Bruce Collinson

Can’t resist asking; source of suitable tried and tested 6mm silicone rubber sheet? BTC

Stuart, A 6-S setup will cost more upfront but I suspect it will be far more flexible in the future as there are lots of F3A mid-size designs out there which run on it. I have a Pichler Supra-Fly, a Curare and a foam Olympus all running on the same 6S LiPos, as does a Truggy-thing for when the weather is too poor to fly. I agree with Jeff, 5S may be difficult to re-use. I haven't priced 5S LiPos but I bet the extra cost for 6S is marginal, especially in good quality ones, e.g. Optipower. BTC

Pit props. The shortage of timber by 1918 was why the Forestry Commission was established in 1919. BTC

Jeff, Let me see if I can describe it without use of graphics. Use a wire pushrod and get hold of two coil springs, two wheel collets to fit the wire, and a pushrod connector, the type which screws onto the servo arm and has a grub screw on top to tighten onto the pushrod. Modelfixings have them, illustrated, if you can’t visualise one. Ditch the grub screw, you won’t be tightening the pushrod onto the servo arm. Put a spring and a collet onto the pushrod on either side of the servo arm. Set the servo and the nose wheel where you want them. Put each spring into slight compression then tighten the collets. hopefully you can now visualise it, the pushrod is free to pass through the connector on the servo arm so shock loads are isolated by compression of the springs. Adjust the neutral point by moving the collets. If it steers like a blancmange on a trampoline, use stiffer springs. It is possible to strip the costs right back by using biro springs and butchering a 13A plug for the screw blocks/collets. I’m sure the two pushrods through fuel tubing will isolate shocks but I cannot visualise it returning to neutral whereas what I have described, as inherited in a second hand Curare (which I have yet to find addictive, not a patch on the late lamented Saphir) seems robust and effective, albeit a slight fiddle to set up. Shares the rudder servo, incidentally, using the opposite end of the servo arm. Hope this helps. BTW was it you bore the news of DSM kits being brought back to the market? Any progress? BTC

Matty B, yes there is. Have you seen the price of them? It’s abominable, BTC

Think Tamiya retail sets too. B

Had the identical issue with the same servo, fortunately on the bench. Now has a voltage step-down device to prevent a recurrence but don’t ask which battery, I think it’s a 2S LiFe, or which voltage regulator, probably a Yeti. I concluded that what I can do to and with all Savox servos I’ve ever used and some Hitecs too does not apparently apply to all Hitecs. luckily my ignorance took me back to the retailer who replaced it without question and there was no magic smoke, no molten casing etc so I assumed something small had blown and put it down to experience. I reckon on average I could save between £1 and £2 per servo by buying online. This single episode has covered say 15 servos bought from the Precious Shop instead which is why I continue to divert by a few miles whilst out and about for true retail therapy at Modelshop Leeds. BTC

Once you have acquired a set of JIS screwdrivers, you’ll be surprised how much of the fixings we all use appear to be JIS. Take servo arm screws for example, plus many self tappers, machine screws etc sourced from the Far East, including Taiwan. There are subtle but distinct differences between Phillips, Pozi and JIS and I generally try all three on an unknown head until I find a tight fit. Wera do a set of three inc. Pozi 2 and PH 2 with 300mm shafts which get a lot of use as the extra length helps keep them square on and a lot more pressure can be put on a stubborn fixing. BTC

What’s the correct way to address a media studies graduate? ”I’d like large fries with that”.

First rule of mediation. If it becomes heated, separate the combatants and let them cool off. Can take several days. BTC

There seems to be a consensus, based on the OP’s account, that the car insurer may well resist the claim, impose the excess and punish the insured at renewal. BMFA ought not to be paying out for this, it’s a dangerous precedent and will tend to increase the premium and therefore the subscription to the rest of us. The points are well made about expulsion etc and the soft touch on the tiller by the Chairman. However, one suspects that the reason for the OP is that it is or may be creating friction within the club. If that is the case then, as most clubs are unincorporated members’ associations, the buck will stop with the committee and they will need to man up and intervene. Thereafter, I concur with the above post suggesting that this is not at first instance a discipline or expulsion issue, although it might be in the worst instance. Therefore, it is undoubtedly a job for the chairman to get them together, invite each to state his case without interruption, then reciprocate, and if there is no ground given in 10 minutes, take each one aside and invite a compromise. If they meet in the middle, or close, then get them together, recite the terms and all shake hands on it. If not, then be Zeus, withdraw for a day and require both to put their best position to the chairman within 24 hours on a strictly confidential basis. Etc. There you are, mediated. It costs me £4,000 to be taught that. Giving it all away. possibly it reinforces the premise that a club chairman ought not to be the best flier, trainer, builder or socialite but should have core negotiating skills and the wit to know when to stick and when to twist. or, prevail on a nearby club chairman to either mediate or arbitrate (they are cousins). Then, a binding decision can be made which is remote from the committee by one important step. BTC

