Bill R

Mine is still on the bench stripped down. Contacted lots of sellers of the starter but none have spare brushes. I can still get brushes for my B&D D500 [from 1972 and still going strong) electric drill, no problem. Pity they dont fit the JPS Starter. LoL!

Thanks for the info dbflyer. Already thought of that one. Just wondered if anyone or any model shop actually provided a spares service rather than just selling the complete item. regards, Bill R

Hi Guys, After 4 years service my JP series 2 engine starter [purple end plates] has given up the ghost. Whilst my local store stocks the replacement rubber cones, no sign or knowledge of spare brushes for the motor. Has anyone any idea where I can get replacement brushes as it seems criminal to throw it out for the want of a simple set of brushes. Living in hope Thanks, Bill R.

Just had the same problem with an SE5A of unknown make. I bought a standard manifold plus coupler from Just engines. [not even a reply from those other people] I heated the original manifold up and tightened the bend to point straight back down the fuz. I assembled the manifold to the second manifold using the coupler and attached to the engine [after first removing it]. Once I replaced the engine, the silencer screwed in from the underside, just clearing the underside of the Fuz. Worked a treat. Just engines helped me out with a similar great in cowl solution for a RCV 91 in my GP192 Cessna using couplers and manifold bends. If I could get an image into this post I would show you the result.

Hi Guys, Thanks for the response The glider is the Discus CS MKII with retract wheel and airbrakes and around 103" wingspan. There is a bar fitted inside the nose which appears to be where the tow is attached but as this is my first glider, not sure exactly what it is for or how it should look. There is a hole in the nose which I assume is where the tow passes through. There was two loose servos with it which is one for the rudder and one for the tow release? The retract servo sounds duff though so will be relaced. I Emailed CMP for a PDF of the assembly sheet with absolutely no reply. Regards, Bill Raine

Anyone out there could send me a copy of the build sheet for the discus MKII please? A couple of pictures of the release mechanism set up would help or how to attach and release the tow? I bought one second hand to try gliding because it always seems to be windy up north here. The Tail root was cracked and poorly repaired but easily fixed. I cut the crack out and used wing joining tape and resin to cover from the inside. Gel coated to level it off, rubbed down and polished back to a very nice finish. C of G is still ok. Any tips on flying the thing would be much appreciated. Bill Raine.

Hi Guys, Still building my hurricane in fits and starts and having a bit of a problem with the wing fairings. I understand that the front section infill is made up of shaped 12mm balsa sitting oin top of the 0.8 mm ply and the 12mm shaped bits are then covered with 1.5mm soft balsa rolled over the top. That is the easy bit. The rear section has no detail ob the drawing and the notes also dont mention much at all about it. The 3mm liteply TE fairings glue onto the TE, one on the fuz and the outer bit on the wing. Now to the problem. Is the aft fairing made out of 3mm liteply or do you roll anothe bit of 1.5mm balsa and blend it into the TE ply fairings? Tried making it out of liteply and it leaves a hole (looking forward) plus it does not match up with the wing TE as it is too high and the profile is not right. I had a look at the pictures but still cannot work it out [must be my age!!] Any help / pictures of your build / how you did it would be much appreciated.   Best regards   Bill Raine

Irvine recommend a particular fuel that has usually a reddish oil out of the exhaust. If you are running too lean it starts to turn dark brown /black due to overheating. All my Irvine 46's and 53's run at around 1.3/4 turns out and were run in at 2 full turns out. I followed the instructions and they start first time once you have fuel through to the carb. The oil does turn black [Irvine contest 10] if it leaks from the manifold or first silencer joint.   Bill R.    

