Ian Skeldon 1

A very nice and clever solution, thanks for sharing that. Ian

You did indeed, I just thought you meant slow in the traditional sense Thanks fro the feedback though and the blog has been really helpful, I was going to get a farmhand but seeing how poor the QC is and the cost of all the extra's, it's not worth all the bother (for me). Please do let us know if it ever gets into the air, and I hope your rewarded with great flying. Ian

Hi Gary, Great blog and great plane, shame about the quality of the kit ! I have read the blog twice now and I still can't see where you bought the undercarriage from, as I now need just such an item for a large model I own I wondered if you could shed some light? Many thanks and bounce free landings, Ian

Hi Kevin, Well how does it fly? Can I also ask where you get things like the undercarriage from? Finally is the engine qiuet enough with the supplied exhaust? PS, I will be asking Gary the same question about the undercarriage. Thanks, Ian

Hi James, Firstly welcome to the hobby/sport. I am guessing that your new to flying radio controlled models? Your question needs to have a lot more information before anyone can help you. Which make and model of radio is it, again which model of receiver are you using. Your right to say that the batteries need to be fully charged up, otherwise you will not get much movement from the servos (if any at all). So please re-post with details of battery status, any switch used in between battery and receiver, are you sure the polarity or fitting of various plugs is/are correct. Make and model of both transmitter and receiver, make and model of servos. Good luck, Ian

Hi Chaps, The reason the wing doesn't work too well with ailerons is more to do with the airfoil (Clark Y, I believe). This section doesn't lend itself too well to ailerons. A top sited spoiler working independantly on each wing might be more effective. However the charm of the Super Sixty is slow sedate flying, catching the odd thermal even and then those long finals where just the odd nudge of rudder will see it on the right path and all that's left to do then is to use throttle to maintain height etc, etc. If you really want a wing with ailerons I suggest that you use a semi symetrical airfoil and adjust the root ribs to seat onto the fuz. I did this a long time ago and was blesssed with a Super Sixty look alike which rolled very nicely but need more input throughout the flight (as you would expect). Hope the helps, Ian

Hi Mike, Hi Modonaut, Ahh the old super sixty eh, I must have build, flown and crashed a few over the last 40 years. For what it's worth here are a few things that relate to this particular model. 1. Ailerons don't work very well due to the wing section, be prepeared to use rudder to bring the nose round and again to straiten up. 2. I think Mike mentioned the wing spars as being a weak point? Absolutely right, adding some working wire bracing has worked well for me over the last errr about ten years. 3. Engines, I have flown mine on an OS 22 four stroke, it flies ok but can't cope well in any wind, also used a super custome 30 four stroke which was faulty as bought from new and I had to fix! and also flies very well on an old OS25fp. 4. I nearly always need to add more right thrust and some more down thrust than the plan shows. 5. Not tried snakes, must try that at some point. 5. Slec round tank fits nicely but always ends up leaking at the screw top. 6.Elastic bands to hold the UC in place is fantastic, on any bumpy landing mine swing through 180 and everything just stops dead. 7. This model will themal quite well but do watch out for those wings if you start diving out. Enjoy

Something that doesn't seem to have been covered here is that a bigger model appears to fly slower, it isn't of course but because it's size allows better orintation you can fly it in more space and thus it gives you more time to nail that final approach and just add small corrections until roundout. I teach new flyers at our club and always get them to start with something of at least 50inch wing span and a good 40 - 50 size engine, my personal preference is the seagull arising star, it flies well in gusty conditions and can take a bit of extra weight on really bad days. Also it will fly on just rudder really well if you are currently using 3 channel set up. There are probably lots of other artfs out there but this is the one I have got several newbies away with. HTH Ian

Two canibles are eating a clown from a circus, one turns to the other and says 'Does this taste funny?'

