kc

Ditch the pusher prop and then you could build any one of many powered gliders. Maybe the Goldberg Electra plan on Outerzone could suit that motor.

On the hired Opel Astra the elecronics recognised every yellow village sign in Austria & Germany ( indicating 50 kph limit ) or speed limit sign and gave a distinctive noise that the speed limit had changed and a different sound when that speed limit was exceeded. ( of course I never exceed the limit but the speedo was 3 k fast so I heard it work! ) Very handy I thought. I reckon a rear reversing camera is an almost essential item to most modern cars which have restricted view rearwards.

So I suppose at 10 watts for 24 hours day for 366 days year that means that for anyone who has a landline and does not need broadband they must in future pay about £22 year extra for electricity to power the previously unnecessary router! Not a lot of people would know that........ and it's not as 'Green' as the old landine!

Why is it that we are willing to accept a Digital phone won't work when the mains supply fails? Surely the phone could be fitted with a battery just like the cordless phones ( 2 AAA size Eneloop in mine ) that recharges automatically from the mains and can provide an hour or so of calls! If we accept that technology cannot provide a proper service in future in an emergency then we are wimps and will pay the price eventually - due to terrorism, war, strikes, electric cuts due to sudden mass use of elecric car charging etc. Some months ago in RCME an article showed how a small, cheap solar panel can keep a gel cell charged for use in shed etc. Cost was about £18 retail for solar panel and 12 v gel cells about £13 for 7 amp. Why do we not insist BT do something similar for land lines? The phone companies want to eliminate land lines to force us to have mobile phones which are cheaper for them and much mor expensive for consumers. Landline users are being forced to also pay for a mobile contract just to have a phone in emergency. Actually they can also be charged in a car, so can be charged via petrol or diese! Or a solar panel can charge the car battery or phone.

Change should only be to something better and having a phone that needs electricity supply to work is clearly worse. Those of my age can remember the 3 hour off electricity cuts in the 1970's every evening but at least we could make phone calls in an emergency. Frankly our world is being dominated by idiots who cannot see that being dependant on certain things ( in this case electricity supply ) will cause chaos in an emergency. Look at last weeks Crowdstrike problem. Maybe they should have spent less on advertising on F1 cars ( I wondered what Crowdstrike meant on Lewis Hamiltons car ) and more on staff checking updates before isuing them. Common sense needs to be used especially by those at the top.

BT have just sent me an e-mail saying they want to convert my phone to Digital Voice and amongst the small print in the e-mail is - " By booking the appointment, you’ll be providing consent to proceed with the switch over to Digital Voice" How can they presume I am giving consent just by booking an appointment! I will bet I cannot withdraw my consent to Digital Voice if I find that it's not suitable for my circumstances afterwards. Frankly I don't want my landline phone to be dependant on the electricity supply. So my question to the forum members is what are your experiences of Digital Voice? Have you refused to have it?

Or Boddo's Dracon also on Outerzone together with Elf 16 or Elf 20. But I reckon pusher props and hand launched rear motor models are too dangerous to the fingers of the launchman, so you might do better giving the prop away to someone with a Bixler type model. I suppose an add on pylon could be used on a glider to utilise the pusher prop.

My advice is never buy secondhand radio gear - you need 100 percent reliable radio for enjoyable troublefree flying and more importantly safety. Never buy 35Mhz radio gear as people often give that away free as it's not used much now . 2.4 Ghz is the radio everyone prefers now. Buying a secondhand plane can be OK but may be fuel soaked and heavy, so that could be a problem. Get an experienced modellers opinion first. Secondhand engines can be OK if you know about engines or have a club member who can sort the engine for you. Visit a nearby club and see what the members are using and whether electric or glow takes your interest or maybe gliders.

Anyone interested in Keil Kraft would probably find the Aeromodeller Handbooks interesting- 1948 to 1969 are available online to download free here

Captainandrex, Welcome to the forum. The link to outerzone gets the plan to download and instructions also 'printwood' image. These can be downloaded to a memory stick and taken to a print shop to print, or you could print on an A4 printer as a ' tiled ' print at 100 percent and stick them together with sellotape.

I can see the point about short people but my wife is short and has the seat right forward but she still can reach the manual handbrake. Of course we checked she could fit the car before we bought. ( we rejected the Prius as the steering column bulge wouldn't allow my wife to drive as it hit her knees with the seat right forward ) A handbrake cable would surely be checked at an MOT so shouldn't fail, but can the MOT tester check the electronics and be sure they will last the year? Must be safer to have a cable brake that is completely separate from hydraulics and electronics. As for running back on a hill my Toyota Auris Hybrid Auto with manual handbrake doesn't roll back without using handbrake on most hills. I would have paid MORE money to NOT have a keyless ignition on my Auris! Same with electronic handbrake if I bought another car - it's worth more without especially when it gets a few years old!

