Steve W-O

Nice to hear from you, certainly miss your expertise. Look forward to your full return

Posted by Dave Bran on 04/05/2012 06:48:35: Never mind measuring current with meters for now, have you measured the Temperature by feel? Hover for say 30 seconds and land, use throttle cut to make safe, and feel ESC heatsink. Is it any more than lukewarm? It sould not be any more than having the chill off it! Does the head spin readily withpout resistance in the drive direction with the motor pinion off or backed away so it is not touching the main gear, any undue resistance will load the motor and load the ESC. Is there a small amount of backlash in the motor pinion to main gear mesh? I have seen these pushed so hard in they bind. I experienced similar symptoms on a friends 500 Heli..in his case the belt was FAR too tight, loading it up............this was actually a dimensional issue, as the boom was fully in both ends!!! He has said that several other helicopter pilots have checked it out, also said that he has fitted another motor, and everything is fine, so I should think it is a fair assumption the above has been discounted, as they are all basic checks and it is fine with the other motor. All worth checking of course, but unlikely to be missed by several people, or disapear with a different motor.

It is possible for poor soldering to cause an ESC to fail, but I don't think that is the problem. You have a friend in electronics, ask him to measure and note the resistance of the motor windings on both the motors you have had in the machine. You can't do this with an ordinary fluke, you need a milliohm meter. First thing to check is that the overall reading is within spec, secondly that th three windings all give the same reading. Then try and measure the no load rpm per volt (kv) of the motors, again check it is within spec. Then put them in the helicopter, preferably with a much larger temporary ESC, tether the helicopter and check the maximum current at full load (would suggest your 80% throttle with max collective) The no load rpm and the max current would probably best be measured with a logging device, personally I wouldn't want to get near enough to the helicopter to read an in line meter, UNSAFE to my mind I'm totally unimpressed with the service you have received, and it may be an idea to send them a letter by recorded post, detailing all the faults, facts, and lack of help you have received in actually finding a solution. I wonder how much you paid for your machines, compared to how much I paid to buy all the bits from Hobbyking? (I don't really want to know, just making the point about buying genuine and expecting service)

Posted by Eamonn Fahey on 03/05/2012 16:19:19: Go on Steve, you know you want to - Or HOT PINK Yes, I saw that one, it looks like it belongs to bob the builder, or Tommy Walsh. Not pink, I wouldn't even fly a pink plane

You don't need anything to slow it down, it lands nicely as it is. When i first got mine, and the instructor flew it, he said it was floating on for ever. Of course when I tried it, I felt the same. That was until I flew it by myself, I found that it could fly a lot more slowly without stalling, and I didn't have a problem. I have fitted flaps to mine, a very simple job, when thy are up, you can't even see the hinge line. With the flaps, you can come in at a very steep angle, and even more slowly, but you need to have a lot of aileron differential to be safe, but I am pushing it, and landing with about a 10' roll. My normal landing roll is about the same as take off, 25'-30', depending on the wind. I did try flaperons, but felt I had lost my low speed safety margin, it felt like it would drop a wing if it was too slow, and I didn't notice much slowing down, the slowing down comes with the nose up attitude more than the aileron drag. Flaps up, hinge line barely visible Flaps full down, good brakes!

Unfortunately, when it comes to the actions of authorities (local or national) there is no hint of logic in how they deal with risks and the results of the risks. The HSE spends miliions a year on preventing deaths from falling from ladders. Councils run frequent courses on the use of ladders. About 60 people a year die falling from ladders. 22000 pensioners a year die from cold realated issues. I can only assume that the government wants to prevent people falling from ladders, as looking after them or their familes would cost money. They don't want to help the pensioners simply because it saves them money if they die from cold which could so easily be dealt with. (lets hear some better reasoning ) If you can have such a skewed situation as above, I have no faith in their ability to make a reasoned assesment of things like model flying.

Posted by David Gilder on 03/05/2012 12:18:58: You could always buy a load of those fajazel stick on crystals and cover it over!! Would definately be "blinged up" then!! Dave (Sparkle dept) I'll order some just in case Maybe a furry dice for the antenna to. Second thoughts, I'll stick to maybe just doing a paint job.

I was thinking of painting one of my transmitters, not for any sane reason, just to make it a different colour. It won't be pink or green, but I was thinking of a metallic deep red, or metalic mid blue. Plain white looks a bit clinical, yellow looks to industrial, but that is only in my imagination. It's either that, or change to model submarines

About 5000 people a year are attacked by dogs About 30 people a year are killed by dogs Time to stop dogs being anywhere near the public. I wnder why some councils have byelaws preventing the flying of model aircraft, but allow the walking of dogs, which it seems are much more likely to cause death or accident, never mind making peoples clothes muddy by jumping up, and fouling the ground. OK, there are more dogs than planes, but that just adds to the danger. Anyones deat is tragic, and the death of a child is even painful to read about, why this has to be regurgitated by the media, I don't know, no doubt they have some perverted reason for it. Probably bored of tapping phones.

