avtur

Posted by andyh on 14/09/2018 09:00:52: Posted by Steve J on 14/09/2018 07:10:35: The two biggest items in the budget after insurance and staff costs are c. £160k for the BMFA News ... I really think it's long past time for BMFA News to be distributed electronically by default, with maybe a separate subscription for the hard-copy version. For ~15% of the annual expenses to be going on something that I suspect goes into most members' recycling bins - or worse, general waste bins - unread where an essentially free method of distribution exists seems wasteful & anachronistic. A lot depends on the mindset of the readership, there's no doubt at all about how the financial numbers stack up and in some peoples minds it is a 'no brainer' as the saying goes. I'm an active member in two other special interest clubs, both motoring related, both have had the discussion about distributing their respective mags electronically. The idea was swiftly thrown out by both clubs. (one club 200 members the other over 10,000). A lot of people like their paper mags and for all that a magazine 'can' be published electronically in many peoples minds there is a lot to lose with electronic distribution It's a difficult one, would be interesting to hear the thoughts of the of the forum owners as they have a foot in both camps, I think it may have something to do with the demographic of the membership, it is quite obviously the case in the motoring examples I'm thinking of. Edited By avtur on 14/09/2018 09:46:51

In total agreement with @BEB above. If the BMFA are openly planning for reduced numbers then that shows there is problem, perhaps they should be commended for at least being honest and recognising the situation, the 'drone dividend' boat sailed some time ago, it won't return so the BMFA is left with the problem of declining numbers to deal with. Subs can only ever increase and as the member base declines then increased subs are the only way they can continue to fund their range of activities, either that or reduce the range.

Posted by Martin Harris on 11/09/2018 14:57:58: .... e.g. £39.99 appearing substantially less than £40 to many people at a glance. .... "Substantially less" ... hmmm, I'm not sure, I think most people these days would look at £39.99 and see £40 I agree that everyone will have an affordability threshold in their own minds but I think we're all much more savvy consumers these days than to be influenced by the old '99p' trick.

This may sound daft but could it be because there is a suspicion that it may contain fuel? We know full well that it doesn't but perhaps there is a (completely unwarranted) concern that it does; which may differentiate it from a new engine in some peoples eyes. As part of may day job I used to have to send samples of aviation fuel around the UK and to the UK from places around the world, as soon as there is the mention of fuel there are (understandably) all manner of rules and regs that kick in. Just a thought (newly formed clutching at straws dept - mid Sussex branch) Edited By avtur on 10/09/2018 14:50:02

Anyone seen this YouTube channel from a guy called John Woodfield.

Posted by Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 08/09/2018 14:15:47: Oh dear. Northern lad gone down South. You'll be wearing a vest soon and commenting on how cold it is you mark my words! Then you'll suddenly find your self having urges for rocket on your butties, er sandwiches. Its a slippery slope. BEB Ha, ha, with 62 years in Stockport under my belt I won't be changing my ways any time soon, anyway there's nothing wrong with my string vest which compliments my Whippet, Woodbine and flat cap very nicely, thank you!

Thanks for the all the replies, very much appreciated, plenty to follow up on. The last few months have been busy doing a complex house move, selling two houses ooop in the frozen north to buy one 'down south'; anyway we're done now and slowly settling in to our new life. Hopefully now there will be time for some leisure activity and it looks as though there should be many opportunities to indulge. Shame I've had to watch the glorious summer months go by, but fingers crossed for next year. Thanks again everyone.     Edited By avtur on 08/09/2018 11:21:02

Posted by Rocker on 03/09/2018 21:50:10: There is Felbridge Flyers at East Grinstead and there is also Mid Sussex Flyers but not sure where they fly from but it must be close to you at Haywards Heath Thanks, I think I'll follow up Mid Sussex Flyers, I know I pay council tax to mid sussex so it can't be far away

Posted by supertigrefan on 03/09/2018 21:40:07: There's Sussex mfc near Worthing with something like 100 members and some others depending how far you want to travel, pop into Sussex Model Centre in Broadwater, Worthing and have a chat with them. Now there's an idea ... I've spent the last ??? years looking at the SMC adverts thinking that's no use they're way down south. It's taking a while to come to terms with the fact that I now live "way down south", even simple stuff like watching the weather forecast on the TV and remembering to look to the south east not the north west The joys of moving house late in life.

