John Horsfield

Just a quick update, Ive just swapped the .46 (which needs a new con rod) for a .52, hmmm should be interesing....Edited By John Horsfield on 26/06/2010 11:47:51

Thanks for the advice guys, its academic now though because my Dad (bless him) has just "loaned" me his spare SC.52 which just sqeezes into the mount on my Seebee. Its not been used for a bit, but I managed to fit it last night and run it up. Took a little starting at first, but now its set up it runs very sweetly and throttles well.   I must admit my experiance with SC engines has always been pretty good in general. Ive had a few (currently 3 in the fleet) and this .46 is the first one Ive had problems with, the other .46 that I have in my twister is absolutley amazing and always runs perfect, whatever the weather. Ive never even changed the glow plug on it!!   Still, when you have a problem, you are always tempted to try a diffrent brand...

I might be in the market for a new engine. Im looking to spend £60(ish). Ive always used SC recently but one of my .46 has recently had new bearings, needs at least a new con rod and it generally not as sweet as it used to be. Should I stick with what i know and go with a SC/ASP .46 or .52. Or should i be tempted with an Irvine .46 (which i know is a great lump) or the more powerful  Jen .47 or .57 (which i know nothing about)?    

Had a couple of flights last night with my twister, all going well until 10secs into my first flight! The throttle was stuck fully open! Damn, and let me tell you Twisters are pretty quick with a sweet running .46 up front. After frantically throttling backwards and forwards with no success, I decided I'd just have run the fuel out, I can mange as much a 20 mins flying normally,  but after 10mins of full chat flying I was starting to get a bit bored so moved on to as many inverted, vertical and crazy ass, never seen in a text book maneuvers as I could manage to try and promote a dead stick. No success... Luckly all of a sudden the engine died (id left the throttle stick on idle) and I managed to bring her down safely. Incredibly there was still a fair bit of fuel in the tank!Problem? the one of the cowling screw was loose, which had let the cowling slip just close enough for it to catch the throttle linkage to the carb. By throttling down, it actually made the problem worse!   Phew!

Just tried Gemmas method and it now works!!

Posted by Gemma Jane on 03/06/2010 16:00:53: Another vote on the USB cable, that was problem one I had to overcome.   Hope I can explain this clearly but my one won't turn on unless the light is still on **AFTER** I remove the USB cable.   So I pull the USB  cable and the light stays on, I can then switch the unit off and it will switch on again.   If though I pull the USB cable and the light goes out... no show I can't switch it on without reconnecting to the USB, removing it and checking the light is ON after removal.   In practice this usually means removing the USB (light goes out), plugging it back in and removing it again (light stays on), switching the unit off using the button, it's then ready to switch on when needed.        Cheers for the tip Gemma, I'll try that....

Posted by Bob Moore on 03/06/2010 13:47:18: There are quite a few reports of faulty usb cables being supplied with these cheapo cameras?  Might be worth trying an hour's charge with another cable. I've also seen reports on that site of how to revive dead cameras.  Have a scroll through?  http://www.chucklohr.com/808/  Like hold the on/off button 'on' while plugging in etc. Worth a try?   Actually both of my cams came with the wrong cable! Lol Im using the cable that came with my DSLR so Im pretty confident that its not the cable. I'll check out the link, hopefully I'll find something...

Posted by Stephen Grigg on 21/05/2010 23:10:01: Success John.I think our club members hate walking.Time and again they try and turn when they have a deadstick only to tip stall and have a repair or even write off to cope with.I like a walk,lets me have another sticky bun,and collect a complete model to fly 10 minutes later,depending on how long the walk is!!   Yep, agreed, next time i'll put it down in the next field along if needs be!!   Ive had no time for flying over the last few days, but hopefully to have another flight or two at the weekend

Posted by John Horsfield on 11/05/2010 12:55:26: Ive just received a key fob cam to try out as a comparison to my "lighter"cam. Unfortentley it looks like Ive got a dud... It often refuses to switch on and when I fianlly get it working the battery seems to fail after about 10 mins. When it is working I think its fair to say the quality is better, but I find it effected by vibration more. I'll try and get the ebay seller to send me another...   Also the 4GB card that came with my lighter cam is no more... It is now unreadable, which i guess comfirms how poor the quality of these cheap copys are...    Ive just received the replacement key fob cam and guess what, it doesnt work at all! Grrr! Wont even switch on.... I'll take it apart tonight and see if there is anything obviously wrong with it, if not I guess I'll have to try and get another replacment...

