vic evans 1

Posted by trebor on 12/07/2017 15:32:21: do you win a prize ? Well I win a prize for wasting your time asking "do you win a prize?"

No distance at all as I fly in my own 3Ha gardens / field in open countryside.

Posted by Jim Carss on 25/02/2017 14:33:07: Ron I remember the Club 40 / 60 very well I also has a red Verithin way back then,the old Hofners must be a collectors item nowadays. I hope so.

At last. Something I actually know a bit about. I'm an old bloke who collects 60's Hofner guitares & has tinkered with guitars for years. I can fix 'em better than I play 'em but one piece of advice I give all wanna be guitarists is simple. " A good guitarists will get a good tune out of a rubbish guitar & great tune out of a good 'un whereas a newbie will find a well set up guitar easier to fret & a bad one with the strings high off the fretboard impossible to play" You don't say what type of guitar you want to play. An accoustic will usually have thicker strings than a 'leccy job & will be harder to fret. Against this a solid leccy guitar listened to through an amplifier with headphones is better for marital harmony. I have many types of guitar but my go to one is a cheapo accoustic Ovation copy fitted with light weight flatwound strings which hangs in the kitchen ready for me to pick up most days. The main thrust of my post is to get yourself a guitar with a good action ie light & low strings which are close to the fretboard without buzzing. Get it set up right & be prepared for sore fingers for a few weeks. The finger tips do get harder & the fingers more flexible if you stick at it but a little & often on a well set up guitar is the key. lessons are easy to come by on youtube & you'll soon find a system that suits your would be style. Four chords gets you hundreds of songs & after that the worlds yer Lobster. Good luck. It's a great way to pass away a few hours & you may just be surprised to find that a bit of effort on a well set up guitar will soon have you banging out a tune. Please don't try with a badly set up guitar as you will never keep it up. In the right hands a half decent cheapo guitar can usually be set up to play well enough to get a newbie playing.

Posted by Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 30/07/2016 11:29:24: Posted by vic evans 1 on 30/07/2016 10:31:21: Being a non affiliated, go it alone, relatively new to the hobby 70 year old bloke who flies on his own land in France I've followed this thread & watched their reponse 'rant' with interest. Not being sufficiently well versed in the British system wouldn't presume to comment as to the rights or wrongs of the Hayling Island blokes but would comment that some of the responses here are a tad pompous to say the least. If these guys do indeed need a guiding hand & if some folk here are concerned about public safety why not arrange for some members to visit them where I'm sure the personal touch would go down well & be appreciated? You are achieving nothing by taking the moral high ground , reporting them to the local authority & having a pop at them off on a forum. A shake of the hand is always better than a slap on the face so come on guys, get out from behind you keyboards, get off you backsides & go talk to them man to man. You are after all the Friendly Forum. Mmmm, not sure about this. Bear in mind I have made no comment about these guys at Hayling Island up ti now, but I would like to make a couple of points here: 1. I repeat from before, this forum either as an official body or as a group of members collectively, did not report anywone to anywhere! You can't even in fairness ascribe that to the members who posted on this thread as a group. It was the independent, unilateral, action of one individaul - done without the support of members here, in fact subsequent comments would suggest exactly the contrary. So, to talk collectively about the posters on this thread in that light is I feel a little unfair. 2. The comments on here are pompous? Well... "Hi, I'm from Modelflying and I come here today to teach you all how to fly safety, now just gether round and pay attenion" - Now that woud be pompous! I really don't think a visit would be welcome, or appropriate. I certainly shall not be making the journey! 3. They chose to make this a public affair by posting the videos on YouTube - so they have to take the public comment. At least here - as Matty points out - they do have a right of reply, unlike on YouTube. (BTW what is the point of posting a rant and then making it private? What's that all that about? Its like going to a loo and having a mutter in there - it might make you feel better but it sucks as a contribution to the debate!) 4. When people do things like this - fly in what seems to be a extremely unsafe manner and then glorify and celebrate it on YouTube - they potentially damage all of us. They damage and undermine the reputation of our hobby - a such I believe we have a right to counter that with likewise public disapproval as at leat some way towards readdressing the balance. I think the best these guys can do is admit to an error of judgement, remove the questionable videos and focus on the good stuff that they do - and to be fair there is planty good stuff on their channel. If they do that then I for one would admire their courage in admitting that they got it wrong, and say "more strength to their elbow" in promoting a positive image of our hobby. Let's hope this just becomes unfortunate blip in their history - how about it guys - care to take that up? BEB Thank you for your response Mr BEB. I was not surprised by your comments although I suspect you really got my drift. I was merely trying to give an 'outsiders' view on this thread but fear I was wasting my time. You have used words to respond which were not part of my post & your use of semantics is to be applauded. My use of the term 'you' was in no way meant to suggest that this forum collectively denounced anyone & again I suspect you really knew that. I used the phrase 'a tad pompous' & said 'go & talk to them' not ' rock up & lecture them.' They seem a mainly decent but maybe misguided bunch so why wouldn't a hand shake & friendly chat from some of the less 'pompous' on this Friendly Forum help? It would be a great chance to offer help if help was required or indeed if needed. They are obviously monitoring this forum so why not use it to extend a hand of friendship.?

