Futura57

What an amazing achievement. A fantastic looking model and a great flyer, if the remaiden is anything to go by. A nice scale-like take off with a long slow climb out straight and level before that first turn. Sounds like a real turbine. I'd be interested to know what throttle level she was using for most of the flight. At times it seemed like it was pylon racing, weaving between those wind turbines. A bit disconcerting, but adding to the drama. Very brave in those blustery conditions. Well flown and a good landing. Brilliant. I look forward to seeing the RCM&E article.

As a life long Queen fan, and having spoken to Freddie Mercury in person in 1982, I reckon he would have retired gracefully long ago had he still been alive today. I saw his very last concerts at Wembly and Knebworth in 1986. Even then his voice was declining due to chain smoking and shouting more than singing. I chuckle at pensioners like Rod Stewart, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Barry Manilow, Cliff Richard, Billy Joel or even Brian May and Roger Taylor. It's embarrassing. Quit when you're ahead, I say. I guess it's ego and the buzz of playing and the crowd adoration. Surely it can't be for the money, which I certainly wouldn't shell out for any of these artists, some of whom feature in my vinyl album collection.

I was going to suggest one of these. I've had one of for donkeys, but sadly they are now discontinued... https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbyking-powerstrip-fuse-protected-power-distribution-board.html Aliexpress do this... https://www.ahttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003109641446.html

I made the half hour trip from Caterham to Epsom Downs Race Course yesterday for my first flying session in three or so weeks. Preparations for the Derby were early this year, which meant that the usual fencing went up close to our runway and telecoms towers sprung up all over the place. In two of the last five years I've had loss of radio signal resulting in one minor and one major crash. Only when the towers come to town do I have these issues, so I now abstain until after the temporary telecoms towers come down. The wind forecast was 10 gusting to 15mph, though it felt a little higher. Nevertheless, four of us turned up who didn't otherwise have fathers day commitments 😉 I put another four flights on my Strange Quark Mk2 EDF jet, which must be well in excess of 50 flights old now. She handled the wind really well with the onboard gyro. No flying pictures, just an old static shot of my baby.

They're tricky to hand launch though, I find.

3 cycles can show an increase of as much as 10% discharged/charged between 1st and 3rd cycle. At least on my charger. I don't claim it to be best practice. Sorry I ever responded to this thread. Good day.

I like to swap out the fat lazy electrons for some fit new ones 🤣 Yes, I do know about the low leakage characteristics. Like I say, I have the same regime for all my flight packs and my glow sticks. I don't commit to memory which particular chemistry is buried in my many models. So I play it safe. I recently flew my OS37 powered Hirobo Lama Heli, which I hadn't played with for a couple of months. Turns out it has enerloops and the battery state indicator was fully green. But it did dip into yellow a bit when loaded by wiggling the servos for 30 seconds. Rather than risk it, I gave it 3 cycles the night before. Confidence and piece of mind is why I do it. "It was working the last time I used it" is something I hear too often at the field when there is an incident. On occasion it has been a flat battery or a radio issue. So I choose to cycle my batteries after layoffs and do a range test each session.

Any NiMh battery I haven't used in anger for more than a couple of weeks, including Enerloops, I give at least a couple of discharge/charge cycles. It costs virtually nothing, and I can see how much comes out and goes back in to give me confidence to use it in anger again.

There are far too many shots of tidy workspaces here that I won't embarrass myself by posting any of mine. I have my new hangar/workshop to fit out later this year. Whilst I always start with good intentions, my workspaces soon become messy and chaotic.

My new hangar/workshop is now weather tight. Recent rain has meant some small adjustments to the guttering are necessary. The ceilings are boarded, plastered and painted and the lights are up and tested via an extension lead from the house. Awaiting the electrian to come and connect both ends of the armoured cable to the four way unit and the house board and to certify everything. I'm also having two substaintial heating/air-conditioning units installed which each have inside and outside units. They have to be properly commissioned and gased up. One to cover the main downstairs area and another for the smaller workshop end of business where I can work more cosily in the winter months. The upstairs storage area is all insulated and has the floor boarded. There is a large hatch and fold down ladder for occasional access. There is much building work to be completed in my front and back gardens: Driveway, patios, walls, steps, paths and general landscaping. I'm doing some things myself alongside the builders and fetching and carrying, all in a bid to shave a few grand off the huge outgoings. This means I won't get to start decking my hangar with benches, cupboards and shelves until later in the year. Basically, I've written off 2025 to deal with all the mess, stress and expense. I haven't flown for weeks and my projects are backed up awaiting resumption. My wife is under the illusion she can share my new space! I think the bifold doors with integral privacy blinds have attracted her. I probably should have used a different thread to post this. I just wanted to round things off here. I have no intention of posting (anywhere) a blow-by-blow account of fitting out and organising the space. Onwards and upwards ✈️🛩🚁

