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Sorry two rubbish photos in there, here’s two better.

A coat of sanding sealer after final shaping, it toughens it up a touch whilst it’s on the bench, I was gonna cover it with Oracover etc but I think it’s come up enough for a light clear glass finish with chocolate brown and cream detail I think !

My Double Trouble and ASP61FS. No cowl yet - to be fitted when: a. I am happy with the engine / model match b. engine is tuned. Can't be maidened until our landlord cuts his wheat crop 😞 Think I'll finish my P47 next (have stolen the engine from my MiniPlane for the DT above...)

I wrote the below years ago but thought it might be of interest. I have been building model aircraft for most of my 57 years. My father built models from childhood and he passed his knowledge on to me. My ex father in-law was also a modeller from childhood and he passed his love of scale aircraft on to Byron and I. My first aircraft were control line and then Radio Control Aircraft once I was a bit older. Most of the early flying was in the open veld(fields) that were more prevalent in those days with mainly three channel hand launched aircraft with up to 25 size engines. Some of the aircraft still had escarpments (servos) that used rubber bands wound up to activate them and they would stop working if they ran out of winds before the motor stopped. Why am I telling you all of this is because I think in some ways the hobby has become too easy. In the early days it was a great day if you went flying and the engines started, the radio worked and the aircraft went home in one piece. 33 years ago my ex father in-law built a 1/2 scale Fokker DV111 that took months to design and years to build. The engine was a drone engine that had to be modified and the propeller was hand carved. The Radio was also modified and fitted with ferrite beads to handle loads and interference. Today you can buy a 40% airframe and all the required equipment and have it flying in a week. 27 years ago I managed to get Ian Stockdale, the UK Distributor for JPX Turbines to come to South Africa and demonstrate how the engine worked. Ian struggled to start the engine at the RMAC Nationals as the propane flowed faster in the thin air of Johannesburg causing the motor to flood. Now you have turbines that start with the flick of a transmitter switch and can be seen flying at the local club on a weekend. Luckily despite all the progress I have not lost sight of what it takes to build and fly radio controlled aircraft. Some of the best flying and the most fun I have had has been with Byron and I flying our small electrics at the local sports ground. This is a point that I am very grateful for as I can enjoy from the smallest to the largest aircraft, I even have a number of ARF's but enjoy the aircraft that I have built the most. The aircraft that I build are the ones that challenge me or in times of real stress I will build a easy project that allows me to forget the stressful things. I am building the Brian Taylor Mosquito which I am finding a real challenge but at the same time it is helping me deal with the challenges of work. You will be seeing more of this project as it is a review of the plans and parts that are available from Traplet. Hobby Shops have also changed over years and I am finding it harder to get the materials that I use for building. I tend to buy stuff even if not needed so that I can have it when I need it. Most of the shops do not have kits that you can build and if they do they are very expensive. The owners and staff seem to have adopted the attitude that the customer knows nothing. The other day I asked my wife Jo to collect some 1.5 mm balsa sheet from the shop and to ask for some medium sheet as it was for wing sheeting. When Jo asked the owner for some medium 1.5 sheet the owner of the shop explained that he had no idea of what I wanted as balsa is balsa. Jo then sorted through the wood to find what I wanted. Another time at a shop my son asked the assistant for a heat sock for the covering iron. The assistant explained that if he knew how to cover then a heat sock was not needed. Byron was not able to explain himself so I informed the assistant that we were using Solite covering and that a heat sock was needed to look good and that we had used more covering that he had sold! Mine is bigger that yours A few weeks ago Byron and I went to the local sports ground to test fly a small 3 channel electric that we had built for a friend. Byron did the test flight and I was flying a similar aircraft when the coach from the junior softball team came over and requested that we did not fly near the kids as model aircraft are dangerous. I explained to him that we knew that what we are doing and would not fly near to the kids. He then informed us that he was also a aeromodeller and flew 40% aircraft. On the way home Byron asked if it was a man thing to compare size, cost or power or were woman like this as well. I replied that it is just men! This brings me to another point and that is I an not one that has to have the fanciest radios and engines if a cheaper reliable option is available. I have for years used Super Tigre engines with Excellent results, Even whilst I was in the Air force Target Section we used Super Tigre. Whilst doing project Vulindlela for SAA we used MDS and Super Tigre and had no problems. The T240 that we flew to Robbin Island had a ST90 that had many hours display flying behind it. In fact the motor is still in the airframe with the same receiver and servo's since 1996 without and trouble. My electrics follow the same principle and are equipped with mostly the cheaper Chinese options. The Mosquito will be equipped in the same way as I do not need engines that will last hundreds of hours that can survive major impacts in a airframe that I hope not to crash and it will only fly a few times a year. So you could say that I am the Hobby shop owners nightmare but it all goes around service and price. I am in the hobby because I love building and flying model aircraft. I have to go to work so I do not want to have to build and fly a certain type of aircraft due to competitions. I also enjoy fixing aircraft that have been crashed and the owners have given up on repairing them. I am sure that designers and Hobby Shop owners will also have their interesting stories about customers. I was once standing with Dave Boddington at one of the days at Swartkops when a modeller approached him and asked it he knew of any problems with the 1/4 scale DB pup ailerons. Dave replied that he did not know of any and asked him what the problem was. The reply was that the Ailerons had fallen off, when questioned what engine was used the reply was that it was a ST 3250. I must say that I was impressed with how well David handled himself as this is a aircraft that was designed for a four stroke 120. The moral of the story is that build and fly aircraft according to their type. A old timer is not designed for wild aerobatics or pylon racing and a Pup will never be a Pitts Special.

