Dave S.

I think I helped someone learn to fly years ago with an Arising Star - good trainer.

I've seen some of the factory videos - in fact sent one to my daughter just this morning. She said it looked very Vietnamese. Looking forward to the Chippy, years ago I made a start on the RM plans Chipmunk but life got in the way after building the tail surfaces, a few years later I built the wing for the Apache aviation version, but things got broken in a house move - so this will be my third attempt at a 1/5 Chipmunk and hopefully this one will make it into the air. I will probably use a petrol engine in this one, I had a DHC Beaver with an MVVS petrol some years ago and it was a joy to operate, easy starting and very reliable.

Yesterday, I ordered a Seagull Models Chipmunk from Al's - and today I received a picture and video from my daughter of the outside of the Seagull factory in Ho Chi Minh city, where she currently lives and works (the city, not the factory). They could have been shown around but the boss wasn't there, so it didn't happen, unfortunately. Good timing as she has lived in Vietnam for the last three years, and happened to be driving past Seagull for the first time yesterday. Edited By Dave S. on 17/01/2021 11:10:48

As above, it's a square fuselage until you rotate it 45 degrees and add the tail & wing mount. I built one of these 50 years ago and still have the carved single blade prop somewhere upstairs. Flew well until I overdid the winding and the motor burst, taking the fuselage with it.

I've built at least a dozen Acrowots from the kit since they first came out, and have tried many engines in them - an OS or ASP 70 four stroke is the best all round engine for the model in my opinion - my first one had an old OS 90 (rear pushrod - but the engine wasn't old back then!) and was just crazy. I have an electric powered ARF Acrowot upstairs, haven't flown it yet and may convert it to glow. I reckon that a Saito 82 would work well.

As I was just reading the thread about scalpel blades, I was wondering what the best blade for cutting off one's nose to spite your face would be? Not sure the ubiquitous 10A would cope with the gristle….

Mine arrived in today's post as well, have flipped through it but not had a chance to read it properly yet. Good to still get the magazine in these difficult times, give hope of a return to normality eventually.

My subscription copy just arrived, so they are out there in the wild! Plan looks good - another for the huge backlog of projects!

I only recently acquired an FrSky open tx system, and set it up in an electric Wot 4. I was advised to download an update for the (Archer) Rx, which I di but then lost all telemetry. Asking around, I was told that there was a known fault in the update in that the sensor input was changed from S port to F port, even though it still showed as S port on the Tx. I changed it to F port and the back to S port since when it has worked perfectly (though only on the ground, circumstance and weather have kept me away from the flying field recently).

The club I flew with in Finland for some years had a take-off mat which was a used nylon belt from a paper machine. Quite a decent size and free if you knew who to ask. It was useful when the field was wet, I used it for regular .40 size models such as Wot 4 and Sig 4 Star 40. Made taking off a lot easier but it was a small target when landing.

Sounds like my primary school playground in the early 60s. You 'had' to choose whether you were a mod or a rocker. I don't think any of us knew what they were, but it was mods on one side of the playground and rockers on the other, fights in the middle.

That's true! I'll only be able to think about building and flying it as well, though. I do feel sorry for Colin Buckle, I have been in and out of hospital a few times over the last few years and understand the difficulties involved. I hope he is making a satisfactory recovery. Edited By Dave S. on 24/12/2020 16:05:58

Thanks for the update - I only found out that my wife is still waiting in the last half hour.

My wife ordered and paid for a BB kit in October, initially as a birthday present for me and now re-scheduled as a Christmas present, but nothing has arrived yet. They took payment for the kit plus postage and packing. They are based about half an hour away from us, we could easily collect of only we could make contact - but emails and phone calls remain unanswered. There is nothing on the BB website to explain the delay.

I was once taken for a flight in a Finnish Army helicopter (MD 500) and the pre-flight conversation between the pilot and the ground crew included him asking how many 'lubs' of fuel had been put in the tank. I explained that the abbreviation 'lbs' on the fuel gauge was short for pounds but I don't think they believed me!

