Cuban8

Something a bit odd here. Looking at the standard spec of your model and doing a few calculations (with the aid of an on-line static thrust predictor) I'd say that your model's standard power unit should easily be able to produce a static thrust equal to the model's flying weight. Why your model is lacking performance is strange. With the 13x6 prop and 840kv motor (and allowing for losses) with a 3S lipo I'd be expecting approx 8000 rpm. This should be producing around 4 1/2 lbs of thrust, which on a model with a flying weight of only 4lbs, should give a very brisk performance. I'd say that your batteries may be lacking in performance and you need to check that they're up to the job. A good new 3S lipo of 20 or 30C should only drop around 1V when on full load, so if yours are significantly worse than that, no change of motor will help. I'd recommend against guesswork, the only way is to see what's going on is with a watt meter, rev counter and electronic spring balance to check static thrust.     Edited By Cuban8 on 24/06/2014 09:30:30

It's quite astonishing that so many young lads still in their teens were given a state of the art 350 mph, 1000 hp, eight machine gun weapon and then went to defend our home land.Rather makes our 'elf 'n safety, risk assessed, politically correct world look a tad insipid.

Two tanks of fuel is nowhere near enough running in. OS aren't so bad but ASP and similar makes only start to really loosen up after at least a gallon (for a .91) is put through it. I ran my ancient ASP .61 FS for the first time in ages over the weekend and the idle can be reduced to a ridiculously low speed because the motor is by now very loose - still produces plenty of power though at the top end. Just to concur with the Engine Doctor's point about keeping the glow on at full revs - some years back, I had an on board glow system that delayed switching off the glow current for about a second after the throttle was past 1/4. Good idea in theory, but a nightmare in practice with thrown/loosening props after going straight to full throttle.

Is it possible to have a back up power system then??? Cuban 8's idea sounds very interesting unfortunately I haven't a clue what he's talking about. Do larger models have a back up system?? Re battery back up using Schottky diodes...........**LINK**   Edited By Cuban8 on 23/06/2014 07:32:21

Probably a good idea to have a small capacity battery in parallel with the regulator output (via Schottky diodes and with a slightly lower voltage than the regulator) to act as a backup in case of regulator failure.

With decent quality video on almost all smart phones these days, it's probably worth recording the first few flights of a model (particularly one of many £££s). Difficult to argue against good video evidence.

Yes, you've got it basically correct, although your last paragraph is not quite right saying that CP remains at zero at 50% stick or below. Don't worry about idle up 1& 2 at the moment it'll be too confusing.The only point I'd make is that in normal mode, having the pitch at zero at low throttle will probably be ok for very early training i.e. simple hops, but will be no good at all for hovering or simple maneuvering. You'll find that there is no single correct way to setup a heli, pilots have there own preferences and what will work for one will be no good for somebody else. Your heli should come with these basic settings in the manual - best to start there and tune to your individual taste. BTW what heli do you have? http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Basics-Radio-Control-Helicopters/dp/0911295364 This is a great book for beginners wishing to learn the basics of heli setup - I taught myself with it, and am now a competent (non 3d) heli pilot interested in scale.     Edited By Cuban8 on 21/06/2014 11:45:44

Posted by Erfolg on 20/06/2014 18:11:37: I have to agree Rich, I ordered some Lipos for my CS about 5 weeks back, from the Chinese store, still have not arrived. Malaysia post are in the same class as the UK Post Office, useless.     Having waited almost 40 days for my parcel to arrive via Malaysia Post, it's a bit harsh to say that MP are useless - slow but not useless! Hobby King say that we should allow 39 working days for a delivery, so 5 weeks is still a bit too soon to expect anything.   Edited By Cuban8 on 21/06/2014 09:57:59

**LINK** For those that might be unaware, better protection for buyers. Funny, but PayPal UK site still referring to 45 days!! Edited By Cuban8 on 20/06/2014 11:03:46

I'm on my 61st HK order now, all mainly from the global warehouse, although I have used the Ipswich hub a couple of times with no problems at all and fast delivery. Only slight snag with the global warehouse is that the delivery times have become two to three times longer than they were originally because of the change to Malaysia Post for much of their shipping.

Done.

For the life of me I can't see a mass market for home 3D printing................but then I said pretty much the same thing about music CDs when they first came out

I accept my fathers' day card and present with due gratitude, but I wish they wouldn't do it as I'm on the side of the anti commercial brigade (didn't the card industry try to cook up a grandparents day recently?).

Posted by Dave Bran on 12/06/2014 09:41:13: Nasty Business............ I recently watched a member arrive at our patch with a newly built and unflown fun fly ( EP power, big motor and large funfly low pitch prop). He spent several minutes setting up his Tx with a new model memory for it, then took it to the strip, taxied it no more than two metres away from himself, turned it 180 to face it straight back at himself, and stabbing it to full throttle took off, pulling it immediately vertical. Now, to do that at all, let alone with an untrimmed unknown quantity that he'd set up hurridly while at the patch.......................   Presumably your club's committee will be having a word?....................................       Edited By Cuban8 on 13/06/2014 10:46:15

