Frank Day

N Northern?

Leaving aside the CG discussion until the end. I already commented on the gear, tracking, possible prop strike etc. Does a retract kit exist for this older model from the Hanger 9 stable ie retro fit, or are there obstacles such as spars, dont have one myself so just pondering. I fly a few "classic" foamies and the instructions regarding CG are interesting stating balance with the battery. I can only assume that batteries from 10 plus years ago must have been substantially heavier. MY 49" Parkzone Mosquito requires the 2200 3S according to the manual and jiggle it about to balance. No chance, I'm running a 3200 3s to balance it, or 4S on my modified one

On my 1.4m FMS Zero I did the classic washers under the retracts, bent a new pin and Dremmel work as well as changing them to working oleo's with larger wheels as it used to fall over as soon as it saw grass. Slightly more nose up on the ground and dropped the battery down from it weird over the motor position to under the motor to get the weight lower down to reduce the leverage. Lawn driving test successful even on mid rates. Still expecting nose overs but at least it will taxi and i just full beans it to take off so it doesn't have chance to throw itself over.

I think the tracking will be difficult unless there are some lateral braces, it will also compress and cause a prop strike

No chance in south east today very windy, busy tying down the garden furniture and propping up the fence. Forecast for the next week is terrible.

Bucket of salt water in the garden for a few days, should kill them completely, water goes greeny colour. More fun, put in a fire pit or non flammable area and stab with a sharp thing on a long stick(not recommended)

Hi Simon, Not an authority on anything RC after returning and finding electrickery powered planes, what's that all about! After trying a few I'm a HRB fan and have quite a few now. Lost a model in a bramble jungle and recovered it two weeks later, HRB on zero power, "safely" jump started it with a matching battery on storage level, few minutes later its on 9%, onto the charger at 0.1A until it timed out then gently fully charged. Used it a few times now works perfectly charges to 100% with totally even cells! in fact better than a couple of others. 2nd choice when unavailable is Zeeeeeeeee power, been perfectly good. May be too many eeee's. I have been buying from the HRB store, they tend to ask what connector is required as do the Zeeeee guys. Also all those Ukrainian drone operators cant be wrong if you've seen some images. Also have a couple of 6S Turnigy Graphene, bit heavier and bulkier, all good but wouldnt spend the extra money again.

I've seen some jumpers made from battery connectors, with a loop breaking the Positive. May be useful when you have a model with awkward battery install. I have a model where the battery is installed underneath and involves a bit of fiddling, refitting covers etc with the system now live before flipping it over, so a battery cut off might be useful. But always remove a battery when finished as previously advised.

A £10 special, Functional resto for the summer, needed a nose job, pan of hot water, glue and filler. nose retract with trailing link and larger wheel, larger diameter mains, trailing links to follow-may be. Top cheater curtesy of Leccyflyer. Plenty of previous owners mods to tidy if its still with us come winter. Roughed out a rudder plan, single servo with connecting rod aft and in-line with the elevator, so kind of hidden. Cheap Powerfun 4S 12 blade edf en-route from aliexpress. Silver was Humbrol met silver, exact match but shiny so a splodge of matt minwax and nose Tamiya red, will supply codes if anyone asks.

Speedy recovery

Unfortunately a waft of steam wouldnt cut the mustard with this one, brown out and a vicious old bramble in a forest of brambles, two hours, loppers and brush cutter later

Read the contents cant see PVA, im attempting to make both a little more flexible/sticky. The rolls happen if filler is still damp under a dry crust, paper pulls the crust off the wet layer and causes the roll. I work in the construction industry, see it all the time when people rush or apply in thick layers rather than a couple of thin ones. These lite fillers tend to dry hard and powdery and easy to sand

I use two pack wood filler. I suspect very few products are actually model specific as that would mean researching and testing a product that would produce very little or any profit. However relabeling a product is a winner. The Screwfix filler is 100% the model light product, have completed two repairs over the weekend one in white model lite and the other in Screwfix light filler. Same drying time, sanding, smell, texture etc etc. Did a further drying test one of each in the shed and in the house, same results. Buy the Screwfix product and save yourself 80% plus, Not sure, splash out £4.78 as a tester. Planning some tests adding PVA and Minwax Polycrylic https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-lightweight-filler-white-500ml/75073?tc=VA2&ds_rl=1249416&ds_rl=1241687&ds_rl=1245250&gad_source=1&ds_rl=1247848&ds_rl=1245250&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhOSl16L7hAMVupNQBh1DBATSEAQYASABEgJp8PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#product_additional_details_container

I may be so far behind the game thats its actually finished. I've been buying Model Lite Filler, usually around £9 or £12 delivered for 240ml. Today I discovered Screwfix No Nonsense Lightweight Filler at a Screwfix near you for £4.78 for 500ml. product code (75073) Using my best 1970's Incomprehensive school! matriculation I'm guessing that comes in at 15 -20% of the delivered Model lite price. It is 100% the same product.

Just need a million £ worth of batteries now

Sounds like a transmitter/receiver fault/connection issue if its all up and running on a servo tester. If using the fly sky 6 channel you can do the firmware upgrade to 10 channels for a little future proofing

Undoubtedly a silly question, has anyone tried a different fan on the olde 5 blade ie 10-12 blade

https://www.dbsportandscale.com/vampire-vac-canopy-8012-p.asp Any use, may be it could be cut down

Im not a Spitfire person but I like the look of this one, I had two of these for some reason a while back, V1 with 4 blade and a V2 with the 5 blade, I remember the 5 blade V2, blades from HK International and hub/spinner from USA via family but they nosed over as soon as they saw grass so they got moved on.

Re the replacement cockpit, I saw a video of a guy making a cockpit from glass fibre of some sort, wasnt completely glass like but quite effective/clear

I've been looking at the new vent and am certain its for the top of the fuselage.

I did end up fitting new cables to the Vixen but I have to use a couple elastic bands to stop the trailing link nose gear turning once the tension eases. They have a short life span, I should probably source some pull springs.

I've been looking at the cable steering, has to go. I've seen one image somewhere of a single pushrod conversion, slidey thing, name escapes me. Looked at it for the Sea Vixen but the servo is directly behind the gear

After all the drama and I suspect a bit of a scam this is the "new" Vampire ready to be collected along with a Eflite Radian Pro Glider avec led's all in good working order for £30. Fortunately I have actually met the guy a few times so no concerns.

As the Vampire appears to be so popular a printed slip on nose cover might be very popular and there are several versions of the nose cone in real life. If someone with the capability could knock some up I'm pretty sure they would move quite a number of them, I'd buy a couple certainly. Really its just a glorified spinner.