Danny Fenton

Hi Michael, I would carefully check that fuselage to make sure the glue you used 28 years ago is still good, some dry out and are too brittle to be safe. Good luck and we want to see pictures :)

Welcome tel, us newbies (or returnees) are loitering under a thread rather than a section LOL, just stick your comment at the bottom and one of us will see it. I contacted a few clubs near me in the Midlands and some don't give an actual location of the flying field, lots of lovely pics but no address! i mailed a few and heard nothing back so I think maybe the club E-Mail accounts are not always monitored very closely.

Reflex Xtr £98 Aerofly Pro Deluxe £120 Great Planes 3 £101 FMS responds to control inputs much too slowly to simulate real model flying in my opinion, but with a free price tag you need to try it for yourself RealityCraft PlaneMaster with USB Tx £19.99 If all a flight sim does is to teach orientation why spend so much? Does a novice really need to know how Katana flies, or just some basic 20 or so models? No I don't work for Reality craft LOL, I just hate to see cheap products ignored by people assuming they are worthless. PlaneMaster is not the best, but £19.99 for the software and a USB Tx, that is pretty good value for money.

Martyn, the USB receiver has already been done...... http://mftech.de/index_en.htm

Is this any use to you it shows several usb connectors depending on your tx, the one in the shot is a square Futaba I believe.... http://mftech.de/usb-interface_en.htm If you take a look around this very informative site you will also find the pinouts for all the buddy box connectors on most brands of Rc equipment. Good luck

Hi Spence, it sounds like you have the wrong one. The one you want should have a USB TX. I think you have ordered the one with the cable to allow you to use your own Tx to paralell port. I have heard people have had trouble with getting their Tx to use the parallel port. This is what you need http://www.sussex-model-centre.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=21328

Oh yes I remember reading that in the magazine now you mention it, I presumed he meant that the rocker was rubbing the rocker cover, it just needed re-seating. How is it going Tony, any news??

Well done Angus, thats fantastic! And I don't mean on the longest thread response LOL I am a firm believer in the simulator, they are not so realistic when it comes to being buffetted about but at least your inputs become instinctive. I think when preparing for your "A" you can fly solo provided an instructor is close by, but it varies with clubs I believe. Obviously the instructor would not be happy with doing that unless he was comfortable with your skills, and yours clearly is! well done :) As I have said many times before, and several members at a recent simulator night agreed, the RealityCraft PlaneMaster with USB Tx for £19.99 is very good value. Have you tried it Spence?

Very formal using surnames lol, you know you can edit your own posts? I must re-read that review, for the benefit of those that may not have that copy Raymond, what were the assembly difficulties??

Finally flew my J'En 57 today, shed loads of power, pulled my Wot 4 around in a 25mph wind with no problems at all. A little fussy on the starting, it likes to be almost flooded, certainly very wet LOL The throttle response is good and it will sit at idle for a fair while and pick up fairly cleanly. As others have said this isn't an OS, but it certainly has power in excess. For the money I really cannot complain. Running mine on 5% nitro (Model Technics GX-5) One of the types recomended by Just Engines.

Well the Wot 4 flew straight as a die!! blowing an absolute hoolie and nobody else ventured near the field but me. I thought I would at least run a tank of fuel through the J'EN 57 as it is still not completely run in. And the neighbours were getting fed up of me running it in the garden. A small gathering of modellers eventually showed up and came over to see who the nut was, his plane nailed to the grass by two screwdrivers to stop it getting blown away! There were no instructors, but one of the chaps who I have spoken to before and seems to know his stuff, (thanks Paul) looked over the model and helped me with a range check. Anyway he then offered to give it a shake down flight, he isn't an instructor so wasn't officially able to give me a go. It did look fantastic to finally see the result of a pile of wood flying so well. never mind there will always be another weekend. And at least it hasn't been re-kitted.

Yep, I am off to the field Sat morning as well, both Tx's charged, hope an instructor will be there :) About time my Wot 4 got of the ground!!

You are probably right Timbo I am not familiar with four strokes at all LOL and I guess the compression would be lower with all those valves involved and and associated leaks than the two strokes I am more familiar with. Timbo even when using glow you still like to have your leccy motors don't you? ;) even if just for starting LOL Yes Tony a leak or a slight inclusion in the casting is exactly what I am thinking, not going to be easy to eliminate or prove. Anybody else got any thoughts?? I am definitely interested in seeing the CO evacuation system installed in Chez Patman LOLOL

PS Shouldn't laugh about your carbon monoxide moment because it could have ended more seriously, but the vision of all these makeshift noise deadening and gas extraction devices, aka plastic flowerpots and old innertubes was destined to failure really and did make me chuckle :) You aren't restricting the exhaust in any way are you?