I can thoroughly recommend this company's products, as I bought a pair of bronze tint polarizing overglasses last year, and they have made a tremendous difference when flying in both bright sunlight and hazy conditions. The quality of the lenses is very good and the storage case and accessories are better then the really cheap ones. http://www.i-sunglasses.com/Prescription+Eyewear/Fit-Over+Glasses.htm?gclid=CN3kiv6m9r4CFejHtAod70QALw   Chose these ones http://www.i-sunglasses.com/Over-Glasses-Grande-Polarised-Sunglasses-Large-Copper Edited By Cuban8 on 13/06/2014 08:26:43 Edited By Cuban8 on 13/06/2014 08:29:22

http://www.slecuk.com/catalogue/Servo-Mounts.html Part number SL159S   Have used these years ago - they work well! Edited By Cuban8 on 12/06/2014 19:38:30

The only thing I'd say is to be clear on what you want the model to do and how you want your flying to develop. If you can confidently throw your high wing trainer about in loops and rolls, then a Spacewalker (excellent model) will be no challenge to you and after a half a dozen flights you'll be wanting more. Any parallel chord low winger, particularly the retro style ones with very conservative wing sections and moderate power will send you to sleep on the sticks and you'll think you're still flying a trainer. Don't be afraid of being a little more adventurous; there's no magic involved in flying a low winger if you are confident with a trainer - you don't need the lightening reflexes of a hot shot pilot, so don't hamstring yourself with a model that's far too easy. The Acrowot is the one to go for in the first instance as it can be set up as a fairly responsive trainer, but as you get used to it, the throws, CG and power can be modified to give you a challenge. You'll wonder what all the fuss was about. Edited By Cuban8 on 12/06/2014 11:46:50

Never tried brown paper covering myself, but I do recall a chap in my club who used it very successfully some years back . Very time consuming process though. IIRC he'd also use the shiny cardboard from breakfast cereal boxes as well!

As consumers of ARTFs, we are protected by the sale of goods act which states that any item offered for sale shall be fit for its intended purpose. Well, that's all very well when talking about  electric kettles, fridges, wristwatches etc but unfortunately we always seem to be on very dodgy ground when it comes to obtaining redress over a failure in an ARTF. Order a model by mail order and you can return it, no questions asked - go back to your local model shop with an airframe that's bent as a banana and (usually) you'll get a sympathetic hearing. BUT.....as soon as the model takes to the air we enter a whole different world of hurt.........."we've never had one break before"......"you've overstressed it"..................."used the wrong glue"................."sorry but these things happen". It's going to be difficult to discount any of the above responses, because how on earth do you prove otherwise? I used to work as an engineer in customer service (industrial stuff) and I know how crafty some people can be to 'try to get one over you ' and claim all sorts of rubbish in order to avoid paying up for their mistakes, so I understand that the model trade needs to be careful and rightly so. However, a little common sense and an interest in customer service  will usually sort out the genuine victim from a scammer. A good friend of mine had a very expensive new ARTF model fail after a couple of gentle test flights (wing joiner failure) and the response from the well known UK supplier bordered on the comical in its ingenuity to deflect any blame on the model itself rather than bothering to investigate the issue. I won't go into details, but after several weeks of emails, photos and phone calls going back and forth, the best that could be done was that my mate had a new wing sent out, but the damage to the fuz, engine and very costly exhaust system was down to him! The model remains in bits..........Over a grand's worth of model gathering dust!     Edited By Cuban8 on 10/06/2014 12:16:22

It's a case of whatever works for the individual. Personally, I dislike neckstraps and trays and couldn't imagine using index fingers and thumbs on the sticks despite being a heli flyer as well..........and to make it worse, it's all done on mode 1

Rightly or wrongly, I've used good quality motor oil as a lay up oil for many years and have found it to work effectively with no ill effects. For an engine in regular (weekly) use I'd never bother with after run oils, just ensure that the engine is run completely dry at the end of a flying session and that the tank is empty. I'm sure others may disagree, but it works for me.

Football...........not interested............never watch it...............can't understand the mentality of those that willingly hand over piles of hard earned dosh to finance the players' fabulous life styles.............rant over

Posted by john melia 1 on 05/06/2014 08:46:06: Thanks for the input everyone, a lot of members are getting on i years a bit, and they either do not fly at all when they turn up, or fly axn cloud floater type models, the biggest i've seen there is a 60inch high wing cub type model which basically is another floater. Had a funny feeling it might have had something to do with that, but was reluctant to say . Mind you, I'm getting on a bit myself now (retired) but keep an open mind to change and what newcomers to our hobby might need over what's been seen as "what we've always done in the past".

What type of models have they been flying? A 35 yard square is not a bad size for smallish models, models without undercarts, funflys and trainers, but not ideal for anything carrying a bit of weight. It's odd that they say that "any size of model can be flown" whilst clearly not offering the facility to do so. Some clubs do get stuck in a rut  and often don't welcome different ideas, so as a new member, your suggestion might be viewed as meddling with something that has worked OK for them up to now. What do the other members think? is the strip limiting the type of models that others may wish to fly? As for the arrestor idea............modellers are a pretty resourceful crowd but I've never heard of anything like that being used (other than at displays to protect the spectators). The damage that can be caused to a model just by it running into long grass can be considerable, so I doubt that any sort of catch netting or bungee system will be very kind to an airframe - especially if impacted at speed.   Edited By Cuban8 on 05/06/2014 08:33:21

A true British aviation great......should have been the first through Mach 1 if government meddling hadn't taken a hand. Edited By Cuban8 on 01/06/2014 12:05:35