Geoff S

Posted by bert baker on 13/03/2016 09:30:10: I flew my mates one and wanted one, but like lothers have found it was out of stock in UK. With a bit or servo delay and elevator corection I am sure the flap problem could be taimed. If ordering from the Euro warehouse do you pay import duties as well. Not something I have tried myself. Bert As long as we remain in the EU there are no import duties payable from the Euro warehouse because it's in the Netherlands. Mine cost about £140 delivered from there. I'm hoping to try out my adjustable flap mix later today so I'll let you know. Geoff

I sit here nodding wisely and more or less agreeing that they are indeed the work of the devil then I glance at the fuselage of my Multiplex Blizzard stored nose down in a wellington boot beside my desk. Both elevators of the V tail are secured by similar devices. It would be almost impossible to replace them because of the unique double horns specially designed to fit in the foam. Obviously, they've never failed or the fuselage would be in land fill rather than by my desk. I'm pretty sure my foamie Acrowot also has them as well. They seem almost to be standard fittings on small electric foamies and so far I've never had a problem. Perhaps not so good on liquid fuelled models with the extra vibration. Has anyone had a problem with on the throttle? Like everything else they need to be properly tightened and checked. Geoff

I've been able to fly my Tundra at last now the weather's behaving. The first flight was last week when it was still very windy but just about OK. It flew fine and I came in for a touch and go but misjudged just how strong the cross wind was and when I tried to correct the side drift it tripped up, cartwheeled and one of the wings parted company. Totally pilot error but fortunately the damage was quickly fixed at home because the plastic wing location had come unglued. The only actual break was where the wing strut attaches under the wing and a drop of Uhu Por fixed that, too. Not an auspicious start to my ownership but it had handled the wind easily until my dumbthumb landing too close to the edge of the grass strip. I flew it again yesterday and had several good flights including a few touch and goes. The only flying negative is the somewhat violent zooming when the flaps are operated. In fact one YouTube test flight pilot showed that a complete loop could executed without touching the elevator! I'm intending to fly again tomorrow and I've included a variable mix between flaps and elevator controlled by the S1 pot on my Taranis. The mix goes from 0 to 50% elevator depending on the flap position. Once I've established how much elevator mix is needed to neutralise the zoom I'll have a permanent value. Other than that flight performance is great. Inverted is a bit tricky but I'm crap at sustained inverted anyway so it's probably me. Spins are good as are rolls and I also managed fairly neat stall turns which I often get horribly wrong. Lots of power, too. I had about 35% left in my 2200 3S LiPo after about 7 minutes, though I think that could be less without reasonable throttle management. Geoff

Posted by Plummet on 11/03/2016 20:26:54: Yes it was Sutton Bank. The white horse you see on the landing approach is the big giveaway. Flappit (a.k.a. Mrs Plummet) was given, from her colleagues and on her retirement from work, a flight in an aerobatic aircraft, a YAK 52. They did rolls, cubans and other stuff. It was several years ago, but I am not sure if the silly grin has worn off yet. I have just suggested that she do it again for her next birthday, but this time with a video camera. Big silly grin very obvious!!! Plummet I confess I didn't watch the whole video so missed the obvious clue. The climb up White Horse Bank is a bit of a grovel on a tandem and we've only done it the once and it was 30 years ago when we were young, fit and in our 40s. Mind you the old lady is off on an 80 mile bike ride today, which isn't bad for a 75 year old. It means I can't go flying today because I feel the need to be by the phone today with an empty car should anything happen requiring my assistance. She's pretty good mechanically but I worry Geoff

You live in a beautiful part of the world, Nigel. I really liked Christchurch when we cycle-toured SI back in 1999 but that was before the dreadful earthquake. I had my last full size glider flight in the Southern Alps the same year, so lots of lift Enjoy the digestives! Geoff

Is the Yorkshire Gliding Club the one on Sutton Bank? When I was a member of the Derbyshire and Lancs Gliding Club, Camp Hill my wife had a flight, too and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some of the best pilots there were (and probably still are, women). In fact I enjoyed my lessons with a female instructor more than any other. She was more relaxed and encouraged my to enjoy the flight. Geoff

Posted by john stones 1 on 11/03/2016 16:12:23: Never attended the Castle Howard fly ins I was working most weekends then, anyone tell me a bit about them ? attendance figures, format and why they stopped happening ? John They were organised by Andy Symmons and held on a field right by Castle Howard itself. They were quite low key but attracted some well known fliers, mostly from the north and north midlands. Unfortunately the field would be far too small to hold anything as big as the Nationals. I suppose they were on a par with Greenacres with a similar relaxed and friendly atmosphere. I think there was a change in event management that brought them to a halt but Andy would know more about that. I spoke to an F3a flier up at the field today who usually competes in their championship at Barkston. He told me that there would be no F3a nationals this year, which is sad. I hope it won't apply to many other disciplines. One thing I enjoy about the current nationals programme is the opportunity to see how others enjoy their aeromodelling. I'm a sport rc flier, like most, but it's great seeing control line events as well as rc competitions like scale and fun fly. I probably spend most time watching the scale competition. Without the various competitions, the nationals would just be another model air show. Geoff

