David Hayward

Many thanks John for your reply - much appreciated. I rather suspected that any replies I received would be along the lines you have indicated. It seems that I shall probably just have to accept that technology fashions don't stay the same for ever. I too have old SM Services equipment - a Battery Master & a Battery Master 2 but, as you will know, each charge/discharge cycle has to be set up afresh each time and the max. charge rate is limited to 400 mA.

Does anyone know of a battery charger which can cycle NiMH rechargeable batteries up to 5 times while still allowing each cycle’s discharge and charge mAh readings to be viewed once the cycling session has finished? I ask for the following reasons. I have been using an IMAX B6 (50W) charger for some years. It is actually a clone-type from China, not an original SkyRC type and is reported to have been manufactured with somewhat inferior quality components compared to the original; hence its lower price. It worked well for several years but then the cycling started to give spurious results although for just charging it is still fine. This is a Version 1 (V1) charger which, like the original IMAX B6 design, retained all the discharge and charge mAh readings for each cycle which could be readily viewed and noted once the cycling session had been completed. However, I have found that the latest IMAX B6 V2 chargers which are rated at 60W, while having some additional features, only now allow the final set of discharge and charge mAh readings to be viewed at the end of any multi-cycle operation. This does not give me any confidence that the cycling process has worked as it should, i.e. with gradually increasing discharge and charge readings with each successive cycle operation. I find this very unsatisfactory! I have had correspondence with SkyRC about this issue regarding their D100 (100W) charger and also Overlander who market a seemingly identical charger but with their own name on it. The software seems similar to that of the IMAX B6 and they have also moved from V1 to V2 designs which I am told now have the same limitation as the IMAX B6 V2, i.e. only the final discharge and charge mAh readings are now viewable following any multi-cycle cycling sessions. More disappointment! Any advice on what battery chargers, if any, are currently available to meet my specific requirement would be much appreciated. I fly a range of range of ic model planes and currently only use NiMH rechargeable batteries for Tx and Rx purposes although would ideally like to have the flexibility to handle LiPos in the future should I eventually move into electric flight.

Thanks for all your comments. I have contacted PayPal and they have now authorised a refund of £29.34. This is still £10.11 short of the total outlay I have incurred. I am not sure how they have come up with this very precise deduction but I am pursuing it with PayPal.

I ordered some model aircraft accessories worth £39.45 including P&P on-line from RC Model Store on the 5th July '22 (https://rcmodelstore.co.uk) and paid with a credit card via PayPal. The firm is based in Stotfold, Herts. I have used them successfully once before. The order comprised a JP electric fuel pump and three remote glow cable assemblies (1 Fastrax type with metal glow plug connector and two Logic types), i.e. all standard readily available items. My on-line account states that the items are 'On Order with Suppler (paid)'. When I placed the order, some items were said to be in stock while others were said to be available from the supplier within 1-2 days. However, when I phone the company to check progress, all I get is an answerphone message saying their staff are not free to answer the phone right now and would I leave a message or send an e-mail. I have left numerous messages in recent weeks requesting that they contact me and have also sent e-mails but have received no response whatsoever. Does anyone know if RC Model Store are still in business? I am not sure what I can do next. At present, RC Model Store has taken my money without delivering the goods!

OK, all is clear - thanks Martin.

Martin M - Thanks for your reply. I have been able to access your 52 Atom Special photos by simply clicking on '895 photos' below your name/photo of yourself and going to the top of page 3, Looking at the ones showing a close-up of your home-made rotor heads, it looks as though pitch control is via a brass hinge parallel with the line of the fuselage whereas roll control at 90 degrees would seem to be below this via the lowest bolt which is connected through the top of the mast (rather than a separate rotating link above a rigid connection to the mast, as in the Hobby King C30 rotor head design). Have I got this right?

Steve J 2 - The plan arrived in yesterday morning’s post. Very many thanks indeed - much appreciated. I have no previous experience of building or flying autogiros, only sizeable fixed wing ic models and a couple of small indoor electric ones (Parkzone Night Vapor and a mini helicopter). I note the Hobby King C30 head (an obvious first choice of head unit for the Atom as it is part of the original Richard Harris design) is once again out of stock, both on the HK and coolwind websites. Could this still be the situation in several months’ time I wonder? In case of long delays with the C30 becoming available again, can anyone advise me what are the best tried and tested commercially-available alternative in-stock head units for the Atom - incorporating roll and pitch, and not just roll which would require designing in an elevator (too radical for me I think as I’m new to autogiros). I have read through this long thread a couple of times and note (with my head spinning) that there is passing reference to one or two commercial options mentioned including a laser cut wooden set of head parts (e.g. ref. R Harris on page 11) – but where can the latter be obtained and are there any instructions as to how to put the bits and pieces together and what bolts to use, etc? Also, now I have the plans, clearly I can cut my own wooden parts for the basic model but, out of interest, where can the set of laser cut parts be purchased if required, as illustrated for example, on page 67? And, is a pre-formed u/c available anywhere? I see on page 9 that there is mention of an Atom wood pack including fibreglass head plate and pre-formed u/c but who sells this pack nowadays? Sorry if I’m going over old ground which I’ve missed in the thread but would appreciate advice. David H

Onetenor - all noted, thanks. Steve J - many thanks; I'll confirm receipt when the plan arrives. Seasons greetings to you too. David H

Steve - My goodness, that's very good of you - many thanks. I'm quite happy to reimburse you for printing & P&P costs by say cheque if you care to give me your address. Alternatively, I can make a Christmas donation to a charity of your choice. My address is: The Nest South Town Road Medstead Alton Hants GU34 5ES David PS According to local legend, my house is made of leaves & twigs – but I’m glad to say that there is plenty of space for my large model-making room!

