Romeo Whisky

As several have expressed their appreciation for the links I posted above, I've got a few more you might like to look up. Again there are some basic and some more advanced, and several of these sites give further links of their own.   http://www.hooked-on-rc-airplanes.com/aerobatic-maneuvers.html    http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/basic-rc-airplane-aerobatics.html    http://www.indiarc.com/aerobatic.htm    http://www.cmrmauritius.com/Basic%20RC%20Airplane%20Aerobatics.htm    http://www.rctoys.com/pr/2008/07/11/rc-model-airplane-aerobatics-part-3-advanced-aerobatics/    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgusOBRkiEg  Hope you enjoy . 

I have a standard electric (brushed) Twinstar that I flew regularly last year off snow. Just needed a slight indentation in the snow to get its wings straight and level and then just open the throttle and off she goes.   Great fun.  This year it has just been too cold up here to stand still with a TX in hand, but when it starts to thaw again the Twinstar will be my first choice for snow take-offs.

One thing I have always felt was seriously lacking in all the aeromodelling magazines is Comparison Reviews, tests or surveys.  All the PC magazines compare PC, Laptops, Printers, Scanners, Software et al.  Other magazines compare Cameras, TVs, Hi-Fis, Cars etc. Why not compare Engines or Brushless Motors of similar spec, Li-Po batteries (although the BMFA mag did a good job of that recently), Speed Controllers, 2.4GHz TX/Rx systems etc etc.  There are loads of similar models (especially electric) - how about Extra 300s,  Decathlons, Cubs, Trainers etc.  There are loads of similar models available for numerous manufacturers.  Why not test a few and give us the pros and cons of each.

There is some great stuff on the internet. Just google "RC aerobatics" and similar word groups and you can find sites with fully animated illustrations and instructrions for basic and advanced aerobatics.  Here are a few links to get you started:-     http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/basic-rc-airplane-aerobatics.html     http://www.rc-airplane-advisor.com/rc-airplane-aerobatics.html     http://www.geistware.com/rcmodeling/aerobatics/index.htm     http://www.dubairchobbies.org/aerobatic_maneuvers.htm    http://www.rchobbies.org/advanced-aerobatics.htm  There are loads more - some basic, others more advanced. Happy landings.  Edited By Romeo Whisky on 06/01/2010 11:19:03Edited By Romeo Whisky on 06/01/2010 11:29:28

In SW Scotland we've got about 3 inches of lying snow, but the main problem is ice with night-time temperatures down to -10°C and often still below freezing all day.  Strange how these conditions only become national news when they hit the south. I lived in west Sheffield (within the city boundary) for 25 years and got snowed in most years for varying lengths of time.   Two years running the snow was so heavy it brought the guttering down!  We lived on a bus route and for the first few years we were there the road (a steep hill) was ploughed and gritted and the bus route was kept open.  Then about eight years ago that was stopped and road quickly became impassible after snow.  Also worth remembering is that when the thaw eventually comes, the south will thaw quickly, while the north and high areas will still have lying snow for much longer - yet watch and see how quickly it will disappear from the news! 

Mode 2SW ScotlandSheffield Mostly self-taught after a couple of instructed slope-flying sessionsNow only fly electric

Mainly shivering and trying to keep warm - eating too much and watching far too much TV - (mainly DVDs as live content is mostly tripe).  I occasionally go out to my workshop to remind myself of the things I really want to be doing, but it was -8°C here again last night.  Now where's that bottle of scottish antifreeze???

 A lot of the great WW2 books I read as a youngster are sadly no longer in print. I used the internet to try to locate a marvellous paperback I read back then called "Thunderbol!" by two P47 aces, and was amazed to see it is now a collector's item and even secondhand copies of some of these old "memoir" books now cost a small fortune.

I recently read a superb book from our local library entitled "Day of the Typhoon" by John Golly. A riveting day-to-day account of the work of the Hawker Typhoon squadrons both before and after D-Day.  Made you realise what a dangerous job ground attack was - many a fine pilot was lost to ground fire - and not only in Typhoons but also in Mustangs, Thunderbolts and Spitfires going in low-level.

Can't cope with CGI aircraft ("Pearl Harbor" et al).  And the merlin-engined Me109s and bickering content spoil The Battle of Britain for me.  Can't stand "Memphis Belle" either.  My great favourites which I watch often are:-    The Dambusters      Flying Leathernecks    Twelve O'Clock High   The Battle of Midway (also released under the name "Midway")   Tora Tora Tora! - (Probably the most realistic depiction of the Pearl Harbour attack you'll ever see.  Lot's of modified Harvards but a serious effort to make them look convincing, and the action shots are awesome).   They will never make films like these ever again.  Others I watch regularly are:-    Reach for the Sky    Angels One Five   The Way to the Stars Worth an occasional watch are:-     The Malta Story    Murphy's War   Flying Tigers   The Blue Max Other really great WW2 films IMO are:-    Battle of the River Plate    Sink the Bismark   The Enemy Below    Patton    Dunkirk   A Bridge Too  Far         Edited By Romeo Whisky on 01/01/2010 20:05:27

You are lucky to have a local model shop Dave!   I (and many others, I'm sure) have no choice but to buy mail-order and whenever I do get to visit one (eg. on holiday) I'm like a kid in a candy store and can spend hours there!  Still doesn't mean they can't do EOY Sales like other retailers, although to be fair, BRC, SMC and Galaxy in particular do often run special offers on their web-sites and in mag adverts.

