Cuban8

Ditto!

I'm in two minds about how Airfix and others' box art has been sanitised - from what I've been reading, some of RC's work has been airbrushed to remove bombing, flames and machine gun fire. I don't know how true that is, but it's a fact that modern Airfix artwork lacks most of all that - which in my opinion is a pity and I'm not sure what it's supposed to achieve. As a side subject....does anyone remember the American Civil War battle picture card sets that we could buy as kids during the 60's? Used to come with repro Confederate dollar notes. Very detailed artwork and very, very bloodthirsty. Great!😉

My only concern with leaving Lipos fully charged is all that energy has to go somewhere in the case of a fault during storage (rare, but not unheard of by all accounts). It's a pain to have a charging marathon prior to a days flying and of course batteries can catch fire whilst charging, but I feel more comfortable knowing that my batteries are depleted whilst being stored. I'll either keep them at storage level, or simply leave them as they are after a full flight. As far as I've found over the years, storing at a safe voltage below the 'storage point' has no detrimental affect on them. Comments would be welcome on that. Risk during transport to the field? well yes, so fire resistant container(s) for the batteries and the means to get them ejected easily and PDQ from the vehicle if the worst should happen. I always load my battery tin last and at the rear right behind the tailgate. One of our club members had his workshop severly damaged by a lipo fire a while back - he's not one to take safety with a pinch of salt, yet he was still caught out.

I was so pleased to hear that the marvelous artist, Roy Cross, so famous for his work with Airfix turns 100 today. Such an influential man, and in many ways the driving force behind the excitement of buying a favourite Airfix model - our imagination bought to life before our eyes with his stirring box pictures. I often leaf through a couple of books I have of his Airfix artwork, and am immediately transported back to the mid sixties as a youngster taking in all the detail of a B17 being harried by the Luftwaffe and dropping its bombs amid bursting flak - or a Spitfire streaking away from a vanquished 109 smoke pouring from its engine. Great days, great art......Happy birthday Roy and thanks.

Unless I knew the owner and was happy that he'd looked after the tranny, I'd never advise anyone to buy a second hand piece of radio gear. It's just too much of a gamble that you'll wind up with a careless individual's cast off, and wind up with a lot of expensive trouble.

Whilst on the subject of throttle usage, there is the question of throttle stick 'feel'. Should the throttle ratchet be set hard and notchy or quite loose? Should any sort of detent be used at all? For years (since learning to fly helis) I've gone with a completely smooth throttle stick action by slipping a suitable short length of thin walled fuel tubing over the throttle detent strip where it contacts the ratchet, and adjusting the tension as normal to give the effect I like. The result is more like a smooth volume slider on a Hi-Fi and I prefer this type of action for all the models that I fly, both rotary and fixed wing. It's incredible how differently throttles can be set by individuals - I've flown mates' trannies where the stick is so tight it leaves a deep mark in your thumb after a few minutes. I don't think that can be ideal - equally too loose may give problems. Mind you, those among us who treat the throttle stick as a switch.......full on or full off, needn't worry too much. 😀

QED... BTW, just keep on considering your relocation back to blighty would be my advice.

Techniques for glassing do differ and with some versions, weight build up is significant. I'm certainly no expert, but my results have been satisfactory and to me, a major error is to use cloth that is too heavy for the job and makes filling the weave difficult. I don't agree that the process needs to be messy. I obtained some 1/2 oz cloth and found that ideal although great care had to be taken with it. 25g cloth that is sold as light weight is OK but something like half as heavy again as my 1/2 oz. I believe 18g cloth is available. Experiment and see what works for you. Horses for courses, naturally - But IMHO you can't beat a glassed and two-pack finish for durability.

Sunglasses are a very individual choice - what works for one will be hopeless for another. Spending lots of money on expensive named brands is also no guarantee of satisfaction. Beginnings of cataracts is also problem and whilst not perhaps noticeable in normal day to day doings, may start to give problems in bright, dazzle conditions. I'm short sighted and have worn specs since my teens. Over the years for flying I've tried overglasses, different colours, prescription sunglasses, polarised/non polarised and have never really found a completely satisfactory, one-fits-all solution. I find that the effectiveness of sunglasses for flying can differ considerably depending on the lighting conditions. What's OK for a bright and clear sunny summer's day, I find not helpful later towards evening and a lower but still bright sun. Similarly, a bright day with backlit thin cloud cover I can find difficult. Just my personal situation. I find it best to try to avoid sunglasses when flying, but if I do use them, then a pair with prescription lenses that are lightly grey coloured gives me the best results. I also have a quality pair of orange coloured clip-ons that I use with my normal specs when there's bright cloud cover and no direct sun.

And as for "I'd better make this my last flight"......well, all hell could break out. 🤪

Not sure if anyone's ever mentioned a very important safety related issue.....................Never, ever, say "I'll just have one more flight" - you might just about get away with........ "I'll have another" "but keep absolutely schtum about uttering "one more flight"!!!!

That'll give Jon apoplexy.........😜

https://www.tayna.co.uk/tutorials/change-car-battery-without-losing-radio-code Other radio/system setting backup devices are available that plug into the car's OBD port.

Just too cold for me at the moment - medication causes my hands and feet to become very uncomfortable with cold. Don't like wearing thick gloves and dressing like an arctic explorer so still a little more time needed until things warm up a bit more.

