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Everything posted by Geoff S
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Amelia - from Dereck Woodward's 1991 plan
Geoff S replied to Jonathan M's topic in Building from Traditional Kits and Plans
Still looking good. I'm impressed by your accurate fretsaw cutting -something I'd find impossible to emulate! Once you know the distance from the firewall to the propeller it's very simple elementary trigonometry to work out the offset needed on the firewall to bring the prop to the centre of the cowl. (Offset = tan side-thrust-angle x distance from fire wall to prop) -
Reminds me of my uncle's house. My dad was a hoarder but his oldest brother, my uncle Willie, was world class in that field. He built a new house with a huge barn attached to store his junk - much of which was piles of old cinema seats! He then built another identical house in the opposite corner of his field with an an even bigger barn! It was where I learnt to ride a motor bike on an old KSS Velocette which had bits of an old cinema seat for a saddle!
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I'm not a 'baby boomer' - I'm even older - the boomers were on my tail at school! Despite my technical/electronic/computer/sw background I like paper newspapers and magazines and still love paper maps (1:50,000 OS maps are works of art whose details are lost through digitisation). I'm not a technophobe but I choose what suits my purposes. I think you may be right.
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Hardly surprising. I'm a great supporter of the BMFA but the website must be the most confusing and disorganised one I ever visit, though the BT one is a close contender. PS I've just tried and access to the classified is on the bottom RH corner of this page. Unfortunately there isn't direct access for the necessary log-in page - you have to go through the membership portal and log-in there, then to the Classified log-in page! Why it's so complicated I've no idea.
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Amelia - from Dereck Woodward's 1991 plan
Geoff S replied to Jonathan M's topic in Building from Traditional Kits and Plans
Looks an attractive smallish model from a designer who, in my ignorance, I thought was an exclusively electric-power fan. I looked at the plan and article from Outerzone (which downloaded very, very quickly) and noted that Dereck advises aileron differential - the subject of a recent thread here. You're making a very tidy start and I look forward to following the progress. I assume the maiden flight will be in just over a fortnight to keep to the designer's time table 🙂 -
Seems to be OK for me, too. So far!
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How worthwhile is aileron differential?
Geoff S replied to Alistair Scolley's topic in All Things Model Flying
It certainly helps to make biplanes more pleasant to fly and needing less rudder in turns because, as you say, it reduces adverse yaw induced by the down-going aileron. I usually set mine up to be with the 'down' at half the 'up'. It's certainly not merely an academic issue; it has real effects on the 'feel' of a model. -
So slow it's virtually unusable. My ISP is BT but I have no problems with any other site.
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The unpleasant 'fun' is how chilly your throttle-hand gets on a cold day in the full air blast from the prop 🙂
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We've had BT internet for many years but use Vodafone for our phones (£10/month) because EE doesn't work in the house. It's OK outside.
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How do you mark your operator ID on planes?
Geoff S replied to Witterings's topic in All Things Model Flying
I bought a Brother P Touch H101C label printer which has proved to be very useful in other domestic applications. I t makes neat stick on labels. probably ovrt the top but, as I said, it's been useful in other ways. I had a very old Dymotape machine we used to use at the shop but that was long past its best and has been scrapped - it was probably the best part of 50 years old so no great loss. -
One of my treasured possessions is my Dad's penknife - a Wostenholm Farmer's knife. He kept it razor sharp and the blades are very much reduced in size from when they were new. He died in 1991 when he was younger than I am now and I use it rarely because he's still the last to sharpen it. Daft really, I suppose. He always said you always cut yourself with a blunt knife. Not sure I agree with that - I still have a scar on my left forefinger I cut as a child when the knife I was using to cut a notch in an arrow for my home made bow slipped a bit further than I thought and cut to the bone! I was about 10! Most (all?) of my models have been christened with a drop of blood. IIRC Peter Miller thought it was required to guarantee a safe maiden 🙂
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A friend of mine does a similar thing using a longbow. They use simple old-fashioned ones rather than the complicated type used in the Olympics. He makes his own. I hadn't realised there was an air-rifle sport that is similar. We used to sell air rifles (dad was interested in them and they were alongside all the radio,TVs etc ... and cameras!) I got a BSA Cadet for passing the 11+ which was gradually changed up to a 0.22 Webley Mk 3. Dad collected air weapons and also had a few gas-powered ones. I'm ashamed to admit I used to shoot at (and kill) birds in the back yard until a starling fell into the entry still alive but obviously suffering - I gave it up after that and stuck to inanimate targets.
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With motorcycle engines (usually primary chain-case or timing case covers) I used brown paper. Cutting them out was easy. Just lay the paper over the cover and gently tap the edge with small hammer and the new gasket almost falls out. Not sure if that would work on a small engine without damaging it. More serious gaskets like the cylinder head needed the proper copper/asbestos(?) laminated ones but for oil leak proofing brown paper worked as well as anything (ie on British bikes, not well at all 🙂 )
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I got mine this morning, too. I was surprised because I was under the impression it had gone on-line unless you paid extra and I don't recall doing that. Perhaps I did without realising - anything's possible at my age 🙂 I thought it was quite good. I used to edit a national cycle club magazine bi-monthly, about 2000 copies. It was a lot of work because it was in the early days of computers and most copy came in hand written. Fortunately, my wife's a good typist and she used to stick the paper copy over the screen to save her having to turn her head and blasted it in without being able to see what she'd typed. There were surprisingly few typos. Thus, I have a lot of respect for club mag editors. I wrote my reply before reading the chairman's article and its closing chapters. Strongly recommend you read it. I confess to the merest trickle of a tear and a smile.
