Marc Roberts

Blimey, I can't believe it's over a month since I last posted, it has been a busy one and time has flown by! I have managed to do some work on the twin hornet, per the piccies below. The fuselage and tail construction are now finished, it was pretty straight forward, and I thought I'd do a quick mock-up before I finished stripping it in prep for covering. I've also spent a peaceful hour tonight filling all the dinks before starting to fit the nylon covering, hopefully later in the week. I was struggling to find a suitable figure for the cockpit, but a friend came to the rescue and 3D printed the hornet you can see in the pictures, he should look great when painted. I have a couple of weeks free time over the Christmas break, so hopefully I can progress the model without too much nagging from Mrs Roberts! Have you started another twin yet Jon!?

I'm not affiliated to them, was walking past and hungry, twas in the 'House of Darwin' pub in Derby if you're in the area. It'll be a regular one for me whenever I visit ... burp! 80)

Hi Caveman, that's looking very neat and tidy! I 'ummed and ah'd' about standard or smaller servos for ages but went for the bigger ones in the and on the toss of a coin. I will try to put the receiver on the cockpit rear bulkhead after all the good feedback, it should be straight forward with a few extension leads made up maybe (I need to get the tools out and make some up for the wing anyway)! I was originally thinking of putting the servos up there but moved them towards and forward of the Cof G after other comments I'd seen about tail heaviness. I clocked your comments on the nose cone blocks a few posts ago, its appreciated, and I dug out the parts form the box last night to have a look at. Cheers, Marc

Thanks Nigel. Yes, I've epxoied the outers, and threaded and thread locked the end fittings into the inners. Hopefully it'll be OK! I skinned the underside last night, so hopefully sanding that back tonight!

Aha! I dragged that in accidentally! It was defo not of my making, but a recommendation for dinner when I was at Rolls Royce Derby the other week and I had to send a photo to my compadres when I saw it. Here we have a rare sirloin, pepper sauce, prawn (I've never seen one like that before!), tomatoes, caramelised shallots, sweet potato fries, and a side salad. It was great, but alas the heartburn later was not! 80)

Thanks Chris. I’m with you, it’s just a bit limited with space, and I won’t be able to get my chubby digits through the bulkhead cut-out once the lower skin is in. I’ll have a go at getting it further forward though! Cheers, Marc

Hi everybody. A quick update on my Twin Horney build. I've spent a few days on it over the last week, and pretty much fitted out the fuselage interior, with a few pictures below showing what I've done. I think they might be useful to anybody thinking of building as the plans are pretty thin on the interior layout, and it's quite tight to route everything if you're using standard size servos, especially making sure the wing mounted aileron servo runs don't clash with the other servo runs. I'll be skinning the underside later tonight, then hopefully prepping and covering with nylon next week.

It might be worth giving them a quick call (I think its Chris and Tina from memory) if you are thinking about it. I saw them at the BMFA Modellers Fair at Buckminster a few weeks ago and I mentioned the kit they'd made for me in just a few weeks from asking. He said the speed depends on what fittings he has in stock generally, as the laser cutting can be done very quickly. I think they do a lot of this kit work for the likes of RCME and Tony Nijhuis. I like the Astro Hog they make as its big (and I do like big aeroplanes) and it looks quite traditional with built up barn door ailerons. If you would like, when I go in the garage later this week, I'll dig out the flier and take/post some photos for you?

Did you ever build the Hog Chris? It was a while ago you posited, but I just spotted the post as I was browsing through? I actually have a fleet of the SLEC Astro Hog's on the way, and purely by accident. I have the kit ready to build, supplied by Chris at SLEC as a special order a couple of years ago (he'll still build and supply the kits if you call, even though the details are not on the site!). The only reason I haven't built it yet, I asked Martin at Ace Jets to supply a 20cc petrol engine, and he said he could but that our club also had an aircraft fully built and unused with a 20cc engine which had belonged to a passed away member and which was available for a suitable donation. I said yes please and discovered it was a SLEC Astro Hog, a real coincidence. I've put the kit to one side at the moment as I've plenty of other kits to keep me occupied and have been flying the built one for a couple of seasons now, and it flies beautifully and copes very well with the constant high winds up at Barkston Heath. The kit itself in my opinion is very good quality. The only problems I've had with the flying one were down to the building capabilities of the original owner. He managed to build in a huge warp in one wing (very impressive given the weight and strength of them!) which I've eventually got out and decided to top hinge the built-up ailerons instead of curving and fairing the leading edge which resulted in not enough control throw (I've also sorted this out by stripping and rebuilding the aileron leading edge and wing false trailing edge), all good fun. Most of my flying time is split evenly between this one and my Goldberg Tiger 60, both smashing fliers. Cheers, Marc

Thanks Caveman, I'll probably go for the recommended rates on full, and set 2/3rd of recommended for half rates form the feedback. I'm glad the second flights weren't as hairy. I flew a second hand 90" Astro Hog last year and hadn't realised quite how warped the left-hand wing was but was glad somebody was on hand to reach over and trim it to starboard for me whilst I held the stick full right ...... good fun though! Its spent 4 weeks this summer with the wing twisted and clamped in the utility room, so hopefully the result will be a slightly better flight .. fingers crossed!

