Charles Smitheman

If I was to buy one of these kits: 1. Scale. 2. British subject. 3. All wood built up, no foam. 4. Modest size, no more than about 70" or smaller. 5. Biplane much more attractive. 6. Follow scale construction method, usually means plug in wings, how about an updated VeronTomtit, or nearly anything from the Shuttleworth collection. Charles

Here is a pic of my snipe last summer...

Posted by Colin Leighfield on 27/02/2013 23:19:51: On the first flight in Sutton Park I made the mistake of launching it with a full tank. About two minutes later it was a dot in the sky heading out of the park towards Four Oaks. I never saw it again and as you may guess, I hadn't put my name and address in it. It certainly flew well! I will build this one the traditional way, covered with tisue and dope. However, it will definitely be fitted with radio this time! It's about number five on the build list, but I will get around to it! HA ha so did mine! Early seventies, Rondebosch Common, Cape Town. I built a Replikit replacement a few years back. I put a fleabay DC Merlin in it which turned out to be a dog. After it had matured a while I weakened and electrified it. It now comes flying with me regularly, as it is such fun and such a good flyer. I took the motor and battery from my Clik 2 indoor model, it goes for about fifteen minutes on a rhino 2s 360aH battery. I also cheated by covering it in profilm. But it is a really good flying model, highly recommended. On the buiilding side, just like my original, the main fuselage formers are not symmetreical, and a fair bit of fettling was needed to make it all fit. Have fun, Charles

I have had the same experience with control horns. Luckily also on the ground..... and a nylon wing bolt on a frozen winter day. This story I can hardly believe myself, but as I have some witnesses: The plane (Hangar 9 Arresti 40 OS46) hit a frozen lump on the runway on takeoff, and behaved a bit strangely in flight. I did three gentle circuits and landed as I thought the tail was loose. As the model slowed down the wing dropped off. Phew. Pinch me am I dreaming. A little appreciated fact is that nylon material has a certain amount of water in its composition. During storage this can dry out and the material becomes brittle. Some will remember those soft white propellers that you had to boil before using. Of course we do not know what type of plastic these items are made of. So sunlight, low temperature, and dryness can degrade plastics. Charles

Terry thanks for the info. I am very bad at following the recipe, and my Superstar had a Curare tail, and the Atlas wing section, as I had an atlas plan and an FG fus for the Superstar from a clubmate. It crashed before I really knew much, and was it a lead sled or what. The hole in the ground was pretty deep. I think the battery wire fell into the elevator linkage and got unplugged! So it goes. I have always wanted to build another, but it would be very helpful to get any info from you regarding dihedral and tp anhedral angles etc, it would be nice not to have to cut it to bits again to correct faults if possible. I have a Webra Speed 61 and a pipe and some Rohm airs which would do nicely in it. I found the Superstar plans are available. I don't know about the model pictured other than what is on this thread, isn't it lovely. Charles

Terry, Are plans available for the Jupiter?... It looks nicer than the Superstar with that tail I think. And how does it fly? KE coupling? Cheers, Charles

Had some good flying at EMC Ripley yesterday, the ground being frozen made the mud less of a problem. We had two of Nigel Hawes "Prats" up at once, now both brushless and pretty ballistic. You dont have to spend much to have fun, but fingerless gloves help a lot. (also a club hut with heater!) Also tried a new Rhino 40c 2150 4C pack in my Sebart Angel 30e. Highly recommended. Much better performance and endurance than old Nanotech 3000. The weight reduction seems to make a big difference. And my equally crazy nephew was flying a h###copter in the snow, each to his own!

Ahh Memories. My Caprice was the best by far of my free flight gliders. My pal Derek and I took turns towing and launching it one evening on Rondebosch Common, Cape Town SA. We ran out of DT fuse. It was my turn to tow, the model headed off down wind with Derek giving chase on his bike. I packed up and went home. About three hours later a slightly dishevelled Derek arrived with the model, all OK apart from a slightly dented nose; apparently it had flown into a block of flats after about 20 minutes, and ended up on an adjoining rooftop. I later made a marvellous automatic hand launcher from an American mag, for the Capiche, which used a screen door hinge, it was hilarious, and it usually worked, if set up properly. The mouldering fuselage still resides in a box in CT. I must make a leccy one some day. Charles Edited By Charles Smitheman on 24/02/2013 16:41:32 Edited By Charles Smitheman on 24/02/2013 16:42:34

Hi Scruffmeister, Apart from carb fluff mentioned above, the other Saito problem I had once is easy to check for. The engine had been run for a long time with castor fuel. Eventually the stem of the exhaust valve got some glaze on it and it would stick open. Easy to check for: Remove the silencer and look: I carefully scraped the visible bit of the valve stem without removing the valve, turned the valve a bit ( You will need to take the rocker cover off) and got it all nice and shiny. Problem solved. Still working, easily 400 hours running on the engine now. (original c1980 FA30) Charles

Hi Major, Just found this thread, If possible my recommendation would be to get a two needle carb. Just engines should be able to advise. I just could not get on with my OS40fs (its a very old one with airbleed) as the idle was so rich it would stop. At full speed it ran perfectly. I had the same problem with my OS48 surpass, which was solved by fitting an ASP twin needle carb for very little money from Hobbyking. I would be interested if there is one that will fit the 40 as mine is languishing.... I even went as far as drilling the airbleed hole out a bit, but no dice. Still ridiculously rich. By the way I am a bit ashamed to admit how many FS engines I have with tn carbs, they all work beautifully. (OS and Saito)