Hi, Not been here for a while due to some fairly demanding domestic 'stuff'. Part of dealing with said 'stuff' is that having been born and bred in Stockport and lived there for 62 years I've recently moved and now find myself in the rather pleasant environs of a place called Scaynes Hill near Haywards Heath in West Sussex.(just a little 260 mile hop down the road!) Just wondering if anyone could point me towards clubs in this area please, the personal knowledge of forumites being the best source of information? Thanks Edited By avtur on 03/09/2018 21:00:38

Posted by Ray Dunn on 29/08/2018 23:17:13: Another completion. .... I can't help wondering if the primary aim of the questionnaire length was to minimise replies! .... Ray I must admit to having the same thought initially but then I reviewed my thoughts, and it applies to all who complete the survey. Don't forget this is a public consultation which is seeking views from ALL parties. We might take it for granted that we are completing this from the point of view of NOT wanting drone restrictions applying to model aircraft. There will also be those completing this specifically because they DO want restrictions and are perhaps unaware of the difference between a drone flown irresponsibly and a model aircraft flown responsibly Collectively WE need to be certain that they recognise the interests of genuine aeromodellers and that we are seen to be a responsible bunch quite willing to accept the rule of reasonable laws. The reason that there is such focus on the legal side of operation is that drones are already in widespread use to help with many illegal activities, to me it is quite understandable that the legal side of enforcement has to be robust and if that means using drone specific laws then so be it. In my mind it is a question of when, rather than if, there is a collision between a commercial aircraft and a drone; and sadly that will result in knee jerk reactions the like of which we don't want to even think about. If future legislation helps to put that day further away then I'm all for it. I hope our views get a fair hearing and I hope that the distinction between drones and model aircraft is understood by those who will read the responses and formulate any new regulation

I am involved with two hobbies that are both in decline. Model flying and Classic cars. For either of these interests to continue the most important factor is gaining new (younger) membership. The typical turn out at my local flying field and car club makes me (at 61) feel young. To secure the future of the model flying hobby we need to find out what the younger generations are interested in, classic building is an indulgence for older modellers but sadly I'm not sure it has then same draw for younger people. I have fond memories of build my first KK Ajax when I was 12 years old, I wonder how many 12 year olds would want to build an Ajax today.

This conversation is fascinating and clearly demonstrates an enthusiasm to deal with irresponsible use of drones, which is great. However, has anyone tried to step back and look at this from the point of view of someone outside our hobby, with perhaps no interest in it but simply wants to buy and operate a drone. Perhaps such a person might just be tempted use Google to find out about operating a drone safely “how to fly a drone safely”. Having just done such a search there was no mention of the BMFA in the first six pages of results. If for some reason this would-be drone flyer happens to pick up on the existence of the BMFA and if they go the BMFA website and enter drone into the search box they will see pages of results which are very difficult to make any sense of, none of which points to the right information. If, however you enter ‘multi rotor’ you will eventually find a page a very detailed information, so that’s great, the information is in there somewhere but it requires a very intense search to find it. And when you do find it the presentation of the information is not good, paragraph after paragraph of wordy text, hardly inviting. By contrast the first two hits on the Google page are the CAA and Drone Aware, both lead quickly to good graphic displays of all the basic requirements, very well presented, engaging to read and easy to understand. This is exactly the information my would-be drone flyer needs. Now someone has clearly put an lot of thought and resources into creating this web presence and that being the case I think the best course of action would be to point people towards these good resources that already exist. I’m not knocking the BMFA, far from it, and I want them to carry on working for the benefit of model flyers. But they are not set up to deal with the problems presented by the rapid expansion we have seen in the availability of, and demand for, drones. Others organisations are way ahead in their approach to the problem, I believe we should encourage people to take up that offering of help and advice.

