Geoff S

OTOH I pre-ordered a Gloster Gladiator and a couple of 2AH 4S LiPos (a size I'd never used before) about 15 months ago at IIRC £205 inc postage and it arrived as promised. HK seem to be having a lot of sales offers lately which may or may not be a good thing, considering Trumps on/off trade wars with China (and the rest of the world.

The videos on YouTube are free. Cookies are useful and aren't harmful and are a small price to pay to use the facility. It's handy going to a web site that 'remembers' where you visited before. The demand for cookies doesn't come from this web site but from YouTube itself so your only option is to accept cookies (there are several levels) or stop moaning and not watch YouTube - your choice. Because of cookies I get YouTube suggestions for videos that might interest me, in my case, some political, model related, cycling tool reviews and motor cycling etc. OK, I get some advertising which I ignore or, sometimes find useful- mostly the former but it's simply not a big deal. I've been on line for decades (starting with a 56k modem) and it's never been an issue.

Old type filament light bulbs will show 3,000 rpm (which often show as 300 - rpm/10). I use a torch as a light source if I want to measure rpm indoors.

I have a timer which tells me (via a speaker) each minute, which I find useful. I also have switchable messages telling me the current draw on some models which is very useful, particularly on maidens. The sound has a volume control so I can turn it off if anyone objects or I can have headphones attached and wear them over one ear so I can hear voices. My transmitter is Frsky Horus which is no longer made, unfortunately.

When we were in Nepal we saw a cycle rickshaw transporting a roll of corrugated sheeting about 3m long loaded across the vehicle. Nothing could pass it!

I'm glad you won't be offended so we may do something like that. It's a pity they clash.

What's the advantage of a triple superhet? I know double superhets overcome both adjacent and second channel interfence but what extra protection does and addition IF and oscillator afford? 3rd channel interference? Pre WW2 top quality domestic broadcast receivers were often double superhets - at least Murphy produced them to my personal knowledge.

That's annoying. Melton and District MAC have a model show in Melton Mowbray (not a million miles from Buckminster!) the same weekend. I suppose we could kill two birds with one stone by taking the caravan to Buckminster and spending a day at each 🙂

10db is a lot more than 10% down. The formula is 10xlog P1/P2 so is a logarithmic scale. 3db is half power.

You can buy old copies of Word for very little. I've been using Word 97 (in fact Office Pro 97) for many years and it still works OK on Win 11. It does all (and far more) that I've ever needed.

My papier mache fairings have worked OK. I'm going to do the other side. It sets very hard and seems to be secure to the fuselage. It looks a bit odd with the newsprint showing but I'm going to add a brown paper top sheet which, with the Sarik 'tex covering and paint will hide the (probably bad) news. I've done rough check of how the motor (4max 5055-495) motor, 4S 4AH LiPo and Frsky 60 amp Neuron esc will fit and it looks promising. The esc with probably be mounted across the fuselage on a platform in front of the firewall/front battery box with a cooling hole in the cowl. There's more clearance at the top of the battery than appears in this photo. I've made the tail parts using the supplied 1/4" soft balsa. It all seem quite light - tailplane/elevator 44gms and fin/rudder 25 gms - after hinging and shaping but before attaching the dummy ribs to make them appear as built-up. The amount of weight saved by cutting away some of the balsa hardly seems worth it and I'm nervous that it will weaken the parts, particularly the tailplane. Would a built-up structure really be any lighter?

I've only been to Greenacres a few times but it's a great site. I've signed the petition but as I live in Derbyshire it may not count for much. Good luck, anyway. My first sailing club at Sutton-in-Ashfield had to close because the council wouldn't renew the lease despite the fact that the club did a lot for the community so you have my sympathy.

Making a decent, or for that matter any sort of a, job of the wing/fuselage fairing is proving beyond my meagre skills. I'm having difficulty getting the triangular stock to conform to the curve despite saw cuts as well as getting the vac-formed l/e trimmed neatly enough both to fit the wing and clear the cowl. So, in desperation, I'm trying papier- mache to create the pleasing junction. It's showing promise so far but needs more work. I'm using newspaper and slightly diluted Wilko cheap PVA. I did it with the wing attached but protected by a sheet of polythene. I did it last night and thought it a good idea to make sure I hadn't permanently glued the wing centre section to the fuselage. It came apart easily. The PVA hasn't completely set where it was adjacent to the polythene but seems quite secure. It needs more to give the right appearance but seems to be worth continuing. After all, if it doesn't work it'll come off as the PVA isn't water resistant. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Having studied my full-size Hurricane data (The Aeroplane Oct 2007 and Hurricane - RAF Fighter by Air Vice Marshall Ron Dick, Boston Mills Press) The strange piece of wood I queried in my earlier post, represents a hand hold to aid climbing into the cockpit, though it doesn't seem to appear in every photo and I'm not even sure they are on both sides rather than just the left (port) side, which is the usual side for access (like horses!). Sydney Camm's brother was someone I came across long before I was interested in model aeroplanes, FJ Camm, who seemed to have his finger in many practical subjects. So called 'Camm's Comics' seemed to cover everything from electronics/radio/TV to car maintenance. In fact he was the editor of every magazine that had a title with 'Practical' in the heading. He wrote books about model aircraft but he also wrote the first book I ever read about radio/electronics back when I was about 13 in 1953. Although I found his analogy about how a triode valve worked harder to follow than a more factual one - something to do with two men rowing a boat whilst facing each other! I wonder what conversations the brothers had.

