martin collins 1

Looking forward to it, hope we get some decent weather. Laser day ModelTech Nutten Special Laser 100 Max Holste Brussard Laser 80 BOB (hopefully both days as i won`t get all these in my estate car in one go!) DB Bi-Stormer Flair DR1 Cambrian BF109 FunFighter DB DH60 Moth Hawes Tucano Priory Models Silhouette

Model now SOLD.

Model now SOLD.

First flight today for my Max Holste Brussard, 92" span Laser 80 power. Flies a treat, got 4 flights in, didn't need to use the flaps, it comes in very slowly without them, will try them out next time i fly it.

Quite often windy here as we are not too far from the coast, i am a member of two clubs and there are only five or so between the two clubs who will fly in windy conditions, as said take a model that will handle it and does not hold a high monetary/sentimental value and go fly it. I find it helps with concentration and keeps you on your toes flying wise.

As usual Jon you are spot on, engine now removed, weighed and measurements taken and compared with the info on the Laser website, it checks out as a 70 and it is stamped J14 which i guess is your initial manufactured in 2014 🙂 . So i have a 70 and an 80 to go with the 100 in the Nutten Special, i will be bringing that along for the Laser day at Buckminster and if i can get the 80 powered Broussard broken wing strut mount removed and re made and the model test flown i will also bring that with me. The model with the 90 in was sold with the engine as i had these two newer Lasers to play with and more than enough bipes to keep me happy! Thanks for all your help guys.

Many thanks for your comprehensive reply David, looking at the Laser website the 70 has 8 fins, the one in the camo plane has 7 and the nose where the bearings sit is parallel which is why i wondered if it was a 50 though i haven`t seen one of those with the newer style rocker cover. I am in the process of removing the engine as that airframe is up for sale as it is one of two DB Bi-Stormers i have and i prefer the scheme on the other one. I intend using the Laser in another model once the size is identified, I will get some more measurements and weight in the next hour once removed.

Ok, without removing it from the model to weigh i think it is an 80, i have found several 70 and 80 engines on Ebay completed listings which is a good way of looking at pictures of other Laser engines, both the 70`s had 8 straight fins on the heads and both the 80`s had 9 curved fins, all these engines were vertical plug with the newer style rocker covers with two bolts and the same silencer/carbs as mine. If the engine comes out at some point i will weigh it and post on here for others reference.

I`m `guessing` now that my one in the lower pictures is a 50 as it has the parallel front bearing housing mentioned earlier in the thread and less fins, the one with the red engine mount has a curvature looking at all the fins combined rather than a straight side and 9 fins, this one on Evilbay was advertised as a 70 and has straight fins with one fin less, does that suggest this is an 80? I won`t be taking it out of the model at the moment as i am getting it ready to fly, maybe it is something i will do over the winter and weight it then.

Ok, thanks for the reply, here is another one, i thought this was a 70 but it has less fins and the are vertical rather than in a bit of a radius like 0ther one. Help with these greatly appreciated.........

Working on another pre owned model now which has a clean looking Laser engine in it, anyone tell me what size it is? It currently set up with a 14x6 prop on it, the engine looks like it should maybe have something larger on it?

I will be at the event, hoping to make it for the Laser Friday and either Sat or Sun, which ever day shows the better weather, unfortunately i won`t be bringing a flyable Warbirds Replicas model as i have had too many other distractions to get the Lavochkin completed, i may stick it in the car so people can shame me into getting it finished 🙄. Richard i will bring the HE 111 moulds and plan with me for you to look at/ take away if we can get something organised re making some glazing parts/foam wings, who knows there may be a stampede for more Einkel parts when other Warbird followers cast their beadys over the plans and parts. Any chance you could bring your Heinkel along to the event Richard, i promise not to drool over it too much 😁.

6 flights on one of my Flair DR1`s yesterday, perfect weather for it with a light breeze 6 perfect landings as well, if you have flown one of these 1/4 scale Tripes you will know that is not always the case! I`ve found it`s sweet spot for landing, Absolute minimum throttle it will tick over on for landing, directly into wind, NO aileron input once on the ground rudder for all corrections, and make sure you have enough up elevator movement for a slow landing. I enjoy flying this model so much, i take it when ever the conditions are suitable, trouble is it takes up most of my car leaving only enough space for a 52" sized single wing general all weather type flyer just in case the wind gets up.

