Michael Barclay

Funny that you should say that, as I was just thinking the same whilst sanding the wheel pants for my latest build. 50" JU87.

I guess it depends on who else is flying. Sometimes on the flght-line, other times well back!!!

The First Bat-wing I built was from a kit like the one in your post. After that I built one a week from the plans and bought in balsa from a model shop in Leeds on Merrion Street. Had to build one a week as we always crashed them on Sunday morning. Used to fly at Burley Park or the playing fields opposite Kirkstall Abbey. Fast and furious flying and building, and great fun. Always drew a small crowd of interesting folk. Now they would probably be complaining.

Control line kit called a "Pinto" with 1.5cc diesel make forgotten. That was in 1961. It didn't fly very well but it got me interested. Built a lot of Bat-wing stunt and combat models with my neighbour Ralph. Happy times with simple planes.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I am pleased to say that a replacement battery has just arrived.

Thanks, Nigel. If there is any problem I think PayPal will sort it because I use them a lot. If not, I will go to Overlander. Shame because these are the first Overlander Lipos I have bought. Usually buy Turnigy and have never had an issue. Just bad luck, I guess. Mike.

I bought three new 2200 3cell Overlander batteries from a company called "Appliance Electronics UK Ltd" . My charger would not attempt to charge one of these batteries, so I checked the individual cell voltages and cell number one was completely dead. 0.4v. Tried to contact the company but no response until I contacted them through PayPal. They now want the lipo number printed on the side of the case. Does anyone know the significance of the numbers please, as I am beginning to think these batteries may be old stock? Number on dead battery is PL19*0022. Other two are PL19*0261 and PL19*0231. Does the 19 signify year of manufacture? Thanks, Mike.

Hi Paul. Actually, I don't have a vacuum. I am too short of space, sharing the boat with ten of my builds, mostly bi-planes like the one shown with a five-foot wing span kind of precludes one!

I did have another idea, which I don't know if anyone has tried. Clear casting resin?

Thanks Martin.

Hi Paul. My problem is that I live on my boat, so do not have room for old hoovers and heaters etc. That was why I binned the last one. Just looking for something which will do six-inch canopies. Mike. ps, will look on Utube or maybe ebay. Just wondered if anyone could recommend one make.

Can anyone recommend a compact and reasonably priced vacuum forming machine for canopies? I built one which worked a couple of years ago but in truth it was not very powerful and was a bit of a fiddle, so I binned it.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I did try Lemon one a few years ago, but it had some issues, but as Orange full range are impossible to find at the moment I will try one again.

Maybe I will try one in an old plane. Spectrum prices are stupid. I have always used Orange full range with absolutely no issues but seems they are no longer available.

Anyone tried these on eBay? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364209113376?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20201210111314%26meid%3Deb9eb4b5ec7c49ee993f8b446d5f6166%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D404286331265%26itm%3D364209113376%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv11WebTrimmedV3MskuWithLambda85KnnRecallV1V4V6ItemNrtInQueryAndCassiniVisualRankerAndBertRecall%26brand%3DUnbranded&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A364209113376eb9eb4b5ec7c49ee993f8b446d5f6166|enc%3AAQAIAAABUA2rugFlOq3qu1cLac%2F%2Fk6Vp0Oa0HaJIqoXKeIiOR%2BTUgsSvHaeyPxKYu6UqHqq7GaGyKVqHQnjeiiXcQpMGw2t3aB%2BssGfjtIWOBj8wExc7oYYP7xGMyQCrHDyDaSaWjB1CueI3A94n0yxXX5dx5gD4Hf%2Bmwm00etI%2BcpjBGdzUA01cT%2Ftaqzmw6YRPln3OJrNYkwJ%2BvUx%2FcCyCZeZF5FHiB0WTT5lZvStovWRsIjdLwEIuqvaenwL2OcXrvNoW%2BL11EPlblMom8lTWlpZtei2tDNgGZ2OjdO3Z0fGul%2FrzLDdjzv11ehhVwKIyznfys6qOwAySb2eHnqwayR%2BCao98l5fq4A3wNh2alaKbcmEKczJFEKlqsKNjo3os4Ctvg%2Bi2od3krsADO4JA5ZiSlNi9K9mlDJzlU2aFKO83Gl%2BpJdm3ocJ6LMGzraEA7xXGlg%3D%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2047675

Thanks, Steve.

I expect to be moving to Arnside soon and just wondered if anyone knows of a club near Arnside. A friend said there was one just south of Kendal, but I can't find anything on the BMFA clubfinder.

Another of my winter scratch builds in 6mm depron all epoxy glassfibre covered. HE5, 3 seater reconaisance float plane in Soviet colours circa 1927..

Hello, Tosh. The wing is built by making several strategically placed longitudinal 4mm deep x 1mm wide V shaped slots in the underside of the 6mm depron. West system epoxy is injected into these slots. The wing is then pushed into a jig which forces the depron to the correct aerfoil and surplus epoxy is removed. The wing stays in the jig. I usually leave it overnight, and when the wing is removed from the jig, you have a rigid aerfoil shape to which the underside of the wing can be added if you do not want an undercambered wing. The whole thing is covered in epoxy and glass cloth in the usual manner. It is not an easy process and is time-consuming and very exacting, but it does make strong, rigid wings. It is much easier to build conventional balsa wings, but I like experimenting with different techniques. I hope this gives you some idea of the process but it is hard to describe. When building eliptical or tapered wings it gets even more complicated so I won't go into that here! For the Avro, the wing span is only 40 inches, and as it has a very short fuzelage, it does not take up a great deal of room, so for this model I did not make the wings removable.

My latest scratch build from three view found online and couple of old pics. AVRO 539. Originally designed as a float plane for the 1919 Schneider Trophy. After float damage returned to Avro factory and floats replaced with wheels and vertical stabilizer redesigned for Airiel Derby. As I will eventually add floats I kept the original Stab on my wheeled version. Builders perogative! 40 inch span, built from 6mm white depron (Yes I still have 10 shets left) and some blue fom. All covered with 40gram glass cloth using west system epoxy painted with own mix of ivory acrylic. 35.36 910kv motor. 3cell 2200 lipo. 12x7 woodprop. 1350 grams flying weight..