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I had some good flying today, just incase you don't follow the who's been flying thread, 2 screen shots of my 110 today.

One for the ladies 😉

Wanted to keep his feet dry. Enjoy.. 647024-35609f86a82966019b8fa83d94adf051.mp4

Hooray.. I reached the decal addition and weathering stage!! I am quite pleased with the outcome.. Excuse the wire spaghetti - that will be sorted out. The pilot was too keen to take his seat and jumped in at the earliest opportunity. I bought an alternative spinner from the HobbyKing Xmas sale and opted for that as it is well balanced. It left an extra 2mm gap with the cowling but that is ok. I may paint that yellow later when the weather is amenable.

A low pass in slow motion, thanks to Mark C. On his phone camera VID-20250117-WA0000.mp4

Received this card this morning (my birthday's tomorrow). It's one of the best I've ever had - a 3D biplane!

Due to frozen snow on the field it looks like a while before the test flight so I done some more painting. It's too cold to do a Richard and fly it in the nude. The teeth were cut from matt white vinyl, I have to make the exhausts, next job. Then sort the spinners out as the current ones are too small

I was actually asked this question many years ago 🤣

Hopefully these fit in? Please delete if not on topic. Darwin Awards. 1. When his .38 calibre revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked. And now, the honourable mentions: 2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company, suspecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved. 3. A man who shovelled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her. 4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days. 5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit. 6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer... $15. If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed? 7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape. 8. When a female shopper left a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called security immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from." 9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan at 5 A.M., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The frustrated gunman walked away. AND THE 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER (#10). When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor-home parked on a Seattle street by sucking on a hose, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline, but he plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had and the perp had been punished enough!!!!!!

Blue sky, no wind Messerschmitt day flew two 109's, bent my Wot4 putting up in 6ft off the ground inverted. Thought I would see what my Warbirds 110 would be like with a single 3s 5000 battery up front just a taxi to get a feel of the power. 2nd taxi up the strip and off it went, one leg didn't retract fully, after a few circuits I decided to belly land on the snow. The timer didn't work so I guessed about 3 mins flight there was 75% left in the battery. As I was on my own no flying photos. Pity as Mark who had his head cam had gone earlier.

And if they are talking about alcoholism they use a bar chart.

But one of the things about the registration system is that it makes it very easy to prosecute the miscreant if they are caught or identified. Anyone with a drone in a suspicious circumstances can be brought before the magistrate or judge & if they are not registered it is slam dunk guilty. There is no need to prove intent, endangerment etc or have clever lawyers wiggle the way out of the prosecution.

Brilliant news on the successful maiden flight Eric 😎👍 Cracking afternoon's flying up here, cold and frosty, but flat calm - just lacking the bright sun and big blue skies of yesterday. A good turn out with seven of us there, sat around blethering between flights. Remembered to take the DX7 as well today, so was able to give the ancient BVR Tucano a couple of flights. Couple of mass launches with up to six of the wee fellas in the air at a time - couple of mid airs but no damage and the video glasses worked just fine, tracking well. The video of the whole flight is too big to post, but there's a link to a short version below. I was impressed with clubmate Mike's flat plate profile depron Eurofighter Typhoon, which had the most amazing flight envelope, especially the extended inverted falling leaf style slow descent and the slowest and lowest of high alpha passes. Profile prop in a slot models are popular in the club and it sounds like a few more of these will soon appear.

I had the Maiden flight today taking off on the frozen snow, all went well, I flew it on a 3s 5000, 14x7 APC props, weight just over 10lb, 75% left after approx 3 minutes. It flew at about scale speed, it could do with a little more power in reserve. I will see what it is like with a little more wind before making any changes. I need to cut some more from the nacelles as one leg didn't retract fully. I belly landed it on the snow, no problem

There's a lot of that on this forum regarding the BMFA, CAA, latest regs, etc. Utterly pointless, just comply and get on with flying.

My other top tip is lock the tailwheel . Unless you go down the route of differential throttles like Ron , there is not enough gain involved to make it steerable . The worst option is fully castoring . This is only my opinion , but I cant see why castoring tail wheels is a good idea on any tail dragger model . When you think about the model , sitting there , ready to take off , there are no forces acting on it . As soon as you open the throttle it will be effected by torque and want to swing left . The fixed and moving flying surfaces have no airflow over them to counteract this force so the only way to negate the swing is a fixed tailwheel on a long moment arm (the fuselage ) . At what point would you guess the rudder actually has enough air flowing over it to apply an equalising force ? 10 mph ? 15mph ? Fair to assume you would have to be perhaps, at least 20 feet from the start point . Of course the prop thrust will help , but that also depends on tail plain height and the blanking effect of the main wing . The famous test pilot , Eric Brown , said of the Me110 , that its fins and rudders were blanked when the tail was down and the only way to stop a swing was differential braking. The Mosquito and Me109 also relied on brakes to stay straight . We don't have brakes . Fit a stabiliser some may say . But that needs an effective rudder to correct the swing . Back to square one . Funny enough , the models that are prone to nosing over are more likely to run straight than those that have a more forward location of their main gear . That is because the further the centre of rotation is from the C of G the , the more it will "squirrel " about . Think Fokker Triplane . Sopwith Camel . So for most you , just lock the tail wheel and forget it . Light , simple . Ok so you may have to get the model after a landing but way better than a massive take off swing that frightens your buddies and may end in a cart wheel . Like I say , just my thoughts .

