Matt Carlton

Thankyou. Ground to a bit of a halt whilst I figure out what to do with the canopy. I suspect that it might end up being "solid" and painted.

So, a bit more on the fuselage. The front hatch was a bit of pain and I'm not super happy with the fit, but it'll probably be ok. Just waiting for some model-lite filler. I want to get the fuselage as near as possible to complete before I move on to the wing. Still undecided on foam vs built.

We progress. Trying to make this a bit more robust, so what we have is a basic 3/32" box. As an experiment, I positioned the longerons about 1/16" higher than the top of the sides, to give a bit extra for the decking sheet to glue to.

The throttle was stuck at 100% so rather than stuff it in at full speed, I flew it around until the rpm dropped off sufficiently to land without damage and be able to retrieve the model safely without the prop turning at full rpm. It was the safest option all things considered. This was not my routine, it was just the best I could do with the situation at hand. Afterwards, I balanced the pack and put it into a storage charge as soon as I could. It's only 3S 1600 and capacity of each cell is still fine, I think these smaller capacity 2S and 3S packs are possibly more forgiving but obviously it isn't something I want to repeat. I did think about the tx signal issue, but that would have shown up on the ground checks, so I don't think it's that. The model is somewhat racey, so spends most of the flight flat out. I will hoink it out and replace it anyway before I fly it again.

Ventilation is decent, but could possibly be improved. That is a potential cause, but its a 40A ESC running at about 17A, so it shouldn't be getting too hot. But, for the sake of £20, I might retire it for duty in a boat or something.

Hello, For no apparent reason, the 40A Overlander XP2 in one of my models is behaving very oddly. Sometimes, it will "stick" at full throttle when in the air, but when on the ground, it works absolutely fine. When it does this, there is no indication of interference as all other controls are unaffected. On landing (after waiting for the battery to die) the ESC is functioning normally, as it was during pre flight checks. I have just moved club, so I considered something "in the air" but it seems unlikely, although there is a big RAF "Golf Ball" not too many miles away. Any ideas?

I'd cut my own, but I don't have a cutter. I should probably change that, but for a one off, it'll probably cost more to build a cutting bow, get a power supply etc etc. I'll think of something.

Hello, I'm looking to get some cores cut for a project, but don't really need them to be ready veneered and whatnot, just a basic set of white foam cores. Does anyone have the facility to cut cores, and what do you charge? Many thanks Matt

With the sad demise of my last OD model, I have scribbled up a replacement which I have called "Bécasseau". Simpler and more robust construction is planned. Possibly a foam wing which might actually be more achievable with balsa prices as they are! Anyway, here's the first sketch. I'll update as I go along. Slowly.

Perhaps I should have said: "an end to the Nats in its current form" Also, to be fair Andy, I did say, and perhaps it bears repeating, that my comment was rather tongue in cheek or at least, a bit sarcastic, so please don't take the bit about the decision too seriously! It wasn't a dig at the MOD or at the BMFA, rather, the "out of the frying pan" nature of coming out of a global pandemic, only to enter a global security crisis. Perhaps that didn't translate, for which I apologise. In terms of the future, I suspect that sadly, the global situation is likely to remain very fluid for some years, so whilst that doesn't necessarily rule out MOD sites for the future, it does perhaps make their use a little more uncertain and behoves us to find alternatives which are not subject to the same pressures. With that said, I absolutely appreciate everything that the BMFA is trying to do in terms of the power Nats, and I fully appreciate that it must be a herculean task to try to find venues and organise events.

That's shocking, if it is bought and paid for, it should be supplied at the price you paid. That's the whole reason why futures markets can be so risky.

Likewise, paid £372 last week. I'm struggling to see the cause, given that the majority of the oil we use in the UK comes from Norway and the US. The USA is set to release 30m barrels from the strategic reserve, what impact that will have, who knows. Sadly I suspect much of this is more to do with profiteering than necessity.

500L Heating Oil Something has to give.

