Geoff S
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Posts posted by Geoff S
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Looks stunning (and horribly seductive for a winter build - even though I have a DB Moth). Any clue as to pricing?
Does anyone else have difficultly viewing the images? A lot of them are grey squares and I have to keep reloading the page to see them.
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I set up a secondhand Blackhorse Sukhoi 31 1.4m ws, some years ago, setting the CoG exactly as the downloaded manual specified. It was an exciting maiden! Somehow I managed a circuit and landed it OK - in fact the very sensitive elevator actually made it easier. I researched further and found a review from one of the mags where the reviewer had exactly the same experience as I had! So the manuals aren't always right. A bit of lead cured the problem.
I've still got the model but, as it's got an Asp 53 glow engine, it hasn't been flown for years.
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24 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said:
I'd be surprised if anyone assembling an ARTF would know what was right, and what was wrong.....
Certainly makes sense for a plan build (and possibly a 'real' kit)
Like many here, I've built from both kits and plans as well as a try at a couple of own designs, yet I also assemble ARTFs and so have a reasonable idea of what's right as regards incidence. I have a Robart incidence meter that gets used a lot and I've also used my phone - I prefer the Robart mechanical meter.
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1 hour ago, Jon H said:
At work i regularly glue rubber seals to metal and use loctite 480. Its a rubber infused cyano designed for this sort of job and its very strong. Its useless at sticking to acetal though, so i dont know if the foam you are sticking to will be something it likes. Do you know what sort of foam it is? I just did a google search and was a little surprised by the price of this fancy glue. I hose it on with gay abandon at work so it must cost the company a fortune.
The first 'super glue' I came across was at Rolls Royce where Eastman 910 was used to stick down strain gauges for rig and engine tests. That was back in the 1970s and that, too, was quite expensive. The gauges usually didn't stay in place for the whole test but it was a harsh environment 🙂
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21 minutes ago, stu knowles said:
RCMF was a great forum, a great pity that its content was lost.
I saved the instructions (mainly links) for converting server power supplies for 12v sources for battery chargers. Great value for money (IIRC mine cost less than £20 on eBay) - I'm still using the one I converted for both my LiPo chargers.
PDR had the annoying characteristic of usually being right 🙂
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I suspect even very small dinghy control-line cleats are likely to be too big for an average model (I've still got few as hang-over from my sailing days). What's the problem in using a Velcro strap? Unlike sticky-back Velcro used with similar on the battery, they're easy to undo.
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3 minutes ago, Andy Symons - BMFA said:
That will have been PDR.
Funnily enough I met him last week at BMFA Buckminster, he was chief judge for the Payload Challenges.
That's him! Memory's not so good these days 🙂
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1 hour ago, RottenRow said:
I went to one of their fly-ins at Stow Maries.It’s a pity that RCMF faded away.
As regards Giant Shark, wasn’t there a connection between the owners and the (then) publisher of RCM&E, based in Peterborough?
It was Giant Shark, and Giant Cod before it, that got me into using FrSky modules and receivers with my old 35MHz radio. Which I still use today.
Brian.
I used a DiY Frsky module to make a 2.4gHz adapter to my Multiplex 3030 transmitter and a plug-in module into the back of my FF7 Super (the old one with 4 model memories IIRC). I got my first Taranis from Giant Cod (or Shark) when they were first introduced.
44 minutes ago, Phil Green said:If you look very carefully, the Sharkface (not codface!) in my avatar has an RCMF Fly-in sticker from Winterton many moons ago!
We had a very long-running retro thread on RCMF, I wish I'd somehow saved it.
We (my wife and I) went to an RCMF fly-in at Winterton as well. I'd forgotten that one. It's a pity it faded away. Several times I made what was a slightly controversial post to try and stir things up a bit but to no avail. Wiz was pretty good guy and put a lot of effort into RCMF.
There was one very knowledgeable guy on there who I was proud just once to win an argument with re closed loop controls but it was rare. His name escapes me but he was employed in aerospace.