Woo-hoo, I am a dinosaur. 😍 😇 I wonder if there is a badge or a T-shirt available for other dinosaurs to wear to show our pride. 🤣

There is a little more to the story than Nigel has let on. When i originally envisaged the engine i did consider the situation with tiger moth's etc and the need to use reversed heads to get the exhaust out of the cooling air inlet and it was going to be called the gipsy edition, have scale rotation and all be brilliant. So, this gave me two potential engine configurations and 2 sets of timing. Great. However, interest in the gipsy ed was far greater than expected but most wanted it with standard rotation for ease of propeller choice and all that. This was fine i thought and off we went with pre orders recorded as 'gipsy ed' You can probably guess what happened next. As its been a while, i totally forgot that the gipsy ed timing on my cad drawing was for the reverse rotation and i had never worked out the timing for reverse heads with standard rotation. And, naturally, it was only when i picked up the reverse pitch 17x6 test prop (my brain remembered that part!) and fitted it to my test stand that the penny finally dropped. 'Oh dang and blast it, how spectacularly inconvenient' said i. Or at least, words to that effect. To save myself 2 days work, and a mental breakdown, i elected to run the engines anyway rather than stripping them and retiming them working on the basis that someone would want them eventually and it was quicker to just build more. Fortunately 2 of the 3 people who were in line for an engine from this batch were happy with reverse rotation and the 3rd engine had to come apart anyway as i wasnt happy with it and wanted to check it out. With that done and satisfied all was well i fixed my little gaffe as i had worked out the timing for a gypsy ed with standard rotation and it has departed to its new home. Not that anyone will remember but any engine marked GSR is Gipsy standard rotation and GRR is Gipsy reverse rotation. This is important as they look identical. in every other respect. To make life easier i may abandon the standard configuration engine as we do not need 3 variants of the same engine and the carb/exh position makes no difference in a warbird.

Factually incorrect. There was another verified maximum temperature above 40 degrees Celsius at Pitsford, Northamptonshire.

Media driven myth then, still being pedaled today. From memory, it was about aerosols in the upper atmosphere, like Sulphur Dioxide. They cause cooling. Their effect was overestimated, their concentrations have reduced with Clean Air Acts, and no longer apply. The author of the main study has gone on record that it was wrong. Even back then the vaste majority of “climate experts” were predicting rising temperatures. The oil companies own research predicted heating. It was about this time when they started supporting climate change denial.

It’s not just us. How many times have we seen TV news (particularly on the BBC) postponed because they’re covering a sporting event such as tennis or football. We’re not all sport mad, but it seems the rest of us have to make way for those who are.

Errrrrrrr, l live in western France, half way down the Bay of Biscay. One of the sunniest areas of France. I assure you, temperatures above 35°C are not commonplace. They stop normal life. BTW, idiot O’Neil might add to his education, and he could study the devastating effects of heat on the health of sugar cane cutters. Or even, closer to home, how many excess deaths there are going to be .

As it happens the club I fly with falls just outside the no fly zone. The restrictions would apply regardless of the drone implication. The part that should be found 'annoying' is the late notification, though I doubt any appeals would have been considered in any event. How many sites does it affect, I suspect not many given the conurbation it covers. Another consideration is how many days during the restrictive period would the weather be good enough to fly ? It isn't great, I understand and I don't like it much like everyone else but the broader picture needs to be taken into consideration. AS for the Super Highway I look forward to a drone delivering in my street with its criss crossed telephone lines, large bushes and shrubs. As an aside anyone subject to the restriction looking to fly elsewhere, if you want to PM me I will do my best to see if we can accommodate you.

