Cuban8

I'd like to see an A+ achievement for the club flyer that encompasses the flying parts of the B but without the need to have an in-depth knowledge of the rules and regs required for performing at shows, which quite honestly, very few club members have any interest in anyway.

On occasion some of my RX's will not connect to my DX7 on initial switch on. Usually waiting for a while and moving the model away from close proximity to metal objects, cars, or wire fences will result in an instant connect. The system is very fussy about receiving a good stream of data at switch on and will not play along if it's not totally happy. It's also worth checking the condition of the satellite cable as if it's damaged at the connector end I've found that the system will not connect. The crimping at the terminals can be a bit tight and cause the wire to break through vibration or mishandling.

Firstly, the BMFA 'A' and 'B' tests are part of the achievement scheme, although most clubs use them as a convenient standard for flying solo or displaying in front of the public at fetes etc. I've heard some refer to the 'A' and 'B' licence, this is wrong and not what the achievement scheme is about. I also believe it's wrong to label the 'B' test solely as a test of aerobatic prowess as without the corresponding experience and knowledge to answer the quite searching questions after the flying part, then a failure will be the result. Learning to fly an accurate 'B' schedule is not difficult and as you're aware, consists of basic rolls, loops and spins together with demonstrating the ability to fly accurate circuits all within a reasonably confined area in front of the pilot. I'd suggest that a 'B' holder in your club gives a demonstration of what's required - for a bit of fun have a copy of the schedule to hand and those watching give him marks out of 10. This will mean that those watching will have to do their home work and put some thought into what a good loop etc should look like. As an examiner in our club, I know that less than 20% of our members (about 20) have progressed to 'B' standard and can only assume that the majority of flyers attain their 'A' and are happy with that so they can fly without supervision. When attempts to encourage interest in the 'B' have been put forward, the reaction is often one of putting people under undue pressure or even the club becoming officious, so care needs to be taken so as to not put the wrong signals out. Keep it low key and those that are interested will make themselves known.

Have never bothered to store Lipos at the storage voltage over the winter layoff and I have several packs that are coming up to 4 years old (6s) and don't seem to be suffering at all

Posted by Tony Read 2 on 29/08/2014 13:23:18 My current vac is a Dyson, but its so old the plastic has gone brittle and its falling apart! Our Dyson was brand new and the plastic was so brittle it fell to bits within a year...............

I've seen 'black wire syndrome' affect all the wiring from the battery itself up to the switch and beyond, so check fully and replace any wires that are in the least bit discoloured. Plenty of theories have been put forward over the last 30 years as to the cause, but as far as I know nothing has ever been totally proved. The problem does seem to affect Nicads rather than other chemistry batteries, so I'm guessing your old Skysport has those fitted.

This really is an old chestnut........there is no superior mode or a mode better suited to F/W or rotary. The mode that a flyer uses will be dictated by the mode used by his instructor (some people have changed between modes for various reasons, but very few).There have even been cases of lone flyers teaching themselves and making up their own mode and becoming very proficient pilots. A very talented chap in my club can fly equally well on either M1 or M2 although I don't know how he manages to get his brain around it. IIRC, Hanno Prettner is a mode 1 flyer and Curtis Youngblood went his own way with a custom tranny that included rotary controls on the sticks.   Edited By Cuban8 on 29/08/2014 09:32:56

Take a look around warehouses, light industrial units and schools etc and you'll be guaranteed to find a Henry Vac. Nothing can touch them for simple rugged reliability. As a service engineer visiting such places, they were always to be seen......says it all really. I'm not going to say anything about the £200 Dyson that we had before our own 'Henry' as it still winds me up. Edited By Cuban8 on 28/08/2014 19:06:42

Got back home Monday evening......shame the weather shut things down towards the end. Enjoyed the show line, some really amazing models that were very well displayed. That huge Bristol Bulldog!!!! Great idea to include the airshow format a few years back, a great pity the third day was rained off. Not into all the control line goings on, but was very concerned to see such a poor turn out at the scale line. Don't get me wrong, the quality was magnificent as always, but I think there were only 14 entries in F4C and about 10 each in the other categories. What will be the situation for the sustainability of the scale comp in say 5 or 10 years time without a younger generation of modellers coming through? The BMFA has been taking a few knocks lately, but they get a bigfor putting on the Nats.

Posted by David Pearce 4 on 26/08/2014 09:36:37: If we accept that one of this forum's aims is to encourage youngsters to take up the hobby then we should presume they are visiting here and behave appropriately. If kids come to our flying sites we don't swear or talk inappropriately so neither should we here. I know that sounds a bit old fashioned but better that than having parents concerned that our forum is not fit for their children. It's not 'old fashioned' in the least. Just because certain individuals on TV these days seem to think it's funny to use bad language doesn't mean it's right. Very sadly, one of the clubs that I belong to had to warn members to watch their language whilst on the field.

