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Pete Collins

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Everything posted by Pete Collins

  1. Pete Collins
    Hi Paulo Glad to hear the maiden went well. Re your hard grass - It might be worth using a trick that we used to do with vintage model tailskids. Take a piece of thin piano wire about 2 or 3 inches long. Bend it to the profile of the skid and bend the ends up vertically (about 1/4" then give it a smear of epoxy and push the ends into your skid. Et voila - a steel tipped skid. much more resilient to being ground away during landings!
  2. Pete Collins
    Let's put it this way - I have 48 model memories in my Tx and there are only a couple of spare ones left. I have models suspended from the living room ceiling (very understanding wife), stored in the shed (mostly waiting for repair/servicing) plus a loft full. All this does not include quite a few unbuilt kits or a headful of ideas for models I want to build in the future - if I live long enough! You can't have too many model aircraft.
  3. Pete Collins
    Re the control line version mentioned earlier. I remember, as a kid, drooling over it as it hung in the window of one of our local model shops. Anyone remember having those.
  4. Pete Collins
    I just used a razor plane and sandpaper block too. It doesn't take too long if you mark out the wing first to show the parts to be removed. The belt sander sounds as if it might save some time but it would be very easy to take off a little too much wood. Be difficult to put it back on! Remember, you should be using pretty light wood for the wing.
  5. Pete Collins
    Hi RC Flyer Nice to know that the Vector hasn't vanished and that people are still interested. The prototype is in need of a little restoration now. I managed to prove that if you slow it down enough on the glide whilst turning then it will tip stall like any other model (Perhaps I'd got a bit complacent) - so now I have to build a new fuselage! It had become one of my favourite models so I will do it, I just have to get some other projects out of the way first. Lots of luck with yours.
  6. Pete Collins
    Yes - listen to Paulo. The vector is a good flyer and always turns heads at the flying field but, I think it would definitely struggle with that motor.
  7. Pete Collins
    Mine was built about a century ago and the power system consists of am MFA Mini Olympus geared/brushed motor (Anyone remember those?) with a six cell pack of AAA Nimh's. Amazingly it still flies but those batteries do make it unnecessarily heavy. I keep intending to re engine it with modern gear but I have the 'around to it' problem! I would say that any outrunner that draws around 100 - 150 watts would be more than ample and you want to be using a 2 or 3 cell Lipo of about 850 mAh. (Add lightness and improve flight).
  8. Pete Collins
    Just to whet your appetite, here's a pic of my Ladybird
  9. Pete Collins

