Bruce Collinson

One sentence per paragraph.

I think that freehold title in England and Wales is predicated on the concept that one’s property ownership extends down to the centre of the planet, and upwards to infinity (or indeed beyond!). However, underground, constraints include the Coal Authority which has sweeping statutory rights, and the common scenario where a former owner has reserved the mines and minerals as a separate freehold title under the surface. It is commonly held that merely excavating foundations will inevitably represent an act of trespass. Above ground the constraint is aviation law which reserves rights to the organs of the state which are an effective block on building or otherwise “occupying” one’s freehold property above defined heights. This in my understanding has nothing to do with the height limitations imposed on us by the CAA et al. BTC

Getting even older ... proceeding ...

You sure they weren’t going through the motions then?

Been using one of these in the inside man cave for several years and it’s ideal for what is alluded to, a sub-Land Rover vice (is having a Land Rover itself a vice … 55 flat out … deafened … just asking) for holding whilst fettling. The synthetic jaws live in mine. Large Record in outside man cave for serious wire bending, u/c straightening etc. also with a handy anvil for de-stressing items such as me.

Prefer mine roasted skin-on. We had five for lunch yesterday (grandkids wolfed it, 7 yr old was the winner of the "lucky piece of lead shot" award). Ridiculously cheap, £4-50 each, oven-ready. Good meal for two from each bird. Had woodcock on Xmas Eve; unusual, gamey. I didn't shoot it but my dog picked it. BTC

Did you rule out. “Eliminate” Shaun? Happy Season of retail therapy and rows. BTC

#me too. I think I had it for years before I even became aware of it. Of no concern, although a pal of mine was seriously distracted by it.

Won’t it be in compression, unless inverted? Does it perform in compression? I thought its overarching property was tensile strength. Maybe will only add minimal weight though. Will the shear webs transfer the loads across both the spars? Will it degrade the slight flexibility of the balsa spars?

Spekky vs Yeti. ASP vs OS. Savox vs some utter rubbish from Ali Baa Baa for £4 posted. Each to his/their own. In life, you get what you pay for. A clubmate lost £700-worth of EF Extra on its second flight, apparently as a result of using a pair of 3A LiPos instead of one 6 A, bought online, one with a slightly loose connection (allegedly). Maybe should have used a screaming 60?

Retracts?

Darwin.

If you watched the video you’ll see my fingerprints on the event (by default!). Upon club competitions, you can see the subtle differences between the truly competitive pilots and those who thought it a jolly good way to spend an unseasonal Bank Holiday Monday but our emphasis is not on winning but on having collective fun. The club-sponsored bbq is undoubtedly an integral part of our event, which flourishes. Note also the age range, teenager to 80s. We haven’t felt it necessary to alter the course of fire in 4 years. Prizes are largely sponsored by our LMS with fewer bottles latterly. Upon competitions generally for what it’s worth, there’s a small core of classic F3A pilots at NLMFC who try to support the UKCAA. I participate when I can because I decided that the best way I would improve my fairly ordinary flying skill level would be to be judged by peers and be driven to practice harder. UKCAA “contests” are very low key, an intermission in a fly-in day, but still attract a competitive edge amongst the best pilots whilst the rest of us try not to finish last. Whilst a mile away from what Peter Jenkins describes, the motivation is similar. Funny how attitudes to competition vary. BTC

10,000 hours?

I find Advanced Pollyfilla to be excellent. Sticks well, levels off easily, dries fast, sands easily, no two-pack issues, much cheaper than branded model filler and frankly it handles better too. It seems happy filling relatively deep cavities too and does not shrink discernibly. Tubs work better than tubes. Not as widely stocked as one would expect but worth tracking down. BTW it might also do to fill in redundant fixing holes in walls …

And writing as its sub-editor I also endorse it. BTC

There are several fundamental misapprehensions in this. If of concern, pm me and I can explain but it’s complex.