Hi Guys, Just a small point but transmitters cannot be "self certified". all transmitters must be tested by an appointed test house and then if they are ok they get what is called "Type approval". The CE mark info should also carry the registration number of the test house that tested the samples and approved the transmitter. You can then check the list of test houses, find the one with the same number and bobs your uncle. The Declaration of Conformity must carry the name and number of the test house that gave type approval to the transmitter. Standards are not law, only Directives. Transmitters come under the Electro magnetic compatibility Directive [EMC]. Usual test houses are TUV, SGS, [the biggest ones] and around a dozen others in the EEC.   Bill R.  

Just bought a rough Great planes Lancair that looks like a whale! Big wide body with a slender tail and long slender wings with a short uptailed tip. I would appreciate any info on throws and C of G. In the process of completely refurbing the control system. It has independent flaps and ailerons plus possibly twin elevators [joined at present]. Unfortunately no instructions or clues to possible settings. I am willing to photocopy / buy /pay for copy of the build instructions as I cannot find it on the GP website. Any help would be much appreciated Thanks in anticipation.   Bill R.Edited By Bill R on 14/04/2011 19:56:04

Hi Bob, Hope the thumb is ok and no lasting damage. I use Irvine engines exclusively, mainly 46 and 53's. I use a battery type glow clip on the vertical ones and a battery panel type [same as the battery type but without the battery for upside down and side engine mountings. The fuel I use is Irvine Contest 10 as recommended and never had any bother at all. All my engines are still running with the original factory low needle settings. I set up the high needle for maximum speed horizontally, then richen 2 clicks. I then hold the model vertically for 10 - 15 seconds at full chat. If the speed falters I richen 1 or 2 clicks to maintain the speed. Pull back to idle then steadily back to full chat still holding vertical position. It should pick up without hesitation. I also use the long reach OS 3A plug or the equivalent Model power ones. [F6 I think]. I mark the needle position with a bit of liquid paper. Once I have these settings I have only weakened the top needle a little for the winter [1 click] to run a little hotter. Keep the fuel in the car or wrapped up from the winter wind as the cold can affect the mixture. With the Contest 10, the oil residue stays red if the mixture is ok but changes to brown if it is a bit weak. This is actually ok as the tiny bit of castor gives a better lubrication when hotter.   Best regards,   Bill R. P.S. The guarantee is sound if you use the Model Technics Irvine Contest 10.  

Saw a twin engined Cessna 1/4 scale fitted with twin DLE30's. Owner said the plane was fitted with a tacho readout and that the electronics synchronised the engines through the ignition controls, slowing the faster engine down to the speed of the slower one. I know it works because they sounded perfectly in sync and with 3 bladed props very realistic when opened up past tickover. He was using spectrum 2.4GHz with twin battery pack which also used the higest voltage pack automatically switching between the batteries for highest voltage for the receiver pack. Any ideas what he was using ? He was 3rd owner and did not know what they were. The untis were too hidden to get any info in the time I had with him.   Bill R.Edited By Bill R on 21/12/2010 23:10:24

Hi Guys, did a little test on a NiMH pack of mine [2100maH] On my tester, which is little LED's, 1 red 2 yellow and two green the pack showed 2nd green dropping to first green on aappplication of a 1/2A load. the voltmeter showed 5.15v open circuit and 5.01 volts with the load on. I applied a 11 ohm resistor of 25watts and the current drawn  was 487mA at 5.01 volts. After 1.5 hours the volts had dropped to 4.95 volts and 467 mA current draw. This is continuous load. The battery was still cold, leads etc cold. resistance quite hot to the touch. At this stage the led showed yellow [medium] with no change on 1/2A load. The next step is to fully charge the battery and exercise the Servo's to check the load ciurrent. Sseems like you can fly for at least 1.5 hours on a 2100maH  NIMH battery without appreciable loss of power.   regards, Bill R.

Hello Steve, Not much draft out the rear end. It was originally fitted to a 3 channel Cessna wih a 7 x 6 prop fitted I seem to recall. Duff info from the local modelshop though they are more into trains! I will try a 7 X 6 and see how it runs. Thanks.   Bill R.  