Tony, when "flipping" the engine does the compression feel fairly strong, and if you move it slowly through compression (Glow disconnetced) does it still feel compressed? I know I am not making myself very clear here LOL. What I am getting at is I bought a brand new OS engine many years ago and it had a pinhole in the head, I know, it was an OS, well it still CAN happen LOL. Anyway it was a pig to spot because it would run kinda..... eventually I actually spotted a tiny bubble of oil/fuel between the fins during a running moment, it was replaced free of charge and no problems after that.

Hi Tony, sounds like you are not having much fun with your SC, silly question but when you say the tank is 3mm below the carb, which bit of the tank are we talking about?

Hi rodderstrotter, The rule of thumb with instructing I have heard is to have the student flying "two errors up" I am afraid with such small models that is not really possible as at that height I certainly would struggle to see it, not to say your eyesight isn't better than mine LOL. Murray has the right idea with an electric glider plenty of model to see at height. and very slow to react. I learned originally on a glider, my little sister pulling it up on a 100' of fishing line. If I was lucky I got a 30 second flight. Many instructors insist on buddy leads and the likes, many of the small rtf's haven't this facility so learning could be a long process of snatching the transmitter backwards and forwards. I am not saying you cannot learn this way, but it won't be as easy, and I can understand peoples reluctance to offer formal training. A terrific cheap simulator is the RC PlaneMaster, software and USB Tx for £19.99 a real bargain if you can find one. Good luck, enjoy, and let us know how you get on?

Hi and welcome, I am not so sure that costs are low with leccy. The start up costs can be quite high, I am looking at trying leccy myself. The problem with the smaller models and learning to fly with them, is that they get buffeted around a fair bit and can be difficult to fly. You really are at the mercy of the wind. A model with a higher wing loading will handle the wind better, but then they fly so fast that they are out of sight quite quickly. A model of about 56" wingspan is really ideal, an electric model that size will cost much more than IC in my oppinion. Can you give us an example of the type of rtf you are talking about?

Thanks Alastair for taking the time to help, thats made things much clearer. Cheers

Hi Brian, I have found a basic drawing for the Astrohog http://www.svensons.com/airplanes/?pd=Astrohog You will need a drawing package to view this, there are several free .DWG viewers available on the web. Or drop me an E-Mail and I will send the file as a JPEG. However the drawing does not show the undercarriage layout. It looks as though it had a couple of blocks in the wings. Anybody else remember the undercarriage layout??

Thanks Timbo, your explanations are very clear I am impressed! So really there is no need for the opto isolation on the lower end of the game, the park flyers and smaller lipo packs. I do know you were only joking about IC v Lectric, I would miss the flipping of an ic engine, its kinda therapeutic in a masochistical sort of way, and appeals to us slightly older generation. However I am very keen on trying leccy as I used to be a very keen 1/12th leccy racer before going on to 1/8 (IC). So was in at the start of the Demon 2C speed controllers, and charging nicads at alarming rates. I also used to wind my own 540 motor or two. So I thought I would have a leg up on this stuff, but alas no. Why can't the motors be labelled with their max wattage or something so that we can see exactly what size we need for a particular job LOL ie .049 = X .09 =y .15 = Z .25 = a etc etc I do know that you can by lipo/motor/esc in IC ratings but those comapanies are few and far between, and are they charging for that ease of selection???? Thanks again your answers have been very informative :)

Thanks Timbo I am not getting into that debate LOLOL besides the 40 is an OS, you just flick it and it goes, whats all this adjusting stuff??? Just to keep this thread going one more question, well actually a few in parallel, or maybe series?? Can you feed the Rx 4.8v from the lipo packs using all the types of ESC's or only certain types? And what's this BEC thats thrown about, and opto decoupling whats that when its at home?

I must go and lie down lolol so a 3s2p actually contains 3 cells in series, in paralel with another set of 3 cells in series, ie 6 cells total. So three times one cell voltage, with twice the capacity. But the C rating doesn't alter....... where's my OS 40 and some nitro LOLOL. Thanks Timbo

Sorry must be having a stupid moment :)I have just noticed a battery pack quoted as 3s1p have I missed something? I get the 3s = 3 cells in series, but the 1p bit??

Thanks guys I have looked through the links and those prices are excellent. Sorry to be a pain but how do the numbers on the outrunners compare? 2205 must be less powerful than a 2208 or 2212. But what sort of power are we talking about in IC terms? I appreciate it depends on the size and number of cells. There was a plan in RC Model World for a plane called the little Sue I was toying with building either it or something of a similar size. a scratch 36" wot 4 is another thought. The builder of Little Sue used an align 1000Kv BL450S drawing 9 amps. Can you make a cheap selection from the sites you have mentioned that would fly this, perhaps including a charger? I know I am being cheeky, sorry..... I am drawn to the 2208 with 15 ESC. Would the bell motor cut it?