Piers Bowlan

I think the Buccaneer would be a nicer model with a four stroke burbling away in it but that is just me. At risk of being controversial it might be even nicer with a leccy setup. ?

Yes Phil, they were cut freehand or at least I didn’t bother with weights and pulleys. I placed heavy weights on top of a short plank to spread the load so that the foam wouldn’t move. At either end of the foam blanks were my profile aerofoil sections made of thin ply. These were ‘pinned’ to the foam with sharpened dowels to stop them moving. The aerofoils had lead-in sections so I could rest the wire on them prior to switching on the power. Once ready to cut, switch on, wait a few seconds for the wire to get hot and then drag it across the aerofoil. Just let it cut, applying steady pressure. I made a 90 degree guide for trimming the foam cores to length with my cutting bow. The guide is just aluminium strips screwed 90 degrees onto the ends of a length of conte board. I bought my 8x4ft sheet of 50mm polystyrene from B & Q - £17ea. I roughly chopped the foam into four 4x2ft pieces with a knife to fit it in the car in the car park! I found a piece without any of the ‘black bits’ in. I use Rene41, definitely better than the nichrome wire of old. Not just wings, I thought I would try cutting a fuselage out of polystyrene foam too, suitably reinforced and brown paper covered. ?

Depends what Bosch drill you are comparing with. Bosch produce the 'DIYer range' which are green and the professional 'blue' range;- brushless motors, metal gearbox, 2-speed variable etc. Then there is the battery size to consider, some drills have 1.5Ah lithiums some Bosch models have 4.0Ah. Bosch also use Sanyo cells, and I somewhat doubt the Parkside products will, which will probably have a bearing on the battery/product life. At the end of the day, as always, it depends on your budget, what you are going to drill and how much you will use it. The Dewalt product featured in the OP looks excellent although I note it is supplied with 2 X 2AH lithium batteries although Dewalt drills are available with bigger batteries too, at a higher price of course. The question is, what size batteries do you need - bigger batteries may give you more torque and be under less stress so may last longer? As Nigel says Makita tools are top quality and seem to be the 'go-to' tools of many tradesmen.

I am glad you found this simple solution satisfactory Chris, welcome to the wonderful world of foam wing cutting! ? It is a great way of quickly producing light and inexpensive wings, especially when covered with brown paper/PVA, which makes them very stiff. Easy to add more reinforcement where necessary with thin ply webs or long carbon strips let into cuts in the foam.

B & Q do smaller pieces of plasterboard too apart from the 8ft x 4ft sheets. Plasterboard takes pins no problem, just make sure it is supported properly with something flat like an old door on tressels, if you don't have a large bench. Cover the board or plan with florists cellophane to stop the adhesive sticking to it.

I think I am of the same school as Martin; keep it simple (and cheap!). In my youth I connected my simple cutting bow to an old car battery and when I found it rather too hot for the foam, I just connected a car tail light bulb in series. It worked a treat.

If that is what you are doing EarlyBird you are not slope soaring! If you are slope soaring you land back back at the top of the slope. The initial walk to the top of the hill is called exercise! So you are either using the wrong model or flying in the wrong conditions if you are having to retrieve the model from the bottom of the hill. The thing about this great hobby is each to their own. ?

My recent foam wing cutting efforts!

Chris, I recently wanted to hot wire cut a polystyrene foam wing so I bought one of these 'AC/DC adaptors' and used it with really good results. It is sold as a power supply for laptops and tools and has voltage controllable from 12v-24v. My cutting bow is about a metre long, although the wing panels were only 53cm each. I use Rene 41 wire, .35mm dia. and found that 19v worked well, producing a smooth cut without ridges. Its maximum output is only 5A but sufficient for what I was doing. With thicker wire more current would probably be required but Rene 41 is the 'go to' wire for cutting foam as it does not stretch or break, so a good investment. I can't help you with using a dimmer with your powerful transformer as I don't know about such things.

