Paul Jones 1

cool, that's great advice, we'll get on with the build tomorrow thanks so much for the advice Paul

Hi guys, I took some advice from other forum members here and decided to build the SLEC Coyote glider as my first build for quite some years, we're currently on with building the wing and have a question. it asks for some wing sheeting to initially go on the lower flat surface of the wing, and later the same section obviously has sheeting on the top. The piece of balsa supplied for cutting this from is about 600mm long and 75mm wide with grain running lenghways. I imagined that the sheeting would go on such that the grain would run the same direction as the wing, from left to right, that way its probably stronger and will (more important on the curved top surface) bend to take the shape of the wing, the trouble is, that toward the rear of the wing, the larger part to cover, it's not wide enough to reach the wing spar (unless it's fitted sideways, which doesn't seem right ? and the only way to do it with grain right/left is to cut the piece up and glue one ahead of the next, and then bend the completed piece as a whole when gluing on ? is this right ? that way you have unsupported glued joins in two places on frighteningly thin balsa ? is it just the done thing for these kit suppliers to send 75mm wide balsa ?

I'm buying the Coyote, I think that's a good move, we'll store the Plan for the Ridge Runt alongside the Minimoa 50" glider that we were reccomended to buy by Leeds Models (you see we like to do things rather backward .... not that you've noticed or anything we'll get hold of the Coyote, learn about the build and get used to the way they use Balsa, we'll have a much better idea of what's needed for the Ridge Runt which we'll likely do in the future I'll let you know how we get on anyway Paul

Interesting, I’d seen this Coyote mentioned, it does look very similar. for the ridge runt, the instructions are easily found online..... but they came with the plan as well. Problem is that even with the instructions there are some details missing, which is the minor problem that I’m having

Thanks Dan, I’m learning all the time, cheers for the reply

Wow, thank you so much for the reply, really great advice. I could do with ringing SLEC for advice on the balsa first, the plan shows a lot of sizes but not the thickness of those Fuselage sides nor if it’s hard balsa. I guess if the worst happens and it doesn’t feel right, we just get some more. We’ll need to template the fuselage sids, tail and wing ribs, it it best just done with tracing paper, then cut out and stuck on balsa for drawing around ? paul

Hi guys, we’re attempting to build the Hobby Shack Ridge Runt glider from a plan ( I previously did this one from a kit many years ago ) ....,I have as many details as I can get from it, but there a number of questions re certain bits :- I’m ordering most of the parts from SLEC, and have most of the order together   for all choices in balsa I’ve selected the ‘medium’ grade other than I selected ‘hard for leading and trailing edges of the wings, worth doing or not ? the fuselage top and bottom appear to be marked 1/16” or 1.5mm, would I assume the sides are also the same thickness ? Seems thin ? the wing ribs will be from the same 1/16” ? tail vertical and horizontal (and elevator) seem to be 1/8” or 3.2mm formers inside the fuz, are these balsa or need to be something stronger ? the wing has a central spar indicates as hardwood, daft question (sorry) but what hardwood exactly ? wing dowels, again, what type of wood for these ?   thanks for helping out a beginner   paul   feel free to copy and paste the above, fill in any useful comments if you can help. I'm certainly sure to be missing some stuff, but hopefully I can end up with everything with one main order, and hopefully one order for ‘missing stuff / replacements   Edit, I also obviously need some other aspects, maybe I’ll ring up the model shop tomorrow   hinges for control surfaces, think they were just plastic, is there a best type or they’re all about the same ? need to make the bent bits of wire that takes the servos movement through 90 degrees into the wing for the ailerons, wonder if I can buy this pre-threaded on one end ?   need to make the straight link that goes from the servo towards the back of the wing ? Does this stuff have names, if it does I just don’t remember. I don’t have a tap/die set, so again hopefully I can get wire threaded on one end, and bend the other end into the servo ? Any idea on what a sensible gauge of wire would be for this kind of model, it’s a 50” glider with micro servos        Edited By Paul Jones 1 on 05/05/2020 21:33:07

cheers guys, thanks for your replies, I'm learning ! (tip re flitehook thicknesses is useful too, cheers) Paul

Slec it is, perfect. Stupid question now : when we receive our balsa, we need to set to transferring the plan onto the sheet wood. I watched a guy on youtube, I think he was a plan supplier ? he covered the plan in plastic, then he cut it out and traced it onto his sheet balsa. I'm guessing this is the only/best way to do it..... but then I've butchered my plan, so I've nothing to build over, hmmm actually, I can trace the bits I need from the plan, that's gonna be fuselage sides, wing ribs etc, so I can leave the plan intact ? I'll keep watching youtube until I can suss it. we managed to download the build intructions and they're pretty good with diagrams..... plus having build this model years ago might help looking forward to it ...... and I get another crack at learning to fly again, my previous iteration of this model was test flown by an experienced pilot, it flew nicely, but after that, I really don't remember where it went

