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Final photos of my MOONRAKER

Finished my first foamboard build. a Ki45. 60" span, 2 x 3536 1200kv motors contra-rotating 9x4 3-bladers from a little 2200 3S pack. Duration may be a bit short, but I have a few of them, so get more flights! It would have been a quick build, but for time lost rubbing my chin as I got my head around foamboard construction, and 72 hours lost this weekend as Storm Eunice, or whatever we call her killed our power... It is, however, very low cost. 3 sheets of makerboard is about £13. 1 sheet of 1/4" balsa, and around 10 glue sticks. Covering is brown paper and PVA. No dope, paint is emulsion sprayed on. Matchpots from Homebase, and a bit of mixing, sprayed on with a small automotive gun with a 0.8mm nozzle, and edges softened with my airbrush. Panel lines are a sharpie and a white gel pen, weathering is a mix of dark grey, black and rust acrylic paint, well thinned and airbrushed. Some weathering down to aluminium is via a silver sharpie. The canopy frame is lined with aluminium tape and painted over. Natural handling wear will show the aluminium through it. Looks good from 6ft! It's a 'fling and flop' job, hence the finger grips under the wing. Weight ready to fly is a staggering (if you are used to conventional builds) 3lb 6Oz... One day, we may get to fly it... Graham

I finally got round to decorating my Moonraker. I reassembled the motor with more Locktite and also changed the wheels with 75mm ones to give more clearance to the propeller. The propeller was upgraded to 10 x 5 giving 480watts at 41A with 60A ESC. AUW now is Fus 1183gr and Wing 596gr Total= 1.78 kg with CG 100mm from the leading edge as per the plan.. Here are some photos of the final product.

Just finished this. Waiting for delivery of motor and lipo but other than that, good to go. 50" span, AUW 37oz as it is now. OD "La Mouette"

That's a very smooth looking Moonraker, Murat! Any more details?

? Air is a bit like electricity and will take the shortest route often missing the parts that need cooling . Fit baffle and direct it to target then give a decent exit .

always baffle. Its hardly any work most of the time and makes a big difference to cooling

Before the prices got silly when they rebranded to EFlite the Parkzone foamies were a perfect option. Some had retracts, some were handlaunch, but all flew beautifully with pretty much zero bad habits. The P47 I had was a gem - it had well over 200 flights with zero issues when I sold it on to make space for other projects. It handlaunched great, had plenty of power for scale style flying and could cope with up to 15mph of wind - with a stabiliser added I’m sure 20 would have been fine. Unfortunately they aren’t still available, but the 1.2m P-51 is, though it’s about double the price I paid for the Jug 7 or 8 years ago…

Here she is...

I struggle with some comments made in examiner threads, It gets said they drive standards ? I disagree, Instructors do that, examiners get any perceived glory for the work done there, B, slightly different, but mostly the same people involved in teaching. B test ? Said it before on here, pattern type models mostly get stated as model of choice to take the test, your model cannot be used as an excuse to miss a manouevre, yet many within the hobby have zero interest in this type ? What is there for these Pilots, their flying isn't less important or less skilfull is it ? Why isn't there an option to accomodate ? Then I look and there is a C cert for scale flyers ? But no B ? Doubt many will agree, but I reckon we need a tweak.

I am an A certificate holder and now I am at 2 clubs. My first club will not let me instruct even though I would like to. My second club on my 2nd session with them allowed me to instruct one member. Following on from this I asked the chairman if they were OK with me doing this as I did not want to tread on any toes. I got told in a very nice way to get on with it. Chalk and cheese reactions. In my professional life I am trained to train people and love doing so. My payback is from their reactions of understanding something they previously did not or from the improvements they achieve. My target for this year is to perfect my skills to be able to become a BMFA Instructor as opposed to a Club one - I hold neither classification at the moment. However like others who have responded here, I have no interest in taking a B test as I prefer to try and fly my machine to scale most of the time. I like to think that this does not mean that my flying is any less precise than a B certificate holders.

Off topic posts gone gents, this ones for new models, other issues where they belong please.

Tried more pitch no Autorotation. I think the bear foam blades are too draggy so I will make a selection of blades to see which will work beast, Balsa wood, foam covered with tape to give a smooth surface and a built up blade a bit like a long thin wing. cheers for the comments guys. Steve.

