Handyman

Hi Austen, Ken has the right idea. I have been using the heat shrink tubing idea for quite a few years now. It's ideal too, when you are trying to get an extended servo lead through a wing centre.  I get mine from Maplins stores and its very good and firm, but easy to take apart again if neccessary. Try it and see what you think. The beauty of it is  it dos'nt make the servo connection bulky. Happy flying. 

No one seems to have mentioned airscrew diameter and pitch in all of these ministerings.  When you change to a smaller airscrew, you have to lean out the top end mixture, the opposite applies if you fit a larger diameter airscrew, the flywheel effect is noticeable by the amount of fuel that is needed through the carby to create combustion.  By the same token if you have been using a smaller diameter airscrew for the running in stage, and then you change to the recommended size of airscrew which is probably larger in diameter, then this will alter the basic settings. As one or two of the oldies amongst us have said, check all the possible causes of your problem, and then get the engine started. and listen to the engine.!!!!!! Nuff Sed 

Regarding the afore-mentioned De-Agostini Spitfire, I found one that was being offered for sale on E-bay, with improvements. The builder gave a load of spiel about these improvements, but what they amounted to, was the fact that he had used a load of straight pins to simulate the rivets around the cockpit canopy,to"as he put it" enhance and improve the scale looks of this aircraft. One of the thumbnail photo's of this spitfire showed the inside of the fuselage around the cockpit section, and there for all the world to see were the ends of the pins sticking out, to catch the hands of the unwary, when installing the radio gear. When I cautioned the builder about this dangerous situation, and how any half decent aero modeller would not waste money buying this white elephant, I got a load of abuse and four letter words for my troubles. However a complaint to e-bay, plus a copy of his e-mail to me, soon got this model removed from sale. In my opinion, De-agostini were wrong in offering this model for  sale from the word go.

Why don't you lash out on one of the program cards that you can buy quite cheaply, it makes everything much easier, and you dont have to listen to loads of silly beeps or have to keep waggling the throttle stick backwards and forward.  You just have to move up or down the card to the position you want to adjust, and look for the relevant set of lights that indicate what you are doing. If your esc does not have a BEC output,  a cable is supplied so that you can plug in a Rx battery to power up the card and away you go. Easy Peasy!!!!!

Hi Lee, Brian is quite correct. I have converted two of my plastic geared ones, and as he says, no more than ten minutes at the most. But stick a dab of petroleum jelly on the gears, but don't over do it.

I agree with all that you say, and I also think its not funny. I like "Parting shot" so why not stay with that format until summat better comes along.

Hi Julian, are you by any chance referring to the Kyosho Yamamoto high wing, fibre glass fuselage jobby? If so, I have an unfinished one in the loft. Give me some measurements of the plane you have. I take it that it is a high winger,with a foam and veneer wing,and a tricycle undercariage? If this is the one, you can have this one of mine dirt cheap.

Hi folks, I have just picked up on this thread again about "supporting your local model shops", and my grey cells have woken up to something that Tom Sharp has just said about Hobby Stores always advertising for staff. Would I be correct in assuming that the "Nader Mashinchy" is related to the " Ali Mashinchy " who runs " Als Hobbies ". I ask because it was Als Hobbies who took over my local Model shop at Stafford, ("Bagnalls".)   If I remember correctly, they got their shop open in a bit of a rush in December 2004, with a fella called Roger as manager.  I approached Mr Ali Mashinchy on site and asked for a job, and was taken on and proceeded to carry out work in the upstairs department sorting out the mess left behind by the Bagnall's demise, prior to turning it into the Jet Centre.( Ali Mashinchy seniors words.) Once all of the hard graft was done, I was then told that they needed some-one who was au-fait with helicopters, and because I was only a fixed wing bod, they were not able to offer me full time employment.  So I was out of the door, before they even had time to find out what I had to offer the business. The strange part was that after only two years on site, Al's Hobbies vanished as quickly as they appeared, and as far as I can make out, there was no reason given. Does anyone know why a town as big as Stafford, with such a catchment area as it had, could not support a shop such as Al's Hobbies. After all, Bagnalls had a huge shop, and a very good mail order service. Why could'nt Al's Hobbies have built on that. They may have got into the market with reasonable pricing, but their prices are way up with the rest of them now.

Hi Jetsome, I think that I am going to have to go out to my nearest "Ship's chandlers" and get me a lifejacket. I am sure that I am slowly drifting out of my depth with this flaps versus aileron topic. Mind you, it's good to know that other people have similar sorts of problems. At this moment in time, I am struggling to build a "Burt Rutan" Longeze for ( elec***c power,) or is this a taboo subject. I am an engine fella through and through, but I thought I should at least dabble my feet in the water, and give it a try. Happy landings.!..

