Tom Major

Looks like I’m a little bit late to the party. Anyway, planning to learn, leaving post here so I can find this thread later. Regards Tom

Thank you for replies gets. That solves my issue of thin elevator.

Hi folks. Recently I bought some Mylar hinge strip to accommodate my current build. I am wondering however, is it not gonna fail after a short while? I mean it will be bending a lot so would expect some fatigue to set in? What are your experiences with it? Regards Tom

I’ve never tried it with diesel so I wouldn’t know original character of the model. With Cox it was just gracefully flying about in nice and controlled manner. EP was a beast. Apply full throttle and she wouldn’t stop looping till battery was flat. Could do rolls with use of rudder only. And she need so little power to keep steady flight. I had also Spitfire MK IX and loved flying that too, but I think Sharky had much more fun factor to it.

The first two got damaged during house moves etc. They both were amazing. First one was EP, with same motor - CF2812, 1300mAh lipo and Futaba 35MHz gear. Second was powered by Cox Golden Bee and was flown using Hitec Optic 6 2.4GHz and 4.8V battery. Both had rudder and elevator. Electric didn’t really need it, but for glow elevator was a welcome addition. Current one will have rudder and elevator as well. I actually think I cut elevator surfaces far too large now, so will have to adjust rates in Tx. Battery is slightly smaller, all shared 9g servos. I will fly it with my Optic 6 too. So all in all not many changes. I will use covering film for the first time (precious two were covered in dope and tissue) but it won’t affect handling and the fact that I’ll have to repair it after maiden ?. I wanted to build it to be close to my first Sharky and probably can’t get any closer. I have so many good memories with my previous two models. One stuck in a tree, flying loops constantly on full throttle, flying with my then about year old son, flying in pouring rain as golden bee kept going till it run out of fuel etc. Electric one was very twitchy and it took me weeks to successfully fly it without damaging front and breaking props ? - hence I bought few spare APCs ?. The plan is to get back into flying with Sharky and then move onto bigger planes. I always wanted Egde 540 so I’ll be going into that direction, of course not straight away. Regards Tom

Slowly moving forward. At this stage fuselage is nearly completed. All electronics are installed and working, just need to solder bullets to make proper motor/esc connection. I also tested the radio and to my great pleasure, old Optic 6 2.4 GHz works spotlessly. Wing just needs to be sanded to shape and glued together, tail attached and that would be it. Covering is on its way with few other bits, my guesstimate is she will be ready by the weekend. It’s amazing to be building again.

Most of the parts are cut out now. Just need to do some shaping but that can be done during build. I’m gonna start with wing and work my way from there. Took me a little longer than expected but I had help of my 10yo - awesome father and son time!

Hi folks. I’m just starting my 3rd Sharky build, so thought I’m gonna make another quick build log. I remember this forum to be substantial part of the hobby so why not… Most of materials have already arrived, so I’ll start copying and cutting the parts out. Shoutout to SLEC, order arrived quickly and in perfect condition. It was first time I ordered anything from them, but certainly not the last. Lets kick off then. I’ll post updates as I progress with build. Cheers. Tom

I haven’t as I’m not sure what it is. I’ll look it up, thank you.

Thank you John, really appreciate your input.

John thank you for input. Your Sharky looks amazing.

That’s very good to know, thank you. I am just looking at HK website, however I wouldn’t mind using seconds either. Once again thank you.

Thank you Brian. I’ll look them up.

Hi all. I am getting materials ready to build yet another Sharky. It is gonna be powered by emax cf2812 with 6x4 APC, 20amp esc and 1000mah 3s lipo. Previously I have used jap tissue and dope, but would like to use some iron on film this time. I have worked with solartex and solite in the past, so am not completely new to it. What I’m looking for is strong covering that won’t weight much more than heavyweight tissue. Any suggestions? I have just ordered everything from slec/eBay, got electronics earlier from lms and covering is the last missing bit. Regards Tom

Thank you Ron. Appreciate your link.

