, but I didn't write it down thinking I'd remember. Yes. Well. Won the "Prettiness" prize in today's comp.
Now a wee treat for you. Mike Stuart's new Blackburn Ripon. It's about 28g without rubber. There's some newsreel of a trimming flight which I'll be sending to Squirrelnet Labs for processing shortly.
Some of Nick Peppiat's fleet from today.
1, 2 Clutton FRED. Took second in the comp.
3 Midson Supa-Lounger. Floats around gently. Hello sky, hello clouds.
Richard Preston's one of our two or three resident Stakhanovite builders. You can rely on him turning up with something new at nearly every meeting. No exception today.
1, 2 Unnamed as yet, but it might be called "The Tripper". A fun little thing. Uses differential motor control for direction and throttle "blipping" for climb/descent.
3,4 A 16" version of the Mooney Found Centennial. Flies like it's on rails. Ideally needs a bit more space than Trinity can provide, but RP got it circuiting within bounds, most of the time.
Couple of duration types.
1 - Rob Funnell's Bulldog. I think, if you know better please shout.
2 - Tony Calvert's Preston Serene. Well named.
Time for the Rob Smith show part I ...
1-3 inc His new RC SE5A from the, no longer available, Falcon kit. The pilot's a two part vacuum formed item and came with the kit.
Rob Smith show part II and the last of today's stills from me, but don't despair there's newsreel to be sent to Chris and I'm expecting some flight shots from Andy Blackburn and Chris almost has stills and newsreel of his own so stay tuned for further exciting news. :)
1,2 Rob's Pilatus Porter. Flies beautifully, but another that it's difficult to keep within Trinity's bounds. Matters weren't helped today by the draught from the fan moving all the models off their circuits.
3,4 Piper Cub in the correct colour for a high wing monoplane.
Another great Trinity. This month was the postponned High Wing Monoplane competition won by GM with his beautifully flying Helio Courier chased all the way by Nick Peppiatt's Clutton FRED
In case anyone was in any doubt that aeromodelling requires the peak of physical fitness here are Lurk and Andy B demonstrating different techniques in the art of stretch winding
My own entry in the HWM comp was my Peanut Peck Piper Cub...still one of my favourite models. Such a great kit, they fly so well and look sooo cute
I love mine but I fear all three of flights equaled one of GM's with his Helio Courier
Steve H brought along a lovely Fike which I think was his entry. It was a pistachio as well seen here alongside his other pistachio a Currie Wot . Note the tangerine for scale !!!!
A closer shot of Steve little beauty the Currie Wot
Steve also brought along a 16" KK Gypsy. What a lovely little model it looks really good that size
There were a few elfs there too. This was Tony Calvert's I think and was doing aerobatics early on for our entertainment
This is Bob Lee's Skyray glider made from B&Q foam. It's for the OMFC winter scrapbox glider challenge but is crying out for a supercap conversion as Bob himself admitted
The challenge is a Club event but here's a link if you are interested to see what it is https://oxfordmfc.bmfa.club/omfc-indoor-scrap-box-glider-challenge-2026/ (https://oxfordmfc.bmfa.club/omfc-indoor-scrap-box-glider-challenge-2026/)
Star of the meeting for me was Rob Smith's new SE5a. As Lurk as said earlier it's from the Falcon kit and is RC but what a beauty
It's pictured here alongside my peanut printed tissue foamy version... I tried the old trick to make them look the same size but as pic 2 shows they are not. Rob's model is nice and slow flying and looks great in the air but keeping it within the walls is a huge credit to Rob. I have some video evidence I'll post later
Andy B's Euler is also a gem. If it goes missing you know where to look !
On the WW1 note here's my Foamy SE5a alongside the Foamy Fokker DVII . It seems the Fokker is one of those models that you get to fly nicely put away in a box, get it out and find you have to start again and retrim, I have stick and tissue models that are more reliable...see previous post with the Peck Piper
The Pup I keep bringing along but never seem to fly ...too chicken ? actually I keep forgetting, it's CO2 Telco powered and goes quite well when I remember I brought it . I really should repair that wing tip ... I keep forgetting !
