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Alas poor 120, we knew him well, But like the 240, it did not sell. With the right size prop it came alive, But wasn't as nice as the 155. Laser 120 RIP. Send no flowers.

I had thought the "Drone" threads were a thing of the past, 3-4 years of the same stuff written daily. Here's what Irks me the most. Revisiting with the same old gripes and the same cackhanded insults at our fellow modelers, surrender monkeys, rolled over, just take it, do nothing ? Nonsense. And then we have the BMFA et al, the ones who actually took the lead (With the help of their members contributing) and fought our case, the constant prodding of them, they should do this, they should do that ? THEY got us a better deal than most of us expected and I've no doubts they will continue to fight in our interest, when there's a fight to fight, the renewed moaning implies they failed us, they did NOT. Myself and others have asked "What's your plan" No replies ?

Well today was the day! I was able to test fly the Condor. It is definitely an improved model. After the flights the Tx trims were all still at "neutral". Take-off was good and a landing was no problem either in spite of a fair breeze a bit off the axis of the runway. Looks like just one 3700mah Lipo will give 5 minutes of mixed flying which is not unreasonable. One could use a larger capacity lipo but it would need to be located further back in the fuselage to avoid the model being nose-heavy. It was definitely worth repairing the model and making the modifications which have very much improved the flying characteristics of the model. Losing the gyro and shedding 450g of weight together with tweaking the top wing incidence was a good move it seems! Thanks to Paul for getting some video of the flight.

3rd day on trot, had a fly with clubmates DR1, Zenoah 26 stock exhaust and 18x8 prop, easy on the ears, models a joy to fly.

Had a great time flying with the boys this morning. Mine's the funny looking one with a contra prop!

Curtiss Condor back in the air today after the rebuild. Successful test flight in the sunshine!

So, a bit more on the fuselage. The front hatch was a bit of pain and I'm not super happy with the fit, but it'll probably be ok. Just waiting for some model-lite filler. I want to get the fuselage as near as possible to complete before I move on to the wing. Still undecided on foam vs built.

With the sad demise of my last OD model, I have scribbled up a replacement which I have called "Bécasseau". Simpler and more robust construction is planned. Possibly a foam wing which might actually be more achievable with balsa prices as they are! Anyway, here's the first sketch. I'll update as I go along. Slowly.

Just worked out why it appears so clean - I use flash on the camera as the light is so poor at the moment. Adding lower wing fillet sheeting, 1/32" ply and fixed with Gorilla Glue which expands so it will hopefully force the ply against the wing as it sets as well as fill any gaps. Wing has been covered with cling film prior to the glue being added.

Really sorry to hear that Eric. What a shame after after 2 good flights. Glad to hear its repairable though. Good luck with the restoration project.

Finally got the weather for it's maiden. report in spring is here2022 who's been flying.

It may not achieve anything. But it will remind the minister that we are NOT sheep. We are also voters! There may not be a lot of us, but in a tight election, every one counts. I do hear and understand what you are saying. I am just fed up by constantly being ignored by the powers that be. Sometimes it is useful to remind them that we do have minds of our own, and don't believe everything that governments tell us. If we just continue to accept things without protest, we will soon regret it. -- Pete

One quick addition before I start the build this evening... On opening the package I found the wrong motor had been supplied (I'd ordered the slightly higher performance Sport motor, but the Std had been sent). I sent them a quick email, and within 15 mins I was called by them to apologise annd tell me a replacement would be in the post within the hour at no charge! That's great service, so good in fact that I decided to pay for the replacement motor - I have a project that the std one will probably work for, and if not it just provides a nice excuse to buy the Cub at a later date... ?

So do tell us, why will modellers doing exactly the same thing they have already done multiple times (in addition to the national assicoations making formal representations to the authorities and engaging in multi-year negotiations to secure the current agreements) get us a different result now? PS - A first class stamp now costs 95p, so make sure you use email to the Minister otherwise you will have spent 95% of the discount when he inevitably caves in to your demands to remove the "price hike"... ??

Ok, i already have another model on the go but have decided to slip the Skyway Models Hawk 70 on to the building board as a quick build..........well that is the idea anyway! No fancy stuff on this one, it will be film covered with a minimum of scale type detailing, it will be electric, probably 6 cell, might be a bit too tame on 4s. I will start a build thread over the weekend, i have quite a lot of the wood here already to cut the parts from the templates but i will require a few bits and will be going to my local shop which ironically is Masons Models, Steve now holds the rights to the Skyways range so he may have some advice on putting this one together.

