SIMON CRAGG

I would strongly recommend visiting your nearest club in the first instance. Why? They will probably have a club trainer that you fly on the "buddy lead", which will give you some initial stick time. The club will be able to give you advice on BMFA insurance, the latest CAA rules and how to learn in a safe / controlled environment. Going to the local park and flying is fraught with difficulty. Why? If you are trying to teach yourself, all the stabilization gizmos will not make learning that much easier to start with. Worst case, you might hit somebody / something with the obvious ramifications. The model may well fly off never to be seen a gain. You will miss out on the camaraderie / banter / tea drinking that goes on at most club sites!.

Anybody know what the outcome was? We are just putting our flying programme together, so it would be good to know if 14th May is a go!.

Worth looking at Zeee lipos as well. Good reports from several club members.

Changed call my orders to AliExpress and Bangood. Usually here in 21 days, but they are now adding tax at source. Excellent range of modelling goods, but worth checking the various options before you buy!.

As per heading, FMS spinner / hub for 13x5 x 3 bladed prop, and a Detrum 3720- 500 as fitted to the Dynam FW 190 and ME 109.

Trouble is, we all get tarred with the same brush. Remember what recently put modelling in a bad light in the first place?. "Drones....Airport anybody?". CAA, Article 16, RCC etc. etc. Anyway, time to move on.

OMG. My thoughts are with you. Have you got a local club you can go to? We have several members who are not in the best of health. Model flying is fantastic for mental health. Beavering away in a warm workshop during the cold winter months, and then spending as much time in the fresh air with like minded people "up the patch", when the weather improves. Once concentrating (and talking....a lot), on flying, the days go so quickly, and it certainly helps take your mind of other worries that would only multiply sat in front of the box. I really hope you can get your model in the air, and search out those elusive thermals, and enjoy this fantastic hobby as much as we all do. The very best of luck to you.

Whilst we are all waiting for better weather, have you considered getting a flight simulator?. They can be VERY useful when learning to fly. Be careful when using the supplied tubing, some of it can be very brittle. Heat shrink is a good idea, but please do not melt the fuselage!!

Yes, drill out the holes in the horns so they are a good fit. Not loose so there is a lot of "slop", but not to tight to cause binding. Worth getting a set of small drills!. I would put about 10mm movement on everything, 30% expo and the c/g at the most forward position to start with. Once you have flown the model, you will probably need to fine tune the settings, so you are 1005 comfortable with it. Second hole in on both servo and flying surface, fine tune the amount of movement on you TX. If you try and fly it with too much/ unequal movements, it will be VERY difficult to fly. Make sure all the clevises are secured with a tiny cable tie to stop them springing open. And of course do not forget to put your long CAA number on it somewhere. If you have not flown before, please go to your local club and get an instructor to test fly it for you. It might sound easy, but its a reasonably large glider and I'm sure you don't want to break it on that first flight. Good luck!.

The canopy on this glider clips on by means of two lugs either side of the hatch. Picture shows the battery being installed! I regularly fly a Phoenix 2000 in competitions, so please contact me if I can be of any help. Its a great glider!.

A bit of a long shot, but have you re set your ESC to default recently (possibly by mistake). You could have inadvertently changed the timing, which can make a significant difference to the power output!. You have possibly done this already, but "Balance charging" your lipos might reveal any cells that are down. Good luck and please let us all know what the issue was.

I was disappointed with the Xmas special. It was still ok, but I think they have milked as much as they can from the topic.

"Spirit of Kent", what a fantastic aircraft name!. As a matter of interest, we recently visited the Battle of Britain Memorial site at Capel-le=Ferne Folkstone. We were greeted by an ad hoc Spitfire fly by, which according to the staff happens regularly, as pilots go out of their way to pay their respects to the fallen. An amazing, thought provoking place which is well worth a visit.

For a club project, several of us purchased the 4 Max covering. Without doubt it is the best stuff I have ever used in over 50 years!. Its a cross between solarfilm and Oracover IMHO. No brainer really!.

Brilliant, you have surpassed your usual high standards Bonzo. Great effort!.

