Mike T

Silly beggar. But this kind of rubbish is irresponsible (my highlighting): "Police said the pilot and people watching in the crowds below would have been killed if the drone had collided with the plane." May or might have been killed? NO! WOULD have been killed, for definite! If drones had been around in 1940, Galland would have asked Goering for a squadron of them, rather than Spitfires! "Any drone in the air will pose a danger to any manned aircraft," said PC...". If a drone takes off in Aberdeen, is a Jumbo going to crash at Heathrow? Nope. Hyperbole doesn't help.

Ah! I missed that one! I stand corrected. 10" is near enough 1/4 scale. If building from scratch (or a plan) then it would be easy to adjust F1 to suit. 6 quid more than the DB one though and the latter has the centre already cut and I think the inner edge turned over.

OK - assuming the pipe is straight and with no baffles up to the point of the crease, then you only need a mandrel with a reach of, say, 180mm. A 300mm length of 15mm dia steel rod with the end rounded to a hemisphere and mounted in a bench vice should give you enough overhang to get at the crease. I'd try working the pipe over the mandrel by hand to start with and if it proves too stiff, then resort to the hammer. If the pipe is baffled, then you've got no means of working the outlet dent, other than major surgery. Rotate the pipe so it's facing the airframe 😉

You may be able to raise that 'crease' a little by annealing then tapping gently (many, many taps) on either side with a planishing hammer. You wont get it out completely without a mandrel of some sort. How big is the aperture at the engine end?

Superb! I like your approach to airframe construction: take a huge lump of balsawood and remove anything that doesn't look like a Mosquito 😁 (seriously - I hope there are more 'construction' posts to come?)

Sadly, none of Inwoods alu. cowls will suit a Hannibal. But DB does a 1/4 scaler which might suit: cowl

Rolled paper, tacked in place with cyano. Or large-bore plastic drinking straws*. These tubes don't carry any loads, so gooping them up just adds weight. *bought in the days when you could get them. I assume 'green' equivalents are now available!

No damage to the prop nut Andy. The socket is a good fit on the bolt and the initial start up 'kick' is absorbed by the rubber insert. With a weak start battery (typical flight box 12V 7aH) it may need a helping hand (literally) over the first compression, but plenty of torque with a car/leisure battery. In short, the battery's ability to deliver current is key. Today, forum says "yes":

Mick Reeves does it: starter (scroll down to 'biplane parts') So I copied it to use on my 1/4-scale Pup: (there should be a nice pic here, but forum software says "no". Just imagine a geared starter with a 19mm socket pushed into the rubber cone. Plenty of grip, plus a little 'give')

After the gap has been filled by whatever means, I cut 6mm strips of covering, which when folded down the centre to create an 'L' shape, can then be ironed over the joint to act as a fillet/finisher. Not the best pic (or workmanship ☹️) but this is my Precedent Funfly - of which the Twister is a blatant copy! On ARTFs where there is unlikely to be any spare covering material, you can 'harvest' some covering (usually from the wing centre section where it seats on the fuselage) and cut this into strips. Scrape off any remaining wood fibres and coat with balsaloc or similar, then iron on as above.

Maybe this as an alternative? https://www.gliders.uk.com/12mm-x-2mm-Steel-blade-and-Brass-box-x-1M/productinfo/GLB12/

Yes, but where? The bar, the lounge, members dining room, board room, committee room(s), smoking room - or maybe just the bogs?

The recommendations from (I assume) RC Hobby seem reasonable, including 2 txs they sell and one they don't. The Radiomaster Zorro 4in1 looks like the best option - the 16S more so, but it is more expensive. I also agree with them dissing the cheap 'no name' tx from Amazon that you linked to. If money is a factor, then I'd knuckle down and find that DX8. (Is there a female available who can have a proper 'girl' look for you? 🙂 ) You'd then only need a DSM2 or DSMX receiver. Incidentally, the PNP version of the Phoenix does not have stabilization built-in, so if you were relying on that to help you'd have to buy that in addition, or a compatible receiver with it built in. However, with a DX8 and a competent Club to help you, you shouldn't need it...

@Don Fry - thanks for taking the trouble, Don!

Marc - that would be very kind - thanks!

