Engine Doctor

The black oil may just be carbon deposits but do check for any metal in the oil . let the sun or a bright light shine on it . If it looks pearly or glitters slightly then it will be metal from a bearing etc.A quick check for bearing wear can be made by holding both tips of the prop and try rocking it back and forth if there is any play in the crank bearings you will feel it . Also check the cam bearings ,often forgotten and they get very little oil. A quick look in the cam box,( two cap screws on the side) will be enough to check them . If full of brown muck then change them . If the bearing have worn then the performance will suffer quite a lot . Bearings are available from any good bearing supplier . and a complete set will only cost about £15 .

That does look like a brittle gudgeon pin ,or has the gudgeon pin siezed in the piston and con rod ?Hopefully a new piston ,pin and conrod will sort it if they are a reasonable price.

Hi the rattle can acrylics are not proof against glow fuel but the clear acrylic is supposed to be fuel resistant .They should be OK over brown paper for decoration as the paper should form a protective barrier over the foam ,this should be the same for solarlac or Clear coat. Provided you dont spray very wet coats and allow to dry between coats it should be fine .Make sure to protect any uncovered foam as any solvent based acrylic or solarlac including clear coat will dissolve the foam. As stevo says Ronseal will proof the paint but will brown over time.Flair spectrum clear in satin or gloss is fuel proof-ish and doesn't discolour like ronseal. If you have spraying equipment then solarlac clear coat is totally fuel proof and will go over car acrylic with no problems if thinned with solarlac thinners.

One thing I forgot to mention on previous post was that various chemicals /solvents can an do de-nature various plastics leaving extremely brittle. I once painted some flair scale wheels with silver Solarlac paint. A few months later the wheels shattered like egg shells on a gentle landing ! The replacements were painted white humbrol enamel and were fine some years later. The solvents were probably the cause but beware. Also beware if stripping fibreglass parts as some paint strippers will eat into or dissolve the gel coat. Any chemists out there who can offer an explanation about the embrittlment of plastics ?

If the profilm will stick to the emulsion it should be be ok . Just dont use a high enough temp to melt any foam underneath

Hi Mark All above advice is good but dont build the Wots Wot yet its for later . Best advice in above is ......go along to a club , have a chat with their instructors and join . Good luck.

Posted by David Davis on 15/03/2015 15:33:23:   I cannot get the idea of buying an Enya out of my head. I've had them in the past but never really appreciated them for the solid reliable engines that they are, and have always sold them on. I'm considering something in the 40-60 range. God knows why for I've got a Super Tigre 40, an Irvine 46 and 53, an OS, Meteor and K&B 61s and none of them are currently in a model! I suppose I just want a piece of aeromodelling history.     Go on go for it .The four strokes are brilliant if a little expensive . They do crop up regularly second hand and spares are available for most Enya's,even the very early ones from Steve Web models. I have an old Enya 60 FS in a x2 lady Bird . It flies brilliantly on low throttle and is a delight on warm summer evenings . Edited By Engine Doctor on 16/03/2015 15:45:57 Edited By Engine Doctor on 16/03/2015 15:48:11

Just a tip I picked up some years ago, to keep the glass cloth weave nice and straight and to stop the cloth from fraying while cutting , spray a coat of hairspray /laquer on it while its layed out flat . It holds the weave in place until you apply the resin. It works with polyester or epoxy resin but have not tried it with water based types. The resin dissolves the laquer quickly one applied. It is very useful when laying up carbon fibre cloth if you want to see the weave when set. Another tip is to remove any puddles or excess resin with kitchen towel. The paper towel soakes up the excess and leaves a perfect uniform coat saving un-necessary weight. If you have used the lay up resin that hardens and remains sticky , give it a wipe over with acetone . It removes the stickyness and allows for easiersanding but is very smelly and mightvupset SWMBO. Edited By Engine Doctor on 16/03/2015 10:22:03 Edited By Engine Doctor on 16/03/2015 10:26:02

I knew a guy who swore by it ..................................he crashed a model every visit ! . Its an ill wind as the saying goes but he bought any models going cheap in the area

Ripmax should be able to supply them. If its the rocker type ,had one snap on a ff9 and Ripmax sent it OK .

You should be able to do it but you will have to use different radio gear/motor set up. FR-SKY do a micro 5 channelrx @ 3grams and hobbyking do 2gram servos ideal for this type of model. They are not expensive either.

