Lee Smalley

yeah totally agree guys, i think i have to absorb some of the blame, maybe its the engineer in me but i hate getting beat by a problem, and rather than just bat him off, i ended up spending nearly an hour messing with his tx. but when they look at you like a puppy dog it is hard to shoo them away LOL totally agree the OP and the taranis i think are made for each other, dont anyone think i am slagging the tx off from a reliability or flexibility point of view, i am not, its just not really my type of thing, although i dare say when i am sat in the pits struggling to do something with tx someone will remind me of this !!

in many ways Chris i am totally with you, who does not want a more flexible tx, but you are slightly missing my point beginners generally dont turn up with new kit, more often than not its the more experienced member who does, but if a newbies does then thats fine as well........ wait for it......... as long as it makes things easier... let me describe my experience and then you might get what i am getting at. imagine if you will a mad busy day at the patch, learners are 10 deep and i have not even had chance to fly my own stuff for instructing, then some guy turns up having paid his money with a tx that he has not a clue how to drive, and guess what no one else does either, and he expects me to do it for him, i would not mind mate we only needed to reverse some servos and add dual rates!! the lad in question spent the entire day sat in the caravan trying to figure it out!! while everyone else was flying i have no problem with the taranis or any other OS tx as long as the owner has the required knowledge to set the model up quickly, but this issue seems not to get a mention in the mag, ps this is not just limited to this type of tx, some guy turned up to the patch with an F5D model (200+mph hotliner) last week and he expected me to set it all up for him and fly it thankfully someone else knew the DX7 and did it for him (minus the crow brakes) we would not have had a chance had it been OS tx. ps i totally agree with the bit about "many other transmitters, where often you have to go along with the way a manufacturer decides he wants you to do it." the Japanese do have a strange logic at times as i have said a few times chris if this sort of thing interests you and you do not mind playing with it a bit then the taranis should be brilliant, i would however be very reluctant to recommend it to a newbie.

Posted by Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 21/03/2014 12:25:59: Posted by Lee Smalley on 21/03/2014 10:07:29: The frsky taranis and other open source software tx are for me a pain in the preverbial unless you are prepared to spend large amounts of time learning how to program it, i am sick of newbies turning up to the patch with these things because some programmer on a forum told them to and then they expect me the instructor to spend god knows how long trying to figure out how to reverse and add dual rates to a channel, i go to fly not spend ages trying to sort some newbies tx out just so he can have one flight, and then who is he gonna buddy box with?? If your an experienced flyer and you enjoy getting involved in programming then that's fine, but as a newbie looking to join a club and be taught how to fly properly i would look at a more mainstream radio, personally i would go for hitec aurora, best bang for buck out there... Ps i am a JR man Lee - try removing the word "Taranis" and substitute "2.4" or even "proportional control"! remind you of anything? As to the question "who are they going to buddy with?" - Well Taranis is the only transmitter I am aware of that can buddy with Futaba, Spektrum, JR or even Hi-tech. You can't hold back progress mate! Imagine if everyone had taken the same position when Spektrum Tx's started to appear on 2.4GHz? I've been playing with the Taranis for 2 months - it took me an hour or two to put my first model in - not bad for a new Tx - it would probably take me the same to put my first model into say a JR which I'm not very familiar with. Since then I've added many more - and each time it gets easier. After an entire R/C career on Futaba I've just started putting my FASST RX's on eBay - I'm that impressed. My experience is that Taranis is not difficult to program - I think that's a bit of an urban myth to be honest. It is different to program that's true. But I believe that's something we're just going to have to learn to live with. OpenTX is here to stay. And just to really put the cat among the pidgeons I'll make a prediction for you - in 5 years time you'll struggle to buy a Tx that isn't running OpenTx or a clone of it. Basically it has the potential to be "windows for transmitters". And before the Mac and Linux users start getting excited - say what you will about Windows, yes it does have its faults, but it has brought interoperable computing to the mass market. So I think we need to get used to OpenTx - because it isn't going away anytime soon. BEB right i will reply to this again without the joke, firstly i was one of the first to move to 2.4 gig so i am never against progress but it has to make things better for me, so to infer that i am somehow against progression just because i do not get on with the taranis is way off the mark, you yourself make some comment regarding windows, and you are bang on the money here the whole reason windows has won over from linux is the graphical interface, it has made it so much easier to use, that even my mum can work one, you have totally made my point for me regarding the flexible but clunky open source software in the taranis against the more expensive more limiting but easier to use aurora secondly a bog standard model should only take 10 mins to set up on a new tx not 2 hours, lets give a newbie a taranis tx and a hitec aurora and lets see who is first to set a model up, i know where my money is, the programming may not be difficult for you, but it is for me , maybe its because i am a working practical instrument engineer that i struggle with it, maybe i just can't be bothered but either way it is not something i want to spend time learning, so i go for something else, and you may be right that open source tx is the way forward, but it will have to get a lot more intuitive and easier to use before i buy into it . i am all for reviewing it and recommending it but make sure you take all pros and cons into account and make people aware of them not just the pros, because it suits you!

