andy watson

Thanks everyone. I went with the idea of the slow wasps in the end, with planet 2.4 radios from Webbies. 9 of each and a mini vapor for me to play with! It was a pity flying wings didn't bother answering their phone at any point- I almost went elsewhere. I certainly would have if I thought any of the other shops offerings were as tough. One thing that was worth praising- all 3 of the "big" shops I spoke to- Leeds, Webbies & SMC all warned me that the indoor fliers were built for lightness and so would not be that tough. Something I was obviously already aware of, but commendable of them all.

The embers were pretty good, and I will go for them again, but since indoor fliers aren't really my bag I thought some people with more experience would have a better idea of some of the alternative.

End of the financial year, and we have some money left over, so I put in a cheeky bid for £1000 for radio control planes to fly in the sports hall with the students. It was accepted, so I now need to buy some planes. The main criteria is they should be tough- the students have smashed up a vapour and half a dozen embers so far, so if anyone knows of anything more robust then that would be good. I will be looking at about the £100 mark, and would really like that to include tx.  Obviously they must be capable of being flown in some form or another with only basic instruction! Easily available spares would also be a benefit. Suggestions please!! Edited By andy watson on 12/02/2013 15:24:47

Wingman- I read the link with interest, as I was under the impression my debit card DID offer the same (or as near as it needs to be for me) protection as a credit card- and it DOES. The difference being that my VISA debit card is protected by a voluntary arrangement by VISA (and others) rather that a statutory requirement. For me that is adequate protection in the unlikely event of something going wrong and I continue to feel secure using a debit card for many online purchases.

I did say a small hammer!!! Danny has it pretty much spot on- although I find a pair of scissors a very useful tool as well. I have used styrene rods, but it can be expnsive if you need tiny amounts of lots of different sizes. To be honest most scratch built detailing is made from the kinds of scrap that is just laying around waiting for inspiration! I have never used chemiwood- although I have heard good things about it- I tend to just use randon off cuts of anything. Once paint goes on it is almost impossible to work out what was underneath.

Litho plate is brilliant stuff for making all kinds of scale details. Generally speaking you can make hatches/panels etc by cutting the required shape from litho and simply gluing it to the balsa sheeting before glassing/covering. These could easily be made from card/plastic if litho is scarce. More involved shapes like air scoops and fairings need a little more work. Firstly the litho needs annealing to make it more pliable. Rub the surface of the litho with soap, then warm it on a cooker ring/blow torch until the soap turns black. This means it has got hot enough and has softened. There are 2 methods I use- one is to make a pine mould and beat the litho to shape over it with a small hammer, the other is to hammer from the inside onto a softish base (a piece of wood works well). It takes a little practice- and a few go in the bin, but I found I got good results pretty quickly. Small quantities are available on ebay, although I ended up buying a load of the stuff. The Suka I built was done with litho bits- the blog is on here. Olly- are you still in accrington? If so I am in Rossendale and can easily let you have a few sheets.

Well it's nice to be missed!! I have done a little lurking recently, but as far as flying goes I don't think I have done any this year- certainly none since March. There are a few reasons for it really. One being a prospective house move- I wish we were in the middle of it, but the house is on the market and since I don't want the hassle of moving a part built airframe, and I don't know what storage I will have in the next house (although the other half has accepted a workshop as "essential", I would rather wait and see. I am also concious of the fact that my builds have been a bit on the big side- and I think I need to reign in my ambitions! I have also managed to get a couple of builds in my queue that- to be honest- I am not that excited about. Maybe I just need to bin them- the bipablast 2 and a seaplane biplane that I agreed to do for personal reasons, but to be honest looks like I might never get to it. Other reasons abound as well- work has been very busy- we were visited by OfSTED this year in my department, which was a lot of work and the students seem to need an ever increasing amount of support. I have also started playing poker again, which means my nights are taken up- so it's harder to get out during the day. Probably the main reason though is young Oliver. He is 3 now, and brilliant. I want to spend as much time with him as possible whilst I am the person he would rather be with than anyone else. Building and flying planes comes a long way behind chasing round the house with nerf guns (I don't know how I got that birthday present past the girlfriend) or making jam tarts or fighting with cushions. And the flippin Vulcan hasn't flown (or even had the markings painted on).

Hi guys. Not been around- in fact I have pretty much had this year off- a perfect storm of circumstances means I am unable to really do any flying or building. As Alan said we are hoping to move house, so building becomes very difficult, and I think most people know I fly because I build, rather than the other way round. The weather seems to have been dreadful, and my time has become increasingly limited with work and a young family. The end result is the Vulcan is sat in the workshop- but has never flown. I haven't even finished painting it beyond the base camo pattern. My current feelings are I need to build a dolly for takeoff, but I need to get my bottom down to the field first.

