Geoff S

My Phoenix motor was playing up today. It was a bit hesitant when launching but once it spooled seemed to have its usual performance but wouldn't restart when I tried to go for another climb out. luckily I wasn't so low that I couldn't do a circuit and land. When I checked it in the pits it ran OK but was a bit juddery and noisy at low speed but it may always have been like that. I can't remember. I haven't investigated properly yet (it may be one of the connections from the esc isn't as it should be) but if I need to replace the motor what should I choose? What have others fitted? Geoff

It looked very controllable and he landed on a very small platform. As for replacing the Vespa, I'm not so sure I once rode one for 600 miles in a day back in the 60s after offering to ride the ACU national with a young lady who was at the Coventry Antelope motor cycle club the evening before the event. Not something I ever want to repeat. Geoff

Yes. The internet doesn't 'know' what device you're using to access it. I assume both email accounts are web based ones like Hotmail or gmail then all you need to do is log into them using your password. I sometimes access my BT email account from my laptop when I'm not as home. The only drawback to that is that they disappear from my BT ISP email store once I've downloaded it and so isn't there for me to read on my main desk top PC but that's easy to get round if I have to. Geoff

They could always use a couple of drones Very disappointing for the women's race as it was just the one day. It was great to see the youngsters on their bikes at the finish though - stars of the future as Carlton Kirby said but a bit too long to wait for this broadcast. Geoff

I used to race my model yacht in the rain but the usual practice wast to have the transmitter (27Mhz) in a plastic bag to keep most of the rain off. It didn't make any difference to the receiver, sail winch and rudder servo because in a strong breeze the hull spent quite a lot of time underwater anyway. Of course radio failure isn't quite such a serious matter in a surface vehicle. I wouldn't fly in rain other than a very light drizzle - or even then because it's not much fun - and never in a thunderstorm. Geoff

Yes, my wife and I watched it on Eurosport via my workshop PC. During the adverts I moved here to pass the time. She was particularly amused by this post by BEB: If a man in the middle of a deserted forest makes a decision and there is no woman there to observe it - is he still wrong? BEB Yes it did look grim but no worse than last weekend's Liege-Bastogne-Liege whch was pretty dire as well. I'm getting fed up with the high winds we've had since last November to say nothing of the wet. Geoff

I use a bit of Blue Tack to hold screws on drivers. The problem with magnetised tools is that they're as likely to pull a screw away from where you want it after you've got near the place. Geoff

I have a very good hexagon drive Britool socket set an honoury uncle of mine gave me as 21st birthday present. It's in the common Whitworth/BSF nut and bolt sizes and I used it a lot when I was maintaining/rebuilding motor cycles but I bet it must 5 years since it saw the light of day. I'll certainly never say goodbye to it nor to my set of BSA special tools. You never know I might get the urge to restore a Golden Flash ... then again I might not Geoff

I know the BA thread was a Swiss standard but why did it become British Association, which I think is what BA stands for? My grandfather's watch making/repair bench had containers of BA sizes up in the 20s and they are very small indeed. It also had a treadle operated lathe which loved to operate as fast as I could even though reaching it as a 4 year old was problematic . The Whitworth/BSF thread form of 55 degrees is supposed to be the ideal angle for threads and carefully worked out by Whitworth - or so my Dad told me and he was always right. Me? I just wish everyone would get into the 21st century and go exclusively metric, it's just so much easier. If I build any US kits that have their 'funny' so-called British threads on any of the supplied components they get binned and replaced. btw I'm 76 and was brought up on Imperial units, including Whitworth/BSF/Cycle threads, but I much prefer metric even though I sometimes have to a little mental arithmetic. Geoff

A very impressive piece of work and the flying shots are very skillfully done to show it to its best advantage. I don't suppose it possible to appreciate the whole effect any other way. I remember pit ponies 'on holiday' in local fields when I was young (Notts & Derby coalfield) but I should think they were being phased out and superceded by machinery at the time. I've lived most of my life in a coal mining area (or what was once a coal mining area) and never been down a pit. Geoff

Posted by Keith Newman on 23/04/2016 15:40:07: Anyhow. Cannot solder it. So have stripped the motor. Took all the windings off, So now I have on my bench 1 very long piece of copper wire (i am guessing this it coated in something?) and 4 smaller pieces of copper wire which if were not broken would equal a total of 3 long pieces. Yes the wire will be enamelled copper wire which has been used for winding coils ever since they stopped insulating it with either silk or cotton - long before I wound any as a schoolboy in the early 50s. One of my first jobs was winding coils for radio and TV sets in smallish numbers for service replacements at Murphy Radio. We used to clean off the enamel by burning it in a clean flame and dipping the still hot wire in a small bath of methylated spirit. It came out bright copper clean and easy to solder. Another way is to to fold a small piece of emery paper and stroke the wire gently. The first method is best. Not sure it's worth rewinding the motor except as an exercise just to see if you can. Brushless motors are very inexpensive now unless you go into exotic territory, like (say) Hacker. Geoff

You could always fit threaded inserts of the type sold by Modelfixings. They can be fitted from the front. When I converted my Limbo Dancer from glow to electric I used the existing motor mount fixings to hold a wooden adapter for the electric motor which works well. Geoff

Perhaps we shouldn't complain about the weather too much. I watched the Liege-Bastogne-Liege bike race on Eurosport whilst building my Ballerina this afternoon. The riders had to contend with low temperatures (5 deg), rain, sleet, and snow that caused the route to be shortened by 5km to only 240km. All those who finished (or even turned out) deserved a medal. My weekday flying was curtailed last Wednesday when the chairman's doberman tried to take a chunk out of my leg. Fortunately only minor punctures and a some bruising but it put me off flying for the day. Of course, it's never ever done anything like that before but I pointed out he wouldn't be able to say that again. As I'm no dog lover I was doing my best to ignore it but perhaps it detected my dislike. Geoff

