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Atkinson in reality pointed to the present issues with electric cars, and to some degree the problems with an electric economy based on renewables as presently installed. The failure/reduced capacity of batteries is now recorded as higher than predicted, some cars/manufacturers are worst than others. It was noted in a recent newspaper that the available energy available on a cold morning was so low that the company operating the vans was reverting to diesel, as what was available did not permit usage as needed. Another issue that has surfaced, is the higher insurance cost than conventional IC vehicles. Apparently a combination of a few things. Higher cost in repairs to both damaged and general running cost and a suggestion that they have been involved in more accidents ( I do not see why). Another issue raising it head is the OBR stating that EV will have to pay both Road Fund Licence, and pay more energy cost to replace losses from Fuel Duty. A dispute is also started with regard Vat, fuel duty has Vat, at a rate that is greater than for home use. I expect with time, money and development that these issues will be or can be resolved. Perhaps the biggest Elephant that was in the room, is the need to double the number of interconnector (pylons and buried cables to most people ) and sub stations breakers etc. The cost of this infrastructure is high in itself, being part of the standing charges we all pay, and probably becoming a greater part of our bills. As an aside SF6 breakers do more damage to the environment, if released than air breakers (really noisy) or Oil Breakers. Another fudge raising it head is the reservoir scheme being constructed in Scotland. Trysfyndd station in Wales does the same, in that case to allow a base load Nuclear station to keep operating at rated capacity (at night) in periods of low demand. Again it costs, some one will pay the bill. The use of smoke and mirrors just continues, encouraging some to make claims that are not true in the way they are presented. I am sure that the use of oil will diminish, for numerous reasons (climate change is one), though I suspect that the time to transition will be much longer and will come with pain to some, the shorter the time the greater the pain.

I stayed at home, waking up to sleet, now wet snow. No helicopters seem to flying here, same for light aircraft, as to BAE, defiantly no roar from there. Gulls continue to fly though, soaring along the various roofs. I am pretty sure it is mostly the same one, I see every day, doing the same thing, a little roll as it travels, then just a smooth glide, no flapping as such, the occasional partial wing movement, then back to smooth glide. It seems that it just another day, as far as it is concerned. Still a strong wind, the first time, for years, I used my wife's car to get the newspaper, it was the addition of the sleet that did it.

An in passing comment, although the X3 never came anywhere near its intended performance, this is a consequence of the intended engines being cancelled. No similiar engines (that is thrust) was available at the time. The solution was the use of engines of substantially lower thrust. The X3 was not unique, many aircraft have been cancelled or underperformed due to engines that were intended, either being cancelled, or never coming close to performance that was promised sometimes so unreliable that the reputation of the airframe was destroyed.

I was specifically thinking of Ferrari drivers only. Like many of my generation I was heart broken when Sterling came so close to becoming World Champion, missing out to a Ferrari (driven by that dratted English Man, Mike Hawthorn). I seem to think Stirling was driving a Maserati. I believe I saw Stirling Moss at Aintree when he was driving for Mercedes. At that time my favourite cars were the Mercedes, especially the 300 SLR, with its airbrake (Miglia Mille), then the Gull door 300SL, which there was one at the local Mercedes dealership (when Mercedes were as rare as Hens Teeth. As for John Surtees, what can be said? There were other hero's, Geoff Duke, Von Trips, Peter Craven, and many more along the years, to many paying a heavy price

I am surprised that there are no comments with regard Lewis. IMO he expects that there will be teething issues with this years Mercedes. I am guessing that he thinks that before it is sorted another World Championship, will not happen 2024-25. Does it also suggest that he is not convinced that Mercedes will be there the following year? Ferrari are the glamour team, is he good enough to join the Kimi, Schumacher and Surtees camp of champions. Or could he find himself with Eddy Irvine or Massa, so near, finger nails almost grasping the prize. Either way, the PR, the sponsorship, and the immortality of being a Ferrari driver is gold in itself. Mercedes now need another Neubauer, and perhaps a Silver Car again? Always thought that Ross Braun was never given the plaudits that he deserved, setting up what was to come for Mercedes, with very limited funds.

Six or so years ago when I moved here, I was at a loss how windy it would be at the field by looking at the movement of trees and bush and bushes in our garden. It was difficult to interpret, as the merest movement of a bush often meant it was blowing about 10 mph at the field. I woke up this morning to the steady drone of the wind as it blew threw all the nearby trees and over the roofs. I now recognise this as a gale. I rolled over and had another hours rest in bed. This assessment was spot on, as riding my bike to the newsagent, required me to select the small front ring, the biggest cog on the back cassette, as I inched my way against the wind. I then thought of all you lucky soft southerners, who at present have zephyrs and get national coverage when the wind gets above 10 mph, threatening total destruction of the known world, south of the Watford Gap. PS, the world starts north of the Knutsford service station, some say Charnock Richards.

