Alan Gorham_

No ailerons shown on the Barnstormer 63 plans that I built two models from...

Yes, thanks Jon and good to meet you. We certainly did have a good chat with free Spitfire flypast. Jabberwock has now had the first coat of looking at. Its beautifully built and I'm looking forward to a little bit of gentle restoration and then flying.

Barnstormer 72 has ailerons iirc. Plans and some cut parts are available from the dbsportandscale website.

Hi os this engine still available please? I've messaged you about buying it on Facebook marketplace with no response.

It's almost like the OP has two accounts on this forum. The similarity between some of their constant queries and complaints is striking..

Simon I can only speak from own instructing experience which is 9 pupils of varying ages. I used the pupils own aircraft which were an Arising Star, Boomerang and E-Pioneer, plus my own Hi-boy. The pupils made the best progress on the more stable models and indeed without being ageist, the older pupils needed a little bit of thinking time plus positive stability to sort things out from time to time. Hence in my experience the Hi-boy and Arising Star helped the pupils to progress the most. My pupil who had the Boomerang was a natural flier and progressed rapidly anyway, so I guess he found a slightly faster, less stable trainer no problem. He moved very quickly onto flying 40% scale 3D aerobatic aircraft. The pupil who had the e-pioneer was also the oldest and he found it hard to fly as it had minimal stability and used to run away from him. I didn't like flying it either! I guess if the Fledgling was free then it's a no-brainer to use it, but I certainly wouldn't have bought it as a basic trainer on the strength of that review!

The reviewer also comments on how fast it flies, how little lateral stability it has, how it will fly the entire B cert schedule and that it would only be suitable as a trainer in a proper club training environment. I did mention in my OP that the reviewer also commented on the fragility of the structure. So, if you read beyond the very last line of the review you can see there are several factors that made it a not so ideal trainer. Perhaps it was thought diplomatic to not end the review on a very negative note.

Found the review... https://www.modelflying.co.uk/fledgling/

Cant remember its name but it was sold by YT International. The reason I remember it was that it was given a rather unfavourable review in RCM&E for being quite unsuitable as a trainer. A weak structure, fast flying and lack of stability caused by minimal diherdral were all cited.

Hi Martin. I'll take this please. I've sent you a PM.

J Perkins are the distributors of Futaba.

I don't have a local model shop, so I've been buying fuel online from Model Shop Leeds for years and more recently from Southern Modelcraft as they have begun to supply by mail order after a change in ownership.

Big Moki two strokes and most of the big STs weren't supplied with a silencer.

Still 2 UK based fuel suppliers. SC glow engines started production again. Thousands of good quality used engines of all types around for reasonable prices. No issue.

Surely it's cheaper to run them on the 10% oil, zero nitro fuel they were designed for? They aren't exactly frugal drinkers of fuel so every economy measure helps.