...and finally
I did bring along my outdoor OMFC Rubber Scale Duration model a 2x KK Piper Super Cruiser , not to fly it but ..er..because Lurk asked me to
It has a Coupe wing profile , lifting tail, D/T and 15" prop . Weight is around 120g without rubber and balance is ballpark though I've not actually thrown it yet.
I have some video ..and some video just in from the Lurker Industries Kinematic Club by the look of it... back shortly
In flight snaps courtesy of Andy Blackburn
1 - Andy's own Hannant Bede BD4
2 - Squirrelnet's Foam SE5A
3 - GM's Helio Stallion
4 - John Winfield's Veron Comper Swift
And the last two from Andy
1 - Mike Stuart's Atalanta GB 10
2 - Nick Peppiatt's Clutton FRED - Second in the comp.
Thanks for reporting and illustrating this so thoroughly gents. Very enjoyable to see.
Stephen.
Today was the February Meeting with the fellows of Trinity
Another great meeting with some new models on show as well.
Great to see Lee Bates again who had a box full of models including some new ones.
First up is the pink and green Roland D2. this is a superb flyer climbing high to the ceiling on every flight. Later on the motor peg pulled through the fuselage side, un daunted Lee cut the fuselage in half and repaired the inside with some balsa glued it back together again and had it up in the rafters again
Also new was this lovely SPAD
Another shot of the SPAD. I didn't see this one fly but then I may have missed it.
Also new was Lee's Sopwith Triplane . This looks gorgeous but still needs some trimming to get it going properly
ANOTHER! new one from Lee. This is an RE8 complete with crew. It looks amazing but had suffered a structural failure the week before and needs extra internal stiffening so couldn't take full winds. It did so some very nice 'controlled' landings with is scale looking 4 bladed prop.
The crew are moulded in type of foam clay using a silicon mould, he had a little of pot of foam recruits ready for the next mission. They looked like a pot of those foam sweets I remember as a kid... I guess that's a mistake you would only make once!!!
Final foamy from Lee that I photographed is SE5a, very much showing how it's done compared to my own foamy SE5a- the skin on mine is courtesy of Lee as well
Ok enough foamies I hear you shout
well here's a new one from Peter Smart. A very nice Freiseler Storch with fully slotted and slightly drooped flaps. Still in the trimming phase but looking promising. The turn was tight to fit in the hall so difficult give a final verdict on the flaps
Another new one from Peter a Nieuport from the Flying Aces plan. This was also trimming but but looking nice later on
Also new was David King's Comper Swift. David has built it with a scale flat wing and looks very nice. Trimming proved tricky, I think some steamed in washout is planned. Judging by David's table he has a few red models as well :o
Dave Monk's Saint class duration model
Colin (Mr Aeromodeller) Sharman with a new duration model
Richard Preston winding his model which is a built up version of a KK chuck glider. It flies brilliantly
A couple of lovely FROG Models from Mike Stuart
A Redwing which was flying nicely as usual and a very cute little all sheet Minnow
I have some video too so I'll post that in a bit
Thanks Chris = brightens up a cool wet morning of this unusual summer down here.
I like Preston's rubber version of an old KK chuckie - looks and flies well.
John
Quote from: OZPAF on Feb 15, 2026, 01:40 AM...brightens up a cool wet morning of this unusual summer down here.
Doesn't harm on yet another soggy old morning in this unusually wet winter "up" here either. :)
Just been catching up, A lot of great models, thanks for posting it's always well worth a look.
Thanks
Just found another shot of Lee's Roland D2 that missed the download
Today was the March Trinity and another wonderful aeromodelling day.
Great to see some new models too, Dave Monks OD foamy Sopwith Triplane stood out flying nicely on it's maiden outing (village hall test flights aside). Lee Bates FE2 circling the hall was an absolute joy too but it was a highlight in a morning of highlights, great fun
First up Lee Bates new Fokker DVII in the 'LI' scheme next to my own example . Lee's is unfinished lacking the engine and gun detail but it flies very well . I t has a tad more dihedral than mine and much less down thrust so he's making me rethink mine a bit
Next up is Dave Monks Foamy Sopwith Triplane. Dave based his design on an IC FF plan scaled down to peanut size. Today was it's large hall maiden, having been tested in the village hall and it didn't take too much encouragement flying very well by the end of the session
This is Lee's new FE2 which is a superb model. Based around the drawings Wingnut Wings plastic kit and uses electric power electronics from a cheap Chinese ff 'toy' coupled to a geared motor. Construction as with all Lee's models is wall foam with a tissue skin drawn by Lee.
