Rob Ashley

Nice!

Hi Pat. Liked that one.....

So do we log individual threads or all post on one? This is my first MB so a little unsure of the protocol. Hopefully will have finished the house build by Christmas that has prevented workshop time for most of this year. Just in time to crack on with the Grumpy....

Hi Peter. I guess picky depends on your point of view. I have a thing for brought and bought. Don't know why. And yes I have certainly flared with flair before. .....

Simon, Yes, when U/C legs squat when the weight of the aircraft is applied to them - i.e. the full weight so when the lift spoilers operate this is the slight sink you feel. The initial bump is the wheels touching down and the acceleration of the wheels to flying speed, but the fescalised portion (the shiny bit) of the undercarriage remains until the oleos are compressed. Bad (heavy) landings will also compress them and they are not always caused by human pilots (note not always Steve ) - turbulence or gusty conditions have say in this too and impact of the Auto Land System (ALS). All of the 40+ types I have flown in may career do this bump and squat in some form or another. Personally as a pilot I'm not a great fan of the ALS but they do work and are generally more fuel efficient. Pete - Yes the height talkdown you hear is from the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS which is basically a RadAlt). In lighter aircraft you flare at the appropriate point, not heard of the double decker bus thing before but my experience has led me to deduce that your butt tends to tell you when time is right otherwise the oleos compress too much after the big bump........

If the autopilot is flying the approach and landing the auto landing system will flare and retard the throttles based on ground proximity (Radar Altitude) against an airspeed schedule with respect to AUW. The pilot effectively does the same but with the human in the loop there is more flex in the rate of descent. Incidentally, the bump as opposed to smooth touchdown is there to prevent aquaplaning or lateral drift (in drier conditions) to firmly plant the aircraft which also prevents bouncing. Rob

Welcome to the club Daniel. Another way is to build the opposite wing upside down over the plan, this is easiest if you have a symmetrical aerofoil section but can be done with bi convex sections too. You can lay out a mirror image of the wing on wallpaper - adding in all of the critical dimensions (or the whole structure of you prefer) such as spars, LE, TE and tips. then build from that Probably the easiest way is as Peter states using the copy machine to get a mirror image. Best Rob

Grumpy Tigercub it is for me. I have enlarged the plan and might even try this electric stuff in it with some retracts.

Cliff. Sorry to hear the unfortunate news. Hope you can put it back together. Best Rob

Grumpy Tiger Destiny

Gottcha - Thanks very much Martin. Rob

Hi Martin, I am in the process of building a 102" span Lanc and will (sadly) be putting electric motors in it. I have read a few threads about extending motor, ESC or battery wires so was wondering what you did? I guess there must be long wires somewhere with your batteries in the fuselage? Hope your Lanc is still going strong. Rob

Not being a businessman I am not really qualified to comment on profit margins of model companies. However, I do often CNC kits for clubmates (and me of course) from plans. This means I trace all formers & ribs etc and machine them into a kit - for no profit. I recently kitted a glider for a mate that took me 12:30 of CAD work and a further 2hrs to cut out. Thinking labour costs alone at min wage of £7.50 (for the over 25's) would be £108.75. Add on the cost of the wood in this case £30, Postage and packing and you are looking at £150 - without adding any profit margin. Simpler kits take much less time to draw, so cut down on the labour costs, but when you consider the time involved for what is really a prototype then I think the CNC'd kits you can buy are of great value. So production runs of the same product really make the money - in my example if I were to cut the same kit again it would take approx 2 hrs (as all the cutting files and tooling is ready to go) and I would therefore start to make money as I produced more kits. The problem then is if there is no demand for the product then the R&D (CAD time in this case) costs are wasted. Undoubtedly there are middle men who just sell on for profit and I agree that the majority of the value of the item should go to the manufacturer - after all they do most of the work. Shame I don't know how to make my own spinners.... Wow my longest post yet.....

Hi Cliff, Have you managed a maiden flight yet? Rob

Hi Simon, What an interesting looking model. Shame about the damage and I am not sure it will buff out...Definitely worth fixing though.

Thanks Peter - PM sent Rob

Sorry I don't know what a Cutlass looks like, but in short - yes. If the thrust line sits above the aircraft's datum centreline then there will be a couple created as you increase thrust - and the thrust acts above this line forcing the tail down. You therefore need to compensate in the opposite direction to reduce the effects of the couple. Hope this helps Rob

Hi Peter, If you have the dxf files of the ribs for 'Destiny' would you be willing to send them to me? - as I will CAD the drawings and CNC a kit for me to build at some point. That would save some CAD time... I know you have used Compufoil before for wings, so would I be correct to assume you designed Destiny's wing in that? Best

Nice model David. Good to see a 4 stroke in the front too.

Wheels - I saw a club mate take off and as his model broke clean the left wheel exited stage left. Laughed my socks off seeing his wheel bounce along the tarmac amid his groans of resignation and cheering from the club mates. Wing Bolts - I have managed to leave them at home..... Well-intentioned but ill informed onlookers.......

Grumpy Tiger gets my vote - I'm half way through making one (started Jan this year), so I might get it finished as part of the MB 2018... Rob

A great effort here Geoff, all coming along very nicely. Have you decided what covering/finish you are going for? Rob

Plasterboard is dead easy to use and also a great surface. I have also tried MDF (my current board) which works really well too, especially as you can re-use the same holes unlike plasterboard. It takes a little more effort to put the pins in but it does have better grip and also can be used to cut bits on as it takes a little more abuse than plasterboard. Either work very well I found.

A whiteboard and permanent pens I find works quite well - it is attached to the wall in the workshop and I cross off the list when the job is done. That way it looks like I am getting somewhere on the jobs list too. My wife saw this and now uses the same technique to keep an eye on my 'domestic jobs list' in the house - so use with caution. A chalkboard would work well too.

Congratulations Mr & Mrs Cymaz! Coming up 20 yrs for us this year (2 weeks in fact - I'd better get shopping!), yet I feel like a youngster amongst some the more 'experienced' couples on here. R