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The forum I used quite a lot was RCMF (Radio Control Model Flyers) run by Nigel Hancock under the user name Wiz. Apparently Wiz had problems on some sites because the second syllabub of his surname flagged up shocking content. It was very active for several years and there were a few fly-ins; I remember one at Old Warden in 2005 (I have a DVD). Simple search and replace can have some odd effects if you don't include spaces to isolate the word and avoid anomalies like 'ensharkers'.
I particularly like the confusion between entrails and contrails 🙂
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IIRC the Multiplex Funcub flap servos are installed as mirror images of each other, like the aileron servos. It annoyed me when I put mine together because you have to use a separate channel for each flap rather than use a Y lead. Fortunately I had channels to spare but it would have been easier had they both been installed the same way.
It still gets flown a lot after perhaps 7 years and 100s of flights.
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A good idea. I usually use a plastic bag held in place with an elastic band.
Ron, good ideas often come from lazy, but clever, people 🙂
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3 hours ago, John Timmis said:
Hi Geoff, this is a new radio, I don’t have any existing model to clone. Hope it will be easier next time.
cheers John
I realised that. I was just indicating how it gets a lot easier and quicker with increased use.
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On my Horus (and the Taranis before it) I usually just duplicate an existing model, rename the copy, and make a few minor adjustments (like resetting all the channel values etc) and go from there. It takes no time at all. It means all the bells and whistles like my motor inhibit switch, or rate switches, timers etc are the same for all my models.
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I was tempted (I tried to resist but, as usual, failed!) when I saw that HK had Slowcoaches on offer for £125 inc postage (they're £146 today!). It arrived in a big box on Tuesday. Mine was missing a pilot but HK very quickly sent me a new cockpit with pilot installed which arrived this morning just a couple of days after I made my claim.
I wasn't happy with the means of securing the battery safely so I made a liteply tray with a Velcro strap and sticky back to hold the LiPo
It's held in by a 4mm cap head screwing into a 'T' nut I fitted under the fuselage.
Here it is installed in the fuselage
The battery lead from the esc was very long (and not very thick) so I cut it by about half and soldered on a new connector. It's still about 100mm long - more than enough.
The other issue is that there's no indication of control throws, so I've guessed reasonable amounts. Assembled as per the instructions to the outer holes on the horns the movement is outrageous so I've used copious amounts of travel restriction using my transmitter. Once I've had a flight I'll make mechanical adjustments. Just waiting for the wind to moderate.
CoG is OK without ballast with battery (3S 2200 LiPo) as far forward as possible. There's plenty of room for bigger batteries. The supplied prop size isn't marked but it's 12" long and, I'm guessing, 6" pitch. It needed a bit of balancing.
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You mean you don't carry £150 in your back pocket like normal people? 🙂 My wife and I intend to be there on Sunday - she wants a new pair of wheels for her shopping trolley (I replaced the originals with a pair I had in stock but the tyres have worn out - expensive wheels!) It's years since we went to the Weston show as I much preferred Cosford just a few miles down the road. All we need to do is avoid ending up on the M6 Toll road as all the signs seem to direct drivers off the A5, so care is needed.
If you see an old grey beard with a shooting stick it may be me.
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4 hours ago, Geoff Dell said:
Many thanks folks,
John you are right. I want to power the RX and HV servos with a separate 2S battery.... to the 12S (2 x 6S) battery pack powering the ESC and motor. Also, I already have a kill switch programmed in my transmitter but want to add a physical kill switch mounted on the aircraft to ensure power cannot be applied to the motor if the transmitter switch is inadvertently knocked and the throttle stick is not fully retarded.
Thanks for the diagram Peter. With the switch in the position shown, all power to the RX would be isolated until the switch is in the on position, so the transmitter and receiver wouldn't bind until then, right? I might be naive, but I understood that only the ESC and motor were isolated and the receiver and servos were powered when receiver pack was plugged in and the transmitter bound. Or have I got it all wrong?
Thanks again.....Geoff
Really the only reliable way of ensuring a motor can't run inadvertently is to use an isolation link of some sort which is only plugged in immediately before flight. I use an isolation switch on my Frsky Horus but it's on of the rotary ones so it's impossible to knock it by mistake. I also have a voice warning once the motor is enabled. I can understand the concerns when the energy source is a 12s LiPo - there's potentially a lot of power available - perhaps enough to remove a finger, or even a hand(?).
