Cuban8

Get all my fuel delivered from Leeds Model Shop. First class service. A tenner shipping cost for two gallons last time I ordered which I think is very reasonable.

Spot on Learner. Learning to fly models in this country with the way the weather can play its games is bad enough, so do understand and sympathise with Toto's ongoing frustration. I take my hat of to him for sticking with it thus far. As you say, it's early days yet and although there may well be other lost flying opportunities to cope with until the better (!) weather comes, given Toto's enthusiasm he'll get through his 'A' this year. Field maintenance is essentential and clubs do differ in their approach to it and its requirements - I doubt if either of my clubs would lose a whole flying day to having the strip rolled - seems a bit extreme. My number two club does share the space with other groups so we do lose a number of days annually to fetes and shows of various types - good for them if the weather is ideal but galling when the weekends either side of their events usually turn out to be hopeless for flying. It is difficult when still working and the only chance to fly is at weekends.

I just think its fair to say that so many activities are brought in disrepute usually by a minority of thoughtless individuals, whilst the majority do try to abide by the rules and safety advice, both for their own well being and that of others.

I can't give exact figures, but simply on the basis of what I see turning up at my clubs on a Sunday where we'd get fifteen or so flyers throughout the day , I would estimate that one in four models that are flown are IC glow. During the week with only a handful of members present , it's not unusual to only have electric models - maybe a single IC glow model. What that says about the hobby today compared to thirty years ago is down to individual opinion, I suppose. I run and enjoy both IC glow models and electric powered types - I take what I feel like taking on the day and that might well be influenced by a number of factors. I'm just thankful to have the choice. Charging lithium cells does run a risk that is simply not there compared with filling up with glow fuel - however, with proper handling, decent equipment, sensible precautions and an understanding of what may go wrong and what to do when it does - a risk of a fire and its consequences can be reduced to a very small figure. Certainly no cause for what I hesitate to call paranoia in some quarters surrounding Lithium batteries when used in model aircraft. Lithium cells used is things like Ebikes and scooters and which have been the cause of some terrible fires in houses are a different issue IMHO - a different market where some users are, I suspect, not particularly understanding or worried about what can happen through mis-use. There also isn't the detailed information sharing network that exists between modellers as on this very forum. They often use the vehicles illegally anyway, and don't give a fig, so that might give some indication as to their mindset. Just to be clear, I'm not accusing all Ebike owners of being cavalier or lawbreakers.

I've just treated myself to a nice new screen equipped smart charger to go with the new lipos that I've invested in recently. Nothing fancy but well equipped with displays, memories, IR measurement etc. Most of my old batteries have had it or are well past their best, given their age and use and most are a bit puffed - so I'm discharging the duds to 0V and will dispose of them at the recycling centre (formally known as the local dump 😁). Just a car headlight bulb to keep things simple. They do puff up considerably during the discharge and feel warm to the touch, which concerns me - I'm doing this outside on a concrete slab and the discharged duds kept nearby on some dirt away from anything remotely combustable until I can get rid of them. Does anyone know or has heard of Lipos catching fire during a complete discharge?

I have to say that the latest EDFs with a dozen or however many blades they use now, are very quiet and unobtrusive compared to my old original Hobby King Vampire with the old style fan, and is still doing the rounds. Whilst not a problem in terms of its noise level, it doesn't sound anywhere near as pleasant as the newer vesions or those that have had an upgrade.

And of course 'quiet' electric can be anything but, when used with a high revving motor and toothpick sized prop on those small flying wings. They make that irritating high pitch buzz saw type racket. Not much fun listening to that for anyone, model flyer or otherwise TBH.

I love and still run IC but the advantages of electric power are keeping the hobby alive. Just a couple of hours over the field available to me today - five batteries, a little leccy model that goes on the Mondeo back seat ready assembled and my tranny. Easy, no fuss, no cleaning down, no oily hands or oily clothes. All packed away in five minutes and then on to deal with some business.

The manufacturers have been literally tone deaf to the IC noise issue for decades. A few exceptions with the Q series Irvines and when OS began to supply their engines with larger capacity silencers that included a mute device IIRC back in the 80's. There may well have been others. The few modern two stroke glows that I've heard over the field are quite acceptable noise wise as they appear to use an OS style silencer with the mute or baffle. Back in the day you could usually get away with noisy engines, at least those that weren't crazily loud, because I think people were a bit more tolerant - not so today, any excuse to have a moan about something.....even church bells on a Sunday morning for goodness sake. I've said it before, but over the years petrol two strokes and the racket they make on their stock silencers has never been properly called out either by the magazine testers or our national body. Remember the SMAE/BMFA cartoon character shouting "BE QUIET, USE AN EFFECTIVE SILENCER" that appeared in the back pages of the old mags? that was about as far as it went. We are where we are though.

Canister types from Aerobatix. Look fine mounted underneath a large fun/ sport type model but as you say not much use on a nice scale model.

Just had a notification that the once very popular Clacton bring and buy has been cancelled because of lack of seller take up - not enough tables booked to make it viable. Hopefully something later in the year, I'm told. Quite a good day out in the past - a sign of the times not unconnected with our main topic of conversation.

