SLOPING OFF...
...the Newsletter of Christchurch and District Model Flying Club for...September 2025
Wimborne Model Aero Club Scale Day 21/06/2025
By David Bicker
The club’s scale day coincided with excellent weather and also a Compton Abbas Warbirds Weekend, so part way through the proceedings we had an overflight of a Spitfire and a Harvard in formation. Nice of them to give us a fly-by, well under the NOTAM height restriction set for the WMAC field!
The day was initially fairly overcast, but very hot. When the sun finally broke through, by mid-afternoon the temperature had risen to 31c, but it didn’t seem to affect the planes’ engines.
The BBQ was excellent with the best burgers that I’ve tasted in the middle of a hot field! The cook was probing each burger with a meat temperature probe & wouldn’t release it until he was happy that he wasn’t going to poison the spectators. There was also a refreshments tent further down the field with a donations tub on the table. Also a site loo for those who needed it, (probably like a sauna in it, though).
As some C&DMFC members are also WMAC members, I saw many recognisable faces from “our” club. There were probably 8-10 of us attending, so probably 30+ people in attendance at a guess. It was a very friendly and well organised event.
There was an excellent and varied turn-out of planes for the day. From small electric models through to some substantial and large scale models running 2-stroke and 4 stroke petrol engines, including this large 3 cylinder 4-stroke radial.
There were large Bi-Planes, WW2 war planes and at the opposite end of the scale were the very large turbine powered jets. There were also a range of stunt planes and a variety of small fun fly “scale” planes that were hand-launched. Something for all tastes. There was a very strong smell of Kerosene when the big jets were in action!
A lot of the planes had good detailing. I’ve included some close-ups and some of the pictures have people or objects (such as a fire extinguisher) in frame to give you the scale of the plane.
I’ve also added a YouTube links to a 20 minutes long compilation video of them in flight. The aerobatics demo threw in some extremely violent manoeuvres, but I managed to keep the camera on target for the majority of the flight.
I lasted 4 hours at the event, before the extreme 31c heat got to me and I had to head home to a cooler lounge to recover.