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And that's it,fixed ready for maiden v2.0 and I'm done, bye!

My Mate Bert Baker has inspired me to a world all that’s Stampe & has got me involved within the yearly shows of late I’m a proud owner of an old Stampe I managed to procure with the aid of Berts knowledge 3years ago it had an old OS 91 that was marginal in its flying ability so have since fitted a DLE 35 this has transformed its flying ability not mine though but it has made judgement calls for landing & take offs easier anyway I digress ……. this is all leading to a small project I under took last weekend with in my workshop as I have a new laser cut Stampe kit under construction for a while now & with some newly installed equipment within said workshop I have managed to 3d print & laser cut the parts for the dash boards that I thought I would share with you all……. again being inspired & prodded by Bert to do so here are some images of the project I hope you find my first ever post informative

I'm surprised it wasn't sold to Amazon as a base for launching squadrons of their new mass delivery personnel drones 🤣 Live - Fly - Repeat 😉 Thank you, I'm here all week...

Coming from a full size flying and gliding background, when I re-started model flying back in 2000, it felt perfectly natural to kept a log of all my training flights. This had date, model, and any comments e.g. which lesson and how well I thought I'd done. Once I went solo, I maintained the log and still do. I record trim setup changes whenever they occur e.g. CG position, wing incidence, rates, mixes as well as comments on how I flew and what I am having problems with - oh and if the wind speed / direction. When I passed my FW B, I was able to look back and see that I had flown 80 flights with almost always 2 B schedules per flight so a total of 160 Bs flown to get to the consistency I needed to feel sure I would pass. I did at my first attempt but was asked to re-do one of the rolling manoeuvres before the Examiner was happy. That's a useful story to tell folks who want to get a B. OK, so I'm a slow learner but I was starting from a low level of skill. For my electric flight, I have a strike off sheet that goes from 1 to 100 so that I know how many cycles that pack has had. One diagonal means the pack has been discharged and a cross, or 2nd diagonal, that the pack is fully charged. I also keep a record at home for each flight pack or how much charge went in, the IR and the cell voltage difference. This also provides a cross check with the battery pack strike off list. I used to do an annual tally of which aeroplane I'd flown, including number of flights and total duration and kept a running total of total flights and hours flown. That fell away once I focused on flying almost just 1 aircraft, my current competition bird. I find it useful to see how many schedule flights I've flown in the run up to competitions and for the year. It's never as many as I would like, of course. I just use paper records and print off the forms as I need them. I find that filling in the log after every flight helps me to think about how I flew and what I need to work on. It's useful sometimes to look back at previous history but that happens only very rarely. Why do it? Habit!

My wife is due a 38 year (married) service. Do you think the Repair Shop would take her on? I still have an emotional connection and they don't make them like her anymore 🤣

I think youve missed the point of the show. Theres a story and emotional connection to the objects that you can no longer buy and amazingly skilled people repairing them. Why would anyone want to watch someone repairing a washing machine that you can buy new anywhere. If needed you can see that on you tube.

Good read again, sorry the paper copies only gonna be once a year, but understand the decision.

That's an impossible question, as too many other factors, many of which have been listed in this thread. As you've correctly stated, it's all down to assessing and managing risk. However how much risk is tolerable and how is it assessed? For models over 250g the rule is 30m. OK, reduced to 15m if a specific risk assessment and mitigations are in place - but do we really want to go there - I certainly don't. Key is to have complete control of the model and adequate separation from other users. I have a small park nearby, a couple of hundred metres away. Village hall grounds. 60m by 60m. I'll sneak a few flights in with a 50g guarded prop quad there, nothing bigger. I probably don't fly further than 15m away. If anybody else enters the space I pull in very close, within 5m, and usually land. The "anybody else" is normally accompanied by a child, a dog or both. A larger country park is about 600m by 600m. When it's quiet, I'll fly a 1 m wingspan sub 1 Kg foamy, but way away from anybody else, and within 50m of myself. Sometimes a 500mm Nutball. When it's not quiet, I'll not fly there.

