Jonathan M

Interesting to see the original 63 kit go together, much simpler and faster to build than the 63 Lite (my one at any rate)!

She says near the beginning that aircraft are more efficient at higher altitudes. Why is this?

Re aiming for perfection in general... Of course most sports fliers aren't good enough to really notice the difference in travels of a couple of mm here or there, and your typical foamie certainly isn't tight enough to deliver full accuracy, but half the fun of this hobby is noticing these things and seeking to improve them! Getting better at flying and getting more out of one's models is an iterative process overall... made up of scores of smaller iterative improvements in understanding and implementation... where worthwhile of course! 😉

Maybe suss a way to adapt the existing ones? e.g. insert a balsa wedge under the horn-plate to angle the whole thing? To be honest though, the plastic horns on my recently-bought Riot are terrible! I knocked an aileron lightly the other day putting the model back into the car and the brittle horn just broke! PS - they must all be really bad! I've just looked at every retailer for replacement Max-Thrust horns and they're sold out everywhere!

I think you're right: the manufacturer is correcting for the rearward aileron horn position, so as to achieve zero differential as per spec settings. (Had they used angled horns this wouldn't have been necessary, but I don't suppose anything more than bog-standard horns are available at the extreme budget end of things.) Re your Gangster Lite, the supplied horns do rake forwards to bring the leverage point forward, but not quite as far as to be perpendicular to the hinge-line. On mine I tweaked computer differential independently to bring each aileron to zero actual differential.

PS: In terms of exposing folk to IC - my superb-to-fly Gangster 63 (Irvine 53) needs a longer t/o run than this patch comfortably allows, so I only fly it now at my old club, which is now unfortunately further away... and is also almost exclusively electric these days! But I've recently bought an old Wayfarer 53" bipe to refurb over the winter for my ASP 70FS, specifically so I can fly IC locally here. It is not pretty in its current state, which is however mostly sound, and it is a "members new model"... so here's a picture or two! 🤣

Absolutely agree. I prefer to fly IC when I can (and am the only member of this club who does so) but trained and got my A Cert a decade ago on my own original Riot, 3s. We've got the odd younger member who'd like to find out more about IC, so they're welcome to learn from me (as much or as little as I know!) when they're ready.

Thanks for that, very helpful. Had a further flying session last week after I'd posted and sorted the U/C, with two outcomes: Undercarriage - with new nose-leg and steering-arm there was no wobble and the model tracked straight as a die, so wheel-braking effect now gone. Will definitely keep it as trike, will fit the alloy legs to the rear so that I don't have to keep bending the spindly wire ones back. Engine - something is amiss here..? This Irvine 46 doesn't seem to produce the goods in the same way my previous 46 did or my current 53 does. It seems to get very hot very quickly on the ground, whatever prop I tried (12x5 10,600rpm, 11x5 11,100rpm), using a new OS No 8 plug, and the engine is of course totally exposed. In the air (sometimes on takeoff, sometimes when doing aeros, sometimes when just flying S&L) the engine randomly strains and cuts. It might be a fuel plumbing issue (I haven't yet had the old tank out to check), but I can't help feeling that excessive heat is the culprit. I get advance warning of this with a few seconds of straining before it cuts (gives me time to plan my deadsticks!) and it happens whether I'm running slightly more rich or running normally (i.e. max revs leaned, then back off a bit etc). But the engine issue is now going to be historic (certainly in this model). The club is funding an electric powertrain and set of four 4s lipos, so I can use it for training on Sunday mornings (the only time IC is restricted) from Autumn onwards.

Lovely job John. If you already have flat-field power skills then you could convert yourself to the slope with the free (or with a very modest donation) PicaSim slope-soaring simulator. Can mess about with it on a mobile or a tablet (by sliding fingers on the screen) but it really comes into its own on a laptop or better still on a PC with a decent sized monitor - all via a £45 wireless dongle to suit your equipment, e.g. Spektrum or Futaba etc (other retailers are available). But there's nothing like flying at regular sites with folk who know their quirks in variations of wind direction etc. Have a look on SlopeHunter (not updated for a few years but that's nothing in terms of geological time). I've sometimes flown at Beacon Hill just off the A34 (not far from N Hampshire!), it is a bit of a climb up to the Iron Age Fort but good in a SE or ESE wind. I've also flown a lot at White Horse Hill in SW Oxfordshire, an easier walk and a bowl that's great in a NW. But better still contact Thames Valley Silent Fliers and/or Christchurch & District MFC for a steer (or to join). White Sheet don't seem to have a club website, only a closed FB page, but have a look here. Let us know how you get on.