Posted by Tom Wright 2 on 01/05/2012 18:29:49: Steve I think the foam surface has traces of release agent ,I wiped mine over with a degreasing fluid before applying the supplied decor set. The model has been in the hanger for a couple of weeks waiting for the weather to change ,and no peeling wrinkles or bubbles is evident ,so keeping my fingers crossed ,as dodgey decor would completely spoil the model..Hope you manage to sort something out as the 182 has the potential to make a nice plane, will let you know how I get on with mine. I think the clue to how the shop operates is in the invoice ! Tom. Glad yours seems to be OK. If I can't restick them neatly, I have ordinary vinyl, so I can nearly make anexact copy. As for the other suggestions, I could probably go throught the card company, and obviously stickers that come off are not doing their job, but is all the time wasted worth it? I have been careful to communicate with them, and I think the important point is to point out there may be a problem, and to show how they deal with a problem, so that people are aware, maybe they will accept it, maybe they might be put off by it, but at least some will be forewarned.

Well alan, I am pleased to be in your group of what you call idiots. Fortunately for me i don't see any reason why your opinion should have any meaning to me, I do respect that you are entitled to your opinions, but once again, after yesterday, this is not the place for me to respond. You don't trust Boeing, I don't see anyone rating your opinion as that of an idiot. How do you have the right to rate the pilot as an idiot? I feel certain he was not, he had nearly 3000 hours (the junior one). I'm entitled to my opinion that if it had been normal controls, the other pilots would have noticed, and you are entitled to your opinion, you enjoy yoour flights on airbus, and I will enjoy mine on Boeing

BEB, I find it odd, and for someone sitting in the back, its the old saying a little knowledge is dangerous. When you fly a small plane, if it is a stick, you use your right hand. I think gliders are the same, and i think fighters are the same, with throttle on the left hand. If it is a yoke, you use both hands except when moving other controls, then the yoke is steadied with the left hand. Everything else, the position of the stick/yoke indicates the control position (strange the Airbus still has rudder pedals) On the Airbus, the pilot has to fly left handed, and the co-pilot right handed, and as we have read, the position of the stick has no relation to the actual position of the controls. Rather like flying a flight sim using the arrow keys on the keyboard. The fact that most flights don't have one crash (maybe 2?) isn't what interests me, what I am interested in is what it is like when things start going wrong, that is what is the telling factor. In normal flight, you could fly the plane with the intercom (Will all passenger run to the back of the plane, will all passengers squeeze up along the left windows etc). I would prefer to be in a plane that at least had intuitive controls. Never mind training, it is obvious that that sometimes doesn't work. They start off learning with ordinary controls, they do their instrument with ordinary controls, they do their commercial with ordinary controls. the ordinary controls are as they are because they are natural. When there is only 5 minutes to normalise the situation, i think the less possible areas of error the better.

Well, I made up my mind early last year I would not fly on the 380, you can think it daft if you like, but then you can choose to. Any way, I like the sound of "If it ain't Boeing I ain't going" Of course they have had their problems to, engines falling off, doors falling off, cabins breaking apart, fuel lines freezing and it goes on, I should think you could draw up a list for most, maybe with the exception of the VC10. But I will still be avoiding Airbus and choosing Boeing

Mines just arrived

Posted by Ben B on 02/05/2012 14:12:56: I suspect you'ld struggle to persuade a CC company to accept a loss on the basis of stickers not being overly sticky. It's a bit subjective. I'd just use some UHU por and leave it at that. Or maybe even some WBV, very much doubt that would annoy the stickers / foam. I agree stickyness is subjective, but stickers peelin off is not

Erfolg, I think all opinions matter, may be not all for the same reason, but collectively they paint a picture. The whole thing seems to be a string of events that are easy to see after the event. The AI would have indicated the attitude of the plane, the VSI and altimeter would have told the vertical story, and the GPS would have shown the groundspeed. The lack of control response would have given an indication of airspeed or lack of it. The throttle position would have added to the picture. I was looking at the approach procedure for a plane a while back, and all the way through, it was working down from fully automatic, subtracting systems as ground facilities were not available, or systems were not functioning. Manual control was a last resort. If you followed the procedures as per the book, you be thinly spread over the ground before you put them into practice. There is one thing I find quite scary here, is the control system. Once the pilot had pulled the stick back, the stick returns to centre, but the controls remain until an opposite command is given. If it had a normal yoke, it would no have ended in disaster, one of the other pilots would have wanted to know what the yoke was doing in his stomach. Humans make errors, especially when stressed, the piece of information that would have prvented the error was denied them. I will echo what has already been said "If it's not Boeing, I'm not going"

H e r e it is, OK, it only had the front suspension from a Westminster And it seems it didn't really have a Merlin engine, though it was reported to have had at the time.