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It was Specsavers in Ripley, Derbys, (it may have been Belper - I use both!) who diagnosed a cataract in my left eye last year. Within 2 months IIRC I had an appointment for a check and the operation was done shortly afterwards - all on the NHS. If your eyes are bad enough that you notice it then you need them done. I hadn't appreciated I had a problem until the optician told me. I'm just 85 now - 84 when I had the totally painless operation. My main problem is that I face-planted a MTB off-road on Mastiles Lane, Yorks, back in 1992. I had considerable stitching on my face but my left eye doesn't open fully (the one that had cataracts) so it's difficult to examine but they overcame the problem OK. Get it done - the option should be open regardless of the optician you use.
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Ah, the joys of film cameras! I used to develop and print my own monochrome film (never tried colour) and, though quicker, you still didn't know how the photos would turn out - and I used an old Zeis Ikon for some years which took 16 exposures on a 127 film (now no longer available). Seeing a print gradually appear in the developer never got old 🙂
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JR PCM9X, Sell or Convert to 2.4Mhz Multi-Protocol?
Geoff S replied to EvilC57's topic in Spektrum/JR
My first foray into 2.4gHz was a Frsky module plugged into the back of my Futaba FF7 Super (4 model memories IIRC) and I then made a Frsky DiY module to plug into the charge/trainer socket of my Multiplex 3030. Both worked well but I bought a Taranis from Giant Cod (a long time ago!) and I've used Frsky transmitters since then. I have the switched TRangerX, as illustrated above, plugged into the JR compatible socket on the back of my HorusX10 so I can use it for non-Frsky applications like DSMx and the 400mm ws models etc and avoid using the tiny supplied transmitters. Of course, I don't actually need the switch because it works directly with the OpenTX sw I downloaded onto my Horus X10 as soon as I got it. I've never had a JR transmitter but the module works with Open TX and should work OK in PPM mode on your PCM9x . Worth a try. -
Warbird Replicas Hawker Hurricane Build Log
Geoff S replied to Gordon McConnell's topic in Warbird kits
Jon, How do you make such neat cut-outs for the retracts? I never seem to be able to make a decent job of it. -
Binding Niight Vapor to Frsky Horus/multiprotocol module
Geoff S replied to Geoff S's topic in General Radio Discussion
Success, though I've no idea why! I tried binding the Vapor with the MPM settings as above (Multi-DSM-X2F) and it worked. However, I'd set up the Vapor with the Spektrum TAER channel settings but they were awry. Throttle was on the elevator (CH3) which meant it was half throttle when I bound which was 'interesting' at the time. In fact the channel settings were as my usual AETR (ie Futaba). Once I'd reset my Channels then things got to be (almost) normal except that the rudder on the model was controlled by the Aileron control and not by the Rudder until I mixed them together. Now it works as it should. The interesting thing is that in the Model Setup section there's a message immediately below External RF Mode, line which reads V1.3.3.20 AETR. It seems the MPM translates the Futaba channel settings to the Spektrum TAER automatically, though what X2F means, I have no idea. -
Binding Niight Vapor to Frsky Horus/multiprotocol module
Geoff S replied to Geoff S's topic in General Radio Discussion
Internal RF is definitely 'OFF'. The Horus binds to the Spektrum 'dongle' on my PC to allow connection to Realflight OK. The MPM setting for that is Multi-DSM-X2F. -
I agree! I've read all the WW1 series and am about half way through the WW2 series mostly about Thomas Stark, Tommy's son. I enjoyed the WW1 series more than the WW2. I have a Kindle Unlimited subscription and the books are 'free' if you do. I haven't read any others but, as you mention, he's very prolific. A few years back I read 'Biggles learns to Fly' assuming it wouldn't be very good and was surprised how much I enjoyed it as an adult. I used too read a lot of WE Johns books (Biggles and Worrals) as a child when I almost never had my nose out of a book.
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I assume it's the original plastic inner moving part and not, in fact, a steel Bowden cable (as used on cycle and motorcycle brake/gear cables). If so you could use any of the spray-on so-called dry lubricants sold for plastics. Even some of the steel Bowden cables have a plastic surround that would benefit from the dry lubricant.
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Binding Niight Vapor to Frsky Horus/multiprotocol module
Geoff S replied to Geoff S's topic in General Radio Discussion
Thanks, Mike. I'll look into that once I get fired up again. I haven't updated the Horus firmware since I bought it which must be over 5 years ago - pre-Covid, anyway and I've just had to replace the RTC battery for the second time 😞. Under 'Version' in the Sys it says VERS 2.3 12-otx (1eddde1f). Which, I assume refers to the RF firmware rather than the Open TX. When setting up the Vapor I changed the channel allocation from my normal AETR (my first transmitter was a Futaba and I stuck with that since) to the Spektrum TAER and the channel monitor confirms that.