They will be based on your local flying site rules and the relevant sections of the BMFA handbook covering general model flying safety, model displays etc. There isn't a published list. They are really nothing to worry about though.

I am still waiting for the pilot to dry, and unfortunately the cross beam of tubes above his head cannot be sorted until the pilot is in and seated. he wont fit in past the tubes. I have however had a picture back of my first own designed Fusion part, a friend has resin printed it ? Looks a bit ragged, but I am sure with a little cleaning up it will look great. Cheers Danny

Hi All, Well time has certainly flown by and the fuselage is now covered this went on very well, again using the encapsulating film it was all very uneventful and came out really well, so we move onto some detailing. Back in October, I ordered a set of turrets from a well known provider of pilots and accessories. I have now given up on them despite a having chased them up, so going as per plan as Tony drew them. The model works out at around 1/18th scale and the crew were ordered from the Vintage Model Company and promptly arrived these are unpainted so I have been giving them some paint, not quite finished yet. I have made the machine guns and glued to the turret bases and the cockpit. The dorsal turret sits off centre and faired in using balsa and "Freddies formula" and blended into the fuselage Meet the crew a fine bunch of lads. They need a few more touches of colour and then gluing in position and finally the turret tops and cockpit glazing can be fitted and painted. I have just about reached the stage where the airframe needs painting and this will have to wait until the weather warms up and the winds stop blowing as I have to paint outside. I still need to fit the servos in the fuselage, I think I can just about squeeze them in. Meanwhile, I have started my next project, something for some relaxed flying, a Flair Black Magic with a SC30 4-stroke up front. That's all for now Regards Robert

Hi Guys My latest creation. Nothing special, an SLEC Fun Fly, but it is the first ic model I have built in years. OS 40FP up front. If the wind and rain ever clears hope to maiden it soon. Wish me luck Jeff

A Cloud Walker kit (65inch, vintage plane with 3 channel controls, from Valueplanes) was brought by Santa in Dec21.. I was longing to have vintage plane for some time and I did not waste time to start the build. Wingspan : 1650 mm (65 inches) Length : 1240 mm (49 inches) CG : 110mm from the leading edge AU Weight : 1185 g (approx. 2.6 pounds) Covering : Lightweight Iron-on HK film (Transparent Red and Solid White) Radio : Three Channel Servos : 17 Gram metal geared ESC : Volantex 30 Amp ESC Motor : Overlander 3530 motor 340 Watts Battery : 3S 3200 mAh LiPo Prop : 10x 6 giving 225 watts (11 x 3.8 gives 280 watts) I started the build with the fuselage. First I checked that the motor fits and aligns with the cowling. Started with a 2836motor initially which was mounted at the front of the firewall. Connected the motor t the firewall and tested its fitting into the nose section together with the under carriage. Later this was changed motor to Overalander 3530.This was connected to the back of the firewall. This gave a much neater placement with a shorter cowling and clean propeller connection. Te motor box and the nose section was assembled ad the cowling was initially build with an extra section 3 layers rather than 2 but this was then reduced back to 2 layers to allow fitting of the propeller easier without a shaft extension. The sides of the fuselage were built together and then connected to the nose box. Then the bottom deck formers and the snake guides were glued in place. The motorbox/nose section cheeks were glued and shaped before the turtledeck formers and stiners are glued. To be continued.................

Photo of my late father. I remember at least 3 Super Flies (Waterhouse and Eley) from this era (the last one with a yellow fuz rather than the usual orange) This is something else though - I don’t remember it, so could be pre 1975. The transmitter will be Skyleader or Futaba He later progressed to a lovely Fournier RF4 after seeing Mick Reeves’ scale job at the 1978 Nats and then a full aerobatic job like a Curare (but an American design as I recall) All those trainings did the job Sorry for the bad cropping (not my photo) Any ideas?

The certificate is awarded for demonstrating a particular set of manoeuvres to a defined standard, along with showing a level of knowledge and standard of operation. It is this achievement which is being recognised and you can't take away that achievement. Once again, it is not, never has been and to my knowledge will never be intended to be a qualification. Just because some organisations might see it as an indication of competence doesn't change this. It's up to them to ensure that a pilot is competent and even if they see it as an initial indication then they still have a responsibility to ensure that the holder meets the necessary standards.