Here the wind continues to blow @ 17 mph.

The thingverse "starter battery holder" has slightly different holes centres to my starter. In reality it does not really matter, some how it is nice to know how it has been branded. and who sold the items, as what ever the name. With respect to the Prolux hand pump, how are users mounting it?

Nigel, wooer, that seems to be the dogs dodahs, I will be onto it tomorrow. Looks like the same starter unit. Just need something for the pump, now

Phil, "Castle" rings a bell with me. Many years ago one of the incidents that occurred on a North Sea Platform, was reported that a (structural) member was under size, that failed, with significant consequences. Apparently a (young) engineer believed the output from a computerised system. From memory no information was provided of how or why the situation came about. What was emphasised that there was no estimate as to the "ball park" value that was expected. I have used CAD system for drawing up building extensions for one of my daughters and myself. On domestic monitors the feeling for scale is less than on a drawing board. Still when designing large structures, getting a feeling for full scale, requires work and imagination, however it is done. One the drawing instruments I still frequently use are proportional dividers (mainly used for scaling up). Although I am no slave to the absolute scale some seek, i will live with it looks about correct.

He did well to keep a drone in sight using binoculars. I find it difficult to keep static birds in view in my garden, about 20 m long. If located outside my garden, say in a tree, again I often never locate the bird. Obviously very talented. I sometimes wonder how low some of the aircraft (mostly helicopters) are, that seem lower than 400 foot passing over our local area. It is a pity the police do not encourage the flight controllers at the nearby airfield to encourage higher than some seem to fly.

Your answers have given me thoughts how the implementation of hand pump and Lipos has been achieved. I wondered with respect to a hand pump have they been attached to the neck of the fuel bottle, or maybe a simple frame holding the pump, that the fuel container is held in something like a framework. In the case of the starter Lipo, are they commonly held in a container, perhaps wood or metal, perhaps with the starter mounted on the lid?

Lets call them Log Tables, if most want it that way. My stuff was all in a booklet which I have not seen for what seems like years, at least 20, when I retired. Like you Geoff most education was initially part time. Apparently it was the same with Dave Burton (Biggles elder Brother).

I have acquired an IC model. This has posed a number of issue. The first is, what voltage is this starter, 6 0r 12 Volts. Could I use a Lipo to power it, for a limited number of starts per flying session. I have not a clue as to the brand, as it seems unmarked. The second is I will need a glow plug starter, I was thinking of one of the plug on glow type? The third is a electric fuel pump seems overly complex, in needing a power supply and a switch to reverse direction. I was thinking perhaps a mechanical pump, which I could fasten to the neck of the Glow fuel container. I want to keep things simple, minimum amount of junk that IC flyers seem to see as normal. As I have no intention of going mainstream IC, much preferring to stay electric, although I have time issues with electric, just about 6 minimum , seems a tad short.

I rarely help any of my Grandchildren with their homework, other than a few days ago when discussing the Coefficient of restitution and newtons second law, as I know nothing (only rudimentary education BSc (Hons), whereas Taylor Swift is both really clever, contributing to society and so on (well she has made far more money than I could ever aspire to). She was obviously desperate to even ask me. This lead to a discussion from me on Log Books and how thinks have changed in everyday mathematics. She had never heard of Log tables, sine tables etc. and was completely baffled what a Slide Rule was and why you would want either. Explaining that adding big numbers or undertaking trig and many sinusoidal measurements, you really needed them, in the Stone Age (that was the era when I was young she believes). That calculators did not exist, other than primitive mechanical devices, of limited use, and convenience. That some early electronic calculators used something called "Reverse Polish Notation" and basic models cost a weeks wage. Which later had me thinking how many other people still hoard their Log Books and Slide Rules? I even have set squares and compasses, do others? Or are even modellers more at home in front of a VDU, with a key Board.

Geoff, I do not have a Robart Incidence meter. I would rarely make use of such a device, that for me it is an extravagance. I certainly concede that it is far more convenient. At a cost, both financial and storage. I guess it does everything my temporary, ad-hoc arrangement does, quicker. Is it more accurate, probably not, but potentially yes. Everything depends in my case on my fastidiousness. IMO for model aircraft, I am not striving for minutes and seconds of arc, in measurement accuracy. Plus I do not and cannot achieve very high levels of build accuracy, because of my lack of abilities and that both wood and polymers are not known for the dimensional stabilities.