Seeing as you are applying a patch to a relatively small area, I would hit it with a hot air gun until it shrinks. If it pulls up tight, all well and good; if you go too far and it holes, then you can just peel it off and try again. If a gun is too vicious for you, then use your iron to heat and lift the curved edge, then pull and stretch it over the curve while applying heat to take out most of the slack. Increase heat to rake out any remaining. Smaller wrinkles can be got rid of by 'boning' them out with the iron.

Totally OT, but opportune! Would you two gents ( @Glenn Stevensonand @Ron Gray) kindly measure and post the key dimensions of your 'XL' undercarriages, please, as per pic below? I need to replace a delaminated fibreglass Alpha Wing type and those off the larger 'Wots' look like they might fit the bill. Many thanks in advance 🙂

I was aware of the SIG and Flair Astro Hog kits, but never knew SLEC did one! I know SLEC have taken on some of the old Precedent and Apache Aircraft kits, so is this a pick-up from Flair that they are (were) producing? Either way, it's odd that they don't publicise it, as I would be tempted...

"Limited audience"??! This is the Vine show on R2 - huge audience, Ida thought! Excellent video on the news channel and nothing but positives in the radio segment - none of the expected sarky interjections from the presenter - Tina D was brilliant! All this (and seeing our Area Delegate and my Club pictured in the vid) have made my day!

My oldest JR tx (a 388s) was bought in 2000, so I've been a user for a mere 22 years... Perhaps, to bring us in line with the premise of this thread (and pacify Don), my problem is that I'm too experienced 😉 . Re failsafe programming, I'm unmoved in my opinion of JRs and I find Futaba's not better but different. They are both a country mile behind FrSky - press the bind button on the rx and job done. I was warned when I got a FF9 that the programming was a nightmare compared to JR (evidenced by the US agents producing their own manual) but I had no difficulty with it. Re the UKRCC, I know exactly what I mean. The UK Radio Control Council is a body representing RC users which has the ear of Ofgem. The links to it on the Ofgem website actually now point to the BMFA website. Yes, it is unlikely to have a material effect on radio manufacturers' design policy, but in concert with other nations representative bodies, it should be possible to achieve change collectively. No one is suggesting that manufacturers be required to abandon their own programming methods, just that for certain key functions they should be simplified and standardised. It's not beyond the wit of man (but probably, I agree, beyond the will...) @Don - our Club rules specifically encourage 3rd party scrutiny of members' models, to keep us honest. I wrote them that way when (many years ago) a very experienced clubmate's latest creation came apart mid-air. When he was assembling it, I spotted what I thought was a dodgy rigging-wire connection, but he was the expert and knew best and I didn't want to look like a divvy for pointing it out. When we were picking up the bits and we were speculating on the causes and I mentioned my concern. He was understandably upset that I hadn't pointed it out before he 'committed aviation'!

I think that instructors should ensure that their pupils know how to set up their own failsafes, with reference to the manual or with the assistance of a club member operating the same brand/model of tx (and who may well be the instructor). But as written the inference is that that instructors should be familiar with the failsafe systems on all commercially available txs, which is a bit of a no-no! The problem with failsafes is that some are ridiculously awkward to set (JR) and some are incredibly easy (FrSky). I digress, but ones of the things that the UKRCC could (or should) look at is requiring standardisation (and simplification) of failsafes across brands - this would go a long way to securing compliance.

What he said. If the worse comes to the worse, you may not feel like flying anyway. But if you should feel the need of the company of like minded people, then you can always just go to Cb anyway to enjoy the atmosphere.

One of my friends who uses a high-end JR set religiously range checks at the start of every session. A few weeks back he forgot to 'check-out' and piled in accordingly. I use FrSky modules in my JR and Futaba txs, but confess I usually only range check new installations or after 'servicing'. With the FrSky's you have to hold the button down for about 5 secs. for it to enter range-check. Exiting requires just a touch on the button, so in this sense it 'fails safe'. My recommendation on range checks would be to turn off the tx when the check is complete. This has the dual benefit of checking the failsafe settings and when turning the tx back on, it will do so (or should do so) at the full power setting.

To reinforce the logic, in addition to not checking CAA registration, we also don't check that our members' cars are taxed, insured and have a valid MOT! Our rules state that the Club assumes members comply with all relevant legislation pertaining to our activities, but has absolutely no responsibility for ensuring this is the case.

Nope - just the 'e'... Their only other contribution was causing the premature demise of the whole venture (and they only managed that with the help of an unwitting Yank...)