I'm really not sure why there is such a focus on the BMFA, surely the majority of drones are being sold by businesses/suppliers who have nothing to do with the model hobby and the majority of users have nothing to do with the model hobby. 

Posted by bouncebounce crunch on 01/04/2017 10:11:06: I have gone through all of this thread and you would be hard pressed to pick a winner. Absolutely enjoyable. I agree, there are many, many craking picture which is great to see, though I am particualrly drawn to the recent picture of the Vulcan against a sunset, I'm a sucker for sunset pictures

In the past I'm sure I've see a couple of items on YouTube showing people carrying out this conversion, might be worth a few minutes searching. Picture worth a thousand words and all that ... Edited By avtur on 01/04/2017 13:51:55

Posted by Denis Watkins on 24/03/2017 19:16:38: This may appear potty, but others may feel the same way, that everything I buy and assemble for flight is deemed expendable. It is my hobby, paid for by me, but in a blink of an eye, the equipment or model could be damaged or totally written off. Luckily I have had very few problems, but despite being precious, and enjoyable, the whole kit, to me is expendable. I wouldn't dream of sending stuff back, if I cannot fix it then the bulk goes for spares and the main requirements are replaced. I must add that I have never had a Tx fault, but "after sales" means little when the decision is made to buy. I have dropped Tx and broken sticks and switches and replaced those. But after sales does not affect my choices. Potty maybe  As our beloved politicians are prone to say ..."I would like to identify myself with the remarks of the previous speaker"   Edited By avtur on 26/03/2017 04:34:02

Posted by kc on 23/03/2017 11:09:20: Unless the package has the senders address on the outside it's going to be unpacked & treated by parcel staff who don't understand delicate RC gear. I wonder how many valuable TX or RX will be lost completely due to this cavalier attitude? Edited By kc on 23/03/2017 11:10:58 You don't even have to go to the trouble of writing your full name and address, just to put your house number and postcode on anything you entrust the postal system. With that small piece of information you can identify the majority of properties in the UK. So for me, probably similar for most people, its a matter of 8 letters/digits and you can find my front door. Having lived in the US for some years, where a return address is required on every piece of mail, it is a habit I've had for many years. Abreviating to house number and postcode makes it very easy to do. Not trying to be smart, just a suggestion in case some hadn't thought of it.   I can't this policy doing HH's reputation for customer service much good. The matter of actively turning goods away seems rather draconian and unhelpful. Edited By avtur on 23/03/2017 12:31:42

Has anyone followed the original link and found the two aircraft that fly tethered together (about 25 feet apart) and flown from a single transmitter. They fly in two modes, in parallel (along side each other) and around each other (yes in a 25 diameter circle. Look for the link to "Twofer", an amazing mix of aerodynamics and technology.

Posted by Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 20/03/2017 09:05:00: No - in my experience I believe modern radio gear to be phenomenally reliable. BEB Thats great and I think your reply sums up all the replies so far which I'm very pleased to hear, it is also in keeping with my own experience. Thanks to everyone who has commented. Now I'll explain the reason why I started the thread. Elsewhere in the pages of this wonderful forum there are comments about the availability of service agents for our equipment. Reading some of the comments got me thinking that there is a great need for back up service and that without such service anyone supplying equipment was doomed, as though such service was the number one priority when buying equipment. To be honest I could not identify with this line of thought and given such positive replies here about the 'real world' reliability of our equipment I'm tempted to think service back up may not be too high on other peoples agenda. I think the features and reliability of our equipment is excellent, long may the developments keep coming, although not to the point where there is no need for 'thumbs on sticks', thats the bit we all enjoy ... isn't it?

