John Davies 4

Hi Percy Verence , My reason for asking about this model, is that the ailerons are operated as per full size, with cables and pulleys , and i`m not that fussy about exact scale , so I was going to try and see if anyone else has done the same by fitting a servo in each wing to do away with the pain job of unseen scale linkages, as accurate as it might be. It`s not as though i`m building for comps .

MaxZ , if you are ashamed at having started one five years ago , then I should go to the naughty corner and hang my head in shame lol, I started my example back in the late 80`s , and is more than half way finished . Maybe one day .

I`m just curious as to whether many have built this nice looking little two seat homebuilt light aircraft by Dave Womersly? The only time i`ve ever seen one , was when it was for sale on ebay a few years ago , and not much else .

Dave Hopkin, I know your post is an old post , but your last choice is excellent , a very unusual subject and much under rated aircraft , not the failure it`s made out to be , whether it has bad points which generally exclude it from being modelled I don`t know , but it`s definitely worth considering and is one of my favourites .

I know this is an old post , but back in the early 90`s I had a brand new Futaba FF7 , the early version with no model memory , anyway it was in a TopFlite P40 Warhawk , with a brand new Enya 60 , infact everything was brand new . It took off no probs , I did a circuit and next thing it rolled inverted , I rolled it upright , and a few seconds later it rolled inverted again and ploughed into concrete hard ground , totally smashing everything , engine included In fact I have never seen an engine so badly smashed , it was literally in pieces , even the crankcase was smashed . To say I was a little p****d off would be a massive understatement . I duly returned the radio gear to the local H/S where I bought the radio and they duly sent it off to Ripmax . After a considerable wait it was returned repaired free of charge , the fault having been traced to a dry joint on the SMT pcb in the receiver . On enquiring about the total loss of the engine and airframe plus all the other materials used to build the kit the shop owner shook his head and explained that there was a "get out clause" in the small print stating that they Futaba would not be held responsible for any other damage or loss They should I think be responsible for damage proved to be caused by their faulty product .

Hi John, just found this pic while moving models out to my shed to free up the spare bedroom for my little one , it`s the pic you sent me to show me the Maestro before you dropped the semi kit off at AH Designs in Rhyl all those years ago. It`s your original prototype , according to the caption on the back . It reads Home brewed prototype " Maestro" by John Wilson. Cheers , John Davies.

Something else to look at , that I haven`t seen mentioned , but has it got an inline fuel filter on the carb feed? the filter gauze sometimes gets blocked or partially blocked with deposits (fine hairlike strands from castor oil if memory serves me correctly) that come from the fuel , it will run until it`s leaned out in the climb . I have had this happen in the past . Just another line of thought.

I can give you a piece of PTFE , but can you turn it down to the size you require ? if you can , send me an sae and i`ll send a piece , Bear in mind it will only be a piece that is big enough to get your small gudgeon pad out of using a small jewellers type lathe . But if it`s any help, the offers there.

If there are no restrictions governing the use of paramotors ( I don`t mean that someone using a paramotor doesn`t have to heed all flying rules where they apply) , how in Gods name can model flyers be expected to put up with any form of control or policing of the hobby, whether it be by registering all models , or pilots , or both , or instigating better instruction standards or what have you ??? Anyone can buy a paramotor and go fly, no instruction necessary , recommended but not mandatory, and no medical either , and nor is a license needed.

Hi Martin, I have no doubt you will accquire a set of plans from some good natured chappie on here, BUT , if you have no luck, I have an old airframe that I could take some measurements off for you . My example has it`s axle and wheels , but is missing it`s u/c legs, so maybe you could measure those for me please. failing that , maybe you could make me a not too silly offer for the complete thing less u/c legs obviously , but I would have to check it out first to make sure I wouldn`t be flogging you something you couldn`t use . I could post a couple of pics or email them to you to see what it`s like. Anyway , leave it to you . Kind regards , John Davies. P.S. There are no details of where you are located , so I don`t know if buying it is an option , i`m in Rhyl in North Wales.

Glyn R. I have just tried the link you suggested a few times, always comes back error , this site cannot be found. Any suggestions please , I even registered with the site your link was for, but it couldn`t find the Auster build log. Many thanks in advance , John Davies.

Why don`t we petition Axminster to see if we can get them to look into getting something similar produced , but a good bit less expensive . I`m sure they have a " New product suggestion system " where if they get enough interest they will look into getting one manufactured . I know i`d buy one if Axminsters other products are anything to go by , and obviously if the price wasn`t as high as the Proxxon example .German engineering and pricing again for you OTT !!!

This looks the biz, but anything from £315 to £403 !!!

Could I ask a favour from the person who has the plans for the Puppeteer, I have one that I bought second hand , but the undercarriage is missing it`s " V " legs , I have the axle and wheels , but not a lot in between , would it be possible to ask you to measure the length of the front and back of the "V" legs for me please (they may be identical ) it would be such a help instead of guesstimating . Many thanks in advance if you can help.

I`m certain that I can remember in the back of my mind , I was building a model with a foam wing , and in the instructions it said to join the wings inverted as the lower surface was tapered upwards towards the tip and the wing was flat on top from tip to tip ! and that`s what gave it it`s dihederal . Trouble is I can`t remember which model it was, but something tells me it might have been a Gangster 63. I still have the wing from it up in the loft, i`ll take a look at it next time I go up there . Could be wrong though, it seems like half a century ago............ well a quarter anyway lol.