Peter, although we're not strictly noise-limited it is a public space (with the near presence of wild ponies and cows) so I wouldn't want to risk complaints that could impact our long-standing agreement with the council... besides the model is intended as a trainer rather than a tearaway! A min of 11" or 10" diameter will be enough. This morning I got the motor (and old metal mount) off and nose area clean of knackered nose-leg steering stuff, ready for an upgrade: new nylon mount for side-winder mounting (so exhaust residue spits down and as far away as possible); complete new 8swg leg and steering arm. Will keep the trike format for the time being, except that I'll fit the new rigid alloy legs in place of the existing wire u/c, and expect the whole setup to be considerably tighter.

Thanks both. I tried an 11x7 a couple of days' ago but no difference to the t/o run. Got both 10x6 and 10x7 props in my stash so can give those a go... we're not a noise-limited site but I'd not like to prejudice that by going full Cape Canaveral! 30m is not actually a lot of room. It is fine for the Riot and other leap-into-the-air foamies, but I'm pushing things with this slightly heavy girl. The main legs are long, spindly and bendy and the axles keep toeing out (despite an oily bending back each time) so there's a lot of unwanted 'braking' and energy-loss on the ground. Plus the steerable nose-wheel wobbles slightly and (also despite re-positioning after every landing) veers left at increasing speed which doesn't help! I can try to tighten the whole setup by snipping off the sloppy z-bend and replacing with a tighter keeper setup, and also rake the main legs forward to just behind the CG to help the rotation for lift-off... but you can see why I'm being seduced by a pair of stiff alloy taildragger legs! https://www.4-max.co.uk/undercarriages-fixed-40size.html My other club (the one I don't help instruct at but which is now a 1.5hr round-trip) has two 100m smoothly-mown runways and is great for the lighter Gangster - which has shorter, stiffer u/c legs and tight nose-wheel steering so tracks perfectly.

Or maybe not have to convert to electric... just yet? My main problem yesterday was scary lack of acceleration to takeoff speed before running out of mown patch (roughly 30m long). I could just about do it by yanking full up elevator inches before the rough grass to get the thing to rotate, then immediately pushing forward to reduce the climb angle to something safer. I had thought it was simply underpowered for it's weight (hence my thoughts about going electric for more torque) but once in the air the Irvine 46 obviously coped fine (on a 12x6 but now ordered an APC 12x5), and then landing roll-outs were relatively short, just as if there were brakes on the wheels! So the cause seems to be the tricycle u/c: even though I'd fitted bigger replacement wheels (2-3/4") there's a huge amount of friction/drag in 6-1/2 lbs of model trying to roll forwards on three points on average mown grass, plus the rear wheels are set well aft of the CG making rotation even harder. The solution is to convert to tail-dragger, so I've ordered kit for that, and what a delight it would be to not have to straighten bendy wire after every landing! I don't have a solution to the terrible mess the exhaust residue leaves over half this particular model.... except maybe to convert the motor mount to side-winder, as per my Gangster which leaves no residue at all because the exhaust extension points right down well below the fuselage bottom.

My new-to-me Irvine Tutor Mk1, complete with Irvine 46 about to take off for its maiden-for-me flight. Intended use is as a club trainer, so might have to (for convenience and other factors) convert to 4s electric...?

Well I flew the Irvine Tutor/46 today (maiden session for me with this model) on three different props - the 12x5 Master Airscrew it came with, the 12x6 APC off my Gangster and an 11x7 APC from my collection. The 12x5 MA was clearly much noisier than the two APC props, and gave no discernible lower-gear advantage over the 12x6 APC which seemed the best of the three all-round. I do need much clearer acceleration on the takeoff run of this fairly heavy model on our short patch (with every prop I tried the model just about lumbered into the air with a yank of up elevator just before the long grass!) so will order APC's 11x5 and 12x5 for the next round of tests.

Very nice Gary - what engine?