Fact checking, by Wikipedia? Oxymoronic, apparently. BTC

Worth noting that it was c. 96% in favour. Don't know where else one can be insured, have the fights fought for us with CAA et al, online magazine, club support and so on, for under a quid a week. I think the EA charge me more than that for the right to fish, but they don't provide me with any fishing; BMFA however has the excellent National Centre thrown in, which I am delighted to support. BTC

With my standard of landings, I’d be tempted to rig a nose skid until ground handling qualities are determined, then remove it. B

Leccy, Why couldn’t the existing underfloor heating be re-used with a heat pump? B

My mate/taught me to fly uses one and likes it. I can't get on with it, but then I can't get on with a neck strap either. Cold Jeti Tx? Pet bed heater mat in case, powerbank, pre-warms the aluminium and the Tx goes back into the case between flights. Same system in the LiPo box. The gratifying mass of the Tx is unaffected. BTC

I think you might be observing the apparent surface temperature of the different floors, a screed finish over concrete which always feels cold to the touch, unless it has an underfloor heating matrix. The Best Western hotel room I’m in prior to tomorrow’s auction is ground floor with a thick vinyl floor covering in the bathroom, which feels cold. Timber flooring usually feels warmer. It is entirely counter intuitive, heat loss through a solid concrete/screeded floor will be far less than a timber floor with a significant heat differential, cold space below, marginal insulation, massive heat loss through the floor (that layout always has) even though the floor surface feels warm to the touch. I can recall encountering specialist thermal insulation underlay which will undoubtedly improve things but I have no first hand experience of it so do your research. Broadly, insulation principles follow basic laws of physics, here that the more inert air is encapsulated by the insulation, the less heat transfer is possible so generally, the thicker the better. Another (lengthy) thread on this forum may have addressed this point, I’m not certain as I nodded off but there are thin insulates with high efficiency and they MAY be suitable as underlay or as additional layering between floor surface and carpet. It will not be as effective as what I described, sheet or quilt in the space below the floorboards. Have you thought about borrowing an IR camera? It might be a revelation; I don’t think the walls and their cavities have been discussed yet. BTW the last time I checked, the mortgage lenders’ (they lend, they do not “provide “) issues were with closed cell foam which discourages ventilation and so can cause moisture buildup on the cold side of the insulation. I’m not aware that open cell foam attracts such opprobrium, although an average mortgage valuer wouldn’t be able to tell the difference . Generally, government interference by way of grants attracts the worst sort of cowboys and always has done. Someone may have made the point already. B

Your major heat loss and the reason it is so cold is the floor, over unheated garages. As a surveyor I am circumspect about insulating suspended timber floors because of condensation issues, but in this instance as I visualise it there ought to be no problems there. The difficulty would be getting worthwhile insulation in situ. you could potentially put sheet insulation (kingspan, celotex etc) onto the garage ceiling but presumably only yours. You might conceivably get freeholder consent to do all of the underlying garages. If so, make sure the entire ceiling is half hour fire resistant first, no gaps, pipe entries etc fully sealed. Don’t use EP, it’s highly toxic in a fire. Otherwise, options include lifting the floors and putting sheet or quilt between the joists, or adding insulation over the floorboards. Roof void insulation, aka “loft”, should be 300 mm to achieve max cost effectiveness and is primarily unpleasant labour plus some material. Used to be grant assisted in some circumstances. Check if the void ventilates at the eaves and if so avoid stuffing insulation right into the eaves, leave enough gap for free airflow. If the windows are tired, applying eg cling film with double sided tape is ugly and expedient but effective. Don’t obstruct trickle vents. The Daily Mail obsession with “damp and mould” which is simple condensation can be traced back to Blair’s anti-draught ideas. All dwellings need to breathe, otherwise they sweat. Selectively insulating a dwelling frequently shifts the cold spot and the condensation to the next coldest location. A draught of cold air, eg from a trickle vent, is frequently demonised as letting heat out, whereas it is probably letting dry air in. Air source heat pumps have become more efficient, smaller and quieter recently but they either need full underfloor heating matrices (huge rads, in effect) or radiators the size of a small football pitch, like my neighbour’s. Apparently we pay more for electricity than anywhere else in the developed world. As to whether this is connected with premature closure of fossil power stations, reluctance to use natural gas fired power generation, refusal to frack or the egregious subsidies charged by government to achieve net zero next week and bribe us to buy heat pumps and Chinese electric cars, I could not possibly comment. BTC

Jon, leasehold reform/enfranchisement is complex and potentially costly but I practice it so if this is under consideration, pm me and I will try to steer you in the right direction. The current edition of Which magazine (Consumers Association) has a piece on electric heating which you might find useful. If you can’t source it you can have mine when I’ve read it, typically a week. Bruce