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Didn’t you read the small print? You may only purchase the next kit if you can prove that you have built either the FW190 or the Tempest. Failure to do so renders your order invalid. Please note that any monies hereto forewarned in lieu of dispatch of the next model will be forfeit and you will not be entitled to receipt of a refund because that’s the price you pay for being a smart arse and for trying to jump the progression. If you feel that these terms are unjust and an infringement of your rights as a human being, tough coz them’s the rules and if you don’t like them you are quite welcome to take it up with ‘the boys’, best of luck there.

More work on the cowl. To my horror when mounting the engine for the first time I found that my ‘careful’ calculations where some way off and the engine was sitting 12mm too high. In my defence the plans for the engine box area just don’t match some of the parts and to an extent I have had to wing it a bit in this crucial area. Additionally the prop hub was 3mm behind the cowl lip. In the event 12mm was so much better than a few mm as I was able to drill new holes and add new captive nuts behind the firewall avoiding the originals. A 3mm G10 plate was added and new apertures cut for the fuel line and carb. The four parts for the cowl edge to slip over and place have been glued and screwed against F1, each with a pair of magnets imbedded. Their twin counterparts will be glued to the cowl. I am hopefully that the combined strength of 16 10mm neodymium magnets will hold the cowl in place without the need for any bolts. We shall see! An additional benefit of the G10 is the spreading of load where the 40mm stand off’s press against the firewall. You can see here the carb almost flush to the plate and the Venturi is well inside the fuselage. Once the engine is permanently mounted I shall seal around the sides of the Venturi with foam rubber so it can only draw cool air from inside the fuselage. Engine temporarily mounted. I took a front view of the engine from the Saito website and printed it out actual size. This was cut out and traced onto light ply and fretted out for the baffle plate. The clearance is between 1-2mm around the engine but until it is glued to the cowl I won’t be able to make any final adjustments. I should think 2mm will be ideal all around to keep the airflow close to the fins but not so close I start a fire. Here with the cowl in place. Note the lower cowl cheek still to be added and the air passage opened.

The reason that I phoned was that I had sent my tax return in by post. The lady in the Post Office said that I should send it "signed for". Royal mail had no signature for it so I put a claim in to the PO and they sent me 8 1st class stamps' Then I phoned the tax office and they told me that they had received it. 8 stamps is worth having these days!!!

If that was the case all home brewers would be blind or dead!

Happy 'Electric' Days ... Editor of the little Yellow Mag & BEFA Founder Member No.2 😉

Just my view but I liken those in our hobby that denegrate the ic models as similar in outlook to those who have moved to EV's. They moan about the cost of fuel, tax etc . Shortly after they appear at the field in a new EV having spent thousands of £'s to save a few £'s when their previous car was perfectly ok and in many cases not that old ! A few pounds on fuel and tax is a tiny fraction of what they spent on the new overpriced low range and probably lower quality car and the soon to be introduced tax system and the high cost of public charging. They ovbviously didnt go to school on arithmatic day 😊. Similar story with ic models, unhappy with the cost of fuel , the noise and poĺution etc. Next week turn up with a new electric ARTF with a new batch of expensive batteries costing hundreds of £'s and transported half way round the world with associated tons of pollution ! Just admit it that most of these so called green warriors just want the latest model ,number plate and for the moment free tax or new model.....why? Because they can. If they really cared about pollution then they would use their existing cars and models until they wear out then change. Its all part of our " must have now " culture. Will I go all electric inc EV? No not until I NEED a replacement and if I'm still around perhaps all the lies and hype around electric power just might have died down. Long live IC power.