Hi Doug, no problems. I have a couple of jobs on the back burner, for next year. I specifically wanted to use flap function, but without the problems of decreased aileron movement, as was the case using the flaperon function. I am going to go with separate flaps, using an high torque servo, in case of blow back on the flap surface, and I am going to obtain aileron differential mechanically, as I have nearly always done in the past. Now here's a thought, " if adverse yaw is a problem caused by the down going aileron ", why do we then have to have ailerons working in tandem.????.  Would the aileron effect, (which after all is only used to raise or lower each wing,) be any the less effective, if only one aileron moved up to obtain the angle of bank that we require to initiate the turn. I think I had better go and put the kettle on, make a drink, and then go and do some "balsa bashing" Happy landings........Tony...alias...Handyman.

Do your servo's tend to overshoot the neutral position when they return back from full deflection, mine tend to, but they are still a good buy as far as I am concerned. As you say, "Damned clever these orientals" .

Tentpeg,  I would be very careful when buying servos from Towerpro labelled "Digital" or " Digi". I have taken to task several suppliers in Hong Kong about this subject, and have had an apology in every case. I have brought several Towerpro MG 995 servo's, that were being traded as Digital servo's. They are not Digital servo's, as I found out, but they are a very good bullet proof standard servo with bags of torque. I am using one on the rudder of my Discus glider.  But I have found Futaba digital servo's for sale on the web, that I have checked out in my Ripmax catalogue, and they have been as low as half the Ripmax price, but the post and packing does tend to bring the price back up to almost the same price as the UK. I think the answer is to surf the sites in HK, compare the different postal rates, compare the savings that you could make, and then make a couple of test buy's. That is what I did, when I decided to dabble in this electrickery flying. Regards..... Handyman

Hi Tentpeg, I wasn't advocating Hobbystores as " the be all and end all " of stores, I was just trying to make a point about how much mark up the English model shops seem to put on every item they sell. As another example, about two years ago, in an elec***c magazine, I saw an article about a "Simprop" synthesised Rx that did'nt need a crystal, it just tuned itself to the strongest/closest  signal. I aquired one from a shop in Germany, and the cost was around £45.00, which was roughly 66 euros. A couple of months later, my local model shop had two of them in their showcase, cost to the english, £66.00s. Another case of converting euros straight to pounds. I spoke to the german proprieters on the phone about the cost to me. and they openly admitted that they had made a respectable profit on the price that I bought it at, so what was my model shops markup.?????

Oh dear! what have I started here. Trust me, a new boy on the block and look what I go and do. Oliver, your idea sounds fine, but on my gear ch1 = aileron, ch6 = flaps. So where do I go from here. All I want to do, is to make sure that my upgoing aileron travels further than the downgoing one, which the good book says, "Might cause adverse yaw in the wrong direction, if differential is not used" Does this really matter that much, will we suffer from the excess drag cause by the downgoing aileron, if they move the same distance as the upgoing one. I think I am going to put the kettle on and study the manual again.

I think you are correct David, I will probably forget flaps for a while until I build a new wing for the Ready, but it is a slippy aircraft on approach and does not seem to want to slow down at times, but the flaps make it a different aircraft, especially when it gets into "ground effect". it just floats about a foot off the floor until you cut the throttle, and then down it sits without a bounce. Thanks for all of the advice,I will sit back now and read all of the other ideas coming in, especially the answers to Doug Ireland's problem.

Thinking about that statement, if both ailerons are down an equal amount, and you introduce say a tad of left stick, the angle of the left flap/aileron will decrease, but the angle of the right flap/aileron/ will probably increase slightly. Now, will this decrease drag on the left wing, but give more lift to the right wing, adjusting the angle of bank in doing so, or will the opposite happen. Mind you, the rudder tends to be more effective at low speeds, so perhaps that is the answer when we are using flaperons. I rest my case.

As long as the flap control was turned off, everything seemed to be normal. the action of drooping the flaps/ailerons was when my aileron movement went all too pot, or so I thought. I have an old Army friend who flew a DHC2 Beaver aircraft when we were out in Aden 1965-67. He tells me that whenever they lowered flap, the ailerons also drooped down as well, but not as far as the flaps did. He tells me that even with the aircraft set up like that they still had full aileron authority. with bags of drag and a pronounced nose-down attitude. I think we are getting too demanding of our radio control equipment and not enjoying the flying more.

