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Peter Jenkins

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Everything posted by Peter Jenkins

  1. I agree that using a tray, if you started with thumbs, takes a bit of time. In my case it was around 3 months. In answer to an earlier post about how competition pilots hold sticks from my observation it varies even with the top guys. Some use trays, some hold their tranny's with their arms hanging fully down, some are thumbs and some are finger and thumbs. I prefer to fly with a tray these days although I can still fly holding a tranny with thumbs only. The main benefit to me was that it made long inverted runs easier to control. As to resting between manoeuvres, I had not realised till a friend watching me fly said that I released the sticks quite a few times. I fly, or try to fly, competition aerobatics and there are, as someone commented on, a few moments when exiting one manoeuvre and before entering the next that you can draw breath - it may be that it was during those periods that my "grip" was loosened. The interesting point is that I was unaware of the fact! There is a trend with some competition pilots to trim the model so it needs the same amount of up pressure as down pressure to fly straight and level. That would preclude the moments of rest that I am unconsciously taking. I've not tried this but I guess it would cure any tendency to relax between manoeuvres, at least on the elevator stick!
  2. David, you may also find the BMFA's new manual on learning how to fly useful. You can find it here where you can either choose to read it online or download it. Peter
  3. Since all HGVs and most LGVs are diesel powered, all farm machinery is diesel powered (and what emissions do they need to meet?), virtually all ships are diesel powered how much difference will banning diesel engines in private cars make? Looks like another bit of gesture politics.
  4. Can you get spare "fine springs"? No prizes for guessing why!
  5. I've recently come across this supplier and they were excellent.
  6. Posted by MattyB on 19/01/2017 10:08:40: Lots of country members are not members of a club! As to those affiliated club members who choose to renew their BMFA membership as country members, I suspect perceived convenience is the main one; they can renew online in seconds or (if they prefer) over the phone with the BMFA direct and the card will arrive in a few days. Also the vast majority of members do not realise that by joining as a country members they are disadvantaging themselves in terms of voting; only a fraction of members will have read the Articles of Association, so their implicit assumption will be that the organisation will be democratic and that they will receive a vote in crucial matters. Matty, every BMFA member gets a Handbook when they join - the current one is the 2010 Edition. Pages 5-10 cover the SMAE/BMFA and page 9 contains a section on Types of Membership, BMFA Affiliated Clubs and Voting in which the issue of who can vote at General Meetings is described concisely - by that I mean it's a precis of the Articles of Association. If people choose not to read the Handbook what other mechanism would you suggest to bring this information to their attention?
  7. The Irvine 53 Mk 1 had an O ring between the Carb (black not the Mk 2 silver) and the crankcase. If the 46 is the same have you tried loosening the clamping bolt, re-seating the carb and then re-tightening the bolt while pressing the carb down onto the O ring. Alternatively, replace the O ring and then re-tighten as above. Sometimes, you get an air leak if the O ring has perished or the carb is not seated tightly onto the O ring. The other problem is old fuel. I've had that problem but then again it won't idle reliably either and as you say it works fine when hot perhaps its not the fuel. Worth considering though.
  8. Dennis, the last thing you want is for the tip section to stall first. The correct sequence, for a nicely behaved stall is for the wing root to stall first, then the tailplane and then the wingtips. Having the wing tip stall first, which is a problem with a highly tapered wing such as on the Mew Gull, gives a vicious wing drop as you get to the stall. I've seen one Mew Gull bite the dust on an approach that got a tad too slow. Washout is what is normally used to ensure that tips stall after the wing root.
  9. In my opinion, yes it would have some dihedral effect but it would depend on the span and the difference in thickness that's being discussed. If it were the top surface that sloped downwards then that would be anhedral (which tends to reduce stability) but the same issue on span and thickness difference applies.
  10. Cliff - a good initiative. However, there is no requirement to demonstrate a stall for the A Cert. A good place to point students to are the Guidance Notes for the A Certificate which are on the BMFA Website and can be found here.
