Andy Stephenson

I remember the news item when Michael Hesseltine was defence minister, trying to shoot one down with a GPMG.

I ran it briefly in the garden but I haven't tuned it yet.

Rustins is a polyurethane which uses an isocyanate hardener which is harmful when sprayed so a carbon filter full-face mask and gloves are a minimum requirement. Professionals use an air-fed mask.

The issue with epoxy as a fuel proofer is that it goes brown over time, it's OK for engine compartments and other non-visible areas. I use Rustins Plastic Coating two part polyurethane varnish for the outside of the airframe.

One question, what is "CI"?

A show I was at a while ago there was a large aerobatic model that had winglets on its propeller, they were only tiny about 1/4" but I assume they might be useful where competition rules restricts the diameter of the prop.

Like Jon says, this sort of DIY ply seems to have a middle layer of sawdust. This is just to make up the thickness and has no real integrity.

I'm a long-time Futaba user but I was finally persuaded to go with an FRSky X14 for complex slope mixing as everyone I know in that discipline says it's very difficult to program for using Futaba gear.

The 400g could relate to the shipping weight.

In this Amazon listing it claims video capture but there's no sign of a camera on it, could it be false advertising? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sky-Viper-Performance-Engineered-Technology/dp/B0C5N7KY86

The box says "NO FAA" (USA) where I thought the rules were the same as in the UK, 250g limit.

These foamies never normally appear in my local branch so I was surprised to see this for about 40 quid. It includes radio presumably on 2.4 and it reckons to have about 600m range and flies at 35MPH.

No requirement that I know of and it makes no noticeable difference, providing you can access as many channels as you need. SFHSS is limited to 8 channels and no telemetry. FASST can give you up to 18 channels with telemetry.

Bending piano wire around too sharp a radius will inevitably cause it to break.

If there's enough of the receiver left they should be able to match the unique binding code to the transmitter if they suspect a specific someone and they haven't destroyed it yet.

Back on the subject of blooming, there is a product you can get from Halfords called leveller spray which is just a can of high quality thinners, the purpose of which it to level out any orange peel effect of sprayed paint. It just redissolves the surface of the newly sprayed paint to allow it to relax to a more smooth finish. This smells just like the "amyl acetate" that Christopher describes and it may well be worth keeping a can of it about the workshop.

My experience with tissue is that you should wet it then blot it out between two towels so it's just damp before applying it to the structure. It won't expand any more once it has been wetted and it won't start to shrink until it close to dry.

The white blooms happen because moisture has mixed with dope. To get rid of it, wait till its fully dry then add another coat of thinned dope.

Lactose intolerant much?

I discovered that using water based dope worked the best when tissueing over 5micron Mylar, no wrinkles no messing about brushing them out just tease it out around the edge. Applying tissue over a lightweight substrate like Mylar is actually lighter than tissue alone because the dope doesn't pool inside the tissue and it's airproof needing no more dope than one coat. Other advantages of this two stage process are, it's puncture resistant and more rigid than plastic film alone.

If you see the picture of the hole in the leading edge of the wing, you can clearly see the outline of a drone.

This is what they said about Win 7 but there were updates for me as a home user after the "end" date.

Like with Windows 7 the security updates will still keep coming long after MS say they are stopping support. https://www.lifewire.com/why-you-shouldnt-worry-about-windows-10s-end-date-5189327

I fitted a new rear bearing but the front one still looked and spun like new so I kept it. The rear one I removed still seemed to turn nicely once the brown deposit was cleaned off. It was the castor coke/sludge that filled (and I mean filled) the exhaust and the exhaust port that seemed excessive to me.