David Foley Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Any one got one of the Balsa Cabin kits yet. Always liked this Pete Tindel designed model. Just wondering what you think of the kit? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Morgan Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Just built a Spin Doctor. Great fun to build, easy, strong, and flies superbly on a Laser 80. Why ARTF??? All the fun of building and flying for around £175 (plus bits and bobs of course), If I could figure out how to post photos on this site I would. Adrian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Instructions for that are here, Adrian.... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Morgan Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Morgan Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 My flying mate had an Excitation and he says the Spin Doctor is so, so much nicer and precise. We were going to put his Zenoah 26 in the SD, but no way would it fit. The Laser is perfect in every way. Balsa Cabin should if there's any justice sell heaps of these but everyone seems to buy ready made, which means they miss out on the hours of joy building. And when all that light ply and balsa, badly glued together with cyano, has a bad landing, it's curtains (or rather shards). It would take a lot to break a Spin Doctor. We've tried! The Chinese meanwhile are laughing all the way to the bank. The more we buy the more we crash the more we buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Morgan Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Aero modelling is, as it suggests, all about modelling and flying. When I see a log of someone slotting an Acrowot together and calling it a build log, I feel sad that they are missing out on half the fun. Buy, fly, crash, buy, fly, crash. And, as I said, the more destruction the happier the Chinese. Balsa Cabin and the very few remaining suppliers of proper kits (and they are NOT hard to build, with obeche/foam wings and very simple slab sided fuselages) deserve our support. Use or lose. I would love to read something about a Pegasus Models Laser 200 or a Smooth Operator. All I can say about the Spin Doctor is that it is a total delight to build and fly and, one day perhaps, to rebuild, which is another aspect of the hobby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 They all pay towards rent, grass cuts etc, so sounds good to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Parkes Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 The demise of true kit built planes has been evolving over many, many years, I purchased a Smooth Operator from Pete. many years ago, when he used to be a regular selling his kits, covering and accessories at the shows, I did not buy my plane at the shows , but rang him up at his home, he said he would have to check to see if he had any stock in his garage as it was that long since he had sold a kit, regarding the plane , by todays standards it might be a little bit heavy, but it was the first plane I managed a knife edge loop with, and was a pleasure to fly, its demise was me getting it lost in low sun ! I hope if this plane is being as a kit , the sellers deserve every success , I seem to remember that the fuselage was part assembled in the kit, but I may be wrong regards Geoff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Morgan Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 That's the first real information I have had about the Spin Doctor/Smooth Operator, so many thanks. More if you can please. I chose the SD because it would fit in the Discovery without detaching the wings, but have wondered ever since if the SO would have been a better option for a relative novice. They say the SO is a stretched SD, so I imagine it would be more docile. The SD is pretty viceless, stalls and spins, but recovers easily. Certainly, as a large, semi-scale slope soarer by nature, all withg obeche/foam wings, only ever having flown a Pulse ARTF, I can't comment on weight but the SD seems perfectly light to me, and the wings being obeche/foam are strong. The fuselage is such a simple construction, as against the complex balsa matrix of an ARTF. Compare the kit-built Acrowot, which I have, to its Chinese counterpart. Lighter, perhaps but Chinese-built ARTFs seem to turn into balsa bits at the slightest excuse, and there's little chance of repair. My Pulse, for example, which went all saggy, but maybe putting floats on it was a bad idea... On a more serious note, no one considers the dreadful conditions in the huge Chinese sweat shops where hundreds of women spend their days gluing ribs and fuselages together, with no idea what they are making, often from my experience using not enough glue. I have taken a couple of Chinese-built up wings apart, and was appalled at what I found. They look good, as they have nailed the art of covering and graphics, but what lies underneath is often pretty shocking. We have sold our souls to the Chinese and the more we crash, the more we buy the richer they become. Meanwhile the old, very simple skills of building - which is surely integral part of aero modelling - are slowly lost as the next ready-made box of ARTF foam and balsa arrives in the post.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 We should give The Balsa Cabin a bit of publiicity and show their website which is here If you are anywhere near Maldon Essex I think you can stiil go to their works to buy kits and balsa, but phone first. Very good firm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Fry Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Nice looking thing. I have looked on the balsa cabin site, no info as engine sizes. Now, I have a much underemployed Laser 100. Thoughts gentlemen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Morgan Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 All I can say is that the Laser 80 is perfect for the Spin Doctor. Not over powerful, which is fine by me, but capable of pulling the thing vertical. My mate flew it first and was doing effortless knife edge circles from the start, and as a petrolhead for 40 years, having flown pretty much everything, claimed it was by the far the most precise plane he had flown. And is certainly lives up to its name, but nothing vicious. Held the knife edge with no aileron input. (I have yet to progress to that level). He is seriously considering a Smooth Operator now, with... a Laser 100! Sad thing is, and I may be wrong, I got the impression that my SD was the first Balsa Cabin had sold for a while. More's the pity as it went together in about 10 days of long winter evenings, and I wish now I had stretched the build out to a month it was such fun and good therapy after a day's work... building wooden boats in a cold shed. That £165 buys a whole lot more than a box of high class wood, metal, acrylic and veneer. Whereas, where's the added value in spending £165 on an ARTF, aside from the thrill of first opening the box. As for plans? Didn't need more than the sheet supplied by Mr Tindal. Almost an ARTF then... maybe an AARTF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Morgan Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Percy My mistake. There were photos of various stages of the build, but I cannot recall whether they were sent on paper with the kit or on a CD. I can't remember a CD but I do remember looking at various photos, not that they were really necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAD Dave Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Purchasing a kit is fine, but f you really want the "I built that" satisfaction fix - buy a plan!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Fry Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 OK, if I mount a Laser 100, sidewinder, I need 45 mm from the engine mount to the cowl, to keep the throttle linkage in the cowl. Will it fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Fry Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 And Percy, thank you, but a bit of pure hooligan is needed. That's not hooligan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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