Chris Boyce

I to am getting long in the tooth and want to get more bang for my money out of the engines I have aquired over the years. I see a resurgence of diesel and enjoyed the reliability and easy starts of my Mills 1.3 back in days of control line and would like to convert my Enya 120 4c to run on diesel. Anyone have suitable info or contacts I can use?

I have purchased an 800 series FMS Skyraider, unfortunately it has a Mode 1 Tx, I have Spectrum DXe Tx mode 2 and have tried to bind with the FMS Rx but it does not bind. I have successfully completed a bind with the FMS Tx. Coming back to RC after being away for twenty years I'm too old to re train my fingers to mode one. Am I doing something wrong?

Flying Plastic Bottles In my country we have soft drink bottles ranging in colours see through brown, green and clear, not what you are asking but an alternative that may help.Over the years I have modeled with very little money and to that end I have found, used and scavenged any materials to attain an end result. One of the latest objects I have found is the soft drink bottle, while looking at the base of a bottle and envisaging it as an engine nacelle or an engine cowl for a round motor I commenced to cut it to length and shape when I attempted to match it to the diameter of the fuselage it was so close to the diameter all I needed to do was warm it up and stretch the plastics over the edge and pin it into place. Using a hair dryer I found the bottle began to shrink in diameter … It didn’t work but later I thought about it and found if I carved a plug the shape of a canopy when forced inside the bottle and packed it from underneath so that the plug was tight on one side of the bottle and the packing was no greater in width than the base of the canopy, when the heat was applied the bottle shrunk and pulled down over the plug and gave a perfect reproduction of the plug, all that was needed was a trim around the base. Later I found if the complete front of a glider from the wing cradle forward was carved several soft drink or cooking oil bottles with their necks and bases cut off could be slid over the plug and heated, as each bottle shrunk the next was slid into place with an over lap of 3/16 “ each segment would locate on each other, when all were heated and locked onto the plug a cut with a box knife from end to end underneath, the parts could be sprung off the plug reassembly by clipping each together and a strip of thin ply the length of the knife cut fixed to each of the segments. I used a staple gun, which shot through the plastic and into the ply. The ply was used to mount the radio gear and to fix the front section to the fuselage, the plastic forward of the radio will remain in place if just clipped on and dispense with the ply backbone as this will break if you hit hard enough. A nose shape was carved from a piece of pine and forced down the first plastic segment and fixed in place by the staple gun. I found that the plastic bottle fuselage was more durably than the other material used as it would bend and buckle on impact but would pop back out again ready for use. Oh! I haven’t spent much time honing my flying skills so my planes need to be resilient NOT pretty butworked and not heavy, Try breaking a soft drink bottle there is not a lot of selection in colours but if painted the plastic looks good. I can post picture of the method if you are interested.

I am sixty one this week and used to be young , my brother and I grew up flying plastic models weighted with plastercine on string, making biplanes from stripped bamboo and shoe box tissue and to putting a noose around a Cicarda 's neck and allowing them to fly control line style and race them. I have always mucked with flying gliders RC and have learnt many ways to resurrect them after crashing, but didn't learn so much about not crashing???? , money and time have been my moderator and I have not modeled for twenty years but have read books and magazines and dreamed. Recentley I have started reading forums " good old Internet" which has grown my interest and I have prepared myself for the jump back to modeling. I am amazed that the building skills are being lost with the advent of ready to fly planes and see many potential modelers lose interest after their first crash, models too far advanced for them and too intricate to attempt to fix. Much can be learnt from a wing on a stick. Hopefully some old ideas can be rebourn and help the new crashee to try and fix his craft, more over help prevent the crash.