what personal insult BEB, I totally disagree, there was no insult in there, the last bit was followed with a smiley face, therefore it is widely accepted on this forum that this indicates a joke, show me where the personal insult is in that post, come on be fair and show everyone. the point being made is that the main problem with people like yourself (that are seen by some as respected and experienced) coming on here, and extolling the virtues without raising other issues that this can cause, like a newbie turning up to the patch with one of the taranis without a clue how to drive it. as with every new tech there are pros and cons. Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 21/03/2014 20:15:49

Methinks Chris and the taranis will get on famously

2hrs to put a new model in are you mad, took me 10 mins on my brand new 11x zero when i got it, now it takes 3 or 4 mins, and the instructions from JR are woeful, only my fully comp typhoon glider took 2 hours

And that's why beb never flew at Greenacres, and i flew my jet!!

The frsky taranis and other open source software tx are for me a pain in the preverbial unless you are prepared to spend large amounts of time learning how to program it, i am sick of newbies turning up to the patch with these things because some programmer on a forum told them to and then they expect me the instructor to spend god knows how long trying to figure out how to reverse and add dual rates to a channel, i go to fly not spend ages trying to sort some newbies tx out just so he can have one flight, and then who is he gonna buddy box with?? If your an experienced flyer and you enjoy getting involved in programming then that's fine, but as a newbie looking to join a club and be taught how to fly properly i would look at a more mainstream radio, personally i would go for hitec aurora, best bang for buck out there... Ps i am a JR man

buy some Model glasses (i use nimbus) and wear a cap, they come with multiple lenses you can switch out depending on the day, 40 quid very very well spent

that is the real reason i put a small review of the model on here, there is absolutely nothing out there about this model, so i thought i might as well do something that might be use to the odd person!!!

as per PM Ralph i let some hardwood blocks in the fuselage flush with the fus, some needed some support adding but other than that no problems with all models of this type if you have a dead stick and try to bring her in nose high with insufficient speed then she will flick on you (but that is because they are designed to do this) as for screws on outside of cowl for me she is a sport scale model and a few screws visible are not a problem considering a gaggle of Hitecs are out in the wind waving at me!! john totally agree if you are at the right level you will be delighted at how she handles, unfortunately some move on far too quick get one of these (relatively) high wing loaded models and expect her to fly like a trainer, and then wonder why she is in bits (we will not mention the Eds Mew Gull   took this guys jet (boomer) for a maiden last Sunday for him and as he had never flown a jet he could not understand why banging the sticks around like he does his 3D models did not work like he expected!!

keep in mind i was using analogue servos, i used a 6volt 2200mah eneloop pack with an Ar7000 rx and i never missed a beat throttle HS 301 ailerons HS 485HB rudder HS645mg elevators Alturn 750mg if i was using Digis i would have gone to a LiFe pack

I do not know the servos Allen but 8.5kg will prob be ok, the rudder might need more but it depends what style of flying your doing, martin as you know digitals have better holding power than the analog units i was using, whilst i never suffered a failure it was obvious the servos were struggling during certain times so i swopped them out and my recommendation to everyone else is to do the same if you are giving it some rice

do not know where you get those figures from but if you fit servos to that model with them kg pulls you are gonna lose the model, in knife edge i had Hitec 5KG servos on each elevator and the elevators would wave at me on the way past, so i swapped them out for 12KG MG Alturns.....yes i had an ST 23 cc 2 stroke in mine, and i do throw her about but do not be such a tight bum, and fit servos to do her justice

I only use model lite or the 5 star filler, both excellent, all the others tend to be too brittle, a great tip for the 5star filler is if you mix it with water to a paste consistency it makes a top notch pin hole filler easily as good as the BVM product and a lot cheaper

You don't need an idler bar but you will need a 20 to 30 kg servo with metal gears

wow blast from the past there its a precedent hiboy turbo, i lalways wanted one of them many years ago fitted with what looks like a merco engine, an old mfa power panel, all the stuff is really old and to be honest you will be lucky to get 40 quid for it, best bet is get in touch with a local club and offer to donate it for an advanced trainer, and be happy that its getting used to teach people

dreamflight weasel can fly in many wind conditions, highly recommended

me thinks graeme has not flown anything really fast before, personally turning tx off and on would i think been far worse,sticking with it was best option........... pilot did well... no one died.....only some underpants required replacement

Fly lower Dave and then it will not matter

i use my hitec checker switched on to the 6 volt range it give a rough indication of where it is as soon as it get into the yellow i would stop

its not wholeheartedly agree with BEB but on this occasion he is utterly bang on!

If spraying do not use water, the result is horrible, use proper thinner for spraying and only use water for cleaning tam acrylics spray great with the proper thinners, i have sprayed many many foam models this way

Is burns night the day when everyone in Scotland runs around setting fire to stuff