Nigel Sharp

I expect he is very chuffed indeed. Especially since he built the plane as well. Well done Franz

It's in my post above Jonathan's post. Originally around 1974 but reprinted a few times. Old gliders are detailed with mechanical mixes, camber control etc. All the basic rules. Just remember 1. If the wind is going up... faster than the glider is going down so is the glider! Ensure your battery pack is well charged. You only have to land.... when your arms or neck ache. Need the loo or someone else wants to have a go. You quickly learn cross wind and high wind are no bother. Just add a bit more lead. Perhaps I'll have to dust off my phase 6. It's been a while.

Dave Hughes radio control soaring is an old Bible on the subject. Check various online book retailers for a copy. I learnt essentially lone hand 1980 chuck it off. Bash repair repeat... after a few years control line and free flight of course. Baildon west yorks. Lots of happy hours slope flying. Alas too near to L&B Airport and restricted zone.

Check your email is same as the caa email registered to you for your op id. Andy at BMFA sorted something similar for me earlier in the year. As I'd changed my email address as a result of changing isp vendor.

Rubber bands can be purchased using a number system. Length and width. Length being the flat length. The can be stretched to about 100 % oc the unstretched measurement. If you know the number of the band you can buy them in boxes by weight. From many online stationary suppliers.

Dreadful... Goodbye forum. Although BBC has news item about cookies and Google and trials. I write this from Firefox. But Chrome on my android is same.

Not having enough bands certainly leads to interesting behaviour. My Wayfarer was initially a bit of a mystery in the handling department until I upped the number of bands on the top wing from six to eight. After that it became perfect. Wing lifting was the culprit. However... due to a moment of poor piloting on my part a re assembly was due... now changed to wire cabane struts and bolts. Still flys superbly. Ps I fit bands from the strongest edge... once had the front dowel ripped out of a veron cardinal. What a right mess that made!

Assuming you are planking or curving sheet. I make formers for each end. I space them apart with scrap balsa sheet e.g. 3/32" spacer to later receive two 1/32 ply spacings or end caps. Add suitable longerons to keep formers apart. Glued up with grease proof paper so my preferred pva glue doesn't stick the whole lot to the fuselage. Sand the balsa formers to match the firewall/ tank bay. Mark the fuselage side with pencil mark where your saw cut needs to be each end. I use rare earth magnets to snap the hatch I'm place. Planking is done by dividing the arc of the former into equal number of planks. Use a divider to mark the widths then apply a pair at a time Pictures attached outlining process.

A good dose of artistic licence and a good colour scheme!!! Still a simple build and more than a good chance of successful build plus first flights. And plenty of options to play with.

RMtrainer plans on outerzone. https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=6001 Simple build.

You can even watch the aforementioned fun here... North Leeds MFC fun fly 2022

I have an Elmira from the original kit. It was built 1982 and upgraded to ailerons in 2006. Currently in mothballs as I'm flying mostly electric. When did the conversion I did this. 1. Reduce the dihedral to 1/2 what it was (from memory 4" down to 2" at wing tip). Drastic measures were done via a "SAW" and inlay of new dihedral brace. 2. Took 1/4" out of the wing incidence at the fuselage simply use a 12" rule locate at trailing edge 1/4" downfrom leading edge remove that triangle, in my opinion the wing incidence was too great which meant Elmira flew too slowly hence the poor rudder response. Any way she still flys well now. 3. Made ailerons by simply cutting the trailingedge of the wing tips starting 1 bay from inboard end of the tip going to 1 bay from the outboard wing tip. the width stops at the sub spar e.g. leave that intact. 4. I used a pair of HS81mg servos to drive the matching aileron mounted near the inboard end on 1/8" liteply plywood between the ribs. 5. Set-up a coupled Aileron/Rudder mix on the transmitter controlled by a switch (flight mode) so I could use it if needed... 6. The wing joiner is two 10SWG piano wire lengths going over three ribs in the root/tip of the center and tip panels. Between the upper and lower spars you cut out the rib cente and make a box with vertical sheet webbing each side of the spar. Then for flight you add a 3/8" or 1/2" x 3/16" spruce or birch wood joiner ( this is the original method as supplied in the kit). So .... she flys nicely in a vintage way - don't expect to be able to "Roll" because she won't. but the model looks much better than with bucketfulls of dihedral. for completness here is a link to a few photos of mine within a review of Vintage Models replikit version. Nige

Steve, Mine is an original KeilKraft Mini-super equipped with tricycle undercarrage and its 3 channel only (no ailerons). Balance is behind the Boddington marked position but just before the upright behind the first side window. Here is an extract of the plan cg marked with the arrow. When I commented in an earlier post in 2020 during pandemic just after it was refurbished and electrified I said I needed about 30 grams of church roof but in the nose not the tail - this was a mistake as I'd originally chosen 2S lipo...and that was a bit wheezie and light hence the weight needed to make the marked ballance. Its now got a 3S lipo which made that redundant. For a 3 channel model it is quite spritely on 270 watts using a 10x5 or 10x6 prop. Alas mine is not very good at flying inverte.! Perhaps i need more "Down" than I have available but barrel rolls, loops stall turns and spiral dives (as opposed to spins cos it refuses to spin) are all fun. I flew it at Model days at Old Warden in May and was my plane in North Leeds MFC BMFA world record attempt. I get a good 10mins on a 3S 2200 mAh lipo using an overlander 2836/08 1120kv motor and 20 amp ESC. In my opinion it looks its best flying figures of eight low down and tightly banked plus of course low passes and/or touch and goes. Very relaxing to fly and really doesn't owe me much being nearly 40 years old! Enjoy flying yours it reminds me of those VW polo's from the 1990's that had multi colour paint ?.