Crew are all carved from foam
Finally some action shots of Lee and Dave and Lee's other models. The Roland Wallfish was going very well
I have video too of the day including Dave Triplane and Lee's DVII and FE2 with Lurks filming too which will be up on youtube shortly
And a few more, with the odd duplication, from today's Trinity
1, 2 Dave King's BAT monoplane. Dave likes these, he has 5 in various sizes. He's planning to add a 6th, a pistachio, to his fleet. They do fly well so perhaps he can be forgiven for his... enthusiasm.
3,4 Another foamie from Dave Monk. This one dates from 1992 and is still flying well.
1 - Another view of Lee's FE2B
2,3 - Mick Langford's VMC Me/Bf109. Beautifully finished using only the kit tissue and a wee bit of paint. It tips the scales at about 36g and Mick's beginning to think, on the basis of today's session, that it might be best kept for use out of doors.
The video is now on youtube and can be found here
Models include
Peter Smart's Freisler Storch
Lee Bates Fokker DVII
My CO2 Sopwith Camel
Dave Monk's Foamy Sopwith Triplane
Andy Blackburn's BA Eagle in contact with Nick Peppiatt's RC model
Peter Smart's Fliver
David King's BAT Monoplane
Lee Bates electric FE2
Lurk's RO80
Andy's Nesmith ? ( not a Lacey)
Mick Langford's Frogwell Flyer]
Barry Dunkley's sport model
Lee Bate's Roland Wall fish
Peter Smart's Nieuport
My SE5A
Richard Preston's KK Comet chuckie converted to rubber power
Lee Bates 20 year old Martynside Elephant
Lurk's micro Courtesan
GM's CO2 Siemens Stuckhart
Something a little out of the ordinary now. Nick's OD Peanut Tefft Contester. This is, I think, a resizing of his 1988 Pistachio Contester. As peanuts go it's not a lightweight; it's 15.6g, but just look at all that lovely scale detail including Nick's hand-carved pilot.
Peter Smart's Fieseler Storch. Well, it's taken 10 years and has gone from rubber, via RC electric, CO2 and finally back to rubber but he's finally got it more or less were he wants it.
1,2 Real life working OLEOs!
3 Pretty innit?
4 - Leading edge slats, working ailerons (and rudder/elevators too). What can one say?
Richard Preston. Where would we be without him? A great deal less entertained that's for certain. Today saw the debut of his "peanut" Antoinette which I'm sure owes something to the Ikara design. It was a little reluctant to circle to start with, but got there in the end.
1,2 Antoinette
3,4 Richards' "Cutie"
Last of my stills for today. Rob Smith's 27" 2 channel (plus motor) RC Piper Cub from the Hacker kit. In the correct colour for a high wing monoplane.
Rob did have a go with it and he think it's probably a wee bit on the fast side for Trinity but the battery wasn't good enough to let him evaluate it properly. He's planning to give it another go next month.
Quote from: Squirrelnet on Mar 14, 2026, 08:47 PM...Lurk's RO80...
...Andy's Nesmith ? ( not a Lacey)...
Roma 37 bis.
John Cooper's plan. A nice flyer when trimmed right, but the wings are probably too fragile for indoor use in small halls. As of today mine needs a complete replacement set.
Hannan Bede BD-4
Apologies ...I can't get the staff and my memory is not what it was ..I got the RO bit right though 8)
Having received and sifted Andy's photographic contributions for the Trinity Newsletter here, for your diversion, delectation and delight are a small selection.
Photos. All Andy Blackburn.
First up. Chris Brainwood's foam SE5a
All photos. Andy Blackburn
1 - Dave Monk's Sopwith Triplane. Lee looks on, sussing out the competition on the foam model front.
A rare sight. My models actually flying!
2 - Final flight of the Ro 37bis?
