Richard Duvall

None yet. I decided it was time to replace the numerous patches by re-covering my trainer. The job has turned out bigger than I expected as I've found various bits of damage to balsa parts. However, I never aimed to get out until spring has well and truly sprung!

Have you accidentally muted it? Look for the speaker icon at the bottom right corner of the screen; if it has a thing like a red no entry sign across it, it is muted. Click on it and unclick the mute.

Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary, so it would be good prezzy!

For ignorant people like me, can someone give a brief explanation of failsafe! And, is this a facility available on my Futaba 6EX?

Hello Martin, Stephen & Mark,  yes it has been a bit quiet here.  I got distracted from the build during the summer months and have been away in New Zealand for a couple of months.  I will be getting back onto it in the coming weeks. I need to take stock where I got to! I think it's mainly painting left to do.  I don't expect to fly in now till next spring!

A lot have people have said (quite rightly in my opinion) that the sound of IC (especially 4 stroke) is more realistic. That is of course true for propellor driven planes. But when it comes to more modern real planes, jets are most common and EDF is currently the affordable way to get jet-like performance. I suspect turbines will remain ultra expensive for the forseeable future. But who knows what will become available in say 20 years?  I'm newish to this hobby and I know that not many years ago the multi-channel radio systems available today did not appear in model flyer's wildest dreams! 

Take her out for a picnic, but don't tell her it's at the flying field!

Well saved!

Also lost my Super Air!  Went down behind trees where it could be anywhere, including a couple of fields of rape seed. Heard the impact  when it went down so am inclined to think it's in one of the trees as the trees would probably have killed the sound if it hit the ground. Spent a long time searching to no avail this evening. Had a novel idea on the way home - use stilts to walk above crops without damaging them (thats how the crop circle artists get in and out) !  Might try knocking a pair up and see if I can walk on them. Then try them on the rape field.

I'm quite attracted to this as my next plane.  Where did you get it for £58?  Best price I've seen is £63.99!

I'd echo everything that Nick said above. Unless you are lucky enough to have a cable supplier in your neighbourhood who can provide a direct connection to your house, you are stuck with BT supplying the connection from home to exchange and the performance they can offer.  But never mind, Gordon has promised that we are all going to get superfast broadband for just £6!

Mark,   I haven't primed all of mine yet but I have sanded prior to priming to eliminate any residual brush marks, although I think Poly-C is good that it doesn't leave too many. I used quite a soft brush.   There is a specific thread running on Poly-C, but I don't recall it going into priming so far.  

Danny, thanks for asking but it's not an electric prop!   I suspect I may change it for a Master Airscrew one before I'm finished as am am getting fed up with the fragility of APC ones on my trainer.   I may also have got the size wrong at 13x8.   Following Martins comment above about the elevator linkage, I am in the process of adjusting the exit position of the control rod to allow a straighter connection. Updated photo will follow soon.

What we need is some enterprising person who is good with electronics to come up with a simple adaptor which would have two parts. One connects to the expensive Futaba receiver and the other ( multiple copies) installed in each model. You then simply unplug the receiver from one model and plug it into another. After all, we can only fly one at a time!  If you've got half a dozen models, thats £480 saved; enough to get another model or two!

Are these Corona receivers compatible with Futaba transmitters or just Corona modules fitted to Futaba?

Dave,   Nice to see another Chipmunk build blog; mine is also here on the forum. Interesting to see alternative variations. Mine has been at the nearly finished stage for too long now and I must put in some more time on it soon.  Also welcome to the forum, I've found it an invaluable source of help and advice!

I've found lately that some threads spread further to the right than is viewable -the right hand end disappearing behind the ads. Other threads display "normally". 

As mentioned by James above, I have used Poly-C on my Chipmunk and found it very user freindly - no smell, no sticky mess, brushes wash out in water. I am a novice builder so have nothing to compare it against.  I used it with the lightest glass cloth I could find and found that it took around 5 coats to achieve a good finish. I also found it possible to cover complex surfaces, like the fuselage, in sections; the joins were quickly lost with a light sanding.  I read somewhere that it has greater adhesion qualities that Wickes (or B&Q) varnish and a half litre bottle (approx £10) did the whole of my Chipmunk.

I would have thought that even if you could get the engine to run OK backwards, the profile of the prop would be wrong?

Martin,   All comments welcome!  I've checked the linkage and it is quite stiff - the elevator does not appear to flex much.  The rod exits the fuselage a little further back than indicated on the plan resulting in the need for a more significant bend than on the plan.  I'll see if I can do something to improve it but unless I open the fuselage up, I suspect there's little I can do!

Here is the engine mounted. I changed the standard exhaust manifold for a 90 degree version which nicely brought the exhaust round to fit neatly within the cowl. The silicon extension exits through a hole in the cowl.  I've also fitted a refuelling valve.     And with the cowl on, the refuelling valve is accessible.   Cowl primed ready for finishing paint. Edited By Richard Duvall on 11/05/2009 23:05:11

THe fuselage servo bay. Please excuse the current jumble of wires but I haven't sorted out where to fix the receiver battery yet.  

Here is a view of the tail. Work in progress glassing the fin with Poly-C.  Plastic trim also fitted to fin.  

This shows the steerable tail wheel.  You can also see the elevator control linkage.  The paint on the evelators is not the final finish but I wanted to get the interfaces failed before I glued the hinges in place.  

Emil,  Thank you for your kind words!   I've finally got round to taking some more photos.     Firstly, I would recommend to all future builders of this kit (or any other for that matter) to knock up a bespoke stand something like this.  I wish I'd thought of it earlier as it may have saved some of the damage I created in the process of building! Edited By Richard Duvall on 11/05/2009 22:43:34