No one has mentioned football fields, plenty about and usually deserted, think that would be my definition of a PARK Mention of method of home heating pricked my ears up, although well off topic, a friends landlord has obtained a huge grant to convert all their cottages to air source heat pump. He is spending around £20 a day on electric , probably more than if pure electric heated.

Not even downhill?

Well, looking back at the responses in this thread, I'm heartened to see that quite a few of my fellow flyers do log their flights, or take part in some aspect of record keeping and creating data which they find useful in their hobby. I totally get it that some flyers prefer not to do so and that is completely fine. It's entirely a personal choice. I thought it would be interesting to see the response from the much larger, international community on RCG and it couldn't have been more different - overwhelmingly, with just a few exceptions it was very strongly anti-logging, sometime really aggressively so and that did surprise me somewhat.

The receiver in by far my largest, most complex and delicate foam plane is.... A Lemon 6ch. ☺️ The elevator plug has to be inserted on assembly.

How fast do you need to approach a red traffic light for it to appear green? Something for the physicists!

There's only one type of WC log 😉

Steve, you might consider shortening the nose a little. The original balanced with a 70's style .60 2 stroke engine which were pretty lightweight compared to your Saito FG21. (I averaged the weight of most typical engines from the period by checking reviews at the usual websites) I did the calculations for fitting a Saito FA-100T to my DB short kit and came up with the conclusion that about 20mm reduction in the distance from the CG to the front former would be required to avoid adding lead to the rear end (even after servo's and flight battery moved aft a bit. My rudder and elevators are also built-up (as opposed to sheet) with pull-pull controls so already lighter at the rear end. The Mighty Barnstormer is a great design, best of luck with your build. * Chris *

If your hobby was travelling to your flying site, I reckon that'd be a good idea.

My thoughts then turned to the battery box. I am going to be using the ally spinner and 4000mah batteries. From what I have read, this combo can come out nose heavy. With this in mind, I decided to lenghten the battery box as follows. I had to remove about 5mm from the sides of the original battery box as the were preventing the hatch from being slid off sideways. I had to remove the cross piece on the crutch as it was preventing the battery from sliding in. More later...

Flying cars doing rolls in the air will get less damage than on the ground

Rich, just for you. This was its maiden too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY1IkLImlHI More a rugby field than a park.

Understood @Lipo Man. Thanks. I really have cocked-up a bit on my first EDF attempt. But this could be good news because in version 2 I can significantly reduce the cross-sectional area of the back end of the exit tube. This will leave sufficient room at the rear fuselage to mount the elevon servos, relocating them from the front fuselage and removing the need for snake links. Then I can use a slightly heavier higher capacity lipo to rebalance at the CG. I will first fly as is. Then I may experiment by adding a short convergent nozzle at the exit. In a later version I may also incorporate a vectored thrust nozzle. It's all fun at the fun factory.

What does any of that have to do with aerobatics?

£25K per edition when posted? - simply not feasible. So far only 1500 members requesting a hard copy so the change should have been made years ago and would have saved a fortune. Well produced as always, but not what most members are interested in and want to read in detail. Having said that I do hope everyone at least reads Ian Pallister's somewhat sobering article. A shame but that's the fact of the matter.

Yep, only one hard copy a year gratis from now on. Wrong choice I feel but I also understand why. However £10 for hard copies was it ? I will make do with the digital copy.....