Can anyone suggest how I can get hold of a copy of the Atom Special autogyro plan which was issued as a freebie with the RCM&E Autumn 2014 Special magazine in support of the quick-build article featured in that issue. Unfortunately, I didn't keep my copy of the plan at the time but now, some 3 years on, I'm interested in tackling the build. The magazine puiblishers (MyTimeMedia) tell me that they can only handle such requests going back 6 months. They suggested I try Amazon or E-bay but unfortunately, the Autumns 2014 magazine + associated free plan does not seem to be currently available through either of these sources, although many other issues are. Anyone got any other ideas? I still have my copy of the magazine in question - it's just the Atom Special plan I'm after.

Thanks everyone for all your additional comments – all noted. Martin H – Re your Irvine Z-bender experience, yes, all a bit odd. I have checked by test Z-bends which I produced when I had my Irvine Z-bender. Taking the best of the bunch, I find I can just about be persuaded that I achieved 1.5mm deep bends on one or two of them (see photo with a ruler now included), better than the 1mm I’ve previously quoted, but, they still don’t sit at all well in a 2mm thick standard servo arm. I could of course add a small extra bend to bring the main part of the pushrod wire to the horizontal but I see that as a compromise too far. I certainly couldn’t achieve the 2mm+ Z-bend depth that you illustrate with your Irvine Z-bender. Maybe for some strange reason, I have been just unlucky with my particular purchase. However, since for my current build project, I really want to use a 2mm pushrod (M2.5 thread), I shan’t now be pursuing any Z-bender pliers option.

I have only just spotted that David Pearce 4 generated a discussion starting at 8/7/14 at 15.57.08 on this forum entitled ‘Problem with Irvine Z Bend Pliers’ which echoes my own – worth a read (NB No hyphen between Z and Bend in the title if you search for these postings). Nigel R - Yes, on studying on-line pictures of the Irvine and Prolux Z-bend pliers, I can see that the general shape of the jaws are different but, without seeing them both side by side, it’s difficult to determine any difference in the ‘Z’ dimensions within the jaws. If your Prolux pliers from HobbyKing work for you on standard Hitec and JR servo arms which, like, Futaba, are 2mm thick, I can only say that this doesn’t quite fit with the Prolux literature stating that their Z-bend pliers are only suitable for up to 1/16 in (1.6mm) wire! What’s the max. wire size as seen by the jaws of your Prolux Z-bend pliers that you have actually tried and been successful with? Ball link at both ends in my application? – hmm; food for thought. Ron Gray – Thanks, noted.

Thanks for all your follow-up comments. Nigel R - I am aware that the plain wire part of pushrods rods with threaded ends is slightly thinner than the threaded part so that M2 rods have 2mm gross diameter threaded ends with the plain wire part being about 1.6mm. Similarly, the threaded end of M2.5 rods have a gross diameter of 2.5mm with the plain wire part being about 2mm. See my attached photo below showing test results with the Irvine Z-bender I bought. Note that the two sizes of test rods (M2 & M2.5) described are old pieces which have had the threaded part cut off and so the plain sections of the M2 and M2.5 rods shown represent thicknesses of approx. 1.6mm and 2mm respectively. As mentioned in my original post, I couldn’t get the short middle section of the Z-bends to be more than about 1mm and so I couldn’t get either rod size to lie horizontally in a 2mm thick standard Futaba servo arm; hence, I would have the same problem with a 2mm thick metal bellcrank. Incidentally, for my sizeable biplane, I would prefer to use at least an M2.5 control rod rather than M2 as its more rigid/less flexible (this is in fact what is provided in the kit which is a ¼-scale DB Sport & Scale Sopwith Pup). Denis - the aluminium M3 clevises you illustrate are, as you say, a bit more heavy duty. To date, I have been a bit put off using this type. I imagine fitting the retaining clip when working in tight spaces within a fuselage could be a bit fiddly. Also, if I ever had to do an adjustment at my club flying field, I can see those tiny clips ending up getting lost in the grass! To pre-empt anyone who thinks of mentioning them, I originally thought of using a Kavan Z-bend coupler which can be soldered to the plain end of a pushrod (photo attached). These used to be available in two sizes – 1.5mm Z-bend with a 1.7mm ID coupler (ref. 6232) and 1.5mm Z-bend with a 2.1mm ID coupler (ref. 6230). Unfortunately though, it seems than Kavan have discontinued producing the larger size. Wilco – that’s the YouTube clip I have seen before which criticises Z-bend pliers for the reasons I have described (often producing less than ideal short Z-bend middle section lengths) and advocates the double 90o bend and final twist technique mentioned earlier by Geoff. Maybe my slight concern about weakening of the wire following the final twist is not justified? I’ll experiment a bit more with this option. At the moment though, I think I’m tending towards running with the sleep keeper option for attaching the elevator control rod to the bellcrank, with a clevis at the servo end. Use of a standard steel clevis, locking nut and coupler in place of a sleep keeper is of course a possible option. However, a clevis + coupler at the bellcrank/plain wire end of the pushrod and a clevis on the threaded end at the servo would not work so well for my current application - the control rod needs to be bent not far from the centrally-positioned bellcrank in order to reach the elevator servo mounted on one side of the fuselage while avoiding too sharp an angle.