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Forgot to mention ....... there was one dodgy moment. Flying into the sun a bit and lost my orientation. My mentor stepped in to rescue the situation. No issues. It does show however that you can fly all the circuits and landings that you like but you are just a second away from a crisis. All good experiences though as you can only learn to cope with it if y9u get into a pickle now and again. My ability to correct myself is usually pretty good though and getting better with less reliance on my mentor. Here's to next week. Toto

Another great day. Four flights in total. Three take off's and four landings. My mentor did the first take off to demonstrate the intended circuit as this was a new site for me. I took over from there. So .... apart from taking off, some circuits, some procedural turns, I had a couple of attempts at aborted landings which went OK. Had to be told that my initial approach speed was a little too slow though. The landings were mostly good ( on grass ) with the last one of the day being the best. Quite happy. Next session, more of the same but with more procedure turns, some figure eights and some circles. Coming on great now ...... I smell the possibility of Solo approaching ..... Toto

An awful long way back - the engine's out! More seriously, about 3/4 of an inch behind the plan point. I don't think it had anything to do with today's hiccup - the rest of the flight was perfectly stable in pitch. Hopefully I can find a compatible engine mount to avoid making more holes in the firewall. Other than rewiring one of the retract units, the only other repair work will be the undercarriage mountings.

Or scratchbuild. The world then, Rodney, is your lobster... Ki45 anyone? Graham

Just stay with us and I can guarantee you'll get plenty more...

After many flights with mine I'm happy with belly landings, It's flying so good I don't want to change anything.

Sounds like you've had a grand day Toto and lots of success. You'll be coming on in leaps and bounds if the weather plays ball and you can get the hours in. Concur 100% on the idea of some prescription sunglasses. I wouldn't be without mine and have recently replaced my old Axis Ranger prescription sunglasses with some orange Zeiss lenses, which I believe are intended for shooting sports - they really make the model stand out against grey or blue skies, provide the necessary UV protection and are fully up to date with a new prescription. I did try having some of the BMFA recommended glasses, but they simply didn't work for me. The company was very good and gave me a full refund, but the original prescription from Vision Express just didn't do it for distance. The small independent optician that I used did a fantastic job and these current glasses are superb. I don't like flying with my varifocals, but for extremely bright sunny days I do have some clip on dark lenses that go over my normal glasses.

Hi Toto Well done. If I may, one of the ways to reduce unwelcome surprises is to assess the flying site using the acronym SWEETS. This is covered in the BMFA Handbook or the Achievement Scheme Handbook that you will need to faniliarise yourself with in preparation for your A Test, or, as you are in Scotland, the SAA Bronze certificate requirements. The other way is to plan your flight before you get airborne so you know what you want to achieve, what issues you need to address e.g. which part of the circuit you might have to avoid the Sun. I suffer from short sight but I find that a pair of over glasses (yellow lens for poor visibility and brown lens for sunny days) is fine without needing prescription sun glasses with Reactolite features. The other advantage of these wrap around over glasses is they protect your eyes from the wind and stops them watering which causes a huge problem in seeing your aircraft! This is just an example of what I mean - https://www.rapideyewear.co.uk/61-over-glasses-sunglasses. There are many other suppliers. I would avoid polaroid lenses as I find I then cannot read the text on the Tx screen unless I rotate my head or Tx! Best regards Peter

It will ALL be worth it Dirk! ... your paint finish in the PSS world is second to none - everybody looks to that finish as the standard to which we all aspire to achieve, so keep on sanding!! You will look back and laugh at this in weeks to come as you see your own reflection in the surface of the finished model pre-take-off!!

Great day's flying today with the Warbirds FW190 and the Brian Taylor Corsair. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Likewise for a Whirlwind.