Nobody seems to have explained why they like electronic handbrakes rather than the good old fashioned handbrake lever! Surely a handbrake lever that does not need electric power must be a safety feature? With the extra advantage that the manual handbrake can be applied gently or fully according to circumstances.

Tim, Good luck with building the new Maricardo and lets have some info on the forum when it's finished. If you have the original article you may still find the 2004 article of use as it's a modernised/ simplified version. You may hate the changes of course! There was some info somewhere that the name Maricardo was derived from the designers name and his childrens names- can you verify that?

Futaba seem very reliable - the problem being compatibilty of Rx with their Tx. The old FAAST Rx once available with their cheap 6EX Tx are now only compatible with their very expensive (£1000 )Tx nowadays, so if my 6EX Tx goes wrong then it's either a £1000 for a new Tx or scrap the Rx. Same with the more modern Rx and TX - the cheaper Tx are not compatible with many Rx. See a chart online which shows which Tx is compatible with which Rx. Not many cheap Tx are compatible with many Rx and none are compatible with the old FAAST system. So that Futaba is fine if you buy all the Rx that you may need ( it seems everybody has at least 6 Rx nowadays- some need a dozen or more ) and look after the Tx. If the Tx gets damaged or fails then you may need to buy a much more expensive Tx to use your collection of Rx.

One aspect to consider is the cost of extra Rx. Nowadays many people have a dozen models all with Rx - often tiny foam models. Futaba may be much more expensive if you need many Rx. Futaba compatible Rx are not as common as Spektrum compatible Rx. Otherwise that Futaba set looks a great buy, especially if you get a few Rx to match. The Maricardo plan is available on Outerzone, but there is a newer version which was published in RCME as free plan April 2004 with updates to simplify and use modern aileron servos in wing etc. I think just the info from the article is all you need with the old plan. The April 2004 RME is on sale for £4.25 at Magazine Exchange

Could you explain why you like them? On the hired Astra ( very new and an automatic ) last week I found I had to keep my foot on the brake all the time during a long stoppage for roadwork traffic lights on a steep hill or else it rolled forward. Same on the way back uphill it tried to roll back. Very tedious. Old fashioned handbrake would be better in my view.

A hired Opel Astra had very useful sound effect when exceeding speed limit or a change of limit - worked on every village sign in Germany & Austria I encountered, not just speed limit sign. But had a useless and dangerous electronic handbrake which didnt stop rolling back on hillstarts!

If you look at the 'Which?' website it gives the definitive guide to faulty goods and refunds. You don't need to subscribe to see that part of their information.

Maybe it was this website. In the old days before we allowed women to dominate things model magazines sold in great numbers possibly due to the covers which attracted young men to buy the mag and then take up aeromodelling. See these typical examples. Respectable but eyecatching. Look at that website for many, many more aeromodelling magazines full of lots of technical stuff too.

That July 2024 Aeromodeller that John showed gives a phone number - so maybe a quick phone call would get the info on whether the plan and parts are still sold. Let us all know the answer!

Actually it seems a 2 part article and the first is available here. The free plan in issue with 2nd article seems for a different design though.

Some Flying Scale Model mags are available to download free from RC Bookcase - including one with a Beaufighter article & design. Many other magazines there too. The Beaufighter issue with plan seems to be available on Magazine Exchange for £3.50 or so for used or £3.60 new from ADH.

I believe Doolittle or Aeromodeller should still sell all the old plans . You should be able to download a pdf catalogue and find the plan number.

Andy's list covered most things but my first thought was that one of those connectors that have a screw to tighten down onto a wire or plastic rod might just be not tightened enough which might allow the wire to slip though and not convey the movement. Such a connector might be on the servo end or might be at the elevator end. My next thought was that the body of the servo might not be securely held - if it's loose in foam etc it might sound like it's working but the servo body is moving and not transmitting movement. It's common to have a servo arm screw come loose or not be fitted at all which can allow the arm to fail to grip the splines.

Nice photo JD8. Phil. Exposure for sunsets should be set by allowing the camera or meter to see just the brightest sky but not the actual sun and partially push the shutter down to hold meter reading and the focus. Then swing the camera to include sun and if possible a strong silhouette in foreground. There are some who reckon the sun can burn the ( cloth) shutter on old SLR film cameras and of course ones eyes if pointed and focussed on the sun for long through an SLR. Might affect modern cameras in some way too. I found that a good way to predict the best sunsets is to see when high tide coincides with sunset - always worked for me. ( JD8 was that the case when you took your photo perhaps? )