  11. Posted by Andy C on 08/01/2017 20:30:59: 2 questions: 1. With the increase in accessibility to RTF planes and more father son flying up the park, and also drones/multi rotors in all their guises, is there not still the need for different types of membership, maybe even voting on different things? 2. Why doesn't the BMFA explain any of this on their website to new and renewing members like me? They give you different options but then don't explain what the result in? (Or did I miss it? Andy I would be so bold as to say that you missed it. On the BMFA Website on the top menu there is a heading right next to Home called The BMFA. If you click on that the top of the sub menu is "About Us" and this describes how the BMFA is set up with a link to the Articles of Association on the 2nd line. There are many who never go to the BMFA website because they are not interested or feel its boring. The BMFA magazine is the primary way in which the BMFA communicates with members yet some throw their copy in the bin without reading it. So, what ever information is put on the website or sent out with the magazine would appear to be disregarded by a great many Clubs and their members. BEB and John Stones - I do feel that your comments of "inadequate", "disgraceful" and "cowardly" are out of line. Clubs are able to make proposals to change things if they do not like them. Have there been any? That's the way the system works. You might as well say that a relatively small but vocal group on this forum should have the power to run the BMFA and then a whole lot of others will start complaining on another forum. There is a system in place that allows Clubs to propose changes. Why don't you use it instead of expecting someone else to do so on the basis of a discussion on this forum. It will need a properly constructed argument and not just simple denigration of "the BMFA" to achieve that though.
  12. At the last AGM (Nov 16), the Chairman stated that the issue of voting rights for Country Members was reviewed by the Executive. It was decided that giving Country Members a vote would give them a greater say than a normal Club Member. Remember that it is the Clubs that are members of the BMFA and have a vote and to be a member of the BMFA all members of that Club must be members of the BMFA as well. All Clubs belong to an Area. The Area holds regular meetings to discuss issues that Clubs have, decide whether to put a proposal to BMFA Council and instruct their Council Representative on how they would like them to vote. It is a fact that very few Clubs choose to attend Area meetings and so their members' interests are not represented. Remember that the vast majority of work done by the BMFA is done by unpaid volunteers - just like those who run Clubs - and they are only too happy to have input from Clubs and their members - if the Clubs/members choose to do so. The Area Representatives have a seat on Council and in that respect, Clubs and their members are represented. Country Members can choose to attend Area Meetings and will always be allowed to speak although again only Clubs have voting rights. Any Club member can put their name forward (provided they have a proposer and seconder) to fill the posts on the Area Committee - some Areas struggle to get sufficient officers and often have to double or treble hat to fill posts. This structure is all set out in the BMFA's Articles of Association on their website (see here). Unlike a Club, the BMFA, or rather the SMAE (BMFA is the trading name) is a Company Limited by Guarantee and as such is governed by Company Law. The Board of Directors is the Council and the Area Representatives are therefore Directors of the SMAE. The majority of Country Members are members of affiliated Clubs. Were they to join via one of the Clubs to which they belong, their vote would count - but only if the Club takes the time to attend Area meetings to find out what is going on - or else to read the agenda before hand the minutes after the meeting - and thus to provide their views. Incidentally, voting at the AGM is limited to Clubs. If the Chairman calls for a poll, then each Club is credited with the number of votes that equates to the number of members affiliated through that Club to the BMFA some 2 weeks prior to the AGM. If you are miles away from any Club then I can recognise that you don't have any other option than becoming a Country Member. However, if you are a member of one or more Clubs then by choosing the Country Member route you are excluding yourself from your ability to be like other Club members and vote in your Club for any BMFA motion. The only "one member one vote" situation relates to the election of the BMFA Executive Committee and the Technical Committees when there is more than one candidate for the position or the number of openings for general committee members. By the way, all of the above is fact and not my opinion.
  13. Dave Wilshere - thanks for posting with some pukka gen. I hope JR kit continues to evolve as I shall not be changing any time soon. Having said that, I think that the Jeti capability of being able to show electric motor parameters (when using the Jeti Mezon ESC) in graphical form after the flight is an excellent aid but not something I feel strongly enough about to make me want to move away from JR.
