Martin Harris - Moderator

Alan,   Just thinking out loud...not making any particular claims and as I said, I have no real experience with the FSRs and they certainly have a great reputation for power in their day but I've had a quick poke around the net and there are quite a lot of claims that the ABC (actually ABN) versions did suffer from flaking. I have no reason to suspect any problems with the ringed version of course.   I still think that as a last resort after eliminating any other possibilities it might be worth a look - even an ex-OS service agent, staunchly defending their reputation on a newsgroup did admit that "the only ones with flaking liners he'd serviced had been abused"..so it must be a possibility.Edited By Martin Harris on 21/01/2011 23:28:15

Fuel foaming can be a problem with a partially empty tank - is the fuel tank compartment well packed with foam? The vibrations tend to be damped a bit with the model sitting on the ground. (edit - sorry Lindsay, I took a while posting and you've already said most of this)   I'm not familiar with the 45 FSR but I believe there may have been both ringed and ABC versions. Certain OS ABC engines suffer from plating failure and one of the main symptoms seems to be unexplained deadsticks - never really worked out exactly why...   It might be worth whipping the head off and checking the cylinder bore for pitting if everything else fails.Edited By Martin Harris on 21/01/2011 21:09:58

I'm sure you could phone Mick with your details or split the number over a couple of emails - random digits that he could put together. I've never understood how anything could be less secure than the copy of the old fashioned imprint with all the card details rattling around in the back of a shop or garage until they sent them off,so any reasonable precautions should be at least as safe...

Ideally, you need a mate with a milling machine but otherwise some hard work with drills and files on a chunk of ali should do the trick...Edited By Martin Harris on 21/01/2011 19:59:01

Do you do a proper nose up check? Not the quick blip that many do as a token gesture, but 10 - 15 seconds at full throttle close to vertical - if the clunk has stuck at the front it will almost certainly cough and die in this time.

I tend to agree (hope I'm not tempting fate) with Dead-stick. Perhaps I've been very lucky but I can't recall any incidents attributable to faulty plugs or sockets at my club either.

Posted by Peter Miller on 20/01/2011 18:31:35: Turbycat, a bit more encouragement. A few years ago RCM&E featured pictures on my Culver Dart. It had been built by someone with only one working arm. I don't know how he did it and I have the greatest possible admiration for him. It does prove what one can achieve with determination. I think that was quite probably Brian (my clubmate) as he did build one - I'd forgotten that...he has had one or two mentions in the model press. Edited By Martin Harris on 20/01/2011 23:15:05

Very impressive - hope they made sure of the wind direction before launching - those power lines look uncomfortably close!

Seem to be dancing inside the clouds at the moment...no lump yet, I'm afraid!

Posted by Turbycat on 19/01/2011 22:08:39: In the past I have built from plans and kits. Even designed one of my own (didn't go very well). Now, however, due to rather big motorbike smash I have very limited use of my right arm. As I'm right handed this means my cutting/building skills are somewhat limited. So I am now an assembler of ARTF stuff. I can just about manage to dothis myself and I end up with a large variety of aircraft to choose from. I would love to build again but at the moment it's not going to work out that way. Andy   I hope this will come over as an attempt to inspire you, Andy - we have a member who lost his right leg and the total use of his right arm (arm nerves pulled out of his spine) in a bike accident in the late 50s (when he was 19 - and he was right handed) and in the last 9 years or so he's built (amongst others) a Vulcan, Stuka, Maricado and P40 from plans plus a Puppeteer and WestWings Hawk from kits. He's currently building a large B17 (4 SC52 FS engines) from a part kit and an EDF Vulcan.   Admittedly, he's always said that he was actually glad that his accident happened when he was so young as it would have been more difficult to adjust had he been older when it happened but he's very proud of the fact that he does almost all of the building alone (one or two rather complex tasks have been done by clubmates) and he reckons that half the build time involves making jigs and aids in order to build one handed. His right arm (which was left attached to help his balance) is sometimes used as a weight to hold things!   ...and on top of that he learnt to fly, with a specially modified transmitter, in his late 60s! Edited By Martin Harris on 20/01/2011 11:19:17 Edited By Martin Harris on 20/01/2011 11:20:42

Sorry - hit return twice?Edited By Martin Harris on 20/01/2011 11:16:03

Ah, the good old impulse mag!   Surprising how often I've seen people exhausting themselves to no avail not realising a sharp tap on the mag would release the stuck slip ring - when you knew what to listen for you could "hear" the silence from 50 yards...   For anyone not "in the know" an impulse mag winds itself up internally before releasing the mechanism to create a great big fat spark - at the same time you hear a sharp "clack" as it does so.

