GrahamWh

Thank you very much for all your replies and advice gentlemen. Re the aerial I will remove the tape and redo the fix with something more substantial - perhaps fibreglass. I'll think about the wires that are outside the case too - thanks for that David and the others that commented. I have had this Tx for nearly 7 years so am not surprised some say the system as supplied is reliable. I do not want another run away though and will not risk it this way again. I did consider putting a smaller LiFe battery into the battery box itself, but the only one I saw on HK that would fit this 55x45x15mm space was a 700mAh job, which I thought would be a bit small. I would not consider a LiPo due to the potential damage if over discharged and the fire risk of charging in situ. Does any one have any thoughts as to the suitability of a 700mAh LiFe - the one I fitted was 2100mAh? Again, any advice much appreciated. Edited By GrahamWh on 09/04/2019 17:51:56

How did the Baron event go David? Your links elsewhere to previous ones look interesting. Did the engine go okay?

Very neat work Tim and thanks for answering about the airflow around the carb as it is something I have often thought about in the past.

I was flying a Flair Fokker D7 last weekend using a Spektrum Dx6i radio and lost control of the model which happily headed off in a straight line over the boundary fence of the field and out of view as I played frantically with the sticks trying to get control back. Fortunately the failsafe was set to idle (ic power rather than electric) and the model descended into the ground in the next field. Quite a bit of damage but repairable. The RX battery was still on and showing good voltage (6.56 volts with a 2s LiFe) and when I got it all back to our pits area we did a range check and all was well on all the controls. The Rx will not be used again just in case it was that, but when I got home I decided to change the Tx batteries as although they were still at 5.1v a fresh set might be better. When I put the new ones in the set would not power on. I fiddled with the battery compartment, resetting the contacts to improve their tension, and cleaned them with alcohol and got the set to come on, but it kept going off and on again if I touched the batteries. I think the battery connectors in the battery box might have got too worn or slightly corroded and possibly a momentary loss of contact may have caused the loss of radio control of the model. Any one else noticed this with their Dx6i or other Tx with dry cell battery box? Any way, I have soldered a servo lead connector to the battery box contacts and plugged in a LiFe battery to the Tx with the battery connected to the rear of it with tie clips. Some plastic cornering protects the soft edges of the battery from the tension of the tie clips to prevent damage and a bit of double sided tape helps prevent slippage behind the battery. I must admit it was pretty frightening to see the plane fly off to who knows where - whenever I have crashed before it had I think been my own fault for stalling or something like that. Is this why more modern sets use battery packs rather than single cells and do you think there is anything else I should check? ( The Rx and its satellite will be replaced). Edited By GrahamWh on 08/04/2019 21:08:25

At the end of 1999 I was working abroad in a developing country. The Americans were told by their embassy to stock pile so many gallons of petrol, loads of food stuffs, etc etc. The British embassy just told us Brits to make sure we had a couple of litres of water put by in case!

Sorry David - it's grey. I have some here from a car bumper repair I had to do.

Biplane for me - low and slow with four stroke engine. Puppeteer usually.

Flair Puppeteer on Saturday. Back to the slow low flying I like with biplanes. Flew the mended Bristol Scout and the Flair Fokker D7 with old OS surpass engine last weekend. It does take a bit long to dismantle 2 biplanes though!

If you can do so without breaking anything and if the amount of twist is only a few degrees, then you could try twisting it back straight and a little bit more the other way, then holding everything like that perhaps in a jig, go over all of the covering again with a covering iron to re-set the covering. When it is all cool, release the jig and see if it is straight again. This can work for wings that are a bit warped. It may be a fix that you have to do again after some months or if the model sits in the sun for a long time and the film starts to sag and therefore release its tension.

Hi David - as the fuel is no longer being forced from the tank by exhaust pressure, the mixture in the carb is becoming leaner. The carb must have been set to run a bit rich beforehand. By the way, how's the BE2e going?. regards, Graham

Thanks Jon - very reassuring - I'm a bit too lazy to do much other than run dry at the end of a session. It takes ages just dismantling and cleaning my biplanes anyway! I'll watch the rockers on my ASP and OS engines and be more careful re the low needle settings. Thanks for bringing the topic up fly boy3.   Edited By GrahamWh on 28/03/2019 20:30:05

I'm part way through sanding down the tail plane and fin etc. to shape, but being a little bored of that and curious as to how I'm going to proceed with the fuselage, I've decided to make a start on the preparations for that part of the build. Roy's build article fuselage section starts off with cutting slots in the ply doublers for formers 3 and 5. However, cutting them as per plan would have the doublers cut almost in half from top to bottom at former 5, the top coinciding with a cut out for a cross piece of 1/4" balsa - marked with a "?" on the photo. I will adjust the former and the slot to avoid this, and if at any point I want to strengthen the joint I'll put in a balsa fillet or a little bit of fibreglass and epoxy.

NIce one Jeff. There's a guy at our club that like MDS - though I think he sometimes flies his to wind up a guy that doesn't!

Cliff your idea of getting the plans copied first sounds good. Maybe next time! At least I do have the ability at home to copy small bits of the plan on my home computer scanner/printer when I need to. I've done a bit more - the bulk of the tail wing and elevators is done with the shaping, hinges and control horn points to sort out yet. I added a bit of wood to the leading edge and sides as the solartex would have very little to stick to there if done as per plans. Most will be sanded off anyway, but the fabric will now have a total of about 15mm now rather than about 4 around these edges. With the 3 layer make up it does look a bit chunky: After doing the these surfaces I had a rummage in the pre-cut wood box and found some bits I had already cut myself from sheet material to make the tail plane and elevators! I have been impressed how many bits there are included in the wood pack. Hopefully I'll manage to find places in the plane to put the rest of them... On to the fin and rudder. Again its a 3 layer set up, built around a 1/8" core this time. There is a stern post that connects the fin to the back of the fuselage made of balsa, but considering the possible nose overs in the long grass around our landing strip I have decided to include a bit of carbon strip on both sides within the laminar make up of this part.

Nice clean looking plane Max. Be sure to check radio reception with the metalised film - some people have had problems with shielding

None at mine. Our club's troubles seem to be mainly due to very complicated TXs and flight modes or even "SAFE" modes getting people confused so the model doesn't act as expected.

Tim is there a danger that at high speed a venturi effect around the carb intake side scoop could drop air pressure to the carb?

Well I've made a start. Though I'd go with the tail wing first as it will not be affected by any changes I may make to the main wings and the fuselage. Its made in an interesting way - you do a core layer first, then a top and bottom layer so some parts end up with 3 laminations. Plenty of scope for making bits overlap each other for strength. Got started, then noticed one side looked longer than the other. Had the plan printed wrong? - no, you can see it is a drawing problem as the most left rib leading end doesn't meet the LE at the same point as the most right rib leading end! This bit must have been drawn in a hurry. The length of the left LE is 7mm shorter than the right LE, and the left elevator TE is 2.5 mm shorter than the right one! Glad I spotted this now rather than later! It'll be a simple fix, adding a bit of balsa to the left edge. It's worth checking the plans carefully isn't it? Edited By GrahamWh on 18/03/2019 18:26:35

Looking forward to the pics Ian. I followed David Bremner's blog and what an achievement! Great videos of it flying on you tube now.