Leaderboard

Well if it's the same one I've got (I actually bought two) it only cost £3.99 so worth the risk. Hot water sometimes does the trick with EPO foam, but can spoil the surface a bit. If you are planning to "electrify" it, it makes a great little powered glider. Flies a dream and can even cope well with some wind. Mine is full house but I straightened the trailing edge of the tailplane and added an elevator made of EPP (a bit of packaging from another model).

Off topic but not to my knowledge, there could be a reason of course, do some research start a new topic and let us know what you find. Steve

Laydeeez and Genulmen, I give you.... Regianne RE2005 The latest product from the G Davies/ E Robson/ R Wills skunkworks, a foamboard scratch build. Built using a mix of FliteTest Maker Foam and Hobby craft foam board with a small amount of ply, lightply and balsa. It's a full-fat flaps and retracts warbird at 55" span.I had hoped to fly it on my little 2200 3S packs, but I've been guilty of a heavy back end, which is a repeating theme in my life... Had I got away with the 3S packs, it would have been 3lb 10 Oz ready to fly. Sadly, I will need to use big 4S packs to get the thing to balance, so will now tip the scales just over 4lb. Hardly porky though. Some scale liberties have been taken with the undercarriage position in order to make a practical model. Our strip is bumpy and doesn't suit tall, narrow undercarriages. The positions are cribbed directly from My (originally Peter's) Ballerina. That copes perfectly with the strip, so is a great role (roll) model. It's covered in brown paper and PVA, although the tail feathers are not covered at all, just painted directly onto the hobbycraft board. It's then sprayed with watered down emulsion paint. It's a really cheap build. I reckon the material cost in the finished and painted airframe is no more than £25. If I can satisfy myself that everything is ok, I will maiden her tomorrow... Graham

She flew today. Took off straight as a die and needed just 3 clicks of down. Sadly, a radio problem meant a forced landing which ripped the retracts out. Easily fixed though...

Managed to get these stills off a video from last week, it is still going strong done its flight No.90 today. It will be flying tomorrow for the BMFA 100 weather permitting.

Range - my experience in 5.5 years of driving both 30 and 40 kWh Leafs. Bear in mind both these vehicles contain roughly one gallon of petrol in terms of energy. Warning YMMV! Range is the most difficult item to consider when buying an EV. People tend to focus on how far you can go, I think it is more helpful to think of it in terms of a round trip to your most frequent “long range” destination. When driving an ICE vehicle you are not as aware how much environmental factors are lowering your mpg, and you’re carrying so much spare energy it is almost irrelevant. In comparison in an EV with its better metering and monitoring you become very aware. As an example one trip in the 30 Leaf took 30% of the battery one sunny winters afternoon. Coming back that evening in “son of Beast from the East” with 50mph headwinds and driving sleet and rain the car used 60%! It would have been the same for any ICE but you would only have noticed when you had to pay at the pump. In my case my daily commute is 16 miles, no problem. Longest frequent fortnightly round trip is 110 miles, not quite so easy in 30 kWh Leaf bearing in mind the above.40 kW Leaf no problem. If you can easily charge at your destination that changes the equation again. Zap Map is your friend for long distance. It is well worth having a look at what chargers are in the area your travelling to. think most people on here would be surprised at just how much charging infrastructure is around. In summary buy the smallest battery you can with the fastest charge capability. Would I go back to ICE, and give up my near silent, super smooth, instant torque magic carpet? Not even if you paid me. HTH idd

A credit to the Foamboard Factory North!

We wont be cancelling. Forecast isnt too bad across most of the country.

Gyroo, RIchard Harris plan from RCM&E April 2022

The easiest conversion is to mount a small edf behind the canopy with cable ties and hot glue. My one takes a 3 cell 1300 up to 2200 with little trim change, the 2200 is a squeeze but leaves some gap , not noticed in the air. Stiffen the fuze with carbon rod, all reclaimed from superannuated craft.

It would be tricky to use without a PC as you will need to download updates and use the PC to store backup files. The MPM module will also at times need updating. I can recommend a Radiomaster TX16, I've had mine for 18 months now without problems, updated to Edge TX and working well. The only issues I have is my inability to fully grasp Open Tx/Edge TX but I'm getting there.

Looking good, like your chosen subject for colour scheme!

Yes. Weird one though. There wasn't any obvious misalignment, everything looked good. It has been doing it since new not just after the crash. I can only think that when I first assembled it the fin and the tailplane didn't seat quite right but not in a way that was evident. Cheers, Nigel

In my opinion the use of small and medium scale water power units has been ignored for decades, Government only seem interested in great and grand stuff. Here in Wales just about every hill will have a stream running down it and even a small stream can provide quite a bit of power when the run is steep enough. Also most water is running in the winter when more power is needed.

If People knew what actually held the wings on in most aircraft majority would walk instead??

No problem. Yes that's what I mean but it also works for the Aircon. Obviously I cannot be too specific as car choice is very personal but I think the Kia eNiro may suit your needs. Very capable vehicle. Also be aware MG5 is due an update this coming November. MG's previous update on their MG ZS SUV was very significant so the 5 update hopefully will be good to. Cheers Idd

You would also be surprised how small the wing attachment bolts are on the full size -a couple of 1/4” diameter bolts for each wing half and the same for the struts IIRC.

