EarlyBird

As promised I started at the back this morning. First a bit of sanding on the tail plane mount so it is parallel to the wing tube joiner like so as you can see a bit early for me and still a bit blurry eyed. After a second coffee made up a T Test fitted then glued the balsa blocks in place Now waiting for the glue to dry AGAIN! A good days work. That is four more pieces of balsa glued in place which will be dry tomorrow then I can get the Razor Plane out again yippee Steve

Nope you are not dreaming. Yes it is ok in that it lasts as long as it needs to especially in the hands of a novice like me I have an Ares Alara RTF fits in the car built up ideal for a quick fly after dinner. I have just bought a Volantex Phoenix 2000 v2 for just over £108.31 complete with servos motor and esc (BNF). Just one example. Steve

Thanks Victor. I have read Danny Fenton's amazing posts and watched the video demonstrating how it works. It works like magic I don't understand! Yet another mystery to add to my list of interesting information that is beyond me. The list is getting longer! It started when I was at school when I read a book by Bertrand Russel. It was called Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Thanks you gave me an interesting interlude while waiting for glue to dry. Cheers Steve

I could be correct see here Steve

Hidden control horns: The RDS (rotary drive system) here rds? Is a guess on my part. Today I have learned something new even if I am wrong. Steve

Your welcome. For me it was a pleasure to see one fly. From what I have seen everyone is learning and the short flight times have nothing to do with the battery size more to do with the ability of the pilot. They can't be easy to fly because I have seen good FW pilots struggle with them and put them through the wars as you put it. Needless to say I will not be trying one any time soon. They are way beyond my skill level! Steve

Posted by Frank Skilbeck on 18/07/2020 07:54:14: Club mates free flight chuck glider got caught in a thermal, last we saw of it was 3/4 fields away still going up........... When I was a lot younger I built a a KK Caprice which is a FF tow line glider. I spent many a happy hour flying and trimming, on the few calm days we had. I gradually increased the de-thermalize fuse and the length of the tow line. With this model when the tow line drops off an elastic band pulls the rudder over thereby making it fly in gentle turns. So what went wrong! On the last flight ever the tow line would not detach so I gave it a tug and the towline broke. The plane turned down wind and went in a straight line over a road and into a wooded area. My girlfriend and I searched for hours giving up when the light started to fail. That's when I decided RC from now on! Could have been my girlfriend that made that decision as we did eventually marry. RC happened over forty years later. And here I am flying RC for the past two years. A life long dream achieved The loss of a plane is always sad at the time and I often wonder what happened to it. Which still makes me feel sad Just put it behind you and move on because there is a lot more fun to come. Steve

Wow that is impressive! We have a few autogiros at my club and non of them fly that well or for that long. Amazing. Steve

JS I absolutely agree I have never experienced 'diving down wind' and therefore never had to knowingly compensate. Turning upwind, at first, this did happen to me and every novice I have watched at the early stage of learning. I did notice that the stronger the wind the more pronounced and to some scary the ballooning up became. BMFA say when turning into wind 'subconsciously trying to compensate' which I take to mean that up elevator is being applied not as a correction but instinctively. Yes I totally agree with you to knowingly compensate down is required and that is what I did. When turning into wind as the plane started to rise I knowingly and intentionally applied down. What intrigues me is that non of my planes balloon up now. Do any of yours? I assume that is because I, and everyone else, instinctively compensate without thinking about it. After all that is the way to fly, watch the plane and move the thumbs as required to make the plane go where we want it to. I have found the more stick time I have the less thinking I have to do. How did that happen? Taking off into wind. I have a bee in my bonnet about that one as well. As it happens I totally agree with you, as does my instructor, 'Consciously deal with the crosswind'. Take off and land up the strip is what he teaches. At the early stage of my learning I pointed out that others always take off and land into wind. I was told 'but you can not always do that so you have to learn to deal with the wind'. Cross wind landings I love them. Land down the centre line with the plane flying crabwise takes more skill. What really gives me a buzz is flying with 'experts' who take off and land into wind always. Especially when one starts coaching me on the flight line. That used to be a huge distraction and annoyance. Now I just ignore the advice land down the strip and bask in the warm glow inside which comes from knowing that a novice has just demonstrated how it should be done to an 'expert'. You could have been my Instructor John what you say is music to my ears. Flying is fun I love it. Steve

