Dave Bran

Posted by pete taylor on 18/02/2018 15:08:06: The best way to fly the Vampire is as a hand-launch model... KISS principle Yup, took my u/c out after two flights and filled the holes with spare EPP and spackle, then painted silver. The Mk 1 MUST was to support the tail booms, I melted a small slot with a soldering iron and a metal ruler, then glued in carbon tube, filled with spackle and painted to hide. Don't understand the comment re slowing up, mine glides forever if you want it to and is GREAT on the slope. I trashed mine early spring when the thinsulate fingerless glove on my launch hand got caught in the wing and I torque rolled it to its death cartwheel. It probably COULD have been repaired but I took it apart then and there, just went home and bought another, not yet assembled as other things to do and fly!

"It's not a good idea to fly until the LVC cuts in as if a LIPO is over-discharged irreversible battery damage occurs and the battery looses capacity." While I am not saying that running to LVC is a good idea, in my quite long term experience the widely used statement of damage and loss of capacity as a result of under voltage is NOT a given. As just one example of many such incidents, a 3S LiPo pack was allowed to discharge to near nothing (The 3S pack was at 0.04v total output when tested). As it was 85' above ground in a tree and unrecoverable initially after a Rx failure, it was like that for over a month. Gently revived, this pack is still in regular use on a high discharge fast wing where it continues to provide a full capacity and current. Over a year on, only its marking identifies it from other packs. HK Turnigy budget 1600mAh 3S, not anything special. Before anyone comments, this is ONE example of MANY, I would not bother to comment on a rare event I have in the last year brought back a number of packs for fellow club mates that would not recharge normally due to "low voltage" charger cut out, and yet all are working well ongoing though naturally under careful observation for the first few uses, the point being not ONE was lost to poor capacity or other ills from their extreme discharge. This is true for every one tried, not one failed to recover or failed to continue to serve. NOTE: I have TWICE now had the situation where a battery has departed a plane in flight, and the ESC in one case and the UBEC in the other provided power to operate servos enough to get the plane in a less damaging orientation. The last time was last summer when a much younger flying buddy gave my Dreamflight Libelle a discus launch and clipped the ground with a wing tip on the last violent spin, shocking off the canopy and defeating the battery velcro and velcro strap as it left his hand. We both saw the battery spin away from the glider, as it rocketed up steeply, but I still had control for several seconds, enough to put it into a shallow spiral and landing on the patch from which it emerged with only minor nose creasing. The time before was a powered glider which lost its battery while inverted at the top of a loop away from the patch (the velcro glue failed and the 1000mAh 3S removed the magnetic canopy). I had enough time to half roll it (two servos), turn and level it and bring it back to rough land it on the edge of the patch, an extended control time of maybe four seconds. For the radio make snipers, one was Futaba FASST, the other FrSky. So, even with an unexpected sudden TOTAL loss of supply, a decent set up should continue to give some control briefly. (though you have to know its happening to take advantage!!) With regard the loss of control when a battery goes LVC, obviously as others state it should not, as the BEC should be capable of still supplying the receiver, etc.

Don't think bush carpentry is a good idea. There are specialised welding services around that have the ability and tools/materials to effect a proper repair. I have used Blakers Specialised Welders (in West Sussex) many times and they have done unbelievably good work on in some cases 90 year old aluminium castings. No connection.

Comparing Trig distance with yourself Find a stick the length of your arm. Hold your arm out straight with the stick pointing straight up (90-degree angle to your outstretched arm). Walk backwards until you see the tip of the stick line up with the top of the tree. Your feet are now at approximately the same distance from the tree as it is high (provided the tree is significantly taller than you are, and the ground is relatively level).

Comparing Shadows Use this method if you only have a tape measure or ruler. ... Measure your height. ... Stand on sunny, flat ground near the tree. ... Measure the length of your shadow. ... Measure the length of the tree's shadow. ... Add 1/2 the tree's width to the length of the tree's shadow.