Here is a picture of the set up I am using to measure the AoA. I just use a couple of spirt levels a few pieces of spars, some cards to establish the 0-0 level of the wing. I set the tail plane level, then set the wing spars to 0-0. Pack up the wing spirit level to level. Measure the packer. The rest is just trig (sine = O/H), (Tan= O/A the difference is significant at model level). On some other set ups I jst use the long spars packings, a steel rule, and trig ( again using measurements to form triangels0 although 0-0 is often what I am seeking (remembering on sections such a E205, Clark Y, and Selig) are lifting at ) 0-0, by quite a few degrees. Just a comment on the Wot 4E being a step up from anything, puzzles me. The Wot 4 is the easiest model I have ever flown, The thick wing with a well rounded LE makes for a stall resistant model. Another thought, back in the day many stunters used NACA0018 type sections as the drag worked well in the down leg in square loops, wing overs, the well rounded LE helped in the snap movements from transition from horizontal to vertical travel without a stall.

I keep living in hope, our grass has not been cut in months, it cannot be a the field is absolutely sodden. Then there is the perennial issue, that it is always that bit winder here by the coast.

Simon, this is as far as I got, before chickening out, that is get some experience before going for the X3. My model is a +60 year old model built prior to leaving school. The books are my references. As to being absolute scale no way, the drawings are tiny, who knows how accurate the drawing are anyway. I stopped at the rear duct, which I was making a round to oblong, to correspond roughly with the two scale out lets. It may interest you in that I have seen the D558? at Pensacola, and a sky rocket somewhere in Nevada (Reno?) they are both tiny, the pilots must have been small. Another model I have in the past considered is the Leduc at Paris (Le Bourget?), again the pilot must have ben very very small, who did not mind dying.

I have beeb considering the option you have put forward, I decided on this current course of action, because I have not been to our field for some + months, the weather here has been so bad. My own method is a home made type of measurement process, using spirit levels, bits of wood an card. I will post a picture of my ad-hoc set up, not suitable for field use.

A bit of light relieve, not related directly to the thread. At present I am playing "Halo 4", there is a sequence where you are required to fly down a tunnel/valley (the Sci-Fi type). The tunnel obviously, as a game, has slots to get through, obstructions within the tunnel, air locks that are closing and something's that fall into the tunnel. For us modellers quite easy, except that our down is up, and up is down it is when something suddenly gets in the way requiring a pitch correction, then I instinctively put in the opposite to what was required. I tried altering the controller button option, but did not seem to work when in the game. Now back to my calculator which I do not think I have/had touched in some +20 years ( for sine calc).

That is useful to know. I now suspect that I did not straighten the fuz out. I now have something to see how it can be done, conveniently, or the easiest. I will initially look at 2 degrees, whilst also considering 1 degree. I guess the reason being is that for a trainer type, you want the fuz pretty much level, when trimmed to fly at a reasonable speed, with little elevator trim, requiring some up. At the same time inverted flight requiring little down elevator to keep the nose up. The thick symmetrical section with a really well rounded LE provides the good characteristics at the stall, and when changing the pitch quickly.

It did survive the first attempt. It stalled out in climbing out. Philip I have also set a previous model at 2 degrees, from memory. A pushy cat built with a non standard wing using Naca 0009. Given that on the 0-0 line symmetrical sections generate no lift, where as the so called flat bottom sections are generating lift with a 0-0, AoA, at often -5 degrees, I now wonder, if that is the reason that the Wot 4 takes of so quickly, climbing out steeply. Hence the question, hmm, what is the standard Wot 4 AoA.

There is a reason, in that my wot 4 suffered massive damage to the body when it crashed, essentially doing I believe is called a half Cuban roll. Then in the vertical part of the loop, it kept on going absolutely vertically down, no amount of bending the tx stick altered the trajectory. The result was a body beyond repair. I decided to rebuild a body out of ply. I carefully drew around the remains (after gluing together), then designed (although that is pushing the concept) the internals. With new metal geared servos. Anyway the first flight did not go well with the best club flyer doing the honours (not me). Since then I have been carefully checking everything I can think of. My last check has been the wing/tail plane incidence which is at 5 degrees (just slightly less), where the stall AoA is 15 degrees for Naca 0018 (0010 & 0012) I believe. It would be good to know what the relationship is with a unsullied model, in case I did not do the reassebly of the bent fuz well. the first picture is with new body.

Does anyone have access to Naca 0018 cd/AOA plot looks like. I am particularly interested in the stall AoA (the approx., ignoring scale effect). Also the max lift drag AoA. I have an idea what it might be, although I seem to make more mistakes these days. Plus the guy I used to discuss these things with, before I did anything, is no longer with me.