To Keith, As long as the transmitter is not switched on it should be ok. However there will be no way to balance charge probably not able to cycle or discharge the lipo, and of course there is always a risk of the lipo catching fire, it's pretty rare but can happen. I have an aurora and have tried lipos but I prefer the nimh pack that came with it, charge it over night and lasts most of the day, then swap it out for another nimh. Ian

Not sure what your trying to acheive here but maplins or anyother electronics supplier will sell you the plug that you need. If your using a lipo do make sure you keep a very keen eye on everything, if it does go up in flames think how quickly surrounding furnishings could catch fire. Much better to pull a lipo out and charge in a bag. HTH, Ian

Thanks Tony, I have to admit that I always go Tx first then Rx but it's good to be made aware of the potential issue, again I usually fly ic so unless it was actually powered up and running I wouldn't notice. I will check and let you know my findings, once again many thanks Tony. Ian

Well I was so impressed with the first one that I had to buy a second one which has now arrived. In the new year I will mod one of them with the smartie parts board. I have to say that these radios are a real steal at the price, I wish I had seen this thread earlier. Anyway I wish all flyers a happy new year and hope we get better weather in 2013, in the mean time thanks to Tony and Steve for passing on so much useful information, I for one, am very grateful and I susspect that two other flyers at our club are also happy that I passed on knowldege I gained from this thread. Ian

Hi Daithi, Your right, but just one point though, At our club we can and do exercise the right to exclude equipment as we see fit in the overall interest of safety and local residents. Anyone not adhearing to the clubs decision is always welcome to leave and find somewhere else to fly. In respect of this particular transmitter, we now have 3 club members signed up and waiting for them to come back into stock and just for the record to all that are reading this thread. I have not actively promoted this radio or treated it any differently than any of the equipment I use. I think the radios capability and features have made it unbeatable at the price that you can get it for and hope that this reason alone is why members of our club want one. Ian

Hi Bouncebounce, Firstly I need to explain our clubs standpoint on the questions raised. Our club has a small core of flyers (myself included) who have worked hard to provide a strip where no member of the public is exposed to any risk of danger (unless a model flies off and doesn't crash). Where the flyers are educated as to what is acceptable and what is not whilst at the site, we keep rules few and simple and the ones in place are there mainly for safety and also to ensure that we comply with (A) Planning permission, (B) The BMFA, (C) Agreed terms of use which are covered at the AGM. As one of the clubs two instructors, my role is to not only teach novice pilots to fly but to instil good and safe practices, ie engine starting, prop condition, etc, etc. So if somneone turned up with any brand/make of radio that was known to be 'short range' they would not be allowed to use that radio at this site, no deliberation or pleading will change that. As far as insurance is concerned, this transmitter is comercially available, it has a a good reputation, one has been (now) bought and used and tested and examined, no reason can be found to think that it has any potentially dangerous traits, therefore, providing the flyer is a member of the club, has current BMFA membership and flies in accordance with our simple rules, how could anyone find a reason to not allow use of this radio? We have previously announced that the use of a particular make of radio in dsm2 format is not allowed for safety reasons. Several flyers were not happy but in the end all could see why and all except one agreed to use other radios at our site. The one that didn't has suffered several bad crashes, now changed radios and is waiting until we have a slot available for him. Does that answer your questions okay bouncebounce? Ian

Quick update, I have taken the back off my TX and can report the following findings. 1. The power supply does have a diode in place, so reverse polarity problems should no longer be a worry. 2. The quality overall of soldering and switches is excellent, no worries at all there. The pots do look a bit like they may cause issues with wear as they look like old style type, but only time will tell if they will fail or not. Overall the quality of this radio is no worse than any of the ones I have owned and opened up and is possibly better than some of the bigger brand ones, I have learned a lot from this little exercise, and am grateful to Tony and Steve for their input in earlier posts. Based on what I have seen for myself I have no concerns at all about the quality of this radio and have already asked hobbyking to let me know when they have more stock as I intend to have another one. Ian

I just realised that I should qualify the last statement. As an instructor I allow students to purchase whatever they wish, so long as it is SAFE and well assembled as a whole. Now as an instructor I like to let my students have the freedom of the sky as I know there will be large periods of flight where the aircraft is guided with inputs to correct rather than been flown accurately, that's fine it builds up a feel for it. But this approach although relaxed does mean that I cannot afford to stand there thinking they will run out of range and in all honesty I can't think of a single occasion where a park fly (short range ) radio at a cost of £70 is any use at all, but then I don't write for magazines, I just say it the way it is.

