Pat (rActive) Harbord

Aha, lovely box of balsa. Bet it smells great

Thanks for clarifying Oli. Makes perfect sense

Incidentally, I remove the crystal from my 35meg futaba 6EXA when plugged into the sim. This gives me more than double the playtime and I guess prevents me from shooting anyone else down.

My local tip has a bin for laptop and power tool batteries. Is there much difference between li-ion and li-poly? I must admit to binning dead lipos after discharging and splitting in the regular trash.

Simple answer - yes.

Sounds like you want to center servos and check direction before sorting the motor? That's fine, go ahead and bind. But make sure you remove the prop, you could also disconnect the motor from the esc so you know you are safe. You can always come back and set the motor up at a later date.

I had a crash the other day. Upon checking battery capacity on landing, I decided to relaunch and do a couple more circuits and grease another landing. I lined up from a little further away than normal and at lower altitude so was on power to extend the approach, nicely balancing throttle and elevator. Next thing she drops a wing and flicks in. i was no slower than usual and had a 6-8mph head wind, so was a little puzzled until I went to collect the bits. I had completely missed accounting for a cross wind passing between two barns we have at the edge of the field, I could feel the breeze once I got to the crash site. So even though i fly here pretty much twice every week, i had never encountered those conditions before so got caught out. Apart from pulling the wing mounting out, very little damage. So I guess pilot error but can't see how I could have avoided it. I know now of course.

Yes, sad news. Lets try to send them off with a bang. Order something for the indoor season (or still evenings). Their products and service have always been top drawer for me.

Phil, I just had to smile. I was thinking 'what's he on about? They would be far too long'. Then it clicked, you would slice them the other way! I would think that could be a neat solution, all kinds of lengths could be found, from bicycles through wheelbarrows, cars, tractors, aircraft etc. might be a bit pricey though. Although would be a lifetimes supply.

Wiiispa, I doubt you will need 100s of hours on the sim. Get orientation cracked and you'll be well on your way. Don't wait too long to try it for real, I recommend a v trainer from flying wings (I've no commercial interest) very simple to put together and fairly bouncy. Go for it

Kevin, take Martyn up on his offer. Wouldn't take long to build a wing. Fly it and if you don't like it pass it on to someone that needs a trainer. With or without the engine. Doesn't sound like it it owes you anything?

Looks very nIce, I'm very tempted myself. What's the kit quality like? Seems quite cheap, is it good value?

My favourite plane is a Stevens Aeros G-Ride, bit of a hanger queen with only 10 odd hours in 8 odd years. **LINK**. It was a real joy to build and has my best ever covering job in 3 colours of so-lite. most flown (3 or 4 times a week) is a Flying Wings Raven. Great for hooning around, and bounces very well. I've folded the wing twice now, but simply fix with uhu por and leave in a warm place for an hour. Edited By rActive on 22/04/2013 22:30:28

I fly in my own field so can do whatever I fancy. In practice, prevailing winds and with my back to the house, this means turn left after takeoff. After that its figure of eights (both ways) and fast low passes with a reversal at each end, thinking about it I tend to roll to the left. mode 2, left handed

You make interesting points Martin. I would be very interested to know what clever people think about the subject.

Have you discounted an iMac? A bit pricey perhaps but work superbly. My 27" i5 quad processor with 32Mb ram is still great after 2 years. I run all the usual high end design software in macOS and sims/games etc on a virtual machine instance of winXP under VMware fusion. we plan to change out our machines on a 4-5 year cycle so don't bother upgrading internal components, just try to find the sweet spot on the £/performance graph each time we purchase.

Session up now rcme forum

All my old books suggest the same. Can you still get ammonia? I guess it works as a wetting agent helping the water to sink into the wood.

If its bent, I would look at stripping the covering off and rebuilding it starting with the leading edge. If you can release the glue joints you you may find its the trailing edge that's bent, so re glue the leading edge and remove the trailing edge and replace with new (straight) wood.

Ah I see Ken already answered - so what he says should work.

Crispin, is the aileron twisted or bent? A twist could be relatively easy to cure, a bend along its length would be considerably harder. You will need to remove the aileron from the wing and then remove the covering For a twist in a solid surface. You can then mist with water and twist the other way slightly more than straight and hold over a heater/radiator until it is straight when you relax your grip. This can be repeated ad infinitum until perfect. You should then weigh the aileron down on a flat surface and leave for at least 24 hours. a built up structure can often be straightened with use of the covering by applying heat whilst holding in opposite twist, allow to cool before relaxing the twist. Don't over heat the covering as it will lose its tension. You should see wrinkles appear as you hold in the opposite twist, you just need enough heat to smooth these out. I find an extra pair of hands and a covering iron good, but others prefer a heat gun.

Deluxe materials are worth a look here

Posted by IanN on 17/03/2013 14:43:04: I believe Testors made quite an assortment of rtf control liners. I vaguely rememder seeing the odd one in shops, though nothing like the variety shown here. I'm guessing many of these were mainly for the home (USA) market? **LINK** Edited By IanN on 17/03/2013 14:47:08 I had the P51 in the early 80's. I remember it catching fire (due to leaking tank I think). It was a very cool looking ball of fire for around 2 circuits before I landed and doused the flames.

Why not have a go at rewinding it? Sorry it's on the 'other' forum but there's loads of info available

The Hornet looks great for calm evenings, I bet you could keep it aloft for ages.