I will try again in 6 months.

Well my head is now a much nicer shape following the cranioplasty op before Xmas and the wound has healed well and my hair is growing fast

As a counterpoint to that, we are now into the 5th year of the DMARES scheme. Has anyone really found their enjoyment of flying in any way hampered by the trivial compliance requirements?

Just watching the Space X whoopsie and noticed the term that it encountered "A rapid, unscheduled disassembly" Remember this for next time your model crashes 🙃

Managed some screen shots, one very low pass

This one - plastic kit modelled at the fantastic wee museum at Herdla, Western Norway. 65 Squadron Mustang III based at RAF Peterhead and flown by W/O Cecil Claude Caesar who was shot down and killed at the Forde Fjord on Black Friday, 9th February 1945. His was the only Mustang shot down during the battle, but the Dallachy Strike Wing Beaufighters fared much worse, with eight aeroplanes and thirteen crew lost. It's the 90th anniversary in a few weeks and I'd like to take a wee trip up to RAF Dallachy to pay my respects.

I do like a Mustang. There are so many different versions , you could almost have half a dozen ! Great opportunity to play around with different finishes too .

Not really. As Eric pointed out, going to a 6s1p battery would not suit the supplied motors and props and you would need to come down to much smaller pros and be carrying lots of undesirable battery weight. Those 6s1p batteries are going to be significantly more expensive than the smaller capacity 4s1p 3300mah packs. Richard's post is spot on - he's recommended an optimised power train for the model and diverting too far from that will make things unnecessarily more complex and with reduced chances of smooth operation.

For anyone other than a real "electric expert " , follow my lead . 4s 3300 packs or similar , 600kv motors . remember , the correct spinners and props provided have been matched to a certain rev range which the above mentioned will provide . My motors also have the central threaded hole to retain the spinner dome with . So if you go "off piste" you are like to run into all the issues I have already discovered and solved for you .

Plane is now ready for the first flights this year. After some messing getting the snakes in and glued into position, finding out my '5 minute' epoxy is closer to 25 hours to set, and adding a full 200 Grams of weight right tucked-up into the nose motor box everything works, no binding and just might be nose heavy at 80mm C of G. Bit of an effort but pleased with my plane, all in cost about £40 inc purchase. of the bare plane at Weston Park 2 years ago. Such a nice design. I think it is a Flair version, but still not too sure but has corrugated steel gussets on the undercarriage which is a give away I think. With the cold spell now coming to a brief end it is back to classic car maintenance next week... As ever on here, thank you all for the help and advice.

Not so much of a problem in Australia, but this might help you to defrost your windscreen back in the UK 🙃 Cold Starts * Chris *

Why are there so many cat jokes? 🙃 (but I like them)

I wasn’t as confident about the wing tips as these involved double curves but they were also no problem and I was very pleased with the finish, so much so that I decided to cover the rest of the wings. I have to admit I really don’t like that “foamie” look (I’m old school and still think they look more like toys as opposed to models) especially after a few outings to the flying field when it starts to look like dinosaur skin! Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against foam per se, in fact I built a “foamie” over 25 years ago! It was before I went digital so unfortunately it has to be a photo of a photo. I designed the fuselage as a simple box section, then glued slabs of polystyrene foam all round, a lot of cutting and sanding (and mess!) later I had near enough the right shape. I covered it with individual panels of obechi veneer and the end result was very pleasing. Anyway back to the Phoenix: I’d finished the red wing tips in line with the end of the ailerons, this caused a problem as it meant now I had decided to cover all the wing I would have to position the rest of the vinyl very accurately to butt up to the red. I soon found out that handling a metre long piece of sticky backed vinyl is not easy! To do things correctly the wing should be covered first then positioning a relatively small piece of red vinyl for the tip would be easy. I taped the vinyl in place before I removed the backing…… …. but it still wasn’t accurate enough and that is why I ended up using a black demarcation line; to cover the misalignment, but to be honest I think it looks better. The photo clearly shows the nice shiny finish of the covered wing compared to the uncovered aileron.