Charles Smitheman
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Everything posted by Charles Smitheman
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Hello Nigel, this is an Interesting project. The engine choice sounds ideal to me. My only twin so far is a refurbished Ripmax Harmony with two OS52fs.It is fabulous to fly. One aspect with this one is the sidewinder engines. I have noticed a tremendous amount of vibration when the engines go out of sync. They are as smooth as silk on their own. I wonder if placing the engines vertically is better so that their vibration "planes" are not coinciding. Of course your two strokes will probably have less vibration anyway. I am interested to hear anyones experience with this. Possibly the stucture on the Harmony wing is not solid enough. Another challenging aspect of the Harmony is prop clearance, an aspect to keep in mind. I find the wing with two engines very awkward to handle during transport and storage, perhaps having stub wings fixed to the fuselage with plug in outer sections would be easier to manage. Have fun. Charles
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And do a range check of course......
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My only twin so far is a Ripmax Harmony. I have really enjoyed the challenge, and have found it a lot more complicated than the usual singles. It has two OS52FS which I chose for reliability. I used one from another model, having replaced the bearings etc, and purchased another as new. I had a lot of trouble getting the two to run similarly until I discovered that the rubber seals on the bearings I had purchased were tighter than the original ones. After replacing all of the bearings they run well together. The point of my story: Buy two new engines, unless you are a member of the difficult club like me! One thing that I dislike with the Harmony is the sidewinder engine mountings. It is quite spectacular sometimes if the speeds of the engines are not identical how much vibration occurs. I think an upright or inverted layout might be better, what do others think ? Now that I have this model of course thoughts turn to building a twin with two strokes!
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Avro Shackleton Mk3 PH3
Charles Smitheman replied to Tony Bennett's topic in Own Design Project Blogs
Hello Tony, that looks really impressive. Looking forward to seeing the observers portholes on the sides ahead of the tailplane; I remember gazing out of them (SAAF) from one of the green leather armchairs in deafening silence whilst cruising around Table Bay and Robben Eiland. Just joyriding. Fun times. Charles -
Does anyone remember the Aviomodelli Piviere thermal glider? I had great times with mine in the mid seventies. Soarcerer 2ch slope soarer (Dave Hughes RCM&E plan?) Later had an aileron wing. I still have one, it soars well. My first power model: Svenson Channy 3 channel, with a clapped out OS15. The engine would often stop after takeoff, I could do a stall turn and a deadstick landing downwind! Proctor Antic Parasol. Fantastic and complete builders kit, and an excellent flyer. DH60 Moth from plans by Dr. Michael Sun (RCM&E?) A long but easy build, and a superb flyer. So many others; to choose one is impossible, I like them all.
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Are there any kits for “Classic” F3a style flying
Charles Smitheman replied to Stuart Z's topic in UKCAA Chat
Here is an uncommon one: Lady Luck, Chris Sweatman's model from Cape Town. Flown at world champs in the sixties I think. www.rchangar.co.za Available as Epoxy glass fus and foam cores, apparently. Getting it here from CT might be a challenge! -
A friend had one years ago. It was a super engine,
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Hello John, I wonder if your 180's timing is a tooth out perhaps. Charles
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Re the touch dial not working: On mine it is sensitive to oily fingers from glow fuel! Cleaning it with detergent and water on a rag solves the problem for me.
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Hi Marty, I have a Graupner Dandy (ancient simple glider with no airbrakes) with an electric motor and folder prop for launch. Often if it is too high on landing approach I OPEN the throttle slightly, this gets the prop spinning again, and the model can be seen to slow down and drop noticeably. It is then just a matter of shutting the throttle before touchdown to avoid prop damage. So yes, prop windmilling for steeper slower glide. I often find it more fun flying a simple old model than the latest fancy gadget! Charles
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At 50 seconds in to the movie the tail of one taking off looks a bit like an Ansaldo SVA but I am not sure... Two fascinating films. Thanks.
