Newbies

[the unmagnificent man]

Well done Angus and Danny and welcome to the hobby Andrew. Your test sounded like a nightmare Danny! Still alls well that ends well. I passed my English A back in 1996 but stopped flying shortly after(dont ask) I recently joined a club out here in France where I work and did my A equivalent last week. (ive only been flying again for a couple of months)Luckily it was a bit like Angus`s test, I didnt know it was a test until it was over. The only problems I had was the president of the club kept speaking English with French thrown in and mixing up take off and landing. IE fly at the gauche and then get ready to take off. Try putting up with that while your concentrating. LOL. Al PS good advice about the flight sim it helped me no end. there werent any my first time round and that resulted in a few needed repairs. Al

[Marcus]

I can't get down every sunday. I cant drive, and my dad is in belgium.

GO RAF LEEMING!

[Andrew Gardiner]

allready have my eye on few occupants for the hanger just got to work on the wife to let me have one or maybe two or three or maybe even four lol

[Clarky]

Nice one Angus , well done mate. Back soon for update......been very busy like Antony, nice to read all, take it easy all
Clarky

[Antony Wright]

hey guys. Glad to see things are still moving forward. Welcome to the fun house Andrew - sounds like you are already hooked like the rest of us.#I dint get to go flying on what was supposed to be my free day :( My daughter got me to take her on a trip to a National Trust property where she is hoping to work later this year.
Wedding plans are progressing fast now. I have to go buy my new suit today. Still the reception is all paid for and my son and his partner have now had a rehersal so no real hitches that I know of. The first of our guests arives on Sunday morning from the USA so that she can aclimatise herself before the wedding. But I shall be glad when its all over so I can get back to flying again :)
Antony

[Andrew Gardiner]

thanks for the welcome guys.
you dont need to tell me about weddings i got married last august i'm still paying for it now in more ways than one.
i hope you gave him the usual warnings that your wallet will allways be empty and your sex life will be over and you get less of a sentance for murder these days lol
hope all goes well on the big day

[Antony Wright]

Thanks Andrew - I think he already knows my wallet is empty as he has already drained it for the wedding - lol

[Dave Le Prevost]

Hi,
I'm thinking of taking up modelling again, after dipping my toe in about 15 years ago.

I'm not sure whether to try helicopters or stay with planes.

So before I get in and spend too much cash I was thinking about getting some professional tuition, and try both at the same time.

The question is, has anyone got experience of any of the schools out there, and any recommendations

[Danny Fenton]

Dave welcome back, You may need deep pockets if you go down the helicopter path LOL. You may want to start a specific thread asking this question that way people can see from the thread description what you are interested in. In my oppinion you should get yourself a cheapo flight sim and have a go yourself. PlaneMaster is £20 with a USB controller, the controller will then work with FMS which includes helicopters. Good luck and let us know how you get on

[Angus Simpson]

Stay with planes! Stay with planes! Dont go to the dark side!!!...

No seriously helicopters are realy expencive and they are much harder to learn to fly. There is a guy at my club who bought an elactric heli. He has spent more money repairing it than he spent on it in the first place.

[Andrew Gardiner]

hi guys

well my plane had it's maiden flight but i did'nt get to have a go with the sticks way to windy friday and sat it just rained and rained same as today but the forcast for this weekend is good so i'll get to have a go surely

[Danny Fenton]

HI Andrew, well at least you got to see it fly that is a good thing. I think the weather everywhere this weekend was too bad for flying. I snook in a 10 minute electric flight very early on Saturday, it was gray, but the rain and wind hadn't arrived. Let us know how it goes this weekend :)

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Dave

I went to the Paul Heckles school for one of their jet days, very impressed. I learnt a lot, they instill a lot of confidence in pupils and not just about jets. Paul does basic tutoring through to turbine heli's so he worth looking up.

David

[Myron Beaumont]

Dave Le Prost
Allthis talk of weddings etc We all know you can't be happy all your life (aeromodelling?)we all have to get married sometime. Ihave had the misfortune to have squandered best part of life with 3 ladies .I now reside with my balsa /fuel/magazines/flightbox/7 built models/flying cap etc. in a campervan Oh I forgot the laptop too

[Clarky]

Welcome everybody to all those just joining !!! Everybody here is great.