Posted by Steve J on 11/02/2018 09:40:58: What have you done about it? Did you comment on the EASA prototype or NPA? Did you respond to the DfT consultation? Have you written to your MP? Steve YES to all. (My MP is ex-RAF and when I first contacted way back now I gained a rapid reply that said quite bluntly that the proposed legislation was unwarranted, poorly devised and impractical to police)

Posted by cymaz on 11/02/2018 09:29:45: Is there a rule of thumb/ back of envelope guesstimate on how you determine 120m/400ft. .? I don’t have any telemetry or the Rx / Tx to ever use one. Strap a ballon ( inflated of course) to length of string? How do you ensure you do not transgress now? There are many ways to easily estimate to reasonable accuracy (say) the height of a tree or structure nearby, then visually step this up. My most used power site has a mature oak that is 85 feet tall at boundary. We round this to 100 to ensure we are inside the law (400ft/120 metres at that site anyway) so the limit is "three more oaks!!" Personally on anything that I do fly above say double tree height I use telemetry and a variometer (FrSky).

David Mellor - I operate from a slope site where the height limit rule applied is 50 feet above top of hill. Doesn't matter where you stand on the site as the hill top is not mobile (luckily) and many pilots walk down the slope some way from the near top car park in order to gain more "above their position" height allowance for return security. I do however see your point!

With regard Slopes, there are across the country quite a large number of Soaring Associations, and some are BMFA affiliated. As an example, the Ivinghoe Soaring Association (Ivinghoe Beacon) is affiliated and states it has over 140 members, so its actually bigger than many flat field FW clubs even discounting the non-members that fly there (currently quite legally)! There are MANY soaring group Associations, OTOH examples being Meon Valley Soaring Association, North Downs Soaring Association, Leek and Moorland Soaring Association, etc, etc, etc. There are also Clubs which express an interest in Slopes, while not actually claiming (as they can't) any exclusivity of or control over operation. An example is SRFC and Mill Hill, Shoreham, a Sussex Rural District Council site. It's a far more interlinked network than might be imagined, and IMO its is the responsibility of the BMFA to gather up these possibly disparate groups into a whole under their purview. There are also SO many other fringe operations, for example affiliated INDOOR FLYING clubs that also sometimes operate outdoors as well at their indoor location, for example a Sports Hall on school playing fields or company sports ground. Some of these are BMFA affiliated, too!

All you people ceasing 4.8v packs can help the kids and donate them to my school club where they will be used with RC cars, boats, etc. Oh, and BTW, historically a lot of Helicopter tail servos were voltage limited.

It is accessible, but of course you'd be Euro set rule breaking, so would not do it, would not even think about it, never, no way, absolutely not, we all know this.

Instead of lengthy discussions on the best way of bodging the problem up at the customer end, why don't we put pressure on the manufacturers to reduce the number of options! Queue endless discussions on which ones are the best ones to keep...........................................

I have a Convergence, as does a friend. Nothing much to offer, other than on mine at least its vital to ensure you have bled off nearly ALL of its speed in forward flight before transition back to hover, you cannot use the transition to slow the plane as it rises very nose high and sticks like it! The only way out then is to switch out and in again which releases it from that rigid control oddity. That is the only abnormal feature, the rest of the flight envelope is good. On my restricted flying field there is no way to fly "plane" in stability even if you'd want to as it handles like a super tanker and needs a complete county to turn around. I use Stability for only the initial lift off and the final settling to ground, if at all. I have sometimes flown it pretty much solely in acro multi mode, as I have tweaked the controls to achieve a reasonably decent forward speed, and fellow club members like to see it flip. Friend has only flown it stability multi so far and he's hit the LVC issue. I run an extremely loud "screamer" alarm on all my quads from the balance port, and the Convergence is no different. This is set to give early warning and prevents any possible LVC.

Posted by Percy Verance on 24/01/2018 19:40:36: ......... Like the Mercedes ad points out, quality doesn't cost you, it pays you. How would THEY know..........................

