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leccyflyer

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Posts posted by leccyflyer

  1. One other aspect which hasn't really been addressed it that there does seem to be a bit of a nostalgic uptick in the use of small diesel engines, though I accept that could conceivably just be my perception since I'm noticing them more, having brought a few back into use. However there's certainly a number of FB groups dedicated to vintage diesel usage. I've kept a very small number of glow engines, for purely sentimental reasons, but now have more small diesels than glows and a sum total of about half a dozen small engines. The fuel is ruinously expensive and they are undoubtedly messy, but I'm hoping to have my first diesel powered flights later in the spring when the weather improves a bit- since I'm far too nesh to be bothering with diesels in the freezing cold of winter.

    • Thanks 1
  2. 6 minutes ago, Learner said:

    The new Dacia Spring is I believe for sale now in uk in basic form for £15k.

    Is that clockwork?

     

    Those folks at Dacia really need to work harder on naming their vehicles. Their budget SUV is the Duster and you see quite a few of them knocking around Aberdeen, where the name has very unfortunate connotations, translating to an unsuccessful " dry hole"  or essentially a dud.

    • Haha 2
  3. Didn't have any photos on Sunday, but my pal Steve did take some whilst I was flying, which I received last night, so here's a couple, featuring the remaiden of my wee 18" span VMC Hurricane and Durafly P-51.

     

    504935877_hurricaneheadon.thumb.jpg.cc03fee63ca97d96cfcb035e77a70dfa.jpg

     

    43864598_candymanandFTSpitfire.thumb.jpg.4783a783281cd5679b226f82490fef8d.jpg

     

    678796287_candymanandF-82.jpg.209399fc5a2c8f5496f1f52c93b1b470.jpg

     

    I particularly like the one of my P-51D Candyman, with John's homebrewed F-82 Twin Mustang in the background. The post processing is very evocative of contemporary grainy colour slide film from the 1940's, so looks like some of the rare colour footage of the time that I have in print.

    • Like 6
  4. No Operator ID anywhere?

     

    If you are on a farm you might anticipate the owner coming to claim the drone, assuming that they know roughly where it came down. You absolutely did the right thing pulling the battery IMO -as you said, you don't want it attempting to lift off inside your house.

  5. No problem Richard.

     

    1. Mossie, as described above, dolly launch, belly land, nae flaps, 64" span and I'd be happy to rig such a beauty at the field.

    >>>

    2. Hellcat, 55'60" ish, dolly launch, belly land

    3. P-47 Thunderbolt, Razorback, 55-60" ish, dolly launch, belly land, postscript retract option, like the FW190 intention?

    • Like 1
  6. It's just part of life's rich pageant and different personalities. I have modelling pals who will only ever have one model under construction at one time. The have the discipline to methodically work through completion of that model in a linear fashion and that sort of order fits with their personality. I have other modelling pals who operate on more of a parallel processing style approach and will have more than one model on the go at a time, at various stages in the process. I'd estimate the latter type forms the majority. A lot of modellers really enjoy the building part, where results are often very rapid, starting with a box of wood and quickly progressing to something tangible in a short time. It's the exciting bot for them and you can soon arrive at a model that is 90% completed, with just the 80% left to do to finish it. Quite a few don't like the covering and finishing stages anywhere near as much and the temptation is to put that to one side and move onto another model for their favourite bit. It's a hobby, not a job, so that is perfectly acceptable.

     

    Then there are those - myself included - who find the greatest joy in the research, seeking out, selecting and kicking off new ideas and the pesky real world parts of putting that into tangible form is to be transcended in order to achieve an end result. These are essentially dreamers and will often have multiple projects on the go, quite often leading to project inertia where lots of  projects are stalled for the sake of a few hours work or a minor tweak. To give an example, I have a wee foamie Me163 that I bought the "kit" about 25 years ago, finished it bar the painting within a couple of years, but which has been sitting pending just adding some markings for about 20 years. I finished that last year, but I still haven't flown it. My Balsacraft Hurricane has been sitting, repaired, awaiting some tape stringers for the rear fuselage for more than 20 years, but is now at the point of just needing some panel lines and weathering, having recently done the stringers and moved on to painting.

     

    Add to that a tendency to see benefit in taking on other folks uncompleted projects and that's how you can end up with dozens of works in progress, some of which stay in that state for years. However, it's a hobby, not a job and provided that you are comfortable with that and enjoying what you are doing, it shouldn't be a problem.  Such a situation would be viewed as catastrophic and stressful by the chap who must have one project on the go at one time, but we are all different and that's fine. So try not to beat yourself up for starting another model before you've finished the last one - in the end it's a hobby, a pastime and a passion and we can all enjoy it in our different ways.