Limited on what I can do tonight as I’m waiting on retracts and I also need to get standoffs sorted (standoffs are being done by a friend in future). I’ve added the stringers that I can and some of them take a real tight curve and also a twist. Glued the firewall down in place with epoxy and also the wing tubes. I’ve also set out for the rudder but quickly come to the realisation that I can’t complete the rudder until I have the rear section of the fin complete because I need that for the profile (have to cut my own ribs for the fin). I will be able to do the rudder post and hinges so may do that tomorrow? I may be able to start the stab so that’s probably going to be my next job. Cheers

To me, this is a deeply concerning post. I would hope this question was intended to read "Just wondering if anyone hasn't put the reg no. on models and has anyone ever been asked for it". Whatever your thoughts on the relevance of the legislation, failure to comply with the law of the land can only bring the hobby into disrepute and while we have no policy of policing the requirement within our club, to the best of my knowledge, all our members have registered and have their registrations fixed to their models. While it is unlikely that a passing policeman would make a snap inspection, in the case of an incident the lack of an Op ID could prove costly to both the individual and to the credibility of the model flying community.

Evening Pat, I had to cut about 2.5mm off the root of the blades to fit in to the existing hub but had two flight this evening as the sun set and she flew great ?????? I owe you a pint. baz

Yes it really was an excellent day of flying. I had 6 flights with the Sportster (Laser 200 in-line) plus a blast (145.6 mph) with the Kyten and a leisurely float around with my F5J powered glider. Hardly any wind until later on in the day. As a bonus I also got a bit of sunburn!

879846E1-BC65-4C7D-A3EB-80877219D1E4.mp4

Voyager 1 eventually left the solar system and is still travelling away from us. It carries various messages, etc. in case it is ever intercepted, is still active and reports back to us. Part of the onboard messages, as well as a map of how to find us on earth is (I think) a copy of 'Roll Over Beethoven' as well as some more 'classical' music. Apparently a message was recently received, which when translated, said - "Send more Chuck Berry!"

Congratulations David, that is really brilliant, well done. You must be so pleased. The photos make her look beautiful. I look forwards to seeing the video.

At long last I finally got to maiden flight my new Boomerang today at the field and I wasn't disappointed. It flew as a steady as a rock and came in for a nice smooth landing. The Saito fourstroke just added to the pleasure. I'm glad I bought the Boomerang, it handled the light winds very nicely. I would recommend this trainer to anyone looking for a nice relaxing flight.

Great company to deal with. The presentation looks very like their tiny Tiger Moth - I found the booklet and plan were just fine for that, using YouTube was a last resort, but never needed!

Anchored the exhaust firmly but not rigidly to the airframe. The exhaust I made, including flexi was lighter that the Saito supplied one! I also milled the wheel centres so that the wheels could sit further over the piano wire axle, a bit of a soldering mess, and now the wheel hides some of it ?

I had something to say C8, I said it, and backed my association in every move they made, now I've accepted the deal they got us I'm getting on with my life. Red Tunics ? No way am I wearing Liverpool/Man Utd colours, I'll be pressing the BMFA to get dispensation to wear Spurs colours. The numbers and nitty gritty of the scheme I can't get enthused about C8, but as our club has added two to the number sadly, my efforts will be going into prevention of that being repeated.

When setting up the throttle cut function, you need to set the servo throw percentage which can be positive or negative. Adjust that setting to get the servo to the position you require. See page 27 of the manual here.

@David Davis 2better to happen now than during the ‘event’.

A full day yesterday flying my MPX Easystar in the glorious spring sunshine. It's good to be out and in the company of good friends, it's been such a long time I was struggling to remember some names. A wonderful day. ?

IIRC, any near misses or incidents ( crashes etc ) must be reported to the CAA.....yeah right. The more they read, the more ammunition we give them the right to regulate us harder. And we give them the money to do it.

