leccyflyer

I routinely use 35% expo on ailerons and elevator, arrived at by experimentation, as I like the soft feel of the sticks around the centre of their action. That is coupled with tending to set my low rates quite a bit less that the manufacturer's recommendation, as I don't use huge control movement, especially on elevator. Nearly all of my models are set up with High, Mid and Low rates on the same switches on each transmitter and high rates on elevator is mostly used for take off. Most of my flying is done on the low rates, as that is how I like it. I don't set different expo for those different rates.

I used to do a fair bit of video photography of models and full size aeroplanes, back when it was far from straightforward to be able to put clips online. Essential to that was a decent optical viewfinder, in order to track the aeroplane and ensure that you don't just end up with a dust dot. Since then I've put various cameras on models and have also shot videos with smartphones, Go- Pro and digital cameras. The problem with these small digital cameras is that they are mostly very wide angle, particularly the action cams and models in flight just disappear. I've tried mounting the GoPro on the peak of a hat but the wide angle lens is useless. I've even tried a pair of the narrower angle spy sunglasses -or pervert glasses as we call them - but they do not fit well over my prescription specs and the framing is very tricky indeed, meaning you need to look well above the model if you are not going to end up with just grass. It's very frustrating and I've seen some decent hatcam video shot but been unable to reproduce that. However I've recently found my old Sony TRV110E camcorder and plan to give that an outing down the field to capture some decent video. If I could find a decent workable set up for filming your own flights then I'd be very keen, so will see how this thread develops with interest.

Please don't misquote my post Nigel.

If you'd like me to print you one, just drop me a PM with your address Frank.👍

The only Aerotech kits I've seen completed and flown outwith the demo models at the shows have been their Profile Series and the examples I have seen of those fly very well indeed and make a really nice, simple, low stress warbird to chuck in the car and carve up the sky with a cooking .40 or .46 two stroke. The reputation of poor quality from the other kits always put me off buying them, though sorely tempted at the shows in the late 90's.

I suspect that Pacer Hinge Glue is essentially aliphatic and their advice is to fill the pre-cut slot with glue then insert the hinge, which has worked fine for me. I have a heepodeemic nurdle on the bottle spout and insert that into the hinge cavity until a line of glue appears at the hinge line, then Insert the hinge, put a smear on the half of the hinge that is left sticking out and a squirt into the hinge slit on the control surface then bring them together, wiping away any excess that seeps onto the hinge line.. Quicker to do than to write out and avoids having to use CA, which is a real bonus for me.

Good buy and a good call on replacing the servos Frank. The lovely wee Vampire pictured in my post above dove into the ground whilst flying straight and level on her maiden flight and it was the Durafly servo, locked over at hard full down in flight which was to blame.

Piers - if you'd like a print of the louvered vent for the Vampire just drop me a PM with your snail mail address and I'll print one for you and pop it in the post FOC.

This weekend saw completion to active service of two of my Dark Nights Fix Up projects and I couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out. The Balsacraft Spitfire refinish as a Spitfire PRXIX has been covered earlier and had her maiden flight on Saturday, which was perfect - the model is wonderfully stable, has a decent turn of speed and good vertical performance and looks smashing in the air. Flying pals Derek and Steve captured some lovely images on Saturday and Sunday, as seen below - thanks gents. 👍😎 The Durafly Spitfire Mk 24 to Seafire Mk XVII conversion hasn't had any in progress pictures included in the thread, so I'll put some in here. The swapmeet bargain was a bit beaten up, I don't particularly like the latest Mk of Spitfire but was somewhat surprised how well she flew, as quite an early Durafly model. I had to do something with the finish though and get rid of that horrid FMS pilot. I much prefer how these late mark Spits look in FAA colours and set to to make it a little more like a Seafire. That involved removing two of the cannons and cannon blisters, then 3D printing an arrestor hook and adding a fairing around that from litho plate. I wasn't keen to split the rudder, so plead artistic licence on that. New cockpit interior and 3D printed pilot figure and eventually decided to replace the Durafly servos and do away with the flaps. After some deliberation I patched up the worst of the dings in the foam and then covered the model with EzeTissue and water based EzeDope, before painting with appropriately thinned B & Q acrylic emulsion paint, Cut vinyl national markings and serials done with my Silhouette Cameo, prior to adding some relief to the canyon-esque panel lines with a light grey water soluble pencil and a final blow over with satin WBPU applied by airbrush. I think the Seafire XVII looks so much better than the Spitfire Mk 24 and yes, I know the wing is more like a Seafire Mk47, but there's no massive five bladed prop or contra rotating set up here. Remaiden of the Seafire was unfortunately cut short on Saturday by tipping up in the moss and breaking a blade off the four bladed prop. However on Sunday a drama free handlaunch was followed by a very comfortable flight and again the model looked lovely in the air, admirably captured by Steve. I'm really pleased with how both of these have turned out and added another couple of Spitfires to active service - you can never have too many Spitfires!

Well the FW190 certainly seems to fly like she's on rails....

The items turn up for a limited time in the Middle of Lidl aisles usually on Sundays. Mondays or Thursdays. Like the slogan says When They're Gone, They're Gone and they might not be available again for a year or more. The Parkside tools are excellent for our purposes and if you keep an eye on what is going to be available and when you should be able to find them in a Lidl store near you. Just do a Google search for Middle Of Lidl and that will show you what is coming up. Back when Lidl first started in England we would often need to be at the store, before it opened at 8am to secure a desirable item, as stocks are definitely limited and they have a short shelf life. Our local Lidl ended up having to restrict sales of fruit and veg to a certain amount per customer, because the owners of several Chinese take-aways in the area would be there at 8am every day and clear out much of the fresh fruit and veg, with better quality and keener prices than at the cash and carry. I think the last item I did a dawn raid for was the fishing tackle box that I still use years later as my flight box.

