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Just finished this. Waiting for delivery of motor and lipo but other than that, good to go. 50" span, AUW 37oz as it is now. OD "La Mouette"

Noting wrong with doing that but of course, it isn't transferable between clubs. As to your "rogue" examiner, remember it's the club that appoints their examiners (ACEs excepted) and that aspect is out of the hands of the BMFA. It's really up to the membership to call their committee to account if there are poor aspects of their nominee's attitude. I suppose you could discuss the behaviour with the area co-ordinator though as this sort of thing could be seen to be bringing the scheme into bad repute...

This was my solution to spraying in cold weather - the heater was turned off for safety just before spraying! I'd make the tent bigger next time as it was a little cramped but it worked well and kept the spraying area dust free as well.

Moved on a bit. Side sheeting came out pretty good. Added the motor mount and cowl to the fuselage Rear formers arched to clear the elevator pushrod Servos fitted for rudder & elevator Tail wheel mount / cover

I can't speak for anyone else but when I ask the questions, I phrase them to check understanding rather than as any sort of memory exercise in learning paragraph numbers etc. There should never be any suggestion of trick questions - I've always said that I'm looking for reasons to pass a candidate, not trying to find reasons to fail them.

A few models have baffled me!

Hi All, Well time has certainly flown by and the fuselage is now covered this went on very well, again using the encapsulating film it was all very uneventful and came out really well, so we move onto some detailing. Back in October, I ordered a set of turrets from a well known provider of pilots and accessories. I have now given up on them despite a having chased them up, so going as per plan as Tony drew them. The model works out at around 1/18th scale and the crew were ordered from the Vintage Model Company and promptly arrived these are unpainted so I have been giving them some paint, not quite finished yet. I have made the machine guns and glued to the turret bases and the cockpit. The dorsal turret sits off centre and faired in using balsa and "Freddies formula" and blended into the fuselage Meet the crew a fine bunch of lads. They need a few more touches of colour and then gluing in position and finally the turret tops and cockpit glazing can be fitted and painted. I have just about reached the stage where the airframe needs painting and this will have to wait until the weather warms up and the winds stop blowing as I have to paint outside. I still need to fit the servos in the fuselage, I think I can just about squeeze them in. Meanwhile, I have started my next project, something for some relaxed flying, a Flair Black Magic with a SC30 4-stroke up front. That's all for now Regards Robert

After returning to the hobby after a 20+ year break I joined my local club where an A test was recommended for unsupervised flying. I duly booked a slot with our friendly examiner and turned up with my 1/4 scale Precedent Stampe, which raised his eyebrow a little. Actually an easy model to fly and ideal for the test although my feigned ‘dead stick’ actually was a dead stick which had my heart racing. My next build was my over 7.5kg P47 and the local club field just isn’t suitable due size and proximity of trees, so I joined another club with a slightly bigger field. However the club safety officer on my first visit told me that if I attempted to fly the P47 without a B I would be thrown out of the club, not a warm welcome. Somewhat irked I checked the club rules and discovered there was not a clause regarding the need for a B. I also checked with our area BMFA representative who said as long as it wasn’t in the club rules I should be allowed to fly the model. I reported back to the safety officer who dug in and duly had the club rules changed at the next meeting. Since he was also the main club examiner I felt taking my test with him may be somewhat challenging. A few months later I took the long drive up to Buckminster for one of the test preparation and taking weekends. I had a great time with loads of support/instruction and duly passed the test with a Wot4xl (I would have chosen my Stampe but wasn’t entirely convinced it would enjoy the ‘bunt’. I also finally maidened the P47 with some helpful advice from Brian Cooper (right rudder on take off? “Yes please do” he quietly encourages as it lurched hard left towards the windsock). I have since found a new club to join that is very friendly. The irony is that the club that I have left had numerous regular members who at every visit had some new contraption that at almost every attempt at flying resulted in lawn darts. For some reason this was deemed entirely acceptable. For my part I still have so much to learn about flying and since a developing penchant for large warbirds seems to have taken hold, the need to take it ever more seriously prevails. As Jon and others have previously mentioned the B qualification is a just a stepping stone; though one that I applaud the BMFA for and all those who are working towards the levels.