Afternoon Steve, I understand the theory now. In effect with two receivers you would have 4 antenna separated by 90 degrees [2 horizontal, 2 vertical] so that all the angles are covered to some degree. Signals do behave quite differently at different frequencies as I have performed some amateur experiments from 1.8MHz to 432 MHz over the years with various powers and antennas, most home built. I have read about the higher end of UHF and SHF communications using backscatter and point ionisation but this is outside the low powers we use in the hobby. two receivers are better than one but the benifits would only be realised on the failure of one or the use of two where high levels of interference could be encountered. Have fun! regards,   Bill R.

Hi Guys, Error the capitals!  Should have been mW [milliwatts] . Here is another one, if the antenna is a dipole then there is gain generated if the two legs are pointed at 45 degrees to the tx antenna. Hopefully with a RX satellite antenna it is always additive signal. You will always lose the signal when the frequency changes. [FASST etc] This is only milliseconds [to "L" with caps and things] or even fractions of a milliseconds [nans or even pico's] before communication is re-established. This is where the money comes in. Speed is expensive [relatively speaking] for the response time but do you really need it. Loss of, or the signal going into the noise floor would necessitate a frequeny shift to improve matters after a tx/rx exchange just in case. I am not a designer so could not say for certain exactly how it works. Reading the blurb it looks like there are genuine full performance receivers and short range receivers out there. I dont think there is anything to worry about. Two receivers are belt and braces or the Manufacturer's way of overcoming shortfalls in the receiver design by designing for two. for the larger, more expensive models then two or even 3 Rcvrs would be the way to go as two belts and braces. Dont forget that small metal objects on the body could act as parasitic antennas for the TX!.   Nuff said. The whole idea of the hobby is what you want to do or see as the best in your eyes. What works for some may not work for others.   regards, Bill R.  

Hello Guys, Finally got the engine started and running. With a 6" x 4" Graupner prop it certainly is a screamer. Blew the fuel line out with a pump as suggested wiggled all the scews and started with 1 turn out on the air bleed and one turn out on the main jet. Started first time. The settings are very very critical. 3 clicks out on the main just takes it off the boil. 1/4 turn further out on the air bleed and its a winnet. - winnet start. Left it one turn out on the airbleed and one turn plus 3 clicks on the main needle. Starts first time, picks up great and sounds like 10K plus rpm. Thanks for all the the helpand input. One very satisfied customer.   regards, Bill R.  

Hello Guys, Got a very nice second hand OS70 4 stroke at the nats and just finished fitting it and roughing out  the cowl. it fits like a glove with 2mm clearance between prop and cowl. I have covered the ailerons, elevator and rudder with white solartex and it looks really good. The covering is nice and tight and shows the spars up very nicely. I am not happy with the tail wheel fitting as it feels a little loose in the fuselage so will be rethinking that one. Any iteas / pics would be welcomed here. The tissue and varnish idea for the wings and front fuselage sounds good but I was thinking of just sanding and sealing the balsa, putting panel lines on with a pencil and painting over then sealing off with a matt varnish or dope coats with a final rub over with very fine sandpaper to give that "worn" look. I am still not happy with the mechanical retracts. I have managed to fit the EZ mechanical retracts and get them working correctly but really wanted some oleo legs to offset any hard landings. I cannot locate any oleo's around the 4" length the model requires. The air retracts look good and sound a better idea than the mech ones.  I have the topside of the wings covered but with the retract problems dont want to cover the underside yet. I thought I might have completed by Easter but I think I meant Easter 2011. Other build projects and flying time have got in the way. Dark nights and quality build time is approaching fast. Roll on winter or have we not had summer yet?   Regards, Bill R.  

Hello Martin, Thanks for that info. I changed the plug as it was just sputtering without a glow. I fitted a Model Technics F5 medium grade, first checking it had a healthy orange glow to it. Same length as the plug that was fitted. I will try the pump and a few drops of fuel down the hole but it will be next weekend now as I travel around a bit at work. Regards, Bill R..