Hi Doug, join my thread with pleasure, two heads are better than  one, and your problem sounds very much like mine, when I was using the flaperon function on my ARC Ready. The Futaba manual tells you all of the things to do, but I found things very similar to you. I did not dare to use the flap function until I was established on finals with my wings level, because as soon as I lowered flap, I lost my ailerons. All the movement that I could get was one or the other aileron lifting slightly, and that was all. I have either got to purchase some more new gear, which I am loathsome to do, at my age, or build a new wing for the Ready, with separate flaps, and set the required differential mechanically as I have always done in the past.

Hi David,  I wish I had waited a bit longer before buying my 6exa gear, it may be page 20 in your book but it's page 13 in my 6exa book. I can get into the flaperon programme ok, so are you saying that I can set servo travel in this mode, but ignore the flap function that I also get from this mix?????. I can always give it a try. I thought that computer radios were supposed to make things easier, not demand a degree in Rocket science.......DOH!!!!!!!!Whats a wrinkly to do about all of this.???

I think the best thing that I can do, is to ring up Ripmax on monday and pick their brains, providing of course that they are au fait with these sets. Still, you have given me food for thought, will have to have a good think over the weekend, and another look through the manual. Thanks again. Much appreciated. Tony.

Hi Timbo, nice to chat with you, as I have said, my gear is the Futaba 6exa set. I actually have used the flapperon mode on my ARC Ready, and although it slowed the aicraft down considerably, I also lost a lot of aileron movement.  I put things back as they were, and resolved to build my Ready a new wing with seperate flaps, and that would solve the fast landings symptoms. With the ready wing, it seems that the control horns are already made to be angling forwards, so in effect giving more up than down, so no problems there. It's just that I do not think that I am getting the most out of this gear, but I can not find any mention of "differential", anywhere in the manual. I do still tend to refer to my old radio control book that I have had for " God knows how long" and set the differential mechanically. I will have to try what you suggest. And just as an aside, I am an old "mode1" flyer, my first bird was a " Super Sixty" and I used a Macregor 2 channel radio set with push buttons and wind up rubber driven escapements. I didnt have a throttle in those days. We were advised to fit the propeller the other way around to reduce the thrust, and not put too much fuel in the tank for the first few flights until things were trimmed out. How about that then, all you Mode2 junkies.????

I have said for years that the aeromedilling fraternity amongst us are being ripped off, and have been for a good many years now. Do you all remember when Al's Hobbies first came on the scene, "wow" when I saw their first advert. I thought,"here's a breath of fresh air in the modelling scene" very reasonable prices and very well stocked shops with a good mail order service. Sad to say that did not last long. Prices soon climbed to match the rest. Far be it for me to suggest "Price fixing" in the model trade, but scan through the RCM&E mag and see how closely the prices of things seem to reflect each other. I had a friend who went out to the United States last year and I asked him to price me an OS 91 FS Surpass, and compare it to the price asked for it at my local model shop. He went into a store named "Hobbystore" and the price over the counter came to £160.00 pounds converted from dollars. That was the average selling price for that particular engine all over the states, and they were still making a profit and were doing quite well. This friend is a shooter, a hunter, and he aquired a catalogue showing a complete range of hunting and shooting gear, and it so happened that he had the same catalogue from an English supplier at home. When he checked them side by side, the prices were the same, except that the dollar sign had been changed to a pound sign. I rest my case. I have set up a friendly rapport with a supplier in Hong Kong, and I have been getting some of my modelling goods from him, with an excellent after sales service.

Can any whizz-kid out there tell this white haired old (66) aeromedeller how to introduce aileron differential, electronically to my aircraft, instead of mechanically, as I am used to doing. I am using Futaba's  T6EXA equipment, and although I have read the manual through several times, I still don't seem to have hacked it, Any help would be greatly appreciated...Handyman

Hi Graham, you are a man after my own heart. Nothing gives me more pleasure in seeing a project take shape on the building board or actually in your hands. I have always been impressed by the accuracy of a dry fit of components produced by the lazer method. Do you find that the burnt edges of the parts take away some of the integrity of the glued joint, or do you a light sanding before the final assembly. I am very much like you, and I never hesitate in changing something on a plan or kit, to make it ,(in my opinion), work better. Keep up the good work, but don't burn too much midnight oil. Regards...Handyman.

I don't see any reason why non-modelling subjects should'nt be discussed on this forum. I think that any form of discussion is perfectly ok, and can always be brought around to modelling in some form or other, either by fair means or foul. After all, is there any other subject thats as good as discussing "modelling" in its broader terms. What I would like to see discussed, is for some-one to explain to a 66 yr old modeller how to go about setting up my Futaba computer radio, to do all the things that it can do, and explain the different terms and what they mean. I am talking about terms such as "exponential,differential,end-point adjustment, and why when I manage to dial in flapperons, do I lose travel on my ailerons. Technology is great, but don't forget us old wrinklies