Got a few of those marvellous BEFA stickers on some of my models that have been around since before the Millennium Bash and, for me, it was the golden age of electric flight with all of those low key, very enjoyable fly-ins around the country. There was a relatively small band of electric flyers successfully having fun with a range of models and meeting the challenges to getting good performance from limited kit before e-flight became mainstream. Met a lot of really good modellers at that time and the free exchange of ideas plus those fly-ins made for a proper e-flight community. The wee yellow BEFA newsletter was crammed with informative and innovative articles and everyone at the fly-ins was so willing to share. Seeing what my fellow modellers were achieving with simple brushed motors and banks of home-made NiCds was an inspiration at the time. It made it a very easy decision to switch to e-flight. Happy days. 😎

Unless they get banned I.C is here to stay, people enjoy them, myself included.

Much easier than it looks. If you were to go Monday to Friday you would be able to fly most days. Contact Manny to choose the best possible dates.

Simple jig constructed from the rib “off cuts” to hold the intended washout. Skinned with pre-shaped 6mm foam sheet glued with foaming gorilla glue. I’ve left it all overnight to see how it works - fingers crossed!

Excuse me chaps, but aren't we supposed to be talking about model aeroplanes and their propulsion methods ?

HI, I posting the reply I received from Peter Denison on the questions I had for him on his CM plans Swordfish build. Peter also sent these photos. So the ailerons work fine . I glassed the front sheeted Balsa part of the fuse and used Solartex for the rest then painted . 8. Any improvements you would suggest? Yes cutting back on the dihedral as helped as it’s not a glider is it ! It’s a bit overweight but it flies as slow as i want it to with no problems ,though I don’t fly it if the wind get up , as I have other models for that 🙂 It’s an interesting model to make am sure you will enjoy it . Keep in touch Ken if you have any other questions no problem , I will send over some building photo's. Kind Regards Pete .

Back to the build this evening. Full depth foamboard spar feels more than sufficiently robust for the kind of flight loads I’m anticipating. Feeling optimistic!

Struggling to pay my tax online, I phoned them and after 20 minutes,"Can I help you ". me " I would like to pay my tax bill." You can do that on www etc he replied and put the phone down.

Did you find it taxing?

Inland revenue is the worst, it's music is designed to make you hang up or jump off a roof.

Ebay loves em !

There has been a big upsurge in vintage diesel powered models in our club at least 7 members are active in that field with more showing interest. The fuel is expensive but most use about a teaspoon full. It doesn't appeal to me, done it in the past and it is not great for warbirds although the exhausts are small or non existent.

As with the Fw190 , I will probably send a return envelope out to those that showed interest in the Tempest . I realise that some may have changed their mind , and anyway we are not quite ready to press go on the production line , but I need to know rough numbers . I dont want to send letters to those no longer interested so here is a list of those that expressed interest so far . Rather than PM me at this stage , perhaps if you just click like if you still want one , it will come up at the bottom . Dave B1 Ron Gray Martin Collins Leccy Flyer Andrew Exton Jonathan S Grumpy Gnome Glen Philbrick Peter Atkins Ace Chris Walby John Timmis Graham Bowers Murat Alan Hilton Roger Bird Dave Naylor Goose is the Hero Nigel Whitgar Piers Bowlan Nick Cribbs David Holland 2 David Davies Don Fry Bucks Boy Chris meek Concept 2 Flyer Rotten Row Chris Clementson John Britton .

I’ve tidied the workshop a bit, and was making a start on a DB Sport@Scale SE5, kit recently acquired. Kit has a bit of age, and when removing the newspaper packing, came to the conclusion it’s from tail end of the 90’s. And then I saw this, numbers on the wood. And then I realized it was a late kit from when David Boddington ran the business. And a shiver ran down the spine. He wrote those numbers.

Hi all, I've modeled an EDF jet in Fusion360 from a top and side view that I found online, similar to how the guy has done it in THIS video (but it's a different model). I have been unable to find a front view. I don't know how accurate the reference pictures are in comparison to the actual model. On the side view, it gives rough lines of the airfoils but there is no supporting detail about what airfoil should be used, and I can't find any info on other things such as angle of incidence, amount of dihedral etc. Is it a bad idea to undertake a scratch build project without having this kind of detail? Also I've tried to model it as accurately as possible to the diagrams and in conjunction with real pictures but It's never going to be 100% faithful. In this case could these small details be the make or break on if it'll fly well? My plan is to use CAD because I want to be able to split the fuselage into 50mm sections (to get the profiles and cutouts etc) so I can then cut the sections out of XPS foam with a hotwire. Your thoughts would be appreciated!

