Alan Dunstan

Should point out this was the 1st time we had ever flown at Ashlet, and the wind was ENE when all the forecasts said it would be due East and Ashlet really is oriented slightly South of East. That said the odd occasions when the wind did shift slightly South the lift was tremendous, but Sunday it just didn't stay there. Mind Lee flew the WT until the batteries ran out and around 45 minutes on the Mini Nyx. I managed over an hour on a Bedlam, about 15 minutes on an M60, and over 30 minutes on the Mustang so not too bad overall. But Ashlet is a very llooooonnnnnnngggggg walk from the car park even if just about level. Will definitely go again when I am sure the wind is really on the hill as it really is a cracking site. Oh and there should have been more pics but the camera battery definitely did not like the cold. Beautiful views as well. Alan

John - As you haven't flown a larger heli before please don't bother about the scale body until you have some hours on the heli as a pod and boom first. These things are very different from small electrics and orientation will take some getting used to without the the added complication of a scale body as well. By all means get it and paint it etc but don't fit until you are happy operating a fuel heli. And could I suggest that basic 3001 servos are just about adequate for cyclic, right on the limit for pitch power, and very inadequate for a tail servo. Just way to slow to give the gyro a chance. Better servos on a helicopter make a much bigger qualitative difference than they do on normal sport aeroplanes. I know they are more expensive but will be much more reliable and in the long term provide a much more satisfying flight experience. Hope you enjoy it. Helicopters are without doubt the most satisfying things to fly well and I love them. Alan

Make very sure of batteries, including starter and flight ones. If you don't have an onboard battery checker cut the number of flights you would do in the summer in half for the winter. Be especially careful of NiMH's. Last week I had a fully charged the day before my helicopter (2200mah NiMh) and went out on a very cold day without charging again intending to do two 20 minute flights. After the 1st checked battery again (have an onboard display) and it was in the last green led when moving the sticks so thought ok for 1 more flight. Had been flying for about 15 minutes when the tail twitched so immediately brought it back to in front of me in a low hover. After a few seconds the tail twitched again so I put it down and shut the engine down. On checking the battery display it was way down in the red. On the battery checker at home it showed about 20% and on charging it put in nearly 2000mah. Now in the summer I have done 5 flights on this same battery without a problem so be very wary of batteries in the cold. For yourself just invest in some good thermal clothing. I was out sloping on Sunday where I doubt the temperature ever got more than 1c with a 15mph very cold easterly blowing (so wind chill takes it down to -5c or more) and was warm as toast. I had 5 layers on which does make you a bit bulky but heck who cares if you are warm. Always wear something covering your head and ears and wear decent warm socks and footwear. For your hands I'm ok with fingerless gloves and do 30 minute flights with no trouble but other people need more. Oh and take something hot to drink. We spent from around 10:30 to nearly 16:00 there without a problem (except the camera battery decided it really didn't like the cold) and had a great time. In the winter if you do it right you can have some fantastic days flying, if only because it very rarely gets crowded. Have fun. Alan

What models depends on the winds predicted but as I have a 70 mile round trip for power flying I normally take 3 aircraft and fly them all. Last time out (Saturday) was 3 and I had 8 flights. When sloping max 3 (can't carry any more to the slope) suited to the predicted winds and the site and I fly them all usually. With 3 slopers that probably means 3+ hours flying time. With helis as I can fly them from home most days if the weather is suitable a couple of flights. Thats 30+ minutes flying time. As I keep a log that amounts to a serious amount of actual flying time in a year and per model. Regards, Alan

Wasn't bad was it Lee. Very nice aeroplane and a super colour scheme. Alan

Eric - I read it straight off the BMFA website. A fountain of knowledge for stuff like this. It downloads straight into a pdf file. The extra frequencies (50 to 54 & 86 to 90) were added around 4 years ago I seem to remember. Must admit I never knew about the way to identify the channel number before reading this today. Alan