All joking aside ALL clubs and flyers should have a first aid kit available. There have been some horrific accidents over the years and the new generation of flyers aren't immune ! The modern electric powered models seem to be treated as harmless by many probably due to their quiet running but even a small electric motor can do serious damage . I have in the past taken fellow modellers to hospital with lacerations to hands and our first aid kits helped enormously, especially keeping blood off my car seats . The Hobby king kit is apparently available from the UK Wharehouse according to thier site so customs shouldn't be a problem. If ordering from the global wharehouse beware as the postage IS added to the total for vat purposes. Our club keeps a first aid kit available at all times. Its basic but that's all that's generally needed. The advice given about torniquete is worth listening to . Clubs can also get first aid lectures from the local St Johns or Red Cross . Edited By Engine Doctor on 13/03/2015 09:12:12

And they have priced it just in the value that our friends at customs look at ! By the time postage is added you will probably get a bill from C&E for vat and a handling charge from royal mail totaling £11 plus !

Hi have a word with a club member who's familiar with petrol power . There are quite a few differences to glow power . A couple of hours chatting to a petrol flyer is worth a who page of instructions and pictures .

I sold my Dv111 some years ago now . I flew very well . Powered by an Enya 40ss . with a modified silencer ,it was very quiet . I had strip ailerons fitted . these gave excellent roll response and needed no differential.Wing was flat . It actually looked as if it had anhedral due to the taper on the top of the wing. Do make sure that the U/C wing-lett is at zero deg incidence and is fitted firmly as it will affect the performance .

Re Chrome Oracover. I have used it and it will go around compound curves etc ; however if over stretched it goes milky and looks awful .It also looks too bright . Why not try some litho plate. You may have to use a few pieces to get the curves as per full size but will look very authentic .

We pay a club member to do it he also looks after the mower . The club supplies a mower and pay expenses etc .It doesn't cost a lot and we can guarantee the patch is in good order . We tried having rotas etc years ago but it always caused more arguments and no one really looked after the mower. The out field is cut by a contractor as required. Mower is in for service now ready for the coming season. The sheep option as said is a "No go" , so if you do share your field with sheep then you may have difficulty finding a club member who's willing to do it . Hi Stevo. No we don't use verniers but a depth gauge does come in handy now and again  Edited By Engine Doctor on 08/03/2015 17:09:25

Even Mp's with good ideals and morals get hijacked and worn down by the system . It appears they are not allowed a free vote on anything important as the party whips tell them which way to vote; if they don,t vote as instructed the party threatens them ! It's democracy Jim ............but not as we know it Sincerely Citizen Smith ps just fell off my soap box

Hi Scott . It shouldn't really make any difference as the pumped carb is designed to work in any attitude . Only problem I can see would be if you were to flood the engine , very unlikely but do-able. If you did then any excess fuel would not be able to drain from the cylinders.

Apparently our MP was too busy to attend a important government debate about the TTIP agreement as he had a previous appointment ! He was busy at his weekly radio stations chat show ! Cymaz's pics say it all .

One thing to bear in mind if you extend the header with a rigid pipe is that the effect of vibration will be increased due to the extra leverage. This will put a lot of stress on the thread/mounting in the cylinder head . Any substantial increase in exhaust length to clear mountings etc will require additional support to the engine to counter-act the leverage or the use of a flexible pipe as Stevo suggests.

I'm pretty sure its a steel header . Test it with a magnet. I have seen many bent or customised over the years to fit the model even silver soldered . You will need to use a lot of heat and will probably have to fill it with dry sand or something to avoid it kinking.. You can get headers with different bends from just engines . So wont be a problem if you break it .

Posted by Stevo on 02/03/2015 19:10:37: Oh it already works down here. Some in the club crashes a model, leaves it in MY shed, and it magically repairs iteslf... or so they think... Same here Stevo . My sons still think there's a garage fairy ! A bit like the tooth fairy but it mends stuff

Plus 1 for the Du-Bro mount . Expensive and excellent if weight is not a problem .

Posted by Stevo on 28/02/2015 17:23:53: Phil - you will do anything to be pampered over by Nurses Good advice , I usually use a big face mask, and stripstuff in an old bucket. Hi Stevo . Yep but this time the nurse was a bit of a brute ,no sympathy,must have had a bad day.The eye irrigation certainly soothed the pain though. They even called the police as they thought it might have been some kind of attack .so lots of explaining before I could go home . As pointed out , looking around our workshops there are lots of dangerous chemicals . Didn't want to frighten anyone off , just beware .