Posted by Dave Hopkin on 11/03/2016 08:16:48: Posted by Kevin Wilson on 11/03/2016 07:57:12:Or a blowlamp (not one of those weedy pencil things, too hot with not enough heat). "Too hot with not enough heat' How does that work then? I suspect he means thermal inertia when the heat dissipates quickly and so isn't suitable for bigger joints. When my Weller magnetically temperature controlled iron finally gave up the ghost after probably 40 years use - much of it professionally in the family TV business - I bought a Precision Gold A55KJ digitally controlled iron and station, probably from an eBay supplier. It has a variety of bit sizes and the temperature can be adjusted as required. I think it's 50 watts but I can easily use it to solder XT60 connectors. For bigger jobs I have a 120 watt Henley Solon I've had since I was about 16, so it's 60 years old. One thing I insist on is having a decent soldering iron and both satisfy that. Geoff

Posted by Andy Symons - BMFA on 11/03/2016 09:58:51: The big problem with Woodvale is, and it really is a deal breaker nothing at all to do with its location either, its not available. So says that well-known southerner Pity it couldn't be at Castle Howard, Andy, then I could help with erections again. I suppose events come and go and as far as I'm concerned the Nationals and the superb Castle Howard fly-in are big losses. Hopefully the Nationals will return. Geoff

Posted by lightning 759 on 10/03/2016 18:17:35: don't wish to offend or get involved in a slanging match but from wot I,ve read in a quick flick through this thread people only seem to mention airfields , now I do not know off hand the pros & cons but what about racecourse,s large areas inbetween the track itself would depend on entrances on & off I know ,or even somewere like Silverstone andy It's a thought, certainly. I haven't visited many horse race courses but the ones I have (York's Knavesmire and Sandown) are close to residential areas. The others near us (Uttoxeter or Southwell) are also near to the towns from which they get their name. Moreover using a facility that isn't an airfield would involve a lot of preparation for all the different runways needed for each discipline and that costs both time and money and that doesn't allow for temporary buildings/tents that may be needed for evening activities. A motor racing circuit would be a better option because noise is something they're accustomed to. However finding a date in summer when it isn't being used for its intended purpose might be a problem. There are club events most weekends - even I've competed at Silverstone in a club event and I bet they're expensive to hire. Harrogate or Stoneleigh is a possibility but Bank Holiday weekends are probably booked for years in advance and probably most summer weekend, too. Geoff

This is the type of power supply you need. They're quite cheap, or were when I bought mine, but are capable of supplying several chargers form the 12volt 47 amp output. They need a few links to be made but it's all laid out by PDR who knows what he's talking about. Geoff

I really liked the mixture of in-flight and ground based views. I prefer to see the aeroplane and find videos shot from the air get tedious but this mix is perfect - especially the passing skier at the end and, of course, the stunning scenery. merci, Pierre Geoff

There can't be many houses without access to either a copper or fibre optic hard wired telephone line. If you have neither of those then it's either mobile phone (4G etc) or other RF connection which, I suspect, could be expensive to run. As Andy says the routers you have need that hard wired connection to work. Geoff

Posted by Dickw on 09/03/2016 15:44:15: You might be able to sling the wings in the roof with straps between the grab handles over the doors (like Bob suggests) if you have them. Dick I've thought of that before but none of the cars (Skoda Favorit estate and Misubishi Space Star - I keep cars a very long time) I've had since I started flying have grab handles over the drivers door which makes it difficult. Geoff

I assume there's a switch of some sort in the load circuit so that the dvm (or whatever) measures the cell voltage both on and off load to calculate the IR. The error even using something like my ancient AVO model 8 (20Kohms/volt) would still be very small. Though as my meter is huge and weighs > 1kg it wouldn't be very convenient Geoff

The Utterly Butterly AN 2 was once used for parachuting at Hucknall a few years ago when I was a member of RRMAC (Hucknall). We were flying at the west end of the tarmac runway well clear of the grass strips used by the Merlin FC. It was the indirect cause of a full size crash in which, fortunately, no-one was seriously hurt. A Jodel took off some time after the AN 2 and stalled and crashed just after it left the ground. It's one thing seeing a model crash but quite another to see an aircraft carry people go in. One of our members was, at the time, a fireman and had some equipment in his car so jumped in and drove to the crash site. He helped get the pilot and passenger out. Apparently the huge biplane caused so much turbulence that even after several minutes was enough to upset the relatively tiny Jodel. I think an AN 2 would be an excellent scale subject. I find it one of those aircraft that are so ugly that they become attractive There's a reference to a 7' wing span electric one here Geoff

So that's why I tripped over when I got out the car. The Cosford's a foot higher than I thought. Geoff

Posted by cymaz on 08/03/2016 18:33:03: ......swmbo does her best to run along side as I drive, she sometimes has difficulty keeping up Is that what the hammer's for? A little encouragement? I suppose it IS international women's day today so she needs to be encouraged anyway Geoff PS my wife hasn't approved this post