Eric is not quite right. UK frequencies as given in the BMFA handbook page 67 go from Chn 55 @ 34.950Mhz to Chn 90 @ 35.300Mhz. The handbook also gives the way to work out the channel number from the frequency (copied directly from the manual.) To Identify the Channel Number of an Untagged Crystal, (1) If the crystal is marked 34.xxx you subtract 40 from the first two numbers after the decimal point of the frequency marking, (i.e. 34.960, subtract 40 from 96 giving channel 56) (2) If the crystal is marked 35.xxx you add 60 to the first two numbers after the decimal point of the frequency marking, (i.e. 35.260, add 60 to 26 giving channel 86). However Eric is very right that the frequency given at the start of this thread, eg 36.060Mhz is not legal for RC Model aircraft in the UK and should not be used. Hope this clears things up. The BMFA handbook is a goldmine of info on these things. Definitely worth reading (must do so myself more often). Alan

Steve - I have a Bobcat powered by a Jen57 which flies beautifully but is very noisy, mainly because of prop noise. With glow motors the pusher range available is very limited but with electric and being able to make the motor turn either way I guess you can use std tractor props. If so what size do you use and how noisy is it? Subjective impressions will do. Someone else was talking about the Bobcat being difficult to get in the air, and Eric did recommend making sure you have a reasonable amount of positive while it is on its wheels. He is dead right. You need at least a degree or two or it just will not lift off, and the main wheels are so far behind the CofG that no matter what you do with the elevator it will not rotate. I eventually wound my own nose leg that is about 1/4" longer than standard and made out of much better wire just so it would always lift off by itself. The downside of that of course is that you really have to get the nose up on landing otherwise you bounce your way down the runway. Some people advocate having switchable up on the ailerons (about 1/8") just to help get the attitude right. And I must agree about the u/c. When I get my next one (for electrics) it definitely will have retracts. It always looks wrong going by with the wheels hanging down. Alan

Hamish - Point 1. Personally I don't think you should ever use a different manufacturers Crystal in the Transmitter. You say you have put a Futaba in Sanwa and it works. How do you know that? Have you got an oscilloscope telling you exactly what frequency that Tx is now transmitting on? The fact that a receiver nominally on the same frequency will work when it is close to the Tx doesn't prove that it is transmitting on the correct frequency. Rx's can and are easily swamped by adjacent Tx's. This I think is an extremely dangerous avenue to go down when a new correct Crystal costs so little. Point 2. Same applies really for the Rx's as well. I know some makes will take others Crystals (some Rx manufacturers state that other manufacturers Crystals will work) but still the same applies for me. A crystal is peanuts compared to the cost of a model. Point 3. Definitely yes For me the telling thing is that using incorrect Crystals in the Transmitter means that you are endangering everyone else around you as you cannot know for sure that your Transmitter is actually transmitting on exactly the frequency it should be. So you could easily shoot other people down. With using incorrect Crystals in the Receiver the only person you are endangering is yourself as if it goes wrong it is only your models that suffer. Alan

Yes - The R118F is a simple single conversion PPM Rx. Sanwa supports all makes of PPM Rx's. Single or dual conversion. The only type you can't use it with are non Sanwa PCM Rx's. PCM encoding is proprietary to each manufacturer unfortunately. Alan

When I used two RD6000's certainly it did work as the manual says, eg the slave Tx not turned on and power coming from the master Tx. We never used to remove the Xtal either. Have you tried it with the Xtal in and the slave Tx off? The manual certainly says the RD6000 can be used with the VG600. I presume you are using a Sanwa buddy lead. Perplexing. Regards Alan

