SIMON CRAGG

Posted by Trevor Crook on 01/10/2018 22:27:24: I saw one flying at our club field on Saturday, very impressive. It is quite an investment, but any Spitfire of that size is not going to be cheap. The similarly sized Tony Nijhius kit of parts comes to about £330 with the retracts, and you still have to buy all the servos, motor, esc and covering, then build it. Apart from getting the satisfaction of the build, I don't understand why people are resistant to spending money on "a lump of foam". For complex, curvy aircraft it's probably the best material to use, and you have to get pretty close these days to spot the surface finish is foam. Agreed. I have changed my opinion of electric models in recent years. They are no longer underpowered, flimsy slow flying junk!. I recently flew my Freewing Hawk full chat through the top of a fir tree, Did a bit of damage.....but very easy to repair and now flies better than ever. If it had been a traditional balsa model, I would still be picking up the bits. They are VERY strong! Edited By SIMON CRAGG on 02/10/2018 07:50:01

I might go totally OTT and get a Merlin sound system. Any ideas as to the best option?

Thinking about puling the trigger on one of these bad boys .Expensive……...so are they worth it? Anybody got one, comments please. Thx. Simon.

It looks like Durafly now do a MK5 and a MK 24 Spitfire. Similar spec. Has any body tried either? Spoilt for choice these days!.

Anybody know which Spitfire they used? Thought it was probably the Dynam version?.

Posted by Andy Meade on 20/09/2018 08:57:23: Posted by SIMON CRAGG on 19/09/2018 19:45:58: Ok, got the gist of it. Will wait until somebody brings out a complete set up for model and tx etc. Do you mean an all-in-one (combined camera and vtx)? They are out there, but the quality is low. Better to buy the separate items and build your own system - that way the quality will be higher and the price the same. Have you got any links, so I can have a look at whats out there? Cheers.

Posted by Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 20/09/2018 06:15:34: We did it back in May. There is a model policy document on the BMFA website and we just adapted that. Emails were then sent to all members and that was iit. Pretty straight forward really. BEB Agreed, the club privacy notice seems to cover everything and could easily be attached to a club joining form. Well done the BMFA!.

From what I have gleaned from the BMFA website, clubs are advised to have a data protection compliance manager, to make sure the GDPR documentation is instigated and maintained. Have any clubs actually done this?. Looks fairly straight forward on the face of it!.

PM sent.

Ok, got the gist of it. Will wait until somebody brings out a complete set up for model and tx etc.

One thing I was mega impressed with was the FPV. I know virtually nothing about this method of fitting to a fixed wing model. I can see a lot of interest in this in our club in the future. Does anybody know if there is a plug and play set of goggles / camera set up, ready made for a fixed wing model? looks horribly complicated to me!.

Is it just me, or are the BMFA not as good at responding to e.mails as they used to be?. Over the last few weeks I have asked a couple of fairly simple questions. The response?............................Stony silence. Maybe they are to busy with the new flying site to bother with grass root club members anymore!.Shame really, as they used to be mega reliable.

Yes, I thought the whole saga was very sad. How low has a person got to get before they do this sort of thing? At least he didn't take any other lives when he crashed. RIP.

I recently purchased a Freewing Hawk T1. 70mm fan 6s 4000 lipo. Best model I have ever had. Motion R/C EU seem to do the best deal at the moment!

Posted by Rich too on 27/07/2018 06:43:49: Posted by SIMON CRAGG on 26/07/2018 22:16:30: Another excellent European dealer is Motion RC (eu). Just had a Waco delivered from them post free, and they price matched the best UK price, plus 100% spares back up. Brilliant. I'm curious, why didn't you just buy it in the UK? Main reason is stock and spares availability. Although this particular model was advertised as available, it turned out it was on back order in the UK from the cheapest LHS. Plus outstanding customer service, updates on order received, dispatch / delivery times etc. I have also had issues in the past with obtaining "spares", as also on back order. I understand that the LHS cannot supply every single model and every single spare part, but Motion RC EU have 100% stock. So no brainer really.

Another excellent European dealer is Motion RC (eu). Just had a Waco delivered from them post free, and they price matched the best UK price, plus 100% spares back up. Brilliant.

Posted by Andy C on 25/07/2018 07:40:21: One could argue that without the availability of cheap products in our hobby there would be even less people taking it up and would be even closer to death. Good point Andy. A new club member that I am teaching at the moment, purchased a high wing foamy trainer from HK recently. He is getting a lot of quality stick time. Flies a treat, very robust etc. etc. Ok, he has no idea about construction, covering, engine installation, but compare that to the Ripmax Trainer Kit that I started with, which seemed to take forever to put together and cover (badly), and powered by a bad tempered Merco.29, So you can see where I am going with this.

Down here in deepest Dorset all our local model shops have closed. I have been using HK for a few years now, and they have been excellent. Checker robot tells me how my order is progressing and when dispatched. HK tell me that the item is out for delivery and even when it has been delivered. I had a slightly damaged wing on a Vampire which they refunded me $30 for straight away, a slightly out of balance EDF, which they replaced with complete fan unit & motor. They have a brilliant "chat" system which I have used. All in all outstanding. Do I miss the local shops? In a word......No.

Here in sunny Dorzet Wessex Water tell us that we have 90% of our reserves left. They were good last time when virtually the whole country had a hosepipe ban. Must go, car needs cleaning and baskets watering!.

Many thx Simply Bearings had the right size in stock.

The small output shaft bearing (OD9MM / ID 4MM ) needs replacing on my Turnigy motor. Does anybody know of a supplier, or is it a case of getting a motor complete? Thx Simon.

The 70mm EDF unit in my Vampire has an annoying vibration at about one quarter throttle. The rest of the range is smooth, with a good top end.I am thinking about dismantling it and having a go at balancing the blades. Not having ever done this before, has anybody any hints, tips etc? Many thx. Siomon.

Try the Futaba 14SG, bulletproof bit of kit.

Thats great, thx chaps, its starting to get a little bit clearer now. Something else that really puzzles me is "kv", please could you explain?. Simon.

I am in the process of changing some of my fleet of models from IC to electric power. Is there some easy away of telling what power a certain electric motor gives relative to an IC motor? eg: a .40 2st glow is the same as an xyz electric motor? I am finding the numbers / lettering on an electric motor very confusing to say the least!. For example, what does the attached motor equal please? https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbyking-donkey-st3511-810kv-brushless-power-system-combo.html