Leaderboard

SWIMBO was having a sneaky look in my workshop. "well she said, thats a nice wing, it'll fit fine onto the car" How can I ever tell her, it was the tail for my Keil Kraft falcon ernie

Had an enjoyable day at the BMFA Model Builders show at Buckminster, Manny had given me a couple of tables to demonstrate and promote building models using foamboard and depron. I think it surprised a number of people how light and cheaply airframes can be built using these easily available materials. Entry to the Builders show is FREE, why not come along tomorrow and say hi, it is also a chance to pick up some of your winter modelling supplies from some of the traders there. I have nothing to sell, just trying to show a different approach to airframe construction.

T7 Red Hawk.

I saw this on this forum 3 months ago!

+1 on the above comments. I can see you ending up with a shed full of trainers after you have gone solo wondering what you are going to do with them all. Try and stick with 1 plane and learn to fly it well. Then you can decide what you want to do and where your interest is going to drive you so you can buy and build accordingly. You may want to fly gliders, sport models, aerobatics, high speed, ducted fans or war birds, who can tell? Building one plane from a kit or plan sounds fine to learn the techniques and requirements of construction, but please go one at a time. I heard of a mention that to learn to fly you have to crash at least 13 models. This horrified me, proper training will have incidents and damage to a model which ought to be repairable but 13 models - no.

I would only ever recommend using the fuel the engine is run on as a solvent to aid cleaning. Not recommended. Boiling ferrous components in water causes them to oxidise. The top layer of this oxide is easy to wipe off and in the case of a steel/iron piston and liner combo you can ruin the fit of the parts.

One thing that's struck me is the cleanliness of the front wheels, suggesting little brake pad wear. The MG5 doesn't give true "one pedal" driving but I normally have regen at maximum and feather the brakes as it slows.

Don't forget the Norman French! Although to be fair, Norman French was a very nice guy I used to fly with many years ago. 🤣

I went today. Worth a day out and bought a few bits and bobs from the traders there.

I correctly predicted (to myself) that a counterblast would be a waste of time 😉

A post gone, to discuss topics like this one, politics will get a mention and provided it's not partisan it can stay, go too far and it's gone.

Good luck with building your first model Toto. It will give you a great interest over the long winter nights

Sorted it. I was taking some details from the ebay add When I actually googled the psu 7001452 j000 Z750p Plenty came up Got it powered up, fan speed lower and soldered some terminals to the 2 outputs. Thanks all

I just scoured the verbiage looking for the start time, and noticed the "Now with free entry" is in the Latest news.

I agree entirely with Don. You have a couple of serviceable trainers. I think that you should learn to fly first.

I suggest you start looking for a 4.5 kg plane kit, or a 3 kg plane kit. Or both. The inertia of bigger stuff is a challenge; ie, the extra energy on impact, rough landings, causes issues. As in exponentially more difficult repair, and/or expensive repair. Toto, I love you, but concentrate on the challenge in front of your nose. Spend money, enthusiasm on that goal. I tell you again, a cause of failing in this hobby is, “ I’m spending a load of dosh on this, I’m not seeing much reward” . Usually spent on not NEEDED expenditure. Buy shmbo some flowers, chocolates, better investment.

I said I wasn't going to buy any new planes for a while, but was going to replace some engines. A nice NIB Saito FA82A appeared on an auction site at a 'give-way' price........ No bidding war so Mr Postie delivered it a couple of days later. So, what do I replace...... Prime candidate was the old SC91 in my Valiant. Then I flew it again, and was reminded that the engine and plane were already a perfect match. Couldn't be bothered to fix my Ultrastick, so ordered this from Model Shop Leeds at a very good price. An oldie but a goodie, made even better by the 3D printed engine you can see. Maidened it today - flies nicely with just 2 clicks of 'up' needed. Sadly, a loose spat limited it's airtime. (There are now 3 of these, of various ages, in our small club - mine is the only noisy one!)

Three phrases a husband should practice regularly to ensure married harmony: "Yes dear" "That would be my fault dear" "My goodness, that's a bargain". Covers 99% of situations.

As a single (maybe I'm just lucky) aeromodeller I often hear my flying mates mention "brownie points". This got me pondering. Are they quantifyable ? Is there a standard exchange rate ? Do they go off / out of date ? Can you transfer them to other people ? Are there different denominations ? What happens to them when they are "used" ? Will the government find a way to tax them ? There are many other questions I could ask, but will wait for those with better knowledge to enlighten me. 🙂

I know it's getting bad when everyone splits infinitives and ends sentences with prepositions. And as for starting sentences with conjunctions ... words fail me!