Interesting post Jon. Same pilot could turn up at a show requiring no B with a 20lb warbird, so it ain't the B cert at fault, that would be the pilot of said 20lb model. Shows are overseen by folk who've been around a while, they don't just rely on a piece of paper. Smugness is not because they passed the B test, they were always smug, tricky things egos. Achievement scheme is a good thing, reflects well on the BMFA that it's there, requires discipline and positioning to pass the tests, plus a good grounding of the rules/laws we fly under, however you can have ALL these things without ever taking a test, another good thing it's a voluntary one. No certs needed at our fly ins. Why ? Because many a good pilot has none, and we don't wish to exclude them.

Good ? He does spinners and folding props to match BTW.? Steve

No swearing please, if it's in a video it's still going to be deleted.

PO-2834-910 Professional outrunner 28mm diameter from 4-Max

Welcome back. I hope I have uploaded my Rapide pic. I haven't worked on it much reently due to house hunting and selling our 2 historic canal boats. I am thinking of installing the aileron servos in the tip end of each wing if I can find servos small enough and matched with the lipo. I need to order the hardware now and tried to email 4Max through their website but clicking on their email tab does not work. I will try telephoning them tomorrow. (if we don't get blown away). Cheers, Ian

Your paint, your surface and the air in between all need to be above a minimum temp which is probably printed on the can, often 15-20°C. Below this, the paint will not adhere properly to your surface. It may go on, but will fall off at the first sign of hangar rash or otherwise be fragile. So do whatever you have to do to get all the variables above minimum. I recommend a primer of some form, but at least have a single colour base coat, whether that be primer, undercoat or a neutral grey or similar, as the top coats will reflect what's underneath, especially whites, reds and yellows. Note that spray bombs with "good covering power" means they have a lot of filler to achieve this, this makes for a heavy paint. May or may not matter on your project.

I think its a matter of testing YOURSELF i struggle to do decent rolls but i will practise till they look right. Thats the satisfication. A B certificate means my practise has shown my learning has been rewarded. Probably means nothing toanyone else other than competence. Still a good feeling.

Nose section sanded, glass clothed and painted. Colour match of paint not great but it will be good enough for test flights. Fuselage front section covered. Just glazing to do.

After being battered by storms and high winds the forecasters got it wrong for this part of the North East. Today the wind dropped to zero for a few hours and the sun came out, I was unprepared so I only had the Me 110 and 5 batteries ready, result 5 great flights.

Might all depend on the plane, friend had a DB Sopwith Pup with an upright OS120FS, with the open cowl it would overheat on every flight, put a baffle so the only air inlet was in front of the engine fins and it was fine. Also he had a Zero with a DLE 35cc with no baffling and that engine almost died on the 2nd flight due to overheating.

Quite frankly and looking at the dihedral the rudder is almost big enough. I am simply taking my rudder to the top of the fin and leaving the bottom alone.

It's back on the board!! After almost a year away with work and a house move, the kougar is nearly done. Need to finish the painting but got all the internals sorted including rough battery position. Just the motor and paint to go

The Hamilcar X. ? Sacky, that's the bird I was thinkin' about, too! Fits the 24 hour build madness perfectly! I've had the unpowered original Hamilcar design on my wish-list for a while now. Last year I had some FF scale glider drawings printed up from the OuterZone website, thinking this could be a fairly simple project that I might actually be able to complete. I took this photo just now... in the foreground is a great old Aeromodeller magazine plan, and in the background is a (less romantic!) contemporary re-draw/upgrade. Each plan is on two pages; only one of each is shown here.

Hi Chanced a punt on this Speedy Bee on ebay today & won it for £21. Collected from a very nice chap outside Lincoln this afternoon & quickly returned home with it before evening dinner in peterborough stopped play. I'll strip all covering to inspect the airframe but already I can see areas that require a fix, it looks as though it has'nt flown for a few years. With a little 4 stroke upfront i'm hoping it will be a relaxing lazy summer evening flyer?. Best Mart

Another way of looking at why it's worth the effort of doing a B Certificate is the greatly reduced need for black bin bags! Before my B, I've lost count of the number of aircraft I brought home in a bin bag. Since passing my B 11 years ago, I've needed 1 bin bag. Losing an aircraft now comes as a shock whereas before it was a regular occurrence.

