Ben Mullins

Sheldon, Turbine heli! We can all dream . . . . I've all ready got the motor and Lipo with all it gubbins, they were in my much repaired ground hugging trainer. I've weighed it up and all together weights the same as a .25 2st with half a tank of fuel, so I think ill be alright. I hope it will be a sweeeeeet model as well! Andy, LMAO. Truth be told, if I didn't do the counter on here I would do it on excel, just like every other model I have made! I like to keep track of the money I spend, as I don't have alot of the stuff! Time wise, Its just a bit of interest really, see how slow I am at building! Time to stop for the night, tomorrow you will see the doublers.

  Thanks David and Sheldon. Ill build light then! I do like your suggestion of Poly C on its own, I might follow that idea, especially as you said, fiberglass is unnessesary weight. Electric Airsail Beaver BuildTime spent on build: 01:15Money spent on build: £84.60 The money has gone up! £80 of that was the kit itself, and I just went and got the plans photocopied for the grand sum of £4.60.  Anyway, Rubbing method, a lesson learnt from the veneering world. This method is useful for two flat pieces of wood which need to be butt joined. In the R/C world this could be sheet wings, sheeting which is joined before being put on the model and as i've used it here.  Step 1:Get your 2 pieces of wood which need to be joined and put them on a flat surface. Don't forget to cover your work surface with something to stop the glue sticking to it.   Step 2:Put a thin amount of PVA or similar glue on both the edges which are to be joined.   Step 3:This is where the 'rubbing' comes in. Place the two pieces of wood together on your flat surface and push them together slightly. Now, with a hand ontop of each piece of wood, move the separate bits of wood back and forth, against each other, with the glued edges still touching. This 'rubbing' creates a vaccum between the two pieces of wood and expells the air and 'sucks' the pieces of wood together. Fascinating!   Step 4:Now with the wood 'sucked' together, line the pieces up so that they are correct. Mask up the bits of wood so that they don't fall apart. Do this on both sides. Wipe off the excess glue. Make sure all is flat and place some quite heavy weight onto the wood all along the joint.   Thats it! It really works, honest! If you don't quite understand, tell me and ill try and make it clearer, maybe by video. Next stage is to put some ply doublers onto the forward fuselage sides. Edited By Ben Mullins on 08/09/2009 17:38:53

Electric Airsail Beaver BuildTime spent on build: 01:00Money spent on build:£00.00  Hi All,  I plan to start all my posts regarding the build like that. Helps you (and me!) keep track of everything. Ill round the time off to make it easy for my brain! The money will include everything that I buy for this build specfically, so it won't include general tools and thing that can be used on later projects.   The De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver is a STOL utility transport aircraft, often refered to as a 'Bush Aircraft'. It was used by many air forces around the world including the US Army Air Corps, British Army Air Corps and Royal New Zealand Air Force. It is such a rugged aircraft that the kiwi's used it to support Sir Edmund Hillarys expedition to the south pole. Now widely used as float planes to get around Canada and other similar places. Most familiar to people will be the Kenmore Air beavers in a yellow and white paint scheme   Anyway, I got the Airsail Beaver traditional kit for my birthday before the summer. Here are some details about it:  - Wingspan - 1550mm - Length - 960mm  - Controls - 4 channel (although I plan to change this) - Power - .20 to .35 2st/.25 to .40 4st. In other words, 400W + I plan to use 4S Lipos to power a 600ish watt motor. I know its a bit overkill, but better to have power in reserve than not enough! I also plan to fit some flaps, as after all, this is a STOL aircraft. I also intend on adding a light system and add a fair bit of scale detail. Im thinking of covering the model with POLY C and fiberglass/tissue to give a steady and nice surface to paint on my desired paint scheme. At the moment that is going to be a British Army Air Corps scheme, but that could easily change. Ill let out and tell you more as the build goes on, I don't want to bore you!   Onto the kit! With a nice big picture on the front of the box, you just want to rip open the packaging and have a look at the wonders inside. Upon opening, you find a plastic wallet with parts lists, instructions and very high standard water slide decals. the decals include markings for three varients of Beaver. The rest of the kit is hidden underneath some tissue paper, for no apparent reason. Removing the tissue, I see lots of pre cut balsa and ply parts, as well as bundles of stock and sheet. There are a fair few ABS moldings of good thickness and an accessories bag. Also, there is a very sturdy metal undercarridge, which looks as though it will take a few beatings. There are 2 A0 size plans rolled up. Lovely! It seems as though all is there.    Thats all for now, Im getting tired! Next time you will see my fathers 'Rub Joining' method.  Comments welcome through out the thread, Ben Edit: Photobucket really starting to peave me off now! Edit Again: Phew, that was too much work! Edited By Ben Mullins on 07/09/2009 22:11:29

Looks like the same colours as a Sea Fury! I really admire your building skills, I better get practicing!

