Chris Walby

Better stop flying the Butcher Bird and finish that, then get ready for the Tempest! I should at least be able to get the invasion stripes scale! Well done Richard and the team...talking of the team... has the green one got another ASBO or is he on another "special mission" again?

When I requested both in the same frame I wasn't quite expecting Red Arrows close 😉 No wonder one of my decals started to peel off.

Just a bit more glue/reinforcement, a bit more paint and round the cowl, then bring on round 2 🙂,

My Wacky Racer is now in as many parts as competitors, but some hot glue and it will be ready for round 2 🙂 A great days flying with top notch chef and flyers so big thanks to all who organised and ran the event, cheers

From the top. It does not matter what the cell count is with regards to the charging rate e.g. 6S2000 (IMO should be charged at 2A, as in 2000 mAh) but a 3S5000 should be charged at 5A. So cell counts for nothing, but what your charger needs to be set to, although I have some chargers that auto detect cell count so I just set the charge rate. Note A few people (inc Richard) charge their packs at a higher rate than 1C or the rating of the pack e.g. 4S4000 (4000 mAh = 4A for one hour) so 3x 4A = 12A and if you check your manufacturers information it may well say it can be charged at a higher rate than 1C (universal conservative value). The interesting point is how far they discharge their packs as they are still getting plenty of cycles out of them Don't with lipos (speaking from experience! Don't discharge lower than 30% capacity Don't discharge at very high rates >50C, tricky with edf's but just don't keep it WOT for the entire flight! Don't operate lipos that are cold e.g below 15C There is an opinion that if you discharge at 50C then you should be able to charge at a much higher rate than 1C I am intrigued as to why you think its safer to charge at 1A as opposed to 3.3A when you can discharge the packs at 99A and 165A (theoretically)?

Tom, In my experience with edf's weight and wing loading are critical as opposed to a more tolerant approach with propeller aircraft (probably due to the overall lower efficiency of edf's once you add inlet and thrust tubes). My point is that you need to almost build the model around the battery/edf fan size with low drag and minimum wing loading/low drag to get something that flies well (slow and fast). The old adage of just banging in a bigger power source does not work as the wing loading goes up so it has to fly faster and generally the stall becomes more abrupt. take off and landings are faster so it eats its way through UC or becomes marginal if hand launched. Generally a dog!

Same venue as Ron. Wacky Racer maiden, Richard Willis FW190, Grumpy Tiger Cub and another couple of flights of the OV10 (thanks Ian for the photos), 6 minutes and over 50% left on the 2 x 4S4000 packs. A great day out and looking forward to the club day on Sunday

I have a SU47 with twin 70mm edf's and it can kill a lipo in 2 min 15 sec on WOT with a 6S4500, don't ask me how I know 😞 You are simply asking way too much from the lipo, not forgetting the bigger the lipo capacity the greater the overall max current based on the same size C rating e.g. 2700mAh at 50C = 135A 4500mAh at 50C = 225A I have a Habu with single 70mm and 80A ESC and if I fly more that 10 seconds at WOT it will give me a low lipo voltage warning (not go into LVC), but if I hold it at that for 30 seconds it will go into LVC. I will fly at 30% throttle and I only use WOT for loops etc and get 5 minutes without knackering the lipo EDF's give lipos a hard time, but then again the Focke Stick does the same at close to 120A on a 4S4000, but it is very fast (what it was built for)

Still not finished as weathering, panel lines and pilot are left to do, but it will be ok for the club day this Sunday as there should be two other WR FW190 there. Lets hope we can get three up at one time and someone on the video! Still not sure about the motor prop choice, but will wait until the Tempest is built and then fit the same size motor.

In readiness for the clubs open days Wacky Racers competition this weekend (all the usual attempts to pit model against the ground, like limbo, loop the pole etc) I have assembled the Butchy Bird. Wingspan is 680mm, AUM with 3S1350 lipo is 367g and paint has been kept to a minimum to save weight (tight git who's run out of time!) Its been mentioned that at full tilt its rather feisty little model! Personally I have a bit of a "sinking" feeling about this model although the assembly process was neither "draining / boarding" . Just need to see how much power is on "tap". Off to walk the dogs 🤣

Keith, I have had the WooHoo for a couple years and its absolutely fabulous for cost vs fun! Plus have flown it in 20mph gusting 45mph with no issues (unlike wings with tip fins). It should fly slow all the way through to bonkers, so best advice is make sure you have three rates set up from very mild to extreme! Good luck, enjoy and let us know how you get on.

Rather late to the party and no idea if this helps, but my son had an aerobatic model that had flown many times and passed all of its pre flight checks on the day in question. Just after take off it became almost uncontrollable, however he did manage to get it down in one piece. Back at the bench all worked as it should, but with the canopy off I kept prodding around with my finger until just applying a little pressure to an aileron extension lead produced full deflection of the aileron from one extreme to the other. This was quite random and the TX stick input would cause normal operation although overridden if the servo extension plug/socket was flexed. Unplugged and reinserted the servo plug and it never did it again. I can only put it down to a poor signal connection in the servo plug/extension lead.

IMO, go for something that's simple and easy to fix with plenty of spares, probably something like a flying wing (delta). If its blowing the no UC and hand launch is easy. Have a look at what the slope soaring guys use and quite a few are easily converted to powered flight, but are tough as nails. I have a Flite Test Versa with a motor at both ends and the increased wing loading and plenty of power is good up to 30mph gusting 45mph all on a 3S2200. Plus the plans can be downloaded so cut 2 or 3 out at a time! FT Versa Wing - Build | Flite Test Benefits of cheap and tough Low cost Easy to fix Parts available from multiple sources, failing that use a glue gun Because its the above you fly more relaxed and crash less!

Previously Richard posted something to me in a shoe box, my late wife was please that I had spent the money on something else than model aeroplanes until I opened it and there were a pair of retracts! Then again she did scour most of Europe to locate a long term discontinued model from Germany for my birthday IIRC Richard Can't find the cheque book so BAC's made and letter in the post with the shopping list! Thanks

Hi, I concur and my point was that a good design shouts volumes like the WR FW190, P38, OV 10, and Grumpy Tiger Cub, but the things that you are not in control of like our build quality for example can turn beauty into a beast. The PZ Mosquito all be it quite a lot smaller was a super flyer before I sold it on so I think is doable, but I still think the way to go to give us all the best chance is dolly launch as it removes the chance of UC damage and gets rid of a load of weight....then at a later date do a UC upgrade pack if people want it. It wasn't until very near the end of the Ta 154 build that I found out that the Ta154 has 25% less wing area compared with the same size DH98, I have the wood pack for it and one I'll make a lightweight version and give it another go!