David Ovenden

Thanks again Martin. Reliability is the key requirement with retracts.

My experience with an ultrasonic cleaner using just water was disappointing. Nothing like Frank's engine experience. Soaking engine in old/stale glow fuel and scrubbing with a toothbrush helps. Cooking the parts in a slow cooker filled with anti-freeze liquid (outside in a well-ventilated garage with door open) got loads of baked on muck off. The engine was really very clean and almost like new afterwards.

Thanks for the info Martin. At least the E-Flite units are available, but not quite the "scale" retract angle. Another option might be some 80 degrees units from HK but the reviews are pretty mixed on those.

The retracts supplied with this (somewhat long-in-the-tooth) kit are rather flimsy air units. Given the 75 degree retract angle what replacement electric retracts have people used? And/or what other (reasonably priced ) options are available? Has anyone successfully used the supplied BH pneumatic one for more than a few flights? For sure there are quite a few 90degree retracts out there but there doesn't seem anything much at a reasonable price in 120 size with 75-80 retract angle.

Good show Paul. Wonder what pilot Phil Kraft used back in the day.

Also OS FT-160 Gemini twin final hours of auction. OS FT-160 twin

Final hours on my auction for the Curtiss Condor twin. Got to make room for new projects. Curtiss Condor twin auction

Last chance tonight for my OS FT-160 Gemini twin with new dual needle carb. OS FT-160 twin

NOW SOLD

It was last year's build and I'm running out of room ! There's a chipmunk, a Sea Fury and a 1/4 scale Tiger Moth waiting to be finished and a Bobcat Twin that I must finish drawing up ready to build over the winter. I need to find the space for them. The Condor was a project that was 3O years in the making. I am very happy I finished it, that all my design modifications worked, and that I successfully sorted the model out. Time to move on.

The plane was looking good and the garage smelling of dope when I dropped by this afternoon!

I have now uploaded Paul's video to YouTube. Condor test flight It was a bit breezy and take off was brisker than normal!

Thanks Paul. Was it the wind blowing or me shaking?

Very sorry to see the model in more pieces than it should be. At least they are big pieces! Looks like with some time and patience it can be rebuilt to fly again. Having been in similar situation recently I sympathise. Good luck with the restoration.

Selling a very clean Enya 45CX engine with quiet muffler. There is a box and a copy of the instruction leaflet. Good compression and smooth bearings. This one is fitted with the 7.5mm TN twin needle carburetter. This is the Schnerle ported hi-spec engine not the "old" 45 engine. Test run today and working as it should. Video here Enya 45 CX bench test run £60

Really sorry to hear that Eric. What a shame after after 2 good flights. Glad to hear its repairable though. Good luck with the restoration project.

Thanks Andy. Yes it was a very rewarding afternoon after all the effort of the repairs and modifications.

Curtiss Condor back in the air today after the rebuild. Successful test flight in the sunshine!

Well today was the day! I was able to test fly the Condor. It is definitely an improved model. After the flights the Tx trims were all still at "neutral". Take-off was good and a landing was no problem either in spite of a fair breeze a bit off the axis of the runway. Looks like just one 3700mah Lipo will give 5 minutes of mixed flying which is not unreasonable. One could use a larger capacity lipo but it would need to be located further back in the fuselage to avoid the model being nose-heavy. It was definitely worth repairing the model and making the modifications which have very much improved the flying characteristics of the model. Losing the gyro and shedding 450g of weight together with tweaking the top wing incidence was a good move it seems! Thanks to Paul for getting some video of the flight.

Rigging angles all checked and model weighed and balanced. Amazingly it now balances slightly nose down with only one lipo pack instead of two. So I managed to shed nearly 400g of weight and still have the model balance on the CG. I removed the servos from the tail and moved them to the nose; removed some plywood mounts; changed the Robart wheels for foam ones; removed the gyro and got rid of some extension leads. And this has allowed me to use one 4s 3700 lipo pack I stead of two. The good news that most of the weight was lost from the extreme nose and tail of the model so hopefully that will also be beneficial. Will now have to see if the rebuild improves the flight characteristics

Almost ready to fly again. Needs cockpit glazing and final check of wing incidences and adjustment of the rigging cable tension.

Me too! Gasket paper is pretty cheap and easy to cut to shape.

Well, the small Carrefour supermarket near me (Gard) sells crumpets made in the UK but described on the packet as "crepes anglais".

Not yet. Still working on the Condor repair.

The 90mm wheels were from stock and the WD40 can was staring at me all the time on the bench!