Old Warden Model Festival of Flight - September 13 2009

A relaxed atmosphere and some impressive models

With a variety of mostly vintage orientated stands, several hundred cars and plenty of pilots this was a very pleasant day out with some unusual sights. Flying was mostly 'off the peg' with variety of models, large and small.

I spent most of my time on the R/C flight line but I did see some very interesting displays, like the huge (by model standards) radial engine, the Rail Cars, and a very large autogyro. There's plenty of pictures to make you think about attending next year, and some videos down the bottom of the page.

Thanks to the event director Mike Reynolds, I hope this helps promote your event for next year.

//tony wright

Pictures and Video

Plenty of stands to look over	Plenty of stands to look over	Plenty of stands to look over	Plenty of stands to look over
Plenty of stands to look over	Plenty of stands to look over	Plenty of stands to look over	Plenty of stands to look over

You could even buy balsawood	Engines galore	Engines galore	Trade and Car boot at Old Warden
Trade and Car boot at Old Warden	Trade and Car boot at Old Warden	Trade and Car boot at Old Warden	Trade and Car boot at Old Warden
Trade and Car boot at Old Warden	Trade and Car boot at Old Warden	Trade and Car boot at Old Warden

Models on the flight line	Models on the flight line	Models on the flight line	Models on the flight line
Models on the flight line	Models on the flight line	Models on the flight line	This trailer's bigger than where I build my models...

This is the rotating wing section! As well as this fascinating autogyro, Duncan Osbourn was also there with the new T-Rex 600 and 700 Limited Edition helicopters. Duncan is the UK's leading helicopter '3D' pilot and this year placed 2nd in the legendary 3D Masters, as well as 1st at the Park Hall 3D Cup and the 3D Championship. I wanted to get an interview with the autogyro chap, but he disappeared later in the day and even when most of the others models were packed away, his kit was all still there - but no sign of him. I got some great footage of this red monster getting airborne - no mean feat as it's rotor was about 6 foot diameter - and I believe this is the largest model autogyro ever built? In the world? In the UK? Any more information is welcome!

Large impressive autogyro also on video	Large impressive autogyro	Large impressive autogyro	Large impressive autogyro
Large impressive autogyro	Duncan Osbourn, the UK's top 3D pilot	Align T-Rex 700 head	Align T-Rex 700 Limited Edition
Align T-Rex 700 head	Align T-Rex 700 Limited Edition

A quick tour around part of the museum area. The collection here at Old Warden is a great family day out.

Part of the museum at Old Warden	Part of the museum at Old Warden	Part of the museum at Old Warden	Part of the museum at Old Warden
Part of the museum at Old Warden	Part of the museum at Old Warden	Part of the museum at Old Warden	Part of the museum at Old Warden
Part of the museum at Old Warden	Part of the museum at Old Warden	Part of the museum at Old Warden

Didn't get a chance to talk to these guys, but their work speaks for itself. This is a 24 cylinder 'H' configuration engine with two vertically opposed 12 cylinder banks running side by side, wow...

Miniature engineering	Miniature engineering	Miniature engineering	Miniature engineering
Miniature engineering

I met this really interesting guy, Carlo Gandolfi by name, running demonstrations of these 'Rail Cars', Driven by a 1cc diesel (compression ignition) engine, they achieve very high speeds around the track, I can definitely confirm! Stupidly, I didn't get a picture of the underside, but there are two pairs of cotton reel like rollers underneath the car which means all sideways forces are taken by the rail and the cars theoretically can't come off the rail - however I note the catch fencing at the fast end of the track! Carlo lives in the Northampton area, so if anyone's interested in these drop me a pm as I have his card.

Rail cars

Old Warden Model Festival of Flight videos

A stiff breeze and and overcast sky (with the sun in front too) made for some dull lighting conditions, but I still got some good video. Some of the files are in the 150MB size bracket so will take some minutes to download.

Please note: Videos are in a password protected directory to stop the more obvious linking, the username and password are both "warden09".

Duncan Osbourn, the UK's top 3D helicopter pilot, flies the new T-Rex 700 Limited Edition (HD).	Download
This autogyro was the smaller of the two flown and had a sprightly performance (HD)	Download
This large model looks like a Piper Cub, but I'm no scale expert so any corrections are welcome (HD)	Download
Tug model giving an aerotow to a glider	Download
This larger autogyro was a beast! Getting it off the ground looked like fun, enjoy the video (HD)	Download
Duncan Osbourn 3D Freestyle demonstration using the T-Rex 600 helicopter (HD)	Download
World War II scale models (HD)	Download
Miscellaneous fixed wing models (HD)	Download