Bruce Collinson

Now it’s dark, do you want me to go to the outside Mancave (some people call it a garage) and weigh mine? Jonathan, some of my club mates fitted litho plate mudguards to theirs after I floated the idea, half hoping a pair would make it to mine but nobody took the bait. We share our strip with sheep ..... BTC

+ 1 for BEB’s powertrain, a 5A LiPo will just fit in and doesn’t need balancing weight to achieve a satisfactory c of g. Be careful with the prop and the power readings, mine tends to run a bit warm. I fitted bigger wheels for a damp winter strip. On my third. BTC

I started(again) 30 months ago with an Apprentice. My utter spellbound enthralment when my tutor made me land it by simple expedient of backing the throttle and letting it settle into the grass, about 200 yds beyond the end of the strip, had me bitten. I flew it with supervision the first spring, but the wise heads at the club quickly got me onto a 90 4str high wing trainer of unknown provenance, christened the Beast, provided, refurbed and occasionally straightened out by a very generous tutor. Now I have a Wot 4,an Acrowot, a Yak, a Heron, a Sukhoi and a classic F3A in build and fly them all solo. The foam stabilised Apprentice has been moved on, having got me smitten. The Beast taught me to fly properly. I have some 4 strokes and 2 petrols but mostly fly electric as I often have short sessions and like the speed and cleanliness of electrons but I really like flying many different planes on the day. The point is, everything has its place and there’s no need for proscription. A built up i/c high wing trainer with adequate power is probably a good starting position, although I was lent a Yamamoto for a short while when the Beast was in the hanger and it was like a box of frogs in comparison so bigger is better. A club trainer is a great idea if someone will take custody of it. if it brings in new, safe and sensible members, there’s no wrong way, is there? BTC

Well I'm glad it's not just me! Relative newcomer, flying (in this career) 3 years. Moved site after a year, both broadly similar, 120 x 30 m of mown grass oriented E/W. "New" club site has a pilot box near each end of the strip and we fly from the downwind box so takeoff is away from the box, and the pilots, and rudder in the takeoff arguably easier. My landings are still inconsistent but the consensus views/advice I have been given which are most helpful are to use landmarks for aligning the final approach, usually meaning the plane is closer to the box than I would have it intuitively, but pushing it away isn't an issue. That pretty much nails the "depth" issue. Height, I have a nasty habit of landing short and the mantra is to pass the pilot box with daylight under the wheels then land it. Or, to paraphrase older hands, there's 120 m to go at, why not use it? Varifocals; would not dream of flying without them. Although my long vision is quite good, it's better with the little bit of correction the optometrist specifies but I really wouldn't want to operate trims or glance at the timer screen without the correction in the lower part. BTC

I have a minor interest in knife making and found an apparently well-researched paper from North America which analysed many different adhesives, many epoxies and some polyurethanes IIRC, concluding that there are significant differences between them and differing characteristics which might make some more suitable in specific applications. The main application is attaching the scales or handles to the blank to back up the rivets which are usually used and to keep water etc (hunting knives ... etc ... ) out of the joint (blood is very corrosive). I generally relied on 30 min Z-Poxy but also used standard Araldite. It opened my eyes. If I have time to look for it, I'll try to post it. Isn't glue generally cheap enough in the overall scheme of things (my tutor has just worked out that his recently acquired Yamada costs c. £5 per flight in fuel alone) not to use unknown provenance in critical areas?

Great build log. What's the arming socket plate made from? BTC

Sam, Thought that was my remit! Hence the Best Flier in the Club flew it .... You probably spotted, Pete’s DLE isn’t a 20 RA as it has radial mounts and standoffs. I think there’s loads more room between his carb and the firewall than there is in mine, without pulling the engine a long way forward and both batteries are already well aft of the c of g. BTC

Or is there room to smuggle the throttle servo into the firewall box? I've just built a Seagull Yak with the same engine and would imagine the basic architecture of the front end will be similar/generic. I put the ignition module and the throttle servo in there, with a very short straight throttle linkage. Plan B, go to "The Seagull has Landed" thread and see how Gary Manuel used the snake linkage albeit with a Saito. Might be worth reading the second half of the build notes anyway. Mine with makers' exhaust did about 86 dB. The first proper failure was the u/c which I know to be generic as there's an Ultimate bipe at our club with the same pair of very bendy steel legs, now upgraded to an Alpha composite one piece replacement. I didn't even land it, the Best Flier in the Club did and it bent, twice. Hope this helps and keep us posted! BTC

BEB, Are you familiar with an electric Acrowot/Crowrat/Raw Coot? The latter pics look remarkably similar but inverted, battery as far forward as the firewall etc will permit, sloping at about 30 deg through the smallest hatch practical = minimal loss of integrity; ESC on the standoffs but without the ply plate, keep air circulation to the heat sink. I recall that Ripmax show the build notes online. Batteries tape to a thin ply plate which slides over the fitted battery plate, engages a simple tongue fixing at the rear and fastens with a nylon bolt into a T nut right at the front. No more velcro. BTC

Mine's electric but the i/c ones at the club all appear to have had the same issue as mine; the u/c plate isn't strong enough. If I built (OK assembled) one for i/c I'd start by rebuilding the area from the firewall back to the l/e and putting it back a good bit stronger, then with nylon u/c bolts. Presumably the mod above could be done simultaneously. There's a small patch of yellow film in the box; I recall it's Oralcover so easy to match up. BTC

My 72 appeared to run better on an OS F. BTC

Once again I find myself largely agreeing with Steve Dunne (and thanks again for the soldering iron SD!). Isn't the practical solution to increase the excess under any head of claim against another BMFA member or his/her car or other property whilst at the flying site? Most sites would apparently struggle to impose a 100 m rule; we certainly would. I don't know what the excesses are currently but increasing to say £500 for claims of this nature would probably get rid of 90% of property damage claims. BTC

Really surprised nobody is tail-wagging re the laser and smoke system which the female pilot exploited so well. Looks to be several layers up from cutting streamers with foam flying wings, fun though that is! BTC

Jon, What's the better way to run in an ASP? BTC

Mirror on a stick. Think mine might have been a dental mirror. In conjunction with the petrol station LED handlamp (passim), excellent for fiddly surgery in dark recesses, threading Velcro under battery trays etc.

