Bruce Collinson

Had some Billkits wings recently, good product and service and quite busy when I contacted Bill so I’m evidently not the only one wanting his services. BTC

What I found very helpful when abandoning Deans and going entirely to XT 60, and 90 in 6S+, was that my local model shop soldered the whole lot for me. I recall it was for the cost of the proper (Amass?) new fittings plus a tenner. I felt like a bit of a wimp at the time but reading the thread above, evidently I’m not the only one who struggled to solder Deans. Bullets are so much simpler. Rich Griff’s anxiety re shorting batteries is shared. I heatshrink the second lead until the first is in place and duly heatshrunk before exposing the second for soldering, and putting the second part of the plug in as a heat sink and to prevent distortion needs similar circumspection. BTC

Didn’t come out quite as intended. Echoing Jon’s views and re-framing slightly, why would you put several hundreds of pounds worth of frame, engine and radio, plus however many hours’ worth of work, into the air with a Rx, servo or any other component bought for less than the going retail rate, sourced from the biggest source of counterfeit goods in the world? OS Fs are c. £15. What outcome does one realistically expect from one costing say £10? Folly, false economy and unsafe. BTC

4 Max.

Pat previously had athlete’s foot. The doctor told him to put some fungicidal stuff on every morning, and to be sure to wear a clean pair of socks every day. within three days, he couldn’t get his shoes on.

PPS expanded polystyrene is extremely poisonous when burning, and it will leach the plasticiser out of pvc electrical cables, risking overheating and fire. Sheath them in polythene or keep them well away from such insulation. BTC

Robin, yes, the garage is a messy outdoor Mancave with bandsaw, belt sander etc. The inside Mancave is for less messy work, albeit it’s still messy (at present). BTC PS still enjoying my M2…

Upon insurance, in a commercial context I can attest to the following. in any non-domestic context, volume equals discount; we insured a fleet of c. 12 assorted cars on a good well-brokered fleet policy for c. half of the individual cost with significantly better cover, no quibbling about 23 yr old drivers, any driver, automatic courtesy cover etc (boy how I miss that, an hour and £30 every time my car needs to see the garage) my former company manages c. 5,500 properties and has for years had about 80% of them on one block policy which is so well brokered that it is rare for claims to be rejected, the brokers do all the claims handling and it is significantly cheaper for the vast majority of clients with better cover and less volatility in the market on renewal any corporate structure without D & O cover is a nightmare waiting to happen continuity counts. Our PI cover was re-brokered every 18m and existing insurers/underwriters were usually the most competitive, because they understood the risks better. Put that into the context of BMFA cover and it seems exceptionally unlikely that directly equivalent cover would be available, certainly in Year 2, for less money and frankly if it was, the underwriter would change but given the niche nature of the risk it seems pretty unlikely to me. Cheapest is very rarely the best. I understand that the existing underwriters have a very good record of handling claims. Nuff written? BTC

What, this thread?

You Pozitive about that.

Buy cheap baby socks from Morrisons, or Auchun, three for a quid (€1.12) when I bought them. Good enough. I still have the ancient one as per Leccy, bought probably 35 yrs ago during my brief second modelling phase and in regular use until I upgraded to the Prolapse digital one c. 2 yrs ago, which is lots easier to use without having to check the temp. Could do with an extra yard (920mm) of cable though. BTC

The Psychic Society meeting has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.

Surely the way to spot fake OS 8s is to buy them from EBay! BTC

Daughter's cat stolen latterly, still of the road awaiting any sort of replacement. 11 yr old Pious; what's yours? I will have to warn her about this potential issue. BTC

Wing; a circular patch of glass, belt and braces? Circular spreads the stress risers. Having slept once I’m still wedded to Gorilla glue, because it ought to bond to the foam cores. Maybe remove loose or friable foam first. If the skinning is loose, maybe fix those first with PVA. I would be nervous of lightweight filler because it might well not bond to the foam cores. Or, ring Bill Manley (Billkits) for new wings! BTC

You could re-attach them using polyurethane glue, E.g. Gorilla, which could expand into the voids and secure the les and tes (no apostrophes). With the glue foaming back into the gaps I would think it would be secure. You will need to keep on top of the excess glue foaming out of the gaps to avoid a mess when it cures. BTC

Electronic digital scales are ridiculously cheap on Mr. Bezos’ site. He probably needs your £10. Mine are I think 5 kg but there are bound to be versions which will weigh more. one the one hand they are undoubtedly Chinese. On the other, I tested mine with a pair of calibrated weights from top end N. American digital scales which cost a lot more, and still use a strain gauge, and they are spot on at 25-75 grammes, and realistic at 2-3 lb. They are extremely useful. I see that the PRC has a much worse drought than we have. BTC

I have two sets of E-flite electrics in F3A planes and despite being Chinese they seem well engineered, and less costly than Electron. If there’s going to be a weakness it will be in the cheesium main leg wires which will be replaced when bent, although getting hold of properly tempered piano wire seems to be a separate challenge. BTC

Plenty (4) left at Modelshop Leeds AND the best price online too, which is a bonus. Collecting mine tomorrow, plotting early upgrades, mainly to the u/c plate. Better pushrod for elevator. Might go up a size with u/c captive nuts and revert to nylon bolts. Maybe a battery isolator device too although they’re easy to disconnect via the hatch on top. New ESC and Axi motor sorted. BTC

Saturday, posse of 4 in 1 car. I agree with much of the above and would merely add: burger and beer both good Lanc very impressive ground was a bit shaggy, needed a trim pleasantly busy, rarely congested too hot portable bbqs, really? Darwin? although one of my neighbours lit a bonfire on Sunday and I made sure my hosepipe was to hand is it the case that larger models become progressively less impressive, the more of them one sees; this in no way detracts from the sheer effort which must be involved in building, flying and even transporting them, merely I suspect that we are becoming slightly over-exposed to them and the jaw no longer drops as it once did? sometimes it's as much the sound as the vision which grabs attention; I miss the Dutch pulse jet; there was a 4 st radial flying (Moki?) which grabbed our attention and caused some Googling on the spot Wot 4 ARTFs are back in stock in many respects, a scaled down version of Weston Park, just a lot closer to home. Overall, good day out with the boys, spent little, good value. BTC

There’s an echo in this thread ….

Would Shaun also get away with the one about the Irishman who recently bought 500m of hosepipe, to beat the ban?

Pacer foam-safe Zap?

Can’t resist asking; source of suitable tried and tested 6mm silicone rubber sheet? BTC never went away, followed with interest but a long way from the finishing line! Paul, thanks for the link. Good tip that. BTC