Leaderboard

Doesn't that affect the CofG of your head?

Sanding is done and now a final assembly before covering.

Evening all! After one race in Europe, F1 has crossed the Atlantic this weekend and has arrived at a new street circuit in Miami. That means of course that everything happens later in the day for us, so whilst we do have a little more time than usual, I will still repeat the customary advice; Don't forget your predictions! Qualiying is at 9pm UK time tomorrow, with the race 30 minutes earlier on Sunday. We've only had one practice session so far, with P2 still well over an hour away and P3 not until 6pm tomorrow. P1 saw Leclerc setting the fastest time, but with Russell only 0.071 seconds behind in second, showing signs of improvement for Mercedes. Hamilton was apparently hampered by traffic and understeer and could only manage 8th fastest. The two Red Bulls were 3rd and 4th, with Sainz in the second Ferrari 6th, behind Gasly in 5th. I'm off to do my predictions now - if P2 and P3 make me change my mind then I can of course change them (and then probably later regret doing so!) Good luck everyone!

You need to leave a tiny fraction open (put a pin in) when using the blow down method, or else it will appear blocked if closed all the way

I never worry about the "Scale Police" . I go for believable plus practical . Any rivet counters that come along are welcome to make their own version . As a few chaps are starting to get their Spitfire Kits . I thought I could offer a bit of an overview . I have flown quite a few other club members Spitfires that have been built very nicely but to the letter of the instructions and plan . One beauty weighed 7lb , but I didnt know it till after the test flight . In fact it flew so well that I was happy to do some low passes and victory rolls for Glynn's camera . Having said that , you will find a 5.5lb Spitfire much more forgiving . So here is the thing . I will give you a few tips that will alllow you to build a better flying Spitfire . Now , you might say ," why dont you just modify the kit for everyone ?" Well , the reason is , that if I , for example substituted a nice 5mm balsa tailplane in "a proper wooden kit" ,with 5mm foam board, a lot of people would reel back in horror , screaming that nasty foam had entered their beautiful traditional kit . More on this fascinating subject to come .

Of course, in the early days of motoring petrol wasn't easy to come by, much like charging points now. That's not so long ago. I knew a chap who lived in West Bridgeford, just outside Nottingham and when he was a boy he remembered a local who attempted to drive to Newark and back every Sunday and every Sunday he returned being towed by a horse! The first time he made it back under his own steam, everyone cheered ? It's early days for electrically powered cars but I think the infrastructure will rapidly expand to meet demand just as it did pre WW1

This is good news indeed. I quite fancy a Radio Queen. I used to have one which I used to give elderly beginners their first experience of R/C flight. I wish I'd never sold it now. https://www.facebook.com/groups/250728948636570/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=1629539234088861

I’ve just lost my 4 engine scratch built model due to a stalled aileron servo. The hard cartwheel redesigned it beyond repair?.. It was 10kg auw, had 4x OS 40 la engines, a span of 8’. Is there anything out there that might serve as a replacement? A Stirling or Lancaster maybe? Has someone got an airframe ? If not then I’ll keep the engines, nose gear etc for another day. Picture from happier times

Hi Barry, First off, welcome to the forum ? Good to hear you are having a crack at Gyroo Regarding your blades and the task of applying PVA, I just add a little more to take into account the slight weight loss once cured. There is no reason why you couldn't use pins to add mass to a blade, just be observant of the lengthwise and cordwise CG when doing so. In the past, if I have had a blade that has ended up being significantly heavier than the rest I have used short pieces of plumbers solder set into the blade around its cordwise CG. Using a piece of suitably sized piano wire you can scrape out quite a neat slot for the solder to sit into. Will be interested to know how you get on? Rich

Hopefully there tomorrow. May take a decent camera.

i've been suffering from Porposing so far, hoping my upgrade fixes it. ? Mind that wall.

