Martin McIntosh

Flog it and buy my original TN 72" Spit for £100, air retracts included, nose weight added and ready for a Laser 180. 18 lbs AUW.You have seen it flying I think.

I just use ordinary masking tape cut into strips on a cutting mat. Discard the outer edges. It is easily formed over compound curves and pressed on with the back of a fingernail. Tried plastic masking once but it shrank round tight curves. Brushing is far less hassle than an air brush.

Never actually tried applying invasion stripes with Oracover since most of my scale models are glassed. You would need to apply white in one piece then the black stripes

If you get the Oracover on as a base then you should have little trouble putting the stripes over the top as the material is very versatile; but you will initially need a very cool iron and work very slowly from the centre outwards to ensure that you do not get any air bubbles. You can then turn up the temperature a bit to seal it on. The beauty of Oracover is that if you get it wrong you can reheat, remove it and try again. Any remaining bubbles can be pricked with the tip of a scalpel, not a pin,and ironed out. Don`t try putting them on by wetting with water and washing up liquid which is sometimes recommended. Hope this helps because I know from bitter experience that things like this which are new to you can be very daunting.

Just looked up the price of a kit, £279, good god and it does not even include a motor and esc. I could probably build one from my scrap box.

I flew a mate`s Panic in the 70`s, great fun. With the price of servos now being very low for good ones why mess about with links? Simply fit four.

Why buy a kit for this when it is much more satisfying to bash a little balsa? Waste of money to me.

Thanks KC, I entirely agree.

Yes, I did alter the rudder angle and lower area a little but I am a former F3A flyer and things like that and the dihedral can have a huge effect on performance but then I am probably over fussy. Just build as is and you will have a good model. Dropping a wing in a loop would suggest a serious wing imbalance. The way to check this is to fly downwind directly away from you at height, close the throttle and push down into a half outside loop. Note which wing drops and add weight (nails) to the other side until the model exits level.

Because as I said above my accounts have been accessed/scammed in the past. The only other cheques I ever write are to pay off my credit card each month, that way I have control should I not wish to pay it all for some reason. However, Barclays are very good at spotting any fraudulent dealings before I even know about them.

One thing I did notice was that when a fair bit of rudder was applied on take off it would push the nose down ( think it is this model). Just had a peek at it and it has 30g of weight at the tail - I do keep tail end construction as light as possible.

I was merely following the procedure which has been used over the years to renew. In fact, shortly after the AGM a club newsletter came out saying that we could pay subs, BMFA and CAA by cheque. With the spate of postal strikes taking place it is now too late to send a cheque in time and I doubt if the sec. will be at the field in this weather.

10x6 APC. The servos are at the rear of the fus in front of the wing bolts. No cg issues.

The Ohmen is a very simple build. I changed mine from electric to an OS 26FS and it transformed the model.

At my club AGM I presented the secretary with my usual cheque for subs and BMFA but he refused it saying that it was just making extra work for him and I should do this on line now. I refuse to do on line banking having had my account hacked into in the past. However, I decided to renew the BMFA and CAA on line. Simple eh? No. Every time I clicked on `finish` it came up that my portal was incomplete and that I should fill in everything with an * but nothing is marked with those. I eventually found a box to allow my details to be shared with whoever and this worked. Why do they make simple membership renewal so difficult? I would have thought that entering my membership No. then pay would be sufficient. An email to the BMFA has not been replied to.

You will not go wrong with a new Specky set so go for it. At one time when we were on 27mHz there were a few brands which just did not work at the field I flew at; notably Kraft and Orbit, both very expensive and fine elsewhere, which made people prejudiced against them. Futaba gear is very reliable now but I simply do not like the programming procedure so I too am a bit biased. I used to be in a display team sponsored by a local dealer and for the latest model was given six brand new Futaba sets before I found one which had more than 20 yards range! More bias.

