Martin Dance 1

Interesting, I emailed Steve probably a month ago enquiring about a canopy. I received a reply on Tuesday, curiously my email was dated from the day before,Monday,but I had sent it weeks ago. Anyway I got a price for the canopy and sent a cheque, Once I remembered how to write one. yesterday. So yes he is still in business. Martin

Certainly the BMFA reduces its fees in July and I believe there was a further reduction later in the year. As far as club membership is concerned if someone wants to join in October we advise them to hold on to January. We also offer them the opportunity of a few trial flights and invitations to club meetings and to come to the field to watch and have a chat.

count me in, if only to increase everyone else's chances

A couple of observations. If you wish to hold a PPL you have to take a number of exams. The first is Air Law which you must pass before you can fly solo. So you can see where the CAA is coming from. However, unlike model aircraft it's very difficult to get your hands on a light aircraft and simply fly it because they are mostly stored on airfields which are fairly secure. those on farm strips tend to be stored in an immobilised state or in a secure hanger. Second,model aircraft can easily be obtained from the internet, no questions asked, delivered to your door. You do not, by law ,require insurance or undertake any formal training. so you can be in possession of a model aircraft and be totally oblivious of your legal responsibilities. No one in the supply chain has any responsibility to inform you of your legal responsibilities. After all many of the general public consider them to be 'toys' indeed don't we often refer to them as 'toys' ourselves? So if those in power regard all SUAV's as a potential security threat, changing laws will not effect a huge change unless you first deal with my second point first

I have the mk1 type and provided you an use it in still air does provide a rough comparison of propeller performance. However you also need a tachometer and a watt meter if you are going to make any sensible performance comparisons. Clearly the aim would seem to be to achieve the highest thrust figure with the lowest current draw and have an eye on RPM. Or some combination of the parameters.

I agree Lucas, the plan is internally consistent, except perhaps except for f7. You are pointing out that the fuselage aft of f6 is slimmer than the drawing. Assuming the drawing is correct when I pulled the rear fuselage together onto the stern post the formers all fitted, after a minor adjustment of f7 requiring just light pressure to keep the formers in place so my fuselage is a tad fat. I guess that the stiffness of the material used for the fuselage sides and the precise section of the stern post accounts for the difference between our two models. he only slight adjustment I made before fixing the stringers was to sand the tops of the formers to bring them into line. Again this was only slight and accounted for by accumulated errors in making the formers. Just about to start the cowling. Initially I was going to use an old OS40 FS of 1970's vintage but a test run suggested this would not be a good choice. I acquired an unused 48 Surpass on ebay. They are very similar in dimensions but when place on an engine mount they are different by about 6-8mm. The difference is accounted for by the intake manifold! sharp right angled bend on the 40 but a curving bend on the 48.So my Ballerina will be a few mm longer than the prototype.

I'm puzzled by the references to the over wide formers from f7-10. When I first saw this I measured the drawing comparing the widths of the formers to the width of the drawn fuselage at each former position. On my drawing only f7 was wide by about 2.5mm. I've just about completed the fuselage. I make the formers by copying them on my printer/scanner spray mounting them on the balsa/ply then cutting them out when complete all of them fitted between the fuselage sides on the drawing. When fitting them in position having followed Peter's building sequence I needed to apply slight pressure to bring the fuselage sides into contact with the formers f7-10. Then the fuselage followed the drawn plan exactly. Two explanations occur to me. One is the printing process. Were there two print runs using different printing plates? Were there two different rolls of paper used with differing moisture contents? The second is the building environment. I build in a dry and heated man cave/ shed! So my plan would have stabilised to the humidity of the shed which is low. I did notice that the axis of the printed formers on the plan is at 90 degrees to the axis of the plan view longitudinal axis of the plan view. As the paper has a 'grain' and expands more in one direction than the other could this explain the discrepancies rather than the employment of a freestyle draughtsman?

I would choose a scroll saw first if you are a scratch builder. Reason, if you need to fret out a former where there is a hole surrounded by material easy with a scroll saw, simply unhook the blade pass through a hole drilled in the former, reconnect to saw and off you go. You can do this with a band saw, cut blade. pass through hole, re-weld blade. Unfortunately most of us don't have an in situ welder.