Thx for sharing Chris. It never ceases to amaze me, how clever / brave full size pilots are!. Number one, I would never be able to master such a beast as this. Number two, I would be petrified that one of those wing tips would fold in flight. I have had a couple of "goes on the sticks" of full size aircraft, (AT6 Texan / Icarus Microlight / glider), and on both occasions it was flying me, not the other way round. Apart from suffering violent motion sickness (I can feel it now, just writing this), thats probably why I have stuck with RC models for 50 years +!.

Paul, not all clubs in Dorset are the same! I am the club sec. of the PMFC (Dorset), and would be more than happy to welcome you to our happy bunch. Please send me a pm, and I will give you my contact details so we can "Talk Flying". Look fwd to hearing from you.

Whilst in BAOR, I was in the position to be able to book the MATS team for range days. (Cent AVRE 165). The main being able to get my grubby mitts on some spares. Throughout the day, I took careful note of where the models came down (All dead stick, as despite converting large amounts of rounds to brass none were hit). I had to sign to say the area had been carefully searched? and nothing found?. Once the armour and everybody had pushed off, I recruited a couple of helpers, and retrieved the models. Happy days!.

Another possible source of models ready made in storage somewhere. Back in the day, the Royal Artillery had a team called "MATS". (Model aircraft target systems). Glass fibre fus with parachute recovery system. Merco .61 (no exhaust), Skyleader linear servos. 11X7.3/4 Kavan blue bendy prop. 60"+ wingspan. The guys had a transit loaded to the roof with models and support kit. Pretty much travelled the World providing targets for us to try and shoot down. Not a bad job. Needless to say, one way or the other I accumulated lots of useful bits!. So many stories.....so little time.

A fantastic booklet well done. I will point any newbies in its direction. Thx for sharing.

At the time, if an engine failed to work, it was sent to Ripmax who sent a new one in return. Eventually we had enough to get a couple in the air at least. This was way before Health and Safety / PC / Woke brigade had gone mad.

Had mine, read it, and suitably filed. Lots of interesting events planned.

A group of us designed and flew target drones for several shoots back in the day. Overall, we must have made at least ten models. White water pipe for fuz and cover for engine. Simple Correx delta shaped wing and fin. MDS .40 power?! "Flash-Bang" charges taped to model. We had a huge amount of fun developing the models, the hardest bit being getting the engines to run reliably!. They turned out to be very difficult to hit, and on several occasions we had to fly lower and slower, so the row of guns could obtain some decent hits. Even when one group decided to use solid tracer shot, we never had one shot down, although by the end of the day they were scrap!. Fantastic fun, and a great project.

Agree with all the above. The period that needs the most care IMHO is when charging. How many modellers have come unstuck when charging, by somehow plugging red into black and black into red?. We had somebody do similar, which promptly burnt down his garage and half his house........not a pretty sight. The BMFA mag. used to regularly give warnings on what not to do etc. based on letters and insurance reports they had received. I would have a good read up on "Lipo safety in rc model aircraft", if treated with respect they are excellent!.

I was more or less in the same boat as you a few years ago after 40yrs ic flying, I suddenly decided to sell everything ic and go electric. Anything electrical to me was a complete mystery. Anyway, I scoured the internet for "How to convert IC models to electric" and similar, and eventually the fog began to clear. Our club also had a presentation from George recently, from which we all learned a lot. One of the reasons 4 Max has been so successful, is that it has been much easier to ring George than try and work out Watts per pound, volts, amps, battery sizes, prop sizes etc etc. This forum has been very useful, and luckily we have a couple of electrical whizz kids in our club. One tool I have found invaluable, is a programme called "e.calc" It costs about $6 annual subscription for the basic set up, and I have used it countless times to work out which components are best for any given model. Like most things, it look horrendous when you first look at it!. However, after a bit of playing about with the various inputs (and comparing it to other "known" set ups, you should be able to get to grips with it. Very satisfying when you gather all the bits together, go to the patch, and your latest creation flies perfectly. One item which will become another good friend is a "Wattmeter". Again, lots of great articles on the internet as to what an invaluable tool they are. Hope this helps!