Andy.I

Speaking of birds' wings, glider design, albatrosses etc, some of you might find these interesting. **LINK** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCwtcDNB15E&t=234s There are a number of videos on Youtube featuring Al Bowers and Prandtl wings with some surprising revelations. Edited By Andy.I on 27/05/2020 10:34:50

Well Eric just called me. He's been out of modelling since he lost his wife a number of years ago and he now concentrates on cycling and dancing; he's 83 years old! I had a fascinating chat with him and he's a very nice chap indeed. Things are now clear - there's another sheet to the plan - a half sheet, which is the first time I have seen that. It has details of the ribs, formers and fin. I didn't twig this because there is enough information on the main sheet to work out the ribs (untapered wing), formers and the fin. He's putting a copy in the post to me.

Hi fly boy 3, Construction is traditiopnal balsa. I hope the picture helps explain my words below. After a bit of detective work I discovered that my deceased uncle actually contacted Eric over Facebook in 2014 for a replacement plan stating he enjoyed his first version so much that he wanted another plan so he could build a second one. (He was a woodwork teacher and he had a habit of giving models to his pupils. ) As well as the issue of the missing fin details there are some other anomalies with this plan: - the inside of the fuselage's nose are lined with strips of 1/2" right angled balsa. This is usually done so the hard edges can be faired in to the spinner, but the fuselage's sides are 3/32" balsa lined with 1/32" ply doublers. Unless the doublers are sanded away it will look rather peculiar with a spinner stuck to a flat firewall with exposed corners. - the top view of the spinner suggests 1-11/16" diameter while the side view suggests 1-15/16". While it shouldn't be too hard to work around these issues and even guesstimate a suitable size for the fin, I'd rather have a word with Eric to see what he suggests. From his communication with my uncle he appears to be a nice and helpful chap and I when I do contact him I'll ask him if he'll supply you with a copy. Edited By Andy.I on 08/03/2019 13:05:47

Thank you Denis, that's useful. i've sent Eric an email.

Browsing through a pile of plans I found something that interested me, an electrically powered plank designed by E.D. Leadley. It's a 46" flat untapered 46" wing with 11.5" chord and upturned 5.5" tips. The plan specifies power by a Speedgear 400 or 600 in the nose or, interestingly, by a pair of Speedgear 400 mounted on pairs of 1/4" dowels extending from the leading edge of each wing. Powered by a brushless motor it would be suitable for flat field flying or unpowered as a sloper but I have a problem: while the plan shows that a fin was fitted it doesn't actually show the fin! I don't think this plan was supplied with a magazine because there are no staple holes, and I have been unable to discover anything about this model or the designer on the web. Does anybody know this model, or has anybody built it and can tell me about the fin please? Edited By Andy.I on 07/03/2019 13:50:55

Today's Telegraph questions whether this could be a hoax... We seem to have been subjected to a number of stories and pictures in the press but there has been a remarkable lack of confirmation... One story was how the drone operator had taunted the control tower by circling it. Was this report true, and if it was then how isn't it a confirmed sighting as it would presumably have been seen my multiple witnesses? The report of a cyclist dressed in hi-viz with two drones on a road near the airport could be part of a hoax, as could the discovery of a "crashed" drone. I'd suggest that both would be easy to stage. Edited By Andy.I on 24/12/2018 09:40:07

Thank you Chaps, I now understand how to do things.

I have a Dynaflite Bird of Time and the glass fibre fuselage material is decidedly thin along the sides and bottom from the centre section down to the tail and in several areas the gelcoat has cracked from flexation. I plan to strengthen it using strips of 8mm half round balsa dowel running down each side, covered in glass fibre cloth tape so the strength will be added by the half round tubes of GRP, not the balsa. My questions are: - Where can I get 25mm wide fine glass fibre glass fibre cloth tape or ribbon? (The woven ribbon used for sealing canoe seams is too coarse to make a neat job.) - Should I use polyester or epoxy resin? It's many years since I worked with glass fibre (and then it was on a much larger scale building canoes and boats) so I'm approaching this with some trepidation and would appreciate advice please. Edited By Andy.I on 13/06/2017 08:07:20

I've tried clearing cache and history to no avail. However, I've just discovered that it's related to Firefox because if I paste the URL into Internet Explorer it shows correctly. And now I seem to have tracked it doen to my Kaspersky Internet Security software configuation.

I've tried clearing cache and history to no avail. However, I've just discovered that it's related to Firefox because if I paste the URL into Internet Explorer it shows correctly.

I have a peculiar problem viewing the classified ads and I wonder if anybody can advise me please? I click on "CLASSIFIEDS" in the top bar and I see the classifieds. Then, when I click on any of the links under "Accessories"; "Almost ready to fly kits"; "Engines and Motors"; Plan built Projects" etc all I see is a blank screen with a single lit pixel in the middle. For example, if I select "Gliders and motor gliders I see the following URL: http://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/new_thread.asp?t=68 Each different link goes to a different URL (the numbers on the end change) but the blank screen is the same in every case. Can anybody explain what's going on and more importantly, how to fix this please? Thanks in advance!

Posted by John Rudd on 05/10/2016 15:48:30: Staples? My local branch does mine.... So does mine - and they also did a mirror image so I could build the other wing over a plan - once I explained what a mirror image was. :-D

Posted by Kevin Wilson on 04/04/2016 12:45:58: The dive test made no sense to me either until I twigged it was the additional airspeed amplifying the effect of the level cruise trim. [snip] KW: I would tend to differ here, and I would argue that it's the attitude of the model in the dive which reduces the out-of-balance gravitational moment while the lift moment of the tailplane/elevator is maintained, that leads to the nose dropping or lifting. SH1: a dive test will allow you to reach the point where there is no need for elevator trim as a point from which to start. After this you can adjust the CoG to whatever you prefer, and don't forget you can always alter your longitudinal dihedral as well. Edited By Andy.I on 04/04/2016 14:53:07

I don't think the crucial point has been defined succinctly, so here goes: 1. If a nose-heavy model is flying straight and level with the controls at neutral then it has been trimmed with up-elevator to keep the nose up / tail down. 1. If a tail-heavy model is flying straight and level with the controls at neutral then it has been trimmed with down-elevator to keep the nose down / tail up. When the model is put into a 45 degree dive with the controls at neutral then the out of balance moment will be reduced by 1/(SQRT 2), with the result that the nose heavy model's up-elevator will pull it out of the dive, and the tail heavy model's down elevator will tuck it further into the dive. Edited By Andy.I on 04/04/2016 11:31:11