I made a personal promise to pass the 'B' (or at least attempt it) several years ago but what put me off was precisely that. The last time I took an exam was when I was 24 (now I come to think of it I've never failed a test/exam - including driving tests - though I've had a few close calls like 45%, the pass mark for 'O' Level French ? ) I just can't be bothered with the swotting needed. If I was organising a public event, I wouldn't rely on my memory but look up the requirements and I rely on my natural caution and common sense for the rest. Now? Well at 82 I can fly adequately well not to endanger either people or (usually) my model and I'm too old to bother.

JS1, yea i agree that there are loads of very skilled pilots who have no tests to their name at all and i think it very unfair to exclude them from flying a given model type based upon this fact alone. I have known plenty of people with a B that were a complete liability, and plenty without that were not. When my old club tried to put rules in place to prevent non b pilots flying models over 7kg i resisted it for that reason. Cant disagree on the smugness point either. some are just that way inclined i suppose. But i have seen it myself were normally unassuming blokes turn in to know it all's once they get their B and start talking down to everyone else on the field. Peter, you are right about the B not being a display licence and but it is used that way. Perhaps a better option is to get a display approval on a given genre of model? but that would mean 3 or 4 or more tests which is likely to be rather impractical. Your point about someone who did their B years ago is also quite valid and we had this issue present itself when one of our older members went for his examiners rating and was required to run though a B routine. It was awful to watch as his flying was so poor we couldnt even tell which item he was attempting. He got most annoyed when the chap failed him, but i dont see what other choice he had. When it comes to the safety issues the B cert and any other form of testing is meaningless anyway. Safety is an attitude, or a culture or whatever you want to call it. You cant teach someone to care about it. They are either safe and responsible, or they arent. Just look at the way people drive. They all passed the same test, they know about red lights and speed limits. Seems to make little difference though.

All received. Should be sorted this evening. Check your emails in the morning.

Pretty much sums up the ethos of the scheme as measure of personal achievement. If others choose to use it as a baseline for qualification to fly particular models or at displays, that's up to them as part of their interpretation of due diligence.

That's what I did - copy the Models, Images, Sounds folders, then flash the firmware.

Just bear in mind that as the mist builds up, the air available to breathe reduces proportionally. Your own tolerance / discomfort levels may vary, depending on whether you have (for instance) athsma or something similar. Personally, I'd be comfortable using a cannister mask for 'normal' solvent based and water based paints within a tent but with some form of ventilation (say a fan at one end blowing through to an exit) but being aware of the overall level of spray mist in the air. Common sense will see you safe. Kim ps sorry for late reply, been out walking the dog!!

If anyone gets the email drop an email to [email protected] and it can be looked in to.

Practicing for my B Certificate has given me something to aim for, has improved my flying skills considerably so far, and has impelled me to build a suitable model for the task - all for the pure personal pleasure and challenge of it rather than because its a prerequisite for anything else. Having said that, it has also got me interested in flying classic aerobatics, for which there are half a dozen UKCAA events scheduled for this summer...

If you are a BMFA member I suggest you start here https://rcc.bmfa.uk/ to get up to date with the latest regs. Even if you are not a member it will help you. You can now do the BMFA "RCC" on-line test (impossible to fail as you can just keep trying it) before the test instead of answering the "questions about the regs" during the test. Dick

That looks really good - may well order. Hmmm.... beloved my nick it when it arrives for her seedlings!

When was the last publication of the Handbook? The Cap numbers seem to have changed so many times its confusing trying to learn Cap 258 says this... but now its Cap XXX etc. The Flying isn't my problem its the questions about the regs afterwards I find confusing.

