David Davis

A Be2e for me.

Yeah, but you don't get that same sense of achievement and creativity from assembling an ARTF as you do from building a nice balsa kit!

I was last man off site one glorious winter's day last year so had to lock the gate.  The lock proved quite difficult to close so I took off my very expensive sunglasses, the type which come with four lenses in a nice little black bag, put them on the roof of the car, put my reading glasses on, and thought, "Don't forget that the sunglasses are on top of the car," sorted out the lock, secured the gate and.... drove off without retrieving my sunglasses!   I went back later twice to see whether they'd fallen off by the roadside but I never saw them again.    

Except in France  & probably most places on the continent.   As far as I'm aware they don't like noisy engines in Germany or Holland. Electric flight in Europe has its roots in these two countries,    Edited By David Davis Telemaster Sales UK on 07/03/2010 07:50:32

Oh and a big up for Chris Foss of course. You can still buy the builder's kits.

Posted by James40 on 02/03/2010 11:07:07: As nice as it would be to buy British, unfortunately it's no longer a sign of quality, would you buy a Rover or an LDV ?   I bought a Rover 75 Tourer in 2002. 85,000 miles later it's still going strong and there's plenty of space in the back for the models. As far as I am aware there was never a strike at the MG Rover plant in the later years and that the demise of the company seemed to have more to do with a senior management determined to milk the company for all that it's worth.   I will concede that part of the car's reliability may be due to the BMW diesel engine. 

It should be possible to convert a simple transmitter like the Skysport to Mode 1 by removing the springs and spring holders from the right-hand stick, and the metal plate which the ratchet bears against on the left-hand stick, and swapping them over.   I'll be surprised if no-one in your club hasn't done this before.

My recommendation is the Acrowot.  This is a low wing monoplane which you build from a kit. Admittedly it does not have retracts but  you could finish it as a racing aircraft if you wanted to practise scale detailing.

Never flown the TT60 but the more common TT40 is a peach. You'll just have to adjust your flying technique to allow for the flat bottomed wing section.

Having sorted out the Cof G and twist in the wing, does it now fly satisfactorily?

Team Telemaster will be there making its stately progress across the skies!

She can sing a bit too!

I've nothing against ARTF trainers. I find that the Irvine Tutor and the Eflite Apprentice are especially good, but they don't teach you how to build.   Once you can fly, the ARTF manufacturers will sell you a Mustang or Spitfire but if you want something even slightly out of the ordinary, a Hawker Typhoon for example, then you'll have to build one yourself.   If you haven't learned how to build, you're restricted to what the ARTF manufacturers are willing to supply.   Regretably, lots of fliers are quite happy with that situation.

1. I compiled this list for those who want to build a trainer, perhaps those who built models many years ago and are returning to the hobby, perhaps building an R/C aircraft for the first time. Those who would prefer to buy an ARTF are already well catered for.   2. Jonathan, you are probably a much better pilot than I am and being young, have soon learned to fly but I stand by my conviction, based on years of teaching beginners how to fly, that a three channel model is a better first model for most  older novices, especially retired novices, who frequently lack the co-ordination and reactions of younger fliers. For the same reasons they shouldn't learn to fly in a wind, at least at the beginning of the learning process, because the model is constantly being blown off course and the beginner is chasing it all of the time, feeding in signals which are too late and too big with tragic results unless he is on a buddy box.   3. Even if you have learned to fly, building a trainer is a good point to start off at when learning how to build. Their construction is usually pretty simple and robust and having learned basic building and covering techniques on a trainer, you can go on to something more demanding later on.   4. A nice big trainer makes an excellent chilling out machine, toffee bomber, camera ship, glider tug etc etc.

That's nothing, I once flew my Hooligan through the upper branches of a tree and it didn't even stop the engine!   I just gave her full power, righted her and brought her in for a greaser of a landing trailing lots of shrubbery behind.   My hands and knees were shaking mind.     "Reminds me of one of my 'Ex's -used to flip just like that ."   Yeah I had one just like that too Myron.  

Marina discs fit the Morris Minor.