Friend has recently bought the BMW Mini with electric tailgate This has FWD from the engine and RWD from the motor, and can run either or both as 4WD. Although it has "estate car" shape, rear interior space is seriously limited height wise by the batteries and motor, and it has run flat tyres as no spare. I know its "only" decoration, and BMW Minis tend to have ostentatious ugly line spoiling side repeater mouldings anyway, but this one takes the biscuit, with huge and very nasty cheap looking chrome electric socket cover, repeated as a dummy on the offside. (It's dark blue which does not help disguise it) He claims he left home on Monday with less than half charge, and in the 4 mile urban journey it all but recovered full charge, running on engine. Wonder what its fuel consumption was and what pollution it caused while suffering the charging load?? (Can't all have been regenerative charge, can it??)

While its dangerously near off topic, our "new" school is wood pellet fuelled which "saves energy", Yea, right, what about the cost of making the pellets AND the frequent diesel lorry journies required to fuel the schools bunkers? And the cost of making those purpose made lorries, etc, etc, etc........

You mean are we burning enough energy to make and fuel power stations and the extra infrastructure to be able to charge the cars that will save a little energy while running??

Club 1 BACS, Email when done. Only notify on changes. Easy no hassle, Treasurer loves simplicity. Club 2 BACS, Email when done.Only notify on Changes. Easy no hassle, Treasurer loves simplicity. Club 3 Payment expected by Cheque, anything else frowned on, have to fill out large form reconfirming all details EVERY time even if no changes. Have to provide hard copy of BMFA (which in itself is a concession as formerly you had to send original for it to be returned!) Form payment boxes do not allow for cost reduction of already having BMFA. Unable to cope with people who have more than one active EMail address. All membership comms have to be Snail Mail.

Subscribed................Want One.............................

Posted by trebor on 18/01/2018 18:41:17: I have a Taranis x9d+ but looking at the firmware downloads there is 4 versions to chose from, on the tool downloads there is also 4 versions to chose from, could someone tell me which ones I need or do I need all versions ? As with all FrSky (and other makes) firmware alterable receivers, the firmware they are running must pair (match) with the firmware version used in the Transmitter. You have a Taranis, but what RF section firmware is it running? Turn on, long press on Menu, then page to "Version" screen. It could for example be on wordwide (also from history called FAA) or it could be on Euro or on Euro LBT (The current standard for UK). This apart from versions of each as each is updated to add features or eliminate bugs found in use. Yes, you want in principle the latest, but it has to be able to pair with the Tx. If you don't want to update your Transmitter (and possibkly/probably any other receivers in use), check what version of firmware is being used in it, then match any Rx firmware to it. It is not FrSky's fault they now have to provide differing versions for Europe than elsewhere. Legally, if you have pre-Euro in your Transmitter from before the Euro legislation dates you do not HAVE to change to Euro. Who would know or care is a differing matter!

Further, Gens-Ace of the age of yours have a history of high impedance/internal resistance failure, they look OK, they appear to charge OK, but try getting current out of them for more than seconds! I have some Loong-Max Tipple still in use, but they are old now and in your case, four years unused is unlikely to have helped them. Get them on another known working charger, there must be someone nearby who can help.

Firstly, I'm a little surprised that chipset is being used in a charger that has auto battery type sensing, they do not normally include that option. Also usually that chipset not only is manual battery type choice, but also manual battery choice between LiPo balance and non-balance charge. Suggests to me the maker was pushing the thing harder than most case packagers. Secondly, there is easily found info from enough users on the Internet which suggests this charger has a habit of failing to "Current Error". (And with some dating back ages with no solution found) For the price of a charger of that similar amount of features, I'd bin it before it bit me.

Now if you want REAL distinction twixt up and down...............................   Edited By Dave Bran on 18/01/2018 05:44:43

Your call, your plane, but presuming you posted for comment, it's not one I would have chosen if I needed orientation beyond the damn great fins as top and bottom are fairly close and at scale sizes the black and white "animal camo" will just look grey, not distinct enough. There are a LOT of schemes other than "winter washout" to choose from if you need the help. Having said that, I have a '29, only a foamie, in std winter soviet scheme, and its not really any problem even at boundary range. Just don't think that the B&W "tiger" will help as I'm sure it won't.

Posted by Peter Miller on 10/01/2018 11:00:41: Quite frankly I should put your Part Kit aside and invest in a good kit with good instructions. THis will be more expensive but will guide you through the construction step by step and give you a good basis for your next model +1