Peter Miller

Andrew, Did you check the tube INSIDE the tan for holes?

Just a thought on another aspect. Nige says that everyone turns out to watch a steam train. When diesel engines are as rare as steam is now, would as many tirn out to watch a diesel loco go past? And this leads me to my main thought, model engine collecting is a big thing, even relatively modern engines becoming collectors items, Somehow I very much doubt is there will be many serious collectors of electric motors.

I Spoke to Helgar racing when I bought my set and they said that they were testing a chanrger then, should be available by now.

If the engine cuts after some time check the clunk tube, it can get nicked when assembling the tank and then as the fuel in the tank goes down it exposes the tube close to the tank bung and allows air through. I use Duraglow 10 on everything. I also use Taylor standard long reach plugs on everything and they work perfectly. Oh, I also use SC engines almost exclusively unless I can get a bargain on Ebay.

I thought I was doing well. Only got about twelve. Rhapsody, ) Symphony, ) Marauder, ) Bonzo, ) Cap 21 ) Fournier RF7 (sic) )All ODs Li'l Mustang ) Toot Sweet ) Little Bandit ) Deja Vu (35 powered C/L stunt) Stupid Cupid (15 C/L stunt) ) and an Easy Pigeon but ARTFs count Plus a few without engines and radios.

With regard toCG positions. Normal full sie aircraft CGs tend to be about 25%. I am currently designing a scale model from the origianl construction drawings, this is a two seat homebuilt. The CG range for the full size is quoted at 19 to 25%. On full size aircraft the CG is just behind the main wheels on a tail drager or just in front for a trike. One figure given is tohave the aircraft level and draw a vertical line from the point of contatc of the wheels, then draw a line at 60 degrees back from that for a tail dragger. The CG shold be on or close to that line. NOTE that on a high wing aircraft the CG will NOT be up at the wing but much lower down. I was working on a Varsity (Trike undercarriage) once which was up on jacks The underwing jacks were just about on the whel contact line. Someone had forgotten to place the tail trestle and when one of the props was removed the aircraft started to rock back and the nose wheel came off the ground. Only the fact that every one in the area threw themselves onto the nose wheel (it got really crowded) saved the aircraft CGs a can be farther back but you need biger tails. I will be interested the hear how far back you can get it before the model becomes uncontrolable.

I am definately not one of the "them and us brigade" I just like engines and will use engines until fulll size aircraft are electric powered. Hey Nige, You state that your moter battery set up doesn't weigh any more than my .32 engines and tank etc. Now tell me how much your set up will cost including enough batteries for an afternoon,s flying allowing for cooling between charges an the charger, balancer etc with a motor that will equal a good.32 (I won't ask about .40s or .60s) and how much the motor and speed controller would cost for each model. I have 10 ready to pick up and go flying.

To add to my last, I should have said Coarse medium and fine Aluminium Oxide paper, also called production paper. You can buy packs from any DIY store, They contain 3 coarse (80 grit) for heavy removal, rough shaping of blocks etc, 4 medium (120 grit) and 3 fine (180 grit) You cn go finer than tat for final finishing. Tip: sand across the grain for fast wood removal, sand with the grain for a good finish. The aluminium oxide lasts much longer than ordinary sandpaper. You can also stick it down to a sanding block with double sided cellotape. You can email me if you want. I will also talk on the phone if you want

I was not saying that electric can only be flown in calm weather. I was commenting on the club members in our club who do fly electric.

As phil says, You are learning the best way that there is, by doing. When I started I had no help and had to learn the hard way. Mind you, back in those days we started with very small simple models and built up, these days we start off with radio models. The Super 6o is quite a complex model and you are doing well. On sanding, forget the very fine ones, Use coarse and medium grit aluminium oxide paper. NEVER use it wet, that is for getting a finish on paintwork, the wet will just soak into balsa and do no good at all. Round tanks used to rotate an twist the fuel lines unless secured properly. I promise you that you will feel a wonderful sense of achievement when you get it finished.

I ran the first ever adult education classes in aeromodelling back in 1974. If one can persuade the local adult education authorities to run such a course one can make a bit of extra cash from it. More to the point and to answer Peter, There are good books out there, You can learn a lot from them, for example, "High Flying on a Low Budget" has a detailed chapter on repairing models while RCM&E used to have a book on building from plans.

My system for designing and build is this. I draw the complete plan and then have two copies made. I build from one and then make any corrections to the other. That way I know it is accurate when it leaves me. There was one plan where the wing ribs bore no ressemblance to my drawing, I ended up sending copies of the original wing ribs to several people on another forum.

I ALWAY Draw both wings on my plans, they don't often use them when doing the magazine plan. My suggestion is to use Paraffin, the reason is that this will make the plan transparent and stop the glue sticking to it but it dries out and so the plan goes back to its original state.

Hi David, I don't normally show the throttle cable run because there are variations in throtle arm location. Basically the servo arm ends close to the right side of the fuselage.. Depending on the position of the throttle arm on the engine, drill a hole in F-1.and then a hole in F-2 in a straight line between the hole in F-1 and the servo arm. If you sharpen a piece of 8SGW piano wire about 10" long you can use that as a drill to go through both formers. Use it in a normal power drill, a Dremel opr similar is too fast and could make the wire whip with very painful consequences. The aileron servo is mounted flat on its side using Radio Active servo mounting brackets. If you look at the Sonerai plane feature you will see a picture of my standard setup. Don't siler solder the wire, just use soft solder.