That's great - long may it continue. My club used to rent a field some years ago where the farmer was a real Jekyll and Hyde character. He'd sometimes go mental if the patch was not not cut to his satisfaction, he'd swear blind that we were cheating him and making the flying area bigger without his say so (we weren't and were paranoid about getting the measurements right). I think he chucked us off a couple of times and then reconsidered after we went back to him cap in hand. Cars not parked in a particular way (perfectly happy with them the previous week), he'd drive over the patch in his landrover when we were flying and scowl at us, then next week, park to one side and have a cheery chat. Witnessed him myself go absolutely mental at a bloke who wandered over to us flying, just to have a chat and see what was going on. He'd never accept a rise in the rent we paid either, about a grand or so - many, many stories I could recount. Really used to put us on edge when we knew he was around - we put up with each other for over thirty years though. I laughed at Larry the Farmer in the brilliant Detectorists series, very similar, ("don't go digging in the bottom field, I don't want you there") athough our chap was way more intense and just plain unpleasant at times. If you've got a good landlord - cherish him!

We're nearly all walking on eggshells now when it comes to our flying sites. Some awkward land owners, the maximum fuss made over the least bit of noise, or even the very sight of models being flown is enough to get some people up on their high horses and the complaint letters and emails going in. We just can't take any chances these days and I'm afraid that most clubs need to remain as invisible as possible and care taken when publicising their activities, as we are often encouraged to do, to boost membership etc.

My daughter, when she was probably no older than seven or eight, won one of DPR's 'Concordes' at their 'Hit the kit' competition at Alexandra Palace years ago. DPR did so much to encourage kids to get involved whenever they appeared at various shows etc at the time, and it was sad when they sold the business some years ago and no longer had their kid's comps and demos. I believe that DPR were bought out by somebody and I noticed one of their 'Chuckie' kits in a toy shop when I was wandering around with my little grandson, although I think they are no longer made in the UK - one can lead a horse to water, but unlike his mum all those years ago, models and model flying are of little or no interest to him............oh well!

Thankfully, in the many years that I've been a member of various clubs, and during the past few decades where I've been privileged to help run clubs in various capacities, I've only known ONE case of a member being stripped of membership and removed from the club because of a very serious breach of club discipline. A number folks who disagreed with how things were being run, or that they didn't get their way in a democratic vote on an issue and they walked away, but only ONE individual who was actually sacked. Thankfully, most people are reasonable, and although it might ruffle a few feathers when decisions go against a minority view of something or the other, usually it's a storm in a teacup and things settle back down and are forgotten. Interestingly, some years ago, a proposal to change a certain way in which our club operated was put forward at our AGM,, and was on the face of it, agreed by all those present. One member disagreed and put up a very compelling case why the proposed change was not actually in the best interests of the club - it got us all thinking and the proposal was dropped.

This is so clear cut, I'm surprised that anyone would consider disregarding an obvious safety issue and one that could have the club thrown off the site if ignored. By your own description, models are at risk of overflying the Kart racers so that's that, no arguments, no grey area, no discussion............no flying on days that the Kart track is in use.....simples. My club sends an annual email calender to all members stating no-fly days when the field is CLOSED and another reminder to members a few days before the field is to be used by others and that the field will be CLOSED. Sometimes we get extra days because events are cancelled! System works well for us.

That is 100% correct, Brian. However, that responsibilty ensures that an individual flight within the confines of the 'safe environment' of a club site can be carried out without undue risk of an incident - I'm thinking in terms of equipment failure, personal fitness to fly, unairworthy airframe or inappropriate weather conditions etc. If that 'safe club environment' doesn't exist in the first place then all bets are off before we start. Lone flyers operating from a bit of openly accessible rough ground or parkland have to consider risks to uninvolved third parties every time they fly along with everything else. Common sense plays a big part along with the rule book of course.

Excellent. We obviously don't know your individual club's layout at the airfield, but the chances are you'll be able to carry on without a problem, maybe with some tweaking to how you operate such as extra no fly-zones when the carts are there. If you have to lose a day's flying now and then, it's not ideal but not the end of the world. My club loses a dozen or so weekends throughout the year because 'our' field is used by vehicle clubs, rough shooters etc with the permission of the land owner of course. We also had a model car club operating over the very far side of the field but we simply have their area as a no fly zone. It's never been a problem. Good luck and do keep us all informed of how you get on.

The basic regs for separation distances between model flying and uninvolved persons is a good starting point and can be found in section 8 of the BMFA guide to article 16. I guess that individual circumstances will dictate whether following separation distances will be enough to ensure as safe an operation as possibe, and further risk assessments may be needed. Again, BMFA are expert in this sort of stuff and will tailor their response to individual situations.

The existing rules and regs regarding model flying and public gatherings, sporting events etc are readily available so the need for lawyers etc shouldn't be needed. Likewise, dealing with club members who don't follow the directions of their committee can be dealt with under that club's existing rules. Equally, if a committee is felt by members to be exceeding its authority, then club democracy can be called upon to put the matter right.

I guess you can get into all sorts of legal knots about many issues regarding how a club can and cannot operate. As GG says your best point of call is the BMFA. For what it's worth, if your club committee has imposed a no fly day or days rule (my club does something similar because we share the field with other users from time to time) then your members are dutybound to follow those instructions, I'd have thought. Clearly a safety related issue that needs to be looked into fully, maybe after further consideration there is no safety problem and things can carry on as is. For the time being, members who defy the club's directive are IMHO in serious breach of club discipline.

Screw fixings for canopies wherever possible is my MO.