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5 hours ago, Wingman said:
With a Union Jack roof paint job?
Fortunately it was new and unadulterated 🙂 It took us to Norway for a couple of weeks with dire results - we got engaged a couple of weeks later and married in six months - 58 years and counting 🙂
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14 hours ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:
I printed my own on A 4, they more or less lined up, no worse than my building skills.🤢
I've never had a much of a problem with taping A4 sheets together. They've always lined up well enough to use
All the drawings when I was working had a note on the top 'Do Not Scale', which meant rely on the dimensions written down and don't measure the drawing blueprint because they are notoriously inaccurate. Our drawings are usually undimensioned so we use them as patterns - the fact that they vary slightly doesn't really matter and any minor discrepancies are easily overcome. I've built wings where the CNC ribs don't exactly match the drawing (often slightly too long). I just space them as required and fit the spars in the rib notches.
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8 hours ago, Phil Green said:
In a relatively high-current device like a drill or screwdriver its more about the ESR than capacity, many high-capacity NiMh cells have a high ESR and can't supply the heavy currents 🙂
If it can be made to physically fit, a single 3.7v nominal lithium cell would probably out-perform four NMh AA's simply because it wont collapse under a heavy load 😉
How true. I fitted a set in a model just to drive the mechanical retracts and they failed miserably when I tested the set up.
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18 hours ago, Fred Lew said:
Sadly, that's more like my wife than either of my grandmothers who were both born in the 19th century before there were cars! Though my wife's Mustang' was A 1965 BMC Mini deLuxe 🙂
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Perhaps it's better to use retracts only for take-off and belly land? I've very little experience with retracts and most of the models I've built have fixed undercarriages (as their full--size counterparts). However, The WR Hurricane I'm currently building is destined to use electric retracts supplied by Richard - I'm just hoping they're of similar quality to the kits.
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22 hours ago, Martin Harris - Moderator said:
It's a long time since I felt the need to use my tacho but it seems my recollection of needing a fluorescent lamp were a bit hazier than the light source! After digging my "Teamline" branded Min-Tach and a long search for an incandescent lamp (found one in the microwave!) it shows a consistent 3000 rpm with occasional drops to 2970 rpm (the same results as with a fluorescent tube) so I have to agree that modelling tachos can sense the minute filament cooling variations.
At an approximate 1% variation in mains frequency, this seems outside Chris's specs but I don't know the minimum display increment or accuracy of the very cheap hobby equipment - maybe even some induced error through hand movement?
In most devices with a digital readout the accuracy in percentage terms also includes the proviso +/- LSD (least significant digit) so if, in the case of mini tachos like mine, the display is rpm/10 then that's +/- 10 rpm. In another life that can barely recall, I sometimes had to measure the speed of full-size gas turbines with a once/rev signal, which I multiplied with a phase-locked-loop (PLL) using a CD4046 cmos chip (? IIRC). That didn't improve the accuracy but made measurement easier. In one case it was accurate enough to detonate an explosive to detach a fan blade in the right place to be filmed being contained by a kevlar bandage - so adequate 🙂
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I have a few Neurons but they''re the originals and a few years old and I've never heard it. However, I don't apply the brake as I prefer the prop to spin freely rather than stop (none are in motor gliders with folding props). Have you tried disabling the motor brake?
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2 hours ago, Ernie said:
looks just fine to me Ron, trendies pay huge amounts for battered up clothes. Saw a lass just yesterday with her knee sticking through her levis
ernie
Indeed. My battered well-used Barbour motor-cycle jacket (I described it as so distressed it cried itself to sleep every night) flew off the proverbial shelf when I posted it on eBay a few years back - as did a couple of my old then ACU-approved 'pudding basin' crash helmets.
De Havilland DH-82 Tiger Moth 1:6-TonyRay Kit
in Scale and Semi-Scale kits
Posted
Considering the quality and detail, that's not too bad. I may raid the piggy bank. My bank (Nationwide) has gifted me £200 this year (and my wife, too) so it may be put to good use 🙂