Geoff Copping

Quick!! Where's me DLG?? 😀

At our club, for as long as I can remember, we have always had a turbine and petrol ban around harvest time. There's a sign that goes up at the gate for the duration of the ban. Everyone accepts it as our field is completely surrounded by tinder dry crops this time of year. Our landlord farmer is most amicable and we've always maintained a good relationship with him through negotiation. It is worth rembering that to the farmer his crops are his livelihood whereas, to us, our field is a hobby.

If I'm asked to change anything by text or email then I always get in direct contact with whoever it is that the change is purportedly coming from just to confirm it's genuine. Recently I get emails saying I've made a large payment in Euro's by Paypal and to ring this number if I haven't made the payment. The email is always addressed 'Dear Customer'. Obviously scam so block and delete.

Electric vehicles may appear 'green' to us but a quick search of the internet as to how Cobalt is mined for Lithium batteries makes for some pretty distressing reading. Not just electric cars of course but all electronics, including the laptop I'm typing this on. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.5399491/tech-giants-sued-over-appalling-deaths-of-children-who-mine-their-cobalt-1.5399492 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/06/pollution-causing-birth-defects-in-children-of-drc-cobalt-miners-study Very disturbing when I'm confronted with adverts asking for £2 a month to fund operations for children with hair lip or cleft palate.

Another vote for Avast free. Plus Cache Cleaner free every now and then.

I have a Radiolink mark I and mark II. I too preferred to spend more time flying than programming my transmitter. They work fine and the rx's are cheap but Radiolink has its own protocol. I use the MKII to tow a K8 glider up to 700ft with a Durafly Tundra so range is not a problem. The only thing you may find a faff is that they come with a basic factory programme so you need to format the transmitter then download and install the full programme. It's easy to do and there's plenty of vids on YT. My main reason for getting one was that I usually use MPX but the rx's are a bit expensive to put into a Lidl conversion. Radiolink are £9 to £16 depending where you buy them. Plenty of parameters to fiddle with if you want and, I think, good value for money. Easy to use so I have no plans to go Open TX .

I have one of these and it's terrific. The laser cutting is immaculate. Very light but very strong. Flies great on 2200 3s. Reduced throws it's a great sport flyer and with full throws it's crazy. I was undecided between Limbo Dancer and this Fusion mk2. I went for this and I'm glad I did. The 4Max powertrain that George recommended for it is brilliant and I love flying it. It's won more than its fair share of comps too, I'm not a comp pilot I hasten to add. Excellent VFM and fun for the buck. I just noticed he's out of stock but if you can find one then I'm sure you'll love it. https://evolution-models.com/product/fusion-mk2/

My bargepole is sharpened and keeps Faceache at a healthy distance so I would like to see a bulletin on the main website.

I think a lot of people were nervous about flying. I was so I used my electric glider and got up early and high, out of everyones way. As it happened our day was incident free. Using such a variety of models made it possible for plenty of flyers to use the airspace and also holding a briefing beforehand where pilots positions, launching, airspace use, landing and retrieval were all explained. In the end, even though it was only 14 aircraft, everyone said that they felt quite comfortable taking part. We are lucky in having quite a spacious field so others may have struggled with small sites. This was my first go at such an event but I'd happily defend our record? Well done and thanks to the BMFA and our club members for organising it.?

Here's our crew from Ramsey Model Aero Club, I'm on far right with MPX Heron

14 flew at Ramsey Model Aero Club, easy phased launch, land and retrieve. No disasters. It would have been 15 but one pilot realised a cell on his drone battey was duff 9 seconds to 12 and, by the time he got it changed, it was 2 seconds after the 12 noon whistle. A great day followed by a bbq.

Just loops, spins, barrel rolls and stall turns, nothing too extreme but exciting for a youngster. I remember checking the fuel pumps, jam your foot against the wheel, hang on to the engine bearers then lift the priming lever to de-activate the two pumps, one at a time, whilst the engine was run at full throttle. quite refreshing !!!!

