Martin McIntosh

Back to the original subject, I once bought a Ripmax Soarus lecky glider, which flew well but was rubbish. I later bought a Limbo Dancer which cost a lot less than I could build one for, still flies very well with no structural or other problems but since it is covered in Solarfilm it was probably made in the UK! Most of the ARTF models I have seen at my local field have had undercarriage/covering problems and are not far short of being downright dangerous. Whilst ARTF has given model flying a great boost for people who do not otherwise have the skills/time to build, it is nearly killing off the supply of basic materials for us remaining designers/builders. Who, in the future, will still have the knowledge to even design your next ARTF?

I recently bought a 6ex via the USA which has a Sanyo 600mAh nicad installed in the Tx. This starts life at 11.1V at end of charge, the usual 10.4V by the time I get to the field. Fine, but after a 15 min. flight it is down to 9.7V. 30 mins. later, when left switched on, it is down to 9.5V which has been checked with a calibrated digital meter. The the battery has been checked for performance on a cycler, and is up to scratch. I have not as yet measured the current drain but would be interested to hear from other users of this Tx.

I totally agree with Flanker. In the air you can hardly see the damned things most of the time, and on the ground they make even the best scale subjects look like toys. Let us stop deducting marks for their absence.

I used to fit drag brakes to fast F3A models in order to get down on small patches. They were 75mm chord and 150mm span, fitted close to the wing root top hinged at 1/3 chord with as close to 90deg movement as you can get. Use brass tube bearing with soldered tinplate hinges, a mini servo since the load is balanced to almost zero, and any pitch change should be no problem with a computer radio. Make the top surface from 1/16 ply or thin ali, with 6 large holes forward of the hinge to give more drag. Very fidely to make and fit, but well worth the effort.

Never heard of 5 wire servos since the days of reeds! I recently bought some mini digis on ebay which are available in a range of sizes and around 2Kg/cm, 16oz weight Ihave installed 2 in a 52" Spit but not flown them yet. They are called "Turborix", metal geared and upon internal inspection look to be of very high quality. Not bad for £9 each plus the usual silly postage. MM.

Try to do your`B` test straight away if you can get two examiners because it is very easy if you are already a competent flyer, but you must be very conversant with the safety rules, particularly concerning organised events. I had to do mine again because the BMFA lost my records and it seemed worse than retaking a driving test! Martin McIntosh, BMFA examiner.

Get a Tx and buddy box lead compatible with your instructor`s Tx and you can use your`s in any mode you wish. Problem solved.

Dead stick, I quite agree with you, but at the time I did not know what was good or bad. I even bought a MDS motor! With a little tweaking this is actually quite good! So are the JR radios that I have subsequently acquired. Martin.

I have devised a simple-ish method of reconfiguring 3s packs so that they can be charged with the cells in parallel, i.e 640 3s1p charged as 3p1s @ 2amps. Requires 2x 3 pin servo plockets and 2x 2 pin shorting plugs. this gives you a balanced pack every flight, with 1 hour charge. Interested? Contact me.

I have a 48" span Dalotel which has now been fitted with JR DS811`s on rudder and elevator. These are standard size which I think is necessary for a fast model of this size. The power consumption has nearly doubled per flight, but I can highly recommend them.

I have quite a few of these in Depron models with only one failing from new due to a bad solder joint,also a couple of their ESC`s, which seem OK. You pay your money------- not too bad for the price. Just saw the"Y-lead" thread. Remember that most of these micro servos draw a huge ammount of current in order to give the stated power and usually have thin leads so trying to run them on a Y lead is just asking for trouble.I diconnected a GWS 9g servo motor and ran it free to find that it drew 1/4amp!

Could be because servos are generally better and have tighter centring than a few years ago. I have some Topaz servos which visibly flap the control serfaces after a fresh charge, but do not pose any other problems apart from battery drain. Just look at a digital servo with a very free linkage trying to support the weight of a control surface.

You must just be lucky. When I bought a new JR set with some extra GWS servos after a lay off of 9 years, I was dismayed to find that several of the leads became detatched from the plug pins when removing from the Rx - and no, I am very experienced and not heavy handed. I have found many instances of high usage connectors such as aileron plugs becoming a loose fit over time. This issue needs addressing. How many times have you had to carve bits off a Futaba plug to make it fit something else?

Since we seem to have a revolutionary new form of radio gear in the form of 2.4gHz, would this not be the time to start anew and ditch the abominable servo/battery plugs and sockets that have been inflicted upon us in the last 10 years or so? These are all of very poor quality and a source of many failures, being non-locking, loose, and not all compatible with each other. Perhaps the Multiplex type should become the standard, since these are moulded and at 90 degrees to the connector and thus do not pull out inadvertently. JR, Futaba, Hitec etc. please take note. This is currently the weakest link in any system. Martin McIntosh.