RottenRow

Sadly John’s posting above pretty much sums it up. The host’s loss of wifi just at the beginning was unfortunate but these things happen and it was pretty quickly sorted. The ‘meeting’ was recorded and apparently the video will be available to view at some point. The non-working sound was apparently only music, no commentary, so no information was missed. The meeting finished within an hour of starting. There were 60 plus participants. Brian.

I was already subscribed to the Scale bulletins but had no trouble subscribing to the 2026 updates, same e-mail address for both. Perhaps I was just lucky…. Brian.

I registered yesterday evening and it worked fine. It produced two e-mails. Firstly the link to confirm your subscription, then a ‘thank you’ one after you have used that link. Perhaps worth trying it again? Brian.

The outcome is the same though… goods below the value of £135 should have UK VAT charged by the seller. As has been mentioned by Dick W above, some companies won’t be doing that, even though they should be; then the VAT gets added on by FedEx who whoever is the shipper, along with their admin. charge. The link I gave does specifically state that the definition of an online marketplace includes any company that takes your payment online, which I assume Motion RC Europe does. It’s not just Banggood, ebay etc. clearly includes these as well. Brian.

There is another thread on this forum about Weston’s site being down due to technical problems, they are taking orders by ‘phone. Just give them a call. Brian.

As I understand it, any company from outside the UK who supplies something to an individual within the UK (ie not to a VAT registered company) has to register with HMRC and charge UK VAT on the total cost of the items plus shipping. If the total is above £135.00 then there is also duty to pay. See here… https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-and-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-in-the-uk-using-online-marketplaces Note that ‘online marketplaces’ includes any company that processes orders made online (the definitions are given on the HMRC page at the above link). Then there would be no additional fees to pay upon delivery. This all changed a couple of years ago. Brian.

The BMFA Classifieds website does specify the file size limit. It’s in red in the header of each page. Brian.

Kelsey, the new owners, have bought Morton’s so the name will probably continue. Which two magazines are you referring to? Brian.

2K clear works fine over Flair Spectrum / Spectra / Guild paints, which are all the same stuff just made at different times. These are advertised as fuel proof but aren’t 100%, particularly the matt colours. The lacquer can be applied using a piece of foam, add 10% thinner to it first and it flows out just fine. Wear disposable gloves. Don’t breathe in the fumes but it’s less hazardous than spraying it. For open structures a cheapo disposable brush would be better. You can buy matt or satin 2K lacquer, as well as the usual gloss finish, from car paint suppliers. Brian.

The images in some articles appear to be of poorer quality (lower contrast) than others. If you compare two pages that have identical content in both the April and May editions, for example page 5, the difference between the two isn’t that obvious. Similarly the multi-coloured covering films in the 4-Max adverts are pretty much identical in both issues. Certainly not anything to make me consider whether to buy a copy or not. Brian.

As you have already got the collets off, the valve should just slide out. After all, that was how it was put in during assembly. As it isn’t doing so, there must be a tiny burr on the end of the valve where the rocker arm has been bearing on it. Don’t try to force it out as that could damage the valve guide. Push the valve back to its seat and use a magnifier to look at the very end of the valve stem. Any burr will need to be removed using fine wet and dry paper. It will only be the tiniest amount. Make sure everything is thoroughly cleaned afterwards. Brian.

A lot of faults with older transmitters, such as yours, can be fixed by anyone who is a bit familiar with how to use a soldering iron. After a worn out battery, and assuming that there hasn’t been any degradation of the internal wiring or connections due to the tx having been stored in a shed, then there isn’t a great deal to go wrong. As far a professional repairs are concerned, it just can’t be economically viable to service a 20 plus year old tx, offer a guarantee etc. I agree about some ebay sellers’ rather optimistic expectations. As for not responding to offers or questions, the same happens on the BMFA Classifieds. It’s just the way some people are nowadays… Brian.

Emitting Rods…It’s meaningless; probably a poor translation from chinese into English. My best guess would be that it is referring to the sounds that the ESC (or more correctly, the motor windings) emits when programming. Brian.

