[Advent Prize Draw - 24th Dec - last one!]

Count me in for this last one please.
Merry Christmas to you all. 😆🎄

[Advent Prize Draw - 23rd Dec]

Count me in to shine a light on future builds. 😄

[Advent Prize Draw - 21st Dec]

Count me in please 🤞

[Advent Prize Draw - 19th Dec]

Think I made the first page this time. Bit of a result in its own right 🤣. Count me in please.

[Advent Prize Draw - 18th Dec]

Add me in for this one please 🤞

[Advent Prize Draw - Dec 13th]

Please add me 😄

[Advent Prize Draw - 12th Dec]

Count me in this time please. 😄

[Advent Prize Draw - 7th Dec (post to enter)]

Count me in please😄

[Advent Prize Draw - 5th Dec (post to enter)]

Lovely tool bag. Count me in please. 🤞

[Advent Prize Draw - 1st Dec (now closed)]

Yes please. Count me in🤞

[foam for a tool box]

Depending on how much you need, you could try your local electrical retailer.

If like ours they unpack stuff they deliver then a lot of it comes with decent high density foam pieces

(as well as the normal polystyrene stuff) They will just dispose of it so you can get some off them and cut/glue it together to suit.

[Aldi bargains]

I bought some ski trousers ( sallopettes) a couple of years ago and they are great for cold windy days either at the field or on the slopes. They are designed with “braces” and a back panel so very comfy and keep your back warm as well. Well worth it at the price they usually sell them at.

[Mobile/ tablet borescope facility]

There seem to be lots of fibre optic borescopes for sale that link to either a mobile phone or tablet to give you the image. They seem quite cheap and could be useful for inspecting inside of fuselages or wings as well as other DIY jobs.

Anyone had any good or bad experience of them?

[S.A.S Wildthing]

Using a standard 4 cell Rx pack pushed all the way down the bay, mine balanced exactly where it should.

It flies brilliantly with the balance at that point. I would also say dont forget to put a bit of reflex on the elevator set up as it makes all the difference when you launch it and helps give great handling.

[Electric conversion C of G position]

Simple question regarding an electric conversion of a IC model.

I assume that the C of G position on an IC model is determined with the model empty of fuel, but otherwise fully built. This would then give it a (safe) slightly nose down balance when fuel is added and ensure that as fuel is burnt off the model never ends up with a rearward C of G.

If then doing an electric conversion which generally will leave the C of G in the same position all the time (ignoring the slight variation of different battery weights), should you just ensure that the C of G of the built and battery fitted model is at the designed point or slightly forward?

[D.B. Sport and Scale Cherokee]

Well I did say at the start this would be a slow build. Have got to the point with the fuselage were I need to sort out the location and access for the battery. It will need to go as far forward as possible, which puts it into the bay the fuel tank would have been in the original design. However in terms of access there seems to be only two options.

First one is to fit it such that access is by removing the wing every time. This is the easy option with no design modifications etc. Given that I would only fly it once or maybe twice a session this might not be a problem.

Second option is to make the canopy and the deck in front of it removable in total. This would be like the solution used on my ARTF Archer Cherokee. Whilst the design mods are not great and the area does not look to carry much load, it is a lot of fiddling for a solution that might not yield much operational benefit.

Has anyone else built one of these for electric and if so what solution did they use?

Hoping to try and make more progress this winter build period.

[New year caption competition!]

That's not what I meant when I said I wanted to get into Quad flying.

[Thank You RCM&E]

It seems that someone with my name has also won. Hope its me

Thanks RCM&E for a lovely surprise and thank you very much.

Have a great Xmas and New Year

[dx6i timer]

I have just read the manual and it does suggest that the timer can be set for use with the trainer switch, throttle cut and power on.

I must admit that I only use it on the countdown mode set to operate off the trainer switch. However when looking at the options both in the manual and on the TX it gives you three either trainer, throttle or inhibit.

It seems that trainer and Throttle work as you would expect when set up to use these switches, and Inhibit does as it suggest by not showing the timer at all (i.e. inhibiting it)

On that basis I would suggest that the manual is incorrect in that you cannot set it to operate off the on switch.

However as one of the earlier posts suggest I don't see why you would want it to start running when you switch on as it gives you more valuable information if it starts when you use one of the switches. Unless of course you are worried that you will forget to switch it on, in which case I would suggest you add it to your pre take-off checks in terms of controls working in correct direction, battery level OK, and timer on/running.

Hope this helps

[New gadget]

I would be worried by anyone who puts the transmitter down to answer the phone whilst still flying. Seems to encourage the wrong behaviour.

[How often do you hook your charger to PC monitoring software when replenishing batteries?]

My charger has both the USB ability to connect to the PC and a temp monitor. To be honest I have never used them as it seems a lot of messing about to get a data set that I am not sure what I could do about the results even if I wanted to. I rely on the charger to do its thing and check the volts in each cell both during charging at completion. I also double check with a standalone tester/wattmeter unit. Seems to work for me at the moment and a couple of years in on electric.

[WASP 33A ESC programming help]

John,

Have responded to the PM.

My ESC came as a combo from BRC along with motor which was a 2217-8T 1100Kv. Hi model.

Think the problem might be more of a fundamental issue with the ESC. Had something similar with the ESC in my Wot 4 (including the motor reversing direction in flight, which was entertaining). Changed the ESC and motor was fine and done lots of flights since.

Heatsink had come away from the rest of ESC and I guess the ESC had overheated and failed. Consigned to bin.

Hope you get sorted

Paul

[Setting the Brake - How can I tell before flying?]

Should have said the brake worked well in flight and on landing.

This is what it looks like

[Setting the Brake - How can I tell before flying?]

Well one of the club experts to maiden it the other day. Bit of a zoom climb under greater than half power, but otherwise OK. He suggested adding some down thrust, which I have (about 2 deg). Flew it myself on Wednesday and it still zooms under greater than half power, but managed to glide it around and land ok. Think I will put a bit more down thrust in and see how it goes.

[Setting the Brake - How can I tell before flying?]

Just to update you all.

Thanks to Pete for the instructions. Used them but still couldn't get it to set the brake correctly.

Went for a new ESC (from HK) and also bought the programming card to avoid problems setting it up from the TX. Duly arrived and connections made up. Followed the programming card instructions and surprise it did something, but got more beeps than the instructions said.

Decided to try it in the model and thankfully it works correctly. The failsafe etc all work properly and the brake is definately set now.

So to answer my original question when the brake is set you can clearly tell that the motor is forced into stopping quickly compared it the way it coasts to a halt when the brake isn't on.

The old ESC looks like it wasn't going into programming mode (as many suggested) and seems to have a fault on it around the failsafe. Now consigned to the bin.

JUst need to maiden the model now.