3 - Micro Smeed Courtesan climbing sedately
All photos: Andy Blackburn.
Some of G's gems.
1 - A little CO2 Malmstrom design. The name of which I have forgotten. Answers on a postcard to the usual address.
2-4 His CO2 Siemens-Shuckert. A beautifully made model and flies very, very well but very sensitive to the amount of charge.
All photos. Andy Blackburn
And just to prove it's not just scale models flown at Trinity. John Winfield's electric Hangar Rat.
All photos. Andy Blackburn.
1, 2 Just to prove that little boys never, ever grow up, Lee & Chris staged a dogfight. Chris' SE5a vs Lee's Roland Walfisch.
3, 4 Lee's Roland CII on its own.
All photos. Andy Blackburn.
1 - Laurie Kirby's Bucker Jungmann
2-4 - Peter Smart's Fieseler Storch
Tune in again next month.
Wonderfull models, nice atmosphere and venue. The possibility of flying every month makes me so envious!
Great shots - particularly of the dogfight Lurk and Andy. It looks as though the observer/gunner of the Walfisch jumped overboard in fright on seeing the SE5A.
Is that a printed Tissue finish on the Walfisch?
John
Quote from: Stunthenk on Mar 16, 2026, 12:17 AMWonderfull models, nice atmosphere and venue. The possibility of flying every month makes me so envious!
Aye, we're not too badly off for indoor flying venues in the southern/mid-English parts of the UK but most are autumn/winter only so having a year round site like Trinity is a real bonus.
Quote from: OZPAF on Mar 16, 2026, 01:36 AMIs that a printed Tissue finish on the Walfisch?
It is. Quite by chance Lee had some SE5a sheets with him on Saturday and these should give you a feel for the work involved. They're for an unmarked machine but adding the image layer(s) for a known scheme is, he says, straight-forward.
I am trying to persuade him to do Wilkinson's (Wilks) of 287 sqdn* blue nosed SE5, but he's proving hard to convince. :)
*See, "Biggles of 266".
Thanks Lurk. I have only tried tissue Printing on a small scale - this effort is amazing.
John
Lee's models use a lot from paper model making techniques as well. The sheets in the centre are the paper parts printed onto normal printer paper. Most of the details such as guns, radiators cowlings etc are from paper.
Another month, another Trinity and a good time was, mostly, had by all. Some snaps
1,2 Barry Dunkley's build of the Preston Antoinette.
3 Colin Sharman's anonymous F1D from a Chinese kite. It is leading to "interesting times" for Colin.
4 David Herman's Gyminnie Cricket.
1, 2 John Whatmore's Preston Serene Coupé. JAW's went all out on weight reduction for this one, 5.5g as seen. Flies extremely well, but JAW was having trouble getting the circuit tight enough for Trinity/
3.4 John Winfield's Pudgey. A nice slow flier. Spot the tail weight!
A couple of Impington models for you now.
1,2 Steve Edward's build of the Mick Flack Tiddler
3,4 Nick Peppiatt's incarnation of the Bruce Lindsay Tailless Two
Both of these designs are reliable flyers.
While I'm here; it seems Impington are having some kind of bash tomorrow (12th April) to celebrate their 80th anniversary. I don't know if there will be cake, jelly and ice cream or even lashings of ginger beer, but there jolly well ought to be.
1,2 One off the Ark, or should that be Ark Royal? Lee Bate's Gloster Gladiator. This one is about 25 years old.
3,4 Paul Masterman's Bostonian Knight. Doesn't affect its flying characteristics one iota, but I absolutely love the blue he's chosen for the fuselage.
The traditional Peter Smart post....
1 Gloster Bamel
This was intended for last year's indoor nats, but proved a swine so didn't make the cut. Today it was much more tractable and shows every sign of being turned into a reliable flyer. According to Peter the prototype held the world airspeed record for a time.
2 VMC (Andrew Darby) Fokker Dr1 for CO2.
Peter's waiting for good weather and grass to test this out of doors. Chris will be along soon with some better snaps.
3,4 Aeronca Chief.
Peter's OD. Decoration still to be finished, but when it's done it'll represent the aircraft that Peter got his PPL on. Proved pretty easy to get the trim about right.