  14. Posted by David Ovenden on 02/01/2017 18:42:58: Peter, if you use you XG11 on a tray, doesn't that block access to the sliders? David, I don't use the sliders but I did use the snap roll switch which with the Tx in a tray makes it awkward to operate. I fly aerobatics and used the switch to achieve snap rolls at the time. I got MacGregors to swap the snap roll switch for the Ail D/R switch which put the snap roll switch within easy reach. However, once I'd found out about stick position switches and how to operate them, I've used those to achieve the snap condition and that now covers negative and positive snaps to either left or right - a far better solution than using the snap roll switch. When holding the XG11 Tx by hand I find it easy enough to operate the sliders as I now use one of the sliders to alter the sensor read out but it is awkward to do when the Tx is in the tray. Peter
  15. BEB - re the need to keep up, as in most of today's life like motor cars, this has more to do with fashion than technology. For example, how many people actually use more than the basic functions on their high end Tx? Some folks have never even used dual rates or expo let alone the more sophisticated mixes that are available. Indeed, how many people actually read their car handbooks and know what the full range of functions is available to them. Another example, a friend has the same car as I have and yet has little knowledge of any of the functions past those that are normally available in all cars. It took me some weeks to get familiar with what was available reading the handbook while sitting in the car (sad?) but at least I am aware of what's available and use the functions that I feel are useful to me (I know that reading the manual is not something the male of the species does but some of us do!) This has more to do with the number of, shall we say, relatively simple models being flown today. Sure the jet, advanced gliding and aerobatic community probably are the main users of all the sophisticated capabilities in today's computer Txs but what percentage of the user base do they represent. For my own part, having access to stick position switching and being able to activate "crow" braking on an aerobatic biplane with four ailerons were only achievable by seeking help on the RCU forum where there is a real guru on JR programming. Why JR don't use him to write up "how to", and more importantly when or why to, sections in their Tx manuals remains a mystery. Perhaps if JR and Futaba were to invest more into that aspect of their product they might do better. Indeed, when it comes to telemetry, I resorted to a third party product that can me set up for JR/Futaba etc kit to provide a wide range of parameters that would have cost me 5 times as much had I used JR sensors. So, there are clearly areas that JR and others could look at to improve the take up of the immense capability contained within their equipment. The Taranis thread that you started has no doubt helped a great many to take the leap into Taranis. Had there been a similar level of help for JR it might be that their XG series would have fared better. While JR do provide on-line updating of their Tx, all of which I have taken advantage, they have not moved as fast as I would like since there are functions that would make practical sense were they to be implemented via one of these software updates. That perhaps is where JR has suffered and will continue to suffer until such time as they decide focus their limited development resources back onto the RC market. However, there is nothing wrong with their kit for the vast majority of RC users since, as I have found in practice, very few modellers use any more than 5% of the Tx capability - a bit like using Word processors where even less of the products' capabilities are used or even known about by the average user. I'm not sure that David's point about the look of the new Tx has been a turn off to buyers - it certainly traps a lot less dirt when in use and I am more interested in how it feels on the sticks - since I use a Tx tray how the Tx feels in my hands is not an issue but stick feel certainly is. But then, perhaps I'm the odd one out .
  16. Well, if it's true that JR are backing away from the R/C market I for one will be very sad but will continue to use my XG11. I started with Futaba and had just bought a FF9 when 2.4 GHz was launched in the UK by Spektrum. I waited for Futaba to offer upgrades/modules etc but nothing came so I went for the JR DSX9 /Spektrum technical solution. I had problems with Spektrum Rxs and lost 2 aircraft but never had problems with the JR DSM 9 Ch Rx. The DSX9 Tx was a revelation to me. I found the Futaba programming to be quite complex whereas the JR programming was so much easier. True you couldn't allocate a function to any switch but that didn't cause me any problems. When the JR XG11 was announced I bought that and moved over completely to XG stuff. This has never (to date!) given me any cause for concern as regards problems with the radio. I found a guru on RCU who could provide all the guidance I needed for programming the less common functions - something all RC manufacturers are very bad at doing. Having read the JR announcement it can be interpreted as we are in trouble or one could take it at face value. However, if JR does cease support for the RC user base I will continue to use a great bit of kit until I get to the other end of the bath tub curve and wear out creeps in. What to buy then? Jeti looks the next best option. Keep going JR - some of us like your products and will keep on using them till they start to wear out.