Making slow but steady progress. It's taken me a while to work out where the triangular ply pieces go for the fuselage/wing faring - I've never done it before but I'll persevere. The vac-formed l/e parts took a bit of thought, too. Perhaps I'm thick! From try-fitting the foam and cockpit canopy it looks like I need to remove about 15mm of the long foam part at the tail-plane end. I'll probably make a new 'firewall' as it will form both the mount for the motor extension and the front of the battery box. A 4S 4AH LiPo looks like it will fit vertically immediately behind it, which is quite far forward and will (hopefully) mean less (or even zero?) lead. I haven't (yet) worked out what this part is supposed to do. Perhaps all will be revealed as I move on. Here's the fuselage so far. I had to trim the crutch for the firewall to fit between the fuselage sides. Access to the battery will be through a hatch cut in the cowl, which is quite a substantially rigid form. Not as good as a glass fibre part but looks to be more than adequate for the job. I added a piece of 6mm ply across the fuselage to take the 2 wing bolts (different from the instructions but supplied in the kit). I hadn't considered the location of the under-wing radiator but, fortunately it, just, clears the the thin ply I added to stop the bolt heads sinking into the wing by spreading the load. and the other way up Not decided about the tail. Whether to use the soft balsa solid sheet (further lightened as much as possible) or go for a built-up construction using the supplied parts as a pattern - I'm not so much of a rivet counter as to reduce the size to be true scale. I'm of the 'if it looks OK in the air, I'm happy' school whilst, at the same time, lost in admiration for those who make truly scale models in every detail. I know myself well enough to know I could never do it. I've bought a 5055-595 motor from 4max. My Frsky 60 amp esc and 4S should provide a maximum power of close to 1kw with right prop and I don't think (hope!) it won't need anything like that. Also I'm intending to use EmaxES3004 20g metal geared servos from the same source. I'll need 4 - one for each surface.

Ha! As if I would! 😇

Looks like the Spitfire from Biggin Hill that had the forced landing is the same one a Luftwaffe veteran with 81 victories in a Me109 had a flight in on this YouTube video.

That's quite a possible scenario but not necessarily what will happen. It could be that supply to Europe (inc UK) and elsewhere will become more important to Acme and supply will increase to non-US countries. As Acme need to compete with (say) Chinese SuperModels for the reduced market, prices remain keen. I totally agree with your last sentence. Though import tariffs (really import duty by another name), used carefully, can help a small local industry stay in business long enough to compete with imports. Like everything in life, in my experience the sentence 'It's more complicated than that' often applies.

As the other say but it's Ok to use a glow engine prop on an electric motor though it may not perform as well as a prop designed for electric motors.

I once worked for a guy with a Phd in Control who spelt like that. I had to check his memos. He was a clever bloke on his specialty (I learned a lot about transfer functions - which I've totally forgotten!) but he couldn't spell for toffee (dyslexic, presumably) and how he wrote his thesis I can't think!

I've been perusing your build in my search for inspiration. I assume you abandoned the 1/4" soft balsa altogether in favour of a home-brewed built-up version. What's the clear film? And did take the paint OK? I don't think I'll go to the complication of split flaps. Where did you fit the aileron servos? ie in the centre with the supplied torque rods or adjacent to the ailerons with long servo leads to the centre section.

That's excellent, Eric. Thanks a lot. I assume everything forward of the battery hatch is the vac formed cowl with dummy exhausts attached. I've a long way to go before I get to create the battery box but it's best to think ahead so you do nothing to make later decisions harder than they need to be. I've almost got the wing centre section attached to the fuselage - always a tricky job to get absolutely right. A lot easier with just 14" of wing rather than 61" in my workshop.

Richard, if you think the Hurricane has a very short nose you should try a Sopwith Pup! Those rotary engines were very heavy and the DBS&S 60" ws one I've built (but not yet dared to fly) has about 1kg of lead in the cowl which is as far forward as you can get. I like the idea of a vertical install of the battery. I've just checked and I think it's quite possible - it will need some of the foam removed from the from the front fuselage coaming which will be the access hatch probably but that's easy to do. I haven't started the tail yet but I see several builders have cut away as much of the balsa as possible, so I'll do that. Might be worth removing some foam from the rear fuselage top but that might compromise its shape as there's no wood cover.

That must be Pogacar attacking off the front but his hair isn't sticking out the helmet as it usually does.

Dials? When I was young you had to turn a handle and speak to an operator to get connected to another subscriber.