1 - Chris Brainwood's cartoon scale foam Hawker Tempest (or it may be a Typhoon)
2 - John Holman's err umm. This is embarrassing. I didn't note it down and now I've forgotten. Anyway it uses sheet (Jedeslky style) wings instead of built up and it flies jolly well too.
3,4 Steve Haines' 16" span Keil Kraft Gypsy. Rock steady flyer. Got some newsreel of it which I'll get off to Squirrelnet labs shortly.
Last snaps today.
Nick Peppiatt's Watt If. A 3 channel RC version of David Lovegrove's foam Wot Ho. The electrics were, ahem, liberated from a Huang Feng 220 and the RC gubbins are Aeroc (?) Spektrum compatible. Speed is good for a small hall like Trinity and AUW is only 8.9g
The rigging? A fix courtesy of GM to stop it clapping its hands in flight. Nick didn't fit a dihedral brace.
A great bunch of models and as always. thanks for posting!
Yes indeed another great Trinity
As Lurk has already posted his pics I'll start with Lurk here seen in athletic winding a pistachio pose
The Pistachio in question is a Howard? from the Comet Nickel plan. After a fair bit of trimming Lurk was rewarded by not one but two large full circuits from the tiny model, lets just say he was very happy ;D
I have some video of it doing one large circuit but not the two which I'll post in a bit
As Lurk has already said Peter Smart had his new Fokker Triplane from the VMC kit powered by a Telco with him. It did a short taxi test and looks like it will go well, Peter's just waiting for some long grass to appear to give it chuck .
It looks great in the red and white scheme of August Raban, the first version without the eagle on the side.
The Co2 fitting is very interesting, Peter has mounted the engine to the cowling which is held on with magnets. Removing the cowling removes the engine and all the pipework and tank is clear to come out through the open front section. Very neat
My scruffy table with foamy SE5a and Fokker DVII. The cartoon scale Typhoon was going well too having sat in box for while after installing a new and slightly larger motor
And few from Lee Bates as his models are always great eye candy and great flyers too. We did a bit dogfighting which the Se5a and Roland and Pfalz the first attempt ending in the inevitable air to air on launch. SE5a repaired we tried again this time further apart. Again there's some video I'll post
First up Lee's pink and green Pfalz D6, his now very ancient Gladiator and Roland Walfisch
..And finally
Lee's McCudden Se5a and the SE5a originally built for Albert Ball who sadly lost hid life before he got a chance to fly it
Lastly Lee's other Pfalz, a D3
Some in-flight snaps courtesy of Andy Blackburn
1 - Chris Brainwood's foam RAF SE5a
2 - GM's Siemens-Schuckert & Peter Smart's Nieuport 2? - mid-air. AAIB notified.
3 - Lee Bates' Roland Walfisch
4 - John Winfield's Pudgey
More from Andy
1,2 John Whatmore's 16" span Keil Kraft Eaglet
3,4 John Whatmore's Preston Serene Coupé
Even more from Andy
1 - Nick Peppiatt's Flutterby
2 - Nick Peppiatt's Watt If
3, 4 - Rob Smith's Pilatus Porter
And, finally, after the Lord Mayor's Show... some snaps of my models.
1, 2 Comet Nickel Howard DGA. Only taken 3 or 4 years to get the blessed thing to fly!
3 VMC Buddy. An easy model to build and a relaxing flyer.
4 Especially for Pete Fardell. The world's most beautiful aeroplane. :)
Lovely! (Even that last one!)
Thanks for the detailed coverage Chris and Lurk - great coverage of some very impressive models.
John
Great photos Squirrelnet & Lurker. Some cracking models!
Thanks guys
There is now a 15min video on Youtube
Quote from: OZPAF on Apr 12, 2026, 03:14 AMThanks for the detailed coverage Chris and Lurk - great coverage of some very impressive models.
Quote from: Piecost on Apr 12, 2026, 12:28 PMGreat photos Squirrelnet & Lurker. Some cracking models!
Invoices in the post. We accept postal orders, cheques, cash or gifts in kind. Strictly no crypto. :)
Oh dear - no crypto! ::)
John