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RichB

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Posts posted by RichB

    RCM&E June 2011 Issue

    in RCM&E Magazine

    Posted

    Great plan for the Mossie, but am I being too picky to notice that It has been shown with a fighter nose, but has a bomber canopy, or were there versions with this set-up?
    I'm sure that someone will correct me on this!

    Great service from Dumfries Model Flying

    in R/C Retailers / Distributors / Manufacturers

    Posted

    Firstly, I must say that I have no connection with Dumfries Model Flying, other than as a very satisfied customer.
    I ordered a pair of Kavan 10oz fuel tanks (for a twin project) from their online shop, mainly because they were a good price and fair postage.
    Within half an hour I had a phone call from Bill White at Dumfries apologising and saying that they only had one Kavan tank in stock and would a different make of tank be acceptable. I refused, as I needed the two identical Kavan tanks. He said he could order another one, but that it would be a week late. I agreed to this.
    Shortly after this, I had an e-mail from Bill to say that he'd managed to order another tank and that he would post both the next day! I had a further e-mail the next day to say that his supplier had forgotten to put the tank in with the order, but that he would post the first tank immediately and the second tank the day after.
    Bill was as good as his word and both tanks arrived just one day apart, and I only paid one lot of postage!
    Thanks to Bill White for going out of his way to fulfil my order. I shall certainly be looking at their website for other items I need.
     

    David Boddington

    in All Things Model Flying

    Posted

    I do hope that David gets through this OK and would like to add my best wishes for a speedy recovery.

    I've never met him directly, but have seen him many times at OW and he once gave a very interesting talk at one of our Club nights.

    There can't be many modellers who haven't, at some stage, built or flown at least one of Boddo's designs, which always fly well, and here's hoping that he's soon back on the scene.

    Ripmax Harmony Twin

    in Sport, Aerobatic and 3D kits

    Posted

    I'm afraid this is going to be a rather lengthy thread, as there are quite a lot of issues with this model, mostly documented in other forums.
    I originally bought the Harmony over two years ago and decided that I would fit a pair of four-strokes instead of the recommended two-strokes.
    On the initial build, I was a bit concerned about the quality of the materials used as the wing sheeting was a bit "crunchy" and the engine mounts didn't look too special, however I finished it off and gave the engines an initial run (they were run-in on the bench beforehand). The vibration had to be seen to be believed, both at tick-over and full throttle (yes - I had balanced the props and spinners).
    After only a couple of minutes running, the engine mounting bolts had worked loose, so back at the bench I found that the vibration and the poor quality of the wood had resulted in the mounts being crushed allowing the bolts to loosen even though I'd used Nyloc nuts.
    It was obvious that I had to add strength to the bearers, so epoxied carbon tape on all the joints and added thin alloy sheet either side of the bearers. The vibration was greatly reduced, but was still more than I thought acceptable, so in went a pair of Irvine 40's. Problem solved! All the strenghthening had made it a bit nose-heavy, but still within limits.
    I'd read about the main retract unit pivot pins working their way out and causing major problems, so thought I would be clever and put fibreglass tape on the units to prevent this happening.
    Out to the patch and after the usual engine run-ups and other checks I had what must be one of the best-ever first flights. This plane is one of the smoothest and nicest I've ever flown in over 30 years of model flying.
    Six minutes later I called landing, which, I have to admit, was a little fast, but I didn't expect the nose leg collapse which ensued. Inspection showed that the ply(?) mounting plate had broken immediately behind the retract unit.
    Back home, I found that there was very little glue on the mounting plate and the wood was very poor quality. I made a replacement out of good quality ply and epoxied fillets front and rear.
    I also removed the wing retract units as one appeared to be loose. I found hardly any glue on the mounting plates, so epoxied fillets to these and added blocks to prevent the pivot pins from sliding out, as I found that the pivot pins had worn through the previously applied tape!
    For the next session I added some weight to the tail and had another, even better flight. The subsequent  landing was slower this time, but the noseleg collapsed again. The mount held, but the servo had stripped a gear, I think this must have been due to the leg not locking down fully.
    I've not had a chance to try a third flight, but I'm hoping that all the problems have now been fixed.
    A fellow club-mate also has a Harmony and has experienced the same problems.
    Summing up, I would recommend this model as a fantastic flyer, but only after attending to the engine and u/c mount weaknesses and using two-stroke engines.

    MFA Chevron 2

    in All Things Model Flying

    Posted

    I had a Mini Chevron (slightly smaller version believe it or not!) with an OS 40 up front.
    I remember it had a vicious tip stall and would flip on its back in an instant, if I tried to haul it off our rather small patch too quickly.
    Apart from the tip stall, I enjoyed flying it until, one day, while experimenting with rate switches on my home-built Micron gear, I forgot it was in low elevator rate and a big loop ended up underground!! Scratch one Mini-Chevron.
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