John Lee
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Posts posted by John Lee
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So the Mini Kiwi Fli arrived this morning, having ordered on 30 July the tracking sequence is:
The cost of the goods worked out at £124.54 (plus £10.48 shipping) which is below the £135 HMRC threshold whereby VAT is collected at point of entry (Link), and indeed that is how it was treated - I had nothing further to pay.
I'll give my initial impression of the kit (very good) on the Kwik-Fli thread.
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That sounds like a retailer using Amazon as a selling platform. No excuses though.
40 minutes ago, KenC said:I have even been told that they have a refurb warehouse where these sorts of products are re bagged and paperwork etc are replaced in preparation for their return to sale.
Yes, Amazon do have such a facility & they make it abundantly clear what you are getting:
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4 minutes ago, Rich Griff said:
The elevator trim does nothing, nothing at all as far as elevator trim is concerned. But the tx does make a bleep when elevator trim is used.
That contradicts what you say in your first post:
1 hour ago, Rich Griff said:If it transpires that the elevator trim button controls throttle trim, and the throttle stick trim button controls elevator trim
As Dick, Martin, Frank & I say the use of crossed trims is a (admittedly slightly unusual) feature on a number of transmitters.
What transmitter is it and what does its manual say on the subject?Is there an illustration of the transmitter functions?
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It was quite standard on a number of transmitters and assignable on some others. It has the advantage of being able to trim the elevator without taking your fingers/thumb off the elevator stick.
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Lots of rubber powered KeilKraft models in my pre teen years.
First Control Liner a Phantom Mite with a WenMac .049.
First Radio Model a Pal Joey from Aeromodeller plans with second hand RCS single channel
First proportional a home built Remcon Versaplex in a Sorcerer slope soarer.
Then first 'modern' digital proportional, a Waltron 4-5 in a Micro-DB Kestrel
First helicopter Micro-mold Lark
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On 14/07/2023 at 09:33, John Lee said:
I'd agree that you could 'simplify and add lightness' if you wish, equally there is merit in keeping things original.
I've had 3 Kwik-Fli's (plus a Bar-Fli & Flea-Fli) over the decades, all ended up being sold on after lots & lots of flying & wearing out several engines. They were in good structural condition to the end, they only got sold as my interests moved around different aspects of the hobby. For such a simple shape there did seem to be a lot in the construction, but if you are not a crasher then if you keep things original it should last a lifetime with electric.
Great flying machine, perhaps one day I'll get the urge to build number 4!
So the urge has come about!
I spotted a week or so ago that Kwik Fli & Middle Stick kits are being produced by Stephan Graupner and have ordered a Mini Kiwi Fli, presently awaiting delivery.
https://sg-modellbau.de/en/collections/flugmodelle-1
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I ordered a Mini Kwik Fly from them on 30 July, DHL tracking was updated this morning to say it was on its way. I'll update when it gets here.
I just used my browser's translate facility to read the site in English.
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I may have been misinterpreted. My contention is that it is safer to commence your take off at position A rather than B, so that at no point is the model pointing towards the Pilot's Box when on the ground and accelerating for takeoff.
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1 hour ago, Eric Robson said:
When I lived down South I flew off a disused Ww2 airfield where I would taxi the plane down wind and do scale take offs lifting off just before it passed by me, flying mainly scale models it always looked great.
That practice worries me when I see it. You are starting the flight with the model basically pointing towards you, accelerating and at full throttle. Any mistake or malfunction & you are in the firing line.
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11 minutes ago, Dickw said:
I stand to the side in the pilots box, unless I am hand launching.
Dick
+1
But I've no problem with others standing behind their model for the take off, unless they faff about & obstruct the take off & landing area when they get short shrift from me.
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Had their CAP 10 a number of years ago. It flew & I won a couple of flying only scale competitions with the model. However that was in spite of the construction, let's just say I would never consider buying another VQ model.
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I never charge at the field, always at home. Arrive at field & immediately fly. Won't waffle to the other blokes until I have a couple of flights under my belt. Takes all sorts!
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4 hours ago, Cuban8 said:
No matter who you order model goods from, the cost of delivery, or shipping, as they call it from abroad has become a non-runner as far as I can see. Just for fun, I put together an order worth about thirty quid for small odds and ends from China Hobby. The postage was forty pounds from their international warehouse and they were talking thirty plus days for delivery - simply not worth it.