In my experience, all gliders, whether they have an electric motor in the nose or not, are much more streamlined and rather less robust than a conventional trainer and while they are capable of flying more slowly than a conventional trainer, in a dive they'll pick up speed more rapidly than a conventional trainer simply because they are more streamlined! How about that for a logically constructed sentance!!   Furthermore, their high aspect ratio wings, (chord to span ratio) are weaker than those of a conventional trainer unless reinforced with kevlar or whatever it is they use thse days.   Example: I was trying to teach my girlfriend how to fly a slope soarer, a two channel Goldberg Sonata, without much success so I handed the transmitter to another club member who is a better flier than me. Unfortunately he was a Mode 1 flier and I'm Mode 2, but he said that he could manage a basic rudder and elevator glider on the "wrong" mode no trouble. He managed it for all of fifteen seconds before he got into a high-speed dive, panicked and ripped the wings off.    On the other hand, Samantha is pretty good on the Radio Queen on a nice day.

I agree with everyone else. There are four stages to running in a fourstroke:   1. Get it to run reasonably but don't worry about the tick-over, brand new engines won't tick over well anyway.   2. Fly it on a rich setting for six long flights. You may find that the engine cuts in mid air but further running should cure this.   3. After having put six tankfulls of fuel through it, adjust top end for maximum rpm, then enrichen the mixture a bit.   4. Adjust low speed needle for optimum tick over and pick up.   Tidy job. Leave it alone!

I put the balsa sheet under the plan, insert a sheet of carbon paper or more than one sheet of carbon paper if necessary, between the back of the plan and the balsa wood, and simply draw round the fuselage shape.

Decky the plans are right under your nose!   Go to www.myhobbystore.com  at the side of the page and you've more plans than you can shake a stick at!   I was going to send you a list of all of the biplanes they had with a wingspan of between five and seven feet but I gave up when I'd counted 11 of them including a Sopwith 11/2 Strutter, a Tiger Moth, two Fiat CR2s and a De Havilland 2 or an Avro 504 if you fancy a challenge.   Finally don't dismiss a Don Stothers' Jabberwok from Traplet Publications Radio Control Model World. These are available in several sizes and they look so similar to a Waco Biplane that most people wouldn't know the difference. Great build and a classic flyer. Relavant codes are MW2613, MW2614 and MW2615 depending on which size you want.

Posted by Erfolg on 23/02/2010 20:28:13: .   "Although EU postal purchases are  not quite a common market, as say the USA,, as goods purchased in another EU country can not be imported without paying VAT twice, if a personal postal purchase."   You're wrong there Erfolg! I've sent Telemasters to customers in Italy, Portugal and Holland and they haven't had to pay VAT twice.   Oh and BTW as a proud owner of a Rover 75 Tourer, bought brand new in 2002 and now 85,000 miles old and totally reliable,  the Rover Car Company did not collapse because the cars represented poor value for money but because the owners creamed off all of the profit so there was nothing left to invest.   Agreed, my car has the BMW engine.    

I use SLEC.   I have cut out my last wing rib and former!   Nuff said!

Ok Decky so you can fly but you are out of a bit of practice. Get that trainer out of the loft, fit some new batteries and get airbourne   Biplanes are a bit different to high-winged monoplanes in that you have to use rudder as well as aileron and elevator in the turns. I've never flown a Pitts but I'm told they're difficult to handle on the ground. It would be a pity to damage a such a large model on its first outing.   I support your idea of building a Puppeteer, that way you'll get lots of experience of building a built-up wing, (two wings in fact!) and of  covering with Solartex which is quite easy to use. Fit a nice fourstroke, 48-61 cu ins, then you'll get experience of flying a biplane before committing to such a large and expensive model as the Pitts.

I have flown a pupil's Apprentice and I thought it was excellent. Having said that Multiplex products have an enviable reputation.   As another alternative why not try electrifying a WOT 4? Details on Chris Foss Models website. 

As a youth I put a tissue covered Keil Kraft Ace fuselage close to an electric fire to dry out the damp tissue... Yes you've guessed it.....Hindenburg time again!   The second most funny thing that happened was a flying incident not a building one. I went to university as a mature student in 1995 so there wasn't a lot of money about. I could fly buy I didn't have enough money to afford club fees but a friend of a friend was a farmer who said I could use one of his fields.    One beautiful summer's day I took two models to the field including an all-yellow Uno Wot which looked very nice against the cobalt blue sky. It was time to go home but I thought, "There's just enough time to fly the Uno Wot," so I started the engine and launched the model. It climbed away then dropped its right wing slightly. I fed in a little left aileron. No response. I pushed in more left aileron, still no reponse. With the model now entering a spiral dive I held in full left rudder and aileron and watched it as it crashed into the ground.   I hadn't switched the receiver on.