Andy48

It would be done on a bench first with considerable testing before even thinking of putting such a setup in a model. But until one tries nobody can really say how effective it would be.

I'm still trying to find the time/money/workshop (that's on its way at last!) to try out 2 Frsky neuron ESCs, and use the software to synchronise the motor speeds by using the motor speed telemetry from each ESC. Anyone already done that?

Again another vote for Octopus. When I moved house recently, the refund came through within a couple of weeks of leaving. Firstly, any electric heating is going to be expensive. Its worth checking if you can get gas. Admittedly it was 20 years ago now, but when I tried I was told it would cost £75 to run a 25m gas pipe from the road to my house where there was a high pressure gas main. It took the 3 days alone to dig up the road to get to the gas main. It sounds like insulation is a serious issue. Last night with temperatures outside below zero degrees, my heating dropped 3 degrees in 7 hours (from 19 to 16). Whatever form of heating you go for, much will be wasted.

My last flying site had a microwave link running across the field. I would get a brief signal lost warning when flying through it at the exact height, but no control issues. I changed to Frsky after a number of years with Spektrum when I had 3 near identical crashes in 2 weeks. Eventually I found out why the Spektrum would fail and not the Frsky. Putting the receiver on on a well secured plane in the pits, then switching the transmitter on with the throttle half open, one could observe how quickly the reciever responded once the throttle was closed. The Frsky system was virtually instantaneous, but the Spectrum took at least a couple of seconds before it responded. - Plenty of time for control to be lost. This was a good few years ago now, no doubt Spektrum have resolved this brownout issue on newer systems. A thought did occur to me. During the BMFA world record for the greatest number of model planes in the air at once I didn't hear of any crashes. We had 25 planes up, with no problems at all.

Am I right in thinking they also allow much higher radio transmission power in the US so that more devices could be within range.

Basically you must have logging if its a FrSky system, and cases like yours are exactly why it is useful on every flight. Its easy to enable for any model.

I've got a modern equivalent of this, a CVT 4wd vehicle. It works well. Only downside is the gearbox oil is horrendously expensive.

Never. My Mitsubishi 4x4 is coming up to 5 years old now and running out of warranty. That said its never needed a repair of any sort, and is worth just £7k less than I paid for it. I can cope with an annual depreciation of £1400.

You don't need to know a farmer. It is quite a legitimate use of red diesel to heat a domestic workshop. Garages that sell red diesel will ask you to sign for it and state the purpose. Also if any model club is a CASC (Community Aided Sports Club) they too can legitimately purchase red diesel for mowers and similar equipment.

The Musketeer is a lovely model, easily converted to electric. Bags of power and good performance when run on 4S 3000 liPo. Would be interested, but I've got a spare kit sat in the loft already.

I've experimented with this using a motor test stand. First I found the thrust curve indoors basically with a static airflow. Then I tested the same motor, propeller, speed controller, and even the same battery charged again. I waited for a very windy day where the windspeed was in excess of 25mph, and then plotted the same thrust curve with the propeller pointing into the wind, and then again with the wind. This gave a combined wind speed of over 50mph. In reality the difference between static thrust and thrust in the air was quite small, less than 10% surprisingly. This is also backed up by the extensive telemetry I use. The biggest factor of all was the state of charge of the battery. Running the motor flat out sends a disproportionate current through the motor and the power soon drops off. Half throttle on most of my models uses just 20-25% of the maximum current. I have a very simple way of selecting the right motor/battery propeller combination. I use the engine test stand to look for the best performance overall, and generally work on the static thrust being in excess of the weight of the model. However, given the situation the OP has outlined for a trainer this may not be the best. Better performance will need a larger battery and motor, and probably speed controller. This will obviously increase the overall weight which will ultimately increase the stall speed, but that's not always a bad thing. We've all experienced those rare calm days where the plane simply floats across the field and doesn't want to land except when it reaches the end of the field.

I don't know what transmitter you are using with the buddy box, but I use 2 things on mine which could help in your situation. Firstly, a switch which disables the throttle on the trainer transmitter, so that I can control that still. Secondly I don't use a switch to enable the buddy box system, but the aileron joystick. With this I find I can take over control very quickly indeed just by moving that joystick in any direction.

On my Pupetteer, the yoke is the arming plug.

I've been using arming plugs for years, indeed I published something on it years ago in RCME, so nothing new. Point of failure, true there is a possibility, but its never happened to me and almost all my models have them. However, as a safety feature is is very well worth it. I never fit the arming plug until the model is on the take off strip.

Good for keeping the tired old brain cells exercised though. 😄

Self levelling is very useful for checking the flight surfaces respond in the correct way when setting up the model. It also acts as AFU mode (all f@@@ed up mode). A quick flick over to self levelling and back is occasionally useful when you lose orientation of the model. You can also put this on a button, so that a quick press can get you out of trouble, but don't hold it down. I use one of the buttons on the back of my Tandem X20.

Yes they are backward compatible, BUT the setup for a SR6 is subtly different, which is a right pain.

Model Fixings : https://modelfixings.co.uk/ Also have a look on sites like Banggood and Temu. They often sell boxes of screws, nuts and washers which are good value:

I've got some Zeee 4S 3300 batteries and they are excellent, with a noticeable power improvement. Indeed after buying a couple to try them out, I now have 4 more. I've also got some 3S ones as well and they well outperform similar batteries

After 3 prangs with my Speccy system within 2 weeks all caused by radio problems I changed to FrSky. We do get interference down at the field, and most regular fliers changed away from Speccy, mostly to Futaba. I'm pretty much the only one with FrSky gear, but no regrets and the few crashes I have now are certainly down to pilot error. The investment in FrSky stuff was not painful at all, indeed I sold all of my receivers for more than the new FrSky ones cost. I'm right at home with OpenTX, and now slowly migrating to Ethos and my X20.

My new electric Acro Wot was a pig to fly until I moved the CofG a good cm forward from recommended, loads of noseweight, 4000 5S battery as far forward as it would go, tail as light as possible.

With a new setup, I do a ground range check, its usually a long walk. Then being a Frsky system I do a couple of test flights and examine the range telemetry data afterwards. This tests the model on full power and in all orientations. Incidentally being Frsky, you get a warning on every flight if there is a range problem.

Look on the bright side Tim, it gives the old brain a workout, and helps stave off dementia for a little longer (or so I keep trying to convince myself).

Tim, try unplugging any other devices on USB. I found the printer interfered with mine.

Expensive treacle at that. 😒