Way way back at the age of 12 I started model flying, mostly unsuccessfully and wanted radio which you had to build yourself if you wanted anything which actually worked. My mentor took the model up from launch for the maiden and from then on I was on my own. It was the only way to learn in those days. Nowadays it is in my opinion far too easy using buddy leads but at least your models should last much longer. My only Futaba set has been an EX6A 2.4 when they came out just to see if this new system worked OK which it did and I was impressed until it came to programming mixes which were rubbish. I soon bought a JR DSX9 (same as Spektrum then) and have used it ever since; I now have three Tx`s the same because being old hat DSM2 they are cheapish. Rx`s are a mixture of JR, Spektrum and Orange and never any problems with them. (Don`t use Orange with Spektrum for some reason). My club is mainly Futaba because this was marketed in the SE but there are now a fair number of Spektrums. I think that Spektrum has had some bad press because in other parts of the country there is a lot of it and new users maybe do not fully understand how to install gear or the fact that many of these need a 6V pack to operate reliably. I occasionally use other systems such as Turnigy and FrSky and again no problems. Do not make the mistake of buying a none computer set or less than 8ch because you will soon grow out of it.

For my 2P`s worth, I scaled up my Chippy to 1:5 (81"), it has a YS 110 on an APC 16x8 and goes like the clappers but the 20% nitro, besides being expensive, plays havoc with the paint. Got hold of a really good OS 120 fs at a show but unfortunately it is much longer than the YS so cannot be retro fitted. Swapped the YS 110 in my 2m Dalotel for this and the performance is the same on the same prop. Your problem is undoubtedly the lousy, noisy MA `prop`. Petrol would just give you a lot of extra noise plus weight and complexity for no increase in power.

Dale, I would like to be of further help but you have not confirmed that it is a Bryan Taylor plan built model, and if so did you build it? I have not heard of any of his designs being ARTF. You can buy replacement amplifiers from HK and would just need to wire in your reed switches in place of the microswitches then mount the amp. externally if you are capable. The Chinese chips in yours are very unlikely to be available but probably the same as in HK units.

I am very puzzled that you would need to build a new wing. Can you publish a pic of yours since a BT (Bryan Taylor?) one would have to have been built from a plan so the retracts should surely simply unscrew to be replaced with, maybe, the HK large units with metal trunions which are in stock for £30. I have a TN 72" Spit with what used to be air units with the cylinders chopped off and linked to a couple of cheapo MG Savox servos using the Tx servo slows to give a scale effect.

Forget any sheeting until the webs are installed whilst the wing is still pinned to the board. This can be fitted quite crudely and does not need gluing to the ribs. light 1/16th balsa is more than adequate for most models. Just tack it with a little ca then when the first sheeting is fitted the joints can be flooded with glue. Best to add the top first, tacked in place while still pinned down. I rarely need to add aileron trim when done this way.

I have managed to make a few canopies etc with a home made vacuum box but it took a complete 8x4 sheet of thermo plastic to produce all five for an 81" Lanc! Nav lights are easy, simply heat a piece of plastic with a heat gun and stretch it over a wing tip LE then cut to size.

I would have thought that a long stroke 40 would be the obvious choice because it could be ideal for many smaller old time models, but of course production costs may be prohibitive. Maybe a dummy engine with no working innards would satisfy the people who just like to admire the things and never have any intention of using them?

Ditto. Same sort of carbs as on a strimmer, chain saw etc which you never need to touch. If you loose the settings for any reason you can google Walbro strip down and reset.

When I built mine I overlooked the fact that I could not fit a sixteen oz tank without destroying the carefully fitted u/c and cabane piano wires so came up with my own solution which can be seen way back on here. No problems whatsoever at any flight attitude ( I can fling mine around too when I wish), both tanks will drain to zero and no, the weight of fuel in the upper one has no effect through a 3/32nd bore tube since the fuel is drawn in by the engine, not gravity fed. Both have normal clunks.