SIMON CRAGG

I never charge at home, always at the field. Put up solar panel to keep leisure battery topped up, connect up and put on charge. Waffle to other blokes, prep site, come back and lipos charged.

Despite trying everything we could possibly think of, youngsters in our club = 0. Great photos chaps!.

Having seen / flown a couple of these at our club.........I would save your money. Why? Heavy, usually need a LOT of weight in the nose = wing loaded in a bad place. Covering, half an hour in the sun = wrinkled bag of plastic covering. Construction, mediocre....even on a good day. To a certain extent, they remind me of the early VMAR models. Not bad to look at, but no more than that.

I also use a magnetic balancer. I have regularly balanced 12 bladed 70mm fans, and found that a standard balancer was much to "course". With the magnetic job, I can get a 12 bladed fan balanced spot on. Good bit of kit.

Paul, yes, that is the one. I was lucky and found a minter for £125 including two unused 6s packs. Its worth keeping an eye on the BMFA and marketplace, as they are expensive new. I have spent a year trimming it for F3A, all good fun. Hope you find one!

I have got an Olympus F3A model which is sold as both F3A and 3D capable. Can be flown on either 5 or 6s. Different props for the two disciplines. Interesting concept. Worth a look?.

Remember it well!. Also, try and make sure there is no slop at all in the servo arm / clevis / ball link etc. Square trailing edges seems to help as well.

Back in the day when the Phoenix Sim was the "Go to" sim, quite a few of our members made use of it. Personally, I think they are a very good learning tool, with the vagaries of the British weather etc. Good luck with your training with the sim. and the Arising Star which is a great beginners model!.

Whatever happened, my thoughts are for all concerned. Must have been a terrible day to say the least. RIP fellow aero modeller.

Wow, is all I can say. Hips not engaging properly Walking right shoulder down. Hips twisted to the right. Lots of other stuff I didn't understand. etc etc etc!. A couple of simple exercises to do three times a day. Plus careful / timed hot and cold treatment. Two hours well spent to say the least. Early days of course, but in a couple of months I should be back up the field!!

Thank you all for you input and kind words. First session with a well respected ££££££ Physio today. Lets hope I can finally get a resolution.

Chaps Bit of a long shot this. I am 72, had all the Covid jabs and as far as I know have not had Covid (But I MIGHT have in the early days). Over the last year or so, I have been experiencing worse and worse back pain, (Private consultations ££££££ etc etc.). I was about to have major spinal fusion on Tuesday this week, but a couple weeks prior to the op the main leg pain disappeared for no apparent reason. I have now been referred to yet another specialist £££, who has heard / seen this before, and thinks it MIGHT be something to do with my cranial nerves being disrupted by Covid. It all sounds a bit weird / science fiction to me to say the least. Has anybody any experience of this sort of thing?. All modelling, gardening, you name it is on hold until I get this sorted. I can feel my usual happy, busy self slipping away, my mental state not good. Thought I would ask on here, as a lot of us are of a similar age, and I cannot understand most of the stuff churned up on Google etc!. Thanks in advance Simon

We have had to go through this procedure on far to many occasions. Raking through a friends lifetime of modelling gear is depressing to say the least. We are lucky enough to have a club mobile home, and a few years ago converted one of the bedrooms into a "Club Shop". A committee member looks after it, and it has been a really successful means of disposing of unwanted modelling gear. Valuable items are priced to sell, with all other items purchased on an honesty box basis. Funds raised either go into club funds or back to the family. We generally take everything, including the tins of nuts and bolts, and they all gradually disappear. We have also held club auctions, table top sales etc. In all cases the relevant families are pleased that all the modelling "stuff" is going to club members who are actually going to put it to good use. Sad times though.

Mmmmm interesting topic. Over the years, I have gathered a reasonable collection of Lipos, which are used in anything from EDF, F3A, 3D, Vintage etc. By and large, they are all much of a muchness. A few observations though: I had no joy at all with Turnigy Nano-Tech, puffed up very easily. Youme, were gutless. Flouron not much better. Overlander, 4Max, Zeee, GN3, Radiant, HRC, Turnigy, Rhino, Zippy used regularly without issues. CNHL OK, but do not believe the "c" ratings!. Anyway, its probably a bit of a lottery as there are so many variables.

We held our first BIG FUN event at the weekend. Probably best if we discuss our findings of the eleven models on a PM basis!.

Good idea, and worked perfectly on my my ancient phone.

I got a lot of enjoyment out of building half a dozen foamboard models from the Flitetest stable, during lockdown. Start with a couple of sheets of foamboard, a full size free plan and on line build instructions, and end up with something that flies really well. Ok, they can look a bit "agricultural", but have a great fun factor, and I also learnt how vital a decent glue gun is!.

Maybe I should qualify the statement, as it seems to have caused some confusion. Hand launched rc models with a pusher prop, are by their very design more likely to cause a hand injury than the same type of model with a tractor prop, This is because as the model is launched, (under power), the spinning prop passes over the hand / wrist area. I have seen props take a "bite" of flesh on quite a few occasions. Fairly obvious really. Safe flying is no accident.

A word of warning............. Pusher props are VERY dangerous unless you are VERY careful. They chew through fingers for fun if the hand launch is not thought through carefully. Probably break just as many props!.

Another vote for GNB from HobbyRC Use them in my EDF'S plus my Havoc which is full chat the whole time!

This has been my "Go To" help with all things electric: https://www.ecalc.ch/ For the full version I think I pay about $6. Worth every cent!.

Good heads up. Think I might treat my extension leads that are regularly make / break, to a dose of Electrolube. Can't do any harm.

That's a bit odd, didn't the BEC cut in and give you a bit of time to land without the motor?. A mate of mine ran his battery to low today, the motor stopped, but all the flight controls worked and allowed him to get down ok. Gutting when this happens, hope it goes back together ok!.

Yep, we are all getting old and the hobby is changing in a big way. I personally think that the hobby is / will be going down hill progressively in the future. Dunno about other clubs, but our membership is at best static, year on year the trends are downwards. Why? The prices of ARTF's that we know and love are now astronomic, certainly enough to put your average learner off. Various (well discussed) "on" costs. Ok, build something from a plan? Err probably not. Balsa sheet at £5 a shot and covering?......... say no more!. Lipos? There are a few reasonably priced batteries about, but with the demise of HK and CNHL can get very expensive. Not all doom and gloom though. Bring on the Foamboard, second hand via e.bay and marketplace. Pretty bleak outlook I'm afraid.

I WOULD NOT FLY IT, until you get rid of the vibration, its a model killer. Bad vibration can tear the motor out and possibly injure somebody. I have seen this happen, and its very dangerous. Have a trawl on the internet and get a couple of spare adaptors. If its only a cheap motor, it might be cost effective to replace, as the motor shaft may be bent as well. Good luck, but electric motors do not like being bounced of the ground!.