So after much thought and two choccy biscuits, plus one coffee, I decided that the exhaust can stay on the wrong side, not many will know ? So with that decided it was on to chop the cowl to allow the exhaust to poke through, made doubly difficult as the cowl has to be removable for maintenance. I had hoped to make four holes, but that didn't work as the cowl wouldn't go past the exhaust stubs. Some Auster's have a section removed from No.1 exhaust to No.4 so I opted for this. Anyway that's where we are at so far. Cheers Danny

STOP PRESS Someone broke into the Kremlin last night and stole next years election results

Its not the £1 increase that annoys me. Its not even the original £9 fee. Its the fact that we derive NO BENEFIT whatsoever from this charge. All it does is provide the thin end of the wedge for an ever increasing tax that does nothing except pay for a few more unnecessary bureaucrats. As to what we can do about it, perhaps not much. But equally, I seem to recall that Grant Shapps was very vocal in the defence of model flying (and general aviation) before he became a minister. Perhaps (and I admit it is clutching at straws) a few thousand angry letters from BMFA members just might make him think a bit harder about this. If we do nothing, we concede this charge increasing annually, for no good reason. -- Pete

Had a good days flying with these two yesterday, quite a strong wind but the 110 handled well. The Brian Taylor Tempest had it's 4th outing fly's very well 6min. flight and 40% left in the battery is fine. If you are reading this Mr Fenton please not after the work from home covid restrictions the pilot is now back in the office.

I learned to fly on RAF Syerston back in the 80's - and no, not the full size! Dad approached the base commander about us two flying off the main runway after 5pm as we lived in the nearby village of the same name, and permission was granted! It's quite surreal thinking back on it, that this huge airfield had only a dad and his young lad stood in the middle of it, going round and round in circles with our high wing trainer. We didn't bother with flying from the peri track, just straight off the main runway.

I will not (yet) be modelling the modifications Berntsen made to LN-SNI, so it will be an S-9 in disguise. The first steps were getting the drawings on paper at 110% size. Since I could not get the large plotter to co-operate I hade to print at A3 and patch the tiles together. The printer is not completely accurate, so not everything lines up perfect. but it will have to do. Next is finding out what is needed, and what of that I have in stock and what has to be bought. I always create a bill of materials for this. It gives me overview since you need to study the plan well to make one. If anybody wants to do this too feel free to copy the attached document. For the last scratch builds (Ballerina and Skywriter) I purchased about 50% extra from the Balsa Cabin, and it turned out nearly all wood needed is already in place. Bill of Materials Rans S-9 110%.docx

Compo, Foggy & Clegg down at the field....

As a reader of RCM&E I thought I was already a subscriber.

You don't need to cut the red lead. Carefully use a jewellers screwdriver or pin to release the red crimp from the plug. Fold the released crimp back on the wire and tape it up. This allows it to be re-inserted at any time.

Hi All, Today was the day that I maidened the Junkers. Here's how it went. All the control movements were guesstimated and having a Spektrum radio I had three rates available to me so I set them up as low medium and high. The engine had not run for a couple of years and was fired up almost straight away with no adjustments needed with plenty of power, range checked so all looking good. Being an unusual model it gained a lot of interest from my fellow club mates, I handed my camera over to our chairman for some flying shots. So off onto the newly mowed strip, weather conditions were good sunny skies light wind. Take off no1. nosed over after around two feet, wheel went into a rut. The u/c may be a little too far back, as soon as the tail gets above level she will start to nose over without power. so back to the pits to restart and try again. Take off no 2. she flies but OMG, the rates were all on low and the ailerons were not effective and not enough speed and she ended up in the rough very ungraceful One of the advantages of band on wings that plus a low speed arrival. On checking over the model and all seemed well with no apparent damage done. Take off no3. After a short break the model was lined up again and this time I had all the rates set to high. Take off was fairly short having to keep up elevator to try to stop her nosing over but as soon as she was in the air I backed off well she was a real handful needing a lot of aileron trim and flicking the elevator trim to medium Whilst I was trying to trim out Ian got taking some flying shots The colour scheme looks good in the air It was shortly after this photo was taken that disaster struck with the right wing coming off leaving the aircraft crippled and uncontrollable all I could do was to close the throttle and collect the pieces. On bringing back to the pits and on examination the dihedral brace had sheered, damaged undoubtedly by the previous arrival. Note to self use thicker ply for braces. So that is it the end of another model, at least the engine is ok and I have salvaged all of the electrics for another model. That's all for now Regards Robert

Second maiden flight this week, after a lot of right aileron it flew beautifully after 4 mins 60% left in batteries 4 4s 3600. 3rd flight at 50ft it went into a flat spin considerable damage but repairable. the only thing I changed was the throttle cut switch from D to A but when I went to fly it it was still on D, it checked out on the ground and took off as normal till 50ft. on checking the TX it showed throttle cut on switch A. ?????

Just going to take a moment to mourn the passing of the Laser 120 and 240v, both of which are now discontinued. They got the chop as other engines in the range are better value, sell better, and we needed to thin the herd a little with all the new stuff coming along. Both will be supported for spares and service so dont panic if you have one.