The story continues. I did fly it again on the 23 March, well sort of! ☹️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fScE_1Ygcbs I really should have known better but I suspect it was a case of "I am here so I will fly". Clearly the RH motor was not performing as it should with the inevitable results. I probably could have managed if the motor had failed in flight but on a hand launch - no way! The damage was not that severe, just a crushed nose but with everything permanently 'built in' finding out what was wrong withhte RH nacelle and putting it right would likely be a major job. After hanging on the wall for nearly a month I felt I had to make a start. Having plenty of construction pictures is a great help in determining exactly where everything is under the skin and where to cut! So first cut back the nose to a 'sound' former and make good any locally damged skin. Infact even the sound former was replaced with an identical one but twice as wide, 4 mm rather than 2mm) to give a surface to stick the new skin planks on to. Thank goodness I had kept all the FreeCad files. ? At this point I knew I could rebuild the nose so I turned to the problem with the RH motor and/or its ESC. Cutting open the wing underside exposed the Little Bee 20A opto ESCs. To my delight I had connected them using 2mm bullet connectors making it possible to test the motor iindependently with another ESC than was known to work. It confirmed the motor was the problem. To extract and replace the motor was going to involve destroying the motor mount and the nacelle pylon. As can be seen in the picture at least the inlet duct of the nacelle couldbe saved for reuse. Having extracted the motor a close inspection revealed the problem. Claerly one winding was seriously 'cooked'. ? Then I discovered that this LDPOWER 2204 2300kV motor is a 'discontinued item' as fas a Hobby King are concerned, but then I did by the original CW & CCW pair in 2010! Fortunately i did have a spare vitually identical CW Emax 2205 2300Kv motor that fortunately uses the same pich mounting holes and is actually 2g lighter. The whole nacelle pylon, motor mounting and exhaust duct is a one piece part so 3D printing 'saved' me again! To be continued.

You are forgetting Radiomaster!

I’ve had an engine go out on the four engine...I knew it was flying slower but didn’t see the engine out until it landed. The four engine had some out thrust on all engines. Seemed to work ok. VQ Models have a Liberator but I’ve not seen it up close.

Robert Well done on your A test but it is a bit like the driving test. You have demonstrated the ability to fly a plane competently but not yet how to spot when trouble might develop and how to stop it developing further. As every situation is likely to be different it a skill that requires both judgement & experience. One needs practise the other needs time & understanding. For learning purposes the best crash is the one you just avaoided by your own efforts rather than by pure luck.?

My Gringo (and me) feature on the DB web site. It was an old kit that happened to be in my regular very old fashioned model shop with foam wings over 20 years ago. As I recall, it wasn't a brilliant flier (or more likely I was an even worse pilot than I am now!) and I eventually lost it in the rape crop planted at the side of our runway. It took me a couple of days to find it. IIRC it was powered with an Irvine Q40. I suspect Richard's (at DB) design works a lot better than my original, which Boddo himself denied having anything to do with when I mentioned it to him at one of the RR club's scale events.

Thanks, I got the instructions from another site and passed them on and it was done by another club member yesterday afternoon.

My X9D+ SE 2019 the on/off is a push button not a slider. As suggested it can be switch it on if something in the case presses on the switch. Does this only happen when it's in the case or also when out of the case? Steve

The Sinclair C5 was a disaster (like a lot of Clive Sinclair's products). At the time, I was regularly riding (and occasionally racing) a racing trike and was always hoping to see one so I could overtake it pedalling ? Someone did, very briefly, ride one to work and I just once saw one on the road when we were in the car. The C5 probably did more to put people off electric vehicles than the reverse.

something possibly of interest from economy, practicality, have-we-really-come-that-far p.o.v. : https://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/topic/243226-david-vizard-1275gt-around-america-economy-drive-1976/ 1976, 50mpg, for the trip overall, noted in the article, steady state running of 66mpg at 50mph ...but who wants to buy a small light car? smart car anyone?

I haven't built from a kit in over 30 years, mostly ARTF's and foamies, but now time's are a changing with this new project. I will try to take some pics along the way but be advised it won't be a fast build.

