Bridon

This item has now been SOLD...thanks for all the comments and interest...the Skyhawk will shortly be winging its way to its new home. ☺️

I can see there has been quite a bit of interest in the Skyhawk and although I said collection only initially as I thought it would be too bulky to post. However, I appreciate pick-up may be difficult so I have looked into post and packing via a courier for everything including the box and this would work out at £5:50 mainland UK delivered in 3-5 days if that might be an option for anyone. 😉

I agree, I certainly wouldn't expect a novice to consider it as a project and like you say, I would deter any beginner to consider this as a first model. My main thought was possibly as a replacement for someone who has a damaged model of the same design or for someone who has the knowledge to make up the model with additional parts if they so desire especially now the plan has come to light today that could be a real possibility. 😉

Thanks Robin...it would be nice to know an older model such as this can possibly give someone the skills to get it in the air, as by all accounts it wasn't a bad model in its day. The kit is far from complete of course but I'm sure enough survives now for someone to give it a go. 😉

Update I have asked the original owner of the kit to see if any other parts can be found. After a thorough search of his attic, this morning, he gave me everything he found...not much but now there are the illustrated instructions, the plan, the nose leg and engine mount, wing joining tape and the Vac-Form cowling plus the only part he built...the tailplane!. (see photo) None of this was thought to exist so I will add all of these to the deal which as I said is open to reasonable offers. Hopefully, all of the parts will be of use and who knows...another Skyhawk may well take to the skies!

No idea 'Engine Doctor' as I inherited the Skyhawk from someone who never actually built the model and had no real interest in proceeding with the build. Sadly, the kit became forgotten and parts displaced and all that was left were the items up for sale. At least they are hopefully useful to someone as spare parts. 😉

MFS Skyhawk kit, I have inherited an incomplete kit but what's left has not been built but would be perfect for spares, so there is an intact Blue Fibreglass Fuselage complete with both foam wings unused and still in their protective foam casing plus the full set of Vac Formed wheel spats. Ideal replacement items for anyone who has a damaged or crashed model. Collection only from Cheltenham Gloucestershire. Offers invited. Brian.

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Thanks you so much Denis...checked all as suggested, then tried it on 12v DC and still the same. ? When I read your last part about the 1 amp into a Nimh and the same into the Lipo...the very thought that the Nimh charged ok but not the Lipo got me thinking. Looking at the charging lead i made up...it was 6 foot long!! ? So, figuring this would maybe act as a resistance drop to the voltage, i set about and made another lead, this time only 12 inches long and the result....SUCCESS..!!! I have learnt a lot today...mainly the hard way but at least I have cleaned all the contacts and couldn't see the wood for the trees until I read your post. thanks again Denis...One Happy Bunny. ?

Hi, I have a Graupner Ultramat 16 charger that is giving me problems when charging for the first time any Lipo battery. It was purchased before a house move so has been sitting sealed in its box and totally unused for a few years but is effectively brand new. It charged a couple if Nimh battery packs last week perfectly. Today, I am trying to charge, for the first time for me, a 2S 1000mah Lipo battery that has good balanced voltage in all cells. Readings on my battery checker are 7.715v Cell 1= 3.857v Cell 2 =3.859v. So, setting the charger to ‘Lipo Manual’ then I set the charge to 1amp (1C) and then I input the battery capacity (1000mah)…then I connected the balance lead…all good so far. Finally, I connected the battery for charging and press the start button for 2 seconds and we’re away! The display says ‘Balancer Con’ (so it sees it) then ‘BLC’ on the display then it moves on to CHG and I can see the charge start but 2-3 seconds later it stops and up pops ‘Error Contact Break’. Ruled out the leads as it will charge a Nimh on the same leads with no bother, so eliminated that one. If I charge the Lipo with the Balance Connector not connected it will charge. (I did this for a few seconds just to see and no error message). So, I am down to the Balance Connector or their leads. Made sure all are correctly connected and tight but no difference…so I went out and bought some electrical contact cleaner…sprayed all contact points let it all evaporate for a few minutes and no joy….the same error message ‘Error Contact Break’ pops up 2-3 seconds into the charge…have I missed something obvious or is my charger at fault?