For anyone wanting a Betty Bomber, there is a solution - but you’d have to switch to foamboard. I’m a huge fan of a father/son group of modellers in the US, Steve and Jack Niezgoda. Jack started designing foamboard models as a teenager, and has a real talent. They did a Betty Bomber that looked good and flew really well - the plans are a free download on their website. You can find it at: https://www.13thsquadron.com/g4m-betty-bomber.html

Im running a couple of older OS engines... 25 FSR, 32F-Heli & original 40FS (four stroke) and I'm running them on Model Technics Contest 10 with no issues,, which im actually running all my glow engines on contest 10... I've also run Sport 5 in the past also with no issues with older OS engines https://optiglobal.co/product/irvine-contest-10-5-litres

Richard is in the ‘business’ of selling kits and probably the reason why there aren’t many kits of the Zero or Nakajima is because there isn’t a lot of demand for them? As for the Betty Bomber Keith I think you could be on your own with that one. We probably all have our own list of ‘interesting’ (kwerky) or sometimes ugly planes to model but they would not be very successful as kits. Personally I think a kit of the DH Hornet would be great in preference to a Mosquito but I don’t think there would be many other takers.

This is what sometimes happen to me!!!!

Hello ! I'm in the middle of the sanding process and i must say , this is the part that i hate the most... For the first time in this build i need some motivation to go on . There is no ending in sight while others watch a movie or go out with friends and have fun...I'm sanding primer for days to come...

I was so excited at the thought of actual real life RETRACTABLE wheels I totally forgot there’s a wheel at the back. Honestly I’d be happy with a little stick, but I’m new to all this.

Another useful tool here . The sanding drum . Makes lightwork of the edges and tidies up nicely . Just fits in a standard drill chuck . That is pretty much it . Apologies for mine looking rough , but I'm sure you appreciate I dont really have time for hanging about . I reckon you could do the whole lot in an hour if pushed . But to be fair .......Ive done a few . Any questions?

I just have non-reactive prescription varifocals - I can't see Reactolite(tm) or similar actually reacting fast enough to he worth the extra cost.... but do most of my flying in sunglasses

I have OS engines of the same vintage running 15% synthetic and 5 nitro with no issues and i cant see any reason why there ever would be. 25% oil will make an utterly horrendous mess and there is just no need for it.

Hi Grumpy, At times I flew slightly shorter circuits to cut out the worst and as the day wore on, the sun wasn't so bad. I think a pair of prescription sun glasses will be the order of the day though sometime in the near future. With react to lightlenses. Toto

I reckons cracks on and belly jobbie myself.

Some pictures of the FW190 today, Thanks to Mark Croucher. VID-20240420-WA0006.mp4

Looking good Richard - please add me to the list for a retracts kit for the FW190. There's a decision to be made whether to wait for the retracts or cracks on and try the belly landing mode first.

A week or so ago I said I was fed up with this continuous non-flyable weather so I'd decided to try and build a transporter plane and design it so that it could drop a parachute man. It's done and it has maidened. My first ever build from a very rough plan that I found online and converted to a foam board build. How do you think it went?

..der

Ahh it's your fault then I have such acquired tastes......

So got her fired up this morning with 6 flips of the MK 13x6 prop D2000 fuel with a bit extra either, actually much better than the other one that needs the electric starter too start probably due to leaking past the cp so will have to address that and hopefully get it running like this one. now I need to decide on what model build for it ??

Possibly just the two of us.... I keep mentioning it, and the Whirlwind....

Sad thing is the best flight is one before the last one!

I really like the idea of something Japanese. The German, US and UK WW2 planes are constantly modelled, but there aren't many kits for the Zero or the Nakajima. Maybe instead of the Mosquito a Betty Bomber would be a better subject? I'd like the model to be a belly lander and of similar scale to the FW190. The Japanese had some interesting stuff with fixed undercarriage too. Torpedo bombers and dive bombers. There were also a wide range of colour schemes. KB

It is a proven fact that most bad crashes happen on the last flight of the day 😃

The way our post is it will probably come the week after!

I'm going to be posting the order forms out to those who have confirmed their desire for a Tempest on Monday . This system worked well on the 190 logistics , so keep an eye on the post next week . There will be a stamped addressed envelope included so you just have to tick a few boxes and sent it back .

There's always one isn't there? --------- Tail wheel?

A barrel roll, looking at the undercarriage....

They came off in a roll?

What Paul said is generally true . However I have a vast collection of wheels from different manufacturers . On the same brand you could definitely go from 70mm to 76mm for rough strips . If you are not worried about looks , I have some larger and thinner than that . So anyone having issue like that , should always ask me first as I may be able to swap out the wheels for something bigger and thinner . From a looks point of view the ones shown always look in the ball park and weigh almost nothing . Ive always liked them . But I do think you have a valid point .