Have you made sure that the range of your throttle channel covers -100% to +100%? Can you monitor that on your transmitter? Most, if not all, ESCs require the throttle output to be at minimum on power-up for them to initialise. Anything else will prevent the motor from running, which I think is what is being alluded to in the red underlined sentence in John’s post above. Make sure that you have the ESC plugged into the correct channel output on the receiver (channel 3 on Futaba). If still no-go, plug a servo into channel 3 to verify that the output is varying as expected with the operation of the throttle stick. To do this you’ll either need to connect the ESC into an unused channel (to supply power to the RX) or use a 4.8V battery. Brian.

As David says. Alternatively, make sure that the exhaust is pointing downwards so that any overflowing fuel runs out and not back towards the engine. Also, do you have the throttle fully closed when you are refilling? If not, try doing that, as it will reduce the flow of fuel into the carb (assuming that the Saito has a twin needle carb). I have several inverted four strokes (no Saitos though) and I fill the tank in the way that you describe. The engines never flood, in fact I have to prime the engines before hand starting. I only use a manual fuel pump though, so have more control over the filling process than might be possible with an electric pump (which only operates at one speed). Brian.

Is this something that happened suddenly? Or is it the first start-up after a winter lay-off? Also, do you know that the petrol is good? Brian.

Could the silencer be restricted? Two stroke strimmer engine silencers have an internal flame trap that can get carboned up, I don’t know about 4 strokes but perhaps worth checking. If not, if it has a manual choke, if you can close that slightly whilst it’s running does that improve things? Or make it worse? Either would point to an incorrect mixture (weak or lean respectively). Brian.

Immediately after charging, theoretically that’s true (assuming the charger had finished charging and not timed out after say 2 hours). In practice, a few hours elapsing after charging, a different temperature and probably a different measuring device can all produce a slightly different reading. Brian.

The alleged glitch in the upgrade… There is so much confusion in the original and subsequent posts that nothing should be assumed here. The circumstances don’t suggest a transmitter issue, as others have also mentioned. Better to wait for a definite answer from the ‘tech specialist’ before trying to apportion the blame for the crash. Brian.

This was covered by a letter published in the February 2025 RCM&E (page 72). In response to that letter, RCM&E’s publisher (Mortons) stated that they had no issue with someone copying a plan for personal use. Brian.

Geoff has got boxes of bits and pieces left over… Jon showed a couple of photos of some of them last year. What else is he going to do with them? He’s not going to sell them to modellers himself. So why hasn’t he already sent them to Leeds? Perhaps a difference in what Geoff wants for them and what Leeds will pay for them. Leeds’ stock does get replenished occasionally as they do have more parts available now than they did previously. There is no harm is asking Leeds though, as Chris suggests. Brian.

I don’t think it would work in France🤣🤣 Brian.

Those older Lasers used BA screws, not metric. Assuming the silencer and carb. tapped threads are in good condition, you’ll need 2BA or 4BA grubscrews (I can’t remember which but I think 2BA). The same goes for the cylinder head bolts. You’ll need to measure the length required. Allen-key capped bolts. Modelfixings should have them. I don’t recall gaskets being fitted, I thought they just relied on the fine finish of the mating faces, possibly aided by the thinnest smear of silicone. Brian.

If it’s a decent, professional type meter then an industrial calibration company will be able to calibrate it. If it’s a more basic model then the calibration information might not be available. It might be cheaper to obtain a new meter with a calibration certificate. Try searching the web for ‘industrial calibration’. For our electrical test equipment at work we used a company in Bedfordshire as it was local (and some items were large) but they will also use a courier for smaller items. Professional calibration won’t be cheap though! Brian.

Interesting, most of us were commenting on what was shown in your photos. It looks like the example shown in your Aloft link has a long screw to fit through the forked IDS arm to retain it onto the servo output shaft, and the clevises are relieved on one side to give clearance to the screw if the holes in the arm are positioned the furthest distance from the flying surface being operated. I guess the ones in your recent case didn’t have that option. Brian.