Two tunnocks caramel bars standing in the arrivals lounge at Glasgow airport. One turns to the other and says, how long you been a wafer!

Yes, those Japanese saws are superb - I find mine especially good for roughing out foam blocks, where the long, thin blade is a boon.

My Vampire was the first model that I'd sold/traded in over 20 years, before I flew it, but I looked for one for ages. Then my pal Jim delivered the Dornier DO17 which he'd built for me and was eyeing up the Vampire so I agreed to include it in the deal. After a mishap on the maiden flight due to Duraflyservoitis the repaired Vampire is a regular flyer in JIm's jet fleet and is nothing short of magnificent. As pointed out above they can be had and I did get a Canadian V2 from Facebook Marketplace, brand NIB for a very good price. I haven't assembled it yet but the retracts simply aren't workable on our field so I'll leave them out and make it a handlaunch job, which seems to work well. If Hobbyking brought the RAF one out again I'd certainly get one.

Completely agree Richard, From what I've seen the most successful dollies are the simplest and raise the model no higher than a normal fixed undercarriage would do. Once you start putting the model onto a mobile scaffolding set up you seem to run into all sorts of trouble. The exception which I have seen work are some tall dollies for launching very large electric gliders, which are high wingers and they do seem to benefit from a higher sitting position.

Bad luck Eric, that's not a nice sight. Could you do the same job that you did on your Spitfire, replacing some of that heavy structure with depron?

Another belting morning yesterday. Really light winds and lots of great flying. Managed a re-maiden with my Durafly Spitfire 24 to Seafite XVII repaint which flew beautifully, plus another flight with the Balsacraft Spitfire PRXIX. My Volantex Bf109 Weiss 14 has been one victory short of Ace status for a while, but I cant in all conscience claim one for the midair which saw a chunk taken out of the rudder by Mike's Spitfire, even though both models were downed. Great fun. Here's a couple of snaps of the flying.

Perfect day today, sunny, warm, <2mph wind, really good turnout of members and lots of different models on show. Had a bot of a Spitfire day myself and flew six different Spitfires = though my Seafire broke the only prop I had for it on the take off run, so didn't actually make it into the air. Really pleased with the maiden and subsequent flights of my winter fix up Balsacraft Spitfire PRXIX, which was every bit as nice to fly as expected. Clubmate Jim flew his gorgeous Veron Hawker Tomtit and Rainer got a few flights in with his Bugatti Racer - lots of other highlights and the best flying day so far this year.

A suitable brushed motor, essentially the motor that is already in the Easy Pigeon is perfect adequate for the task pf carrying such an electric glider to height. Coupled with a 2s1p Lipo and suitable prop it should easily deliver sufficient power to allow climb out to a few hundred feet to search for thermals. It's an Easy Pigeon, not a hotliner.

Toto - nil carborundum - your forecast for tomorrow is excellent.

Not familiar with the Mystic, but the Sig Rascal is a truly beautiful aeroplane.

With all the flooding this year, we've three large ponds in the surrounding fields and they have attracted a tremendous quantity of wildfowl. The daily ritual of up to a hundred geese arriving and departing, quite a few mallard, plus countless gulls of various types and a couple of dozen oystercatchers to join our indigenous population here. The swans have even turned up on these puddles, which though large in area are no more than a foot deep but are obviously providing good eating for these waterfowl.

Aye, Leeds Model Shop are first class - I get my diesel fuel from there and the service is always great. I've found the Zeee Power packs to be very good value for money having tried them when the HRB packs became so popular that the sizes I needed were not available at the time. These 3s1p 3200mah are more than 50g lighter than my G-Power packs. I thought the G-Power packs were superb, They last a long time and don't puff up, but sadly they haven't been readily available for some time in the popular sizes.

Excellent customer service from Amazon UK yesterday. As my current battery reseller of choice with the Zeee power lipos being great value for money, with hassle free next day delivery they are my first port of call. I ordered up a couple of 3s1p 3200mah lipos on Tuesday evening, after some motor tests showed that my 10 year old G=Power packs were just a bit tired and dropping voltage too much. These duly arrived yesterday afternoon and, as always, I opened and checked them. I was horrified to find that one of the two batteries was severely puffed up - far worse than any battery that I'd ever use. Put it on the meter and found one cell badly out of balance. I immediately contacted Amazon and speaking to customer services explained that it would not be safe to put that battery in the returns system and they were very co-operative issuing an immediate refund. We agreed that I'd safely dispose of the damaged battery, the customer services chap said that I need not return the other battery and I just repeated the order this morning, which should be delivered tomorrow. Fingers crossed that this one is all correct, as the many Zeee Power batteries that I've purchased before have been.

Trying to limit the throttle calibration to only output half the power at full throttle is something that is often suggested, but it doesn't work like that - the ESC will need to be calibrated to teach it the limits of the throttle stick travel and they you will have that power available. There's nothing wrong with not using that power on a particular model, which you might happily fly at partial throttle all the time, but that does put more strain on the ESC's component for some types of ESC, where the excess energy is lost as heat. Dick's advice is sound - set the motor kV that you purchase to match the prop size and battery that you are going to use and it all needs to be well matched to be most efficient.