Frank Day

Motor damage, I dont know if it uses a prop saver etc so just a thought

I ordered a second Vampire from Global, arrived in 4 days with no additional Fedex ransom. Thats under £150 with some bonus I had built up. Quick look over, has a plastic nose cone and fairings around the retracts and a nose gear cover that prevents easy access to the the retract and servo screws. New thrust tube outlet seems to be a 15mm long piece of fizzy drink bottle glued in the pipe, prob 0.5mm thick creating a lip, I guess reducing the outlet size slightly for a little extra velocity. Canopy seems to be a lighter foam, needs more magnets or a canopy latch and the extra room was created by hacking off the bottom of the cockpit with a hot cutter. Pilot has gone AWOL - Lighter! Wings are considerably stiffer. Going to give it a clear coat and put it away for a while while I finish other models. Very pleased as I've only had my used Canadian until now, will probably drop in a 4s Powerfun 12 blade, currently under £30 from Banggood or a Freewing unit

I left it at 100%. Rightly or wrongly my perception is that VAT is paid already (UK, NZ and Aus) and is under the £390 excise amount. Delivery was free so just waiting to see if UPS come up with something. Perhaps someone else has knowledge of this

Well, having pre-ordered the Vampire from the UK warehouse I've ordered a second from Global, about £20 cheaper plus I had some credit /funds there. Should be VAT and Duty free so hoping for a little saving, UPS may come up with a fee. Free delivery should be by the end of the coming week. I noticed that HK now offer you a choice of value declaration twixt 0% - 100% of actual value!

Fitted one in but the signal is rubbish, probably go back to Orange. I thought it looked quite artistic.

The light weight filler is under £5 at Screwfix, identical to model filler at 1/4 of the price. (quantity + price). I picture searched the image to check, some [chancer] on ebay is selling at at £19!!. and is selling it. I was a little slow.

I have a Powerfun 4s 12 blade (Aliexpress £28 or 4Max £47. 50)with a Hobbywing 80A ESC V2 Ill post a few pics, yet to fit the lower cheater and the tip tanks but will put up a few pics. My 3d print guy flogged me some nice discontinued trailing link gear for the Vampire, he had one but never fitted. Bit of foam bashin and filler, with larger wheels

I think someone in this thread has/had printed some of these, i had one from them for my Canadian. Don't want to name them and they get inundated. I dont have a 3d printer as yet but Christmas is approaching. A guy on ebay Puppies 123 will print at sensible cost. He is an RC guy. I message him with a need and he recommends which of his other items listed is a price match. My ebay purchases look weird and wonderful. I may have a direct link now but would need to square that with him first. He also did me the pair of bottom cheaters and some tip tanks, he modified the thingyverse thingy to include led's fore and aft. He's also just done me a 3 blade spinner for a Durafly Me163 that im running a lower kv motor on, again modified thingverse download. On the Canadian i also cut off the wing leading edge profile at the fuzz shaped and smoothed the now visible fuselage and looking into the intakes reshaped the foam so there is now a clean view of the fan as air seems to be directed at 45deg across the fuselage

I have a late/end Nov delivery guess, not too long to wait and it means it doesnt arrive close to other additions.

That sounds pretty good. I fancied the Gladiator when they first appeared and had two in the basket, I think they were about £195 each at the time but the postage, I think for two was about £600. vaguely remember seeing a figure around £1k all in pop up at checkout, needless to say I dont own one.

Looking at a couple of the youtube "unboxing/build videos, the booms look the same. I bought a pre-enjoyed, ready crashed Canadian with a spare set of wings, I've let in some 5mm x1mm CF top and bottom of the wings, previous owner added some top and bottom of the boom to wing area. I added a 3d exhaust printed incorrectly for a Dynam Gloster Meteor, perfect fit on the Vampire and twin rudders, 5.6g MG servos.. I did look at ordering a few spares but postage from global was outrageous, £75 for a £30 fuzz.

Just seen a HK video of the re-issued Durafly Vampire V3. V3 is a little cheeky. More carbon fibre, wee plastic nose cap, bit of plastic around nose gear opening, exhaust nozzle and a repaint otherwise all the same. 5 blade fan, no rudder. Was expecting a lot more from the promised make over. Of course global and US selling out, nothing for the UK until late Nov, they love our market. I showed them my displeasure by - pre ordering one! ver

This scam happens every day here. I've had it when posting in Wanted. "Mate" has one and gives an email address to take you away from the site. Paypal will sort as long as you didnt "Pay a friend" Again its not the Wanted ads that are the issue so not sure how reviewing them will make any difference, the scammer just reads the ad and isnt subjected to any scrutiny. The ones I've encountered have just joined.

I tip stalled something a while ago, on collection it had an aileron stuck on full up with the servo damaged, not the side expected so must have been the impact.

100%, Whenever there is a supposed "Radio" incident the questions frequently start with was it Spektrum. Apparently Spektrum equipped models are falling from the sky like rain. Once the TX Rx issue was raised it had to be done. Personally I've not seen any models falling from the sky due to a Tx issue. Brown outs, todays odd double servo issue, is very strange. I might swap out that Rx as well in case it did something odd.

Shame about the damage but tufty grass did well. Its a weird one. Never buy a Futaba Tx, planes just fall from the sky!!!

Short answer no. But was asking if there was a simple way to determine its rating.

Hi Robin, I'll grab a picture of it.

Is there a simple method to discover the spec of a ESC, no label or clue on it. Hope to find out or I may just bin it. Its in a Max thrust Ruckus, they come with a 40A as standard with a 12x6 prop on 3S. For 4S they recommend dropping a prop size. Simple method to me is upping the esc rating especially as I have a few at 50-60-80A rather than faff swapping props back and forth. The model was used and the esc doesnt match those offered by the manufacturer. Obviously just changing it is the safest method but would be interested to know a way of finding its rating. I read about weighing them but as 50a will suit my needs and a quoted +-10A doesnt really help

Usually this subject is based on brand snobbery. Very experienced people at my club who demonstrate at big shows use Spektrum as well as Futaba. Havent seen a single "early arrival" caused by a particular brand. Nonsense.

My Ruckus came with 4 wee washers that were useless, without, it had no down or right. I contacted Century and they confirmed two top right, one bottom R, one top left, 0 bottom L. Useless ended up with about 3mm top right in the end.

Another killer is time and effort in our current world. Look at any on topic classifieds section and there will be hundreds of kits dating from the middle ages to date. My experience of one UK seller was total lack of support or indeed interest except taking your money for parts. Bought some artf from Vietnam, couldnt be more helpful!

I've bought a few items from Matt, APOB and also from one of his trade contacts, classic foamies to traditional. Recently I picked up a 1.8m World Models Piper Cub for £60. Spent 2-3hours on some very minor woodwork repairs and paint and she's good to go. By choice I've added a few extras but they weren't needed. Club member was having a clearout and I picked up an SC52 4s for a bottle of wine. Traditional construction 1.8m with a really nice 4s engine, currently owes me less than £100.

Perhaps, there are members here who could take it over and run it as a part time concern. I had a part built TN Hawker Typhoon and they were as useful as a chocolate fire guard regarding advice on landing gear etc etc, no replies to emails, phone calls always go to messaging and no response, try calling. Happy to take money for items though.