John Duncker

I visited some years back. It is amazing. I particularly liked the section from the aircraft carrier island that included some of the pilot briefing and readiness rooms.

I built a Flea Fly from the original free plan back in the late 60s. Built as per plan with a Veco 19 rc it flew very well and would do OK flying the full aerobatic schedule of the day. It had Kraft RC gear with their small servos. I built it light.. Today a Magnum 15 would fly it nicely. I flew the snot out it for years and have fond memories.

I have taught a few people to fly and don't ever remember resorting to expo. A properly set up trainer does not need it and IMHO it is better if there is an obvious effect on the plane if the stick is moved otherwise the beginner is tempted to jam the stick right over if he thinks nothing is happening. Flying pattern I use expo on elevator rudder and ailerons as I can be smoother especially when applying corrections. I will have 2 or 3 rates settings with different expo. Learned a lot about this sort of set up from a top us classic pattern guy he told me that this was the way to go to look smooth. Almost as good as transmitter tray and extra long sticks. I am also a 3D hooligan and have expo on elevator and ailerons . Usually about 40 % If I have overpowered the model I might play around with altering the throttle response low down using the pitch curve option

Over the years I have tried brushes credit cards and blotting with toilet paper. Results were OK but getting a good finish meant lots of work and lots of care to avoid lifting or dragging the cloth. Then I tried using small foam rollers. I found this to be both easier and quicker as there was no tendancy to drag the cloth. It was also easy to control the amount of resin applied. BUT BEWARE not all foams are suitable some dissolve in the resin. Not good. So try a roller you won't go back to brushes or credit cards.

Posted by Jon - Laser Engines on 14/06/2018 11:00:58: l Im in full agreement with ED about castor. Its day is done in modern engines and with a decent synthetic 10% oil is likely to be more than enough. My 21 size nitro car engine runs 16% nitro and 10% oil. Its doing nearly 40,000rpm flat out so if 10% oil is enough for that its enough for anything! I would disagree with 10% being sufficient for aero use. It is OK in cars because they never run at full throttle for more than a second or two. 15 % was my SWAG for minimum and as I was nostalgic about the smell of caster added 2% for luck and also in the belief that it might provide some last ditch lube in case of a lean run. I used to run a OS 15 CVA on 25% nitro straight out of the box for 12th scale combat. I also used the MVVS 20 with the mini pipe. These would not run out of the box on 25% requiring a head shim to lower the compression ratio. I never went beyond 35% nitro but was told that beyond 40 % you needed to add 2 to 3 % of nitrobenzene to get the nitromethane to mix. NB I was also told that there were considerable health risks associated with nitrobenzene. This mix came from Bill Wisniewski who knew a thing or two about going fast. The fuel I have been using is as follows: 15% castor oil, 5% polyoxide oil (which is available from outboard boat racing shops), 10% nitro-benzine, 55% nitro-methane, 15% methanol. This should be mixed at least one week before using and stored in dark bottles. It worked really well in a Eta 29 in a class B team racer.

My Stampe

Loved my President Stampe in Penquin livery. A proper build and I am glad I bought a 120 fs for it instead of the ST 90 I had planned to use. Low passes with the motor burbling away were great. It was great to do proper scale like take offs getting the tw off first and a gentle climb out. Slow rolls were a treat and I loved the side slip approach with fully crossed controls. I will add a pic when I work out how to do that.