Looking sweet Sheldon. You're quite a good builder you know! I used to use the tracing paper method to transfer shapes onto wood, I now use the pin method, much more accurate, and takes half the time! Keep Building, Ill be watching . . .

I had a similar experience on Friday. The Reds were flying around doing all their stuff over Portsmouth Harbour somewhere while I was in a lesson watching them. Needless to say, I learnt nothing that lesson!

So, the last major show of the year is coming up. Who's going to the Southern Model Show this year? It'll be my first time a Hop Farm, HOPing to get some cheap fuel and a bit of starting equipment, how about everyone else?

GIANT COD. You know the site. The lipos on that site are ridiculous, you pay more for a bottle of Cyano!

Makes the hedges at the field seem all soft and bouncy now!

Haha! What on earth did you do to it to make it crumple? I've tried my hardest to break it, but the damned thing just won't break!

Hi All,  I just found an old Humbrol airbrush lurking around from my airfix days. Are they any good for our purpose? Can they do good enough detail (like weathering and stenciled insignia). Wheres the best place to buy some 'canned air'.  Thanks, Ben

POWER CRAZY . Me and my Easystar will beat any turbine powered thing.  Tony, even if you do crash the Easystar, It won't do any damage, its indestructable!

Yup, and mine is pretty slick on my small 3S Lipo. I seem to remember that mine weighed in at about 1lb, im probably getting about 100-120W of useful energy so im quite happy with the figures. As always, the proof is in the pudding, the thing flies great.

Yeh, I shouldn't really be running it on a 3S Lipo. The old heavy NiMh's that were in it were just to luck luster, so I threw them out and used one of my 3S Lipos, Transformation! I don't fly it much any more, just dust it off when I see Cirrus clouds in the sky (Lots of Lift!)

Suitable Pilot = ME! Sorry, Had to be said

  Not sure about the maths, but on a good day I can keep my easystar up for 30/40 mins on a 3s 1300 mAh Lipo. I would suspect on that 2s 3700 mAh Lipo you could start knocking on 50mins at a time.  But remember, an Easystar climbs better on 3/4 throttle, not full. Well mine does anyway! Im a little surprised at your read out of 70W. Brushed motors are very in-efficient so I would guess you are only getting 50W or less of useful energy. Mine reads nearly 200W when I shove it on a wattmeter. I almost never put it on Full though, as the voltage of a Fresh 3S Lipo would soften up those magnets in the 6V Speed 400 very fast. I would suggest you don't put yours on full throttle that much either, as on your fully charged Lipo you would be about 3V higher than the motor likes. You have been warned!   Ben. Edited By Ben Mullins on 05/09/2009 15:45:10

Nice, well done Tony. I used to 'Harrier' my Easystar into land on a windy day. If you're lucky you can catch it! Havn't quite got the hang of catching yet, gotta practice that!

Eric, as far as I can tell, you are right about Windows 7. It looks a bit nicer, there are a few fancy graphics but thats about it. They've gotten rid of all the baggage, as you say, which is very welcome. Its also a bit more user friendly than Vista. You can change the settings without having to trapse through the Control panel to find something that isn't there anyway! Posts work fine for me, and there is never any delay (touch wood), I've never experienced a problem with this site. Guess you've just been unlucky. Thats my diagnosis!

Surprised to see that Eric doesn't like Firefox, I swear by it. I liked it so much I thought Id have another go at Linux (tryed before but failed miserably). I now how Windows 7 Release Candidate and Ubuntu Linux 9 on the same PC. I just choose which I fancy on start up and use my system.

Don't know of a ARTF one unfortunatly, but there is this GAD Designs foam model.

OK Timbo, Thanks. I had no intention of using them, I was just surprised to see them on the GC website! Think I might stick with mechanical ones for now.

Hi all,  Just been nosing around the Giant Cod website and found all this. There is a load of air retract stuff there and im guessing its going to be cheap, as GC always is!  Is everything there that is needed for a retract setup?   Ben

Inspiring Tommy, Well done! Don't forget the Apple Cheeks! I really like you Motor accsess hatch, ingenious. I wanna go and buy a load of wood now and start building!

SNAP! Nice last name John . Timbo, even for someone who relitivley knows quite alot about electric flight  and electrics in general I've been finding all your little 'guides' quite interesting. Keep 'em coming.

  If you are unlucky enough to get a CA lid stuck, shove the bottle in hot water, always works. However, I now use ZAP CA, the superglue inside doesn't like to stick the special plastic (I presume) which it comes in.  I also remember my Dad telling me of something you can put on CA bottle lids to stop them sticking, can't remember what it is now though, not much help!  This is one of the few things im happy to spend more on.