Thanks, Dick, I will take a look at that site...looks promising. ?

Hi Simon, It was the recommended ESC for a little Tower Pro 2408-21T that I bought a few years back as it was the same motor and ESC that Tim Hooper used in his Pixie-Major plan. After years if I.C. powered models, I wanted something small, simple and electric to use in the local park to get my 'hand-in' again after several years away from the hobby. I could make a Pixie-Major from the free plan Tim had in RCME years ago to use it but my intention was to use this power train on a small glider (Mike Proctor's 48" Minnie HLG from RCME 1984) that glider would be perfect as a first little electric model but that would ideally need a small 7x4 folding prop but the problem is that I don't know of any that will fit this very thin (2.90mm) motor shaft this motor has. ?

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Thanks PatMc.....I thought it was my fault and spent an hour or two trying to solve a problem that isn't there!! ?

We all use wooden dowels at some point and the other day we were out shopping and I saw these packs of wooden dowels for sale in the 'craft' section of 'The Works'. They are a very useable size of 1/4" by 12" and are perfect for small model push rods and I found that they drill and accept wire for adding clevis at each end perfectly. i was trying unsuccesfully to use BBQ Skewers but found them too thin to drill but these dowels do the job perfectly. Good for use when wing mounting with rubber bands too. In packs of 10, you effectively get 10 feet of 1/4" wooden dowling for £1...!! For those without a local store, 'The Works' do a mail order service too.

Throttle Problem Hi, my first foray into going electric is not too smooth....I have an old but unused BRC-15amp ESC that I was trying to set up on a test stand today using my Futaba T6EXA TX and RX. all works perfectly fine apart from one irritating point.... the throttle stick movement is reversed. The throttle works in the correct way on other models (Non-electric) but this ESC will not seemingly play ball. I see that the BRC instruction sheet says "This ESC is not programmable" and wondered if I could reset to factory default somehow in case my initial set-up with the ESC was wrong and I could start again. When I initially set it up, I set the TX set throttle stick to what is normally full but the ESC did not beep the expected 2 beeps, it beeped 3 times after which I moved the throttle to minimum and it all worked but in reverse...that took me by surprise...!! So, putting the stick to minimum and doing the set-up again...I now get the expected 2 beeps...Hurrah....but although this has calibrated the min to max throttle as desired it is still only working on the wrong throttle stick movement... ie Full power is 'minimum' and low to stop is what is normally 'full power' Naturally I can go into the TX and reverse the throttle servo as a workaround but I would rather it was all standardised so does anyone have any on how to tell the ESC to use the throttle in the 'normal' sense?

Good advice. ?

It is just mechanical Rich...it looks quite easy and probably takes 10 minutes. I did a quick scan of the procedure from the manual. ?

I get mine from Vapex Batteries here in the UK...they are quick on delivery and never had any probs with them. Your other comment...I chose the Basic T6L Sport as I wanted something just basic for glider use only and it comes as Mode 2 which is ideal for me. There are instructions in the manual for the Mode 1 conversion if required. ?

Much appreciated knowledge there Brian...just the info I was hoping for. i did consider going to a 6v pack but someone pointed out that most servos 'could' object to working at the higher voltage that a fully charged 6v pack would be so after reading your comment...I have decided to keep my 4.8v packs......thank you so much, mind put at ease! ?

Sounds a good scheme Eric...always prefer rechargeable over dry cells. ?

Thanks for the info Frank....learning more each day! ?

Thanks, Eric, all interesting stuff. The last part was of interest too as I have a couple of small 2 servo HLG types and the AAA lightweight packs would be an idea too....out of curiosity, what was the mAH of the 4 cell AAA NiMh pack were you using?

Thanks Frank...all much clearer to me now...to save any doubts about my 4.8v pack I think I will think about upping to the 6v packs.

All taken on board....thanks Simon. I will keep the Nimh packs and to be on the safe side I may precipitate any voltage drops by going for the 6 volt pack. The Sektrum gear I have uses the AR200 RX and the voltage range is wider starting at 3.5 volt so when I saw this Futaba RX started at 4.8v it did concern me that It was a bit close.