That would perhaps be for personal injury but unlikely to cover models I think. As in all commercial matters, if in doubt, read the policy. BTC

Professional P&Ds always stir upwards from the bottom. The pigment tends to settle, I believe. BTC

Get the chairman to intervene and mediate it as soon as possible. If he can’t, find an adequate mediator and put him and the chairman in charge if it. if the club is within an hour or so of Leeds I will volunteer to mediate, if asked. BTC

Nope, can’t imagine that but I think there’s a way to calculate it. The IQ is in inverse proportion to the size of the tv upon which it is watched. BTC

Waited so long at baggage recall that I fainted and fell onto the carousel. Was all right though, I soon came round again. BTC

Congrats Ron. As another deferring state pension I'm always pleased to read your contributions. Does this now mean that you're poised to become a prolific poster? BTC

I've found optometrists curiously uninformed about lens colours, surprising considering how many of us, with our lamentably senior profile, must fly in glasses. Amber seems to be the default colour but to me it works poorly in bright light, high thin cloud and on 16th August. Blue sky day here. For real contrast, Pilla shooting lenses offer dozens of options and claybusters swear by them but they are expensive. The lenses are Zeiss. The vermillion shades do seem to work in bright light and they can be worn as over-glasses, or be made with prescription lenses. No fun getting old, is it? BTC

Thanks Ron. Worth exploring, as they come with snap links too which could conceivably be useful if, e.g., one wished to replace a cable and not cut it. ball bearing swivels are also available but expensive. BTC

Sea fishing tackle shops are a good source of wire and crimps, at good prices. I like the nylon coated trace wire. Always crimp with side cutters, middle crimp perpendicular to the other two, then cyano for good measure. I also heatshrink usually, keeps the tail end a bit cleaner at our grass strip. If it’s a large plane I usually incorporate a swivel to stop the wire kinking when being adjusted at the clevis end. BTC

Not necessarily Jeff ….

I risk repetition but a reminder for Racketeers, I fly with Terry Anderson and the last batch (mine was sprayed earlier today) had minor tweaks. All ours are 4 stroke for site noise reasons. Mainly Saito 100s in this design. BTC

Cheers Andy, I'll measure mine after work/tea etc. Judging by the old STD code on the Dalesman ad (remember when that related to telephony and not promiscuity?) that ad is very old so whilst Saltaire is just over the County Line from here I think there's no point door knocking on spec. KC's anecdote is apposite, although my point was that any legal protection is likely to have lapsed purely by passage of time so that such Pyrrhic suits are very unlikely and for any classicists reading this, it will have been Pyrrhic because one very rarely recovers all one's costs in litigation. BTC

I endorse RG's remark. We really enjoyed it, as you could tell from the superb video which our Secretary Stuart Josephs put together in no time at all. BTC

Jeff, Try the York model clubs to see if anyone can get a handle on Marvic? Some of the more mature members of NLMFC have very long memories of things like this, even if they can no longer remember who they are (St. Michael is a common mistake) and my bet would be that if any of the previous "proprietors" of any of the participants of the '80s were still traceable, they'd be chuffed to bits that someone wants to revive a concept which they thought had disappeared for good. They don't really have any skin in the game after all. I'd do it but I am supposed to be working, plus there's an Anderson's Rocket waiting for spray too. Andy S, gorgeous model. Funny how often Acrowot canopies just seem to fit, I think I have two in similar use. i envy the cowl, and am just wondering whether it would fit my small Excelsior and Saito 100. Any chance of three basic dimensions with a view to renting the plug off you? Bruce