Being a non affiliated, go it alone, relatively new to the hobby 70 year old bloke who flies on his own land in France I've followed this thread & watched their reponse 'rant' with interest. Not being sufficiently well versed in the British system wouldn't presume to comment as to the rights or wrongs of the Hayling Island blokes but would comment that some of the responses here are a tad pompous to say the least. If these guys do indeed need a guiding hand & if some folk here are concerned about public safety why not arrange for some members to visit them where I'm sure the personal touch would go down well & be appreciated? You are achieving nothing by taking the moral high ground , reporting them to the local authority & having a pop at them off on a forum. A shake of the hand is always better than a slap on the face so come on guys, get out from behind you keyboards, get off you backsides & go talk to them man to man. You are after all the Friendly Forum.

I mostly fly alone in my own fields so no instructor other than Mr Phoenix & although long retired reckon I've got the mental age & ability of a six year old. My first plane was a Bixler. I didn't know any of the 'problems' mentioned here existed so I just flew it & learnt a lot. It gave me confidence to progress to other designs but a few years on I've still got it, never seriously damaged it & it's still one of my favourites.

Thanks John F. Our chooks have a large outside enclosure but only about 1m high. They have a smaller interconnecting foxproof enclosure which we usually shut at dusk leaving the chook door open. Not had a problem in about 10 years although we live in open country in rural Brittany. Our nearest neighbour is about 500m away so a pain to ask them to shut up/open the chooks house especially in mid summer with the long days. We have about 3 Ha of fields surrounded by open farmland so great for plane flying but not so good keeping foxy away from Mme Chook. I'm going to buy one of the door openers & hope the batteries will last a couple of weeks if we go away. I take your point about the sliding door. Thanks to all who offered advice.

Thanks Gary. That'll do the job.I never thought to see if one existed as I thought it too bizzare a concept. Obviously wrong!

Cheers Dave. Yes they're well trained & always return when the sun starts going down. Nice gadget but if I can find some way of shutting/opening the hatch automatically at sunset/sunrise it'll save the neighbours a trip twice a day & keep the chooks safe.

Not really a 'plane subject but I'll ask anyway. I've a chicken shed with a vertically sliding, chicken size, ply hatch in the main wooden door & I'm looking for ways to open & close this hatch when I'm away to stop Mr Fox eating my chooks. I've thought of a model yacht sail winch operated via a day/night sensor but that is as far as my electronic kowledge will get me. I've got 2 & 3 cell Lipos to operate things & can almost certainly build a set up if I'm pointed in the right direction. Anyone care to help?

The French airforce regularly fly their Mirage jetsover our fields at what seems suicidal low altitudes.

When a spring broke on the office Fax machine I fixed it with a piece cut of an eraser. It held for years untill the machine was pensioned off when emails were possible.

I bought an Imax B6 balance charger (the genuine one) from HK which wouldn't balance charge. I emailed them & they asked me to video the problem for them which I did.. Two weeks later I received a new one with no request to return the faulty one. It's not all bad!

I bought a Medion Sport HD camera,similar to a GoPro, at Lidl, or was it Aldi? where it cost 100 euros here in France. It has full WiFi capabilities which I've tested to the limits of my field at over 500m. I fixed it to one of my planes & it works well giving 'poor mans' FPV. plus on board on/off recording or photos controlled & viewed from my tablet..

I had camera vibration problems on my HK Bixler after prop balancing so I balanced the motor using an Iphone vibration app. Insulating tape & trial & error. It worked fine with no camera fuzz after. Pics show after  & before balancing Edited By vic evans 1 on 10/10/2015 19:35:57 Edited By vic evans 1 on 10/10/2015 19:38:49

This relative newbie learnt to fly using Phoenix sim & a Dx6i Tx. I've since tried the PicaSim on my tablet & it's like chalk & cheese. Seriously , I don't think any novice, even the game savvy young, will succesfully make the transition from a PicaSim type sim to actual model flying with a 'real' Tx without tears. Phoenix type sims might be 'a little sophisticated' but are as close to real model flying you will get whist sitting in your armchair.

Nice vid. but the 'plane gets in the way I've tried all ways to keep the 'plane out of shot & find a forward facing camera mounted under the body by the UC or cockpit mounted camera on a pusher the best. How do you folk manage it?

Great post Mattyb, particularly the last para. I've been 'around the block' a few times & am not usually backward in expressing my opinions but even I was gobsmacked by the harsh comments in some of the posts. Real or not the OP has raised a very valid question as to how newbies should be treated. Nobody should be in doubt that model flying could be dangereous, the operative word being 'could', & I think everyone is aware of the need to conserve rapidly diminishing flying sites but seriously, if all newcomers are treated like some here treated the OP there will be no future members & no need for clubs & flying sites so the point of this post will be academic.

As a nearly 70 year old novice & relatively new member here I feel for Dave. It's pretty obvious he did what he thought was the right thing & if his fellow new club members are anything like some of the seemingly pompous who replied here I can well understand his reluctance to debut in front of anyone. I ventured along to my local club a few years ago & the 'welcome' I got means I now go it alone. If you want to encourage new folk into this hobby cut 'em some slack. Not everyone is a moron, would be, drone flyer & most people respond to & are gratefull for gentle suggestions.

Thanks C8. Not sure if I lost just roll control as I was too busy trying to avoid the inevitable Hand launch fine as was control authority Battery fully charged Ailerons correct ( I think) The aerial was a pop on/off press stud type fitting Tranny fine when used to fly my Bixler 5 min later I've just done a mock up test using the original Tx & Rx + 4 spare servos & interestingly when doing a range check at about 40m the signal using the satellite aerial only was sporadic but fine when I reconnected the main aerial. I'm therefor leaning towards thinking the main aerial was detached before launch & I 'ran out' of signal strength at about 100m. Does this seem a realistic theory?