Chris Walby

...still not working 🙃

Surly its timed correctly or not? Either its timed as per the manufacturers recommendation and settings (correctly) or its wrong. Wrong can be any number of permutations apart from one... and that when its correct. Simples Now for other applications like race engines there are many settings depending on what you want to achieve, but that's off topic so off to the shed for me!

Nice one John, Always amazed at the engine reliability and that the prop stays on! I show this one to the Air Scouts for a couple of reasons, watching the rudder and elevator movements, external observations when flying, relaxed wave (17:52) to the camera. The pilot of the motor glider looks skyward as he keeps telling the Scouts a gentle grip of the stick is all that's needed....not two handed corner punching!

This is one of my all time favorites, what's not to like about a twin being given a good a work out.....could be topped by a pair of Merlins Unless of course you know better? 😉

Off topic, but worth it! Electric if there is a prop available the right size then I use one of each. Especially useful with the WooHoo as I want it to diner plate (flat or vertical spin), but it is a plank. As said before if you use the rudder and be gentle with the throttle it should not swing too much especially if you are ready for it. All my ic twins rotate in the same direction and again engine/rudder management seems to work just fine. Only time I slammed to WOT one quit and I aborted the take off (just to prove Jon right!). The important question should be which one rotates in which direction and on which wing? 😉 Mossie, Hornet, P38...all different PS The WooHoo is set up like the P38, just the WooHoo will recover from a spin!

Tony, Just my opinion as I started less than 10 years ago and also now instruct + received instruction for my B cert so hopefully can give a balance view. If you are learning from new you will need quite a few hours instruction + hours practice, to pay for it is both expensive and locks you into trainer/your availability. Even if you get a flight sim you may need a good few sessions before you come off the buddy box. I would say that 4 to 6 flights per day is about the max (little and often is better) or its just a case of diminishing returns or at worse you damage your model. This is why cub atmospheres are so much better as you get a chance to ask other modelling questions and have a rest between flights. If your normal instructor is not available then another might be and sometimes a change is good as a rest! I completed my B training via an instructor which was my preference in part due to lack of willingness of instructors (fly on set days/nice weather) along with everyone else on a club/nice day. But the big difference is 3 hours with an instructor at a dedicated flying field then allows unlimited practice back at the club field to polish things up. The instructor even organized the two examiners for test day. Even with a break between flights and de-brief 3 hours and 5/6 flights was more than enough and that had a couple of instructor demonstration flights to really set the model up to its best. I used to pick non club times for instruction as it allows greater flexibility with weather opportunities and not competing for airspace with lots of other people (that can come later on normal club days).

But where do the cheat holes go with a fuz that shape? Although I agree it will need something due to the length of the drain pipe 😉

Good flying weather from 10:00 to when I left in the afternoon after loads for flying. Found the reason why the Versa kept meeting the ground...previously changed RX and ESC. After sitting it on the bench and trying to wear the gimbals out on my TX and after about a full minute....one aileron/elevator servo paused for a couple of seconds. Only spotted it as I can see both going up and down together until one pauses. Got it to do its a couple of times again after that although it still took a lot of stick wiggling. Rest of the flying was uneventful for me.

Simon, The Germans did a lot of experimenting and I am continually surprised how well my Do335 Versa with tractor+pusher motors flies (foamboard delta and gusting +30mph today). I would look to employ some cheat holes (tricky with the smooth shape), but perhaps there is room in the underside of the fuz or those thick wings? How about very lightly sprung covers that open once the fan is running /forward travel is achieved? What are you thinking regarding construction material?

New year, right side of the solace and even the sun came out for a bit after dog walking in the dark...High speed ground hugging LED collars on the Collies full random direction mode and boy can they cover some ground! Two flights with the Versa and one with the Woohoo as a starter for this year as a good start. Forecast for tomorrow looks quite promising so might try something with wheels.

Have you tried the GNB lipos from HobbyRC, work well in my EDF and high performance models? Capacity for case size is better than my HK/others and they come out a bit lighter. Totally unrealistic C ratings, but then aren't they all.

Hi, Not sure in your case but I could not transfer files from my DX8 gen 1 to a DX8 gen 2, however I am sure someone mentioned that on the web someone has written a converter program that does the biz. I'll see if I can find it, but failing that might be worth having a look yourself. I thought it was something to do with the number of configurable functions which is different.