    • Like 2
  7. At a recent swap meet there was a table of small glow engines for sale, for a pound each, including a little run Enya 25 in very clean condition, a beautiful piece of engineering. You literally couldn't give them away, though I've actually given away quite a few engines in the past few years. There are still loads of glow engines out there, if they never made another one there would still be sufficient to meet the likely demand. Better that they get used, rather than languishing in engine collections or worse still abandoned in a box under the bench, but TBH the demand doesn't seem to be huge, as electric is so much more accessible, easy to use and effective. In the size range that glow engines tend to inhabit then it's become perfectly clear that good electric solutions are readily available to do that job. It is only in the larger sizes, where petrol engines take over that electric propulsion becomes more challenging.

    • Like 3
  8. 5 minutes ago, RottenRow said:

    I’m not really sure that the majority of the posts in this thread could really be described at complaints, more concerns from those who have engines with what to them appear to have an uncertain future.

     

    None of the posts in the three pages have stated anything negative about Jon, quite the opposite actually.

     

    At the end of the day, nobody HAS to read this thread, or any other.

     

    Brian.

    Agree 100%. I have no particular interest in this topic, never having owned a Laser engine and never likely too, but there are IKMO, far too many unnecessary calls to close perfectly reasonable threads in this forum. This thread was started in good faith, to discuss continued customer service issues into the future and ought not be closed.

    • Like 4
  9. Definitely interested. After breaking two sets of the small EFlite twist and turn retracts, which use a very fragile extra ball link for the twist function, I modified an FMS set, which uses a short metal stub to actuate the twist, so anything which would make this style of retract more robust would be worth a luck. My larger Corsair uses the FMS 1450mm retracts and one of those is playing up as well.

  10. 8 hours ago, riqaza said:

    Hello. I am looking to buy my first 3d printer. Some of my accounts are starting to use and send digital scans instead of impressions and so i need to buy a 3d printer to print the scans they send. Can anyone please recommend a 3d printer that will work well but wont be too expensive? Which brand and model will be the best bang for the buck? Thanks for all the help and info!

    I'm still very happy with the Creality Ender 5 Pro that I posted about. It has given good service and produces good quality prints, with very few failures to date. I now have it in an enclosure with a view to trying to print in ABS as an option, where the Maylan 150 failed dismally due to curl on the margins of the prints.

  11. 14 hours ago, GrumpyGnome said:

    I flew my little TopRC  FW190 on my backup Taranis today - A,E,T,R on channels 1-4, Gyro on Ch5 with a 3 position switch, Ch 6 assigned to a momentary switch for gyro calibration.  I have ailerons and elevator at 50% rate when in 'expert' mode.  The Ch5 3 position switch also drives separate flight modes so I can have trims assigned to each mode. 

     

    Was flying it this morning in about 12-15 mph winds - was much more controllable than it previously has been in 'expert' mode..  Not sure if that's because I've actually assigned Ch6, or just because it was on my Taranis with an IRX4+ and not my Radiomaster with internal MPM.

     

    Anyway, I was launching and landing in 'intermediate' mode, flying around in 'expert' mode.  Really pleased.

     

    Also did some more zipping around with my little Arrows Hawk.  I used to prefer this on 1500 3S but recently have been using 2200 3S and am now actually preferring the higher loading.  Looking at the pics above, it badly needs a good clean! 

     

    Had a couple of flights with my Double Trouble but it was a real handful - I think in adding it to the Taranis, I've messed up the rates etc......

     

    Also tried to get rid of the 'flat spot' in my Saito 82.  Stopped fiddling when I saw loads of bubble in the fuel feed - will need to sort this out before any more fiddling.

     

    In summary, a nice morning but colder, windier than yesterday.

    Interesting. Does the low voltage telemetry still work when the model is assigned to the Taranis or Radiomaster transmitter?

  12. 55 minutes ago, kevin b said:

     

    Remember Solarfilm anybody ?

     

    Yes, it was fine in the 70#s but hugely surpassed by far, far better, more robust and higher quality films, such as Profilm. Solartex certainly deserved preserving, but Solarfilm surely won't be missed, in all it's saggy, wrinkly glory. The Far East films, like the HK ones were far superior to the original Solarfilm.

    • Like 2
  13. Lovely Spring morning here and a good turn out at the very soggy field. No photos this week, but enjoyed successful maiden flights on my VMC Hurricane, after the extensive wing repairs and my new Volantex Corsair. The latter exhibited some remarkable wing rocking coming out of turns, which must be somthing to do with the gyro stabilisation but other than that was very enjoyable to fly. Also flew a couple of depron profile jobs and my venerable Durafly P-51D Candyman/ Moose. What we need now is a few weeks of dry weather to dry out the car parking area.

    • Like 1
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