I use Ripmax Quantum & Hobbywing esc's.. excellent speed controllers

Having dismantled the surplus Cycle battery pack, I configured the batteries as best I could to convert the arrangement from 10s5p to 5s10p. I kept the battery holders, partly for convenience and partly because it would be difficult to extricate them without the risk of damage or inadvertent s/c (I've had a couple of those, hopefully without damaging the cells. At least it showed the cells had stored energy!). I found an underused aluminium case which has an insulated lining and they fit a treat with the cells held on a 3mm plywood base. I intend to make a ventilated box to keep them in place and that leaves plenty of space for my iCharger 308 Duo. I can't think why I didn't think of this before. Assuming it works, of course! The wiring is less than optimal but I had to go with how the batteries had been configured before dismantled the original. I've ordered a 5s balance connector for charging the pack and I'll install 2 pairs of 4mm sockets for output and probably use for charging, too. The idea is to fit a vertical 3mm ply wall which will carry the output sockets and a ventilated lid. Not sure if ventilation is necessary - the original case had none. Is an output fuse a good idea or overkill? It weighs a fraction of the old lead/acid car battery I'd given up using because of the physical effort needed to carry it (and the danger of acid spill - our old Ford van which dad used for his accumulator round during WW2 had a wooden floor, eaten away by acid, as was the overall coat he wore 🙂 ) I was puzzled by this inlay in the 3mm ply. It's part of a brand-new sheet I bought from SLEC some years ago It's roughly 35x25mm

"Can I make this flight safely" has long been the case, and models larger than a Riot have been flown many a time, and rightly so.

Heard nothing but good reports from Lemon users myself.

I have used a few Lemon Rx, both stabilised and conventional flavours. Have I had an unexplained crash - yes - but the Tx was later found to be faulty, so in retrospect, I don't think that the Lemon was at fault. Now that I have a new (multi protocol) Tx, I may well dig it out of the drawer (I never throw anything away - why?) and give it a thorough check before trying it out on a cheap foamy. I would have no hesitation in using Lemon rx in the future, the Gen2 stabilised in particular, but will probably also use an additional satellite rx, particularly in larger planes. Also the Lemon Rx designer is active over on the RCGroups forum (username fmak) and he seems very pro-active if there is any chance of a faulty unit, which does inspire some confidence. Kim p.s. I'm also thinking of getting a Lemon tx module for my Taranis, to use it as a back up to my Radiomaster TX16S Mk2 on the DSMX protocol 'just in case'

I spent several years thrashing the pants off a Precision Aerobatics Addiction, and a few GWS foamies at sports fields. Made me a much better overall flier.

Actually it was nearer 15 mins be flight so, on that basis, I make it 20 hours. The other point I would make is that I only ever flew my Wot 4 during that time and only ever flew the B schedules. It was a case of needing the B as soon as possible so that I could get into competitive aerobatics. I would never have know this had I not kept the notes that I did. The notes also showed that the most difficult manoeuvres were the 2 rolls. Eventually, I set up a low rate on the ailerons that gave a constant rate of roll with the stick hard over, and then I only had to work on timing the elevator application. A bit later on, when I was challenged on the very low roll rate being more akin to a slow roll, I measured the roll rate and found that rolling right took 2.5 secs per roll while rolling left took 3 secs per roll. Rolling with the engine's torque was faster! I would never have found that out since the difference in roll rate was not at all obvious to the eye! Funny what you learn with a bit of data!

...presumably preferring to advance the hobby by means of hearsay and Chinese whispers, and it's all Spektrum's fault anyway. How dare you attempt to make anything better through use of data ! The funny thing is, I didn't once notice the log-keepers saying how daft not keeping a log was, yet plenty came back the other way (in a good-humoured way on this forum - but flak nonetheless!) Great thread leccy - it's been a really interesting read.

Made a start with the covering and using MacGregor iron on film for the first time. So far so good, made it round the curves at the nose ok with a few cuts to help. One minor niggle, where you slightly overlap sections as when covering a fuselage for example, the adhesive bleeds out from the overlapping edge onto the finished film, leaving a white line along the length of the overlap. Iron is set to recommended temperature as per instructions so I don't believe it's too hot. Fortunately, I've found it can be cleaned up with meths so it doesn’t permanently ruin the finish, however, never had this issue with any other iron on film; on the plus side it’s considerably cheaper than some other options. Progress so far...