I like to glue and pin hinges. So my usual technique is to fit the hinge and pin it to the aileron and cover wing and aileron separately. On the wing leave the hinge line with the covering unsealed then fit the aileron and glue and pin the hinge on the wing. It's easy then to hide the pin by completing the covering. Geoff

My PC is in my workshop and a quick glance round what's cluttering the workspace as opposed to what's in the loft over my head is : 2 x foamy electric gliders; a kit built Sonata E glider: a DB Tiger Moth; a kit built unflown Easy Street and my part built Ballerina. There's also an aluminium case containing my indoor models - V911 helicopters and a small MR. The loft has a selection of ARTF foamies and balsa as well as kit built models. One thing that has changed for me is that, after years of my my fruitless attempts, electric flight is now a practical option and I've just about given up on glow but have a couple of largish petrol models. So, like most of my club mates, I'm not an adherent of one particular sub-discipline. So, whilst BEB has a point, I don't think it's a serious problem. I come from a motor cycling, sailing and cycling background and all those activities have adherents to particular aspects with arguments for and against that are similar to the ones aeromodelling experiences. Sailing for example, apart from the different racing class enthusiasts, has almost exact equivalents in the conflict between monohull dinghies, catamarans and sailboards. Each of those types has its own sailing characteristics which are often incompatible in restricted racing areas which causes just the same type of arguments we see here. Cycling has the conflicts between so-called trackies and roadies. In fact even the great Brad Wiggins, winner of the Tour is seen by some 'real' roadies as not a real road man because of his track racing background. So you see, it's human nature and whilst there are family arguments if the family is threatened the family joins to fight the threat. Geoff

In short, yes. All servos receive the same type of signal from the receiver regardless of its internal design. The transmitter is what determines the pulse width that represents the midpoint. Certainly in 35 Mhz systems that can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, so Multiplex for example is slightly different from Futaba. I'm not sure about 2.4gHz systems. Geoff

Posted by Daithi O Buitigh on 23/04/2016 12:03:35: Many years ago my youngest daughter had a helium filled Barney which got away from her and was last seen floating slowly upwards in the direction of Belfast City Airport. Now we did joke at the time of how an 'airmiss' report would read "I was passed by a flying purple dinosaur while on finals" Well I can certainly confirm that Rolls-Royce don't do any testing for purple dinosaur ingestion of their gas turbines Geoff

Of course the most important birthday today is my little brother's. 63 today Geoff

It is a good name but now you're going to have to redo your stunning finish to change the name

With regard to your current consumption: if you have more than enough power you can solve this by just setting the travel on the throttle channel down to 80-90%. That will decrease the RPM, make the model even quieter and will give you longer flight times. And it saves you have to buy a new propeller. It is a trick regularly used by the IMAC and F3A pilots. Regards, Lucas That's exactly what I've done on my DB Tiger Moth. I changed the prop from a 13x4 to a 12x6 to try for more efficiency in flight at the expense of initial take -off acceleration and found I was drawing a bit too much current. I'm also on 4AH 4S LiPo and find the power more than adequate with a much heavier model (3.4 Kg approx) and so far just 6 or 7 minute flights. Now I've got the Tiggie in the air (though not finished ) I can get on with MY Ballerina. I've got the wing finished but uncovered and the main parts for the fuselage cut out. It will be electric, like Simon's and also on 4S - the same batteries I use in my Tiggie, Limbo Dancer and Eezee Peezee. I like to limit my battery types in favour of quantity. Simon doesn't seem to be short of power so I'm inspired to get mine done. btw Simon an electric motor is very unlikely to seize through over heating.  Over heating is much more likely to result in the winding failing as the wire heats up and partially melts.  Same result, of course, you need a new motor so a bit of extra cooling may be a good idea but limiting the current is even more important. Geoff Edited By Geoff Sleath on 22/04/2016 11:15:51

And I thought I had a load of 'junk'! It almost compares to all the stuff in my dad's workshop we had to clear twice - once when he moved from the shop to a bungalow and then after he died but that was mostly clock related. Geoff

So in the event of our ever being able to use Barkston Heath for the Nationals (which I think is no better than a 50:50 chance) the notorious but extremely entertaining chuck and duck free flight evening sessions will also be banned by the MoD. It seems that our hobby and pastime is being attacked from all directions. Geoff

Congratulations on a successful maiden of a beautiful looking Ballerina. I know mine will look nothing like as good as that. Rather than a too far forward CoG your first flight looked like it was over sensitive to elevator which usually indicates a rearward CoG. How much elevator trim did you need to get it to fly hands off? On a maiden I tend to set a bit of back stick on the grounds that it's more comfortable to trim out the elevator when the model is climbing rather than when it's threatening act as the lawn dart you mention, Geoff

If you're desperate to use old brushed motors I have a box full you can have Quite honestly small brushless motors are so cheap it isn't worth the trouble to use inefficient, heavy brushed ones unless you really want to make life difficult for yourself Geoff

Posted by john davies 8 on 17/04/2016 22:42:42: Cotter pins,lynch pins,and R clips are commonly used in agriculture to retain large bits of machinery. So? A model aeroplane isn't a large bit of machinery. After all I use elastic bands to secure the wings on my Limbo Dancer but I wouldn't dream of using them to hold the bucket on a JCB. Geoff