Geoff S

You could try a SLEC/Precedent Funfly. I passed my 'A' with one powered with a ST34 glow engine but they do an electric version now and the wings are built-up rather than the foam when I built mine. They fly very well.

Ken Moss is a member at Ashbourne and a keen F3a flyer. Was he there?

Looks like I picked the right day for my visit. It was an excellent event and combined with my being able to pick up some wood fro my current J60 build made for a great day out. There was almost no traffic either 🙂 Well done to all involved - Ron, of course, and all the fliers who entertained me. Who know? Next year I may be sufficiently back in the groove to fly myself (despite being a year older!)

A work colleague was driving to work in his Reliant 3 wheeler when a deer jumped over the hedge onto the bonnet of his car then over the road and over the other hedge never to be seen again. It didn't do much good to his car but had the courtesy to leave a few hairs in wreckage of the fibre glass which my colleague dutifully attached to his insurance claim form with a bit of Sellotape. I saw the form with deer hair attached but I don't know if his claim was accepted.

I bought my Junior 60 rib set from them (via eBay) and they're very good with decent quality balsa. My only gripe is the price (£44 posted) but balsa's expensive these days and it not only saved a lot of time but they're much better than I could have cut by hand. IF that is all the wood for a Puppeteer then it'll probably be better than the die-cut originals.

Looks interesting. Looking forward to tomorrow!

I'm aiming for Saturday, too. We're 50 miles away by road, less as the crow flies (WNW roughly) so the weather at home isn't likely to be much different so I'll make a suitable judgement. I admit SLEC's attendance is a big draw as it saves postage (though not fuel 🙂 )

I must be lucky because I've bought several unstarted kits from various sources, including eBay but swap meets, too and they've all been as described.

Dependents what you mean by masking tape. The paper stuff certainly varies in stickiness - sometimes the adhesive is stronger than the paper and it's impossible to get off the roll without tearing. In any case, as masking tape it's just about useless (I use it mostly for temporarily holding things in place). For actual masking edges for painting I've found Frog tape as sold in B&Q to be pretty good with little or no seepage.

That had crossed my mind, too, at the risk of horrifying purists 🙂 I did a similar thing when I built a Limbo Dancer from the plans of the kit version I destroyed. I found it difficult to get it to balance on the first build. 40mm is quite a lot to add but if it saves weight ... Worth thinking about.

Somehow I inadvertently clicked on a link here and arrived at this picture. Does anyone actually tighten/loosen a prop nut using a pair of pliers?

I won't be flying (very out of practice) but I may attend on one of the days especially if SLEC will be there as I find myself a little short of balsa for my J60 build. It's a 100 mile round trip - at least it is if I don't inadvertently end up on the M1 at what used to be the simple A6 junction near Kegworth. That happened when we went to watch the scale nationals a week ago and added a few miles to the trip 🙂.

Ah yes, I think you're right. It's not exactly either necessary or all that useful information. It seems odd to clutter an already crowded drawing. Well spotted.

That sounds reasonable. I hope it doesn't apply to any former drawings, too. I'll have to be careful when building the fuselage. At least my J60 will have a bit more wing area and hence lower wing loading (probably) than the original kits. I'm also curious as to what that dotted diagonal item is - the one that starts at the leading edge of 'typical wing section' figure.

I've printed parts of the drawings I downloaded from the Outerzone and there are some interesting anomalies. They're not too serious but they are there. eg That's one of the very nicely CNC cut ribs from the set I bought last week laid on top of the rib drawing of the Outerzone drawing I've printed. It matches very well - even perfectly. However, when actually assembling the parts over the drawing, the extra single wing spar and the trailing edge are 1/4" out from where the spar needs to be to fit the rib notch. Obviously the parts are king and the wing will be built to suit the ribs. It just seems odd. I hadn't appreciated that the wing is under cambered and that the rear spar needs too be packed up about 2mm because it doesn't lie flat to the building board. Nothing's glued yet - I'm still pondering 🙂

That's very useful, Pat - particularly the pointer to your thread about the restoration of your old J60. It seems as far as J60s go there many ways to skin that particular cat. I've printed the starboard wing drawing and stuck the A4 sheets together and cut some 1/4"x1/4" spars from a sheet so I should at least have a wing in a few days (I'm just hoping the electricity stays on with a thunderstorm rumbling away as I type).

Both drawings I have, as well as the CNC cut ribset I've indulged in, show 3 0.25" spars, so presumably it's the later version. The rudder seems tiny. Is it adequate or perhaps worth making bigger? The J60 in David's picture above has a much bigger rudder than my drawings show. It also seems to have a separated elevator (there are 2 push rods), so does the rudder extend below the tailplane as on most modern models? I've also downloaded a pdf with construction sketches that must be quite old because it describes how to put 2x30v batteries in series for an HT supply and how to fit the battery for the escapement (I don't think I'll attempt an escapement). It also says that the dihedral is 6" at the wing tips. It's interesting that the wing span is always described as 60" when it is, in fact 63".

I'm not sure. I've downloaded the drawing from both Outerzone and Aerofred (they seem to be the same) which I think are the updated ones to allow for single channel control. There's just a tiny rudder and it looks like no elevator. I assume the expected power source would be a diesel engine with a set throttle. I may make the rudder a bit bigger and add elevators, obviously. I think the tail is supposed to be detachable but I'll probably have it permanently attached. I don't think I've ever built a model exactly to plan. There's usually something I change, even if it's very minor. In any case, even kits rarely show every detail and leave some up to the builder. This will be no different - after all, no servo mounts or battery access are shown, so all that will be 'invented' by me. It'll still look like a Junior 60, though but it'll be my Junior 60 🙂 The drawings don't show the dihedral other than by using the wing brace angle as a guide but I don't suppose it's super critical as long as it's the same both sides ... and a lot more than I'm used to.

I disagree - that toast is perfect! It just needs a little marmalade 🙂 All progress is good. I was over the moon when I succeeded in opening a tin of beans with one and a half hands to go under another slice of toast.

In a weird brain spasm, I've decided to build a 3 channel Junior 60. I have a set of wing ribs and (hopefully) enough balsa in stock for the rest. I've never had a model like that (I built a standard 4 channel trainer when I started out) but, in my increasing dotage it seems to suit a more relaxed flying style (of course it may bore to extinction 🙂 ) It will be electric, probably with a 3S 2200 LiPO for energy and whatever motor seems suitable. One thing I have noticed is that vintage type models don't track very well on the ground for take-off. I put this down to a very forward undercarriage which seems to be designed to protect the propeller for free-flight landing rather than ROG take-offs - presumably they were hand-launched. So, at the risk of being criticised for modifying a perfect good old design, I intend to put the wheels in a more conventional position at about the wing l/e.

Yes, it mentions the reserve date but no contact details.

One minor problem is that the date (29 September) is published in the print edition of RCME which arrived this morning.

How did you guess? One of my Saturday errands back in the early 1950s was to fetch Dad's 200 Churchman No1 from the tobacconists. The ashtray was made from a square of copper with 4 grooves for the ciggies. I made it when I was about 12. I started smoking about 3 years later and I gave up about 45 years ago - thank goodness.

I made my Dad an ashtray at school! Yes, I am old! 🙂 Funnily enough, our village newsagent has gone cash only and doesn't take cards. There is a cash machine in the shop, though.

It would be easier if all similar sized servos had a standard number of splines so that there were fewer 'issues' when an incorrect servo arm was fitted and was apparently OK. I try to keep and label spare servo arms with their source but, I admit, not always.