Back to the OPs question, I did something very similar about a year ago. I used 10mm armoured cable, and did all the burying and clipping of the cable since that is straightforwards and meant I didn't pay a skilled electrician for doing a labourers job. The calculations I did (you can find on line calculators around) suggested 6mm would have been sufficient (but no more than that), but I went with 10mm partly for piece of mind, partly in case my demands increase in the future. The workshop itself was already internally wired (it was wired up to the neigbour who use to own both houses) so I then got an electrician in to connect both ends of my laid cable. It went into the RCD box in the house as per the rest of the electrics, and a second consumer unit in the workshop was added. Cost was about £400 complete (materials and labour) if I remember correctly (which echoes the earlier point about forgetting the price but remembering the quality). Whilst I didn't have the skills to install it myself (beyond the physical labour aspect) I do know someone that could have, but I didn't think it was worth the risk not to get a part P qualified sparkie on the job.

BMMFC scale weekend this weekend if anyone fancies it!

I think everyone is currently working hard on this weekends scale weekend. There has been no announcement from the club as to a new date for the speed trials.

OK, this might be my lack of experience, but it annoyed me. I decided to treat myself to a new airframe. The description on the box was pretty clear- suits a 250-300W electric set up. No problem. Onto GS website- open up the electric motors- and as far as I can tell it is impossible to see on the listing what power each motor is rated at. If I go into the details of each motor I can work it out, but since they have 273 motors listed then this is tedious and makes comparisons difficult. In the end I went to BRCs website and ordered from them- look and learn GS!

Hi guys, No flight yet. A combination of weather and being really busy has put a halt to everything aeromodelling recently- not even started on a couple of exciting projects waiting my attention in the workshop. As Graham has kindly pointed out, even the painting isn't finished!! I have masks ready for the roundels and numbers, but I will take a sheet off you anyway if that's ok Graham- I need all those little details like the arrows etc. Let me know how much they are and (I guess) a paypal address.

I've had minor dealings with them a few times and they have been fine, but I would completely agree that 9 months is unacceptable.

I love permagrit................

Same tranny, same problem. Thanks- same solution.

What ever happns don't let it go past the deadline for Paypal (which is 45 days, not 4 weeks). Seriously- just don't. If the seller tells you their mum has topped themselves in distress at the dog being diagnosed with cancer, still start a dispute before 45 days- you can easily cancel it if they get the goods to you. Before the 45 days it's up to you really. I might give them another phone call and a week, but that would be my personal view- if they had annoyed me then maybe I wouldn't be so patient.

Mick Reeves also sells some super tiny bolts etc for such things. Going from memory they arent really structural. One of the really interesting bits about this sort of detailing is the answer often comes completely from left field. I was in our prep room earlier and noticed a whiteboard projector bulb. It looked similar to the original spec- albeit too big. I then started wondering if smaller projectors have smaller bulbs...........

I undersand that Danny- I am slowly drifting that way myself- it is the word "all" that is important though. I doubt even the most pedatic of scale judges will see most of the little extra bits you put in to make it a specific plane etc, simply because the detailed knowledge a builder gets during their reading will be more than that of any judge. The only exception being someone else that has built a (very) similar model. But be honest Danny- even for competition, you don't put those features on for the judges- they are on because you know they should be there, and it's you that wants them on your model!! That's certainly how it is for me anyway, and it really annoys me if I can't have them- even when I know no one else will ever see them.

Just as an aside, I built the landing light into the wrong wing of my stuka before I realised. Despite blogging the build no one else ever noticed. I also had the pleasure of seeing one of the best scale stukas in the country- a 110" Zirolli plan build. I was chatting withthe builder and asked about a (to my mind) pretty big concession he had made to practicallity as opposed to scale. I won't share what it was, but he commented that I was the only person in 10 years to have noticed!! I love these little details on a model- but it is only the builder that ever actually sees them all!

I did something similar on the stuka with a 12V LED and a reflector cone I scavenged from somewhere or other. A guy at our club is building a big Mitchell, and he used a halogen bulb for his light- Alan Cantwell may have a photo.

Martin- you are absolutely correct, I had mixed the 2 up. The warbird replicas LA7 was quite a bit higher up my build list then, since warbird replicas kits are more to the sort of size that are practical for normal people to build. The Willis warbirds kits are much more unlikely to happen. I don't want to build hurricanes or spitfires- every one has them. I agree 100% with Paul about kit prices.

Phil at fighter aces stocks zap a dap a goo, but I would err towards canopy glue as well. Zap a dap etc is an excellent general purpose glue though.

Bit for for me, but it's a pity. I really like the LMA events- they are amongst the friendliest, most approachable helpful people in the hobby. Many of the builds are utter pointless insanity- and brilliant for it. Then there are things like dawn patrol which boggles the mind at the level of commitment and effort that must have been required to get an idea like that off the ground (pun intended).

What was wrong with the original solution of a bit of scrap rag?