Sadly, the reason, IMHO, is self evident. The UK aeromodelling scene has contracted enormously over the last couple of decades - far less interest in making models & reduced interest in aviation generally. Those of us who have been around this hobby for many years are keeping it going, but time is now taking its toll. The attraction for younger people to join and become involved with clubs is nowhere near what it once was, so they don't become enthused by seeing what experienced older folks do in the hobby and go on to think "I'll have a go at that myself". Thats how it used to work and hence how new customers for the model shops etc in the past were created. We are faced with managing the present situation as best as we can.

As I've mentioned before, a few clubmates have invested in decent silencers for their petrol two strokes. Not cheap around the £150ish mark but with a large two stroke glow of comparable size guzzling fuel like no tomorrow, the payback time shouldn't be too long. The more you fly the quicker the return. The reduction in noise is significant and they actually sound quite nice particularly with careful prop selection. I believe that one chap uses Aspen fuel to keep his car odour free. Again something like thirty quid a gallon, but with the economy of a petrol engine the cost is still much less than glow.

Very true Tim, the only thing I'd say is that the big selling point for electric is that in these days of younger people (anyone under fifty) not usually involving themselves or being interested in technical matters unless it has a screen and you can reprogramme/upgrade a product etc then leccy power is a godsend. I have a couple of hours free tomorrow to go flying, weather looking too good to miss.......five batteries, a 40" Yak and my tranny is all I need. Easy peasy.

I'm sorry to see JE give up the ghost, they've had a good run for several decades, but times have moved on and trading conditions, customers and their needs have changed beyond all recognition in that time. The last time I bought anything from JE must be six or seven years ago. Still plenty of alternative sources of supply for all types of IC engines - if a beginner or anyone else wants to fly IC there really shouldn't be a problem.

More than likely the same or similar stuff to the Hobby King covering that I bought for a large model that has unfortunately been languishing in my workshop, covered and just waiting for the final touches - the HK covering has remained tight and secure for a number of years with no sign of the adhesive lifting.

Perhaps not a SPOF in the true technical sense, but the fact of the matter is that a single fire in a single location caused the airport to be shut down, and apparently there weren't the processes, facilities or expertise in place to prevent such an ongoing mess, even to a more restricted scale according to people in the know about these things and are now voicing concerns that have been known about for years. The old cost of backup argument doesn't wash, with respect, and sounds like why we shut the country down at the first sign of a few inches of snow because the equipment to deal with it properly would be idle for most of the time. I guess that the truth behind this fiasco will eventually come out in some detail and "steps taken and lessons learned" (blah blah blah) but it does make us look like fools when one considers the worldwide travel problems we've caused. po|||||||||||F

What a sad laughing stock this incident has made us look. I don't get how people who are paid considerable salaries/bonuses and claim to be the best of the best to justify the £s they're paid in order to be on top of this type of thing, continually fail, yet still get away with it. I understand that a potential catastrophic single point of failure in the airport's electrical supply was identified about ten years ago.

As an alternative to using expensive modelling finishing resins just for fuel proofing , try the thin epoxies intended for craft use e.g. encapsulating ornaments and coating wooden table tops and the like. Plenty on Amazon and Ebay for half the price of the big name modelling brands. Use it myself - sets after ten hours and rock hard at room temp in a day. Fully fuel proof. Look for the 1:1 mix types for ease of use. BTW, I'd still use the modelling brands for glass clothing and finishing.

Agree with all that Phil but I'm not sure if we're going through a bit of a general lull at the moment. Even this forum seems to me to have dropped off from what it was a few years ago.

I don't buy any mags now, modelling, motorcycling or aviation - they all seem to be struggling in the modern world of vast online content and I feel sorry for those who carry on producing monthly mags in the face of a declining readership and increasing costs. It's their livelyhood after all. I guess there's only so much that you can find to fill 100+ pages every month without stringing things out a bit. A change in tastes particularly for younger generations who will never consider buying a hard copy mag on any subject. Not just the young.....sit in any public area and all the folks reading newspapers or magazines will be minimal compared to those with their smartphones seen scrolling through whatever it is.

Nobody can make anything risk free, but surely a 'what if' mindset needs to be taken into consideration? I guess that for full size and model airshows, the 'what if' is mainly concerned with machines going out of control or breaking up and crashing into spectators. Many steps have been taken over the decades to reduce the chance of injury, and although its hard to argue against, the distance from the crowd to full size aircraft at shows has reduced the spectacle. Take Duxford as an example - carparking and the crowdline was on the grass - then moved back to the hardstanding - now further back towards the hangars for spectators with main carparking offsite.

Agree Peter. At risk of being accused of being a kill joy or fun policeman......I must say that if that sort of flying at my clubs was going on, it would be nipped in the bud PDQ. The group in the video can do as they please of course and appear to be quite unfazed by a needle nosed model going past people at a low close distance and not inconsiderable speed. Radio failure, structural failure or pilot error does happen and there's not much in the way of a safety margin at the strip should the worst happen and at just the wrong moment for them. At least they're out in the middle of nowhere, so it's probably only themselves being put at unnecessary risk. Up to them.

Can also be achieved by a gradual change of aerofoil section towards the tip compared to that nearer to the root.

Arrived via Evri yesterday.