Hi ya chaps, I'm sorry I havent been around for a while. the dreaded W is taking so much of my time at the mo. Went to flying field on sunday, weather crap with rain but got a couple of flights in. will keep all posted,
cheers Jez

[Darren Kirmond]

Hi all. I hope to start flying soon. I've built a few rubber power kits that have steadily got better, the last 2 actually flew! Anyway, I've invested in an Arising Star. I bought it mail order and was pleasantly suprised at the build quality for the money (being on a budget and all). I bought the plane only, hoping to aquire the engine and radio as I went along. I bought a .46 engine without the muffler. The engine itself has never been used (an ebay bargain). Its a Bluebird Power Plus 2 stroke(still in the box). I've searched the internet but without success, for a silencer and other spares. Does anyone know of any mufflers that would fit the bill or similar to the point of being modified??

[Danny Fenton]

Hi Darren, welcome to the gang. I think you have gone for a very sensible choice of plane. The motor I have never heard of, so I would avise running it on the bench first, with the tank at exactly the right height until you know the engine inside out. Then put it in the model. For a pipe for that engine, if you measure the size of the bolts/holes and the distance apart, also note the height and depth of the exhaust aperture in the engine, send this off to the fab people at Just Engines, where Jenny and the gang will sort you out. I had to do exactly the same exercise for my 25 year old OS 40, I had lost the pipe over the years.
Good luck and keep us informed as to how you are getting along :)

[Darren Kirmond]

HI Danny. Thanks for that. I suppose I should have thought of that. I did check out their web site but I didn't find any reference to the Bue Bird. I did find out that they were marketed as Brat at one point. I am well pleased with the Arising Star. Once I've got the radio and motor and field box sorted out I'll join a club then.
Eventually, I'd like to attempt a large scale project.....but these things have to be done over a period of time, as the large scale family and mortgage must come first! lol
Thanks again, Danny. Most helpful

[Danny Fenton]

No worries Darren, I too am a scale chap at heart, am just putting together a scratch 52" electric hurricane to try out some ideas before starting my big Brian Taylor one, that too will be leccy.
My idea of large scale is 80" yours may be different LOL. You can still build something while you are learning to fly, we all have several on the go at once :)

[Darren Kirmond]

Hi Danny. 80" sounds reasonable...Ive always had a soft spot for the hurri. I'm just building a small scale Sea Fury and a quite fancy having a crack at a large scale version. Will have a look at electric flying. I find myself getting absorbed by the hobby all the time. Who knows where it'll lead to. Thanks again for the advice. I'm just drawing the exhaust aperture/manifold now to fax off to Just Engines. Cheers!

[Danny Fenton]

Sea Fury, now there's a nice aeroplane. There's a few nice scale drawings of the Fury, a Seagull artf Fury was at the field last weekend looked very nice, flew very smoothly in blustery conditions, retracts gave grief though, and stopped him flying :(

[Darren Kirmond]

Just had a look at that Fury. Looks good. Fitted flaps too. That's the sort of thing I'm looking for, but I want the challenge of building that from plans. Plenty of time to think about that. Got to learn to fly yet. lol. Looking forward to that

[Andrew Gardiner]

hi guys
well i flew today and it was fantastic what a rush had 4 flights and instructer was impressed that much he had me doing loops and rolls by the third flight all i can say is the simulator has done it's job best bit of kit you can get to help you learn basic control b4 you first fly your model. instructer reckons in about 4 weeks i'll be ready for A test but we'll see think he a bit opptermistic there.
cant wait for next sat now i'll keep you posted

[Danny Fenton]

Way to go Andrew, I agree with you the simulator is the way to go. If you were doing loops and rolls so early then he is maybe closer to the mark than you think. Fingers crossed we get some good weather so you can keep up the pace :)Make sure you read the BMFA sections as required, we had a guy fail his "A" today, not on flying ability, but because he hadn't read the BMFA document.

[Andrew Gardiner]

cheers danny
But i think it was begginers luck dont get me wrong it wasnt all happy flying he had to rescue it a couple times when i lost it.
at our club we tend to do our own varient of the bmfa rules for tests as we fly in a public park with LOCAL COUNCIL PERMISSION AND SUPPORT but restrictions are placed on us by the council so they have to be included in our testing but will and have allready started reading the bmfa book cover to cover
i'll keep you all posted
the weather looks good for the weekend if the bbc have got it right!!!!!!!