Peter Jenkins

I wonder how long it will be before some crazies decide to use model aircraft for carrying out terrorist attacks based on this video.  On the other hand, it's relatively easy to produce a UAV these days with off the shelf equipment and carry a 5 or 10 lb payload and have it programmed to deliver it with GPS accuracy.  it would be a very difficult target to take down.@import url(http://www.modelflying.co.uk/CuteEditor_Files/Style/SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/CuteEditor_Files/public_forums.css);@import url(http://www.modelflying.co.uk/CuteEditor_Files/Style/SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/CuteEditor_Files/public_forums.css);

1. Best high street retailer - Model Junction, Bury St Edmunds   2. Best mail order retailer - Motors & Rotors   3. Best ARTF kit - Weston Capiche 140    4. Best UK distributor - Horizon Hobby @import url(http://www.modelflying.co.uk/CuteEditor_Files/Style/SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/CuteEditor_Files/public_forums.css);

Iain and Adrian,   Many thanks for describing your experiences.  I have done a quick balance and it seems sit just in front of 180 mm aft so I think I'll leave it there and see what it's like in the air.  Iain, I have already dialed in a good amount of expo on all the flying surfaces and also have reduced travel from the recommended throws on the rates switches.  So, I'm hoping the first flight will be uneventful.   I'll let you know when I've managed to fly it but the current weather conditions and the approach of Christmas may mean I'll have to wait until the back end of December.   Cheers   Peter  @import url(http://www.modelflying.co.uk/CuteEditor_Files/Style/SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/CuteEditor_Files/public_forums.css);

In the Sep 2009 RCM&E, Mike Williams reviewed the Weston Capiche 140 - which got my attention.  I have finally got around to getting one of these kits and have now finished assembling it.  In passing, it was remarkable easy to put together with all the fittings living up to Mike's description of being top quality.   Mike said he flew his with the CG at the centre of the wing tube and it produced a "comfortably neutral".  The instructions give the CG position as 180 mm aft of the LE which places it almost 1 cm behind the position that Mike used.  The manual goes on to say that experts use between 240 - 260 mm aft of the LE.   Now, can some existing Capiche 140 operator comment on whether the position Mike used or the furthest forward CG mentioned in the manual would be the best starting position for a slightly worried, yet to fly it, so called pilot?   Thanks.   Peter  @import url(http://www.modelflying.co.uk/CuteEditor_Files/Style/SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/CuteEditor_Files/public_forums.css);

Erflog   I forgot to say that what really made a difference to me was finding the magazine Model Aircraft.  At the time, RCM&E was not focused enough on aircraft for my liking and had lots of stuff on electronics - not something that interested me then.  Through Model Aircraft I found out about a whole host of things to do with modelling that I would never have found out.  It also provided me with the free plan of Early Bird.  There was also a wonderful book by Peter Chinn (the engine guru) entitled All about Model Aircraft.  That was an invaluable resource for someone entering aeromodelling on their own. You don't find books like that easily today.  I just went into my local model shop today looking for a book to give an even older friend to try and get him to take the plunge into RC.  The recommended book was David Boddington's Building and Flying RC Model Aircraft.  Ofcourse, RCM&E also now does some very good beginner features and there have been good articles on the A and B tests so there is still that helping hand for the potential lone modeller as well, of course, as the internet which is  such a powerful tool - something today's young people take for granted!  I have to admit that quite often I don't think about going on-line to find the answer and when finally I do I am amazed at the amount of information that you can access.    So, should we worry about the lack of youth in the hobby - probably, but there are lots of other more pressing issues to concern us.  

Having missed BEB's call to arms, may I just add the following.   I am going to hit 60 this year and had my first aeromodelling experience at age 11 with a KK Hurricane, not brilliant, before moving onto free flight gliders, Jetex and then control line. C/L was a great joy and gave me much more fun per pound spent than I got from my attempts to get into radio - build it your self kits by MacGregor (of the carrier wave only sort).  I  stopped aeromodelling when at University to go onto Gliding and then power flying and did not return to model flying till I was 52.  I have not done as much as I would have liked since due to pressure of work and the arrival of grand children!!   Point I would make is that I do not remember more than 2 of us at school being interested in building and flying model aircraft and that included those in the school ATC squadron.  So are things really that different now than when we oldies first dabbled in model making/flying?  My lucky break was that there was a model shop within a mile of my house (I lived in South London in those days).  The flying field was a good three bus routes away so it was on my bike with the models strapped to the carrier.  My folks didn't own a car so could not easily accompany me and I could not find a local club.  So it was very much a case of teach yourself - using the excellent Peter Chinn publication "All About Model Aircraft".      

Having a nice break from work over Easter and managed to get in some flying with my E-Flite Sea Fury in the field behind my house. End of day produced calm air on one day only and a fight on the other day!  Still, at least I'm keeping my hand/eye coord alive for when I get down to the patch and give the IC brigade an outing.