Looking at various threads on the forum there appears to be a lot of comment about after sales 'service' (or possibly lack of) provided by RC equipment suppliers. I'm not going to get into naming brands. What does surprise me is that 'my opinion' gained from posts I see appears to suggest that RC equipment is perhaps not that reliable, with many folks offering explanations of how their service dealings have (or have not) worked out. If I think about my own experience with other household electrical appliances it looks like some RC users get a poor deal. If I look at the electrical appliances around my house, TV, PVR, washing machine, dishwasher, vacuum cleaner, hair dryers, hair straighteners, fridges and freezers. From these pieces of equipment, which, especially considering their duty cycles, provides me with an astonishing level of reliability, to the point where I can't remember having problems let alone how to go about making service calls. If I compare this experience with some of the reported problems with RC equipment, and the need for service, this could make RC equipment look both unreliable and poor value. I know that forums are not the best place to get a balanced view of products …. those who can be bothered to post are probably less likely to be “average users”. So … what do forum viewers think … is RC equipment as reliable as other products we buy? My experience has actually been very good, no question about reliability and therefore no need for followup and service ... But looking at some posts returning equipment is not an uncommon occurrence. Edited By avtur on 20/03/2017 00:58:59 Edited By avtur on 20/03/2017 01:01:12

Posted by Percy Verance on 19/03/2017 21:01:59: Hi avtur The shop has been trading for 28 years, and the owner says he's simply had enough and wants to get out while the going is still reasonably good. He does have someone who is interested in taking over, but nothing has been finalised as yet. If nothing comes of it, the door will close at the end of March, and any remaining stock will be sold on ebay......... It would have to be a very brave (and wealthy) person who would buy into an LMS in todays (online and financial) environment, I wish the current owner well. If ebay had been an option for me that would have made life so much more palatable. Have you heard the saying ..."how do you make a small fortune out of model retailing?" easy ... start with a large fortune !!!! Edited By avtur on 19/03/2017 23:26:13

Posted by LMA Dave on 19/03/2017 18:29:43: A lot of work had been put in to pulling this event off and modellers and traders both think the venue is great which is a great relief. It is a great venue, location is spot on, just by a major motorway junction, hopefully making it easily accessible for many visitors. Obviously wherever a venue is chosen it will be better for some than others, it is over 700 miles from top to bottom of the UK, you couldn't be nearest for everyone but its a heck of a good choice for middle England!! Facilities were of a high quality which has to be down to choice of venue, an inspired choice by someone. There is one thing that would have to be on my wish list in future ..... with such a vast availability of land outside ... could there be some flying ???

As it was pouring with rain this morning and Haydock Park is a little under 30 miles away I thought I would stroll along to this event. Have to say I thought it was well organised and well presented, nice venue, plenty of space. I've never been to an LMA event before so found many of the exhibits quite jaw dropping. There were a few trade stands to look at, not all focused on large models, the on site catering was good with space to sit and eat and chat. I saw someone taking lots of pictures, Alex Whittaker (possibly) so there maybe some good pictures to see in an upcoming mag. There was a strange event which appeared to be called "how many modellers does it take to weight a turbine hawk" .... I lost count. All in all an a good day out, well done to the LMA folks for tickling the 'modelling' taste buds just as the year starts to open up. Edited By avtur on 19/03/2017 17:01:53

Posted by Percy Verance on 19/03/2017 07:19:01:   ..... I'm going to make a point of being there for an hour or so on the last day just to wish him well for the future etc. I'd imagine many others will do the same.....   That's a nice thought, I hope others do the same. When I closed a model shop 25 years ago there were one or two who were kind in their thoughts, but they were outnumbered by more of the "what's going cheap" brigade. Quite humiliating having people picking through the bones of your business. Took nearly 20 years to pick up a Tx and fly again. Edited By avtur on 19/03/2017 12:32:31