The Buzzflight Hummingbird.
I first came across the Buzzflight Hummingbird at the 2002 National Championships. The model was being demonstrated on a paved area just away from the Vendors’ Village. I got chatting to 'Mr. Buzzflight', Peter Cripps, and he explained the concept behind the entry-level control liner. The model is slightly more complex than the BMFA Dart, involves more skills in building and flying, a remote power unit and introduces the idea of simultaneous flight control.
The Hummingbird offers an opportunity as a cheap beginner’s model. As an ex-teacher, I am aware of the demands and requirements of the Technology curriculum in primary schools. A project on flight, with the BMFA Dart and the Hummingbird acting as vehicles for the educational process, would seem to be a valuable teaching and curriculum aid. Small set-up costs, low cost models and (possible) assistance from local clubs could provide an introduction to aeromodelling with mutual benefits for club and school.
But enough of the soap-box lecture, The Hummingbird is a small electric powered control liner, powered by a Speed 400, with power coming from a battery held by the pilot and thence through the control lines. The kit I obtained at the Nats was complete, apart from the battery. The instructions are contained on six sides of A4 paper and they contain everything, and a bit more, that you need to know about building the Hummingbird. Construction is quite straight forward and the instructions are written in plain English. After assembling the airframe, I applied the Solarfilm covering, (could be light or heavyweight tissue) with a yellow and black colour format. With everything complete, I assembled the model and added the pushrod. The controls were smooth and showed adequate elevator deflection. I assembled the lines as instructed and connected them to the bellcrank and thence to the power unit. Without the propellor attached, I connected the terminals to the battery, and switched on. A high-pitched whine brought a sweet smile of success to my face and I hurriedly disconnected, fitted the adaptor, prop and spinner. Connected, switches on, the propwash sent paper flying across the room as the 400 sang a sweet song.
I re-read the flying instructions and headed down to the local primary school to obtain permission to fly the model on their reduced size netball court. Switches on, chocks away, the motor ran and I did one lap as a car, before raising my extended arm and the model lifted off into the air. Initially everything went well but there was a tendency for the model to “come in” on the pilot so a tip weight was added. The model proved to be very robust as I can testify that a nose-on collision with the school tarmac, at speed, did not damage the aircraft.
In addition to testing the beginner’s control liner, the concept of “single person control line flying” had been validated. Set out the plane and lines, connect up the battery (fully charged, of course) switch on and off you jolly well go! Determined to get the novice’s view, I persuaded an old colleague of mine, Paul Swain, to test out the Hummingbird and then let it lose on three of his aeromodelling class. They have had some experience with, paper aeroplanes, chuck gliders and BMFA Darts but they have not moved on to “real” models. I met the three after school and explained the basic construction and operation of a control-liner. Some simple flying instructions for the total control-line beginners and Alice was the first in the ring. Feeling distinctly nervous, she took off gracefully and managed two consecutive laps without hitting the deck. The more she flew the better she got and smooth flying was soon a reality. The handle was passed on to Mark who, bristling with bravado, crunched the model into the harsh Flint playground, breaking a prop and snapping the connection to the motor. This was hastily restored using a crocodile clip and several more flights were logged. Having watched his two classmates, James had learned a lot, and smoothly took off, managing two laps of straight and level flight without a crisis. Calm and assured he flew until this battery was drained and the amount of flying was reflected in the state of the prop which was shrinking with every low pass near the playground surface. All in all, it had been a very successful day, with the three youngsters buzzing with adrenalin at this new concept in their flying education.
Year 5 teacher Paul Swain managed to elicit these comments from the three teenie tyros:
Alice Powell aged 10 …. “It was lots of fun but you really had to concentrate on what you were doing if you took your eye off the plane, it would go every where and crash. When I was flying the plane it felt as if you where in control for once and everything around you was a blur you could only see the plane. I had so much fun that day and I would love to do it again”.
James Conway aged 10 …. “I was very nervous about trying the plane for the first times but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought. It is a good beginner’s model because it doesn’t have too many controls to make it work and that means you can fly the plane without having to watch what your hands are doing. Because the plane is small, it is perfect for flying on a small yard like ours and because it is strong, it did not break easily when it hit the hard concrete. I did find the battery quite heavy to hold in the bag, perhaps children should have a special bag the right size for them”.
Mark Travers Aged 9 …. “I really enjoyed using the plane for the first time, it is so simple to fly, it would be great to use in our model flying club. I liked the control handle, it was easy to operate. The model was very strong, I expected it to break when it crashed but it didn’t, this means we wouldn’t need to keep building new ones all the time. I think it would be easy to repair if we did break it sometimes, this is very important for a model. When I flew it I didn’t like how heavy the battery was, could we have a better bag for the battery which would fit our size of waist. I think the model is a real winner and I would tell anybody who wanted a model to build this one”.
Need I say more!
Italics added by Buzzflight.