Posted by Ed Darter on 18/01/2011 22:51:36: Banking grommets    Some sort of British equivalent of a Swiss Gnome???

One difference between modules and integrated sets is that all the modules I know of (with the exception of the original Futaba 10C) use a PPM input to interface with the module.   With a dedicated transmitter the stick positions are fed directly to the digital circuitry, reducing latency and supposedly improving response and "feel".   Whether the average pilot would notice this on the average model is open to debate...

Damn - thought I was a modeller until it got to the bits about not flying and a tidy workshop!

I have to admit to relying on the Chippie's brakes and a trusted pilot.  Mind you, the one place I wasn't when the engine had coughed more than twice was in front of the prop!   Luckily, Brian Lecomber had written a superb article on the subject in Pilot magazine shortly before I started prop swinging and his excellent technique involved a virtually automatic couple of steps away from the prop by starting slightly off balance - sounds horrendous but in practice worked brilliantly.

No - it's me changing direction in a medium moving a lot faster than the wind does!  It's what our models do but more extreme.  Perhaps I should have taken a metaphorical Minium up in a 747!

 Steve,      but   Erfolg, I have seen an apparently learned mathematical explanation of why the inertial effect is cancelled out and I must say I have no qualms about walking down the aisle of an Airbus flying at a ground speed of 500 mph and doing an about turn without falling over.  Troll starting this or not, it's certainly an opportunity to try to raise the general understanding a little,   Stewart,  Please don't be offended or put off posting again if your post was made in good faith - it is a subject which evokes strong opinions and misunderstandings and you'll find this forum is a friendly one where differences in opinion are generally respected.   

...and a bit of Googling later: Revealed this info...

I spoke to him last year when he told me he had gone part time and would only answer the phone on Mondays to Wednesdays - I've checked his number today  (01626 852330) which now says "this line does not accept incoming calls", so I'd imagine this might indicate that he's retired since my last contact.Edited By Martin Harris on 18/01/2011 15:21:15

Posted by Erfolg on 18/01/2011 13:51:34:  Going cross wind the relative velocity to the ground would need to be at least 10mph, although would probably need to be higher, as I would argue to side wind would not provide zero velocity, effective wind speed, mucking up the airflow over the wing. At 45 degrees i would suspect all should be well, in being at the stall.  Beg pardon Erfolg?  Where's this "side wind" coming from?  The model has simply turned through 90 degrees (or a bit more if you're offsetting drift correctly) in the air mass that it's flying in.  If you were flying in balance at 90 degrees to the wind and could see a tuft of wool attached to the canopy it would  be straight back even if the model was slipping merrily across the ground downwind.   Steve, your extra throttle in the turn is necessary to counter the additional G loading caused by turning tighter than the same turn in nil wind in order to (probably subconsciously) make it look right.

Stewart,   I fully agree with you on this but it's a recurring theme, both at club level and on the forum and very difficult to shift entrenched attitudes.  People see models crashing during downwind turns or zooming when turning into wind and simplified logic provides an easy explanation which is totally incorrect.   The other main reason for these effects is expectation of the effects of turning relative to the ground leading to pilot inputs causing these apparent effects.

My money's on Turin but there's a hefty clue in David's previous posting!

No internet but you can phone him Mon - Wed.

The exploded view of an FT160 suggests that there may be a dot on the camwheel (shown on the camshaft side). If there is one on  your 240 one, I'd think it's a reasonable guess that you'd set it at 12 o'clock with the pistons at TDC - if so and you try it just carefully check that the valves appear to work at the correct times and on each cylinder at the same point in the respective strokes.   In fact, however you set it, this is a good check as it will confirm that you're not a tooth out.Edited By Martin Harris on 15/01/2011 18:05:28