Posted by Denis Watkins on 17/07/2020 21:49:28: Posted by Denis Watkins on 17/07/2020 16:12:52: Poor newbies reading this Repeat, total confusion now for novice flyers No confusion at all because I read the book and know it is all nonsense after all the BMFA say it is nonsense. Apart from that for the novice it is all academic. The novice wants to and has to learn the practical side of flying. When I started flying at first when I turned into wind the plane climbed. Having read the book I knew it was me causing the plane to climb so to compensate I fed in a bit of down elevator. Which worked a treat. So simple a novice can understand and once instructed to do this they quickly get the feel. Steve

When I joined the BMFA they sent me a very useful booklet 'A Flying Start' I found it very informative and knowing very little about the practicalities of flying I realised that it had obviously been written by someone who knew what they were talking about. No surprise there after all it is the BMFA. On page 44 The Effect of Wind on the Flight There is probably more nonsense talked and written on this subject than any other connected with the practical side of flying! In reality, the matter is very simple - it is just that so many people find it hard to accept. .... You will often hear people say their aircraft tends to climb when turning into wind and dive when turning downwind. What is really happening, of course, is that they are subconsciously trying to compensate for the apparent variation in speed and themselves causing the aircraft to climb and dive. Steve

The cowl I have sanded down to the masking tape at the back and the nose ring at the front. It is still a bit rough and the front could have more shape. That will all be done at the finishing pre covering stage. Five days that has taken me which sounds a long time for a cowl. Not to worry I stopped rushing about when I retired. I take my time and enjoy myself yes and it has been fun. I like to plan ahead so as I have had practice with the razor plane I will tackle the balsa blocks at the back. Then fin, rudder, tail plane and elevators. Steve

Tear drop hole? You've lost me, sorry. Nigel I am sorry that was a suggestion for Peter. I type so slowly that by the time I added the posting for Peter you had posted your reply. Steve

NigelR Yes I have made similar comparisons. Take the WOT4 Foam-e for example I was surprised at how little ventilation it has then stuff an esc and battery in a very tight space. It has no problem. We have all seen, I assume, the esc fixed to the outside of the fuselage for maximum cooling but it does look ugly IMO. Yes placing the esc in the path of the air flow is what I have learned to do, once I stopped putting the esc on the outside, I have found that below the motor mount or battery tray to be a good place. I like the plate on the exit to increase the Venturi effect. I will incorporate that on the next build that is if you have not patterned it. Hm just checked Venturi and I am not sure that is correct. Thanks Steve

Could you make the hole an inverted tear drop? I have had two years of electric and some people were appalled by my approach. Why did you chose that motor? Because I had it. How did you chose the prop size? Well I had it and it looked about right. A long winded one sided discussion follows in which watt meters, temperature sensor and telemetry are mentioned. It goes right over my head or in one ear and out the other. So now, and I hope you do not mind, I say I ring George at 4-Max he tells me what I need and if I have not got it I buy it. And where did I learn that???? Steve

Peter 'I would say that your ply nose ring is restricting the flow through the spinner. I would be tempted to open out the hole a bit just to make sure that there is plenty of through flow.' That's a good idea and easily done. 'Too much cooling is far better than not enough.' It sounds like we share a belts and braces approach, as many do, which is exactly why I included the slot. Unfortunately I have come across instances where this approach leads to overengineering and causes a bigger problem, obviously not the case here. While typing I thought "so opening up the nose ring increases the air flow so there must be a point at which enough air flow through the spinner makes the slot unnecessary'. Well in this case it has both and that is how it will stay. So anybody reading this take note I do not know what I am doing and please do not copy me. Thanks Peter. Steve

I was looking at this this morning. and thinking about cooling. This is my first ventilated spinner, well first of any kind. What struck me was there looks to be a large air gap around the spinner and more than the slot. So the questions. Is the slot necessary? Does this style of spinner provide more than enough ventilation? Steve

Posted by Bob Cotsford on 15/07/2020 14:36:15: iirc - If I Recall Correctly Nothing more satisfying than taking a razor plane to an unsightly lump of balsa and ending up with a streamlined, elegant shape. Oh yes, and a bin full or two of shavings! I see what you mean definitely satisfying even though it is hardly a bin full of shavings. Just a bin and some shavings. Next stage was to sand so I went outside in the warm sun and found it very pleasant, a warm glow inside as well as on the outside plus some free Vitamin D. More work to do of course. I will pinch in the cheeks below the spinner and turn the vent slot into a smile. I like happy planes Steve