Simon King

I agree with Ron- I am a complete novice when it comes to building and would love to have a go at the Luton Minor plan as in the latest issue of RCM+E.   But I just don't know what parts I need and how much of each.  Unfortunately I am not in a position of having loads of stock items in the workshop so would have to buy what I need.  When the designers supply these plans would it not be possible to just write a shopping list on the side of the plan somewhere so us novices could go to our LHS and say "I want THIS please" rather than looking for a load of odd bits and then realising that the one bit of wood you need has been overlooked!   Please designers, give this some thought!  It can't be too difficult as you have built the thing after all!   Many thanks

"Anyone know what the cofg should be?"   There are little indentations under the wing- near the wing root  which are the C of G locator marks.  They recommend putting two pencil tips in these indications and balancing it that way.  Using your fingertips is not accurate enough.  The recomendation is for a slightly forward C of G for beginners, i.e. the Evo tilts slightly forward when balanced on the C of G markers.

Just received my Weasel from Dreamflight- impressive packaging and product.  The fittings are all quality items.  The glider was simplicity itself to build- the most difficult part being the cutting to size of the ailerons, the most time-consuming being the decoration- you simply can't leave it as plain old white EPP foam now can you?   I covered mine- on the advice of Michael Richter- with coloured packing tape- I bought it from Staples at about 3 quid a roll.  Just lay in strips slightly overlapping and for the edges cut little snips every 5mm or so and overlap and that will deal with the compound curves.   I bought the power kit from Dreamflight for $50 and that included an NiMH battery, switch and two metal geared servos- all with shortened leads to exactly match the model- a great touch. Remember that space is a premium here and everything fits perfectly.  If you want to make modifications, you will have to take a knife to that EPP!   Mine is fitted with a Spektrum 6110e receiver and it all fits perfectly- only job I have to do is paint the inside of the plastic skid cover but it will have to wait until I get some spray paint.   It is ready for flying now so will report back when it has flown- it balances perfectly with some 20 eurocent coins in the battery bay.

Some emotive stuff from Andy Watson, but bear in mind that many of us were fully intending to use the module if we won.  Sour grapes maybe?   I personally entered the competition because I was a 35MHz user and wanted to get into 2.4 without incurring the expense of buying a new transmitter such as a PCM9.  I have a perfectly good 9XII.  The Jamara module seemed a good idea at the time- and if I won, well so much the better.   When the competition clearly descended into a farce, I lost interest in the whole Jamara system for two reasons:   (a) You can't seem to buy the receivers anywhere (except Germany it would appear) at a reasonable price- a simple Jamara receiver is much more expensive than a similar Spektrum one.  There are very few UK stockists.   (b) Because the whole event dragged on- even after being told I had won (I was pleased to win) I felt that Jamara clearly couldn't come up with the goods- and if this is the standard of their customer service, I certainly don't want to risk my expensive models on their system- I would feel I had no back up if it all went wrong.  They didn't even respond to my polite e mail (written in German) asking when we could expect to receive the prize.   Now the module has arrived, I am still pleased to have it, but I feel it will not get much use now- I bit the bullet and purchased a Spektrum module while I was waiting (potentially forever) for the Jamara product to arrive.  I will probably sit on it and either give it away to a friend who would like it or sell it.

Received mine this morning.  Pleased to finally receive it but I don't think it will get much use- the receivers are too expensive.   Until the price drops significantly, I'll stick to 35Meg and Spektrum.   Anyone wanna buy one?

As this has turned into a farce, should it not now be time that the magazine got involved, particularly as the competition was advertised and publicised in RCM+E?   The Magazine should be expressing our displeasure and suggesting to Jamara that they offer a free receiver by way of recompense or face some pretty unpleasant reporting (which is not libellous- merely fact) which I am sure would further damage Jamara's reputation.  I certainly would not buy any Jamara products now.   This needs to be taken to a higher level and it is not something that we mere mortals can hope to achieve.   How about it Ed?

If this had been a British company rather than a German one, I suspect we would all be really thumping the table by now.  It is disgusting that anyone should have to wait so long to receive their prize.   Perhaps Jamara should take on board what has happened.  If they cannot fulfil their obligations on what was after all THEIR own competition, they should supply an alternative gift such as a gift voucher for €100 or something that we could use to purchase an alternative gift from the Jamara range. To have to wait so long is unforgivable.  If you run a competition, you know how many prizes are to be awarded and you ensure you have sufficient quantities of THAT prize. As it is these modules are at best expensive- the receivers are considerably more expensive than the equivalent Spektrum versions and clearly cannot compete.  Jamara should, as a goodwill gesture, give us a receiver as given past performance and customer service, I am not going to invest another 80 quid on a Jamara product.  In fact, I gave up and have purchased a Spektrum module.   If I receive the prize at all- it is being sold on Ebay.

Still waiting of course- and no reply to my e mail asking for information.   Perhaps Jamara should be thinking of giving us a receiver to go with the module by way of an apology for the outrageous delay!

Yes, I too have had the letter...that the lucky fairy has selected me and (of course) they "have the HF-Modul Graupner not in stock."   You would have thought that before launching a competition they had ensured they had enough stock of the product they are giving away or if they are planning to give away a new generation, at least delay the competition until it was ready!   I guess there are no options at this stage but to wait and see what happens. 

Thanks Tim   The little table seems to give good info so I am sure I will be able to work it out from that.   P.S. Just read the article in the Mag.  Very helpful and came at just the right time for me now that I am building the Seagul E-Pioneer as reviewed by Mr. Ellison in that fine organ.

Hi there   As a newbie to electrics, all this talk of charging Lipo's is making me nervous!  I have just bought a 3S 3700mA Lipo and an expensive beast it was too!  Certainly it cost more than 5 gallons of decent fuel so the thought of knackering it in possibly ten charge cycles has certainly made me prick my ears up!   I understand the advice about how many volts to charge it too etc. but what I am not clear about is just how do I do that?  I use a Propeak Sigma charger which charges Lipos and to complement it I added a Fusion balancer which was recommended to me.  In the past, I simply connected all the cables and balance connectors, told the charger it was a 3S battery and charged at 1C- pressed the button and off it went.  When it went beep, that was that- charged!   Are you suggesting that to charge to 4V per cell, I sit there and watch the charger and turn it off when I see the magic number or is there some way of programming the charger to do all that for me?   I hadn't realised these things were so complicated!  You don't have these problems with the old Saito!

Pleeaaaaaaseee- surely it is my turn!!!!

You gotta be in it to win it!

count me in- looks great!

After that film, I just had to be in the draw!  Good luck everyone