I'm already a "Country" BMFA member 🤭

Simply sublime.

Nah. It's in position 20 of 40 projects 🤣

Thanks for the clarification. Sadly I don't have anything that qualifies, just an unstarted Gangster 52 kit 🤭

Presumably a fly-in only for classic aerobatic types, not scale, EDF, or anything else?

Amazing work.

Not sure I'd call it a second hobby, but I've had a very strong life-long interest in astronomy. Got hooked on the Apollo program as a 7 year old. Learned the Greek aphabet aged 8 from a table in the back of an astronomy pocket book. Had a 4 inch refractor as an 11 year old (I still have it) and by sheer fluke pointed it at Saturn the first time I used it. Seeing those rings was awesome. Last year I turned down the opportunity of a very reasonably priced 10 inch Dobsonian. Decided I wouldn't venture out on cold nights and get much use out of it. Keep telling myself I'll spend a couple of thousand on a reasonable setup, but never get around to it. Now that I have young grandchildren I may just buy a modest new refractor and show them the moon and planets. Between the ages of 16 and 30 I was big into electronics. Some analogue with discrete components, but largely TTL and CMOS logic chips. I read the CMOS Cookbook from cover to cover many times. Had hundreds of chips I experimented with. Made a few circuits from books and kits, but then created many of my own including designing and etching my own PCBs. My mum never did forgive me for stripping the chrome off the kitchen sink plug hole after pouring Ferric Chorine solution down it. Designed and made a burglar alarm with keypad. Oh, and a sound to light system for parties. But mostly made devices for use with my Futaba and Skyleader RC. My little inline servo reversers were popular in the days when Futaba servos had red or black labels for left or right rotation. And power switches for lights, etc. I didn't really get into the micro processors, Arduinos and the like, despite a 40 year career as a software developer. Guess I've been a geek all my life really 🤣

I'm loving the exquisite build!

Loving the sound 👍 Nice plane Paul.

Please post a link to the digital wall clock you have. I've been looking for something similar.

Like @Ron Gray I don't fuss much over my lipos and adopt a similar practice. I do a quick voltage check before a flight to make sure I'm using a charged battery. My tx only gives me an elapsed timer, which I set conservatively for each model then make a judgement call for landing based on how heavy I was on the gas. I aim for 20% remaining, but often end up around 10%, and sometimes well down into single figures. I don't label or number my packs or keep track of charge counts. Life's too short. I have various brands so I know individual batteries. I don't see a strong correlation between mild abuse and short life. They gradually let me know if they are no longer up to the job and/or begin to puff. I consider them like light bulbs, some go early and others last 10 or 15 years and still deliver. Again, I see little correlation between longevity and brand/cost/C-rating. After use I will storage charge if I don't anticipate flying in the next week or two. Otherwise I charge the night before. Sorry to continue off-topic. I realised this isn't a lipo thread 🫣

I will once I get it all kitted out and resume all my paused projects 😁 The original plan was to have a single garage door for those larger models 😉 but I wanted good draught proofing. In the end I went for a bifold door.

Very soon I will have my own aircraft hangar (triple garage space) with plenty of roof storage space, and a large partitioned workshop area where I can have multiple concurrent builds/repairs/servicing. I can stop and start and flit between them until my heart's content. And my wife will finally be rid of all my modelling paraphernalia from the house.

Madness... ... Baggy Trousers 😆

The trouble is, once I get up and feed my three cats and make myself a cup of tea, I am then trapped in bed by Stella and Puffin 😱 ... ...and when I want to go flying I have to get past a growling female, Willow 😬