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Hi all! I obtained a quarter scale Sopwith Pup a while back. It was equipped with a Saito fg33r3 radial with a faulty ignition system..... I replaced the ignition system and installed the rest of the electrics. I balanced it at 145 mm, and it works okay there. I flew it today, and wow what an aircraft. Sure, I had to trim a lot of down and a few clicks right aileron, but it flies very scale like. The sound of the radial is very mesmerizing! The loops were quite big, so the power is "enough"... I use a wood 17X8 propeller. The fuel is alkylate petrol with 7% Stihl HP Ultra oil.

Evening all, Well, no reminder about predictions today... As you're all probably aware, the awful weather conditions in the Emilia Romagna region have meant that this weekend's Grand Prix has been cancelled. Given the circumstances this does seem the only sensible option. It is possible the race might be re-scheduled for later in the season, though this looks unlikely. In the meantime F1 is donating €1m to a flooding relief fund. Ferrari donated the same amout yesterday - their Maranello factory is in Emilia-Romagna. The next race is now next weekend in Monaco.

My wife has a real phobia about people with lower limb amputations. It got so bad she went to see the doctor who told her she was lack-toes intolerant.

Before we were married, my wife wanted a personalised number plate, her maiden name began with the letter J so the plate she wanted was SUE1J. She never forgave me for pointing out that it spelled "SEWAGE".

I avoid EC3 after a plane crash landed on takeoff. Fortunately the plane wasn't damaged, but on connecting EC3 plug it had pushed the socket partly out of the blue holder, and the vibration of the take off had caused it to disconnect. XT60 for me every time.

If they were mine Jon I would finish the uncovered Pup and sell the other. Nice Pup Graf.

Some pictures that I have taken. The "can't Fix..." one is on a garage counter

Well if you guarantee good weather John, I'll bring the caravan over for the full 3 days. If not, I'll just pick the best day.

Hope that you have a good weekend. Something to remember is that, yes, it requires a degree of commitment to learn to fly to the stage of going solo, but this hobby is a long game, you never stop learning and it is vital to not lose sight of the fact that you're doing it to enjoy yourself and to have fun. Amongst all the achievements and goals along the way, take the time to remember to have fun whilst doing it. Don't let it become a chore, or erect hurdles which must be jumped in a certain time frame. Fair winds and clear skies for your coming flying sessions.

A highlight from the recent BMFA Indoor RC Scale Nationals. The most graceful entry in my opinion.

It's an old keyboard attached to my PC, Ron the year/s should have been MCMLVI/VII.

It is £180 which is comparable to a foamie, and it might be more durable.

Evening Guys, Now just under two weeks until we hook up at Buckminster for our Laser celibration bash. Thanks indeed to Jon for organising the event for us. I`ve been mega busy sorting household matters. A new central heating has been installed, six barrow loads of gunk removed from gutters and numerous other limited access matters attended to. Sadly my late Father left me with a huge maintenance nightmare which I`ve had to begin to resolve before water ingress began to wreck the place. The effort required has left me rather exhausted and caused me to halt modelling activities for a couple of months whilst I attended to these pressing and urgent domestic matters. Now aged 65years old and with ciatica attacking me with a vengence, the work doesn`t become any easier with the passage of time. Pleasingly though, I`m now back to modelling activities again with the coming week or so being totally devoted to sorting out the two AcroWot XL models selected to make an appearance on the day. More thanks to Jon who built me a 200FT and has overhauled two of my 180`s during my enforced layoff period. So I`m ready to roll on the Thursday, will be staying at "The Blue Cow" overnight and will be at Buckminster BMFA from about 09.30hrs on the Friday. If anyone is in the local area on the Thursday night and fancies a beer in the evening, please let me know. Cheers guys, Mike Kennedy

Dairy farmer down the road from me has several vehicles, all begin with MOO.

At first glance it looks a lot of money, but motor, esc, servos in there and linkages look better than most, looks pretty good to me.

Deans have a spring which can weaken and give poor contact, also difficult to undo with arthritic fingers. XT s every time and you can score the case for extra grip

The second wing has the bottom LE sheet and spar pinned in position and glued to the first wing and bottom wing brace. As with the first wing the ribs are used to locate the aileron spar. TE bottom sheet is located by measuring the same as on the first wing. Now working on the centre section. The TE ply has been chamfered, as shown on the plan, and glued in place. The LE ply plate is test fitted, not glued. Next I can glue the first wing top spar in place. After that it's the same as the first wing glue the ribs and shear webs in place but working right to left this time. A good day on the building board today without any issues. 👍 Steve

Seen in a carpark at Gatwick many years ago was a big Mercedes with the reg FUD1Y.