You are not being forced to use Spektrum, so you are fee to go and do what you want. What Spektrum are doing is removing some of the possibility getting its wrong and causing injury or fire (plugging bullet connectors together). They no doubt would like to be dominant and dictate to the global market of RC, but with other platforms and open systems available that is very unlikely. Spektrum have tried collaborating with model manufactures, but even then you can still buy the model without the Spektrum RX so it stands to reason that even they know sales of non RX models must be significant or they would not do it. I would like to see someone plug an XT 60 incorrectly together, but as a friend said once "nothing is fool proof to the most ingenious idiot" To this day I can't understand why TX/RX manufacturers don't all do some form of model match.....the number of times I see people power up an electric model and then announce they have the wrong model selected in the TX...Fortunately the clubs I belong to carry out pre maiden checks with covers throttle cut/loss of signal, but then don't get me on the unrestrained electric model debate. 4Max has good advice for their products and should I need detailed technical information then I would give George a call and place an order, if its just a lipo for general use then GNB will do the job. If I wanted hassle free then a Spektrum battery is available. Try asking Spektrum? If its SMART then perhaps the discharge is managed based on pack temperature and some other factors? If you are relying on product to "manage" then just be happy its knows what its doing. Take advantage of the faster charging if it suits you or adjust to your preferences or that of "general" advice (anything that is not pressed to its limit will last longer) Nothing to add that already has been said If you have a fire "resistant" bag then it would be good practice and probably convenient to store the batteries in the bag/bags. Always so much fun getting to the flying field and remembering where you left the wing tube, batteries/battery adaptor etc...

There is a lot of good advice, however technology and materials move on and sometimes the "we always do it that way" is not necessarily relevant with modern technology. Perhaps Spektrum know know a bit about battery technology and think their advice is relevant to their product, just saying.

There was a good nip in the air this morning, but what better way post Christmas to squeeze a few hours in with a nice pair of twins 😉. The GTC was again loads of fun with big aerobatics while the WooHoo is just a blast. We had a field invasion by some errant sheep and while we were dinking tea in the clubhouse they made their way up to the pits. Could have used a couple of sheep dogs but due to new club rules a club member had to go a do the job! Didn't work as they would not leave the field, but did stand at the end of the field for more flying.

Simple, you just use a very very sharp knife and hack away at the packaging, 🤣

Hi, Been following as its a very interesting build and development thread. Well done Are you saying you have moved the battery forward, removed 10g of nose ballast, added a longer nose and its still 1 g heavier than the previous AUW? I might be missing something but I would have thought the AUW would have gone down unless the repairs makes up the additional weight? Never ceases to amaze me the level of control and accuracy birds of prey have in all weather conditions. It would be really informative if the subject was studied in depth as to quite what they are doing with wing/tail aerodynamics in sustained flight with what appears to be effortless control.

Jon, Please accept my condolences on your sad news and loss.

A few years back I used a couple of near brand new lipos that were probably around +5C in a electric model. All checks complete and took off to be greeted with LVC on the ESC and limp back to the runway. The low temp and high current draw on take off didn't allow the lipo to warm up so basically knackered a £45 lipo. Warmed the other lipo up and used it for about 4 years of good service IIRC I store lipos at +15C and warm them if they are going to be used circa +20C (winter closer to 35C if the heater is on) and haven' had any issues since.

Not wanting to put a downer on the good work, but are you sure the building board is level along its entire length? And that its going to stay flat for the entire build. Don't ask me how I know double thickness chip board can have a twist in it...

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Sounds like it has more things wrong than right with this model, best I cross it off my wanted list unless I want to change nearly everything. If this is the state of the model industry it will follow the same path as the British car industry. Has anyone got a standard Panic with all the supplied kit parts and if so how many flight has it had?

Don't forget SLEC have a range of canopies and cowls, might be worth giving them a call.

Why take a perfectly good design and change things only to make the overall performance worse or need to add lead or move things about? If its built as plan and with the recommended powertrain and a bit of rudder then it flies a treat. The only worthwhile mode was someone went to great lengths to modify the vertical fin/rudder so that it would knife edge easier, ok if you want to fly around like that all the time. IMHO just more examples of changing one thing and degrading the overall performance in the pursuit of tinkering.

I don't think that will work. A recent experience with my Grumpy Tiger Cub might help to explain. Been flying my GTC with the original rather tied Nanotec (4S3300) lipos + my GNB (4S4000), lipos that give it more noticeable top end + the GNB are a tad lighter, but same physical size. Few weeks ago did all the usual pre-flight checks (Nanotec displaying 98% charge) and proceeded to taxi and take off. Once up I gave it full power and one ESC went into LVC (limp mode, 0 to about 50% power) so circled and landed with no drama (Peter Miller did say it would fly on one motor no bother and he was right!). Disconnected the lipo and checked it over on the bench and all seemed ok, but this time did a full power check on the deck and one ESC did the same (LVC). I am not one for picking things apart at the field so just put it to one side and flew another model. A couple of days later I twigged what had happened. As the GTC has one battery and two ESC's in the nacelles supplied with nice big cables the battery voltage sags under load. Now here is the twist to the issue and explains what happened, as the load increased so the battery voltage sagged. But once the battery voltage sagged to the point of the first ESC to go in to limp mode the limp/reduced power, so the voltage would recover (less total power drawn from the battery). This would mean that the other ESC would not go into limp mode. Changed the battery and problem went away (checked lipo and one cell was under par). So for Eric's balance lead to work its going to have to be a very large cable and IMO even that would not work as any volt drop would cause one ESC to go into LVC before the other. At worst the balance lead would mask a poorly lipo and then load the other accordingly with the result that you think you have say 8 mins flight time but the reality is you have only 4 min.