Alan Gorham_

Well, I was all fired up to build the Atom shortly after the Special mag came out with the plan in. Then I saw that the Atom was a likely winner in the mass build vote, so I've hung on and am now counting down to 1 Jan so that I can start building it. It's been hard waiting because I really want to try my hand at gyro flying. That should help keep me keen in January!

Or just take the wheels off when storing and pop them on before heading to the field?

I think the problem might be that there's no easy answer to your question. It's quite common to have to store heavier models with their wheels off the ground to avoid the tyres developing flats due to weight being on the tyres constantly. If this is the problem you are having then there aren't many types of tyre material that will stop this from happening... Can you store the fuselage vertically or horizontally in a rack mounted to a wall?

I'm in! I already bought all the bits for the Atom back in September but have hung back on building it once it became part of the Mass Build. I've got a barely started Cambrian Mustang and a half done Micro Mold Spitfire F22/24 that need finishing too, so that's the funfighters sorted as well. If I get them all done in time I could be tempted to come to Greenacres.

Still looking in Colin...I used to fly a Barnstormer 63" for many years and comparing the aerobatic abilities of the Team Special with a Bi-Stormer there would be no contest. I did purchase the unstarted kit of the PFM Giant Zlin we chatted about up-thread, but can't decide how to power it. Ideally I want a petrol four stroke I think. Since then I've got some other 1980's classics in the form of 5 old Sport 40 pylon racers (Midget Mustang, Polecat, Little Toni and Top Turkey) to keep me going in refurb projects. Keep us posted getting this model back in the air won't you? Nothing like a bit of nostalgia.

Using the word "loose" when "lose" is meant.... There's a couple of road signs near me (public highway so presumably made by a pukka sign shop) that say "Duel Carriageway". I always have to keep an eye open for a dandy highwayman with pistols drawn....

If you look in the jets section of the Large Model Association forum, the build thread for the prototype is there: **LINK** Plenty of pictures and specs....

I always mount my Rx switches internally, it's especially helpful when flying off water in keeping spray out of them. I don't like to use stiff wire to actuate the switch, I prefer two small lengths of nylon monofilament fishing line looped through the hole in the switch dolly. One length comes through the port fuselage side and the other length out of the starboard. It's pull one side for on and pull the other for off. Experience has shown that rigid wire can vibrate when the engine is running, transferring that vibration to the switch and it can also be prone to being knocked when the model is in the car on the way to the field, flattening the battery. My method is very unobtrusive too - the monofil. is hardly visible.

Cian re the flaps on the Hi-boy; at one time you could buy a "5-channel" foam wing kit as an extra which had flaps. That's where I got the idea from.

MAPP gas (a mixture of Methylacetylene and Propadiene) is good for silver soldering and brazing as it gets hotter than a standard Butane or Propane flame. I've got a MAPP torch and there's no messing about when silver soldering using it. Gets the heat in nicely, so Jim if you have such a device then it'll do a good job.

Precedent Hiboy with added flaps:

I've had or got several of the above kits. High Sierra - thousands of flights using a Cox Tee Dee .049 on a power pod. Good flyer but benefitted from a bigger rudder and the wing joining was a bit dubious IIRC. Hi Boy: I currently fly one of these with an Enya .40 SS glow. Great combo but I have fitted flaps for a bit more interest. I think it makes a good trainer as it flies nicely and is tough as old boots. I've also flown it off water with floats on. Lo-boy: Currently fly one of these with an OS .40 FP. It's the Lo-boy 5 with the single flap under the centre section of the wing. Great windy weather model, flaps make it fly so slowly. Again I've fitted floats. Hi fly - had one of these up until a couple of years ago. Had a DC Spitfire 1cc diesel on the pod. Went nicely but again needed a bigger rudder. I've been on a heavy nostalgia trip over the last few years buying, building and refurbing old 70's and 80's kits I never had when I was a kid. I've got a half-built Aeronca Champ in the loft that I bought the Carbon Copy GRP cowl for. I was originally going to make it electric but since becoming more interested in float flying I thought this would make a good floatplane with either a Zenoah 20 petrol of 120 four stroke so I'm having a think about this. All of the models I have experience of are reasonable flyers and the Precedent die cut ply fuselages were an early example of a manufacturer making an attempt at self-jigging construction. I think it worked quite well and the foam wings were pretty good quality too, meaning that the build was quick and reliable, if sometimes a bit heavy.

At risk of sounding prejudiced....I don't use an electric starter on any of my IC engines (Diesel/Glow/Spark - 2 or 4 stroke). They all start by hand and I am happy I will never damage them by use of a starter.

1. Limbo Dancer 2. Funfighter

Wow! Fast building Andre....

Ok, I'll show you mine! It's new-ish to me - bought off ebay in May this year it had sat in someone's loft for many a year and was covered in bubbly silver tex material. I test flew it like this, found it flew great - perfect for lazy touch and goes and should be lovely on floats too. So I recovered it in Profilm in the scheme you see here. I'm quite pleased with it.

The points/contact breaker are exposed because (a) it's probably the easiest place to fit them onto a front induction engine and (b) you may well want to be able to retard the ignition point for easy starting. I think I'd want about 10% oil in me petrol as a staring point. I've been using Fuchs Silkolene KR2 oil in my older sparkies this year. It has a modified castor in it to allow it to mix with petrol and of course you get the benefits of the castor being slightly goopier than straight synthetic to help maintain a good piston/liner fit and to help the plain conrod bushings and crankshaft journal. The Merco may be OK on a modern synthetic but I remember that the Merco 35 and 29 had plain alloy conrods (i.e. no bronze bushings) and plain (ringless) pistons. If the 61 is the same (I can't remember - I do think it was ringed?) then I would prefer a bit of castor. I'd be interested to hear how you get on...

There were some 'license built' spark ignition engines based on Merco .61s made by a firm from Yorkshire in the early 1980's. It was around the time that the Vintage model movement was getting popular. That particular engine looks like a home conversion. The carb looks to be a Perry carburettor to me. Note that the ignition system you have are points (as you already know), a capacitor (the yellowish cylinder) and the coil (helpfully labelled Micro coil!). Dunham Engineering made a number of repro spark ignition engines around the early 80's era including an Orwick 64 as well as coils and perhaps spark plugs as well. The disadvantages of this system compared to more modern transistorised ignitions are the relatively high current drawn from the ignition battery, the likelihood of strong interference from the system (that gets worse as your capacitor ages) and the susceptibility of the points to the build-up of oil and oxidation on their contacts stopping a good spark from being generated. If you wanted to fly it I would suggest making up a simple transistorised ignition circuit (Google TIM-6) and definitely fit an inline switch operated by the radio between the ignition battery and ignition that will enable you to switch off the ignition in the air if the engine stops. This is because if the engine happens to stop with the points closed your coil will overheat and burn out and they are not very easy to come by these days.... Bet that's more that you wanted to know....?

Well done Andy, just rewards for a job well done. Looks great in the air. I wish the kit was still available!

Rich - great info. I do a lot of water flying and thought it would be a quick job to make some floats for the Atom. However, I had an idea that there might be a degree of experimenting and new techniques to learn. I did think about a hand launch with floats and then if the flight trim seemed OK then go for a water landing. Where is the CG on the Atom (waiting for Mrs to come home with the Magazine...)? Perhaps I'm getting a bit ahead of myself! I'll build the Atom and see how I do with flying from solid ground first. I do enjoy taking off and landing with skis, so perhaps that can be my first experiment before moving onto floats.