Just waiting for the new set of castings to arrive for the next two

Right , lets get back to the business of putting retracts in the FW190 . As Paul says , we are waiting for wheels from a well known wholesaler , but I have a few stashed for those that are chomping at the bit . The retract kit will comprise of : Laser cut wooden parts for the mount . 2x servoless retract units . Pre formed 8swg legs with coil spring to protect the units . 70mm lightweight wheels , star dome captive wheel retainers , wheel doors and Y lead . Price will be hopefully £59.90 You can see some of the main items below. The laser cut mounts only have four parts , but the each wing will have a mirror version of the other , so take time to glue them together appropriately . For instance , the key hole rib must be inner most on both sides and the main mount plate must have the circular recess for the coil spring rearward . When you see the following posts , this will become more obvious . I would recommend using epoxy or golden Gorilla glue throughout .

Reminds me of the story my father told me many years ago, of how he was behind an open top sports car in heavy traffic one day. In the passenger seat was what appeared to be a long haired blonde woman. ‘She looks a bit of alright!’, thought my father to himself, so he made an effort to pull up on the near side for a look at the next traffic lights. It was an Afghan hound.

It's taken quite a while but finally I was able to maiden my Sea Hawk at last weekend's PSSA meet at the Great Orme. The launch went well (thanks to Harry Twist) and she was soon climbing away, in fact I had to feed in a considerable amount of down trim in order to maintain level flight but much of that may have been attributable to the strong winds we had over the course of the weekend. I did find it to be quite sensitive in both pitch and roll for my liking but managed to limit that with my rate switches. I didn't get to attempt a proper landing because I had a moment of complete disorientation and ended up making an enforced belly flop landing into some gorse. Amazingly no damage was incurred other than a broken pitot tube! I was VERY lucky! Since returning home I revisited my CG calcs and found an error meaning my CG was further back than I thought at around 7% static margin so I have now added another 50g in the nose to bring it forward by 10mm and giving a 10% margin. Hopefully that will make it a little less twitchy in pitch for next time. I have also upped the expo on the ailerons and elevator too for good measure. Hopefully we'll have favourable conditions for our return to the Orme next month and I'll get to fly her again Here's a couple of photos for the record: Launch photo courtesy of Phil Cooke:- In-flight photo courtesy of Dave Gilder

Hi Richard im in Australia and just received the April edition today and when I saw your designs, I instantly knew that I need to build them. I already have some twin engines planes using drone motors on 4s, is 4s too much for the shifty.

Little Jane asked her father "Daddy, where does my intelligence come from?" Father replied "You must have got it from your mother, ................... because I still have most of mine!" .... and .... A bloke and his wife were driving through the country and had not spoken to each other for over an hour after an argument. As they drove past a farmyard with a full pigpen and a few donkeys the bloke remarked "Relatives of yours?" His wife replied.................."Yes, in-laws." * Chris *

I built the Tony Nijhuis Hunter from his balsa kit. I was (and am) delighted with it - it looks great and cruises along pretty well, but loops aren’t brilliant and it can get “squirelly” in a turn. I also built an own design 64mm jet made out of insulation foam from B&Q. It also cruises along well, but isn‘t great looping and can get wired in a turn unless you keep quite a lot of throttle on. It uses a wing that is basically a flat plate - not unlike the TN design (only more so). Anyway - I experimented adding a more curved upper surface to the wing on my foam jet. Long story short - it had a very significant positive effect. It seems a flat plate wing at a high angle of attack (such as looping or in a turn) generates A LOT of drag, and with a more conventional section my jet keeps up momentum MUCH better. Short video of the experiment here: So - now I’m really tempted to do the same thing on my Hunter. Sharing for the interest of any like minded souls with TN 50mm jets who may also be interested to give it a shot!

Yes. It helps to have the right prototype. Take the "Spirit of St Louis". An accurate scale flight would involve a protracted take-off run, then keeping low, head east until out of sight. Guaranteed maximum points. The only flaw I can see is that it may not be possible to participate in subsequent rounds...