These shared use golf courses/ model flying sites have one or two issues to sort out before widespread adoption.

Can't say I'm surprised our local branch in Reading has for a long time faced an uphill struggle to get stock regardless of item value. The shortage of the Wot ARTF series over the past few months suggests all was not well. Whereas Hobbystores Reading was a 2 mile drive the alternatives are Oxford 23 miles Slough 25 miles Andover 27miles Swindon 40 miles each way. So the online traders win again!

You can buy basswood in Hobbycrafts in a limited range of sizes.It's a nice wood to use but it isn't cheap.

I have a SIP chip and dust extractor (a generic type much like the Record Power, Axminster ones) connected to my planer thicknesser, band saw and scroll saw, it works pretty well but blast gates controlling flow from each machine are essential these extractors don't have the puff to draw from each machine simultaneously. The noise level is reasonable. I also have a Record Power dust extractor mounted near the ceiling of my workshop this filters down to 1 micron particles. However to control dust from sanding you really need extraction close to the source of the dust, say no more than 150mm away a small vacuum cleaner is probably the best answer. I have a cheap bucket type bought from Screwfix mostly for floor cleaning but can be used close to sanding source, but like all machines of this type is fairly noisy, read noisiest thing in the workshop!

Couple of observations. First the smaller Proxxon saw can only manage a depth of around 9mm, nuisance if you want to cut 133 (1/2"inch) balsa. I know you can be naughty and remove the riving knife and saw from both sides. As far as straight edges are concerned go to someone like Axminster tools and buy a steel atraightedge. Its weight and length (750mm) is very useful. Many years of teaching tech subjects taught me that Maun rules are no better than a flat rule in terms of safety.

1. Ballerina 2.Harlequin 3 Oodalally

Atom special for me, my 4th autogyro Martin

1. Atom special 2 Flea fli

My club doesn't allow solo flying not just for the obvious reasons of personal safety, injuries from props etc. Our site is open to the public (bless them) and apart from their habit of strolling across the active runway, my thought is imagine how lonely you would feel if you hit and injured some ones dog when surrounded by a pack of braying dog lovers after your blood, having someone else there as a look out/ witness would provide some measure of comfort

Hi Steve look forward to seeing you. Martin

No, but I have a Mantis well under way and a CFL nearing completion. The model on the poster is a friends Burky just after its maiden flight, flies really well. Martin

Reading &District MAC Autogyro fly in 20th July 2014 Flying 10:00- 17:00 Thames Valley Park Reading. An autogyro meet aimed at autogyro enthusiasts from the Southern half of the country. But don’t let the fact you live north of Birmingham put you off. Once again we invite you to our Thames side site for an autogyro flyin.

We certainly enjoyed the day, its always nice to put faces to names and aliases and to enjoy a shared interest. The only slight fly in the ointment was the grumpy jogger who thought he had more right to be there than us. I wouldn't dare repeat Ash's (one of members) put down but it was related to sun tans! By the way we've been using that site for 40 years so maybe we have some rights. It was nice to have a Hobbit visit its ancestral home.We'll certainly do it again next year, but hopefully on a new site its a bit disconcerting when families wander across the strip and a 3D helicopter is used as a dog exercising machine! Martin

Hi I don't often come this way. Rich is right Reading DMAC are holding an autogyro flyin on 7 July. Reallya imed at autogyroists in the south, that is south of Richs home. Details on Southern area BMFA website and www.RDMAC.org.uk/. Hope to see you there. Martin

Hi Just picked up your message. RDMAC fly at Thames Valley Park Reading just of the end of the A329(M). Weekday flying can take place Tues Wed Thur no Mon or Fri. I guess you are not interested in weekends. The site is owned by Oracle software. You must carry BMFA insurance. You may be allowed to fly as a guest for a limited time otherwise you will need to join the club. BMFA 'A' achievement is needed to fly unsupervised. For details see www.rdmac.org.uk Mart