Decided to sell one of my Bi-Stormer bipes, they are both nice but i can`t justify keeping them both! This is a lovely flier, selling it without the engine or receiver, 72″ span it is ideal for a 70 Four stroke. Pick up from Spalding in Lincs or i can take it to the BMFA Buckminster Best of British weekend on 27th-29th September or the Buckminster Swapmeet on 13th October. £110

Got 5 flights in yesterday between these two, my 2nd Bi-Stormer was maidend, lovely flier on an SC70 4 stroke. The wind dropped right away to nothing as the sun got very low in the sky, reflecting off the yellow on the model as it pottered around in low circuits and curled over the top of loops. A very satisfying evenings flying 😊. Going back today as the wind is forecast to be low again, may grab the 1/4 scale Triplane for a few sorties.

Will get there eventually! Got a couple more pre owned models to check over/sort and fly then i am back onto building 😁

Love the Buchon, didn`t fancy going with the free plans i posted on my Foamboard 109 thread? Be watching to see how your comes out. 🙂

Got a couple of models to test fly so took the opportunity this morning to get one flown, very windy conditions but the Escapade handles them ok, flew very nicely, Irvine 46 powered which ran without missing a beat once i had put the tank pipes round the right way. Previous owner had got 2 clunks in the tank, presumably so it can be drained through the filler tube, shame he had that one connected to the exhaust silencer as a breather! I thought i had filled the tank rather quickly and there was an awful lot of fuel coming out of the exhaust after i had finished filling. Engine was also obviously full of fuel as i was trying to start it so i tipped it up and emptied the fuel out of the exhaust and cylinder, after starting it didn`t want to tune up properly and then stopped suddenly like it was out of fuel.........which it was! With the pipes connected up this way i was not filling the tank, i was filling the silencer, so tank out, check which pipes go to what inside and re plumb, put it all back and all was then good. Also it had a huge amount of lead under the engine, more than half of which i removed to get it to balance correctly, nice flier now, how someone had flown it like that i don`t know! Three of us braved the wind this morning and this should have been a three ship picture, we were waiting for him to land but unfortunately his model had an unplanned meeting with the ground and was most definitely re kitted 🥺.

There are a number that have been built by the forum members, do a search on Flitetest Spitfire and it should bring a few answers up, all seemed to fly very well.

Why don`t you get the Hawk 70 kit and just cover the front cockpit? 😁

The Miles Magister was based on the Miles Hawk Trainer so you can see where the Skyways Models name came from, easy to turn it into a Magister like model 👍.

With the sad news that Cambrian and Laser were closing shop recently, i now have some good news regarding a Uk manufacturer, Skyways Models are now in production and have kits on the shelf of the well known Hawk 70 kit. The Skyways name will be well known to those who have been in the hobby for a number of years, in the old days they offered a series of kits including the Hawk 70, Chipperhawk, Hawk Moth and Stampe amongst others. These were `Plan pack` models which included the plan, one sheet of very brief instructions, foam wings and deckings etc, it was down to the builder to transfer the shapes from the plan onto their own balsa sheet and then cut everything out as well as provide the strip wood etc to build the model. Skyways ceased production many years ago but the name and designs were purchased by Steve Mason of Masons Models, over the intervening period he has been working on turning the models into proper CNC Cut kits which include ALL the wood and foam parts to build the kit. The Hawk 70 is the first of these and the kits are now on the shelf to order, Steve has wisely (in my opinion) not included a hardware pack of hinges, clevices etc as this pushes the price up and most people have their personal preferences on these items and if added they may be discarded as not the builders preference for that item. Also many of us already have those sort of things in our parts draw, i buy the types i use at the shows and have a stock already. Here is a link to the Skyways Hawk 70 page, Steve says the price includes postage but if picked up from his shop in Spalding the cost will get deducted from the sale price. https://masonsmodels.co.uk/product/skyway-models-hawk-70/

Had not seen these before, might have been interested in the Zero but the kit is only about £40 cheaper than the ARTF, are they saying that the cost of the covering etc AND labour to make the ARTF only amounts to £40 per model? I would have expected a bigger difference in price, i would rather build my own but £40 difference is hardly an incentive.

I hear what you say but i have so many nice scale models i can`t justify an Atilla, if i could find a nice scale bipe or interwar model i would be tempted to put the SC30 in that but the Atilla just wouldn`t get flown, they are great fliers but not for me. I do have an unbuilt Balsacraft BiFly 25 kit but that probably want more performance than a 30 4 stroke.