Gaming is a valid pastime and I enjoy it myself from time to time. The issue, in relation to the Nats and the hobby in general, is that it is too often the ONLY pastime and that doesn't bode well for hobby. IMHO model "shows" are too much dominated by a type of modelling that 90% of us will never, could never, engage in. The joy of the Nats was always the variety of disciplines that can be accessible. Flying only scale and Fun-Fly being two which are as accessible with an RTF as they are with a Kit, Plan or Scratch build. Held individually, I fear the appeal of small, single class competitions is limited to an existing, but diminishing audience.

Interesting thoughts chaps, thankyou. I'm slightly dubious about using them for a single elevator horn. On the Hawk posted, there is at least a level of redundancy should one fail. I suspect that a slight bend in tbe pushrod is probably an ultimately simpler solution, but I'll have a bit of a fiddle and a think!

My own children are quite eye opening in terms of the future of the hobby. The following are broad statements of where their views are. 1) Why go to the effort of making a model when you can buy a simulator and fly any model you want without risking breaking it? 2) Building something that might break is pointless. Just buy something cheap that you can throw away. 3) If you can't be good at something straight away, do something else. 4) Why go and stand on a cold airfield to watch other people fly models, just watch it on YouTube. Models are boring. I have tried to engage them in the hobby, but their attention span is just not there. I took my eldest flying, he enjoyed stirring the sticks for 5 minutes and then went to sit in the car and play on his phone. It isn't bad, it's just different, but I do agree that long term, it makes an event like the Nats a bit redundant in the future. There will always be competition minded types and a niche for them to fill, but as a spectator event? Stream it digitally with a choice of camera (ie Scale, Aerobatics etc) and do some interviews with flyers between rounds, maybe live commentary online and that might work. It would also allow the existing but aging/infirm audience to at least experience something.

Those look absolutely ideal actually Pat, and for what I have in mind, I wouldn't need a bearing tube. If I could solder worth a damn I'd give that a go. Unless of course, those ones are, you know, looking for a new home ?

I don't mean mounting the ball to the horn, I mean using the ball as the horn, so essentially a long shanked ball, through the control surface near to the hinge line. Then a cup type ball joint on the end of the pushrod. Makes absolutely perfect sense for a control surface connection but nobody seems to do it. The only downside I can see is the security of the cup and ball under load.

Does anyone make a longer version of the ball joint connectors that go on servo horns? It occurs to me that they would make an ideal elevator control horn to avoid having to put a bend in a pushrod. There are many control horns with ball joints to accomodate up/down movement, but I can't find any to accomodate lateral movement.

I completely understand and I think we are all, to some extent, rather bewildered and concerned about the state of the world. Maybe it is part of our British stoiscism to underplay the seriousness of things. Poe's law is definitely an issue online, and the lack of nuance or body language is definitely the cause of more than a few raging arguments.

My tongue was rather firmly in my cheek about that. It probably didn't come across that way, but it was sarcasm. Obviously I am entirely aware of the global political situation and the rationale behind the decision, I'm not a complete idiot.

Probably old news for you all, but the current BMFA rewards scheme has a pretty good offer with the AA. I got membership for myself and my wife, including "at home", recovery back home from anywhere in the country and "onward journey" assistance for a princely £15.90 a month. Thought it worth mentioning as it seemed like a pretty good deal to me.

Baltasound? ?

Bruntingthorpe is an excellent idea, but is it not used as a storage facility for car sales places? Looks that way on Google, but could be way out of date. It is absolutely massive though... In terms of RAF, I think Syerston would be a good option. Used mostly by glider training units, it has a decent amount of space and is pretty centrally located. CL might be difficult to arrange but not impossible, and FF would be amply catered for with all that grass.

Realistically, the best option would be a civilian airfield/airpory of a reasonable size, but I suspect that would come at a rather high price. Nottingham City Airport or something of that sort of size would possibly work for a more "compact" NATS. Nice layout as well.