Just to add to the pleas to every man to get regular PSA tests - I had one as part of a general check-up about six years ago, and was told I had a high PSA level (I didn't even know what it meant!), had a second blood test, trip to hospital for a biopsy, all the while thinking it was a waste of time as I had no symptoms whatsoever - but it turned out I did have prostate cancer and a few weeks later I had a prostatectomy. Not a great way to spend a day, and the two weeks after that weren't too much fun either, but five years later I am still cancer free, and still making and flying models.

I managed to miss buying a copy of July 2020 (I have since subscribed to make sure it doesn't happen again). I have not been able to find a copy available, does anyone know where I could get one, new if possible, otherwise in 'as new' condition and with the free plan(s) included?

No problems with viewing and using eBay - but plenty of problems in buying things I don't really need and can't easily afford!

I also discovered Outerzone a while ago - I have a good collection of plans downloaded to keep me busy for years to come! The fuselage could certainly be quite a bit slimmer and lower, but then the STOL would lose an essential part of its character. Looking back over this thread, I see that I compared the uncovered fuselage to a double decker bus. Cover it in red, add an open platform behind the wing and a set of stairs up to the top deck and you'd have the original airbus!

I've spent the last couple of hours reading through the various STOL threads on here, including the debate about the wingspan. I am fairly certain that I bought my STOL Mk II plan soon after it was published in 1983, and the wingspan on the plan is definitely 55", and it is staled to be that on the plan. I also have a more recent plan (much poorer print quality - I have no memory of where I got it, so it might be a copy of a legit plan), but the dimensions match those of my 1983 plan.

Just measured the span, I have the plan I built the previous one on, and for some reason, a later one as well, but both are the same size, 55" wingspan. Just ordered the strip wood that I need, so this will be another one to add to my list of winter projects. The original wing is quite complex with various bellcranks for the flaps & ailerons, but I think I'll just use 4 small servos. This model will be electric powered (as the last one was destined to be) and I think I have a similar motor to the one in the build thread - if not, they are easily available. I won't be starting this for a few weeks at least, but I am determined to get one in the air before the 50th anniversary of the Mk1's publication!

Thanks, good to be back. I'll run a measure over my plans later - I have to go out soon. I bought some sheet balsa when I first read that it was going to be in short supply, hopefully there's a STOL's worth in there. The fuselage and tail surfaces are mainly strip, fuselage is 3/16 square, I think the tail and fin, etc. are 1/8x1/4, but that's from memory and it's been a while since I last looked at the plan. I have a couple (at least!) of projects on the go at the moment, and a few kits I have recently stockpiled, but as I have wanted to build a STOL since the Mk 1 was published in 1972, I'd better get my act together fairly soon! It's a shame about the one in my last build thread, it was coming together very nicely, almost ready to cover when life fell apart. It happens!

Just stumbled across this thread nine years after I last posted - as my last post here said, I had some major life upheavals, which lead to this project (and modelling in general) being abandoned for some time. The complete, but uncovered, STOL was put in on of my outbuildings, where the bare structure didn't fare too well - I sold/gave all of my models and spare wood/covering, etc. to club mates in 2012 and left Finland shorty after. I am now living in Oxfordshire, and have picked up the balsa knife again - and the reason I found this thread is that I am thinking of starting another STOL as I still have the plans (and the copies of RCM&E it featured in. Quite strange and sad to see these pictures again, so much has changed since they were taken, but at last my enthusiasm for building and flying has returned.

The Sig Liberty Sport was a chunky old thing - I had one with a .61 two stroke in it (probably a Merco, but can't remember for sure) and it just abut staggered into the air - it looked great but was not a comfortable model to fly, on the edge of a stall nearly all the time. The four Star kit is still around and is a nice light model - mine was powered with several different engines, including electric, but the weight of 16 NiMH was a bit of a drawback! I'm just finishing off an ARTF 4 Star, same size as my old kit built, electric again but with modern batteries. The 4 Star is a model you have to fly around manoeuvres, not a point it up and open the throttle model - at least not on the Saito 62 - but very satisfying to fly. I only got rid of mine after years of faithful service because I was moving back to the UK (from Finland). The Super Sportster 40 is another good choice - I built one from the kit about 30 years ago, flew very well on a .48 Surpass, good to see the plan link above as I do fancy another.