I've enjoyed this thread from a nostalgic point of view too. I started my aircraft engineering career as a Junior Technician at Cranfield College of Aeronautics Department of Flight servicing the Auster Aiglets that they used for student training back in the 1960's. Had a few flights in them on 'weather checks', including aero's. Happy days?

I must admit that I'm a bit baffled by the problems that seem to be affecting the supply of modelling equipment. One of my preferred shops for musical equipment is based in Germany and their supply has been exceptional, very quick deliveries with no duty or VAT on top of the original purchase price, some quite expensive orders too. Brexit hasn't changed their service one iota. Maybe I'm missing something or maybe it's just that some companies have their business models set up better than others.?

About 12 years ago I packed up because I got fed up with taking them home in bin bags and couldn't afford the repair bills? Over time I kept seeing birds thermalling so thought it wouldn't hurt to have an electric glider. Since then I've rejoined my local club and obtained several more models and, so far I've only trashed one model. It was a fast delta which needed hand launching and I hit the stick with my hand as I went to put it back on the Tx, it hit terra-firma before I could correct it. I've been thoroughly enjoying being back in the hobby but I don't push my luck or my flying skills.?

Just watched Green Planet episode 1 and it showed the life cycle of a Balsa tree. very interesting.

I checked in lots of places for any horror stories about W11 and didn't find any. The split screen working could be useful to me so I started the upgrade from W10 about 12.30pm yesterday. With all the updates and restarts it took until nearly 6pm to complete. In fact I went down town for a cup of coffee with friends for a couple of hours in the afternoon and left it to its own devices. Everything pretty much the same just different interface. A couple of updates this morning, set my old background picture, did a cache clean and disabled a couple of things in the startup menu that I'd forgotten to do and, other than that, everything is working fine. All my privacy settings on data sharing were still the same. Machine may be a tad faster but ample for my needs. I did note that MS give 10 days to be able to revert to W10 if not happy, after that it would need a clean install of W10, but, as others have said, apart from the time, it was a non-event so I'll stick with it.

I used to work on Gypsy Major engines and the baffles are attached to the crank case, not the cowling, and they are not a tight fit against the fins of the cylinders but form a channel to direct the air around the fins because you want a good quantity of air moving quickly past the cylinders to provide sufficient cooling. I would suggest two straight plates attached to the engine bearers which drop straight down either side of the engine. the front of these can be fashioned to mate with the opening in the front of the cowling and the air exits through the gap between the rear bottom of the cowl and the fuselage. Depending how scale you want it to be, the side panels of the cowling swing upwards for access to the engine, leaving the front cowl in place, attached to the engine bearers, or the cowling can be fashioned in one piece to slide on and off independent of the baffles.

Thanks Paul, a great help. We'll give it a go when the wind is right, with due regard for the eroding cliffs of course. Geoff

A buddy and myself fancy a bit of something different for slope soaring so we're thinking of heading to the coast. We're in North Cambs so can anyone recommend any sites say from Hunstanton round to Mundesely area, or even Suffolk for good cliffs, please? I fly an M60 or 2.7m Odyssy and my buddy flies a Wild Thing or ASW 28. Might even put fishing rods in too.

I have a Fusion II. I built it on a 49" board. As has been said, the tips can be added after building the one piece wing. 48" would be the minimum.

Hi Bill, I know it doesn't help your question but I just wanted to say that the Sonata was my first ever RC plane that I learned to fly on. Flat field bungee launch & 27 meg radio. Lovely stable flyer so I'm sure you'll enjoy them. It got me off to a good start. A few house moves later the plans are long gone, sorry. Geoff

I had to let the tyres down on me bike because I couldn't reach the pedals.

If you can get in there, I use a dab of hot glue on the motor wires to keep them clear of the motor.

My first ever flight in an aeroplane was in a Dragon Rapide from Cranfield College on a pleasure flight with my Dad when I was 7 years old. Yes, I could see my house from up there? My Dad worked at Cranfield and I began my aircraft apprenticeship there at 15yrs old. I often see the Rapide while I'm fishing at Grafham Water and it brings back memories. Lovely old plane.