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from information supplied by

David Simmonds
(member of Southampton Soaring Society)



Mac Cowdray and his magnificent PWS 101

On ModelFlight #50, interest was expressed in the costs of scale model gliders and associated equipment. 

As always the glib answer -  but also the correct answer - is that you only need to pay what you can afford!  Many highly experienced model glider pilots prefer to build vintage models either from scratch or from published plans. The financial cost need not be so high as there are no expensive engines to consider. All the same, a 1/4 scale vintage glider is likely to cost between £300 and £700 plus hundreds of hours in the workshop!

At the other extreme, the cost of purchasing the highest-quality German all-moulded epoxy resin glass sailplane, fitting it with the correct size servos, spoilers and retracting wheel, etc., is considerable. By way of an example, in an article written for Sailplane and Gliding Magazine in 2000, David quotes the cost of a quarter-scale Nimbus as being between £1,500 and £2,000 for the high quality mouldings and fittings. Radio gear - including the one-off cost of a state-of-the-art programmable transmitter - adds a further £1,400 and if you go for the latest audio variometer telemetry system that feeds back wind conditions to the ground-based pilot you could spend a further £400 or so.

Some of the larger expert moulded competition machines are equipped with German made pilots (dolls) that cost as much as £150 each; put two of these in a double-seater 1/3 scale model, then furnishing the cockpit gets a trifle expensive!!  In fact, as expensive as building a complete vintage model!  On the other hand there is nowhere near as much work to be done to complete the model. Pictured here is the resident in Tony Baker's new Discus, also appearing on photo gallery.

To catch the flavour of this sport, click this link to read David's article referred to above as it appears on the Southampton Soaring Association website, photographs from which are reproduced here by kind permission. 

There are, it appears, quite a few free flight simulators available on the web for downloading - indeed, I mentioned one a couple of issues ago - but here's one that looks really rather special. I first heard of the FMS simulator from Phil "the fridge" Hayward when he made mention of it in the weekly news-sheet that he produces for members of the South Cotswold Soaring Association. Then, almost simultaneously, I received an invitation to take a look at Gary Moscardini's specialist simulator website which I have featured on site seeing, and there it was again, so I downloaded it to give it a try. 

FMS (Flying Model Simulator) is freeware, produced by Roman and Michael Möller, and available for download from their website, shown left. Full details of the development of the program are also given on the site, together with other information, a forum, pictures of all the models available in the simulator, FAQs, etc. 

FMS has developed through several versions, the latest of which is FMS 2.0 Beta 7 which runs under Windows (9x, Me, 2000) and other versions are available for earlier versions of Windows as well as a couple to run directly under MS DOS. 

The quality of this simulator is truly remarkable as can be seen from this screen shot from the latest version which boasts full 3D collision detection, new models, new landscapes and an English manual. The sim can be controlled from an r/c transmitter in conjunction with an interface, as well as more conventional joystick or keyboard control. The website from which the download is available also carries information on making a suitable interface as well as a list of contacts where ready-made interfaces are available for those who might not be able or willing to make their own. For those with the necessary skills, there are even a couple of tutorials by Yosito Sekiai on making scenery for FMS.

One of the most impressive features of the simulator is the very large range of aircraft which can be flown - 20 in all - covering models of full-size fixed wing planes, helicopters and gliders as well as simulated model aircraft (including an absolutely delightful little slow-fly). Click the thumbnail image left to view just six of the collection.

I tried the simulator using my CH Virtual Pilot yoke and also a Microsoft Sidewinder joystick and found it all rather sensitive, but great fun! For some reason, I found I had to re-set the joystick settings every time I ran the simulator, but I don't really know why that was necessary. I don't have the time to really get stuck into simulator flying now, so it is not a program I will continue to use, but for anyone wanting a simulator and ready to spend a bit of time sorting out the settings, scenery and plane options, etc., this is really good and absolutely amazing for FREE! There's a great deal to this program, so the download can take twenty minutes or more, but it is well worth it, believe me!

Find out all about it, and download it if you want it, at:

http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html