Did you manage to pick up a set of float plans? I have a couple of float plans , i`m sure one of them is for the 66in Jabberwock . If you haven`t got a set yet let me know , i`ll dig them out and see exactly what they are , ok .

I have a good few tools from Aldi , can`t beat them for the odd job , nothing worse than not having the tool/s for the job in hand . Some of their stuff is quite good for the money .Their Cordless drills are fine but they are not very good quality cells . I have to literally stop my self from buying stuff from there , and it rankles me when the next issue of the " tool" is cheaper than when I bought mine lol . What I really want to know is why can`t some tool company such as Axminster , or Aldi themselves for that matter , as most of their tools are made in China anyway , produce a decent miniature table saw with a properly made rise and fall tilt arbour ? There`s only a few on the market , but don`t have a rise and fall tilt arbour . As far as I can find , the only halfway decent one I could find was by Proxon and they want an arm and a leg for it , about £350 ish , which to me is rediculous for a small saw to cut balsa and thin ply and the odd selection of spruce strips. Anyway, I digress, but you get the general idea .

The splined type shown by Dennis are for inserting with a pop rivet gun , and the slines are to stop them rotating in the host material , usually sheet metal too thin to tap.

I have one of these Magnum 91`s kicking around somewhere and was going to put it in a GY20 Minicab , which I did start Years ago , and got about three quarters built , but never finished it , this was the engine i`m sure Dave Womersly used in his own model. My part built airframe is still kicking about gathering dust and a little bit of hangar rash over the years . Must finish that one, it`s a pretty little aeroplane. I must ask on here if anyone else has built a Minicab from the model world plan. Getting back to the Magnum, I may even sell it as they seem to fetch quite good money on fleecebay , unless someone convinces me to finish the Minicab and put it in that.

Moderator, your reference to all the parts not being identical reminds me of the British Car industry before it disappeared , when replacing body panels we always had to "fettle" them to fit ," big hammer here" , "jemmy it a bit there " even in some cases grinding edges and welding to get a part to fit , Thank the good Lord for the foreign imports when new replacement parts fitted properly . They used to call us BODGERS as well , lol

I was up in my loft recently, and came across some old Waltron gear , servos , gears , leads & plugs etc. also a new servo amplifier kit and good few spares for Skyleader , quite a few servo bits, cases, linear rack sets , output discs and arms etc. Does anyone know if there are any collectors/clubs/societies who might be interested in such bits and pieces ? They could make me an offer .

A couple of observations on Aldi tools , although I can`t comment on them all . The digital caliper battery does tend to flatten quickly , and the contacts need to be kept clean of verdigris to give a good connection , and also helps to stop what i`ve seen described as random readings on this blog , i`ve had similar probs , and I now remove battery after use , and to keep the contacts clean I apply a small amount of vaseline to keep corrosion at bay. Regarding the cordless drills that retail in Aldi for £19.99 and upwards for different spec drills , they are ok for what you pay , some negatives though ,The rubberised coating has deteriorated into a sticky coating that I have had to eventually wiped away with solvent and perfectly useable without the soft coating . Another downer is the quality of the cells used , not the best , but hey, what do you want for under twenty quid !!! they will still take a charge, but I have found some hold their charge , others don`t , but not out of the question to replace the cells if you`re that way inclined . Also if you need one for a job in particular , as I recently have , now i`ve finished I could just throw the drill away , as it`s paid for itself if you get my drift . Getting down to the smaller hand tools , some are quite good , such as their hacksaw recently on sale , but their drill bits I don`t think are up to much , and I was disappointed at the quality of the hole punches and wood plug makers to cover screw heads . The Forstner bit set was poorly ground and I felt i`d wasted my money. Their hardpoint tennon saw with plastic mitre box was poor , as it blunted fairly quickly . I also have an air compressor I bought from there which has so far been an excellent buy. A good buy recently was the set of assorted reciprocating saw blades , even after a good amount of use the blade I used was still sharp . In general my opinion of Aldi tools is .........Great for the one off job you know is on your waiting list , or cheap enough to have in your tool box for a job that might pop up , but I don`t think they are " trade" quality rated in any sense of the word , but at their prices you can`t really go wrong .

Hi , I must admit i`ve never had to find a supplier, as when the Hotpoint factory near where I live closed down for summer break, they moved all us temporary workers to empty the old factory further down the coast, and as we were emptying the place we were allowed to put in a request for anything we wanted, and they`d put a price on the item but for some unknown reason they thought it wasn`t worth anything and I got three huge rolls of the stuff 840mm wide and God alone knows how many meters long FOC , , lucky me eh! But before that I found it for sale in a local stationers but it was only 10 ins. wide , but still really handy . If you`d like a sample i`ll cut some down to A4 size and mail them to you . If you want some full width, you`d have to pay for a tube and the postage , can`t be fairer than that.

Hi , I must admit i`ve never had to find a supplier, as when the Hotpoint factory near where I live closed down for summer break, they moved all us temporary workers to empty the old factory further down the coast, and as we were emptying the place we were allowed to put in a request for anything we wanted, and they`d put a price on the item but for some unknown reason they thought it wasn`t worth anything and I got three huge rolls of the stuff 840mm wide and God alone knows how many meters long FOC , , lucky me eh! But before that I found it for sale in a local stationers but it was only 10 ins. wide , but still really handy . If you`d like a sample i`ll cut some down to A4 size and mail them to you . If you want some full width, you`d have to pay for a tube and the postage , can`t be fairer than that.