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Afternoon all! Well that was a dramatic race. I lost count of the number of safety cars - way more than I predicted anyway. So with the UK Ch4 highlights just finishing, here are our scores today; Pos League Rank Team Manager Pts 1 1 0 Essex Racing Tony Clark 226 2 4 2 DMFC Racing Team Simon Webb 212 3 5 0 Pitts Specials john stones 211 4 14 2 Mannschaft Carl Brotherton 196 5 10 1 Norfolk Flyers Kevin Fairgrieve 191 6 6 1 LetsGoTotoLetsGo GrumpyGnome 188 7 9 1 Hans Brake Zoonie 187 8 8 0 The JP Specials johnpflyrc 186 9 3 0 GASTON Formula Chris McG 178 10 12 1 PSS Power Flyer 170 11 2 0 Iqonic racing iqon 167 12 11 2 Revers Racing Pete B 164 13 7 3 Team Charles Picd Charles Pic 160 14 13 1 Torque of the devil Stu 144 15 16 1 Oyster f1 Glenn Philbrick 97 16 15 1 teewrex John Tee 89 In a high-scoring field, it's Tony who takes top spot with 226 points. Simon is second with 212, and just one point behind in third is John S. Well done to today's top 3. What about the overall table? Pos League Rank Team Manager Pts 1 1 0 Essex Racing Tony Clark 602 2 2 0 Iqonic racing iqon 529 3 3 0 GASTON Formula Chris McG 527 4 4 2 DMFC Racing Team Simon Webb 523 = 5 0 Pitts Specials john stones 523 6 6 1 LetsGoTotoLetsGo GrumpyGnome 496 7 7 3 Team Charles Picd Charles Pic 491 8 8 0 The JP Specials johnpflyrc 480 9 9 1 Hans Brake Zoonie 459 10 10 1 Norfolk Flyers Kevin Fairgrieve 450 11 11 2 Revers Racing Pete B 448 12 12 1 PSS Power Flyer 398 13 13 1 Torque of the devil Stu 387 14 14 2 Mannschaft Carl Brotherton 381 15 15 1 teewrex John Tee 313 16 16 1 Oyster f1 Glenn Philbrick 293 No changes in the top three, but Simon jumps up two places to 4th, GrumpyGnome moves up 1 place to 6th meaning that Charles is pushed down 3 places to 7th. Further down the table Zoonie and Kev each move up a place to 9th and 10th, with Pete slipping 2 places to 11th. Ade and Stu swap places, to 12th and 13th respectively. And finally Carl steps up 2 places to 14th, pushing John T and Glenn to 15th and 16th. We have four weeks off now, the next race is in Azerbaijan on 30 April. Don't forget your predictions!

An Airbus 380 is on its way across the Atlantic. It flies consistently at 800 km/h at 30,000 feet, when suddenly a Eurofighter with a Tempo Mach 2 appears. The pilot of the fighter jet slows down, flies alongside the Airbus and greets the pilot of the passenger plane by radio: "Airbus, boring flight isn’t it? Now have a look here!" He rolls his jet on its back, accelerates, breaks through the sound barrier, rises rapidly to a dizzying height, and then swoops down almost to sea level in a breathtaking dive. He loops back next to the Airbus and asks: "Well, how was that?" The Airbus pilot answers: "Very impressive, but watch this!" The jet pilot watches the Airbus, but nothing happens. It continues to fly straight, at the same speed. After 15 minutes, the Airbus pilot radios, "Well, how was that? Confused, the jet pilot asks, "What did you do?" The AirBus pilot laughs and says: "I got up, stretched my legs, walked to the back of the aircraft to use the washroom, then got a cup of coffee and a chocolate fudge pastry." The moral of the story is: When you’re young, speed and adrenaline seems to be great. But as you get older and wiser, you learn that comfort and peace are more important. This is called S.O.S. : Slower, Older and Smarter.

