Martin Harris - Moderator

A little light reading but I'd suggest that we don't start debating it. I think everything has already been said...

I've found that high silver content solder works best on gold plated components. I bought some marketed as "Deans Racing Solder" or similar but I ran out recently. Must get some more...

You're likely to get one transmitting at far higher power than is permitted in the UK which means that unless you get it tweaked (I believe it's possibly software controlled) you will be committing a criminal offence by using it.   CE marking is a red herring unless you're selling it on.

Is it reading 3150 rpm - i.e. 315 (x10) ... a lot of tachos don't display the last digit. Although mains frequency varies to balance out the drops when sudden loads drop the generator rpms it wouldn't be by enough to give that sort of error but you should be able to use the lamp to calibrate it if accuracy is important to you.

A fine piece of flying? Breaking the law in an obvious and well publicised way to the possible (probable?) detriment of those who enjoy flying safely and in appropriate places doesn't make up for the ability to miss a few lumps of concrete. I'm with Lee on this - how would you feel if all FPV flying was banned after someone decided to take a closer look at the US President's tea party on the White House lawn for example? Would you still praise the skillful way he circled the bottle of Perrier before leaving a single wheelmark on Obama's cucumber sandwich???

You will.....

Interesting point - I've no idea what load factor models are designed for but knowing how easy it is to pull in excess of 3 1/2 g in a glider I'd imagine that our models pull some pretty high loads at the hands of pilots standing safely on the ground without the feedback of feeling g loads or watching accelerometers! After all, most of our sports models are modelled on full size Extras etc. which will easily pull 10g.   Peter Miller, Tony Nijhuis, Nigel Hawes et al. - if you should read this - do you design this aspect by the "should be OK, this type of structure has worked fine in the past" method or are any stress calculations involved?

Precisely - I'm sure you only slipped it in to see if we were taking notice!

Posted by tom wright 2 on 31/01/2011 00:35:49: Some one knows his stuff, nice one,maybe if you add a carbon spar to a foam core,then a balsa l/e and t/e then cap strip top and bottom you end up with a lighter wing?   I'd doubt it. Using BEB's figures, the foam inside the veneer weighs @ .75 kg - the entire built up structure is less than half the weight of the foam alone!   P.S. I did spot your deliberate mistake BEB but the results are correct!Edited By Martin Harris on 31/01/2011 09:26:20

I suspect that CA kicker degraded some servo cable - luckily, quickly enough for me to notice before the covering went on...

Well, you were the only one to mention RF PCBs and you did ask, "AII this talk about swaping modules do we concider complience issues?" but if the BMAA happens to be the British Martial Arts Association I think I'd better withdraw from this discussion while I still have my kneecaps!

...and everything in sharp focus until the shots that could identify the perpetrators.   Can you imagine anything more likely to focus "official minds" against first party view flying in particular and model aviation in general than the this sort of irresponsible behaviour.

Posted by tom wright 2 on 29/01/2011 01:21:55: I think it is the owners responsibillty to pr ove complience when mods have been done by other than importer or mfg. cheers Tom. Take a look at this thread Tom We're not modifying anything anyway - the module is certified by the importer as being suitable for use in Futaba transmitters..

No - the importers do!

On a more positive note, a Futaba transmitter with an RF module could be fitted with a Spektrum module.   Did you ever contact MRW as suggested on a previous thread on this subject that you posted?     Edited By Martin Harris on 29/01/2011 01:18:55

I've got a Super Tigre 91 that started playing silly beggars like this - I tried everything in the book, plumbing, fuels, plugs, spraybar position and even adding a Perry pump to get it running reliably and each time I thought I'd got it cracked, it would hiccough and stop as I took it out to the flight line or at a random point in a flight...until, in desperation I tried an OS FS plug, reasoning that if it burnt a hole in the piston or damaged it through pre-ignition I was no worse off.   Guess what - it's run like clockwork for countless flights from that day on!   If you do give up, just for the sake of curiosity, I'd love to know the state of the liner...Edited By Martin Harris on 29/01/2011 00:55:53

No

Did it go into failsafe perhaps? Default for Futaba is throttle closed but that's the wide open position for most ESCs...   ...or did changing the model type put the throttle back to default?Edited By Martin Harris on 27/01/2011 01:48:05

Luckily you learnt your lesson the easy way - I'm still getting over my stupidity with my lathe nearly 4 months ago.   What radio do you use?

