Nick Rigg

Third month running the Hitec Flash 7 review has been postponed....

I ordered a couple of Lipos that fitted perfectly into my new FMS Zero...they arrived in 3 days, Parcelforce order tracking provided and at a price I couldn't believe (£15 for a 25C 4S 2700). The Lipos arrived perfectly balanced, hopefully will last more than a few cycles. I think as long as you select UK Warehouse from the start you can't go wrong....

I agree about the rigging, it really is a pain when you have servo extension leads but after removing quite a bit of foam there is now enough room for leads and receiver in the same space. I haven't seen too many comments about its ability to stay aloft. Maybe I've been flying in the wrong conditions or maybe I'm just no good at thermalling but basically my Pro goes up with the motor and then glides back down again. It will only maintain height by further use of the motor which doesn't seem to be the point really....

Just a thought re relative value of FMS vs E-Flite. With FMS, they'd include the kitchen sink if it fitted the box and it looks as though everything fits together pretty tightly. E-Flite models are not cheap and you clearly have to purchase the electric retracts separately which is a real cheek. And look at that gap where the canopy hatch is supposed to fit flush with the fuselage. If I were in the market for one of these, I know who'd be getting my money.

It seems there's a not-too-subtle undercurrent of views in RCM&E at the moment that unless you spend weeks/months slaving over plans to unite glue and wood then you're not really 'part of our club'. Unfortunately, there are some of us with busy jobs and growing families that just don't have the time - period. So nice little foamies such as the one David reviewed that go together quickly, fly superbly and tolerate the occasional prang with simple repairs are exactly what we need to enjoy this fabulous hobby.

As an electric-only flyer you might think the first place I'd look every month would be Nigel Hawes column. It isn't. As others have mentioned, his multi reviews are disjointed and uninvolving and when he isn't doing that he's often reviewing toys. We need a better electric flyers column please.

Re the trolley issue - I was thinking when I saw it that much better value can be had by buying a powered golf trolley (check the prices!) and doing a bit of DIY to adapt to RC needs

David and Bucksboy - the requests for more detail in builds / assemblies and fewer nice pretty flying shots are a constant refrain here.... I was happy to see the Multiplex Cockpit review having just traded my Futaba gear for a nice 'Elegance' edition. It really is a lovely radio to hold, everything is pretty much spot-on ergonomically (at least compared to the Futaba) and the programming / mixing possibilities are very impressive for the money. Disappointing quality issues with the E-Flite P-51 but hats off to RCM&E for pointing these out rather that just publishing glorified adverts such as often appear in other mags ....

A good read, with plenty of interest for me and only a few articles I glossed over. The Electric conversion piece by Timbo was really good but I was left somewhat bemused by the article on LifePos as I wasn't quite sure whether Tim was for or against...too many drawbacks as far as I can see. I agree with a comment above that there are too many pictures of finished models and not enough showing the work in progress. I think more detail pictures would greatly benefit the articles in RCM&E on a regular basis.

1. The Hobby Box, Uckfield   2. Giantcod   3. Multiplex Mentor   4. Horizon Hobbies

I may have been dreaming but wasn't there supposed to be a review of the Hitec Aurora this month?

Sorry if this has already been mentioned but  I had to laugh at the wicked sense of humour of the editorial team. The letter of the month was all about how inconvenient electric flight is, particularly the pain of charging batteries etc. And what was the prize - a nice new charger, ideal for EP flyers!!!

1. The Hobby Box, Uckfield 2. GiantCod or Robotbirds - both are great 3. Horizon for their great electric range 4. Pulse XT40

Fair enough - but have you tried the Hobby Zone NTU - it can be had for under £20 and for that price, considering it flies brilliantly, it's a steal!

Seems up to the usual high standards. There do seems to have been a lot of charger reviews though recently...   Regarding the Tigercat, one of our club guys has one powered by 4-strokes and it flies very nicely. I know David mentioned he pushed the boat out on the EP system but E-Flite motors, Castle Creations ESC and Flightpower Lipos is definitely the expensive route. You could easily halve the costs here by buying wisely from numerous good quality but less expensive components.   I also echo comments made previously here that two part reviews are not so good.

Re Scratch card - please read the small print before doing anything. Even the text option costs you £9. I didn't read it and I'm now feeling pretty silly....

It would have been nice to have seen a picture of the Graupner Kwik Fly with wheels up although I doubt it would have helped its looks much. That is one ugly model....

Yes Tim I do see what you mean but I think I need something like 100 degrees of travel to actuate the gear fully. And the mixed channel (6) just doesn't have enough - about 60 degrees even with max EPA. I'll have another look at it based on your suggestion but I fear I'll still be going down to the LHS come Saturday....

Thanks Thomas that's very helpful. And I thought I'd got everything (now I need to buy that reverse Y harness)!!

Thanks Tim. I'm not that bothered about the speed, I just want to have both channels (5 and 6) operate the servos to the same extent i.e. full movement. When I use the mix, I can only get the channel 6 servo to move a maximum of about 50% of the other one which is what you'd expect if say you were mixing a bit of rudder with ailerons. Thanks for your input anyway

Yes Tim just regular servos

Hi all - I have a 6EX 2.4ghz and have recently bought a E-Flite Sea Fury. The manual states if you have a computer radio (I do) then you can use two channels for the retract function that will allow better tuning of the servo end points. I have looked in the manual and the only option seems to use Channel 5 with a reversible Y harnass. I've played around with the Mix options using Channel 5 as Master and Channel 6 as slave but it doesn't seem to work. Any ideas - maybe it's just not possible with this radio

Got mine from Amazon, made up a TX pack from them and they seem to be fine (just a bit of a squeeze to fit) - in one and half flying sessions they dropped just 0.4 volts!   I reckon thenormal enerloop cells are too heavy for RX packs though

This is on my shortlist for Christmas! Definitely be EP though, should look good not having to chop it all up to fit an oiler in it....

Maybe the photo's not clear but it looks like David's launching Der Graupner Trainer mit Floats without extending his aerial.   Must be a trick of the light....