Geoff Copping

Don't drink, don't smoke, don't......................well, at my age I've got to do something to keep my mind active.

Welcome back, I too am a returnee. I gaveup because I got fed up with needing black bin-bags. However, I kept catching myself watching thermalling Gulls so it was only a matter of time. Touch wood, there's been no disasters so far this time a couple of years back in, but I've been amazed at how far the hobby has progressed, especially with electric foamies and no need for numbered clothes pegs. I hope you can recapture the magic, as I have done. (so far)

What I can tell you is, on the full size, that inside the cowling is a duct which channelled the cooling air in between and around the cylinders instead of letting it blow straight through, so the air enters the cowling on the port side, travels between the cylinders and heads then exits through the bottom rear of the cowling. You may want to install a baffle to direct the air around the cylinder and head and have an exit port at the rear because the starboard side of your cowling is completely enclosed.

For CG, I put lead in the screw holes that retain the tail. One other thing is that the catch for the battery hatch needs a bit of velcro on it because it can get blown undone.

I fly my Acro Wot foam e using 4-Max 3s 2200 40C's and it flies beautifully.

Posted by Luther Oswalt on 04/07/2020 19:05:35: David, What engine did the Auster use? Leo The Aiglet used the DeHavilland Gipsy Major inverted inline 4cyl aircooled.

BoT was my first ever thermal soarer and, although I don't have one now, it's my favourite soarer. MMM, perhaps I should check my piggy-bank?

Also, it also depends how much you enjoy repairing. More than once I've flown successfully in challenging wind and then landed but, before I could get my hands on the model, the wind picked it up, turned it over and damaged it. Another time I'd had a good old time sloping with a Bird of Time glider at Borough Hill. This hill has a lip all around the edge. I got too close to the edge on landing and, before I could react, the roll-over turned it over and slammed it into the ground causing severe damage. So there's lots to think about.

I've recently bought and flown a Acro-Wot foam-e to take my B test with. It flew great straight out of the box and I think it is very stable. It stays straight and level but I do have to fly it and tell it where I want it to go, which it does accurately. On rates it's gentle but full rates are great fun and on 2200 3s it does everything I want. I did follow suggestions from other threads to replace the prop with a more rigid APC. In my limited experience I think it would make a good trainer for a capable student but will also see him through years of fun. A very experienced pilot in my club has one and he's had it ages and flown it nearly to death and still loves it. It's been glued back together loads of times but still going strong. Little tip, if he gets one, put a bit of velcro on the battery hatch catch, it can come undone. Edited By Geoff Copping on 18/06/2020 09:02:14

I cut my teeth aircraft engineering at Cranfield College of Aeronautics in the 60's where they used Auster Aiglets as trainers. They were powered by Gypsy Majors 4 cyl inverted inline. The red colour is the dope that was used to shrink the Irish linen before painting. Had my first experience of aerobatics in one of them when the instructors would go up for a weather check. The Cranfield ones were silver with blue flashing. Just googled Auster Aiglet Cranfield College and all four of them came up. Edited By Geoff Copping on 11/06/2020 10:11:19

I'm usually a Hitec-0-phile but I have had good service from Bluebird microservo's from Pheonix Model Products.

Excellent service and good batteries. I've recently got back into aeromodelling so I'm fairly new to Lipo's and the first couple I bought were ok but I've since converted to 4-Max and they give plenty of consistent power, I even got my wife to order a couple more 3s 2200's for my Birthday this week. I recently built an Evolution Fusion II and George was happy to talk me through what I required for a powertrain for it and the performance is perfect for me. I will use 4-max for all my electrics from now on because I know they work and, as you may have seen, his website has a table of powertrains for many popular aircraft and lots of useful information. Thanks George

Posted by Chris Walby on 21/05/2020 06:45:12: Sorry to hear about the damage to your WOT4 and you have unfortunately experienced the differences in manufacturers arm specifications. Food for though as I collect all my spare servo arms in one big container! I think in future I'll keep them separate and marked up from which make/model servo they are spares for. Hope the rebuild does not take too long and thanks for the information. A timely posting, having recently got back into RC planes, from the various new models I've acquired I decided to put all the spare arms in a coffee jar. I too will now make a point of keeping them labelled. Thanks for that.

A non-permanent means of attaching my operator number to my aircraft . I found that if I print my number onto plain paper with an inkjet printer then apply a suitable size strip of sellotape over the lettering. Pull the tape off straight away and the number is lifted with the tape, much like lifting a fingerprint (what would I know about that). The piece of sellotape can then be applied to a convenient area inside the aircraft that doesn't need tools to access, i.e inside the canopy. I'm not sure if the tape will stick as well to the outside of a foamie but I'm about to try it on my newly acquired Acro Wot Foam E.