Andy, Pm sent My experience is the PCM Rx seem to work fine with most electrics, ppm/fm not so good. The electric power train seems to be more of a challenge for the old radio gear, Any old thing seems to work with oilys. Probably better to start with a new radio for elec flying, prices these days are quite reasonable. The old radio should be fine for use with a sim, I dont know the Phoenix one myself. Charles

Andy, Leatherhead club is still going strong, their chairman lives over the road from me! You can fly with an old JR set, I do. I use aerofly pro with an old JR set. Works fine except the plug is of poor quality, I had to solder on a new one. Charles

Interesting thread Erfolg. Let us not forget that great technical achievement, the rubber band! I still clearly remember that moment of amazement, when the Veron Goblin that I built (with supervision) actually flew, driven by that amazing rubber band! And that was where the rot set in. Today I get some funny looks as I still mostly use 35Mhz.. Well it works, no brown outs and no queue for the peg! But the idea of FPV is most appealing. Hmm.

Welcome Andy, May I suggest visiting a club, where you can meet others, and see what's hot and what's not? Surrey is where I am, you are welcome to visit! Tomorrow looks OK, I plan to be out there. Reply here, I will give you details. The Wot 4's are very popular, of course a balsa one is better! (Biased old fashioned attitude) Tragically electric models these days can easily have far better performance than i.c. There is a bit of a learning curve but I managed so it can't be that difficult. Think first seems to be the prerequisite with electrickery.

Do a good landing. Want to do another as good or better. Do a bad landing. Want to do another one better. Crash.. Want to fly again and do a good landing! Repeat for a lot of years, and still counting..

One of our sadly missed club members would not hear a bad word said about MDS engines. He is the only person that I have met who felt this way. Mind you Joe derived great satisfaction from spending so long on the phone to Ripmax that they would apparntly give him copious amounts of free spares, apparently he had a box of new carbs, found by the chap who cleared out his stuff. Dont ask, wasnt me, and its all gone! I have an engine called a Drone Gold Crown. Fixed compression diesel. Built in the States in about 1946. I have never seen anything worse made. The con rod touches the crankcase in places. I showed it to Joe, who really coveted it. He showed me his gnarled old knuckles and said that these had been caused by ... a Drone Gold Crown. He was proud that he had been able to start his one. There are many way to enjoy this hobby. I was given a huge MDS once, it looked unrun. Something around 120 size. I put a prop on it and gave it a flick. The ring fitted so badly that it made the sort of noises we used to make as kids with a hand in ones armpit. I gave it to Joe, and he was delighted. Sadly he passed away shortly thereafter. They dont make them like that anymore, thank goodness.

Thanks guys, I always remind myself of the Swedish saying: there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes... Better just waterproof the planes and tranny, and get some wipers for the specs!

Hello all, have been lurking here a bit. I like model planes (there's a surprise!) I like building them and flying them, I cant get excited by anything foam, although I have had a go at indoor rc, and learned a lot from foamies, they are just disposable learning tools to me. I am a balsa basher at heart. ARTF's can be fun, but dont have a soul! Well maybe my Sebart Angel 50e does... I enjoy moderate sized models, scale and aerobats. I fly at Elmbridge Model Club near Ripley in Soggy Surrey. Currently I am restoring my Svenson Wayfarer bipe which has been sulking in the loft due to inattentive pilotage and terra firma! This was a lovely flying plane, I made a lot of effort to keep it light, and it hasn't gained much. It is getting a Saito 82 to replace the Saito 72 now in another model. With the 72 it was capable of prop hanging. Maybe one day it will stop being winter, and then we can go flying! Mind you I did fly on Saturday.. in the rain..

Hello Bob, Interesting topic. I agree that if they are too heavy there is nothing that can be done. I have hung my Hurricane high up out of the way where it can look pretty, it's just too heavy. It flies passably, but only lands up on its back! However sometimes there is great satisfaction in finding and fixing the cause of bad behaviour. I have just done this with my 1/6 scale Sig Cub. Thanks to my clever neighbour who pointed out to me that I had over sharpened the leading edge with the razor plane. ( I am fortunate to have a retired aeronatical engineer as a neighbour!) I re- did the wings to a good Clark Y section, and now it flies well, no more of that vicious snap/ spin behaviour that it had previously. And yes any sensible person would have binned it and started again.

Hi Cymaz, Plain Solartex is my favourite covering material, really strong and easy to apply. Ihave used Clearcote as a primer, brushed on. Then you have a smooth finish for the masking tape. Another trick is to run the clearcote along the taped edge, then any run is clear and wont show. I had trouble with spraying the solarlac as the thinners dried in the air, the whole place looked like spiders webs. That was summer mind you. The solarlac colours take perfectly over the clearcote. Another way that I prefer is to use Poly C as a primer. This wonderful stuff is water based (no stink) and fuel proof. And it brushes on fine, as a primer. I use it thinned 50/50 with water, it needs at least two coats, preferrably four. I have sprayed over it with Spektrum/ spectra colours without any problems. Just wipe it down with their thinner fist to make sure it is clean. (fingerprints) I use a badger gun and masking tape from my LHS (Mick Charles Models) Dave there is very knowledgeable.

Yes please, me too! Charles

Love that Jupiter, Any more details, a new one on me? Looks similar to the Superstar/ Curare/ Capricorn. Gorgeous. Charles

I really look forward to seeing this, I built a Wittman Buster formula one racer years back. It flew well, but was oh so hard to land due to the uc being way far forward of the leading edge. I more or less tamed it by having lots of toe out on the u.c. and by landing as slow as possible, tailwheel first. The original is in the Smithsonian. Steve Wittman was evidently quite a remarkable character.