That looks nice I will ask my wife to get it for her planting her flower seeds,,,?,,,

Cut the shaft off. Wrap the motor tightly in a plastic bag with the shaft through a tiny hole and using a Dremel cutting disc cut the shaft off short

Wilko

I was thinking of getting one of these to make a wee spray booth in the garage. It ought to be quite easy to warm up, with an oil filled radiator inside, would keep dust off the sprayed airframe and keep overspray off everything else in the garage. The only difficult I would envisage would be suffocation, but I'd be wearing a respirator and I only really use water-based paints these days. Am I missing something? https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-walk-in-pe-greenhouse-with-cover-shelf-staging-h190-x-w120-x-d190cm/p/0260896

I’ve used the Montana paints quite a lot and even though they have excellent coverage I’ve always used a primer / undercoat well rubbed down. If you want the red topcoat to really’ pop’ use a light undercoat. As other have said it is important get the temps up before spraying, heating the rattle can up will help the paint flow through the spray cap.

Spraying in low temperatures will create a dull "bloom" to the finish. Heating the spray cans and also heating the item to be sprayed will help, but try to get the workshop warmed up. This will dry the air too. Good luck.

I don't understand the view that It's trouble and stress preparing for a B test, you'd do doing some flying honing the manoeuvres, sort of what we do everytime we go flying, certainly a lot less stressful than work related exams/qualifications. Questions should be covered by our attitude to safe flying, so that's no big deal. Don't understand the might not pass either, prepare right, take it when properly ready, If you're honest with yourself the when is easily judged.

Looks like genuine Trexler wheels which cost about what Martyn paid for the whole model! I had them on my original Lazy Bee way back when. I’m sure it will be great fun.

What a coincidence! Recently I acquired and read a book about model Diesel engines (second edition, published in 1947). Imagine my surprise, while reading Shaun Garrity’s piece to note that it was about the very same engines I’d so recently been reading about!

Being collected next week.

I totally agree that practise makes perfect, and preparation for a "B" test certainly makes you practise, making you a better flier. Bit like an advanced driving test ? You can prepare for the b, and even perform the b routine well eventually. You don't have to take the test unless you want to, but you will end up as a better all round flier, an achievement in its self, so a good thing. Nothing wrong in doing things that please you. I suspect model flying pleases us all, else why do we do it.

Exactly what Ron says, even if you don't do the test, it's a good schedule to practise as it does improve your flying skills. I've been flying RC for over 40 years and only got round to taking my "B" just under 3 years ago.

Now ready to go to its new owner. Still not sure about the next scale model, but the Joker 25 will keep me busy for a few days on the 2021 mass build thread.

As promised a bit of an update, it's looking like the Gyroo could possibly make the May edition, though this would be the earliest. When I get solid confirmation of I can make up a list of materials/ electrics needed if this will help? On a side note there may be a 3D printed version available to compliment it, the prototype is in early development by a fellow Gyronut , early signs indicate that it flies equally as well as its wooden brother. I have a second model on the building board, I am thinking of making a 2 blade conversion. If there is interest in this I can scribble all the info down and make a set of drawings to compliment, just let me know? I think we may be able to upload PDF's to the new forum? Rich

Not finished yet but it is still moving forward, some panel lines, panels made from chrome self adhesive film and some primer and filler now down, next job is to get gear back into the airframe and then focus back on the final colour scheme. Linds

Last Monday I decided that, as the weather was reasonable, it was time I maidened my Atom Special. The grass and dandelions at our field were a bit on the long side, but there was a good breeze to spin up the rotor. My first problem was keeping the take off run straight. Then, when I did achieve lift, it simply veered to the left and tipped over. Eventually I managed a straight(ish) run and she lifted off gracefully, and vertically! First time I've ever prop-hung anything!! Thinking the angle of attack of the rotors was too great, I reduced it and tried again. Off she went, airborne but almost uncontrollable. The flight ended as she nose dived into the potato field next to our strip. No damage except a broken prop. Over the next half hour took off another half-a-dozen times, ending with the same number of ​crashes heavy landings! This culminated in a broken mast, but no other damage. Back at base, out with old mast and a new one made. I also installed the ESC under the body to allow more room in the battery bay. Took her to the field yesterday, with much reduced angle of attack on the rotor, and, despite an audience, she took off beautifully. I flew a couple or three circuits and attempted to land. I expected this to be a real handfull, but she simply descended steadily and, with a touch of flare, landed light as a feather. One more equally sucessful flight ensued, and I put her away while I was on top! All in all really pleased with it, just need some more practise and adjustment to the servo throws. Thanks to Richard for a great design...... GDB