John, I’ll try to smuggle some pics onto rye site so you’ll get a better idea. I lack the IT skills to do it for myself and I’m feeling too disinclined (old) to learn. I know people who can. About to visit Diana Rigg in the outside Batcave to fix the batteries and c of g, hopefully to fly again this weekend. BTc

Reverting to my heat/steam analogy, is the issue with heat that it’s very difficult to get all of the “twisted” timbers to an adequate heat level at the same time, without which the unheated warped timbers will still be fighting against those which have been straightened? Probably, that’s why the wings won’t straighten under heat with the covering on. I’m starting to wonder whether there’s anything to lose by establishing the safe temp for the covering film then sealing the wings in just less heat for an hour before jigging them true/weighting down and waiting. I recall retrieving a 100 yr old pine architrave from the dip and strippers (not that sort Cymaz) with a horrendous twist. I repeatedly soaked it whilst applying opposite torsion and after a week it went “boing” (think Zebedee) as soon as the clamps came off. I ended up dragging it back to true with twice as many screws and plugs. I’d try heat if I ever had to do it again. BTC

I had this issue with the Seagull Yak with a DLE 20 which I think I recounted on the Seagull has Landed thread. It was at about 86 dB with the standard exhaust box. A pal made a replacement from 4x2 alloy box section with one internal baffle and two outlet pipes, all alloy, welded construction. Down to 82 dB. Weighs about 300 gr from memory and will protrude a good inch below the cowl, but ....also lost maybe 200 rpm although it’s still a bit tight anyway. It had to be angled away slightly to clear the plug cap. The Mk 2 would be lighter, maybe glued (LMS guru suggested JB Weld (?) epoxy as very heat resistant) an dpossibly more baffles. It all gets tight around the back with the plug cap, throttle and choke. Mines a rear exhaust. We concluded that it’s probably the best compromise short of a large can which wouldn’t go inside this plane. If of interest I’ll see if the maker, Jeremy “Sheep” Harmer, will post the details and drawings.

Bought a NIB Saito 72 at the last club auction, still with a gratifyingly big price tag on it. Took a chance on it at the front of an ancient DSM Excelsior 150 which incidentally is a sweetie. Even I can fly it. The Saito sect advised 15% nitro and it ran and flew but it was hard to tune, after about an hour’s running. The sub-sect prescribed an OS 4 plug instead of the Saito and a tank of Laser 5. Starts easily, 2 clicks of throttle, holds its tune, idles ok and it’s £10 a gallon cheaper. Still very oily though. Maybe it’s the more modern Saitos which prefer more nitro. Hope this helps. BTC

Tweezers, artery forceps/haemostats, magnet on a telescopic stick and LED hand lamp. Magnetic tray. Can you tell who’s clumsy? BTC

John S, Out of interest, do you have expo programmed in? I was trained/taught always to soften the initial movement on all 3 primary controls and was very surprised to read a thread here a few weeks back wherein the consensus was against expo, particularly for learners. Battery tray just fitted. Vanessa is in the outside Mancave and it’s pitch dark. BTC

Thanks to all of you. A telescopic tube is ordered. Steve Dunne wins the coconut for entering into the spirit of the task. All the info on XT 60s is helpful. Out of interest, my LMS has offered to swap all the plugs even though they didn’t retail all of the LiPos. Another reason to support them. BTC

L, There are three types of accountants, those who can add up and those who can't. If you laid all the economists in the world end to end, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion. Etc. Arguably, four questions. Like a joiner's bit storage roll? Great idea! Now, where's the wife's sewing machine? Where's the wife? Many thanks! BTC .

Right then. Q1. All my LiPos and ESCs are on Deans. I'm contemplating swapping them all to XT 60 after losing a bruising battle with a 5S pre-tinned LiPo and a soldering iron (yes I did cut the tinned length off first). These ok with 5S 5000mAh? Do they need a sparky suppressor thingy? When answering, bear in mind that the LiPos are used in different planes, some of which would struggle with XT 90s. Q2. What's the elegant way of carting the spare prop collection to the field and back? Considered and rejected 4" fallpipe with caps; can't find a Really Useful box which is long enough, say 17", without being too fat. I look forward to answers! BTC

Wondering whether steam would work. Stickmakers bend and straighten walking sticks of many different hardwoods by putting them in a plastic soil stack tube, sealing both ends then connecting to a wallpaper steam stripper. That's how umbrellas and walking sticks get a 180 deg bend for a handle. I believe an hour renders them extremely ductile, and they set on cooling down. Clearly, raw steam would be unhelpful for a wing, but if the temp could be regulated, maybe a big plastic storage chest would work with regulated exhaust too ... just thinking out loud. Balsa is a hardwood. Lots of info on t'Interweb, as ever.