Posted by Tony Smith 7 on 21/11/2012 09:34:49: Posted by bouncebouncecrunch on 20/11/2012 23:48:25: I would like to see a comment from a Moderator an Instructor or maybe a review in the magazine about this bit of kit. All sounds good from most that have purchased the unit, as well as the Orange range of recievers that are so cheap compared to the big name stuff. What will happen to the big name brands if this gear becomes very reliable? Not sure what you mean by "if". There's no suggestion of lower reliability than the big names. I am an instructor although that has no bearing at all on the actual quality of anything. I very rarely promote equipment as even the best of equipment can fail. However, after field testing this radio with a cheap ($7) receiver, I can say that this radio inspired confidence and didn't miss a beat, that fact that I won't use Other well know brands because of their reliability problems does show that I am vey picky about what equipment I will use. I am in no way saying that this is the best equipment out there, but I think I would be comfortable saying you won't find anything better without spending a LOT more money. If you read earleir threads you will see that I was sceptical (I always am). But if you need a practical radio set that will bind with several other brand receivers as well as it's own brand and all at low cost then this should be considered and judged against other radios that you might consider. For instance a well known magazine recently reviewed a 7 channel park fly radio that cost at least as much and gave that a thumbs up, my advice for that would involve barge poles and a simple message that you would not be allowed to use that particular radio on our field full stop.

Mmmmm after seeing at first hand the pitfalls of using spektrum I can't think that would be a great move but if it is the best way forward then fair enough. I do know that some of the small helicoptesr are very good value and if you can fit a module and get away with just that then I guess that's a good way forward. Good luck with whichever way you go. I will post the odd update and possible ask the odd stupid question as I make progress with this radio. If all goes well then I will possibly suggest this to the new members that come to me for lessons. Once again, Many Thanks

Well at last my set arrived along with four HK receivers and one FlySky receiver. Everyonne of the receivers bound first time which was reassuring. So one of the 6 channel HK receivers costing a whopping $7 went into a lump of large foam and out to the field we went. The weather wasn't great but I only wanted to test it all out for basic functionality and range at this stage. The TX was in native format using dry cells and no mods at all. Setting up was easy enough and all done in ten mimutes. So model was flown around and first thing I noticed was that the TX felt more comfortable than my much dearer one! Response was crisp and locked in, loosing signal on purpose saw an instant return of control once the signal mask was removed so full points there. The last test was to fly iy until range was lost and hope that we find the model there after, we failed, we couldn't get it any further and still fly it but we still had full control so range is good. Ok so thus far everything is very positive, what about the negatives, well to honest there are not many negatives at all and the worst thing so far is the annoying beep when you press any of the buttons, and that can be programmed out once the set is updated with the mods. My only other gripe is a personal one and that is, I wish I had read this thread earleir and saved myself a lot of money! Tony, thank you for being so helpful and patient I am a convert and will buy another set in the new year because they represent such good value. Steve thank you as well for clarifying the earlier posts and not getting upset at my early remarks. Ian

Thank you TinPot, I will have a look at these cells. Ian

Thanks Tony, I will have a look around the internet and see what I can find. Ian

Ahh yes I can see the usb connector. My smartie parts board has arrived, so have my extra receivers, just waiting for the tranny and the backlight now. Do you remember where you got these li-ion cells from? I know that maplins do stock such items but they're not the cheapest. I am still searching for the perfect solution to both the tranny and the flights packs. Thanks Tony, Ian

Aaahh now that makes perfect sense Wor'Keith, and in fact I can see that you did already say that in your posting, I just didn't get it, doh..... Hi tony, Yeah I already use 2s lipos through a bec in my flight packs but to be really honest I am keen to look further at the use of life cells as they are less volatile when charging/discharging. As you say the use of 3s pack could be pushing the input regulators to their limit (I could be wrong on that?), but 2s not really a high enough voltage for safe use. Ian

Thanks Wor'Keith. I'm not sure of the benifits of using the corona module? Do you think kit has better range or cheaper recievers or something? Thanks, Ian