Hi guys, I'm pretty new here, we've bought one kit so far, and I'm also waiting on a plan for the Hobby Shack Ridge Runt, something I built many years ago, that was from a kit, this time it's from the plan... although its a relatively simple build. When we've got the plan, I'll try and make a list of the various bits we need, abviously the majority is straightforward sheet balsa which should be easy, I'm not sure till the plan rolls up, but I think there's some triangular section too Is there a particular place that people use for their balsa ? Obviously there's no shop to collect from currently thanks for your help in advance Paul

thanks for your replies fellas, I've made some notes, so I think we've good some now when we're ready for further kits Paul

thank you, just ordered the SLEC plan protector film, was £6 including postage, so not so bad, enough to build several models I think

thank you sir, great advice

I've a lot to learn (that goes for most subjects by the way) but we've got my dad his first model with a little help from the Leeds model shop and the guys on this site. We've received most of what we need to start the build, but I have a question about building on the plan. My brother, who now lives in Australia flew RC planes for many years, although, like myself, we've been out of it for a long time now. Just wanted to double check a couple of things with you : 1, we need some form of building board, something we can pin into, is there a usual DIY solution to this, do we buy a large cork board and fix it over out building table ? or is there something commercially available ? 2, My brother said that he used to put plastic over his plan ? again, I've not a clue, please let me know how we build on top of the plan sorry to be a bit dumb, I'll check out some YouTube videos while perhaps anyone wants to reply to this thread many thanks Paul J

You guys are great !! Thank you so much, we’ll check them out thank you for your time paul

Hi, hoping you can help. It's a long story, and I'll spare you it for now... but could you possibly recommend a good source or two for us to find traditional balsa wood aircraft kits, a place that that stocks options which are time consuming to build, preferably with built up wing ? I'm guessing gliders are more common ? I'm asking for my dad, he's a wood worker, he's bored, and we seriously need something to keep him busy......... I'll be honest, the plane will likely never fly, if it does, it'll be a test flight to prove that it works, then he'll likely take a best offer from someone at the flying field and go buy his next kit ! please share your wisdom, ideas for particular kits, advice on where to buy from any help would be most appreciated !! many thanks Paul

thanks for the replies, based on the chart above, all looks correct. I think I might have to take a trip down to my local flying field and ask advice ?

the TX has the same orange DSM2 on it, printed on the case

just tried again outside, and with a distance between RX and TX, and still no luck

its says DSM2 on it

Hi guys, hoping you can help. I bought a second hand Spectrum DX6i with an AR6200 receiver, it was initially unresponsive, I was aware that I had no bind plug, one has now arrived in the post. I've tried binding, I've powered up the receiver, it's flashing correctly to indicate it's ready for binding, then I held down the TX trainer switch, turned on, and the TX indicates Binding..... but then nothing happens, the RX continues to flash, and the TX continues to say it's trying to bind, but seemingly it never does, I've sat for 5 minutes and nothing. Can anyone tell me what I might be doing wrong ? Many Thanks Paul

guys... I really can't thank you enough, what a great start ! I can certainly look at joining a club, I went to a local one last summer, and now the interest has emerged again, I will show a little more interest there. Would be great to get back into this hobby ! thanks again..... and sure, I'll have more questions, Im sure of that Paul

you know, I had no idea I was actually a member of this forum, I found out upon attempting to log in to this nice looking site. So, I'm back, I'm still rather useless, I'm 43 now, I flew models as a kid, never had great success, those were the days just slightly before ARTF came out, unfortunately my planes were usually 'almost ready to crash' and I destroyed two before later building an unpowered slope soarer which was test flown but never really flown by myself, I had the interest but not really the ability, then 10 years ago I bought an ARFT Parkzone Typhoon 3D, and again it wasn't used, sat around and was sold off. I've always frequented Woodvale until it finished and more recently Weston Park and always enjoyed the shows. so... things have changed since I was young, a few questions :- (please help me, just be honest) 1, Is it possible to learn to fly models on really slow flying stuff, and if so, is that counter productive since its probably a glider with a huge wingspan, and to the degree that it flys slow, it's probably very slow to turn and manoeuvre ? is a larger wingspan model like a glider good, or useless to learn on ? 2, Are 'indestructible' (or as near as I can get) models usually very light and therefore get blown all over the place, making learning more difficult ? 3, are the 'good old days' still around, are there still decent balsa kits available to buy and build ? I see a lot of models that you just pop out of the packet, charge up and fly, and that saddens me somewhat This is actually a dual question, I've been brought back to thinking about RC planes due to the fact that my dad has started building RC boats, but I feel he could get a lot of interest in building planes (the building aspect is his main interest) but we really (both of us) need to learn to fly, the eventual aim is for him to be building and flying models which are traditional time consuming builds

Thanks for your message, I did infact get the spinner off but I've been a bit busy at work and the house, I just need to get myself a little time to get the plane finished. I've the speed controller to set up and the servo plugs to shave off so that I can plug what I think are Futaba type plugs into my Spektrum (JR?) type reciever.     how will I know which way to plug the plugs in ?   My next question, will probably be (and I don't have the model right now to look) is where to plug the aileron servos in, as there's only one 'ail' socket....... although, silly me....... models used one servo for ailerons back in my day ! lol , perhaps this needs to be mixed using the radio. Sounds a bit technical to me, but I'll look into it soon   cheers   Paul.

Sorry for swearing in that previous posting, I wasn't aware of your rules, but I totally agree that there's no need for it. won't happen again.   Can't I change the plugs on the servos so that they match the receiver ? or is that too fiddly ?   It's true that there isnt' much room in this kit for the AR7000 reciever, or more to the point, it's second antenna thingy (never seen anything like this before) didn't know what it was when it came out of the packet !   Reckon that the main part of the reciever will mount 'over' the top of the recess in the polystyrene fuzz towards the back of the canopy, and I'll try and stick the second antenna to the insude of the actual flip up plastic canopy. Wont' be much of a gap inbetween them for radio seperation due to having to leave slack in the wire to open the canopy, but the radio instructions seem to indicate that this isn't crucial   thanks   Paul