After the repairs I did five short flights to check if everythings ok and to get myself used to a proper landing pattern. Three weeks later the weather hasn't improved but today I chose an hour without rain (just plenty of wind at low temperatures) to make another testflight. First time up in the air with spinners and the looks are improved considerably! The Whirlwind flew steady despite wind gusts. The improved rudder linkage and reduced control throws helped and I think the spinners reduced turbulence, too. Flight #10 was a great satisfaction since I'm getting used to the model and if flying in strong wind is no problem, I can look forward to spring and summer 🙂 Timo

Peter, that cannot be right. The thrust from the aircraft’s engine is independent of the conveyor belt and will accelerate the aircraft up to tale-off speed irrespective off the speed of the belt. The rotational speed of the wheels will be belt speed plus aircraft speed, everything being relative to the position of the observer. I think……..

Serious Complaint What's wrong with this world, there I am yesterday up at the flying field in wind and cold with my FT200. Its not been run since last year and just look at what happened! All checks complete, engine primed and the darn thing starts first time and then to add insult, it didn't even need need a tweak in the main needles. just flew around sounding awesome. I even tried flying inverted and bunts, but it was having none of it and just kept running. I landed having cold fingers and it hadn't even used half a tank. I gets worse as after 4 flights it was time to go home and on packing up only found two small and not even patches of wet oil on the fuz. I mean how are you meant to get all the mud off the wing when there is so little oil! What was wrong with the good old days of unreliable engines, hours of freezing your fingers off trying to get it started only to quit with the nose up test or on the take off roll! Its either therapy or start this ASP up I have and let it slobber down the fuz with the smell of castor in the air. With the age old question...when is it going to dead stick on me! Rant over 🤣

The wheels have a plastic washer glued to both sides of the hub to protect the Solartex and to make the wheel attachment look more authentic the piano wire axle has brass tube sleeves added. To ensure a slop free fit I cut “teeth” in the end of the tube using the Dremmel and a cutting disc then reamed out the wheel holes with it. The sleeves have a hole drilled for a split pin then a washer is soldered to form a “back stop”. A useful tip is to use a wooden spring type clothes peg to hold the washer square on the tube whilst soldering. The sleeves are then glued to the piano wire axle with epoxy. The completed axle is held in position on the undercarriage with “O rings” to provide a certain degree of springing. As you can see the spoke detail is very subtle just as per the full size, on most commercial wheels it is usually a bit “over done”. I’ve had fellow modellers ask me why I don’t solder the tubes to the axle, well the simple answer is “It’s easier to use epoxy” and all I can say is that I’ve not lost a wheel yet, at least not one that was attached using this method!

I started the covering of the fuselage.. Started with covering around the windows, nooks& crannies. Then covered the bottom, top and sides. Alongside the covering iron I have this Hobby Iron from the Hobbycraft Shop. It has proved to be invaluable in dealing with nooks and crannies. I ran out of HK covering and switched to 4Max covering which is the same I think.. Works really well.. Printed a cockpit photo and glued it to the cockpit. Then cut off the windscreen using a leftover PVC table cover and glued it in place with the cockpit glue. Left it to dry for 24 hrs. Then I glued the stabiliser and the fin with 15min epoxy and micro balloon mix. The stabiliser/elevator was aligned to the wing with level gauges. I could not wait to put it together outside and then checked the CG!! I will use 2 x 3300 ZeePower 4S batteries. I checked the CG on my balancer. Excellent outcome.. I will not need any ballast. The battery banalced the plan perfectly at 106mm from the leading edge (ca 30% of the cord). The box contains the two batteries. The AUW is measured to be 11 lbs (5kg).. Which is better than my estimate of 12.5 lbs... That is great I can discard all the recovered ballast.... I will not proceed with the battery tray / radio gear installation and engine testing... Hopefully I will be able to maiden it again in a week time.... By the way Ron Greys longbase foam stand works perfectly.. Thanks Ron.. To be continued...

First time out since January. Magically, the list of pilots had dropped to just 2 of us, both flying F3A machines. The wind was at 30 deg to the runway initially strong and gusty and then relenting but not by much! Flying F3A aerobatics really does wonders for the number of days that are flyable!

