March 2012 Issue Feedback

[FunnyFlyer]

Good discussion.

 

I remember a time when engines in mags were indeed tested on a dynamometer and graphs were published of both BHP and Torque against RPM.

 

When and why did this practice cease? All we get now is how many RPM it pulls on a certain range of prop sizes.

[Tony Jones]

 

I'd be willing to fly out to Japan & interview OS Engines if RCM&E will pay my expenses...

 

I wonder if Neil Tidey (Laser Engines) could shed any light.....as our most famous home grown enginista he seems best placed to tell us.....

 

I await the feature with bated breath.

 

As brake figures are always taken at WoT, we could see just what power was being developed at what rpm - and thus know exactly what the effect of different propellers was. AFAIK, 4-strokes generally have a wider power band than 2-strokes (depending on how the exhaust is tuned in the latter case), which is why they cope with overpropping better.

 

That said, I have an Irvine 150 on a tuned Quiet Piple that is wildly overpropped. (18 x 10) to give 6,500rpm (my club is very noise sensitive) at WoT. Yet seems to produce a surprising amount of power at that rpm. The pickup from idle is a bit sluggish of course, but it does just about cope with slamming the throttle forward - but that's something I try to avoid in principle.

 

Regards

Edited By Tony Jones on 10/02/2012 12:35:46

[Steve Hargreaves - Moderator]

Wow....that Irvine 150's con rod must just hate you Tony......

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

Oooh Twins and Multis next, can't wait. it will be interesting to see if my own experiments bear any relation to the theory

[Nick Rigg]

It seems there's a not-too-subtle undercurrent of views in RCM&E at the moment that unless you spend weeks/months slaving over plans to unite glue and wood then you're not really 'part of our club'.

Unfortunately, there are some of us with busy jobs and growing families that just don't have the time - period. So nice little foamies such as the one David reviewed that go together quickly, fly superbly and tolerate the occasional prang with simple repairs are exactly what we need to enjoy this fabulous hobby.

[Tony Jones]

Posted by Steve Hargreaves on 10/02/2012 12:39:10:

Wow....that Irvine 150's con rod must just hate you Tony......

Nah, we've been together for years. And she's a big strong girl. (These engines hardly ever come up on eBay so I assume others rate them as highly as I do). But I'm not sure the latest generation of super-light motors would cope.

 

Cheers

[Tony Jones]

Posted by Steve Hargreaves on 10/02/2012 12:39:10:

Wow....that Irvine 150's con rod must just hate you Tony......

Actually Steve, I forgot to mention that even with that amount of overpropping I have to limit the throttle opening to about 85% to limit the rpm to 6,500 - which is the most I can pull while remaining within the 82dbA limit. So it's not quite as bad as it at first appears.

 

Cheers

[Prop Nut]

It's not the ancient Greeks who worry me, Seamus, it's more the modern ones and what they are doing to the European economy! Either Sir John Herschel or Johann Von Maedler coined the word 'photography', in 1839, not me. Painting or taking is immaterial - the resulting image is a picture. A digital photograph may be 'taken', but when manipulated or enhanced is, in effect, a 'painted' picture, a figment of someone's imagination, not faithful to the original.

 

Daithi has been seduced by Wikipedia, always a chancy prospect given the people who contribute to it. Again, the dictionary defines 'Graphy' as: 'A combining form denoting a process or form of drawing, writing, representing, recording, describing etc., or an art or science concerned with such a process: biography; choreography; geography; orthography; photography'. Clearly, not just writing.

 

 

[Martyn K]

Posted by Seamus O'Leprosy on 09/02/2012 22:18:44:
Hellcat don't worry about those ancient Greeks cameras hadn't been invented.

You paint a picture
You take a photograph

 

<start pedant phase>

Being a proper pedant, you actually 'make' a photograph, take means to bring into your possession, something you cannot possibly do until you have created (made) it.

<end pedant phase>

 

But do I really care?

 

M

[Steve Hargreaves - Moderator]

Posted by Nick Rigg on 10/02/2012 12:43:17:

It seems there's a not-too-subtle undercurrent of views in RCM&E at the moment that unless you spend weeks/months slaving over plans to unite glue and wood then you're not really 'part of our club'.

Unfortunately, there are some of us with busy jobs and growing families that just don't have the time - period. So nice little foamies such as the one David reviewed that go together quickly, fly superbly and tolerate the occasional prang with simple repairs are exactly what we need to enjoy this fabulous hobby.

 

 

I'm not sure why you think that Nick...given that you can't please all of the people all of the time I think RCM&E do a pretty good job of walking that particular tight rope. Personally I would like to see a few more kit reviews rather than a predominance of ARTFs & foam RTF models but then I'm sure RCM&E are reflecting the way the majority of modellers vote with their wallets.....

 

I'm also sure that an RC mag that concentrated purely on sticking bits of wood together to make aeroplanes would find itself out of business pretty quickly....

 

As one with a growing family & a busy job (& not much spare cash either...see previous points...!!) I enjoy ARTFs to the full but also enjoy a spot of building too when I get time. I occasionally enjoy incorprating a "traditional build" type modification to my ARTFs....it makes them more..."mine"...

[Ben B]

I think the mix of instant foamies, ARTFs and "proper" kits is about right. And the grammatical errors are few and far between- and I'm pedantic about these things. The most annoying errors I've ever seen in a r/c flying magazine (not RCM+E mind you) were articles with the last sentance (or two) missing. It had obviously word-wrapped behind a picture (or do I mean photograph ) never to be seen ever again! Exasperating to say the least.

