jonryan

Was that the one offering a choice of high wing with dihedral, 3 channel, or shoulder wing, flat, with ailerons? If memory serves, you could use it as a first trainer, then change the wing for something a bit more lively     Edited By jonryan on 08/03/2016 19:11:59 Edited By jonryan on 08/03/2016 19:12:29

This goes over my place quite often. Diamond DA-42 Twin Star, RAF apparently, though not marked as such

Now, if I get one of these and enter it in a scale heli comp, how can it not lose?     Edited By jonryan on 03/03/2016 13:13:41

...currently at £24.99 from Hurricane Models and Sussex Model Centre

Rubbish. A decent pilot would have found a thermal. I'm getting in touch with HK to see if they've got any of these jet packs. I'm fed up with traffic jams

Steve - Fair enough. Not sure if I've got a charger for one of those. I picked up an old Thunder Tiger 'Sparky' that I'm learning on when the weather is good. I converted it to take a modern motor and LiPo, and think I've chucked all the original gubbins - including a NiMh charger. May still be in a box...

Posted by Colin Carpenter on 24/02/2016 14:41:41: Jonathan - I'm in Frome and I have a Multiplex Easyglider going spare. Been upgraded to brushless. Had a few dings but it's a good flyer. Would only need to take blades off for slope. Colin Interesting. Tell me more... what does it need to get airborne, and how much are you thinking of, Colin? It's a bit bigger than I was thinking of, but should be OK

Posted by Steve Houghton 1 on 24/02/2016 14:05:51: It is plenty stable enough for a beginner, then once you are confident with it, increase the throws and, WOOOHOOOO . This was my first sloper after flying powered models. The table in the picture that my model is sat on is the table I built it on. I just put a board over the top to protaect the table. The construction is very easy, mostly consisting of taping the thing together. SAS provide the tape and the glue to join the two wing halves. You then just need a square type RX Nimh battery, RX, some stick on weights (to correct the COG), and two standard sized servo's, with the TX ability to mix elevons. You should be able to complete it in about three evenings ish. Cheers for the info Steve. I have Spektrum gear which has plenty of mixing options, and some old Futaba servos knocking about somewhere. You say NiMH battery. Any reason LiPo won't do?

...also, how much building does the Wildthing need? I only have a small space & that's covered in bits of power trainer #2 (prepare for the worst! ). What I'm after is something that flies out of the box, more or less.

Yeah, I looked at that, Steve. Is it stable enough for a beginner?

Thanks Pete. That's what I thought. I think I've entered the correct subscriber number; in case not perhaps someone could email it to me.

Hi there, I can't access any of this even though I'm a magazine subscriber. Do I need to upgrade?

A dig into the interwebs comes up with Bixler and Anx as possibles. Anyone tried either of these on a slope?

Conditions not that good at the moment for leaning to fly a basic power trainer, so the nice people at Sedgemoor FC have invited me to go soaring. I'd rather smash up my own model than one of theirs, so am after something cheap, and that bounces rather than shatters, at least not too easily. Suggestions? And if anyone close-ish to Glastonbury has one they are thinking of selling on, I'm in the market.

"...if £33 is a problem then to be blunt, you're going to struggle in modelling..." Not so much that, as that some of it will have to be paid before a potential new member knows if they will keep it up. This is what put me of learning to sail some years back. I could get the odd sail crewing as a guest, but to give it a good run I'd have to join for a year, and buy a wetsuit and lifejacket and other odds and end before proper learning could start. Not cheap!

Well, if automatic renewal was possible, that wouldn't happen. It would also save treasurers some work.

Commenting as the BMFA Treasurer, and the person responsible for proposing the fees to the AGM, and also for devising the current system ... Keith, is there a mechanism for people to pay monthly or quarterly? Or perhaps, as I mentioned above, to possibility of a 'trail month'? It isn't so much the cost of club membership and insurance as that people may be reluctant to have a go at model flying if they have to stump up for a full year, only to find they don't get addicted (yes; it could happen... ). Then again, one comment up thread suggests there is some reluctance to attract newcomers at all. I find that a bit sad.

"The only negative is that for the relatively small number of new members joining each year, if they join late they pay still full club subs - £40. OK, that may seem a bit hard." This is the bit I'm really thinking about. I started looking for a club last year. The folks at Sedgemoor couldn't have been more welcoming when I approached them last October. The advice was to join in January, which I did, and I've managed three Sunday morning supervised flights with my rookie's model since, the club instructor doing the take-off and landing honours and trying not to wince. How much enthusiasm is there to attract new flyers? What sort or recruitment drives do clubs hold? My thought is that people such as myself would be far more likely to respond to a 'have a go' session if it meant you didn't have to worry about frostbite, and could have a number of sessions in order to get a real feel for things. PS for any other beginners reading this: My sim is a terrific investment. It gives a pretty realistic sense of the real thing, and particularly helps with orientation.

PS: Would it be possible for people to consider any positives to this and not just negatives? Please?

How many clubs offer automatic on-line renewal? I have a number of annual or bi-annual subscriptions that work this way. An email warning turns up a few weeks before the due date, and payment goes out automatically. Or it doesn't if I cancel. I visualise something like free club membership for the first month (incentive!), including insurance cover on some sort of 'guest' policy (no idea if this is possible, but it shouldn't be difficult). Would probably need a club model & radio, and an understanding that there would be no unsupervised flying. As BMFA have ~36,000 members I'd've though staggering payments would be better for them in terms of spreading the income over the year (quarterly payment option perhaps?), rather than it all coming in in one lump. Or something.

That's what I thought Simon. Hard to think of anything more likely to discourage newcomers. "Yes, sure you can join. Delighted to have you. That'll be £75 for three months club and BMFA membership, then another £75 in January. Oh, and your chances of getting much flying before the end of March are negligible but, hey, it's only money...what do you mean, you'll stick to Morris dancing...come back, we have great pub quiz evenings..."

Probably a rookie question, but why must BMFA cover, and with it (as far as I can tell) club memberships, run from the start of the year? Isn't it likely that potential newcomers are more likely to give model flying a go when conditions are better? Having decided to give it a try, they approach a club, and learn that insurance will cost them a full premium, but will only run until the end of the year. Club membership fees seem to follow the same pattern. Anyone wanting to join in, say, October, would in effect be paying four times as much as someone joining for the first time in January. Am I missing something here?

Hi Wes, As a beginner myself, the thing I found amazingly useful was a sim, as a couple of the others mentioned. I've got the Phoenix. This allows you to make all your early mistakes for free. The best thing for me was help with orientation - when the model is coming towards you, the controls are in effect reversed, which is horrendously disorientating at first. Joining a club was amazingly useful as well!