I’d like to see the justification for stopping model flying at an established site and the reasons why this impedes the policing of the games, maybe many miles away rather than a simple statement from the police telling us that it was for the greater good and not to bother asking for permission as they won’t even consider the circumstances. If the technology is as advanced as suggested in the communication then you would think it fairly simple to discount activity limited to a reasonable radius of an approved site. It seems to be the thin end of a wedge which could lead to bans in the future for lesser events so perhaps the BMFA would consider challenging this decision?

Had him go right over me today - plus 3 Harvards / Texans. I think they are all over for an event at Sleap Airfield.

Two things. Grow trees to become green. 30 years for a pine tree to grow to a decent size and hold ~20 tonnes(?) of carbon? How many tonnes of carbon is a person supposed to produce a week just driving their car? Poverty and people. Not good but feeding them so they can then produce more people seems illogical. No, not suggesting starving them to death, just, by some means, not producing more people in areas that can't sustain them. OK, your problem, I'm out of here in a decade or two.

Can billions of us damage the planet, I believe so.

Except they didn't, there was one paper that over estimated the effect of aerosols and particulate matter in the atmosphere, to such an extent that it had a bigger cooling effect than CO2 warming, wen combined with a switch to nuclear power could lead to global cooling. Subsequent studies/papers showed that the cooling effect of particulate matter was much less. https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/06/that-70s-myth-did-climate-science-really-call-for-a-coming-ice-age/

Well today was a successful day if a time consuming testing one. I started off by making/soldering a new wiring loom despite my not being convinced this was the problem. I then tested my lipos, TX & RX, then onto the motor. I decided to fit a different motor, namely a Dualsky GA3500 (Racing Version) that I was saving for a different project, to my Skywing Edge 540 74" plane. Well I tested both ESCs and low and behold both worked absolutely fine after extensive testing. Therefore I must have a duff motor as illustrated at the start of this thread, although I don't know why. It was bought new for around £110 and I really think the supplier needs to test it to confirm an issue with it. However, I am not very optimistic of getting that agreed to. Anyway, I am relieved to have cracked the problem. Thanks to all of the suggestions received. 😀 😃

BB, It could all be propaganda and scare tactics.

The cold water from the tap is quite warm here today in Snowdonia, thermometer in conservatory is a nice 20degrees c. Same thermometer showed 40 degrees c a few days ago. Conservatory barn door always open unless it's windy or rain horizontalal from the south... Seems a little chilly today...

One thing is certain, the climate is changing, it has been for thousands (millions?) of years. The difficult question is how much is man changing it. One thing to me is pretty certain, we will not stop it. If the use of fossil fuels is the cause/ answer, then do you think that the big users China, US, India, Russia will stop until it becomes too scarce or expensive? There is a very good reason to reduce fossil fuel use, to conserve the natural resources as the planet is finite. So Britain can lead the world and wreck the economy to go electric (which is greenwashing as currently done as it is far from being carbon neutral and the pollution created is unsustainable) but first we need a comprehensive funded plan as to how we can adapt to a changing climate as a priority. One other thing is plain, scientists cannot be trusted. As Martin Harris said above, 50 years ago we were told (by scientists) an ice age was coming and believed to be true at the time. There are too many scientists appearing daily on the news, competing to get their 15minutes of fame and/ or selling there latest books. Their views are generally limited to their narrow speciality. What we need are inspired engineers, not scientists, who can/ will look at the bigger picture with the utmost integrity and resolve the issues facing us without creating other unsolvable problems. Oh, and be free from political interference. That's just my view.

I’ve been out for a second flight this afternoon on the same slope but much lighter winds which it handled very well, staying up without too much effort using the suggested thermal flight settings. I could tell the CoG wasn’t quite right though so I obviously hadn’t compensated enough for my new pilot, he must need to diet!

It's straight forward for me. I subscribe for the printed magazine, it suits how I prefer to use/ read it. The free plan is important to me, even if I only build a few of them, they give me inspiration. If the plan is dropped or it goes digital only I will not bother subscribing. I hope that Kevin can find the required contributors, but not more glider stuff please.... Alex's huge contribution will be a hard act to follow. One thing I appreciated was that on scale subjects he always managed to dig out some little known facts about the full size aircraft that I'd not heard of before.

Well Nigel and Ron have it really, it as I am sure Jon will attest to was made to mimic the DH Gypsy in the reverse heads so the scale exhaust outlet is on the correct side but this goes one step further it is also reverse rotation, I think I am right in saying it is being called the Gypsy. lovely piece of kit.

