Don Fry

You be careful, a 53 is quite capable of inflicting life changing injuries. And PS, fuel stored. In cool dark place, unopened, has a shelf life of years.

I've been running a n Irvine 53 for many years (16, time flies). Has had hundreds of yours of use. It runs just fine on five percent nitro, summer or winter. Plug is OS NO 8, as fitted when it was new, same plug never changed in all that time. Don't care about fuel make, but stick to mostly synthetic oil based fuel at 17 to 20 percent oil. Re usage, a REALLY good session will use a litre of fuel. And I don't think I have ever taken more than a moment to start it, and it has never stopped in the air. Fine engine. As a suggestion, try to run the engine to dry at the end of the session, and buy some after run oil, few drops in the Venturi and turn it to distribute works wonders for bearing life. And don't bother to lean it out in use, let it run a little rich, much happier that way for it and you

Off subject perhaps, but am I correct in believing Cyclon cells don't care if operated upright or on their side?

Silence

The fluorescent light went in my workshop. A six foot twin tube unit. Before replacing it I looked on the Internet and found an architectural site with recommended lighting levels. The nearest was a high precision/drawing office and I ended up with 4 five foot LED tubes shoving out 6000 lumens positioned above the workbench. What a difference, I can see! The old unit was about 1000 lumens and I thought this was a good light!

I have most of the above. Over the years, the secret is, not to say anything, surely but steadily get the lot, and say nothing. SWMBO is blind to most things made of metal. An old acquaintance, a SERIOUS engineer, like managed BIG projects, who also had a home workshop said to me one day as I gazed in awe at the workshop said "never be under engineered Don". And he is right. If you have the tool you can do it , or make the tool and then make it. But patience and cunning is needed to acquire the tools. And acquire brownie points, repair of a gold chain springs to mind.

Another way if using an electric starter is to open moter to full throttle, and without power to the glo plug spin the moter for a few seconds. This will pull fuel through. Then return moter to starting position, power the glo plug and away you go. You will soon learn how long the full throttle spin need to be, and this method does not cause the danger of flooding the moter, which can be a pain and expensive with an inverted four stroke.

Guardian newspaper has supplied us with the correct phrase for the next airframe write-off. Following the failed landing of a reusable rocket first stage over the pond, the explosive aftermath was described as a RUD. Stands for Rapid unscheduled disassembly. Much better than 2 carrier bag job

Yes that is fine, take a line from the tip banance points, and that line represents the balance point anywhere on the line.

Get a piece of inch thick plywood or mdf board, and some quarter inch steel rod, the rod must be the same diameter so your wire bender slides onto it to form its fulcrum. Draw/stick a copy of the undercarriage onto the wood, and drill tight quarter inch holes in board at the bend points. Hammer a 2 inch piece of the quarter rod into board, and line up undercarriage wire to the bend point, holding it in place with a couple of screws with washers. Put your wire bender on the quarter rod and bend away. Then hammer a second piece of rod at the second bend point, and repeat process. If the undercarriage is not a flat unit, modify the board so it is hinged, bend the wire as above, then hinge the board in a vice so form the second bend direction. It also helps to attach the board to the workbench, so you can use two hands when you bend the wire, and all your weight.

PS, IN LINE WITH OUR ESTEEMED MODERATORS COMMENT ABOUT MODEL AIRCRAFT. I hit a tree on Wednesday, one of those things, but for the fact I hit the same tree about 3 months ago.

So to summarise all of the above 1. The journo is an insentative person. 2. Police officers can't fly quads. 3.Showmen who have just lost members of their community are a bit tribal in their outlook. I am filled with astonishment that the world can be so.

PS USE NON PATTERNED BOG PAPER. or it will look terrible. The stuff you want is the cheapest recycled stuff on the bottom shelf in supermarkets.

Wisdom arrives when you can stand in (virtually) any shop, turn thro 360°, eyes open, and your mind grows calm with the certain knowledge that it is a con trick to empty your wallet. Merry Christmas.

I have used both. Epoxy/glass is a lot tougher to abuse. But it needs a bit more care.to apply to avoid a sticky mess everywhere. I use a cheap radiator roller to apply, roll bog paper to the finish to remove excess. Second coat is rolled on, but this time dilute resin with about 20 per cent isopropyl alcohol (e bay ). This gives a smoother finish. Use gloves and throw away roller after use. You can get the rollers in big packs for not much. The water based stuff is OK but not as tough, but cheaper, easier to use and still a lot tougher than than unprotected balsa. PS, above system not my idea, believe read it in this magazine years ago, Brian Winch article I believe.

In South Western France they promised sun, 10 centigrade and 7 mph winds, perhaps it is above the freezing fog. Bummer.

Don't wish to crow, but in South Western France I will be flying tomorrow, 10-12 centigrade, full sun, good light, and 7 mph winds. Club subs £35 a year, and that includes the council mowing the grass, and insurance. Heaven.

I like Lidl, nice tinned tomatoes too

Looking through site was struck by the thought of the number of allergies we suffer, caused by the glues and materials we handle. Not fun, but a poll idea?

I have bought a lot of tools from Lidl over the years and have found very little cheap and nasty, just good workaday tools. Perhaps not THE best, but on a par with mainstream branded stuff, and a mile above DIY own brands. And some of the power tools have had a severe hammering over the years and they take it. And don't break the bank. I don't work for Lidl.

I was dragged out of the workshop to ice the Christmas cake. Don't ask. I am in the middle of building a six foot wing panel so my mind was elsewhere on my assigned task. The icing went ok, just like putting filler on, but my suggestion that I decorate it with a marzipan wing section as a hint to Santa to get a more modern form of transport produced an expression I am informed can be described as "lips like a cat's backside". And silence. All I can say is, celebrate New Year's Eve to Abu Dhabi time, that way you can be happy that it's all over, and guests can all bog off at half nine, and I can get back to normal.

Got a wood burner stove, anything that burns goes on it, including broken planes after final shortening in the bandsaw. That by the way is a good way of remembering now to be so daft in future when all that work goes up in smoke. Anyway, fail to see the point of this thred, allergies apart, dusty is noble, and gives street swagger when swinging along in a fine fog of bits coming off.

I use Gorilla glue (expanded polyurathane) instead of epoxy. Never had a problem on up to 180 size airframes (I don't fly bigger than that). If on a really stressed area you want belt and braces, drill a couple of shallow holes in the glue faces, the glue will expand into the holes, and physically key the parts together. Otherwise white PVA or aliphatic has no allergic responses. You could probably drink it in moderation. I also read somewhere of a bloke who used old fashioned balsa cement in conjunction with white glue, balsa cement for fast grab while the White glue sets to form a strong bond. His models did the job.

And to keep costs down, an orange DSM2 6 channel receiver will do the job, cheap 20C lipo to power it, and anything in the recommended range of capacity. You will be knackered before the battery runs flat. If you decide to go for the flap option, get an experienced flyer to trim it. Without flaps you should get an experienced flyer to trim it. If you break it, replace it with an airframe only kit, and change the bits over to the new airframe.

Plug and fly Bixler 3 from Hobbyking, very forgiving.