Russ1974

In answer to number 2, and a beginner myself, don't rule out clubs.  My local club consists of a farmers with a takeoff/landing strip that is kept mowed.  Often when I go, I am the only person there.  But it gives me a place that I know I can fly safely in with owners permission, no risk off upsetting anybody or having an encounter with stray farm animals/people!   A club simply means it's organised and authorised, doesn't mean it's full of people.  The club I am at, you can fly anything you want from a £20 toys-r-us foam toy upwards.  

Although a few weeks old I thought I'd mention this to anybody else who has their first plane and is considering taking it for a fly without expert assistance.   On my second trip, and my first fly, I had somebody check the plane over properly before taking it up.  It turns out that I had fitted one of the parts backwards on the prop assembly/engine, and as he gave it an inspection the prop pretty much fell off in his hands!  Took it all apart, rebuilt it properly, and all was well.  Nothing broken, but had I taken it up for a fly and the same thing had happened, well a plane without a propellor would not be much fun for a beginner.   So, if you have built your first plane/heli/and are desperate to get it in the air, just be patient, these things are dangerous.

Thanks for the messages!  Unfortunately one thing led to another and I got bogged down at home with work.  I have a conference call in 45 minutes, shortly after that it'll be time to get the kids ... then it'll be evening ... oh well maybe tomorrow  

... to me !   So on this lovely sunny day, should I get some work done, or take my plane down to the flying club.  Tough choice.

Medal is in the post Ross   Me??  A little grin??  Never ....  

  Didn't want to advertise/name drop in the wrong forum - but as requested;   Weston on the Green model flying club : http://www.westonmodelflyingclub.co.uk/  

Saturday morning came, I was bright(ish) and early(ish), got to the model club just after 9am.  It was a lovely clear still warm day, so I was surprised to find I was the first and only person there.  I waited until 10.15am and still was on my own!!  So packed up and went home.  Went back out early afternoon to find around 8 people there, some I knew already.   Got my plane all set up and fuelled, tried to start it, and it wouldn't.  Spent a few minutes trying and then realised the prop didn't seem to be "biting" on the engine properly.  Took it to bits and it kind of fell apart in my hand, fairly surprised as I'd used all the proper tools and tightened it hard.  One of the other people came over and noticed that I'd got one of the bits on back to front - oops !  So he helped me put it all back together, properly, and once all was fastened again, tried to start it.  Engine was flooded .... I learnt the art of the "upside down plane tip whilst running the starter" which blew all the fuel out of the bits it shouldn't be.  Tried again, and it sprung in to life.  Phew   One of the guys fiddled with the enginer until it was ticking over nicely and not spluttering, and I asked if he would take it up for a test flight and to get it trimmed.   All went well, it flew very nicely, I even took the controls for a bit and did some circuits.  No buddy lead was available but I felt comfortable having flown helis years ago and learning all the controls on my sim.   Time to come in to land, so I handed the controls back.  It was a perfectly calm day and with no head wind or flaps, it was clear the plane was coming in quickly, resulting in a few go arounds.  Final attempt, the plane came down fairly quickly, started to bounce, and the nose wheel bent and then snapped off.  Doh!   Took the plane home, worked out that it was a fairly easy repair, and after a bit of bending with pliers and a bit of epoxying, the plane was ready to fly again - so back to the field I went!   This time they asked if I wanted to do the take off ... "sure" I said, so off I went, and took off!  I was doing circuits fine, both directions, some high some low, and felt really comfortable and confident.  I lost orientation once when a gust of wind made it start turning the opposite way to my control but I quickly realised and managed to recover.   Time to land ... "I'll give it a go" I announced, and they guided me through the correct approach path, angle and speed.  I did a few practice runs, coming in low and slow, then accelerating in to another circuit.  The time came when it was now or never - and I pulled it off!  Plane landed on the runway, stopped before the end of the runway, and was still in one piece!   I packed up and went home feeling very happy with myself.  Solo on my 2nd flight !!   I am sure I now need to go down hill quickly and write the machine off before I can progress ... it can't be THIS easy can it??  