Matt/Peter, Thanks for those answers I can use D8 for my old Reveivers as both the TX and XJT module show manufacture date 2014 and 2012 respectfully. But I'll ensure all new FrSky X or S series recievers are EU-LBT and bound in EU D16 etc. I am only disappointed that JR were in a mess then went under my as my orginal 35Mhz 9XII is and remains a great set with XJT module. Nigel

I have a number of old V8FR-II recievers installed in some pre 2014 slope soarers. My question relates to the legalities of flying with those non-telemetry recievers using Taranis X9D (2014 build but firmware upgraded to EU-LBT) with OpenTX I can uncheck the "EU" mode and that lets me set a model memory to D8 mode which then enables me to bind the old reciever(s) but is that now still legal? I also have a JR9XII equipped with a DJT FrSky module purchased around 2012/2013 which can set to D8 mode. It has also been flashed to EU-LBT mode same question will this still be legal? I'm not sure of grandfather rules in the case of updated firmware in hardware manufactured pre "EU" non D8 Telemetry requirement. Seeking advice from the collective members... There is nothing wrong with my Radio it performs perfectly for my needs, and new Rx(s) are being purchase in EU-LBT mode so I've no requirement to upgrade the Transmitter etc. But would like to resurect some of my slopers from storage.

A great but dated book is Radio Control Guide by Norman Butcher published by Radio Modeller I think. I got mine from mum/dad for Christmas 1980 I still have it well thumbed. Shows boats/cars/planes - installation (old style pre computer radio) etc. availble for peanuts on e-bay etc. I learnt the lone flyer way in fields behind our house Also in my library Slope Soaring - Dave Hughes Thermal Soaring - George Stringwell Scale models for everyday flying - Gordon Whitehead. All of them read until the print came off (well you know what I mean) and all show the traditional balsa bashed models hence why I'm still hooked on aeromodelling all these years later.

And that's just the mould.... he'll start again making the actual moulding! Serious work there Dirk takes some dedication no shortcuts taken. That plane will be very imposing.

Looks like the dihedral brace is up against the rib at the end of bay 1. Perhaps thats preventing a close fit. Bit of fettling required on those ends might be possible. Don't go mad remove a little at a time using sanding block.

Fog light is like Adaptive lighting when going round a corner . lights that side of the road to give better visibility you see this a lot on VW's Simpler than moving the lights like full adaptive. LED lights dim to allow the indicator to be more visible or the colour is switched with the Day light running light(s). E.G. Modern Mini Cooper S Well that is my understanding...

So that will be a Bowman Spatless then ?

I like that. My wings came from Bill Kits they were cut for LDII (68") so I had to remove a 1" from each of the wing roots & 1/2" of the tail roots too to make the 66" version . I had already ordered the balsa etc and made the Fus sides when I realised the difference. I did print the plan for the LDII fuse and yes it is mucho longer - but as I'd already decided on the first Loaded Dice I continued with it. A Very nice if extended build. Great to being building in balsa again especially with plans from outerzone. Now I'm going to do a lot of flying. N.

Masher, It came out at a slightly lardy 9 1/2 lb so I have just over 200 watts per lb. The Lipo weight is 1.9 Ibs which is a fair old lump I think having to put on three coats of white to overcome the grey primer was the culpret. It took me an age to finally decide to do the westrop style scheme. However it does go straight up and does huge loops plus flys like it is on rails but I have only had two flights today so early in the tuning process. Was very pleased as I only required 1/2 oz of weight on the motor box to balance right on the plan c of g. Which given the pedigree is spot on when flying as is the 4 deg of right thrust. I will add a single washer to each top mounting bolt which will equate to 1/2 to 1 deg down thrust as I believe it does need it ( on the plan but omitted by me in error ) that will better suit the spinner since it is very slightly proud of the top deck by about the same amount... ?.

Final pictures - maidened this afternoon - very nice flyer (as expected ? ) just need to spend lots of time on the sticks to learn pattern... the Wayfarer in the background is also mine and also a splendid flyer especially in hooligan mode. Twins Bill and Ben the pilot men each eagerly waiting their turn. 1930 watts on my meter 87Amps drawn at full chat. 15 x 7 APCE prop Landed at 7 min Zippy Compact 6S 6200 mAh pack with 30% remaining Very happy indeed.

Out of focus pictures help ? but I have a plan... at first careful T cutting worked wonders on the Fuselage/wing but the flappy bits alas are a bit of a lost cause. I was soooo annoyed with myself all it would have taken is a quick blast over with white on that tape. Still we learn by our mistakes plus the extra work it makes re-inforces the memory. It's years since I sprayed a model having used film for years and years.

Here is an in progress update... paint scheme applied alas it doesn't quite pass my scrutineering so I have some further finishing work to do ? it was the bleeding masking tape wot done it guv! However I am very chuffed with the way the colours work ? hope you like it. I feel the end of the build is near just the electrics to wire up ( wiring loom for wing, and soldering connectors to ESC ) and to balance etc.