Hi Jon, I've seen the one with the laser 180s in it, its sounds smashing! I had a bit of free time so went to Buckminster this afternoon for the swap meet, there was plenty on offer, but I didn't spot many twins. I did bag a parkfly umx mosquito in new condition for chucking in the car boot when I'm on trips away though! I've got the space for building my Wellington in the garage, but currently its being used as building storage so am having to wait until I've finished renovating Mrs Roberts kitchen before I can start building it! How long has the twin ace been up the loft, quite a while!?

Hi Caveman. I’m pleased the flight went well, despite the hairiness, back on the ground in one piece is always a good outcome in my books. Can I ask if you used the control throws per the build plans, I’m guessing you did, but I’ll probably reduce them on my twin hornet for the 1st flight and given your experience here, I do tend to prefer a more docile aeroplane? Can I ask also where your colour scheme came from? I ask everyone seems to do it differently, I usually go for black/yellow contrast as a habit from my first build. Thanks, M

How about a Tony Nijhuis Wellington John …… that’d fit the bill! 😀

Thans Nigel, really appreciated. I've already changed it to dead ahead this afternoon, just pondering now whether to cover the wing or finish fitting out the fuselage first. I might have a glass of wine to help with the decision process!

Thanks Jon, on that advice I'll shim out the side thrust, it'll only take a couple of washers to do so,

Hi Everybody. I finally found some more time to work on the twin hornet after a very busy summer. I've now completed construction of the wings, which are ready for covering in Nylon. The last construction bit for me is fitting out the fuselage interior, hopefully in the next few weeks. The wings I found straight forward to complete, although it's quite a tight fit to get servos in directly behind the engine firewalls. I used some scrap balsa to complete the nacelle underwing profiles, which I felt wasn't that clear on the plans (probably just my lack of ability in reading them. The engines are OS25s, and I did need to up the engine mounts to the next size for these to fit. Earlybird, ca I ask what size 3-blade props you used, I may go for these as there's not a lot of fuselage clearance with the recommended size 2-blade props? For the engines, I've kept the port side aligned to the fuselage, and tweaked the starboard in 3 degrees to help with any engine outs. I've included a few piccies below, but thats it for now, it's an enjoyable build, and I'm looking forward to finding the time to finish and fly her. Caveman, did you manage to maiden yours over the summer?

Hi everybody. My apologies, I've been away and busy for a few months and missed all the really welcome, encouraging, and helpful replies. I've had to focus on an intensive period of house renovation for Mrs Roberts to offset all my building and flying time! Anyway, a quick update, I have started the Twin Hornet, and I've attached a few piccies below! Caveman, how did you get on with your Hornet, is she flying yet, it would be great to see some piccies!? I've been tying to work out which pieces of balsa were for the nose cone support/fitting, not all the balsa lego bricks were numbered, so I've found selection has been a bit by trial and error. I've not had the issue with the wing thickness, but have found the soft balsa to be very soft and easily dented, so am thinking the decision to go with doped nylon covering was probably a good idea. I've also followed your idea of fitting the steerable nose leg, I've seen a few fliers wipe our the very expensive runway landing lights here at Barkston (one last night nearly!), so it might be time well invested in the ground collision avoidance area! I've carried on with the recommendation of fitting twin throttle servos practicing engine failure recover/actions (Thanks John). I've sharpened a piece of carbon tube and fed it through the wing core for the servo leads feed and to save having to cut the veneer, and am quite happy with the way this has turned out. I've also just taken delivery of two flat twin 160s (thanks again John, and very nice they are too!), but not for the hornet, it's be a tad overkill methinks! I'll try to keep a regular drumbeat with the build going forward, and hopefully Mrs Roberts will let me crack on with it now she's got (most of!) her new kitchen in place. Cheers Marc

Hello! In the next week or so I'm going to start building a Twin Hornet, so will let you know how it goes and flies if you want. I have two NIB OS 25 LA's to out in it, and am planning to cover it with nylon. I intend to set it up so I can chop the engines individually and practice flying/recovery with asymmetric power, in prep for some bigger beastie kits I have in my workshop. I'm looking forward to the build and flying challenge. Cheers, Marc

Hi, I realise this conversation happened a few years ago, but I thought it would be good to add a bit about the SLEC Astro Hog, especially given the un-ended discussion of the SLEC kits quality. A few weeks ago, after SLEC changed their website, I accidently stumbled on an errant link to purchase the Astro Hog from them, so I gave it a go. A couple of emails later, SLEC confirmed the kit wasn't currently in stock or production, but Tina and Chris said they would run one off for me by the end of July. It's just arrived today, and a quick check through has shown the kit is the usual quality item they produce. Good quality wood, neatly cut, well packed, good quality fittings, and nice clear instructions. I don't think you can beat that for customer service and a quality product, thank you SLEC 80)