I would agree on a high aspect wing around 4m is a good sweet spot, not too big to transport and launch and more forgiving than a 3m one. A while back a couple of flying buddies bought a Ventus and Discus from Top Model CZ, both very nice and fly well, around 3.8m. Theirs were pure gliders though so I'm not sure if they do an electric option. Keep you eye on the BMFA and BARCS classifieds some of the older moulded gliders come up from time to time, we recently acquired a 2.85 Multiplex Kranich and 3.3m Simprop Solo, the Kranich flies lovely, not yet put the Simprop together but no reason why it shouldn't fly as well.

Some Chica construction photos

I remember 50 years ago climate experts were predicting the imminent return of the ice age!

FlyingFlynn you must live with your head in sand. I live in Cambridgeshire and nowhere an airport and on Monday and Tuesday it was extremely hot, I tried sitting in the shade and there was a breeze blowing, a hot breeze and it was very uncomfortable. We had all our doors, windows and curtains/blinds shut it helped but it was still uncomfortable. Maybe I should have stuck my head in the sand like you and pretend nothing is going wrong and this is normal.

I’ve just maidened mine and I’m very happy with it. There were a few problems with the delivery time, not helped by staff shortages caused by covid, but the company offered compensation for the delay. The model is well finished and assembly was straightforward, although connecting up the spoilers was a bit fiddly, but the supplied accessories and wiring harness made it very quick. The instruction sheet could be improved but then this is not a model intended for an inexperienced builder. All controls were set to the recommended movements and the first flight went very smoothly with no trim changes required. It’s a very high aspect ratio wing so I was initially a bit dubious about how effective the tiny chord ailerons and flaps would be but there were no problems and a good roll rate, especially with ailerons and flaps linked. Likewise despite the apparently small size the crow brakes and spoilers slowed the model down nicely for landing. All in all I was very happy with its flight performance and it looked very nice in the air. I’ve only had time for one flight on the slopes so far but I have a tow release fitted so I’ll be checking out its thermal performance soon. I bought an Edge 1500 electric RTF from them at the same time and I have no complaints about either the model or the assembly of it. The company were very easy to deal with and emails were always answered promptly and I’m fairly sure I’ll be buying from them again.

Lol. Streaming is sort of downloading and using at the same time, without permanently storing it. So, you can stream, for example, iPlayer content, and need to be on-line for the duration, and have good download speed. Or, you can download at your leisure, save it and watch later, without an internet connection. An online only version of the magazine would not need a fast internet connection as you'd download it (possibly whilst eating breakfast, or sleeping) then read it later, off line.

It would help if I knew what streaming was, but as it's something I have happily lived without maybe it's best not to find out.

All my RC planes are build from RCM & E Free Plans CHICA

It's outrageous to have such swingeing restrictions on model flying and a good reason why this hobby should have taken the sensible position of distancing itself from the drone hobby when that began to emerge. Model aeroplanes are not drones, have been around for decades and the notion that legitimate model aeroplane operation is any sort of tangible terrorist threat is not well founded. In courting the supposed huge influx of drone flyers into the BMFA we have effectively ensured that we are all tarred with the same brush, even in the eyes of an uninformed public.

I am proud to be amongst these dinosaurs. Just remember: birds are reptiles too and are unsurpassed at flight.

Agree that it’s a very pricey route for only 3m. This looks much better value and from a very well respected manufacturer https://classifieds.bmfa.org/acadp_listings/let-models-asw-28-3m

The Boulton Paul Defiant had its maiden flight at last 12th. July. the model flew great well pleased

This weeks notable flybys so far .. great place to live!

My latest build, laminate film covering (purchased from Ron Gray ?) and a spitfire diesel engine, I have named it "Naked Princess" because I have covered it in laminating film, no colour. Yet to maiden as it is a total of 1lb11oz I am waiting for the wind to go down a little. Steve

Plan built with Belair laser cut parts Jerry Bates Sea Fury 1/5th scale, British made Laser 360 v twin four stroke. Spinner canopy and cowl from Phil at Fighter Aces. Retracts from Giant Sierra. Just completed and now awaiting first engine run ups in the garden. Will await early spring after our patch has had a few cuts for the maiden flights.

Thought I'd put a couple of pics up now that my sleeker is finished. Just waiting on its maiden now. Very pleased with the end result considering it is my first ever build from plan. Thanks RCM&E, thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and once I get my Phoenix evolution built and flying I'll be back to build another free plan. Ton's Red Eagle is at the top of the list. TP Edited By Tipsy Pilot on 20/04/2017 09:47:13