RCing about

I have previously noted my interest in radio controlled model aircraft, so it was no surprise that today saw me heading for the Pattaya R/C Airshow.

There were many stalls selling an assortment of aircraft and I was sorely tempted to indulge, but then I remembered I have had to borrow money from my wife to see me through this month after my latest camera purchase. I was also reminded that although I was reasonably competent at making an aircraft go up in the air…

….I was even more adept at bringing it down again and I have seen enough piles of debris like this to last me a lifetime:

So I kept my (borrowed) money in my pocket and checked out the models. There were some fine aircraft on display:

There were also helicopters:

The helicopters were first in the air and I endeavoured to photograph them. Mirrorless cameras are generally lousy at holding focus on a moving object, and the OM-D is no exception; but these damn helicopters were being thrown around the sky like dragonflies with chili up their arse and it was impossible to follow them with the camera, let alone try and focus on one. Still, the displays were amazing to watch, with what appeared to be primary schoolchildren piloting these things in contravention of the laws of aerodynamics.

After the helicopters, I rather hoped for a staid scale model to come wafting down the runway, but instead it was jet time.

This beautiful machine is powered by a real jet engine running on real jet fuel. As a result it sounded magnificent and even the smell was evocative. It cost in excess of 300,000 baht to put together and the German gentleman who owned it had brought four jets with him to fly. I love it when I find people with more expensive hobbies than me.

He certainly knew how to fly them, and his high speed, low passes down the runway were stunning. I was amazed that I actually managed to capture one of them. Not bad for a mirrorless camera.

Landing:

Staid model time? Nope, aerobatic craziness time:

Whereas the helicopters wanted to be hyperactive insects, the aero fixed-wings wanted to be helicopters:

I waited for nearly four hours for a scale model flyby, but then the helicopters came out again so I gave up and headed for another radio controlled event just round the corner, the International R/C Power Boat Championships.

I spotted boats from Brunei and Malaysia, so it was certainly international, and there must have been well over a hundred of the noisy little machines present.

Although they were operating in one less dimension, the boats were even more agile than the planes, and a damn size smaller, so very hard to capture. Plus, they were a bit boring to watch and I was in need of some food, so I didn’t stay long.

Just a shame there wasn’t an R/C car event on today as well then we could have had a full set.

Photos: Olympus OM-D with Summilux 25mm or Olympus 75mm or Panasonic 100-300mm.

Comments 🔗

2013-01-26 | Pete says

As always, super pictures; I wish I’d been there to see the plane show, there seems to have been a lot of work and ‘heart’ put into constructing those models.

“Real jet fuel” though?? Come on, you mean paraffin (or Kerosene if you come from the wrong side of that big stretch of water). Having worked with jet engines for more than 30 years I find the smell only reminds me of work. What, pray tell, do you find the smell evocative of?

2013-01-26 | Spike says

My Uncle Bernie’s kerosene lamp.

2013-01-26 | genuinej says

Lovely pics. Sort of Billy J Kramerish, without the trains.

2013-01-26 | Grant says

Miller or Deitz? Tilley or Coleman? Wick or mantle? Paraffin lamps, the light of my life!

2013-01-27 | Spike says

One day soon I am sure they will implement electrical mains power in New Zealand.

2013-01-27 | Grant says

We’re waiting! I’m runnning this computer off my bicycle driven dynamo…

2013-01-27 | Clive says

Spike, another stoopid question for you [but camera-related, so not all bad]… I was reading your post about your purchase of your shiny new OM-D … and naturally my first reaction was to flit across to Amazon and Pricerunner to check out the damage in Sterling… Only to discover that the models on offer on Amazon [and on dpreview.com, for that matter, seem subtly different to the photo you took of yours. Specifically, your camera seems to have a shutter release that slopes forwards on the top of the main grip, in a fashion similar to my Canon SLR…

Am I imagining things? Maybe there are subtle variations in model? Somewhat curious…

Still £1150 with a 12-50 lens in the UK, so it may be a while, as I’d like to get that 75mm prime first…

2013-01-27 | Spike says

That’s because it has the optional grip bolted on; yet more money but improves the handling considerably. Photos and explanations to follow should I ever pause for while from taking photos with it.

Price was a shade over 800 pounds equivalent here. UK prices are nuts.

2013-01-27 | Clive says

£800 is an exceptionally good deal. I went back and checked and even the body-only option is £992. On that basis it might well be worth me looking to pick one up if I make it over your way this May… though in my case I’m more likely to blow the funds diving instead…

2013-01-27 | Grant says

New Zealand prices are 800 quid equivalent with the 12-50 lens and 650 quid body-only and that’s without any shopping around for the sharpest deal. Let me know if I can help you!

2013-01-28 | Wally says

I often wondered why you were always the first to post a reply, now I know - living in NZ you get up earlier than the rest of us.

2013-01-28 | Grant says

Got it in one Wally. NZ, ahead in nearly everything!

2013-01-28 | Spike says

Are you sure it’s not a forty year old OM-1? Expect the OM-D is still on the boat from civilisation and not likely to arrive in NZ until 2019.

2013-01-28 | Grant says

Sadly you are mistaken old chap and although the home barques still take ninety days to get here if fair conditions prevail around the Horn and the Great Southern Ocean has settled down to a whitecapless swell I can assure you that those OM-D prices are as up-to-date as the day after tomorrow. Did you have to mention the OM-1? So cruel and unthinking of you, now I’m sobbing uncontrollably into my gin. Oh, what we have lost!

2013-01-28 | Spike says

Pattayadaze has one. Expect “the old and the new” snapshot later in the week.

2013-01-28 | Grant says

Oh thank you Sir, a thousand thank yous! To know that one still lives! Now I can rest easy and pass composed into the eternally sunlit uplands of that better place by far…