Hehe.  Well I am just getting ready to head to the club for my first proper introduction and with a bit of luck somebody will take my plane up.  With even more luck, somebody will have a buddy lead handy and i'll get to take the controls ... but we'll see !!

My guess is that the only reason they do this on "real" planes is to free up the fusealage for passengers and luggage.  Because on a model plane you don't have that requirement, it's much simpler just to shove the electronics and fuel in the big empty middle bit.   The extra strengthening and technology required to put fuel in the wings is pointless on a model plane.      

John - a very technical and useful response.  I, on the other hand, just "shoved it in"

Fuel tank is now secured in place

Ulty - thanks.   Simon - electric is for girls.    

Hi,   At present I haven't securely fitted my fuel tank as I was unsure whether to have it perfectly flat or at an angle.  Then it got me thinking.  If it was perfectly flat, and if I put the plane in a nose dive with anything other than a completely to the brim full tank, wouldn't the engine be starved of fuel and cut out?   So two questions;   1) Should I install the tank securely or leave it loose so it can flop round a bit, and if secured, should it be flat?   2) How does the plane get fuel when pointing downwards?  I understand the "clunk" on the fuel pipe will give fuel during rolls etc but can't work out how it would work when the plane is pointing down.   Thanks!

   I went to the club today,nobody else around, but gave me a nice big safe area to give the new plane (my first) a good checking over.  As I had flown helis many years ago I felt quite comfortable checking all the controls, securing the plane in its restraint, filling the tank with fuel, connecting the glow plug, and starting the engine up!!   All was going fine until I got distracted and put my hand in to the prop.  Went to A&E but they couldn't do anything to save most of my left hand, and I am now typing this with 7 fingers.   Ok ok I'm just kidding - the engine started up perfectly first time, and I ran it at various throttles getting though 3/4 tank of fuel to run the engine in.   After a couple of hours I realised nobody else was going to show up (9-5 job on a calm sunny day?  no thanks!) so packed up and went home feeling quite pleased with myself.  Not just because the engine started and I didn't hurt myself or the plane, but also that I resisted temptation and didn't even do any taxi-ing let alone flying.  Looking forward to the weekend when I'll get to see it fly for the first time.  Edited By Russ1974 on 24/09/2009 21:24:28

Thanks Simon - that's reassuring.  Yes it's a 40-Trainer, built very well (if I say so myself) with all correct bits and pieces.  I'm used to modelling, and built+flew a petrol heli many years ago.  It's just not very straight  

Now that my plane is all built and ready to fly, something I won't be doing until the model has been checked over by somebody at the local club, I've been doing lots of checks and rechecks myself and have realised that the tail section (mainly the horizontal part, but very slightly also the rudder) are not perfectly square.  I noticed whilst building that the fusealage naturally appeared a little twisted and I compensated as much as I felt I could, but obviously it wasn't enough.   In all, looking from the front of the plane, the right hand side is a good 1/2" higher than the left, and the rudder is probably about 3 or 4 degrees off vertical.  The wings are perfectly level and everything else is fine.   Clearly the plane would not fly straight like this - I am hoping that that it can be compensated for by a little extra trim in the right direction?  Or is my pride and joy for the bin / start again?  The tail section is welded on with 30-minute epoxy and I see no way I could get this off and refit.Edited By Russ1974 on 23/09/2009 15:37:07

Thanks Myron.  Many years ago, I must have been about 12, a friend of the family took me to watch them fly model aeroplanes.   He started his plane, got distracted, and I saw his thumb get sliced to the extent it was "hanging off".  A painful lesson for him, and something I'll never forget.  Also whilst I was at my local club last week, I was shown the leg of a 14 year old who had walked a bit too close to his own plane fairly recently and ended up in A&E.   So yep - well aware that these are not toys!  Ok well they are, just very dangerous big boys toys ...  