    Pete Collins posted a gallery image in Member Albums

  10. Pete Collins
    Just checked the link - Nice model -I'd love to know what it was covered in!
  11. Pete Collins
    PS. Nice looking Vector - Good luck with the Maiden flight.
  12. Pete Collins
    Hi Paulo, Thought this thread was dead. Its nice to know that I'm not the only one who sometimes takes ages to finish a model. My record was a tow launched thermal soarer that I started in 1980 and finished as an electric soarer in 2014!
  13. Pete Collins
    Ditch the torque rods and put a mini servo in each wing. Lighter, more efficient and as the designer would probably have done it if they had been around at the time!
  14. Pete Collins
    Going back to the original post. If you find that you're still lacking aileron response, one thing worth trying is to add lots of differential. I know it's usually used on high aspect ratio gliders but It sometimes helps on bipes and High wing scale types.
  15. Pete Collins
    Undercambered aerofoils generally produce more lift - especially at low airspeeds. They also produce more drag at all airspeeds so, which have the best lift/drag ratio rather depends on circumstances. Usually Undercambered wings work better on lightly loaded, slow flying aircraft, but they tend to have a more restricted speed range and are less easy to control in pitch. All of which is a huge generalisation and, as always in aerodynamics, there are exceptions to the rule. No doubt lots of people will disagree, but that's why they call these things discussion groups!
  16. Pete Collins
    Hi Martin Washout is the effect of having less incidence at the tip in order to ensure that the tip does not stall first. Usually 2 or 3 degrees is sufficient although I have seen as much as 5 degrees used. More incidence at the tip would be washin which is generally a bad thing to have. Depending on the structure and covering material, it is sometimes possible to ad a twist to a wing by holding it in a twisted condition and then applying gentle heat before allowing it to cool and then releasing. Usually the wing will then spring back a little so you hold in a bit more than you want while heating to allow for that. If the wing is a stiff structure ie a webbed spar and fully sheeted leading edge, then it might not be possible to twist in washout in this way, you'll need to check your own model to see.
  17. Pete Collins
    A few years ago I had a sim that, I think, was called a CSM. It had the ability to test fly unique designs. If you had designed a model you entered all of its parameters into the sim and then you could test fly it before you built it. What was amazing was that when you built the actual model it really did have the same flying characteristics and handling as the sim! You could then experiment with CG positions, engine sizes, propellers etc or tweek the design - wingspan aerofoil etc. The only down side was that the graphics were a bit primitive by modern standards, but I was quite happy to live with that. I wish someone still made one like that.
  18. Pete Collins
    In response to Peter Millers comment re Radio Licences. The government were quite happy to keep collecting the fifteen bob from each user while it didn't involve doing anything but when the CB craze happened (Sound familiar) Legitimate users started to complain that they pay a license fee and would expect the government to police the waveband and do something about illegal users who were interfering with our control systems and causing a potential danger etc. The initial government response was to scrap the licence fee. Only later did they introduce new wavebands and legalise CB - this proved to be the real answer since legalising CB pretty much killed the craze over night! Such is the perversity of the human animal.
  19. Pete Collins
    I'm using a 10C, admittedly a lot older than the 10J, and the only upgrade I have done was to change the original NiMh's for Eneloops. This has made a huge difference. I don't need to charge religiously every time I fly and I usually get 2 or 3 flying sessions from a charge. I just need to keep an eye on the battery voltage - anything over 10v is OK.
  20. Pete Collins
    I have built a Grumman X-29 but not managed to make it fly yet. I believe that you can actually get a depron one in kit form!
  21. Pete Collins
    I always used to buy in model shops as I like to feel and grade my balsa personally. I would drop into the local shops regularly, riffle through the balsa and buy any sheets that looked like they were good ones. over the years you can build up a nice stock that way. Unfortunately, now that the institution of the local model shop is becoming a rarity this is no longer possible so I recently went through three plans on my 'to do' list, listed all the balsa needed and, with some trepidation, put in an order to Balsa Cabin. (130 quid's worth!) I've bought DIY type timber from Wickes in the past so I know how fraught with danger it can be, letting someone else choose your wood! When the order arrived I couldn't have been more pleased. every piece was just as I would have chosen it. All I can say is thankyou Balsa Cabin and well done! Sorry if this reads like an advert, but it's how I feel, and no I don't own shares in them!
  22. Pete Collins
    Hi David - reading through this thread I felt a few words on covering were in order. When you check out old plans they will usually recommend tissue covering as this was used almost exclusively on small models 'back in the day'. This involves covering the framework with tissue paper, shrinking it with water, and then proofing it with a varnish-like material called dope. It's a fairly skilled technique that we all had to learn back then because there was no sensible alternative. Nowadays there are lots of alternatives ie Iron-on plastic films or polyester tissues. you really need to do some research to find the way you want to go. If you are interested in using the old methods of tissue covering then you should check out some of the vintage model aircraft forums. I can recommend 'Stick n tissue' although I think it is now a closed forum so you won't be able to post on it, I don't think that will stop you from viewing. (but I could be wrong!)
  23. Pete Collins
    OK it's sport scale rather than sport, but my favourite was the DB Sopwith Pup. The small one for .15 engines. Mine was redesigned slightly and built as a dove - needs the plan re-drawing but can be built from the same components, just like the full size. no pix I'm afraid but it was my regular hack for about two years back in the late seventies. Never put a foot wrong!
  24. Pete Collins
    The problem with the JP is that the air intakes and jet outlet are just too small to make a workable ducted fan model without changing the shape so much that I would loose the character of the aeroplane. The same is true for several other apparently obvious subjects.
  25. Pete Collins
    I had a Miri 100 back in the day, and a jolly good model it was too! Initially I found that it had a strange tendency for the trim to vary unpredictably. I then realised what was happening - every time it landed the boom would bend slightly. Once I developed the habit of checking that the boom was straight before each flight the problem disappeared. The other problem was that the pod and boom design didn't leave much to get hold of when launching, this could make things awkward when bungee launching single handed. This eventually lead to its demise. In the scramble to hold my trannie and launch the glider with the other hand I forgot to switch on the Rx! Needless to say, it went up the bungee as straight as a die, dropped straight into a thermal and climbed away never to be seen again. I was flying from Warwick racecourse at the time and the model was last seen heading out over the town.
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