Steve Colman

Best wishes Bob. Yesterday and today (bank holiday over here) the conditions were OK to fly although a little chilly at about 5 -10 degrees and a bit too much wind at times. Still, I managed 8 flights in total so not too bad at all.

Thank you very much chaps. After what has been said here and a little thought I've decided to keep the model and incorporate these ideas, although I will power the model with electrickery as someone is interested in taking the OS46 off my hands. So, I will keep the basic airframe as is and keep the single aileron servo set-up to free up channels for a bomb/parachute drop/other. I could also do the informal training as I have a DX8 and a DX6i. But, I think most importantly, like Chris and Peter have said, I'll fly it like I wouldn't fly my other models and just have some care free flying fun. Steve.

I recount a story from earlier in the year just as a preamble to what happened today. This year, with model storage at home becoming a problem, I decided to pay a little extra to store a few models in my clubs storage hangars. Unfortunately I had two models attacked by mice; one model totally destroyed and others badly damaged. Subsequently the plan was reversed and I continue to store models at home. Recently the club has been going through a few changes, some for the better and some for the worse. Investment has been made to the infrastructure to improve the security of the storage hangars and try to make them "rodent proof". Membership however is waning and new members are virtually non existent. So at the club AGM held last week (of which I was unable to attend due to work commitments) a decision was made to stop offering formal flight training for newcomers among other things. All this only became known to me today when, quite out of the blue I was summoned to an impromptu meeting in the club house. Apparently, the clubs committee and members had unanimously decided at the AGM to present me with the (now not needed) club trainer as a little compensation for what happened to my models earlier in the year. Well, I was gobsmacked to say the least ! And, as the lone Englishman amongst many Spaniards, I did my best to express my thanks in my not so good Spanish. In reality I was so shocked and surprised I couldn't say much at all ! What great club mates and friends I have. So, I now have a TT Trainer 40 MKll complete with OS46 motor ( no servos) but not sure what to do with it. High wing trainers with dihedral and flat bottom wings aren't really my cup of tea and I've just sold on something similar very cheaply for that very reason. I'm also committed 100% to electric power. But, I don't want to appear ungrateful and just sell the model on just yet at least. Options: 1 - Leave as is. 2 - Sell the OS46 and convert to leccy. 3 - Flatten the wing. 4 - Other ? Steve.   Edited By Steve Colman on 07/12/2014 21:57:27

After what seems like an age I finally have my DX8 back in my mits. Now, just as Masher recounts above, the DX6i has felt somewhat alien to me too and I am looking forward to the much better feel of the DX8 once more. Firstly, I must say that I've had excellent contact via email with Glenn Donan of HH in Harlow UK throughout the process. However, I'm not overly happy with the final outcome. Apparently, after soak testing the Tx for several days no fault was apparent with either the RF board, gimbals or any other aspect of the TX. However, for my peace of mind, they have replaced the RF board. So, in many ways great, but now I have to figure out what caused several models to crash among other things before I can have full confidence in it. But, what really narks me is that I have paid an additional 40 euros in postage costs over and above the original purchase price for a product that's still under warranty. I have not been reimbursed this and haven't been offered anything else by HH in order to try and keep me a happy customer. Rant over. Steve.

Hi Simon, Seems like a Mobius would be perfect for your needs. Available from: joovuu.com Steve.

This is all very interesting. I had similar occurences with unexplained loss of control on four different occasions with four different models. Two models were actually on maiden flights and, for one model, it was also the last flight as the resulting crash was terminal. In all cases the models were fitted with genuine Spektrum Rx's. The common factor in all this was a new DX8 Tx. Two of the above models flew perfectly well with no problems whatsoever on a DX6i. However, the other perplexing part is that other models flew/fly perfectly well when using the DX8. I sent the DX8 to HH in the UK ( they've just finished testing it for almost a week) and apparently they were unable to find any fault but have replaced the RF board anyway. It's now on the way back to me and whilst I don't doubt what HH say I do have doubts about using the TX again. Interestingly, as in the above post, all four of my incidents occured when the model had just taken off, or when preparing to come in to land, ie at low altitude.

Hi Erfolg, I've got almost 50 flights on my Arcus now and really enjoying it. It goes in the car every time I go out to fly. It will do knife edges more or less all by itself over the length of the field. If I had the money and space I'd love a bigger version like the Amethyst it was based upon. Steve.

100 % electric for me. Having been a recent returnee to the hobby the convenience and cleanliness of electric does it for me. Nothing against IC and there at times that the sound from an engine (a large Moki for example) stirs something primeval inside.

Yep, it's the same for me too. Like many others I thought I had a computer problem.

Many thanks to everyone for all the suggestions. A replacement ESC has fixed the problem and the model is ready to for an outing tomorrow. Steve.

Well, I think I can eliminate the battery as the problem. Without changing a thing I did a brief test run with the same lipos as the weekend with the same result of course. I then tried 3 other lipos of slightly less capacity but which are relatively new and perform well. Outcome, as before. I didn't detect any signs of excess heat in the cables or connectors Therefore, I think I can assume that the problem lies somewhere else. I removed the ESC and checked all the soldered joints. Appeared to be fine but I re-soldered, taking extra special care, just to be sure. With the ESC replaced I repeated the above test and the results were the same. So, it seems that I can eliminate poor soldered joints also. Next up to remove the motor.

Many thanks for all the ideas gents. I have a couple of hours free today to investigate the problem.

I didn't have the wattmeter with me at the field otherwise I would have done a test. The ESC has been fine all summer in ambient temps in the low to mid 30's and functioned as normal a week ago. Steve.

Yes, please do continue Peter. This is a valued and must read thread for me. Steve.