Went down to a field that I have permission to fly from this morning. I've hardly done any flying since getting back into it and lockdown occurring so a bit nervous. I started off with my Evolution Fusion which I had flown a couple of times and settled my nerves with that then I decided to bite the bullet and do a maiden launch with my Foam E AcroWot which I purchased during lock down. The grass was a bit longer than I would have liked and this resulted in a nose-over on the first couple of attempts but, on the third go, I held in up ele and fed the power on a bit more slowly and she was off. Couple of tweaks of aileron and rudder trim then cg check, which was perfect, then enjoy getting back into it. I love the Acrowot and I hope this year to use it to finally get my 'B' certificate. I finished off with a few launches of my Strike 3 dlg. There's some containers at the edge of the field and the wind was just right to use them for a bit of sloping and mild DS. Didn't last long but it was fun trying. Anyway, with being able to get out trout fishing yesterday, 3 caught, flying today and tonight I shall do a bit of Rabbit control, the fee for using the field for flying, then it feels like this outdoorsy type guy is back in the groove.

Watched a film on Netflix yesterday called Contagion. It was made in 2011 but it is amazingly accurate on what is happening today. There's bad language but only in context but so much of it is such a mirror of these days that I had to remind myself it wasn't a documentary. Recommended

It might be a bit belt and braces but I have built in this bracket onto the hatch cover as well as putting sticky back velcro on the floor of the battery bay.

Posted by GrumpyGnome on 01/05/2020 13:45:19: Call me naive, but aren't the very well paid NHS trust chief execs etc. at least partly responsible for lack of ppe? I thought the government set the budget but these execs decided how to spend it. Similarly those owning/running care homes...... Sorry - don't normally comment on anything political but these sure are not normal times. On the modelling side, I retired a few days ago and the plan was to make heavy use of the beautiful flying field that is within walking distance. Instead I am building, fixing, flying micro fpv quads in the house and a blade heli in the garden. So, managing a little 'fix'! GG In 2018 the government created Supply Chain Coordination Ltd which was in charge of procuring NHS supplies, warehousing and lorries for delivery. Supposedly a 'centralised' buying system would save £2.4bn over five years. It was argued that too many trusts buying their own equipment was innefficient. SCCL failed to gear up with PPE and was far too slow to catch up. So much for the great idea of an internal market and splitting the NHS into loads of smaller trusts. Imagine the buying power of a unified NHS? Purely my opinion but the chickens are all coming home to roost from a shambles that has been created over the past four or so decades. I've tried to keep politics off this thread too but some things can only be explained through the facts.

I should emphasise, although I do have a park, and indeed a football field in easy walk, where I have permission to fly then I'm still playing the game and only going out for a walk or shopping. It is frustrating because the weather has been perfect for DLG and I'm sure that it wouldn't cause much of a risk to throw my Strike 3 as I walked round the park. If I'm doing that then someone may call the police, that takes the police away from what they should be doing. Also, my wife has an inherited Kidney disease and so is working from home and I would hate to bring the lurgy home to her. I'm a fly angler and a fieldsportsman too so I'm stymied. I've just got a flight simulator and I'll satisfy myself with that for now. I'll see how I get on with practicing B certificate manoevres and see if I can do that when the portcullis is raised.

Posted by Martin Harris on 30/04/2020 19:58:53: Posted by Brian Cooper on 30/04/2020 09:06:38: Under the current restrictions, it is somewhat curious that anyone could get a dog and spend all day in a public park, throwing a stick for the creature, and congregating with other "doggy" people (they do this regularly at my local park) BUT get a model aeroplane and you cannot take it to a secluded, private site to play with it. Bonkers. B.C. I suspect that the difference would be that there's an element of exercise involved for both dog and human, whereas however much we could justify model flying for getting into the open air for the benefit of both physical and mental health, the public would not see it that way. I'd imagine that most people would walk the dog to the park from their front door but the average model flyer would need to drive to their flying field. Not taking issue but just to say, I've got a park right outside my flat and, believe me, DLG is pretty good excercise

a stanley knife, two rulers and a cutting board?

Thanks chaps. In the outer-wing there was three bag fuel tanks. At 9 stone fighting weight I was one of the few who, with my arms stretched above my head, were small enough to get to the end of the longest tank which was about 8ft long and only 8" square at the outer end. Wearing a fuel resistant suit with a tail that connected to breathing air compressor, it was always a laugh to drop out of the wing and hop across the hangar like Mickey Mouse in front of Air Cadets being shown round the aircraft. Aaah! Happy days.

Hi all, I decided I could do with a long term build during lockdowm. Living in the Fens I'm usually a flat field flyer, thermal, electric glider etc. I've re-entered the hobby after a long break but I've done some slope soaring, from a Zagi to a Calypso Contest all-moulded 3mtr and a few things in between. Ivinghoe or Borough Hill as I live halfway between the two. I used to fly power for aerotowing, Titan 62cc and the ubiquitous Wot4. Anyway, not having done scale before, I decided to take the plunge and was pleased to find that Sarik had a plan for an 82" HP Victor PSS which arrived today. I used to work on them in the 'olden days'. The plan is of a B2 but it won't take much to change it to a BSR2 on which I worked. I don't need the HDU's under the wing, it's not a tanker but the BSR2 has a dog-leg and undercamber leading edge outboard of the droptanks that I'd like to replicate. Looking forward to the build, get the cutting list done with a cup of Tea and Radio 4extra comedy. Geoff

That sounds great Tim, well done. It's inspired me to have a go at making my own uke once my local Shed opens again. In the meantime I must stop procrastinating and pick up my ukes while the lockdown is on