Overlander give the option of 3 different types on most of their lipo packs. XT60 (best) EC3 (OK) Deans (worst) https://www.overlander.co.uk/

Some important info regarding this weekends PSSA Fly in at Llandudno - wind direction is dictating we use the NE slope above the pier meaning a revised parking location for all visitors. More below; https://www.pssaonline.co.uk/2023/05/19/may-20th-21st-dambusters-fly-in-to-take-place-from-north-east-slope-above-the-pier/

Bit late to the party but I use a Stanley fatmax double storage box avec handle and wheels. Bottom part with wheels has a deep discharge boat, caravan battery with Anderson and Jack plug connectors for charging and a voltage meter plus usb for the phone. (one of my patches is great for flying but zero facilities) a 12v field charger. Top section has a 5l aftermarket fuel tank (eBay item number:385406299771) and a power panel with pump. plus 12v starter/glow battery. Add in as you need yellow trays for the usual bits-n-bobs Great for a day of combined IC and electric shenanigans. I have thought about adding a stand to the top as the battery is great low down ballast.

Lovely model. I have two of these in storage (one kit and one uncovered airframe) waiting their turn on the building bench. I cant decide which one to work on which is part of the delay. I plan to use a laser 200 of some flavour and prop around 20-22x6. You might also find better performance using something like a 20x6 prop as you will get plenty of thrust out of it for loops etc but the fine pitch will keep the speed down and might help prevent the pitch up you mentioned. Your 17x8 is more suited to a WWII fighter. The saito manual suggests a maximum prop of 18x6 and minimum top end rpm of 8600. That seems small and fast to me, and certainly i would expect the engine to handle 19x6 at the very least, but maybe give macgregor a call and explain your use case. Most engines can be heavily loaded if you dont flog them. Given the nature of the model, a big prop and partial throttle use, i cannot see it doing any harm to the engine at all. Also as its spark ignition you could even retard the ignition a smidge to help it out with the bigger prop if it seems unhappy. I cant find many reviews of the engine, but if it will run a 19 or 20x6 at 7000rpm then that will be fine for performance and sound great too. Hope that is of use

Hi Toto, because it's a Scale Day I will either take The Beaver with me with fourstroke engine or my P51 red tailed Mustang which has a two stroke engine. Hopefully it will be a good day with a good turnout of planes and pilots from other clubs. If I do get a video done I will try and put it up here. We are also having a barbecue as well, with a club member who just happens to be a chef doing the cooking on the day. Hope all goes well for you and your flying this weekend with happy landings.

John, would prefer a lamb sacrifice bigger burgers!!

As you already know , methanol will give far more power than petrol . The higher temp that petrol burns at can as Jon say cause serious problems on a conveted glow like valve seat regretion . Check the valve seats before running. If they are bronze have a go. If alloy then stick to glow fuel. Using spark ign with glow will give glow type power provided timing is set up correctly and a reliable idle although the ign and its battery are justmore to go wrong and extra weight to carry. Petrol power doesnt really come into its own until 30cc plus .

The GiGi is now finished and ready to fly, I was waiting for a new reciever, now installed. I have also splayed out the undercarriage as under the taxi trials it was a little wobbly but Ok now Weighs exactly 2lb 8 oz Here it is photos take with my posh camera! Quite please with this, it was a fiddly build being so small but good fun. Next project is a slope soarer, two good slopes near me, Winter Hill and Pendle Hill, I used to soar from the cliffs at Folkestone when I lived down south, but then some one came along and built a dirty great tunnel right beneath and that put the kybosh on that!

There's an old chap sitting in a crowded cafe at Euston station drinking a cup of tea and a young woman comes and sits at the same table with her coffee. They exchange a few pleasantries and she notices his tie has a wings motif. She asks him what the symbol meant and he answered that it meant he was a pilot. "Oh, wow" she says "Are you really a pilot?" "Well" he says "I learned to fly in a Tiger Moth, flew Lancasters and later moved onto jets like the Canberra. Then in a long flying career I flew many different types at various places around the world. On leaving the service I was a test pilot before joining BOAC, flying VC10s. Then when I retired I taught at a light aircraft flying school. I've only recently had to finish due to my age, so I guess I'd call myself a real pilot. What about you?" "Oh" she say "I'm a lesbian. When I wake up each morning the first thing I think about is naked women. When I shower I'm thinking about naked women. As I'm having my breakfast, I think about naked women. At work, all day I'm thinking about naked women. In the evening watching the TV I'm thinking about naked women. Then I go to bed and think about naked women. Anyway, it was nice chatting with you" and she leaves. The old pilot pours himself another cup from the pot as a young chap comes and sits at his table. He leans over to the old chap and says "Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice your tie - are you a pilot?" To which the ancient aviator replies "Well I thought I was, but I've just found out that apparently I'm a lesbian....."