Thanks Pete - after a bit more reading I realised that the reason I only had two of them was that you aren't recommended to use them for control surfaces.  So I used the two I had for throttle and nose wheel, and reverted to pliers and z-bends for the controls.   Russ.

Thanks everyone     And, don't worry, I have already joined my local club and am in the process of arranging some lessons.  I will be taking the plane for the first time to the club this weekend and will NOT be starting it before I have somebody experienced give my building skills a thorough check over.   I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed a step in the building in terms of pipes for the tank, as the instructions that came with the model seem to almost skip over that part and suddenly assume that, even though it is a starter/trainer kit, that you know how to do it.  Perhaps that is intentional so you are forced to ask somebody experienced who will give you the advice about fingers being chopped off, joining a club, etc !   Russ.

My plane is built!  Yay!   But nothing in the instructions tells me how to get fuel in the tank.  I have two pipes coming off the tank - one that goes right inside that goes to the main input on the engine, and another one that connects to the exhaust/muffler.  But no "filler pipe" or hole for that in the tank.   To get fuel in, do I have to unplug the pipe from the muffler every time?  Seems a bit awkward, but I see no other way.

Hi,   I am progressing well with the building of my first plane.  The kit came with two very handy little "things" to connect two of the controller rods in to the servors.  Rather than have to put a Z-Bend in to the wire, these little "things" screw in to the server arm/wheel, and the steel rod then just slides through the hole.  There is a small allen key/grub screw in the top, that you tighten up to fix the rod in place.  If you need to adjust, you just loosen the grub screw, re-adjust the control rod, then tighten again.   Anyway - I am hoping that somebody can pinpoint exactly what these "things" are called, and preferably point me to a picture or link where I can buy some more of them (UK).   Thanks! Russ.

Already pretty much been answered above, but just to confirm ... today I took a drive over to a local(ish) model retailer today where they had the DX7se in stock, but no "standard edition".  I figured as long as I could still hook up to a simulator and buddy, but not have a trainer switch to teach others, it's no big deal as it'll be a long time before I am able to teach.   I spoke to the guy at the desk, seemed to know his stuff, but also was not sure of the extent to which the trainer function had been removed on th special edition.  So he opened one up and was as stunned as I was to see not just no trainer switch, but no trainer plug socket.  Where the socket normally is, was just a blanking plate.  So the se will not buddy in either direction, has no trainer switch, and will not hook up to a simulator.  Hopefully this information will be useful for others considering this model !   Russ.

Well would you believe it ... took a drive over to a local(ish) model retailer today where they had the DX7se in stock, but no "standard edition".  I figured as long as I could still hook up to a simulator and buddy, but not have a trainer switch to teach others, it's no big deal as it'll be a long time before I am able to teach.   I spoke to the guy at the desk, seemed to know his stuff, but also was not sure of the extent to which the trainer function had been removed on th special edition.  So he opened one up and was as stunned as I was to see not just no trainer switch, but no trainer plug socket.  Where the socket normally is, was just a blanking plate.  So the se will not buddy in either direction, has no trainer switch, and will not hook up to a simulator.  Hopefully this information will be useful for others considering this model - I will cross post (sorry!) in to the R/C forum in answer to my own question that I dual posted there.   Russ.

I'd spent ages looking at all the different types and speaking to people at the local club and had my heart set on the Tutor 40.  I know there are other similar ones around, it's just a bit frustrating having chosen the one I wanted to get only to then find out it was unavailable   I do have a few other models as backups, those above included, but would prefer to try all avenues to track down a Tutor 40 first!   Thanks, Russ.Edited By Russ1974 on 21/09/2009 09:52:35

Having decided on an Irvine Tutor 40 as my first IC trainer, I get my credit card out, and spend hours hunting online to find that everywhere is out of stock!  One site had a cryptic message about the model being redesigned, so I am assuming that the supplier is not shipping any of the old model any more, and I can't find an ETA for the replacement.   Does anybody have any more information on the Tutor 40 stock status or even happen to have one sitting next to them brand new in a box to sell to me?