Posted by Terence Lynock on 02/05/2012 01:01:29: Nah, you want one of these, a 3 litre (at a guess) V twin built from two cylinders from a RR Merlin, I think it would be nearer 4.5l,wan't the Merlin 27l? I remember many years ago someone put a Merlin into an Austin Westminster (the same as the Wolseley 610) I think with a Ford auto box, was capable of doing 100mph in reverse if anyone could havd controlled it. I seem to remember the oil consumption was about the same as the normal car's petrol consumption. Memory vague, as it was well befor internet, or even BBS times.

They look OK, proper address, company number given etc etc

Yes, fortunately you don't have to have a dyno now, you can use a laptop (or dedicated device) connected to OBD, and after entering the vehicle weight and gear ratios, the power can be quite accurately worked out from the acceleration. The trouble with re-mapping on the road is that if it goes wrong, you sit! I still haven't had the courage to remap the Zafira, the acceleration, or rather lack of it, is really dangerous. It is fine just before the engine gets hot, so some richening low down would cure it, or if you drive it like a two stroke it isn't bad, but if you let the clutch out at idle and then accelerate, it will take 60' or so before it decides to get going. Sounds like you are not that far away, we are on the other side of Coventry, about two minutes from the Kia dealers. On a bike it is always much quicker, but your time is a lot quicker, sounds like low flying

Alan, that is true no doubt, but they are a minority, There are hundreds of thousands who integrate and are proud to be part of the community here. And let's be fair, people from the UK have been doing this for years in other countries. Do you remember Crown Agents? I think we have to be careful not to tar them all with the same brush, the majority are decent honest people. It is a sensitive subject, maybe this is not the best place for it, there is much I would like to say, but will keep quiet

Posted by Paul Marsh on 01/05/2012 18:27:33: I had/having trouble with the stickers peeling off my ST Models MX2. Did use degreaser, but all the stickers are comming off, or either whisting (lifting) in the air. Is there a glue one can put to the back and re-stick them. That's all it needs for both our problems... I should think Por would do it, but I will probably cut more out of ordinary vinyl, will use the originals as patterns

Posted by Alan Cantwell on 01/05/2012 18:18:46: i take it you degreased and cleaned the surfaces before you tried sticking the transfers down? if you still have the sticker sheet, clean an area off, with soap and water, wipe it, apply some soap and water to the area, stick on the scrap sticky bit, and see of it stays on, just looked at their web site, some nice stuff, but what a chore waiting for the pages to turn Yes, except one where I forgot to clean it, but it made no difference. I did exactly the same as I did on the other models, the Mentor has had its stickers on for more than two years now, and they are as good as the day I put them on. Even the wot4faome is fine, although some others have commented theirs are lifting after a year or so.

That's only about 65C less than what I call comfortable. Not for me

At the beginning of the year I ordered a "Giant Cessna" from them. The website said they had stock, and soon after I ordered, I received an email to say it had been dispatched, and I would receive another email with the tracking details. A week later, I had heard nothing, so e-mailed them. After the second email, I received a reply that it would be packed and dispatched in a few days time. It eventually arrived nearly two weeks after I expected it to. Because of the delay, I had to wait until Easter to finish putting it together,managed to do the odd bit before then, but with other things, not time to complete it. I completed it over the Easter holidays, and it looked quite good. After a couple of days, the stickers were lifting in places, a few more days and they were all listing badly. I sent, through their website form, a query asking for comments and help. No reply Then I sent another message through their web form, but used the complaints title from the drop down list. I received a reply, saying that if they had not replied it was because they had not received my message, and stating that they did not think I had faulty stickers, as they were the same as all the other stickers, and suggested the problem was because the sticky side of the stickers was exposed to air, or that they had been stuck and removed several times whilst applying. I sent a reply pointing out that my original message was sent through their web form, and that the stickers were removed from the backing sheet at the time they were applied, and that I had not removed and replaced them several times, that I had several Multiplex models and the wot4foame none of which had any problem, even after two years. They have not replied, so it seems to me they are totally disinterested in helping at all, they have the money, and the interest has stopped. Pity, because they are reasonable on some items, and I had intended to buy from them again in future. Their service is in fact worse than sellers from the east, I won't be buying from them in future, or recommending them to others.