Well done Tony, Simon, and John S. with scores of 200 plus. Top score on Fantasygp site was 273

Here's my simple way to check the center of gravity. Nose drops so cog is just a bit forward to the wing tube connector. Timo

Much fuel on this Jet ? 😉

The only thing the conveyor belt does is provide friction acting upon the wheel which the 'plane's thrust needs to overcome. the other thing the conveyor belt does is provide one hell of a lot of confusion, which is exactly what was planned with the question!

And it pays off. ..... a quick call from the flying site at just before mid- day ....... where are you ? Ha ha. One hour later ..... back in the sky. 1st flight...... lets not talk about that second attempt .... one complete but not necessarily pretty full circuit. The instructor trimmed back the amount of throttle to slooooooow things down just a tad and allow for more of a relaxed pace. I am far to heavy on my stick movements and also need to master turning and nosing up as two distinct tasks rather than turning them into one stick movement ..... if that makes sense. .... I'll get there. Practice, practice ...... and more practice. Great fun if a little intense at times. Toto

When starting up an aircraft set up for the first time I put in about a 1/4 to 1/3 of a tank. Tune and run until empty. If it runs and throttles fine it will be good with a full tank.

Yes - it’s killed or severely scared many a glider pilot scratching for lift at low altitude. Funnily enough, the wind has no effect once high enough to nullify the visual effects of relative ground movement…

Dave Brown Six Shooter hand pump is the answer.....................as mentioned before, had mine so long and without trouble, I've forgotten exactly how old it is. No gears, no impellors, no seals. Fool proof and still around £20. Not surprising that the principle of operating is used in some medical equipment (peristalsis).

I was gifted a kit built Wots Wot with a 60 2 stroke in it. I fitted my OS 61Fx and that flew well but did not provide a vertical upline of the length I wanted. I then fitted an OS91FX (a bored out 61s so a bit lighter) and that was much better but needed propping down to the 2nd lowest size to access the power and that just about holds speed around a large loop. The big OS silencer does a grand job of keeping the noise well in check. It depends on whether you want to fly an aerobatic aircraft that loses speed as soon as you start flying vertical manoeuvres or that will slow down by itself for a stall turn that goes up considerably in height. You do need to know how to use the throttle throughout the flight though. However, my Wot 4 ARTF with an Irvine 53 and throttle pipe out performs the Wots Wot since the latter is a good deal heavier. This engine combo gives the Wot 4 almost unlimited vertical climbs. That having been said, both are afflicted with a number of aerodynamic faults that make flying really good aeros quite tricky. Both are flown at just over half throttle (properly set up throttle curves) and perform club aerobatics with ease.

There's a lot more common-sense talked about this ridiculous conundrum here than there was over on RCG. It even came to a point where the mods had to step in and suspend members for attacking each other.

If I remember correctly the the problem itself is invalid because it contains a physical impossibility. It states that the conveyor belt matches the rotational speed of the wheels, but this simply is not possible. The rotational speed of the wheels will be defined by the speed of conveyor belt plus the takeoff speed of the aircraft. It can't be anything else because you cannae change the laws of physics (captain). It is therefore impossible for the conveyor belt to match the speed of the wheels. No matter how fast you make the belt go the wheels will always go faster.

I would adjust the ruminate/fly ratio 😄

A reminder to religiously check the oil level...

Here's a light aircraft in a strong wind that takes off by itself. No forward movement, no propeller thrust, just the airflow over the wings. Light aircraft gets airborne in a strong wind. and here's a hang glider doing something similar: Hang Glider vertical take off in a strong wind

Only if the Flux Capacitor was faulty

friction between conveyor belt and aircraft dictates how much and how quickly energy can be transferred to the belt to the aircraft... perhaps the question then becomes, can the energy put out by aircraft's propulsion mechanism overpower that energy transferred to the aircraft by the belt? what's the speed limit of the belt? infinite? the power of the aircraft? also infinite? the heat at which the grease in the wheels boils and prevents the wheels turning? does the aircraft even use wheels? maybe it stands on skis? or floats? the wheels that are turning - are they the wheels inside the conveyor belt? is there a tailwind, a headwind or a crosswind to affect the aircraft? it's a deliberately badly designed problem, intended to incite violence on internet forums tease out mechanical knowledge, rather than to have 'an answer'.