In my case the pressure nipple has been blocked off as the engine is the pumped version. As I bought the model and engine together 2nd hand I had assumed the pipe and header had come together but now thinking about it, probably a separate purchase by the original owner. BTW the engine is the Surpass MK2 pumped 120 and is one of the nicest engines I have ever owned. It needed new bearings when I first got it (thanks Jon) but since has run flawlessly. In particular it has such a responsive and smooth throttle curve.

well in some senses yes, as they have more power and range but I cannot see that making batteries two or three times their actual needed size plays toward reducing damage to the planet, or having way more power than needed is helping much of anything the problems the fleshy bit behind the wheel

We had a really wonderful Nationals at Walsall, and there will be more in the magazine in the coming month. This was the first time R/C has been flown at Walsall, the Free Flight guys have been using the venue for some time, but its always been too pricey for the low entry that R/C attracts, not sure why, I guess indoor R/C is too difficult ? Anyway congrats to Graham Smith for taking Gold in scale, just pipping Andrew Whites Vulcan, both very impressive models. I took bronze with my Cub. Kit scale was won by Ian Pallister flying a 33 year old Veron Tiger Moth. I would like to say I came a close second but I was miles behind, but at least I did get highest static score with my VMC Se5a, shame my flying was so rusty. Andrew White was third with KK Se5a In Flying only a win for Graham Smith again, this time with an FB8, second place was Al Foot flying a box kite. Third was last years winner Brian Seymour with a MicroAces Fokker DVII The venue is brilliant and has transformed the event, decent pictures for a start, a different funding method meant sponsors covered a good chunk of the Saturdays cost, hopefully the sponsors got good value for money and will do it all again next year. Why don't you join us?? Cheers Danny PS my Jack Savage Se ended up second to last, said my flying was rubbish....

Hi – I am in the process of completing my Dennis Bryant DHC1 Chipmunk build (two years in the making) and have been looking for suppliers of bespoke decals/rub downs etc. The model is ic powered and will be finished using satin/matt Klass Kote from Fighteraces. This is my first plan built model, any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks Danny – David, I followed Danny's Chipmunk build (Poor mans Spitfire) which is on this site under 'THE WORKSHOP' - Chip Shop – some great tips and hints on producing scale models.

That's interesting. I was thinking of adding one to the OS 52 in my Baron and flying it in La Coupe Des Barons next month, after all I've a title to defend now! ? Whispering Death indeed!

Our noise limit is a bit higher, ( 84dB), but I’ve had some success by covering the entire exhaust downpipe in silicone tube. This deadens the “ringing” as the exhaust exits the downpipe. I’d also get the twin as there’s smaller combustion strokes.

I owned a SC 52 some years ago. The idle needle was very sensitive because it’s blunt/square on the end. After 7 deadsticks in a row I got mad and pulled out the needle, put it in a drill and filed the last 2 mm of the tip sharp. After that the engine ran like a dream. It may be wise to check if spare needles are available before you go this route.

Perhaps i should bring a small tractor with a blue and yellow flag on it to tow the La7 back into the pits. I am sure it would generate a laugh, but is that really right? Seriously though, while it is only a model and one i have flown for many years i am having to think twice about flying it at a public event in the current climate. Am i over thinking it? maybe. I mean i would have no issues flying a Bf109 or FW190 with a swastika on it. Perhaps its because i would use an actual historical paint scheme and look at the 109 or 190 as a piece of history? or perhaps as a warning from history rather than a current event? Not sure. I am not trying to be all woke and i have no political or external pressure on me, i am just chewing it over in my own head. On to other things. Ron i hope to have a Laser warbird of some kind with me and a friend is intending to bring his 240v powered Spitfire. Perhaps a Laser warbird trio (or more if there are any) would be a nice thing to set up? A mix of the V and inline engines would likely be a rather nice combination. If i recall there are no specific slots at OW and we make things up as we go along dont we?

I finally reached the kit! I hope the attached pics help. I think the 40 to 60 engine size is a bit optimistic especially for engines from the 1975 era.