Hi folks. Where could I get older issues of RCM&E? I need just one particular one - March 2017 with Sharkface plan. Or just the plan for that matter. I had original plan printed many moons ago but after recent search it turns out it’s the only plan that’s missing… I did check eBay but my issue wasn’t there. Is the publisher actually selling archives? Regards Tom

I do realise there are easier ways to power the aircraft, but Sharky was actually the first RC plane I’ve built and flown myself. I had one powered by Golden Bee and one EP. Loved both. Sound is out of this world, one 8cc tank would give me about 3 minutes of flying. I used to take little jar of fuel, syringe, clip for glow plug and glow stick and was out for hours and hours with it. Never got bored of flying Sharky. EP was better performance wise, but didn’t have that certain smell of fuel. If I can still get dope, jap tissue and fuel proofer I will deffo build one more.

Kc i still have printed Sharkface plan from ages ago ?. Thanks for reminding me of outerzone though, remember it to be very useful site.

Kc I'm just getting over everything, mostly engines now. Some I have preserved ok, smooth as ever, but some are seized up. I will get to electronics soon, I’ll make sure to check for corrosion. Batteries are all packed and ready to be disposed of. My Tx has been on charge for few hours, voltage drops from 11V to under 9 in few minutes. Not worth taking risk for sake of £15. Ken there are few ARTFs that I really want, but I think some stuff has to be built ?. I deffo want another Sharkface with little Cox on it. Changes in the hobby are very visible though. Zflyer i can see it to be very strange year indeed. Many other activities are limited to say the least… Dwain I used to love my Optic when few years back. So simple, but amazing radio it was. Just need to dust it off and replace battery in it, do some range checks etc. It wasn’t exactly looked after all those years…

So this is where I left off. Fairly few nice little pieces. I have very good memories of Golden Bee, here with anodising polished off. It flew many times attached to my Sharkface. Top left in a bag is OS .40FS, just slightly not in one piece. Little red Cox is brand new, has not been run even once. I also found bag of chargers, few servos, fuel pump, some spares for engines etc. Just need a plane ?.

Thank you all for chipping in. Your answers deffo put my mind at ease. My equipment mainly consists of old batteries, Tx/Rx and some engines. I have Nimh packs that I’m charging now, but don’t think they would have survived so many years of neglect. Radio is Hitec Optic 6 2.4 GHz with Optima 7 Rx. Engines - few Cox .049, one Testor McCoy, PAW and few OS Max - one four stroke .40 and few two stroke. I even got some fuel for both diesel and glow engines, and it should be all good since containers were almost full and sealed tight. Will see soon enough when testing them, if my glow sticks survived of course. Regards Tom

Thanks Peter. I am aware of new regs, but it looks like I’ve barely scratched the surface. I am digging my old equipment out at the moment, I’ll see what is still useful and what needs to be done to be a legal flyer. I remember stuff being much more relaxed 10 years ago…

That’s great to see. I’m certainly looking forward to all the activities from years ago, I have a club nearby too (have not seen the for months, but that’s understandable now). I’m just looking at market for last few days and it seems that there is so much less in it. Or maybe I just need to look better and get to know new places etc. Either way - I’m glad I’m not too late.

Hi everyone. I came back to the forum after fairly few years of absence. I want to get all my equipment checked and quite possibly get back to flying and here is the absolute shock. A lot of brands I remember are either not trading at all or have very limited range. Park zone, Hitec, FMS to name but a few. Some lms have closed down too. Looking at this forum, some sections are dead for months too. Is this really the state of the hobby now? I can understand lockdown, ships across the canal etc, but honestly I expected it to be vastly ahead of where I left. Is drone flying now all that’s left? Regards Tom

I just spoke with one CFI from US of A and asked what in his view are chances of average pax to land a plane, he said 'not a chance'. I thought it was worth sharing as the guy is simply a hero, many would just melt down and give up.