Flew her tonight... Success!(notice its a she now...)  First flight was very uneventful, she pulled away from a HAND launch quickly and straight as a die. Needed only a couple of clicks of up elevator to keep level when flying at less than half throttle. I must say I'm impressed, its the first plane of this type that if flown so wasn't sure what to expect. Shes very stable, smooth and surprisingly easy to fly. Almost trainer like on half throttle, very similar to the Black Horse Twister Ive been flying, but up the pace a bit and extra nimbleness is very apparent with impressively  fast and precise rolls. All very controllable and I felt comfortable withing a couple of circuits. The SC.46 (with a 10x7 APC prop) pulled her along very nicely. Landing is straight forwards as well, you need to be under a little more power than the Twister, but she came in easily enough.I suffered a dead stick on the second flight, I need to get the engine set up better,  which highlighted the fact that she will not glide in easily and lost airspeed quickly into the wind. I was lucky, I kept her up for too long trying to make a nice approach into the wind and gave myself a scare, next time I'll be bringing her straight down regardless of wind direction. I should have known better... Overall very positive, and I cant wait for the chance to bet in the air again...  

All the control throws are now set up and balancing was a straight forwards affair.   The plane turned out to be slightly nose heavy, I could have moved the battery from above the tank to somewhere between the servos, but as it only needed 15g at the tail I decided not to bother, it wouldnt have been as tidy and would have req some kind of mounting making. ( I use slick on alloy wheel weights by the way) Lateral balence was also virtually spot on, only slightly heavy on the left side. 5g at the wing tip soon sorted that out...   Conclusion   Well I have to say Ive really enjoyed building this model. Its been very easy to put together with no significant problems at all. While the build instructions have at times been slightly vague or misleading (not a major issue for most), the quality of the plane and accessories are undenyably good. As I said at the start of the build, the value of these kits really is great, it looked good out of the box, but now its finished at really does look and feel better than the £105 I paid.   I think that anyone who is still "anti ARTF" really needs to reconsider their postion. In my opinion, brands like Blackhorse, Seagull and Phoenix have massively improved their budget products over the last couple of years and for someone like me, with limited time for building and a limited budget, they are perfect...   ...of course I say all this without actually having flown it yet!!

Not sure why some of the pics are distorted, double click them for a better view.  A few pics... I'm sure most of you would agree, its a pretty handsome plane... It does also come with a sticker sheet, but I think Ill leave it as it is for now.  The build is now complete although I do need to balance it and set up the control throws which I'll try to get done over the next couple of evenings. It'll be intresting to see how far off the balance is, it feels about right...( he says optimistically) I think I'll also have a go at balancing it laterally as well, which is something Ive never done before other than a quick "yep that about right" check. I'm thinking of hanging the plane on its crank and tail wheel, is that the normal practice? Any tips?  I'll let you know how I get on!  

The engine is now permantly fitted...    As is the cowling...  Im happy with this, nice and practical engine access while still retaining the shape of the cowling.  Radio gear now all fitted and the servos centered. You can just make out the tank bay with the rx battery squeezed on top of the tank. Only just enough room for a flat 4cell.    My preferred method for the Ariel exit, a spare servo collet.  Edited By John Horsfield on 18/05/2010 22:53:51

Had a bit of a push over the last couple of evenings to get the plane finished, most of the final jobs were easy and straight forwards...    Aileron linkages set up...  The under wing belly pan. As you can see the access holes to the wing screws needed cutting out and the covering ironing out. The pan doesn't have much surface area to glue to so I fitted some horizontal sections to make it easy to glue down...    Glued in position...  Next job is fitting the cowl. The cowling is of a perfectly reasonable quality and the colour match is perfect. Now I don't know about everyone else but attacking the cowl with the dremell is always a job I hate, Im always scared of slipping!    Measuring up...   Marking the position...  Trial fit before screwing it down...  Edited By John Horsfield on 18/05/2010 22:42:06 Edited By John Horsfield on 18/05/2010 23:07:26

Thanks for the tip Glenn, I'll have a look at that. Nice to here that your club mates are happy with them. How well are the undercarriage mounts fairing?   Ive made  more progress over the last couple of evenings but I'll post tomorrow as its late and Ive got a few pics to upload...