Peter Jenkins

Websites are under the control of the model shop or advertiser and far faster to update. You need to send in copy for mags over a month before publication and that provides a potential currency problem. Most people just search the internet.

Ideally what I'm after is an unstarted GP Revolver 72" span ARTF on the off chance that you bought one but never got started on it! Alternatively, an undamaged example but obviously will need to be fairly close to Suffolk in the second case. Thanks.

Hopefully not the aeroplane!🤣🤣

5 out of 5 on that one!

Interesting. I just looked up CML Distribution that has Top Gun as one of its brands. There is nothing about a model called Xtreme. I did buy a Bucker Jungmann ARTF kit from Top Gun over 20 years ago but the listing on the CML/Top Gun section is just about RTF trainers and park flyers. I think you may have got hold of the wrong company/model. How did you hear about it in the first place? Can you point us at a website?

Toto, have you read the BMFA Flying Training Manual - it's called "A Flying Start" and is a series of lessons to go from 1st flight to solo. It is meant as an aid to instructors and students so that you don't end up in the situation you now find yourself. At the very least it represents the Gold Standard for how to fly a model aircraft. Guidance to jnstructors is also included. Well worth a read and well worth asking your instructors if they use it. Well worth a read. Link - https://britishmfa.sharepoint.com/sites/public/Achievement Scheme Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2Fpublic%2FAchievement Scheme Documents%2FAchievement Scheme Documents%2FA Flying Start.pdf&parent=%2Fsites%2Fpublic%2FAchievement Scheme Documents%2FAchievement Scheme Documents&p=true&ga=1

It's all to do with gearing. A car in fifth gear will not work well if you try and pull away in that gear. If you only want to do 30 mph, 2nd gear is great as the acceleration is acceptable and your top speed of 30 mph will be achieved flat out = high kv. If you want to go faster, change gear to a higher one = reduce the kv. It's not an exact analogy but it serves to illustrate the point.

I think that you will always have to have some elevator trim if there is no incident adjustment for a tail plane. At the end of the day, a minor bit of elevator trim is not going to cause you any other problems like asymmetric elevator movement. If the aircraft doesn't react in pitch to sudden power changes then measuring the down/up thrust just tells you what the setting is that works best for your installation.

I thought I'd update this thread to say that I have now finally trimmed out the pitch to canopy that was present when I first set the aircraft up with 0.7 deg main wing incidence. The TP was at 0 deg. I tried a mix coming in above the datum throttle setting to introduce a smidge of down elevator but that wasn't entirely satisfactory. So, I took the other route of increasing the wing incidence which requires an increased down force from the tail plane to maintain S&L flight. In the vertical upline, with no wing lift force, the up force from the tail plane is still there and should act against the pitch to the canopy. It has taken several trimming sessions, with the final one being today, to arrive at a wing incidence of 1.25 deg at which the aircraft will fly vertically upwards hands off. I now have the thrust line sorted and just 2 clicks of left rudder that I will dial out with a turnbuckle adjustment in due course. I zeroed the elevator trim by adjusting the elevator control rod length but after this morning's test I now have 1 click of down elevator. The ailerons are level with the wing and the aircraft flies dead level. I shall now just focus on learning how to fly the new schedule with the Anthem in an excellent state of trim. I will keep doing trimming checks from time to time as things tend to change a little over time and these aircraft immediately react to the tiniest bit of out of trim setting.

Reading percentage charged is not as accurate as reading the voltage and better still the per cell voltage. I suspect we are back to the issue of having too low a kv for the motor Toto. But see how things go with a fully charged pack first.

Finally got out to fly after 3 weeks! Seems longer! Object was to fix the pull to canopy on the upline on my F3A bird. The last session showed I was almost there so I added 1/4 turn to the incidence adjusters (that's 0.25 deg would you believe) and it proved to be spot on. The wind was very light when I started but gradually increased and swung round to Northerly. The cloud base dropped so that when the aircraft was at thd top of the box, 850 ft, it was just in cloud. I use an on-board telemetry package to provide the height reading - very useful and pretty accurate. The downside of the increased wind and change of direction is the big increase in turbulence as you approach the 20 ft tree line just 20 yds before the runway starts! At that point, I called it a day.as I really needed the height for a meaningful practice session. At that point I also noticed I was getting cold!

Sounds like you've reached the sweet spot. Good work.

I find thin cyano works best for me in these scenarios. Plus, it stiffens up the wood a bit.

No one who takes their flying seriously uses Master Airscrew props. APC are the most efficient props made - fact. APC make props for electric use ending with an E (for electric) or WE (wide electric). APC also make IC props that are more robust and much heavier than the electric equivalent. The IC props have to withstand the stresses of being used to start IC engines with chicken sticks and the high impulse forces imposed by IC engines when they fire. Both of these are absent in electric flight. You can use an IC prop with an electric motor but NEVER use an electric prop on an IC engine.

Well done Toto.

Yes, the power of the torch light will render the 50 Hz flicker from mains lighting as just noise rather than signal. Mske sure the torch light is strong enough to overcome the noise though.

Re Wattmeter readings of tethered aircraft. When airborne, the prop is not as heavily loaded and so will draw between 15-25% less power and hence current. It's OK to go up to and even a little over the limits on the ground tethered tests but don't let the motor run at max power for anything like a minute when you are doing your next check. A quick accell up to max power and read the amps and power outputs - the rest of the outputs are not useful for these purposes. You can read the 2 essential readings of EITHER current and power OR current and voltage. Watts are current x voltage. Close the throttle and write those 2 values down.

Don't take photos at the equator! 🤣🤣

Thanks Adrian. Mind you, I have enough to practice on the new FAI schedule without adding in a completely different manoeuvre!

Our posts crossed. The Master Airscrew is positively agricultural compared with the APC. Oh, get the APC Electric prop not the heavier IC power prop. The APC company produce extremely accurate prop blade profiles. They are the most efficient, unless you go for the eye wateringly expensive carbon props, and are usually quieter than other makes. So you get more thrust for the same motor power.

Good outcome Toto. Agree with Nick's comment - ditch the Master Airscrew and get sn APC but sand the sharp edges off - they csn be razor sharp!

Sounds like a good idea as we'll be off thread here. Might be sometime given what's coming westher-wise!

Ah, the supercharger whistle!

Thank you for that Nick. I'm trying to decide whether to try it with my F3A bird or my Wot 4! I prefer your description of how to enter the Hanno Screw. The article just said to apply down elevator and full aileron and rudder in the same direction to enter but I couldn't envisage how that would do anything other than go into a negative snap. You description sounds much more sensible. I'll try that - on the Wottie to begin with.

If you are running the motor in the shed, make sure that you have tied down all the loose stuff.