On a twin I/C engine model I have linked channels 3 and 7 to allow individual adjustments to the 2 engines. I use the flick switch [trainer switch] as a throttle cut off. Only problem is that the FF7 only switches channel 3 servo. Is there any way to switch off channel 7 as well? I cannot find anything in the book or the FF7 guide to allow this action. Any ideas anyone or how do you do it?   Regards, Bill R.

Hello Steve, I dont think you need to worry too much over losing signal strength. Theoretically there is a 3db drop if one antenna is vertical and the other is horizontal. What you may not realise is that 2.4GHz is the cooking frequency of your good old microwave. With an uninterruped horizon, 1 Mw of power  to matched antenna will send a signal in good conditions some 20 miles or so. This is using dishes of course so wire antenna are much less efficient than a dish. Theoretical distance with wire antenna [1/4 wave, equvalent to a hairpin] is around 2 miles line of sight. with 1Mw output.  I have no idea what the design of the average 2.4GHz Tx antenna is but I suspect it may be helically wound to give circular polarised radiation. This emits both horizontal and vertical oriented waves plus most directions in between either clockwise or anticlockwise, depending on the winding of the helix. This will mean in effect that no matter what angle the model is at, a good signal will be received. This is not the case with 35Mhz where you could have, in theory, antenna end point to end point situations where the signal can be reduced by some 30db+ and lead to complete loss of signal. Hope this helps a little. Regards,   Bill R.

Hello Phil, My apologies to Martin for getting his name wrong. Thanks to Steve for his input. I was wondering why  the idle screw was flat at the end instead of tapered. I set the throttle stop with the barrel fully closed. The air bleed [idle] screw was 3 1/4 turns out from fully closed. I think thissetting may be too lean to start. I tried for a half hour or so after flushing through with a bit fuel and everything seems to be working ok. Compression is there and no leaks from the backplate or the carb base. A little oil weep from the spinner end but overall a leak free engine. Pressure tested the tank [new] and flows are ok. I just moved the needles in 1/8 turns in and out but no joy as yet. Raining this am so will try again. I dont know the correct start settings so its playtime untill I get the thing fired up. Thanks to all once again. Bill R.  

Thanks Pol and Phil, This is what the hobby is all about. I changed the glo plug and will check the other items. Thng won't start anyway as yet. The needle was set at 2-1/4 turns out from closed which was probably still a bit rich as it never had any great running time originally. I never touched the other two screws but can now experiment a little. It looks like the barrel closes right off, way past the hole before it hits the end stop. I have set the throttle maximum with the barrel hole in the centre of the carb inlet. I think I just need to clean out the idle and get it somewhere near to get it started and then it should be easy!!. Just a newbie after 50 years away from the hobby so these things are a bit different from the old diesel engines. Thanks again.   Bill R.  

Hello all, I found a Magnum GP10 in the loft. As I recall, It last ran about 18 years ago. I cannot locate the manual and would appreciate any setting info for the carb. not only does it have a needle valve but 2 spring tensioned screws as well. Any info would be very well received. Thanks in advance.   Bill R.  

I bought the Super air last year and the C of G is 100mm from the leading edge in the instructions. As the distance from the firewall to the engine is not given, I put the engine as far forward as I could, leaving around 1/4 inch from the mount front end to the engine lugs. The picture in the instructions shows the engine level with the mount end but I thought that a bit close. I had to add some lead to the nose to balance. I used thin lead sheet [3 layers] expoxied under the engine on the bottom of the firewall and added around 3 oz in old money. The model flies extremely well and is very stable. The engine I fitted is an Irvine 46 using an 11x7 GP3 series prop. control surfaces are as per the instructions;  Ailerons and elevator 10mm and rudder 25mm. I also use the ailerons as flaps with 6mm movement dialled in [60%] which gives a maximum total down movement of 16mm without binding. Trust this helps   Regards, Bill R.