Everyone's criteria in buying a car, electric or IC, will be different I suppose. What made me choose electric was the sheer ease of driving - no gearbox, no chance of stalling, instant torque etc - and the running cost. The reason I chose the Tesla was: 1) Performance - 0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds is quite startling. And it does it without fuss or noise. 2) Charging infrastructure - Tesla's superchargers are ultra-reliable, fast and becoming more widespread by the month 3) OTA updates which bring new features on an ongoing basis. (and sometimes break things!) 4) Range - realistically, around 270 miles, but obviously depends on many factors On the downside, Tesla's quality control is abysmal. I was lucky and had no issues but stories of badly aligned body panels, water-filled lights etc in brand new cars are not unusual. Also, if you bought a Tesla thinking it would soon be driving itself, forget it. Elon's promises and predictions are utterly worthless and anything resembling self-driving, in the UK at least, are years if not decades away. Running costs: 1) Road tax - £0 2) Routine servicing - no routine maintenance indicated by Tesla but obviously brakes need an occasional check, plus A/C regas. 3) Fuel - approx 1.5p per mile 4) Insurance - £310 at last renewal, but I am ancient! My largest model is a Hangar 9 Spitfire, at about 82 inch wingspan, and that fits in the car without issue.

My criteria are very similar to Ace and Leccyflyer's - about 250miles range and a good 6ft of load space behind the front seats. However I also have a history of back trouble which means that I can't cope with the relatively low seating in estate cars. When you look at the higher body style SUV-style cars, the seating suits me much better but it's much harder to find the load length. This is why I homed in on the Kia Sorento. I've yet to come across a comparable EV but that should hopefully change in a year or two. Incidentally, last time around, I not only took an Alpina wing around the dealers as a load length gauge but also a one-piece float plane to check the tailgate aperture. The enormous Volvo XC90 swallowed up the 2m wing with no trouble but there was no way the floatplane would go through that surprisingly narrow tailgate opening. The disbelieving look on the salesman's face as I loaded the model back into our humble Ford S-Max more than made up for the disappointment!

Now retired from 30k pa I like Ron may occasionally do a 400 mile round trip a couple of times a year with 99% less than 200 per day. So my criteria is real world 250 range allowing for battery degradation over 10 yrs, flat area with seats folded, length to get a 6' fuselage on a stand in (wings divide at this size) which will be in the region of 1750/1800 cu ft. Prefer no highly sloped hatch reducing practicality. 2 wheel drive is fine as would 150-200 bhp. My Mondeo diesel estate meets all the above and should be good for another 5yrs+ so by then hopefully the manufactures will have expanded from premium executives into practical vehicles. Green badge, of course but as someone already mentioned the greenest option is the one you already have. Also not convinced the batteries now in service will be the mainstream chemistry settled on in the future. +1 for heated front screen - one of the best safety aids added - forget lane assist etc. just get a better unobstructed view.

What criteria are others using to determine the choice of EV? The reason I ask is because one of mine used to be range, it had to be 300 miles, but then I asked myself why, I don’t do long journeys on a regular basis so is that really important. I know that 2 or 3 times a year we may travel distances of say 150 miles but we can always plug in when we get there (family) but as my wife says, if we were concerned about charging then we could always hire a (IC) car for such trips. On a similar note, the general infrastructure for charging points across the country, or lack of them, was the thing holding me back, but as I’ve just said we no longer do country traversing trips so would I really use public charging points that much?

Any chance we could get back to the very useful and informative discussion about electric cars?

Mine come on after a couple of flights!

Looking good Danny, shall you be adding scale dents ? ?

Just watched this, having seen it flagged on one of my usual FB groups. It's well worth a watch - lots of Spitfire footage from 1942 mostly. In the background a post war interview with Squadron Leader Ginger Lacey. It looks a very good and interesting You Tube Channel -okay there are some adverts, but that's not uncommon these days.

Weighed the Auster this evening, no paint yet. Just paint and a prop is all that's missing. Oh and a Rx battery. 3.94kg 8.7lbs . Leaves me a kilo to still be eligible for light scale. Finished the struts today, amazing how they have locked what were quite floppy wings. Set to around 1.5 degrees Dihedral, looks about right. C of G about right with no fuel and no Rx batt, so scope to adjust. Cheers Danny

I took the tail and tailplane off. Refitted and tried again. Flew fine after that. Can only think it couldn't have been seated properly. Even able to remove the tail weight without any adverse effect.

This foamboard stuff has changed my life!

They just used the example of powering 7 million heat pumps as an indicator of how much power is being supplied.

I had a red .46 from new which had a loose fitting (rubber sealed) front bearing. It initially manifested itself by a refusal to stop...it would run for minute or two with the throttle completely closed...but progressed to spinning in the housing before I realised the cause, which was air leaking past the bearing and its housing. There was a lot of oil migration past the front bearing and I had assumed it had a shielded rather than sealed bearing which I stripped the engine to change - finding an intact RS version. Refitting with Loctite Bearing Fit located it securely and sealed it perfectly - and it stopped as soon as the throttle was closed.