APC 12.5x6 is what I like best for sport aerobatics. A 13x6 is good. Best to do some flight testing. I did fly a 12x6 for a while. If you want faster a 12x8 will work. .

Plate glass is certainly pretty flat but getting the pins in is a bit troublesome. 🙂 Ahhh.... I see i have been doing it wrong!

Celts, Norsemen, Romans, Indians, Arabs, Saxons etc etc ?

Hi Nigel There used to be a time when if you were flying aerobatics then you only used Futaba or JR servos. Those days have gone. However, for low cost servos that centre accurately and have good quality slop free gear trains then you really would do best to speak to Steve Webb Models - this is a link to their servo page. I once bought some expensive Hitec servos but they did not centre accurately as was pointed out by a then UK team member who test flew my aircraft. If you recovered from the vertical dive to horizontal and then released the stick, the aircraft climbed slightly and vice versa. The immortal words were uttered "lose them and fit Futaba"! These days, I use Align, MKS and Futaba with good results. Another factor to consider is that some servos, admittedly expensive ones, are programmable so that you can adjust dead band, centreing accuracy and so forth but you need to buy a programmer (link ). I think your best bet is to speak to a supplier who sells a wide range of servos and explain what you want and see what they say. If you are looking to pay less than £10 per servo then test them for centreing accuracy. Use a long light pointer firmly bolted/attached to the servo arm and check that the tip of the pointer returns to the same place when you drive the servo in both directions. At the end of the day, next to the aircraft you are using, the servo used has the greatest impact on how your aeroplane feels when you fly it. For an aircraft like the Gangster 63 which has a great aerobatic capability, pick the best servo you can afford.

I don't expect ED's blatantly political post to remain after a mod has spotted it.

Nice speaking to you today Martin. I was the one in motorcycle kit 😉

One week to go fingers crossed this spell of weather hangs about long enough DE6 1LR. Is the postcode that will find us after you’ve entered Ladyhole lane ( actually the name of a galleon man o war gunnery store room) the site entrance is on your left about half mile chris

Hi Martin, it was good to meet you today and I enjoyed the chat about your foam modelling techniques (and car restoration!). Looking forward to seeing the completed Carvair...

Nigel, this is the type of aircraft that you will notice the accuracy of good quality servos. Do not opt for cheap and cheerful otherwise they will not allow you to trim the aircraft accurately. A servo that accurately centres from both extremes and very small movements is essential.

My Ender 3 has been (and continues to be) a good FDM printer. However last month I made the plunge into SLA. It is a steep learning curve.

Hi Nigel, no this one is built entirely from foam board and depron, looks like a balsa one but is a LOT lighter. Built from free plans online, there is a build thread in the foam forum on this site. I have built a Cambrian Funfighter 109 as well, there is a build thread for that, i think it is in the Warbirds forum.

Theres no logic to insurance I've recently had two quotes, one wanted £200 more to add my partner who has a clean record for 40 yrs, the other reduced it by £220 to add her. Yet the final figure ended up within £20 of each other. Its all a big con!!

On R/e on the flat I always prefer a traditional cruciform tail, as they are easier to build and trim. On the slope I like V’s as they are hardier against slope abuse and you generally don’t need the rudder that much. Even so, the aerodynamic “advantages” of V’s are largely theoretical imo, especially at model sizes.

Depends who is on the master end of the buddy box!

No, they are not all the same. I too had a quick look for that specific psu and came up with a blank, that is not to say the info isn't out there, it just isn't as common as a DPS-600. If you don't find any info there is no danger in just plugging it into power and see what appears on the output pins.. (the big fat ones). Sometimes the PSU requires a signal on one or more of its signal pins (the small 15 odd block) to tell the PSU that it is in fact inserted in a bay and it should be producing power. If it were me, and it didn't just work by plugging it in, I would be probing each signal pin looking for likely contenders and then grounding them through a 1k resistor to see if I could get the thing to work.. the worst thing that can happen would be blowing the control board...but it isn't working now is it.... but that is just me....maybe just chalk this one up to experience and go buy another PSU that has info on the RC Groups thread?🙂

I had this problem with my laptop telling me I was banned but I was able to access the site on my phone. My grandson sorted it out, don't know how but I rarely use the laptop now as I have found out how to link my phone to the TV.