Posted by Glyn R on 23/08/2014 22:32:57: The mutilation of the English language by people who should know better. e.g. "I was sat." What happened to the word sitting. The American habit of missing out 'and' is creeping in everywhere. e.g Go compare (go and compare) Let's go do it (go and do it)   Also the tendency to use  'solution' instead of service, just management speak really, but gaining wider ground. i.e some I've seen recently.........care home solutions..........financial solutions...........credit solutions........recruitment solutions. Edited By Cuban8 on 26/08/2014 09:51:16

Still have my Gold set and it still works perfectly well. It's actually the five channel version as I couldn't afford the seven channel set at the time. When I bought it back in 1982, I inadvertently bought a mode 2 set in my excitement at getting a real radio for the first time. Being still pretty much a beginner, I thought the shop would simply exchange it for mode 1..........no chance, they flatly refused and I had to take it back to Ripmax at Enfield where the late Jon Wesley sorted things out for me.   Yep, great customer service was alive and kicking (not) back in '82 Edited By Cuban8 on 20/08/2014 10:45:28

Still have my Gold set and it still works perfectly well. It's actually the five channel version as I couldn't afford the seven channel set at the time. When I bought it back in 1982, I inadvertently bought a mode 2 set in my excitement at getting a real radio for the first time. Being still pretty much a beginner, I thought the shop would simply exchange it for mode 1..........no chance, they flatly refused and I had to take it back to Ripmax at Enfield where the late Jon Wesley sorted things out for me.

Parcel now showing as arrived at Heathrow. Took six weeks, so Malaysia Post are slow but consistent.

I'm not so sure that this is such a good idea, notwithstanding the respect and admiration that we all feel for him and all the chaps who took part in Operation Chastise. He is modest man by all accounts, who has made his view well known on the heroics of those who took part, and in some cases gave their lives. Personally, I'd like to see something put in place of a more permanent nature (the bomber command memorial is a start) as the bravery of all flyers during the war years seems to be begun to be forgotten. Take 'Battle of Britain Day' on September 15th and the 'wings week' appeals, both are hardly ever mentioned these days and are in danger IMO, of disappearing from the attention of the wider public if nothing is done. By all means let's get Johnny his gong, if he's agreeable, but let's also not forget how we could easily allow the memory of all those young flyers (in fact all those who served) to be lost, perhaps in only another generation. Edited By Cuban8 on 19/08/2014 19:12:42

Started with a Futaba twin stick 2 channel set in 1978 (hence being a mode 1 flyer since then), Futaba 'Gold' set in 1982 then progressed to a FF7 in about 1992. On to a FF8 around 2002. Went over to Spektrum DX7 about four years ago. Spektrum was quite reasonably priced, but do seem to be 'coming it a bit' with their RX prices recently. Did try to convert my FF8 to 2.4 with a Futaba FrSky module but was unhappy with the FrSky's performance as in here..............**LINK** Was told by FrSky tech support that my FF8 was not compatible Huh?????????

Being an aviation buff for all of my life, I really have tried to get into Redbull air racing but to no avail. Yes, it looks spectacular and the piloting skills are breathtaking, but it's just not something that catches my attention for anything more than ten minutes. Could it all be a bit samey? Funny thing is that I have been following and enjoying the Speedway championships on Eurosport, which although spectacular is definitely quite samey! Perhaps if they had more than one 'plane on the course at one time?.............only kidding!   Edited By Cuban8 on 19/08/2014 12:24:03

£12 for an adult and £35 for a family ticket is a bit steep IMHO. I'm in the fortunate position where it wouldn't affect my decision to go, but when travelling costs are factored in it will put many off. I think a tenner is acceptable. Don't 'kill the golden goose' and all that.

I belong to two clubs, both are similar in size having 115 and 125 members respectively. Each club has its hard core of flyers who appear at the field on a regular basis (including winter) but I'd estimate that 70% of the rest fall into the not at all, rarely, or once or twice a month flying sessions categories. I don't actually recall it being much different going back over the 35 years that I've been involved with the hobby. One thing I have noticed is that the majority of those who 'really go for it' and fly whenever they can, maybe a dozen + flights per session and always seeming to have a new 'plane every few weeks, will burn themselves out after a couple of years and more often than not, go to another interest. Not all of course, but maybe it's in the character of some people that they throw themselves into a hobby and then when the initial thrill falls away, they look elsewhere for another fix? Those that pay their subs dutifully each year but hardly ever fly are subsidizing most clubs, and providing they're happy to carry on, then that's OK.

Yes, have to agree. Putting a thread onto piano wire is very unsatisfactory - I've tried it in the past and only finished up with a shadow of a thread and even that seemed out of true. Collets work perfectly providing a small flat in filed in the wire for the grub screw to seat on and a tiny drop of loctite is used to secure the grub screw to make sure. Resist the temptation to over tighten with the Allen key, often to the point of damaging the key or screw (we've all done it) you really don't have to lean on them to make them secure. Don't flood the collet with loctite as it'll be a devil of a job to get it off later. Carefully applying a hot soldering iron to a loctited in grub screw will release it enough to remove it without ruining the screw or allen key.

**LINK** UK warehouse.........

Cover in Nitromors, working well into all the nooks and crannies. Seal the motor in a plastic bag overnight then wash and brush off under plenty of running water. Keep away from painted surfaces, plastic or rubber. Doesn't affect metal/alloy at all. Edited By Cuban8 on 18/08/2014 10:11:42

Posted by Phil Green on 17/08/2014 23:47:03:   Watch a competent buttoneer flying the S/C aerobatics sched! Where?

Not everything that's old was good as I remember...........rip it out and fit twin servos!

Good luck with encouraging your daughter Megan into the Hobby. My daughter used to come with me to the flying field when she was only five or six and would be happy watching the 'planes or playing with a chuckie. Took her to the ME exhibition at Ally Pally and she won a DPR models kit in the 'hit the kit' competition. She never was much for dolls or girly stuff! She's almost 30 now and had just presented us with a lovely little grandson.................now where's that old DPR chuckie that she won