As an asthma sufferer, I was pretty badly affected by CA so I went to B&Q and bought a mask with double canisters.  Works a treat and I am also protected from some of the balsa dust in the air in my shed!  Only problem is that it's a bit restrictive when trying to work close up in a fuselage...but it sure beats feeling as if your lungs have been torched! 

Thanks everyone for your input.  I went back to the model shop (Model Junction in Bury St Edmunds) and asked for help which was instantly given.  They identified one of the blades having an unusual upward twist towards the tip.  They swapped over a blade set from another MSR going back for a sticky servo and test flew the MSR which flew very much better!  I've now flown it myself indoors and it is quite entertaining. I do find that you have to be well ahead of the MSR otherwise you're in trouble - no different from twitchy aerobatic devices I suppose.

Just got an mSR for Christmas (well, alright, I bought it for her to give me!).  Compared with my mCX, the mSR seems quite unstable.  It cannot hover by itself and sets off in a circular motion without any input from me.  I don't know if this is the "toilet bowl" flight described in the manual but I did use the alignment tool to check the swashplate position and that was fine.    Has any one else had a problem with MSRs?  Is this a fault or a feature of this helicopter?

Timbo, Lee and Clive   Many thanks for your incredibly quick responses.  In response to Timbo, the Tx works fine on all my other 2.4 GHz installations - that is a 9 Ch JR Rx, a parkfly 6100, and two full range 6200s.  I just wondered if I had inadvertently changed a setting and that there was now a contention.  I'm going to reset the Tx on that model memory and start again.   Lee - that thought had occured to me as well!   Clive - you have some encouraging words.  I will persevere with the two 500s and let you know the outcome after a full reprogramme of the model memory.   Thanks guys.   Peter

Timbo, Having only flown the Jungmann once since putting the AR500 Rx in it, I came back to it today and found a rather strange happening.  Both ailerons just cycled from limit to limit when the Tx was on.  Switch the Tx off and they stop.  Re bound the Rx but that merely moved the malfunction to the ailerons and throttle servo.  Tried a secon AR 500 and rebound it but this time one aileron did not work and the other cycled away without the aileron stick having any effect.  Have you come across this before? Regards, a confused Peter

I was flying a Kyosho Oxalys until my thumbs got the better of the aircraft!  Since the Oxalys is built to fly and is quite delicate in places, I decided that I'd add so much weight with a repair and probably end up with a bent fuselage so looked around for a replacement and saw the ARTF Wot 4.  The price was tempting and, when it arrived in my local model shop, raced down to pick one up.  It goes together very easily.  I think mine had a slight problem with the tail wheel wire in that it was too short for the wheel and the collet - despite lots of lock tite I lost the tailwheel on the third flight.  I have to commend the substantial cowling moulding - so much thicker than almost any other fibreglass cowl that has come my way.  The first flight was uneventful even though it was a gusty day.  Interestingly, it need quite a bit of up elevator trim and a tweak on the ailerons.  On the low rates recommended it felt very sluggish but full rates are much better although I think I'll need to add a bit more movement.  In comparison to the Oxalys (poor comparison I know) it feels much less like a thoroughbred but it does everything you want.  I think I'll more the CG aft from the stated value - which incidentally it balanced on by just moving the battery up to the forward bulkhead.  I think I'll also add some more decoration to the underside of the wing to help in orientation for when things get hectic!  I have found that the rudder has tremendous authority and generates tremendous roll from knife edge - i.e. from wings vertical, application of rudder will roll her wings level unless you feed in anti-rudder aileron - interesting!  All in all, especially for £89.99, it is exceptionally good value, flies extremely well and looks pretty good considering how long ago it was designed. 

Ken, thanks for the steer but I have to say that having read all three threads I am none the wiser!  An article by the WOO on doing a conversion would be great.  Tantalisingly, his latest review of the Saito SG20 states that it is a standard Saito 120 glow engine but then doesn't go on to say what the changes are to compression ratio.  I note that it has a new pumped carb although WOO says that the needle valve is standard Saito! 

Has anybody any experience of using the Just Engines spark ignition kit to convert a Saito (100 upwards) to run on petrol?  Do you need to change the carb to the Saito pumped version?  How difficult is is to install the magmet in the prop driver and what sort of shimming is needed to reduce compression?  

Don't know if anyone is still interested in E-Flite Sea Fury stories, but here goes.  I built one in Sep 08 and had a great time flying it.  Had two arrivals but managed to repair it.  Unfortunately, while flying it a couple of months ago on a sports filed in failing light (that tells a story!) I managed to fly it into a flood light stanchion right on the spinner!  I don't suppose I could have done that if I tried!  Anyway, the damage was extensive and could probabaly have been repaired but it was going to look pretty naff.  So, i thought I'd buy another one and found (shock horror) that Horizon were no longer importing them.  Something to do with the overall cost of servos if you went the whole hog with rudder and retracts.  By dint of ringing around model shops, I found one with 2 kits remaining and bought both.  I've now built the first one and, having learned that the belly pan does not stay on with the supplied sticky tape, decided to Uhu Por it to the wing.  If any one is interested I'll report how I get on with this.  As before, I've left off the rocket fit as I tend to land wheels up on long grass most of the time.  I intend to fit u/c doors using thin fibre glass sheet.  Any views on that approach?  I'm also tempted to go for the 5 blade prop conversion but I shall have to search the forum to find the article on that - unless someone can point me to it.