Inspired by Mike Shellim's Instagram page and in particular his superb F3F B&W photos....

D Graham R came down to our patch today , and knowing that he was building one of my 57" La7s , I dragged out the old La7 and fired up its OS 52FS . Despite being gummed up after a five year lay up , she flew like the old pro ..... I think he wanted to take her home . Must be well over 1000 flights on it ! I have to say , those earlier "cruder" kits may not win any scale comps , but when its blowing a steady 12mph , they dont shirk their duties . Maybe we tend to overthink the whole sport scale scene ? He did fly it rather well , I have to say . The old Sandown showman was definitely in evidence .

It has been a while, but these were taken during our 2023 BMFA record attempt. None of these models flew in the event, but before and after.

The learning to fly model aircraft sequence. At first it can be daunting and difficult and you wonder if can ever get the hang of it. A bit more practice and the right trainer and instruction one starts to get a feel. [ For those that are self taught like myself info and having the right training aircraft ] Now something twigs and you are capable of basic flying on your own most of the time. More practice and your take off's, positioning in the air, approach and landing are improving. Now you may also doing some basic aerobatics as well as the above and feel the need for a more capable air craft. This can be a slightly dodgy time if the wrong model is chosen [something fast and slippery with higher approach and landing speeds ] a low wing with similar flying speeds to trainer or a fun fly make a good second type [ I wont say second model as you may well have done for one or two trainers] Now comes the real dodgy time and it is not so much the type of model but the pilot gets a bit cocky and pushes the boundary's to much to soon, result trashed models. [ guess how I know this ] Moving on to an unsuitable model. Hawker Typhoon for me, did not end well As time goes by you find your own limits and fewer whoops [ I was never going to be a precision aerobatic flyer ] I used to fly in all sorts of weather, even in the rain with a plastic bag over the trani and half a gale blowing. Now tend to fly only when nice and wind into teens at most picking the right models for the day.

31 planes in the air for BATS in Bramhall

All the radio gear and lipo/esc are now installed, as it is such a lovely day I took it into the garden for some taxi trials, might need some bigger wheels! Or I could rake up the grass mowings. Nice to have the sun out for a change!

All done, ( covering that is) fuselage is covered in some Solartex that I had in stock, a bit fiddly but got there in the end. Just got to install the lipo and get the C of G spot on than another ready for a test flight The blue fuselage is actually couple of shades darker that appears in the photos, I think the flash on the camers has bleached it out a bit

I have found some time in between decorating the upstairs to put the yellow on, that's the easy bit, I still have to final sand and shape the fuselage, maybe tomorrow! I used EasyCoat Seconds that I bought on Ebay ages ago really cheap, before I read on here it was no good! However it went on OK. A big thanks to Shaun Garrity for the decals! Almost there now!

I'm happy to fly the other Lanc for you if she's available still Chris, and anything else you fancy having airborne.

I thought it would be simpler to install the servos and control rods for the elevater and rudder before sheeting the underside, so thats what I did So here is the little GiGi mocked up and ready for final sanding and covering Colour scheme will be blue fuselage and yellow wings

I have been seconded to decorating duties for the last couple of weeks so not much done to my litte GiGi, but I have managed to finish the top decking All carved from the solid As luck would have it, I found a piece of 1'' leading edge pre shaped balsa in my scrap pile and so I used that as the basis for the head rest fairing, this is the pile of shavings accumulated from all the carving! Tomorrow I will press on with some more piano wire work on the cabanes

Nice Vid Andy - great stuff - must have been a very exciting life as a tank busting Hurricane jockey! Here's a couple of other in flight shots of your machine now we have some with the sun on her!!

Wonderful looking model Andy. Think I'll leave mine in primer so I can claim it's not finished yet! Great to see what can be achieved.

        Edited By Flyer on 04/09/2018 10:21:47

It looks fabulous Andy, well done.

Looking good Andy, the weathering really makes it come alive.

It’s been nearly a year since I last updated this build blog primarily because I haven’t spent much time working on the La-7. The only real changes since my last update have been painting and the installation of the servos etc… The painting created far more mess that I expected and mixing the colours was difficult but I think the overall finish looks close enough. Well today was the day. The La-7 was finally assembled and the engine started for the first time in a year. I just need to find a spare weekend for the maiden flight.