[Sparks]

Had to smile about the Charge Markers ad on page nine, only £3.99 for four!

 

I use the red elastic bands that postie leaves on my drive for free and wrap them around a discharged LiPo to show it needs charging.

 

So, no, I have never wondered how 'I ever lived without them'.

 

(Grumpy Sparks)

 

 

 

 

[Eck]

Given that the general public never see the build (or assembly) phase, they tend to lump us all together as the people who FLY those dangerous noisy toys. If we are to defend our hobby, then we really could do without fragmenting from within into factions and concentrate on demonstrating that it is a safe and enjoyable pastime for all, whether gifted on the building side or not.

[Major]

Just bought current issue. Didn't read yet, but after quick look I can say, it keeps as same level as others, or even higher. The only thing which makes me mad and wild is the plan - why not full size?? It could be better to print both plans on one sheet of paper, but twice bigger, than "separate sheet for each rib/former". But I will build Harlequin anyway - nothing is gonna stop me!

 

Keep up the good work guys!!

[Martyn Johnston]

I'm glad there's now a forum thread discussing the spelling and grammar mistakes in the magazine. Maybe we should have a new one each month! I’ve wanted to comment before but didn’t want to appear petty. But now somebody else has started I can join in J (and yes you can start a sentence with ‘but’ if you want to).

Unfortunately I'm one of the (hopefully small) group of pedants who do get annoyed and distracted by the number of mistakes in the magazine; I find it destroys the flow of a good article.

I’ve not yet read much of this month’s magazine but the first grammar mistake I’ve noticed is in the editorial on page 5.

Graham says, near the bottom of the article, that ‘all this begs the question …’. No it doesn’t; it raises the question. To beg the question means something else entirely. I know it’s probably just me being petty, but Graham is the editor himself and should be the one telling the other contributors to ‘write proper, like what he does’.

This one annoys so many people it’s even got its own website (http://begthequestion.info).

[Lee Smalley]

Oh my

[FunnyFlyer]

Eat's shoots' and leave's

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Graham (Editor) is having net probs today so asked me to post his response to some of the comments made here.....

 

Sincere apologies to anyone who’s found the enjoyment of their issue disturbed by one or two mistakes. I don’t like mistakes of any kind in the magazine and believe me it’s very painful to read about them. I can’t remember which one of you lovely chaps pointed it out now but, yes, the buck most certainly does stop with the editor so in that respect you can hold me personally responsible for all the errors you find. I’ll try much harder in future, I promise.

David’s article on propellers was a super piece, it certainly isn’t his fault that a few typos crept through, I should have picked them up along the way but, as is often the case in the real world, things don’t always go perfectly to plan and in juggling all the balls that one must keep airborne during the last few days of the production schedule, things can get missed, and often do. I fear this will always be the case and all we can do is try our damnedest to catch them before the deadline. There are near-on 50,000 words in each issue of RCM&E and I can assure you that the only way to remove each and every mistake would be to double our staff, shut down the phone lines, lock ourselves in a quiet room and appear very, very rude for a week. This isn’t really an option.

Martyn, I’m not sure I should admit this but I’m going to. Christmas creates havoc with magazine deadlines and I’m not proud of the fact that the editorial comment in this issue was written just an hour before the mag was dispatched to the printer. If my begging of the question is the only mistake you can find in that piece of inspired (not really) prose, then I’m quite delighted and will consider that a significant achievement. That’s all from me chaps. Try not to find too many mistakes. If you do, feel free to tell me but do remember that each and every one hurts me more than it does you. Guaranteed.

Graham.

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Admin on 10/02/2012 17:16:53

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Admin on 10/02/2012 17:17:36

[Allan Bowker]

MSQ on Page 11 ?

 

 

Whilst we all spot typo's now and again it doesn't take away my enjoyment of reading this quality publication. In fact it makes me smile and reminds me of the people behind it all, we are only human (to make a real mess of things takes a computer!)

Edited By Allan Bowker on 10/02/2012 17:33:53

[Kntt]

Well i think the mag gets better and i am amazed it covers such a wide variety of modeling subjects.

I have only read the last 6 copies because i fly helicopters my interests have been with other publications, but a return to fixed wing and purchasing the RCM&E spurs me on to build somthing.

The Bullet review is great and brings back great memories of the late 70s when i flew one for a few months.The Harlequin plan is great and my little OS 40FS will find a new home.

All i can say is keep up the good work its worth every penny

Its a hobbie and i prefer the content of whats written not how its written and a few typos don't worrie me look at my posts and laugh if you want typos.

 

Kent (M0KWR)

[Devon Flyer]

Posted by FunnyFlyer on 10/02/2012 16:14:28:
Eat's shoots' and leave's

You'll have the Association for the Abolition of the Aberrant Apostrophe gunning for you, FF.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

I am reminded of the story which claims that when Churchill was told that it was not acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition he replied:

 

"This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put"!

 

BEB

[Major]

Another thing about free plan - despite of its (not full) size, would it be possible to list all materials needed to complete model? Maybe instead of one small photo? I'm still watching Harlequin's plan and article about it, but those two things I've listed would make life much easier, especially for new builder.

 

Cheers

Tom

[Lee Damms]

Excellent mag, glad I renewed my subscription. Another one of Pete Millers to put on the build list along with the Firefly when things warm up in the workshop.