Evening all, An early reminder to all, as it's another race weekend with all the sessions starting at 'silly o'clock' in the morning, UK-time. So, even though there's still over 6 hours until P1 starts; Don't forget your predictions! Make them now, you can always change them later after seeing how the practice sessions work out. P1 is at 03:30 on Friday morning, with P2 at 07:00 P3 is at 03:30 on Saturday morning with qualifying following at 07:00 Sunday's race starts at 06:00 Now, go and get those predictions done!

After a protracted wait, the weather eventually decided to cooperate in providing suitable painting conditions. The cowl was given a couple of coats of 2K primer, rubbed down and then KlassKote colour applied. The colour had been mixed from other standard tins, fortunately some of the paint from the earlier restoration had been saved . The difficult bit was mixing the (Part B) catalyst so that the dried paint had the same sheen as the rest of the model - I wish I had written down what I did earlier. After 4 attempts (and 3 rubdowns) this will have to be near enough. The radiator shutters, rockers and exhaust should be easier as there isn’t a requirement for matching. Everything will be in 2K paint to resist glow fuel attack.

A bit more EDF practise today with the Depron North American XB70 Now very old for foam. Built in 2014 and last flown in August 2022. 70mm EDF exhausting through 6 scale nozzles which is not the most efficient set up but it works well enough. Just 3 minutes is all I got from its 2200mAh 3s but belly landed no problem. After 10 years it is now a bit "tatty". Needs some TLC.

I do chamfer the edges of each plank preferably on both sides so the plank to plank joint is normal to the surface. I use a sanding block with surprisingly coarse (60 grit) paper on it. New paper cuts the foam very easily with low pressure. I hold the plank in my figures and then locally sand the joint surface and when done work along the full length of the plank. It really only requires the block to "kiss" the foam. It does take a bit of practise to be able to judge how much chamfer is required as it changes depending on the radius of the surface the plank is covering. In general I have found it better to slightly under chafer. It does leave a small gap at the surface but that can be easily filled/painted. Acrylic paint is itself quite a good glue for small gaps! Over chamfering leaves a gap on the inside which you may not even see. Such a plank joint is rather susceptible to splitting from handling pressure. It is worth reebering that much of the strength of a planked structure comes from the plank and it joint with its supporting structure. It is twisting that puts load directly on the joint and than only in shear. Glue is good in shear and a plank joint is very long. The new hose glued on with the new printed "short" nose cone. It just needs the glue to fully harden before light sanding, filling and white acrylic paint. The battery box has been extended to allow the battery to more forward.

We got snow one year on one of the MAP holidays at Primrose Valley in May, we spent a lot of time watching RC cars Carpet racing in the Ballroom. There used to be a load come from London Thames Mead club I think, we had two power sites.

It is a moving magnetic field that can effect a wire as it can induce voltages in the wire, particularly the tiny voltages in an aerial. As long as noting moves (vibration?) even a strong magnet will have no effect.

Great we all have a choice! This conversation is a direct parallel to the car industry, some will take EV and not. I'm sure the supply (as opposed to cost) of suitable fuels will govern what happens. If fuel stops then switch to electric and keep flying, enjoying all aspects of this hobby and all is well. IC vehicles will slowly die out, 20 years? The fuel for both will become the issue if/when electric becomes the best seller, the fuel will be the issue before the vehicles are worn out I suspect. Mind you, supply of electricity will also dominate the world too! We will all revert to rubber free flight....(just joking)

Bath of hot water helps mpve the paper. Xperimental airlines vidoes are good as you say. I also found flite test videos useful. The master series shows how to create curves in foam board. You can also use it as a spar in wings. Good luck

For me, the increase in lipo costs has given a little boost to I.C.