Indeed. Orange RX (a Hobbyking brand) have a very up and down reputation, with numerous incidents of poor QA causing some batches to have issues. Lemon on the other hand are completely independent and have an almost universally good rep. I have only used the cheap DSM2 6ch with my multiprotocol module, but I've never had any issues. I'd certainly trust them more with my MPM transmitters than a genuine Spektrum, and obviously they come without the huge prices that are now HH's calling card.

That is completely reasonable and is pure common sense - could easily apply to riding a bicycle or operating machinery.

Having googled the well known model engine designers such as Lawrence H Sparey and Edgar T Westbury, it doesn't appear to be one of theirs. The general style of the engine to me puts it somewhere in the late 60's to 1990s, although that is just a gut feeling. An enquiry on the Model Engineer Forum may get a result, or an enquiry to Adrian at https://www.adriansmodelaeroengines.com/catalog/ may help, although he has been hospitalized lately.

I did a DB S&S Barnstormer 63 two years ago. Not a difficult build but still ‘fondly’ remember the 33 bits of balsa that went into the built up tailplane! I Electrified it, reduced the dihedral (as per instructions) by 50% and added ailerons across the 4 outer bays in each wing. Very stable, flys smoothly on 1/3 throttle (200W), loops effortlessly on 450W. At 100ft, get the power right, two clicks of aileron and you can put the tx down and have a drink watching it gently fly around in 200ft circles. On a light wind day you can choose which wheel to land it on! Enjoy the build and flying it, it’s sturdy and has presence.

Isn't the clue to the make in the title of the photo? - "Handmade Model Plane Combustion Motor" Dick

Probably not as fast as this one 😁…

The 6 channel I ordered are single but I also ordered a couple of dual 7 channel. I think I'll try one out on my FMS supercub when they arrive. Toto

Yes they are backward compatible, BUT the setup for a SR6 is subtly different, which is a right pain.

Well ..... The week is marching on ... Wednesday already. I'm not ready for the shed yet as the tasks I have to do can be pretty much managed over Thursday and Friday nights in readiness for whatever Saturday throws at me weather wise. Battery charging... both packs and transmitters I prefer to do the night before if possible. As I have no other plans for Friday night ..... batteries it is. Of course I am hoping for flying weather but given what's going on at the moment storm wise, making it to the field might just be achievable. So .... I'm going on the same basis as last week ..... Domino if flying permits ...... Tasman as a stand in project should be be contained indoors in the site hut Nothing more to report. Toto

We had strong winds here overnight. I’m really pleased with my new garden furniture. . . I’ve no idea who it belonged to, but thanks.

No thanks I didn't realise so many people flying had OCD 😂, now where was I, 8h22, facebook 3 comments 7minutes, RCM&E 1 answer at 8.32 am,,,,

A lot of people have absolutely no idea about anything mechanical or remotely technical of any kind. There is a channel on YouTube called Just Rolled In where mechanics submit videos of things they found wrong with cars bought in by customers. Most of them are in America, but I’m sure the same kind of things happen here in the UK as well. Watching them I’m never quite sure whether to find them amusing, or be horrified by some people’s total ineptitude.

I enjoy the engineering articles in RCM&E, they are nice examples of where our hobby can be enhanced by application of model engineering techniques. They have also always been a part of RCM& E for decades - Brian Winch and Alex Whittaker covered a lot of aeromodelling-relevant model engineering, Danny Fenton has some excellent model engineering content in his scale building column and it's great to read my pal Tim Hooper's recent forays into machining , milling and other aeroplane related projects.

Jeez, so much negativity. It's extra choice so just embrace it for what it is, and realise that in all things it's 'caveat emptor'. Regarding spares, the same applies to EFlite, Ripmax (as was), FMS, Hangar9.........

And I attended a warbird meeting with around fourty modellers. Some showed their projects, I took the Whirlwind with me, including building material, books and some plastic models as a size comparison to a Spitfire and Fulmar. Merry Christmas everyone 🙂 Timo