This is by far my favourite size of battery DW because it is SO versatile!  I've got 8 packs this size and my flying pal has about the same, and they will fly ... Seagull - Extra 300 EP or Edge 540 EP                         or Decathlon EP or PC9 Roulette EP or Spacewalker EP GWS P40 GWS Formosa (with lite-ply cockpit floor to make the battery slot deeper) Ultrafly Cessna 140 Ripmax P51 Mustang (and therefore presumably Spitfire and Bf109)Kyosho Spree M36 (brushless upgrade) Multiplex Gemini and Mini-Mag and EasyCub and Twinstar (brushless) Overlander 1.2m Tucano (but you'll need extra nose ballast and flight time is only about 4 min)  ... along with many others.

They all seem to manage to discount heavily at the summer shows and meets Simon - but perhaps that's why they're not doing it now

I avoided the temptation to buy stuff in the run-up to Christmas, partly because of the early scares about postal strikes, and partly because I thought there might be some bargains to be had in the post-Christmas "Sales" before the VAT goes up.  But despite the whole of the UK apparently going "Sales" crazy at this time of year, I am surprised that after trawling through dozens of model shop web-sites, I haven't found a single one who is advertising a "Sale"  to tempt us to part with our dosh and shift some old stock. 

Must say I don't like unsolicited email from ANY commercial source. But even though I specified No Emails in "My Details" as suggested above I still get them, so evidently my stated preferences in this regard are being ignored.

Must admit I bought a stepped reamer years ago, as it seemed a good idea at the time. Frankly I never use it.  The steps are nearly always the wrong gauge for the prop adaptor shank, and as you say, everybody has got drill bits.   For glass/plastic electric props (APC - the only kind I ever use) I usually use a drill bit by hand, holding it in a thick leather gardening glove.   I've got a pillar drill stand for my Black & Decker but I can have done it by hand quicker than setting the drill stand up.

Re one of the above comments  ....  The LAST thing we need is a new Ministry of anything!!!  I think the best way to keep sane in this crazy modern world is to keep reminding yourself that the world is run by mad people.  Politicians and Public Servants are so busy covering their bums that they've completely given up thinking because they feel it is highly dangerous.  The Rule Book has replaced the brain everywhere.  There is just precious little intelligent life in the corridors of power any more, even at lower levels.   But don't let it get to you - you can't fight it.   Let's just keep up our regular doses of aviation therapy and try to ignore the crass stupidity that now permeates all forms and levels of government from Brussels to the local Town Hall.

Just a suggestion David & Timbo:-    If folks want to compose posts offline and then cut and paste into the forum they can compose in Windows Notepad (NOT WordPad or other Word Processor). Another option is to paste from any other program FIRST into Windows Notepad from the Word Processor.  Notepad will ignore any font or formatting and you can then recut and paste from NotePad.   It is important to do the CUT from Notepad of course, before pasting to the forum or email.  NotePad is a plain text editor with no font or formatting data so is safe to cut and paste into any other program or emails, forums etc.

Some of the links in the original posting above will set you on the trail for some plans.  One has plans for a rubber-powered version which might be electrified.

If some are finding the link doesn't work you can find the article if you look around the home page at      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ Edited By Romeo Whisky on 08/12/2009 18:12:49

Well actually it's only the second major build, the rest were really just tweaks and minor mods.  The main reason for the rebuild was just to make it lighter to reduce rolling resistance.  The first one was essentially similar but made from 22mm polypipe.

I've been experimenting with a launch dolly design all year and am now on about the Mk 12 which seems to work fine. However, it's made me interested to see how others have designed theirs.  How about posting some pictures of your favourite dolly!

I'm afraid I'm no builder, but I was scanning some old slides into the PC recently and came upon this which I photographed (probably at Sywell) in about 1962.  It is a Comper CLA7 Swift. Actually I never knew what it was until today when I looked it up on the CAA website, and then I thought what a wonderful scale build it might be for some of you clever balsa-bashers out there.  It was built in 1931 and was very fast for its day (140 knots).  I've done some homework for you too - here are some useful links:-   http://www.ffscale.co.uk/comper.htm    http://nickcomper.co.uk/aircraft/comper-swift/    http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=32479    http://www.lightaircraftassociation.co.uk/pdf/DataSheets/Swift.pdf    http://www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/id31.htm  It is worth Googling too as there even some plans out there!   Hope someone finds this interesting. Edited By Romeo Whisky on 08/12/2009 17:40:06