A busy afternoon with youngsters from around the area studying Aeronautics, 20 kids, 4 teachers, a couple of parents and 4 planes on buddy boxes, 12 club members 2 demonstrating with a 20cc methanol Chipmunk and a 3 d flyer with an align 700, including an FPV Bixler, in the picture on the left the club President giving a lecture ( he is a Gendarme 🙃) while the others are flying or watching them,. Finished with the club members drinking a beer after that they had all left.

Sign of things to come.....? S/H Laser 100 just sold on EBay for £510...!

IC glow engines are far from extinct. OS and Saito still carry a reasonable range in the useful sizes. Personally, I think the smell, mess and noise are all exaggerated, as is the cost of the fuel. In most of the clubs I have visited, members have been very happy to retreat to a nearby pub and spend more on beer (which, let's face it, is very bad value for money) than they have on glow fuel at the flying field.

http://<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Su66N7q1AXI?si=iyX00NAjvqRZ17fM" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>Just spotted this revived post. It's probably over 30 years since I built the Diamond but I will have started with the cg on the sketch (No plan supplied) that came with the fuselage & wing blanks, however I know that I moved the cg back as far as I felt comfortable with over several slope side flights using the "dive test" method. The model first flew rudder & elevator only but although it performed very well in thermal & slope comps at Primrose Valley holiday weeks the rudder response was poor. At the time I had intended using it in BARCS 100s comps (RE only) but gave up on the idea & modified the wings for ailerons set up as spoilerons. This made a huge difference to the overall handling. I'd be interested to know what weight other peoples Diamonds are, especially the electric powered one by @Sheepish, mine is a portly 2600g but still out-soars Alulas even in light wind conditions.

Hmm. I have an Aviation Design 1/5.5 scale Spitfire which I've been working on, on and off, for about 17 years. According to the designer, it's a quick build kit...

Some decades ago there were 'Modelling Weeks' at the likes of Pontins but I've not seen anything similar in more recent years. The RCHotel has been going for over 20 years now and I imagine has soaked up the demand for these types of holidays. eg from 1986 & 1994: I appreciate the travel can be difficult but Spiros has be accommodating less able guests over all that period, but it helps if you have a sense of humour. This was from the early days:

Electric is ok if you want to fly something lifeless around the sky, and you are deaf.

Just to cover this, all paid orders will be sent. Some are delayed while rocker covers are manufactured but they will all go out. I popped in to the factory to collect my P45 and very few orders are still in limbo. The same is true for repairs to the inline engines, it will get done, i just need the part. IT might be possible for customers to do the work, but i will do a few and see if i can come up with a sensible procedure. I also briefed Geoff on how to find all the contact info i had saved, access to the email and modified the website to remove the contact details as the email and phone are now outgoing only. Rocker, M8x1.25 or 5/16x24 unf depending on the age. When it comes to spares things with MSL are not set up yet so there is no point in hounding them. Give it a few months. That's probably it from me for a bit. With my employment sorted its now time to deal with moving house so that should keep me busy for a while.

Yes it has swing wings - these are some of Peter Denison's photos I pulled off the Hibiscus Coast Radio Fliers newsletters. Still trying to contact Peter D.

Fitted ubec power supply, cut both red wires to ESC's so there is no voltage conflict. Its very tight in front end, but it all fits in. Final assembly. Total weight and that includes a 4000mah 3s lipo for motors and a 500mah 2s lipo for ubec, power to servos and receiver, 1.760kgrams. (1760grams). Center of Gravity 58mm from leading edge, which should be ok with the mods to tailplane. Took some photos, but these were indoors as its still raining. Will have to wait for grass at our runway to be cut, oh for it to stop raining before I can maiden it. But retracrs work and does rudder and tailwheel steering......roll on spring.

Woe. Excellent all round i think.

Beautifully smooth flying, very realistic 👍

Superb! This is peak aeromodelling- designing, building and flying successfully!