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Ansaldo?
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There are different fit bearings made. (the clearance between the balls and the races) I think from memory a C3 is standard. Check that the bearing is not a too close tolerance one which could possibly cause it to get tight. Also be certain that the bearing is identical to the old one, sometimes metric and imperial sizes are very close. Usually the front bearing is OK, you could try refitting the old one if so. As the bearing is probably the cheapest part it might be an idea to try another new one first. I recently had trouble getting the two engines in my Harmony to perform the same. I discovered eventually that the rear rubber sealed bearing (OS52fs) on one engine was really tight compared to the other engine. (different bearing manufacturers) I replaced both engines bearings with identical ones to solve the problem. Charles
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The WORST plane you ever had?
Charles Smitheman replied to Flanker .'s topic in All Things Model Flying
Garfield showing off his pizza toppings -
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The WORST plane you ever had?
Charles Smitheman replied to Flanker .'s topic in All Things Model Flying
As far as the way it flew this has to be it, but what a laugh! I made Garfield for a club open day some years back. The family all helped, My wife and daughter made the pizza toppings out of modelling clay. I could not find a plan so just made it up as I went along. The first launch indicated that the cg was too far back, as it did a very tight loop and tried to take my sons head off (the launcher). I eventually added one foot of lead pipe to the leading edge to get the cg to 25%. It flew ok unless you touched down elevator, which resulted in an instant inverted snap roll. Eventually last year the Webra speed 61 went dead stick. The glide was abut a 70 degree angle. It "landed" on the runway, but the lead pipe ballast removed itself from the airframe. So long Garfield. -
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Unrecognisable ARTFs - new paint jobs!
Charles Smitheman replied to The Wright Stuff's topic in All Things Model Flying
Here is my Ripmax Harmony. I added flaps, made the uc legs longer (had to move the wheel wells) replaced all the horrible plastic bits with balsa, and used a cut down Sebart Angel 50 canopy. It can do 540 deg stall turns! -
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Old On/Off Switch - big voltage drop!
Charles Smitheman replied to Jonathan M's topic in All Things Model Flying
Agree with the above, In my experience the switch is possibly the number one cause of radio failures (along with dodgy wiring in general). Testing it as the OP did is an excellent wheeze, I have been doing similarly, and have thrown away a good few switches. The Futaba HD one is my favourite, but my LHS states that they are discontinued. I hope he is wrong. -
Phil, it is the 1/4 scale one, I think the 1/3 scale one is a single holer. It is not light; the wing spars for example are spectacular bits of spruce. I fitted split flaps which add to the fun and make landings a doddle. You can just see them extended in this pic.
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Alan you came up trumps! I have ordered one from the EBay seller in your link. Many thanks Charles.
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I see that I failed to give any feedback of my fun and games with this engine last summer. Better late than never they say, so here it is. I ran the engine in successfully (using the 12% Opti fuel) I flew it in the Svenson Baronett. and it had oodles of power for the job. In fact it was idling most of the time. The idle was totally reliable. Starting once run in was easy, it was even possible to start it on one pot, then to energise the second one once it was running with the glow stick. The plugs used were OS8. The only downside to the project is that it has been deemed too noisy for our club. It does have a pretty healthy crackle to it at full power. So I need to manufacture a silencer, and this has not happened yet. Thanks once again for the advice.
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Thanks so much for the tips, I shall do some further searching. Charles
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I have just purchased this model (Thanks Peter) and flew it on Sunday. It is powered by the above mentioned vintage Enya. The engine is in good condition apart from the cylinder liner, which appears to have suffered dirt ingress and is scored. The engine runs, but is weak, and has very low compression. The part number from Steve Webb models is 60IIIB04 for an new cylinder and piston, but it is unavailable anymore. Does anyone have an part to help me out or an old engine for spares, or know of someone who can repair it? I would like to keep the engine in this model as it is correct for the period. Thanks, Charles