AliExpress have free "16 day" postage on lots of items, in practice my last 3 orders have all arrived within 10 days, fully tracked. Sign in as a UK customer and VAT is not shown on the webpage but is added on checkout. AliExpress deal with the transhipment, taxes & customs clearance, they then slap on a UK mailing label when it is in the country & you get it as a domestic delivery. There is a China Hobby Line store within AliExpress, I order from there if it is not available in their UK warehouse. Last month I bought some XT60 connectors, the price you see below is the total I paid including postage, ordered 3 July received 12 July.:
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Agreed Component Shop is good. I bought mine direct from Overlander as they had the exact configuration I wanted, again good service.
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Up to you but I had a very similar experience a couple of months ago with a battery in a slope soarer. I scrapped it (or rather confined it to bench use), for me it was not worth the risk against £12 for a new battery. My view was that the reduced capacity indicated not all was well and it gave doubts about it being able to cope with the unknown loads from the servos when in flight.
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Aerovolt have just announced that their first of a network of airfield chargers for electric aircraft will be launched next week.
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48 minutes ago, Nigel Heather said:
Also- would your graph keep scaling - if so why don't we have real electric plane - full size Cessna.
A Cessna Caravan first flew under electric power back in 2020. Wikipedia lists dozens of full size electric aircraft under development.
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Chris the FMS Super EZ comes fitted with their Reflex gyro (as do many other FMS and Arrows Hobby [where it is branded Vector gyro] models), which offers a couple of potential advantages for your situation.
Firstly it has three switchable in flight modes, Off, Optimised (which dampens disturbances caused by wind gusts etc) and Stabilised. The Stabilised Mode limits bank & pitch angles and self levels when you release the controls. Whilst most experienced pilots find this unnatural it may be just what is required for a stick banging 5 year old, he certainly will not be able to fold the wings with it on!
Secondly whilst you can fit a conventional receiver it will also operate off a single lead from anything that gives the option of Sbus or PPM outputs. I run mine off a satellite Rx but I don't know if you have a comparable Futaba device gives that output facility.
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I am a long time flyer (BMFA examiner) and in recent years the 2 foamy trainers that impressed me most when I first flew them at the RCHotel were the ST Models Discovery and FMS Super EZ - to the extent that I have added both to my fleet.
In addition to being good trainers both also make good sports models as experience is gained. My Super EZ is primarily used on floats as a waterplane whilst I modified the Discovery with an uprated AXI motor & digital servos to take full advantage of its fine flying properties.
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I've used the telemetry on my Tx to find a model which went down in long crops. The signal strength indicator gave a good steer.
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1 hour ago, Frank Skilbeck said:
My 82" wingspan Mick Reeves Hurricane runs on 5000 mah 6s lipos, flies well, but now 2 out of my 3 5000 mah 6s lipos are not delivering adequate performance, so do I spend £150+ on a couple of new lipos or change it to IC.
No need to spend that much if you shop around & snap up offers. I bought 3 5000mAh 6S 70c from China Hobby Line UK warehouse last week for £110.94 delivered (£36.98 each). Ordered Thursday delivered Saturday.
Noise constraints at my local field mean that IC is not an option, though having converted to electric 10+ years ago I much prefer it. Each to their own but electric is viable on any size aircraft.
ps Crossed with Ron!
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20 hours ago, David perry 1 said:
I dont recall a car but i well remember the army vehicle. A canvas topped multi wheel job...RM16? Cant remember that detail. Always fancied making one, never did. Old hat now of course a bit like 1977s(?) "Dogfight double" (RCME) the dreams of which tormented my young teenage soul with the usual "want what i cant afford" menaces ha ha and which plans i kept for decades.
Would this be the one David?
It is from the Sep 75 edition of Radio Modeller. I'll upload a scan of the magazine in a separate post as it is just on the file size limit.
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Re-design for electric propulsion ??
in Building from Traditional Kits and Plans
Posted · Edited by John Lee
Yes, a fair bit smaller than the Flea-Fli, here are the two plans side by side:
Initial impressions are good, very much like the Graupner kits of old, updated to laser cutting of course. That includes their never-use-one -part-where-thirteen-will-do philosophy (Still well remember assembling the tailplane of their Cirrus with over 100 parts!).
Everything is in German, no English whatsoever but that should not be a problem with a well illustrated instruction book:
So now to put it away to get on with some existing projects. I expect I will get around to the assembly sometime over next winter.
Details of the buying process are in this thread.