Thanks for the replies. I'm convinced it's not the batteries, both were balanced charged yesterday afternoon/evening. I did check the prop adapter for secureness at the field yesterday too. I am leaning towards the efficacy of the joints on the ESC connectors. The positioning of the ESC in the model is such that connecting and disconnecting the lipo is a bit awkward and perhaps the joints are becoming weak as a result. I will remove the ESC and check out all the soldered joints over the week and re-solder if any look untoward. I will also look at improving the installation too to minimise any undue stress. Steve.

Another beautiful weekend of flying but with a conundrum. Went to fly my Calmato which has become my warm up model . I flew it last weekend with exactly the same components with no problem. So, with all prepared, freshly charged lipo inserted and normal checks before committing to flight off we go to the strip. Upon take off the model barely had enough power to stay in the air so I executed a very low level circuit and just managed to land on the strip with no damage. Back in the pits a battery check proved inconclusive showing about 12.3v overall with some variation in each cell but nothing out of the ordinary. So, a while later, I tried the model again with another fully charged lipo. Suffice to say, the flight was basically a repeat of the first with another cheek clenching emergency landing. A club mate wryly commented that both landings were my best in a while but I digress. In the pits again, I and a friend ran up the motor to full throttle and after a few secs the motor began to slow markedly as if the lipo was flat. One of the two lipo's is begining to show signs of age but the other is relatively new and well looked after. Club mates suspect the ESC but....well I'm not so sure; it either works or doesn't work like most other electronics. I just did a quick check of the two lipos before posting and both still show 12.3v with the 3 individual cells within reasonable limits. The only other suspect is the motor of course, which could be on its last legs I suppose. Any bright ides anyone? The model is a Kyosho Calmato ST (1.3m) with stock motor. Turnigy Trust 55A ESC; Turnigy 3S 4000mah lipo. Steve.

Thanks guys, I've decided to go for the standard lens version.

My apologies if this has been covered elsewhere. Put simply, should I buy a Mobius with the standard lens or the wide angle lens for general aerial video recording? Thanks, Steve.

Would love to hear how your chippy flies after your successful maiden Richard. Steve.

Thanks very much gentlemen, I knew I'd receive some down to earth sensible advice. I will go with some lighter standard servos and an esc with a seperate sbec. Re checking over the model Richard. I'm fortunate that my LHS is 100m from my house and the owner/manager is a fellow club member so never a problem being able to peruse a model prior to purchase. If i buy the model my intention is to fabricate some gear fairings from balsa; it shouldn't be all that difficult to do and there's a wealth of Chippy info on this forum to help. Steve.

Wow, what a timely post to this thread Richard. As I'm sure Pete and BEB will recall, I was undecided about the BH Chippy a few months ago. Now, a quirk of fate has led me to it again and I'm at the point of placing my order today. First though, I'm hoping to receive some wisdom from Pete and BEB. I've done a few swaps with fellow club members and now have the following bits (new) which I think may be suitable for the Chippy. Motor: Emax GT4020/07, 620kv, 60A max, 280g. I was thinking 5S propped to pull around 900w @ 50A should be sufficient. Servos: 4x TowerPro MG946R 12kg torque, 65g A bit OTT perhaps but could be good for the evevator and rudder. Would Futaba S3001's be adequate for ailerons/flaps? Recommendations for other servos welcomed. Last question for now I promise. I was thinking of an ESC in the 80A range. Would I be better off to go for a separate BEC? Secondly, given that there are six servos, what amp rating would be sufficient, 3A, 5A ? Richard, looking forward to hearing how you get along with the Chippy. BTW, is it the newer version you have? Steve.

Four and a half hours at the club this morning; an absolutely beautiful day with temps in the low to mid 20's and more or less dead calm. I took advantage of the conditions and flew my Jamara Fournier RF4 as it hadn't had an outing for more than six months. Very nice just to cruise around on minimal power for some slow, gentle circuits and fly by's. Later the Arcus F3A bipe had a few more flights followed by my trusty old Calmato ST1400. Highlight of the day for me though was having a first try at flying an autogyro. I have a half built "Crane Fly Light" designed by Tom Wright. Why i never finished it I don't know. However, having successfully flown a friends HK Durafly AG today I'm now keen to finish the build.

This year hasn't been so good for me either. I stored a few planes at my club only to have them attacked by mice. My E-flite Leader 480 was eaten away from the inside leaving only the outer covering. As well as the airframe all four servos + the ESC were also ruined. At the same time they chewed away all the servo leads + ESC leads in my Sebart Angel S30e. I was not a happy bunny! I have also lost two models due to TX (DX8) problems this season. All in all, probably the worse year I've had for model losses. So, empathise completely with anyone who's lost models. Steve.

Posted by Masher on 09/10/2014 15:44:51: Like the chap who urged me, I would urge anyone to get one of these Crack Yaks - you won't regret it. Obviously you can also do all the moves with it and really concentrate on the accuracy. But also, because it's all for fun, you can really play with these things - I can do knife edge circuits in both directions now!!!!! Anyway, would be great to hear what others are doing, I look forward to Peter's ongoing input. Thanks Martin Masher, I also fly a small epp model for fun and practice. It's Hummer from hobbyking which is a similar size to the Crack yak. An absolute blast to fly close in as you say and really helps the whole hand/eye/brain thing. I will fly it in any wind and it looks impressive when it's inverted and flying stationary at head height. Steve.

I'm with you Willyuk, While perhaps not quite entering panic mode I do think I'm light years away from being reasonably proficient at precision flying. Friends at the field tell me I've improved a lot in the past couple of years but I do wonder about their sincerity at times. Agreed about this thread being a great help. My thanks to Peter also. Steve.