Piers Bowlan

1). Dragon Dancer 2). Miss Lizzie 3). Swamp Rat 4). Mini Jazz 5). Whizzza

'Cheap battery powered helicopter', surprised it had a LiFe battery. Anyway, the battery sounds shot so try a 2s 1300 mAh LiPo. Yes you will need a new charger. I would think this might do and is cheap enough, here. It all depends on how much your boss wants to spend on it to get it flying. As far as the higher voltage of the LiPo is concerned, try it and see. If it is not flying now, it can't be any more broken than it is!

Looks wonderful Tony. Will you be flying it at The Hastings MFC Autumn Fly-in, 25-29 September or is it still at the testing stage? Looking forward to the plans becoming available - hopefully before not too long.

I think HK have a cracking web site which must be one of the reasons why the company has become so successful, UK LMSs please note. There is stacks of product information and specifications even if some people might have issues with the accuracy of it sometimes! Then there are all the product photos. How many sites have you seen with just one out of focus picture and no close ups. I think the best thing about about the HK Website are the reviews. If you see half a dozen negative comments about an item in your basket then you have been warned! Perversely people still seem to buy some items that are clearly turkeys. As always, buyer beware! Off thread slightly (sorry) I have bought a couple of cheap and cheerful models from HK that have been a load of fun even if the quality was not great-I wasn't expecting much for the price. I have also bought stacks of servos without a single failure- perhaps I am just lucky or maybe it's that I read the reviews carefully as well as other forums.

Nice one Percy. Plan still available from My Hobby Store, Ruhig Tigre, plan MAG 147. I will have to look through my collection of old RM mags to see if I have Nov 1990 although I don't remember it. Could be a home for my OS 52 FS. A winter build perhaps. Is it too early to mention Winter?

Martyn, when you remove the landing gear don't forget the nose gear is responsible for quite a bit of nose weight, so removing it will move the c of g aft. You will need more weight in the nose as the LiPo won't move any further forward. I used a 3300mAh 4s Lipo which did the trick as well as giving longer flight times.

Paul, the fan unit of my (silver) kit version Vampire was not glued in but held in place with bolts through plastic mouldings. Perhaps HK have reduced their QC on this product line? The Wemotec mini fan pro from Puffin models is priced at £35.95 on their Website. Just make sure you specify the right adaptor for your motor shaft, 2.3mm, 3.2mm or 4mm. I didn't have any problems with my fan unit, perhaps I was just lucky. I wouldn't bother to add a wing spar as the wing is thick with lots of glueing area, it;s as tough as old boots- I have tested it! . Do reinforce the booms though as Martyn said. Two strips in each boom, one along the underside and the other at 90 degrees on the inside, along the length of each boom terminating mid-chord of the wing. Just make sure the carbon strips are correctly inserted into the slots and you haven't accidently introduced some bend in the booms before you run cyano into the slots. One last point, make sure the servo wires cannot get sucked into the fan!

That is a real shame. What brand of servo was it? Better use a metal gear servo on the elevator next time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Tony, I just gingerly sanded the back of the heavier blades until I got it to balance, probably not very precise but better and it wasn't far out to start with. I can't see the fan on this model being 'way out of balance' or enough to affect the performance significantly. Plenty of power on a 4s 3000mAh LiPo. If you get any reliability problems just ditch the supplied ESC is my 2p worth. I didn't mind 'Lofty' too much but I did give him a cushion to sit on as he couldn't see where he was going! Nice bit of painting, where did you get him from?

I did balance the fan but it was only slightly out of balance. I also fitted the 'dome' as it should in theory keep the airflow smooth entering the fan and also it is unlikely to be out of balance as it is spun aluminium item. It would seem that the Achilles heal of this model is sometimes the unbranded ESC supplied with the BNF version that can suffer from poor quality control. My 60A Turnigy 'Plush' switch mode ESC although a bit 'lardy' has never missed a beat.

An input of 592W even at (say) 85% efficiency is about 500w output, which equates to 2/3 of a HP! So this is 32-35 2 stroke territory? Then you add the efficiency of an electric prop...and you want more power? You devil you . Nice looking model Erfolg, by the way. Edited By Piers Bowlan on 11/07/2013 20:48:02

I bought this motor, Turnigy 3548/6, to go in Peter Miller's Dragon Dancer 2 design, the free plan in DEC 2012 RCM&E. I was planning to power it with a 4S/4000mAh LiPo for the electric conversion. I am using a Turnigy Plush 60A ESC, which has a switch mode BEC. If you are planning to use a 3S LiPo I would be tempted to use a Higher KV motor (1000kv?), although I am no expert. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could make a suggestion. If this model was built 20 years back are you planning to use the original standard sized servos? I just thought if you fitted some modern powerful micro servos you might save quite a lot of weight.

No, don't be silly, a Hawker Sea Fury is next! Nice wide track landing gear. 120 FS (or petrol 2 stroke) up front. Great!