I would say that (although I've never taken or witnessed a scale C) it seems a far less daunting prospect than the aerobatic C although high standards of flying and operating are required for either test. Maybe it might have been an option to divorce it from the A,B,C progression and make it an entirely separate achievement without attempting to pitch it at the same level as the aerobatic C test, which could remove the requirement to hold a B cert before taking it. As you say John, maybe one of the ASRC representatives will advise us?

Is that the case John? I don't remember such comments and I thought that the claims were that "the scheme" helped to improve standards. The examiner is only there to confirm that a candidate has reached the prescribed standard. As to the model type, yes, some scale models wouldn't be suitable but even a fairly basic trainer with sufficient power to bunt should, with suitable control movements and C of G, be more than capable of flying the B manoeuvres. Most of us will have a sports model of some type which is more than capable of flying the test, Wot 4, Extra, Riot or similar - pattern ships are definitely not required! P.S. There's little "glory" attached to an examiner in my experience - that's the province of the successful candidate and their instructor!

Hi, Depends what you want to fly, big warbirds might be easier, but boy are they expensive if it turns into a bin liner job. If you want to go 3S then go 3S2200 which puts you in the Cambrian FunFighter range, can't say it was hard to fly (ME109). I wanted speed and as it has quite a thick wing and the aerodynamics of a brick its was no EFXtra by a long way despite killing very high C lipos. Launching is much the same as any hand chuck model once you have the technique its easy, but you could always fit a folding prop for a few initial flights. Tony Nijhuis does a few small, but only pick them if you can build very light. If I was to revisit this size I would look very closely at the Cambria (look on facebook) range as they are a modern design and look good quality. If you can squeeze a bit larger then take a look at the VQ range (I am using Laser 80's in the FW190 and Aircobra) as they fly well and come electric compatible. Alternatively take a look at the Motion RC kit (I have a P38) and at least they accept it needs to be able to take off from grass! Lastly if you can find any of the Eflite Parkzone models they were well sorted and fly very well. Ok they don't resemble how a much larger model will fly, but if you intend to fly large models it won't matter.

Examiners have come under more scrutiny of late Andy and some changes made, no big deal. Rolling out to the masses ? No thanks, the smelly stuff would hit the whirly thing. The recent changes have been covered via £9 and ticking the box, saying you're aware of new regs.

Hello. I only have a mini lathe and its slow progress but I have turned down the parts for the oleo extension for a tight fit and bonded with high viscosity super glue I now have good clearance when retract is extended and good prop clearance. I will have to build up the lower rear of the nacelle to accommodate main wheel I will use blue foam after cutting away the balsa skin.

Tiz a thing of beauty Ron. ?

Steve, I was just jumping off my seat trying to get it to lift off! I'm with John, more rearward tilt possibly needed. 2 blades will need at least 3 degrees more rearward tilt than 3 blades and tio weights. Also, theory says 20 degrees is the minimum rearward tilt to start autorotation so you will need this when the airframe is sat on its feet. Before making new blades it may be worth testing to see if they will spin up in a light breeze held in your hand? At least that will confirm whether the blades are worth perusing as they are. Have you got a close up photo of hub and blade mounts you used? Rich

I’ve re-propped it now, it was running an 8 x 4 but it’s now a 7 x 7. Ground testing shows the following: On 4S - 500 watts @ 40 amps, on 5S - 800 watts @ 60 amps. As the model weighs 3.75lbs it should go quite well on the 5S setup but as I’m wary of hand launching with that bacon slicer ‘out back’ I’ve made a launch trolley from some 20mm conduit. And with extension pieces it can be used for others too

If any Clubs are insisting on an A or B to be an Instructor, it is purely down to those individual Clubs. . I might even say the Club's are just being officious and awkward. There is no requirement to hold any Achievements to be an Instructor.

Looks like you could be busy Steve !

Here are a few more ideas as you can see they are cut parts and also come with plans. Post here what you are interested in and I will send you more details. Steve

Instructors are worth their weight in gold. Whilst I have an A cert and "stood with novice flyers" I feel I need more experience of my own flying before teaching. It is my intention to improve myself with a view to tutor the novice.