Hi John, These days I work with a 25% CG but you can try moving it back if you want, I find that with that CG location my models including the Sonerai are very aerobatic without being twitchy and they recover from spins very positively. On other remarks above. I used a short tank and did not have to relieve the leading edge. I wonder how much weight the Soalrtex added, I like the material very much but Sonerai is quite small. One servo in each wing is quite acceptable and does make life easier so go that way if you feel like it. I have a 900 Mah battery but maybe I don't fly as much as many people do, even though we have allovcated frequencies in our club with NO duplicates. You can fly non-stop if you want and some do.

Our small club has a couple of pure electric flyers who turn up occasionally when the weather is fine and one or two of us who fly EP gliders when the mood takes us, which is not often. The great majority of the members do not have even one EP model Personally I am a great believer in low wing loading and object to lugging batteries round which provide less power than an engine, especially when the cost of a powerful motor and batteries is more than a four stroke engine. I fly an electric powered glider on a weekday in a field at the end of my lane or, after the harvest in front of my house but I also fly the odd power model on these fields as well.

I find that the best way to get a really linear throttle response is to use 30% negative exponential. This closes the throttle quite fast at the start of the stick movement and then slows it down for the last part. I use throttle cut on my FF8. Get the idle right at low throttle and then operate the cut switch. If you can select the switch use the one on the left. I find that 40% travel is normally needed to get a good clean cut, That is 40% on the throttle cut of course, not the throttle stick.

Hi, I just thought that I would check the needle on the SC 3o FS in my Bonzo. It was set at 1 1/4 turns open and that was what it flew at a couple of weekends ago.

These days I design models for around .25 to .32 engines or .40 FS up to .52 FS engines. I find that for sports aerobatic models a wing area of around 500 sq. inches works well, a bit less or a bit moore won't make too much difference. The four strokes can go up to 600 sq.in. Wing loading can vary, I like about 18 ounces per sq.foot. But small, ver fast modelf, i.e. 15 size 12th scale fighters can go up to 24 oz. per .sq. ft. For .40 two strokes I would go up to 600 to 650 sq.in. and the wing loaoding can go up again to 24 oz per sq.ft but I still prefer about 18 to 20 oz per sq. ft. Much larger models can get away with much higher wing loadings because the larger wing is more eficient. We had a club mmeber who built a Hurricane from a free plan, only about 48" span. I don't know how he managed it but the wing loading was over 30 ounces per square foot. That thing was lethal, it needed to be travelling at maximum speed before you dared lift it off and you couldn't slow it down to land it. I think it crashed twice on take off for every successful flight. Needless to say it didn't last too long but it was so solid that it was never written off. There is no substitute for low wing loading.

The best answer is to learn to buold from plans, you get lots of full size plans free in the mags. There is a good book aviable on building from plans, The publishers of RCM&E used to do it. Building from plans is easy, you mark out and cut all the bits and then,guess what, you have a kit and you know where to go from there. YES, the EU IS trying to ban cellulose dope. They want you to use some other stuff. Celllulose is excreted natrurally from the body. the stuff they want you to use accumulates in the body. That info comes from a full size aircraft maintenance company boss. Stock up NOW!!!

I am surprised that you had the rouble, mind you, as every says, 5 turns is way too much. I use nothing but SC engines unless I get a bargain on eBay. I never have any trouble with them. I currently have 2 30 FS and a 52 FS, about 6 32s and several 15s, all SCs. On plugs, I use nothing but Taylor Standard long reach plugs and never, ever have any plug trouble on two stroke or four strokes. Have done for more years than I care to remember. The happen to be much cheaper too. When I suggest this to clubmembers they tend to change over and live happily ever after.

You can buy 5 mm nylon bolts in bulk from http://www.modelfixings.co.uk/ Getting the old bit out is easy, heat a screwdriver blade, stick it into the bolt and wait for it to cool, then unscrew the bit. A disposable gas lighter will do the job.

I would agree that an engine powered model is a good choice. I also believe that the modern "trainer" is too fast and not stable enough. I have found that a slow model which is very stable is the best. Ideally a vintage model converted to R/C, some of the Ben Buckle kits were ideal. For a first model I like one that will fly itself out of trouble if you take your fingers off the sticks and which gives time to think "Oops, that was wrong" and then correct it. I have proved this many times. people who just cannot master learning to fly have come to me and I gave them two long flights on a vintage model and they never looked back. If you use a faster model the only way to go is with a buddy box lead. One of the finest designs in the size you talk about is unfortunately only available as a plan, it is the Little Ship. a 44" span vintage R/C design for three channels. If you go with the CC Lee Cub it should be pretty good. I played with one of the smaller ones recently and it worked well. One other model which I can reccomend is the only ARTF that I have ever liked, it is the J.Perkins Easy Pigeon. You need to buy all the radio gear and the batteries but it does come with a motor and prop.

Oh well, I supose we must be grateful that the Spitfire and Tiger Moth don't feature. The Beaufighter would be nice because I want to see just how Tony will get the CG far enough forward! Lead cowls? B-25 is nice aircraft and more practical. and the Hornet, those sharply tapered wings will sort the men from the boys. I agree, the voting system does throw up the normal subjects but people go mad over the lesser known ones that appeal i.e Rod Jocelyn's Culver Dart and Midget Mustang although that should not really be a lesser known aircraft Peter.

Talking about writing for the magazines. I would like to point out that in the caption to Fig 1, page 67 of the April issue of RCM&E in my Sonerai plan text it states that the wire should be silver soldered. Anyone with any common sense will know that silver solder needs a very hot flame which would be asking for instant ashes. Unfortunately RCM&E has a habit of rewriting the text, (They call it sub-editing) and this was their mistake, NOT mine. Oh yes, I can and do make mistakes too but I do own up to them. Peter