  17. I'm with Matty on this. I started parallel charging when using an iCharger 208b when I got into F3A aerobatics. It used to take me ages to charge 3 flight packs (2 x 4S for an 8S pack) at one 4S at a time. As they were 5000 mah packs that was 1C = 5 amps so each charge was around the hour mark or 6 hours total. By parallel charging I was now down to 3 charge cycles - 2 x 4S at 10 amps were charged within the hour at Fast Charge rate - roughly 95% capacity. If you wanted a 100% charge then it would drift out to 1:15 to 1:20 per charge. Anyway, 3 hours of charging beats 6 hrs into a cocked hat. I now have 2 twin 500 watt output chargers - Emperor Fusion L712 both bought second hand - and so I can charge 4 flight packs (now 2 x 5S 5000 mah) in an hour. I use 6 flight packs so the second hour sees the remaining 2 flight packs and the 2 x 2S 800 mah Rx batteries charged. I gave up charging at the field so aim for 6 flights during the day and swap the Rx batteries after 3 flights. So far, this has worked fine. The iCharger now does a great job parallel charging the 2 x 2S LiFe cells in my petrol birds. At 1C, they rarely take more than 20 mins to charge as packs are only used for ignition and Rx/servos respectively. I use a 600 watt power supply for the each of the two 500 watts per channel chargers and a converted HP UPS power pack (rated at 1200 watts!) for the iCharger. Nothing gets hot when charging is in progress.
  18. I bought a pair at £50 and they are excellent in the winter. They provide enough tactile feel to be able to rig a model unless you are dealing with small nuts/bolts. I fly electric F3A birds and being able to fly in the winter without having to curtail your flight because of frozen mitts is a great boon. It does take a little time to get used to flying with gloves but it's worth persisting. I've also just ordered another pair at the giveaway price of £22 posted. Sorry to hear that it didn't work out Kevin. Having burned my fingers (aka bank account) on a start up which should have worked I can sympathise with you.
  19. Colin, interestingly, my experience of the low cost Hitec servos is that they centre better than their more expensive counterparts. Perhaps you really do need the Hitec servo management gizmo.
  20. Percy, with many F3A pilots flying electric, they tend to use plastic geared servos which give better resolution than metal geared ones and, with the lack of vibration with electric power, the gear trains last well. It is far cheaper to replace the gear train than buy new servos as well. Most have now gone for the brushless variety of servos to extend life further. I know that often folk sell on the bare airframe and keep the servos, motor and ESC for their new ones. Those who are still flying YS powered birds may, no doubt, do as you suggest.
  21. Woops posted twice so deleted this one. Edited By Peter Jenkins on 04/12/2016 17:32:11
  22. Sorry - trying to post from my smart phone! Edited By Peter Jenkins on 04/12/2016 17:34:00
  23. When I came into F3A I was told to use only Futaba or JR servos. I'm trying some Align servos which I have yet to fly but they seem to centre perfectly. These tend to be expensive but servos are what give the aircraft it's feel and are a vital link in aerobatics if you want to take things seriously. Some good reports on Savox as well. I have some Hitec TG 7000 series in my Capiche- these are 25 Kgmm servos recommended by Weston. You need to buy a Hitec gizmo to adjust resolution and deadband but I never did and both rudder and elevator do not centre repeatably. I know that in the IMAC world Hitec servos are popular but I can only speak from my own experience. You pays your money.......
  24. Adrian, it is well worth checking to see if you get very slightly different centre positions when returning a control surface from both sides. With an F3A aircraft, even the smallest deviation from a true neutral will make it difficult to fly consistently. On a 2 mtr Vanquish I had used Hitec 5654 (or something like that!) servos and when I asked a GB team member for his opinion on the aircraft's trim, he said it was impossible to trim the aircraft to get level flight from a vertical dive/climb as once the stick was centralised after pushing/pulling to horizontal, the aircraft would either climb or dive slightly. Having replaced the servos with another make, the control surface returned to exactly the same place when returning from either side. Believe it or not, that made a huge difference to the workload on the pilot! You could pull/push to horizontal and then not have to worry about the aircraft deviating from horizontal. Pilot workload in aerobatics should be expended on flying the manoeuvre and not struggling with the aircraft/equipment limitations.
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