Will you be removing the prop before your next "live" setting up session BEB?   One of my clubmates scared himself stupid when his motor started while performing a similar exercise, nicked his nose IIRC - and that was after he'd (only just) removed the prop for some reason other than safety...needless to say he resolved to always do it that way in the future!   We tend to be more aware of the real and present danger of i.c. props where electrics are actually potentially a lot more dangerous, lurking silently awaiting the opportunity to bite - and bite again once any obstruction is removed - especially with the power levels becoming more common as prices fall and new technologies are developed. It's incredibly important to try to imbue new fliers (and more established ones for that matter) with the mindset that a model with a connected flight battery should be treated like a running i.c.model at all times.

Absolutely not, Erfolg, but discussing it here is not the same as BMFA bashing, which is the way I don't want to see the thread going.   Until we have a concrete proposal - or pretty good outline of such, it seems rather pointless people making comments about the BMFA building something in the rolling parklands and gardens of Chacksfield House (this is somewhat tongue in cheek by the way - take a look at the "mansion" on Google Street View) for the convenience of the Mandarins.   Surely anyone with concerns about THEIR organisation should address the problems at source, not simply bitch about them. In many clubs I've known, those who grumble most are usually (with occasional exceptions) those who "don't hold with committees" and won't make any real effort to do anything.   Capt. K - I applaud your efforts and hope you can get somewhere in the end - of course, in a democracy, enough people have to voice their opinions so if anyone has a concern, do what the Captain has and make yourself heard where it can count! If your representatives aren't representing you, that is in your hands as well...Edited By Martin Harris on 25/01/2011 14:17:16

Looks like this (already retitled isn't it?) thread is going to deteriorate into another "knock the BMFA" list of woes.   I'm sure there are areas that could be handled better but we always seem to lose sight of the fact that "they" are "us". I'm generally content that my money provides me with, yes, insurance and also a great deal of behind the scenes lobbying and back up.   I would say "put up or shut up" to the naysayers - if you really feel the BMFA is going in the wrong direction then lobby your area or put yourself up for office - I'm pretty sure it's not a closed shop in most areas - you often see them appealing for new area (and national) committee members.   As an example, the good Captain above raises a fair point about electronic copies of the magazine - our club made the move to the default option for communication to be email a few years ago - but I would ask him, what has he done about it other than making the post above? I hope the answer is not "nothing" but I'll be pleasantly surprised if it isn't!

Can you see the ends of the crack? If so, drilling a small hole at each end centred just beyond the end of the crack should stop it propagating. Fill crack and holes with liquid metal or high temperature epoxy - if possible, V out the crack a little as well.   As you suspect, the groove is the air duct to allow crankcase pressure pulses to operate the pump diaphragm.

BMFA trolling maybe?   In addition, I think saying that it's a BMFA proposal is overstating the case a bit - seems it was one person's suggestion for discussion.   This is a very old chestnut and surely it won't reach a serious proposal? There are so many things against the idea, e.g. who would use it regularly enough to make a permanent site worthwhile other than people in a 25 mile (being generous) radius, who would regulate its use (or would it be free for anyone to do whatever they wanted) maintenance, security, the list goes on.   Best to just ignore it unless anyone sees fit to make a serious proposal.

The traditional way with "real" piano wire was to nick it with a triangular file and snap it off in a vice but the stuff in model shops these days isn't anywhere near so hard.   I can't say I've had any problem cutting it with a hacksaw over recent years - and a decent quality blade doesn't seem to suffer unduly.