There's a big difference between a TV, which the user merely switches on and watches and something like a power panel in which the user has some technical input. However if the panel is shown to be faulty then I would certainly claim for a new plug but it's possible the vendor may ask you to prove the plug wasn't faulty before you connected it just as the TV retailer Justin refers to above may ask you to prove it was the TV that blew up your house wiring. Geoff

Posted by Phil Green on 07/03/2016 21:46:04: Cell measurement is 4-wire Kelvin, connectors & wiring dont come into the calculation, they have zero effect. Sorry I should say Waynes meter uses 4w Kelvin. Who knows what the copy does. Edited By Phil Green on 07/03/2016 21:47:16 I noticed on the measurements I made today that the sum of the cells IR is less than the ESR (which includes connectors etc). eg for a Turnigy nano-tech 35 to 70C cell1 = 6.84; cell2 = 6.80; cell3 =6.80 = 20.44 milliohms ESR for the pack = 24.3 milliohms So it would seem that John's estimate is about right as difference is 3.86 milliohms which is the connectors and wire. Interestingly the C is far short of the claimed minimum at 20. Though this is a well used pack so a new one may be better. Geoff

I've always been aware that ESR of batteries (or any power supply) is a key parameter indicating their ability to source current without the terminal voltage falling very much but this discussion persuaded me to buy a new toy I took delivery of a LiPo ESR meter from Wayne Giles this morning and I've been trying it out today. It's pretty easy to use and what seem like complicated instructions on paper are quite intuitive once you have an actual meter on the bench. The figures I made an intelligent guess at a few posts back seem to be somewhere near. All the packs I have are serviceable ones as I threw out all my dodgy well-used LiPos pot a few weeks ago. A pity really as it would be interesting to compare them with the better ones. It seem 10 milliohms per cell is about the maximum for reasonable use (ie models needing up to 40 amps) though you could get away with higher for less demanding applications (eg powering a transmitter). The C ratings were a lot lower than indicted on the packs and none were above 20C, meaning a 40 amp safe current to avoid damage to a typical 2200mAH pack. These are all oldish packs and it will be interesting to compare new ones when I buy more in the coming season. I also checked some NMh receiver pack which are also not new. Most of them had higher ESR than the meter could measure (ie >250milliohms) but an old 6 cell Sanyo NiCad pack was 130 milliohms. The NiCads were slightly fatter than AA and the same length but I couldn't read the capacity as the tape I used to hold it all together before adding the clear shrink-on obscured the value. Not sure what the pack was for because it has a Sanyo plastic connector so for one of my early electric flight attempts. A single cell subC 3300MAH is 30 milliohms fully charged. I can't compare it to the much cheaper Turngy ESR meter but I'm very happy with it. It won't improve my flying (nothing will achieve that!) but the technical side is part of my enjoyment and it will improve that. Geoff

PeterF: Certainly both digital and analogue servos need to accept PWM from the receiver because that's all there is. How the control system within the servo responds to the demand must be different. In the past I've designed analogue control systems which would only make steady demands on the power supply but digital circuits by their very nature can need to draw high currents for times measured in micro-seconds even though the average consumption can by relatively low. It's whether the source resistance of an SBEC is low enough to do that without putting spikes on the power supply which MAY interfere with the receiver's operation that is the question. I don't know and it may not be a problem but OTOH it may be. Geoff

I've avoided digital servos because I think they need to draw quite large currents for very short times, though I haven't seen any figures to give a value. I'm not sure esc SBECs are capable of delivering the current without the voltage dropping momentarily. If I were using them in a liquid fuelled model I think I'd choose to use a subC receiver pack and certainly not a 2500mAH 'Instant'. Really I don't know the answer because I haven't seen any data for me to draw any truly valid conclusion but the concerns I have certainly need addressing. Like you, I need some sensible answers that are more than of the "I've used them without problems" type. Geoff

I agree, Colin. The things I like about both Multiplex and Frsky are concerned with the elegance of the user interface although Frsky receiver prices influenced my choice when I moved over to 2.4gHz. Reliability has never been a real issue though, as a one time professional electronics engineer, I'm always slightly surprised at the confidence people have that the somewhat ephemeral RF link they have with their model is so taken for granted. But then, I'm astonished that supermarket checkouts work so well, too My only gripe with Sanwa was their choice of servo power supply polarity which on one occasion cost me a servo when I inadvertently used an extension with crossed over connections. Geoff

I did the same (fitted a better loudspeaker) not to make it louder, but to make it clearer. I have a moderate hearing impairment which volume doesn't help much. Like many, it's merely a loss of higher frequencies which means waveform edges are blurred and poor quality loudspeakers make it worse. As for disturbing other flyers, as there a few people flying at the same time and often none, my timer at minute intervals is unlikely to upset anyone. If I'm flying my Phoenix 2K with a vario/altimeter which reports either continuously (vario) or every 10 seconds(altimeter) I use a headset on one ear if it's likely to interfere with anyone else's enjoyment. I never, ever play music when flying or cycling and rarely when driving and I never share my taste in music with anyone else which is more than can be said for many pop music fans. Geoff