I use Sanwa gear a lot for all my oily brigade (including helicopters) and Sanwa use the same wiring on servos as everyone else. If the servos have blue connectors they will fit everyones Rx. If they are really old with the black connectors then you may need to judiciously use a small file to get them to fit but the servo wiring is just the same as everyone else. Re the Rx side I use GWS, JR, Futaba, Hitec and Sanwa Rx's with the Tx and have never had a problem. And I mix Sanwa servos with others in the same aeroplanes. Absolutely no problems and really good strong reliable gear. They also do have 2.4Ghz available in the US for everything and over here for cars so hopefully in the not too distant future here for aeroplanes as well. With charging the Tx through the jack plug yes the polarities are different to standard. If you look at the battery connector inside its housing you will see that where normally the outside pin of the plug is usually negative with Sanwa the outside pin is positive and the centre pin negative. If you have the actual Sanwa charger with the gear all will be ok anyway. If not then yes you will need to reverse the jack plug polarities. Regards Alan

If at 1st you don't succeed well then just keep on trying

Lets try again

If we don't keep trying.......

With spruce or basswood hardwood servo bearers I tend to glue (with PVA) good thin birch ply, NOT liteply (1/16 or less) top and bottom of the bearer. Then drill the pilot holes and gently screw in the self tapper to make the thread. If it feels like it is going to split stop and make the pilot hole slightly bigger. After doing this a few times you know what size pilot is needed for what size screw. Then after cutting the thread drip cyano into the hole. I then install the bearer, again with white glue. I started doing this after splitting spruce many many times and now I don't have a problem any more. With lightweight gliders I have actually used balsa as the bearer again backed with thin birch ply and never had any problems. But always use white glue rather than cyano. You need the flexibility of the white glue to make this work. If you use cyano for speed it will always crack away as you start cutting the thread with the screw. Alan

Living in mid Wales among the hills and the mountains my "local" club site is a 70 mile round trip. An hour each way but as it has some old tarmac as well as grass is ideal for aeroplanes that have delicate undercarriages, retracts or need lots of speed to get off the ground. I do have a field available a 5 minute walk from the house for my helicopters but the field isn't suitable for anyone not able to fly them already as there are lots of big trees and wire fences around, and it isn't flat. For slope soaring the Long Mynd is a 50 mile round trip. Another hour each way. So given the cost of fuel these days I only go fixed wing flying or slope soaring if I am pretty sure I will have a good day of flying weather and can take at least 3 aeroplanes with me. Not very economic in time or money terms otherwise. Before I moved to mid Wales my local fixed wing flying site was less than 5 miles away and helicopters was 8 miles. The nearest slope was about 20 miles but the best sloping sites were 70 miles away down the M4. Earlier in this thread David Coward asked about getting a Bobcat off the ground. Not really the subject of this thread but as I have one and love it here goes. The "secret" is having enough positive incidence on the wing. Given where the main wheels are you will never have enough elevator power to rotate it. You need at least 1.5 degrees positive and then when it is going fast enough it will lift off by itself. If you try to heave it off it will jump into the air and then just as likely stall itself back into the ground unless you are super quick at pumping in the down elevator. I found the supplied u/c nose leg really wasn't quite long enough or strong enough so wound myself a new one with enough length to give about 5 degrees positive if I wanted. The down side of this of course is when landing you really have to bring it in nose high and slow otherwise you will bounce your way down the runway but if the CofG is in the right place (about 10.5 inches back from the leading edge at the root) it won't bite but will slow down nicely and mush in nose high. See my video at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwlWQbv39NE especially the practice approaches. On the landing I actually did exactly what I am saying you shouldn't. I apologise for that. Oh and make sure your runway area is stone free. Pushers are very prone to stones nicking propellors and at £4.50 minimum a prop that makes each flight pretty expensive. Guess how I know and how many props I have got through..... But it is a super flying aeroplane and I love it. Alan

Count me inplease

Have to keep trying

Lets just rry again

Well someone has to be 1st and I'm an early riser.

Lets try again

These are lovely to fly and own. Alan

Fab plane

Peter - Always a soldered joint. Unlikely to then come apart. Alan