Ron, do you think you could share a diagram, with your modded Robart hinge overlaid, to illustrate how it would work?

When fitting 'snakes' or bowden cables to a model I always ensure the ends are roughened and securely epoxied at either end. They rely on the relative lengths of 'inner' and 'outer' being maintained, they will not work if one end of the outer is free to slide in and out because of temperature changes, or any other reason for that matter. I suggest Dale applies a liberal quantity of epoxy to secure the servo ends of the snake outers to the model, to stop them moving. If you replace the snakes without securing the outers properly you will still have the same problem regardless of what material they are made from.

Fabulous ?

Get a pack of these. Cheap as chips and emits a very loud noise once you switch your Tx off, making locating your errant glider very easy.

Flying in strong gusts near trees with a lightly loaded model is not generally recommended, particularly if control corrections are not instinctive yet. Getting a slope soarer like an SAS Wild Thing for instance (which is pretty indestructible) is a good solution if you are lucky enough to have a suitable hill within commuting distance. WILDTHING video. Regarding flyaways, from my experience the model will invariably come down much, much, further away than you thought possible. If that means it has come down on private land it is worth respectfully approaching the owner and asking if it would be possible for you to carry out a search. Failing that, leave your name and phone number with the owner in case it turns up. It is usually best to put your name and address on any model as it is amazing how they can simply disappear into the smallest of bushes!

You may find the mesh gets clogged with grass but then again it might work, try it and see. ?

I suppose at least with 4-max you can send the motor back and get a replacement if a magnet 'lets go'. Also Hobbyking don't seem to stock the vast range of motors they used to, or as cheap for that matter. Even so the cost of the original motor is not vast compared with the overall investment you have made in the model and radio. No doubt 4-Max can suggest a motor which will fit the model while giving you a performance boost to boot, compared with the stock motor. ?

I can't see that it would make the slightest difference to the way the model flies. As long as the stub wing is rigid enough for the task, suit yourself. People often (usually) deviate from plans to suit their own requirements, whims and available materials. Enjoy the build. ?

For some time I have used this 3M vapour mask also from Screwfix, in fact they stock several similar masks. It is light, comfortable and very effective. I also used it when topping my fields as I suffer from hay fever. Result;- no hay fever, even if I did look a bit weird driving my tractor wearing a mask! Also gives protection against Cyano fumes as well. ? Perhaps you should consider making an appointment with your GP Robert, to check out your chest, can't be too careful?

25mm is a heck of a lot of expansion with temperature, even if the model was two meters in length! Surely something else is going on? Perhaps one of the ends of the snake has become unglued and is sliding in and out somewhat? Just a shot in the dark!

Hi Simon, I hadn't heard of this model until I looked it up but you may glean some information on electric conversion from the Wattflyer Forum here. I have had a few Kyosho RTF models and found them to be superb; light and well designed. In fact, I wished I had bought their Macchi M33 flying boat when I had the opportunity, sadly long since out of production.? Good luck with the conversion Simon, yes it should be quick.?

Ace, Spruce (or maybe Obechi) is more 'ding resistant' than Balsa. Also full size helicopters often have a weighted LE to give the blade a forward c of g (sometimes a brass strip running inside an a Ali alloy extrusion). Don't know if the same applies to an Autogyro. Model looks very stylish Rich, looking forward to the plan. ?

This is not a receiver problem or a case of 'Strange Rx'. Sometimes the throttle sense can be reversed from normal (stick down= idle, stick up = max) although it does not seem to be the case on this occasion. If the throttle is reversed it will be necessary to move the throttle stick fully 'up' to arm the ESC, where upon the motor will burst into life at full power! To correct this reverse the throttle channel at the transmitter (servo reverse). The best piece of advice here is from Andy, to remove the propeller whilst you are sorting it out. Good luck.

Frank has the answer but this might help too? Throttle calibration.

That link didn't work for me Allan.

Balsa Cabin have a very good reputation Tony. I have only bought from them at the shows but I have never heard anything negative about them.