David   Thank you for helping to set up my advertisements on the web and on putting them into the magazine.  I managed to seel my FF9 TX/Rx combo, the 3 R138 DC Rxs  and the Futaba 2.4 GHz Rx using the web.  The magazine advert has quite astonsihed me with the number of people calling regarding the 2.4 GHz Rx but I have also managed to sell the 2 nine Channel PCM Rxs.  Just left with the 8 ch PCM rx but hope that will find a home as well.   Congratulations on a great way for modellers to sell stuff on second hand.   Regards   Peter

Thanks Timbo.  I think my problem may lie with the sequence of switching things off.  I know that I used the battery port for the bind plug and that I removed it afterwards (the big orange flag is a useful reminder and I have to put the one of the servo plugs back in as well! Thanks again, Peter.

Timbo   Many thanks, but.... I'm still confused as to why sometimes the LED is steady and when I connect another battery to fly again I get a blinking LED.  Surely once bound the Rx stays bound?  Also, it is almost always the second flight of the day when the flashing starts.   A confused Peter!

Timbo   Was flying my E-Flite Sea Fury and found that on the first flight I get a solid LED on connecting the battery (Spectrum 6100 Rx).  On the second and subsequent flights, I get a flashing LED when connecting the new battery - Tx on first as always.  I did a range check and found it gave me control at 20 mtrs with the reduced power switch selected.  No problems when I flew the model.  From your note above, it would appear that the blinking LED indicates that QC is enabled.  My question is how long between switching off power and switching on power before you just get a normal steady LED indicatior?   Regards   Peter

Pleased to report that my Sea Fury is back together and fles like it did before the slight altercation with the ground.  Mind you, having used glass reinforded tape to hold the filler in together on the port aileron, I had a little trimming to do before she flew hands off.  I also managed to mismatch the grey paint that I used for hiding the repairs but as you can't see the different colour when it's flying it will probably stay that way!

David   Many thanks for your help in this matter.  Hope it works!   Regards   Peter

David Just tried to place the ad and got the following error message:   Sorry - the website has an error and the page you requested cannot be displayed at this time. Please try again later.   I was trying to set out 3 separate ads for selling 4 Futaba Rxs, 3 for 35 MHz and one for 2.4 GHz.  Be grateful if you could put them on for me as follows:   1.  2 Futaba R149 DP 9 chan PCM 1024 Rxs little used.  £40 each but will split.  Both with Chan 70 Xtal.   2.  1 Futaba FP-R138DP 8 chan PCM 1024.  Includes Chan 70 Xtal.  £30.   3.  1 Futaba R606 2.4 GHz 6 chan Rx.  Brand new and never used.  £35.   Payments via Pay Pal in all cases.   Contacts as follows:   E-mail - [email protected] Phone - 07766-134 552 Name:  Peter Jenkins Location:  Farnborough/Bury St Edmunds   Grateful for your offer of help.   Regards   Peter

David   I successfully placed an ad for my Futaba 35 MHz equipment that I am trying to sell having gone to 2.4 GHz.  The first two ads went through fine but for the last week or so I have not been able either to change my ad or to add a new one.  I deleted tha ad I had thinking that perhaps the site limited you to one ad at a time but I still get an error message when I go to submit the ad.   Can you let me know how to proceed with this please?   Many thanks   Peter

Just found this thread!  I built my Sea Fury in Sep 08 using all the E-Flite recommended servos and the 450 motor.  Also splashed out for the JR DSX9 (that bent the bank balance but not as badly as it would today!).  When I first flew the SF I was worried about the range with the Spectrum 6100 but despite flying quite large loops control has been rock solid.  I am using a Y lead on the ailerons and 2 channels for the undercarriage as with the DSX9 you can slow down servo movement.  The gear is timed to take around 1 min to retract with one wheel lagging the other by a small amount.  Looks really good!  I've found that it needs either tarmac or really short smooth grass to do a wheeled landing or take off.  Hand launching with the wheels down is childs play as your finger holds are perfectly positioned.  Sadly, I have just damaged the beast when flying in poor light and doing a low level beat up - didn't notice that there was a significant hump in the grass which brought the SF to a very quick stop and shredded the port aileron and elevator - both currently undergoing repair.  Hope to have it flying again for next week.  By using no more than just over half throttle I've had  several 15 min flights but I now set the timer for 12 mins.  This was the second electric model I have had the first being a PZ Fw 190 which was no comparison to this magnificent little bird!  As you can tell, I love flying this aircraft to the extent that my ic fleet is beginning to feel a bit neglected!