My KK Hurricane control line model came fitted with this engine, turning a three bladed plastic prop. The little spring starter worked well and saves cut fingers. The engine was screwed to the black plastic tank which in turn was retained by being wedged between the two fuz halfs. The dummy Merlin engine exhausts were part of the tank moulding and protruded through the fuz sides and so locked it all in place. I used to run it on Nitrex 15 too.

I would like to scale it down for a single Wren 44 but to what scale? What would be the desired span and the estimated weight of the scaled down model? It would make it easier to transport too! Edited By Piers Bowlan on 05/06/2013 16:29:56

For an unswept flying wing (planks)15-20% MAC is a good starting point for the C of G. At 15% MAC you will need a lot more reflex but 'how much' is down to trial and error. The C of G calculator posted by Engine Doctor works well for swept/tapered wings.   As an aside, I have scratch built a few flying wings over the years and I have found that broader control surfaces with smaller deflections tend to work better than narrow strip elevons. Just my 2p worth!   What are you building by the way? Edited By Piers Bowlan on 01/06/2013 07:46:57

Not if you want the wingtip to stay on.

EPO has a 'greasy' surface that does not adhere too well to epoxy which is why Multiplex recommend their Zacky (thick CA) on all of their models. An epoxy/foam joint may look strong but may fail after a firm 'arrival'. I second what SmarTmartY says. As a technique I have also just held the broken pieces of foam firmly together whilst wicking thin CA glue along the join line. With your third hand (!) spray the area of the join with activator. Voila! You may want to wear disposable plastic gloves as it can be messy! I managed to break off about three inches from the wing tip of my 2.6m HK Fox in my workshop. Doh! I just glued it on again with CA but reinforced the join by cutting six inch slots span-wise across the join. I then cut some thin carbon strips (10cm wide and .5 thick) which I pushed into the slots. Then some more thin CA was wicked along the carbon strips and sprayed with activator. That wing tip is now the strongest part of the model and has survived numerous less-than-perfect landings. Incidently the HK Fox is a great model too, once you sort out a couple of quality issues with it.

Didn't mean to be rude Greg, the 'proper model' comment was supposed to be tongue in cheek .

I don't wish to sound negative Greg (but I will just the same . The model is too small at 38in span and will get smaller very rapidly as it flies away from you so you will become disorientated even quicker than normal! One of the other problems with this model is that it is made from EPS (expanded polystyrene) which is very fragile and will disintegrate as soon as you look at it! Scale models? You can buy loads later when you can fly consistently well. Get something bigger and if it is foam make sure it is either EPO (Expanded Poly Oilfin) which is tougher than EPS or EPP (expanded Poly Propylene) which is indestructible. My recommendation (by PM) was either the Multiplex Easy Glider Pro or their Easystar (both EPO). They are good quality proven models, can be repaired easily and spares are available too. If you are to go it alone give yourself a chance and get a proper model! Edited By Piers Bowlan on 12/05/2013 13:11:40

It is not completely clear. I would say that surely the 'complete set' includes the additional wood pack etc. plus the plan? Best give My Hobby Store a ring to check;- 0844 8488822.

No more pills Greg, get one of these instead Here. Cheap as chips, flys in anything and addictive fun. Whata-you-mean it's not a trainer? Its unbreakable (or nearly). It will get a bit battered but you will end up getting another eventually as you will be hooked. Every one should have a Wildthing for when it is too windy for sensible flying! Enjoy.   Edited By Piers Bowlan on 11/05/2013 07:29:51

Instructor to pupil. 'A little late on the round out Hoskins'

"Pointless poll" That's a bit harsh isn't it? It's good to talk! What might be worth considering is what do you mean by 'crashing' which is a pretty emotive word and one so beloved of the media when referring to full sized aviation accidents and incidents. For me a crash is a 'bin bag job' or at least something which is going to require a major repair. Some might consider a crash to be an 'unintended arrival' due to any number of reasons. For example, caught by a gust of wind just before touchdown resulting in one of the landing gear legs being ripped off. A crash? Perhaps not but an incident yes, and not to mention really annoying . Another example; flying that new manoeuvre you are practising just one mistake too low. You make a recovery but just a millisecond too low/late and end up making an unexpected and rather heavy unplanned landing. Result, a cracked cowl. A crash? Not really, you got away with it that time, the model wasn't wrecked just a minor repair. Pilot error certainly but I think you have to define 'a crash' if you want to use that word in this poll. Or maybe it is just me being pedantic. Edited By Piers Bowlan on 11/05/2013 06:36:28 Edited By Piers Bowlan on 11/05/2013 06:42:39

I am not too sure what this poll is going to achieve as I think people will agree that most crashes are generally caused by pilot error simply because it is such a 'broad church'. Including such things as disorientation, stall-spin, and mid-air collision to name but three. As far as the other categories are concerned what about servo failure? Fairly common I should think (I have had two). Also ESC failure either because it was a low spec. unbranded ESC in an RTF or because the BEC was overloaded by too many servos. In that instance surely that is pilot error again? Crashing due to flying in 'adverse weather conditions' Is that not pilot error too? No one makes you do it, your decision to fly and risk crashing the model.