You buy an engine to fly, "I might crash" is a very odd reason to choose which engine or indeed an airframe or the gubbins you fit in it. 4 strokes are harder to use ? No the basics are the same, correct plumbing, good plug, clean fuel of your choice stored correctly, stop fiddling. 2 strokes ? Loved every one I ever owned, but in a scale model 4 strokes nice, fits cowl better, less intrusive exhaust, cost more, yep, but over time fuel usage pays you back and they sound great. Good investment. Crashings part of the game ? For some it is, same lads do it on a consistant basis at our club, however some just have the odd mishap, some rarely have any issues, choice is yours regarding which group you'll fit in.

More flights as soon as the weather improves 🙂 Until then, there are plenty of details to improve and to work further on. Timo

Everythings easy to transport and quick to detach. Very important with a twin-engined model.

A proper mug and a present from my wife last Christmas 🙂

Two bent aluminium plates helped to prevent damage on the landing gear. Another part I first thought of being too weak. But now it's an expendable part in case something goes wrong again.

A quick overview of the repair and strengthening of the wing in January and February. I repaired the broken spar and added a second one. Another one from spruce was placed aft for less torsion. I've had a balsa spar in front of the flaps to keep it light behind the center of gravity, but obviously that wasn't enough for a failed landing. I also increased spar strength on the outer wings to keep overall strength comparable. In the end I was really quick with placing new spars. Lots of Yorshire tea and a bottle of Somerset cider surely helps 😉 Timo

Well, after another week it’s finally just about finished! After spraying the blue I then masked off the fuz and wing to spray some white (I didn't spray them in the garage as it might look!) I used an assortment of masking tapes but found the Tamiya squared masking sheets particularly useful for creating the chequerboard pattern on the nose. It took me four hours to mask the fuz, not helped by me masking half of said chequerboard pattern before I realised I was masking off the white squares instead of the blue! With that done I then sprayed a couple of coats of clear gloss sealer over my ally nose spinner and exhausts to protect them from the elements and then went on to fit the exhausts. I was unable to find a good quality photo of this plane’s instrument panel so used the same one as I had previously in my standard sized Super Corsair. After having painted inside the cockpit I then added the instrument panel photo. Similarly with the engine, I also used the same Photo-shopped image as previously. I sealed both photos with a couple of coats of clear satin coat sealer to prevent them fading. I had already trial fitted all my radio gear and linkages prior to spraying so it didn’t take too long to re-install all these again so then all that was left was to get the CG point ‘right’ and weigh it. My standard build Super Corsair has its CG point set in line with the plan at 3.25” or 82.5mm from the root L.E. and it flew well right from its maiden. However this seemingly has a static margin value of 17% according to the rcplanes.online CG calculator so, on the face of it, pretty nose heavy. It weighs just 1437g giving a wing loading of 15oz/sq.ft. It will fly comfortably in wind speeds upwards of around 12mph and with considerable ballast has flown in up to 40mph winds. Based on all the above I decided to calculate my CG point for this 120% Super Corsair using the same 17% static margin which worked out to be 103mm from root L.E. Achieving this necessitated installing a further 150g of nose ballast inside the battery tube, over and above the 500g I had already built in earlier! So with the plane balanced it was time to hit the scales….a tad heavier than anticipated at 3232g or 7lb 2oz. This is giving it a wing loading of 24oz/sq.ft. for a plane with a 61.5” wingspan. Does this sound a lot or still ok for a PSS? What sort of wind speed do you guys think it might need for its maiden off the Orme please? There are still one or two little more bits of detail I may yet add but here are a few photos of the finished build and one or two with its little brother in the background, hope you like them! Nose spinner clear cowl fitted and retained by an O-ring Tail wheel painted My pilot could do with a little more detail, I'm sure he'd appreciate some sunglasses one day 🙂