Hi Great, I managed to get some flying in this morning at the patch. Not sure if I mentioned that the local full size club lets fly there with a few rules for safety. Remarkably the breeze stayed right down this morning so 4 flights in. The snow on the Southern alps is still right down if you can see in the pictures. Cheers Steve NZ

Not sure how you've posted if you're banned (which to the best of my knowledge, you aren't) but one suggestion, assuming you have a dynamically assigned IP address, might be to reboot your router in case your current IP address has been marked as a spammer's.

Cough mixture was just as bad, I think, like Coca Cola, it contained cocaine and people were known to get addicted to it. I know once when my half-sister was a baby and wouldn't stop crying my dad dosed her with whisky. She's survived to 72 so far 🙂

The 40 will be the first attempt followed by similar sized models. The 120 wasn't envisaged as anything that would he getting tackled any time soon. More as just getting one whilst available. Compared with other large models, they are comparably inexpensive. No harm in having it. Toto

And small shops in said towns may feel the consequence when folk go other places. Only time will tell the outcome.

At the end of the day you can spend your money on whatever means of conveyance you like, I would like to retain the right for me to choose mine, that current right is being eroded and I resent that. Changing to an electric vehicle does not make any sense to me, it would be a huge waste of resources, both mine and the worlds, with the only benefit that I can see is it might be a bit exciting. Your mileage may vary, and that is fine, just please stop with the virtue signaling, just say 'I want one' and that is reason enough, changing to driving an electric car is not going to save the planet, it is not going to make even the slightest dent in global pollution and unless the inherent risks of operating electric vehicles are taken into account, and properly mitigated, by manufacturers, regulators, operators and politicians there will a nasty disaster in a city near you soon. How many warnings do we need?

Hi all a small amount accomplished over the last 2 days , the spring winds have a been blowing strongly and making it hard to be outside for long as the temperatures aren't great yet. I got on with doing further shaping of the tail feathers,rudder etc. I am really taking note of any excess dried glue. As I started this project over 4 years ago and it sat there collecting dust, I have kinda have forgotten what I had completed and what my strategies were going to be in building the Morane Looks like I used wood working glue in the construction of the rudder, fin etc and it has held up well. I had cut slots for the fin/rudder to accommodate flat hinges and Robart hinges points for the elevator. Further to this the rudder has bent piano wire glued into it with a brass tube over that pointing down go to through the fuselage. Discovering this I had a closer look at the plans. The brass tubing is for connecting to a push/pull or pull/pull setup. I also found I had started to make the belly pan sometime ago as well,so a further bonus there. Wire bending sorted as well, but I knew that as I purchased those along with the cowl and wheels from the Balsa USA company. Along with most of the Balsa and plywood needed for the Morane. I don't know what prices are like over your way but here materials are really costly here. I remember at the time it was going to be cheaper to bring it over here from the states than buying it here. That's all for now, hopefully flying in the morning if the winds keep down long enough..cheers Steve NZ

I wasn't crying. 😉 If you buy off the shelf models you can expect them to fly. If you build your own experimentals you never quite know what's going to happen, but it's much more fun and your learn more in the process. It was easily repaired and hopefully I'll sort the issue that caused it!

Happy daze.... 😃

Designer / builder with eyes nearly closed for scale 😁

Over the years, I’ve seen many dire warnings over the use of these valves. I have used several and the oldest has now been in use for over 20 years without giving even a hint of trouble. Cleanliness is key with fuel systems - my fuel container is sealed with tubing between its fittings between sessions - connected to the pump at the field and left sealed between uses. The only time the tubing or fittings are open is during fitting or filling. This also assists in severely limiting air circulation within the container to limit humidity absorption effects.

Decided to use the wire U/C and 2.25" diameter wheels supplied in the kit. I had previously thought about fitting bigger wheels, say 3", to cope with our patch - plus I was worried about the axle bits which had been cut too short for a collet each side of the wheels on the rear ones - but decided to give the original equipment a go. The trick was to solder a washer to the axle just before it became a radius, using a simple wooden jig to keep the washer in its correct place and perpendicular to the axle (ignore my substandard soldering skills!) and this left just enough room for the collect to fit and its grub-screw to bite.