I can't imagine why any club would refuse a good enthusiastic instructor because he holds no B cert, they're probably the backbone of clubs, when a good un steps forward, grab him/her with both hands.

I would add a lip round the opening in the bottom of the cowl as you risk it becoming an inlet otherwise. As a rule of thumb, if you look at your model from the front any hole you can see is an inlet. Just because the hole is in the bottom of the cowl and you think of it as an exit, it might not actually be an exit. If you can look into the hole, so can the air and it will flow in there with no worries at all.

Possibly a TrueLine Executive. This is from the July 1973 RCM&E, it's not clear on this reproduction but the main undercarriage is twin piano wire :

So will an earth wire on the carb do the job ?.?

They are apparently struggling with the post-Brexit admin arrangements. They seem to be advising customers either to order from the global warehouse or to check back at the EU one after 1st March.

Steve

I can't speak for anyone else but when I ask the questions, I phrase them to check understanding rather than as any sort of memory exercise in learning paragraph numbers etc. There should never be any suggestion of trick questions - I've always said that I'm looking for reasons to pass a candidate, not trying to find reasons to fail them.

The Hamilcar X. ? Sacky, that's the bird I was thinkin' about, too! Fits the 24 hour build madness perfectly! I've had the unpowered original Hamilcar design on my wish-list for a while now. Last year I had some FF scale glider drawings printed up from the OuterZone website, thinking this could be a fairly simple project that I might actually be able to complete. I took this photo just now... in the foreground is a great old Aeromodeller magazine plan, and in the background is a (less romantic!) contemporary re-draw/upgrade. Each plan is on two pages; only one of each is shown here.

Another way of looking at why it's worth the effort of doing a B Certificate is the greatly reduced need for black bin bags! Before my B, I've lost count of the number of aircraft I brought home in a bin bag. Since passing my B 11 years ago, I've needed 1 bin bag. Losing an aircraft now comes as a shock whereas before it was a regular occurrence.

Nose section sanded, glass clothed and painted. Colour match of paint not great but it will be good enough for test flights. Fuselage front section covered. Just glazing to do.

Had a play with the flap actuating lever, couldn't believe how long the beast is, almost the width of the door! The torque bar operates the starboard side on the full size. Cheers "trapped in the cockpit" Danny

Nearly there. I ran out of the paint I'd mixed, so need to add the last few lozenges, and then go round them with the airbrush to soften the edges. The Insignia in the white sections on the wings and fuselage and then panel lines and weathering. Final ready to fly weight is 3lb 6Oz, so the loading is around 14 Oz/ Sq ft. I'm going to try it on 3S 2200 packs. There'll be more than enough power, we'll see how duration is. Graham

I thought I was fending off objections? I got it all wrong again the problem being I have never been good at chat. This forum is an education and I thought it would just be fun. I have had a good day today planting onion sets which has made me a bit flippant. I must be happy, how did that happen? Back on topic we are building the same model as your link above is an identical plan to mine. I have typed too much no one is going to read all this rubbish.

Talking of combat. A Happy memory. 3 up combat in Aden. Temperature up around 50C

My Atom, ready for it's next flight, hopefully more successful than the last one. Traces of repairs everywhere, but not visible at some distance ?

Well finally MOONRAKER took to the skies on 30th Aug2020 at Lynne of Skene at the ADS fly-in. A short flight enabled some trimming as the plane tended to bank left. A successful and graceful landing concluded the MAIDEN. No decorations or livery yet...The plane earned it badge and the right for decoration. which will follow soon. Here are a couple of photos from the day.. Some loosening of the motor fixing bolts were observed after the flight.. More Loctite threadlock to be applied.... Edited By Murat Kece 1 on 01/09/2020 22:57:00 Edited By Murat Kece 1 on 01/09/2020 22:57:27

Edited By Murat Kece 1 on 23/06/2020 13:23:06

I used to have a Moonraker. It was given to me by an old club mate when i was about 13. I powered it originally with an OS 35fp and then an ASP36. Both were more than enough and it was a brilliant model. In fact i consider it the best trainer ever made as it was very strong and could be made to fly sedately while still being totally aerobatic. It would also bite in extreme cases making it a good trainer. Shame they dont make them any more