GrahamC

The larger Bullet is the 'Calibre.' I've built both, but they come with an A4 plan. From memory, the Bullet is three times the size of the plan, and the Calibre is four times the size of the plan. Not sure that I still have the plan, but I will have a look.

I've built a couple of models out of cardboard and both flew. It was an experiment really to see if it could be done. Neither lasted very long, but that's at least in part due to the fact that because they were experiments I didn't make any effort to cover them in a way which would offer them some protection. I think that one of the problems with card is that it doesn't tend to wear very well. That said, one page which is worth a look is this one: **LINK** There are some quite remarkable models on the pages that follow. All my building with cardboard has been with repurposed card, but large sheets of virgin corrugated card are available on eBay.

When I turned to the fuselage, that's where the fun started. Most of the fuselage parts in my wood pack were labelled and the instructions provide you with a labelled diagram to show you where everything goes, but there was no similarity at all between the part numbers on the wood and the part numbers in the instructions. The fuselage turns out to be an impressively accurate 3d jig saw puzzle! Again the fit of the parts is impressive. So far, I've only had to tweak one part in order to get it all to fit together. It does look to me as though I should have had two slightly different fuselage sides, the only difference being that the push rod exits for the elevator and rudder are at slightly different heights and match the rear most former in the fuselage. My two fuselage sides were identical requiring the rear most former to be tweaked. I'm hoping that doesn't mean further problems further along in the build. That brings me to the bigger problem that will limit how far I can get with the kit for the time being. The accessory pack provided clearly doesn't go with this kit, and instead I'm missing quite a few items including the carbon strips for the fuselage, the model engine, the model guns, the correct undercarriage, the aluminium cabine struts and the correct accessory pack. I've logged into the Banggood Customer support area and reported it, but not yet heard from them.

Building the stabilizer turned out to be very straightforward. The fit of the parts is really very good indeed, and just the tiniest tweaking with a sanding stick was required to make everything go together exactly as it should. So first impressions of the kit were that it was impressively accurate and went together well. Then I decided to make a start on the fuselage....

It's been quite a long time since I've posted a build log anywhere, but having got my hands on the Dancing Wings Fokker DR.1 kit from Banggood, I decided that it maybe it was time to take some photos and share some reflections on the experience of building the triplane. The kit arrived in time for me to bring it away on holiday. I don't expect to be able to finish it while away, for reasons which will become apparent, but suffice to say that relatively few tools have been required so far. This is my first experience of a kit from Dancing Wings, and, lets just say, that it's been an interesting one so far. The instructions, which have to be downloaded from Banggood, suggest starting with the fuselage, but I thought I would get the horizontal stabilizer built first. The kit does come with a plan for the wings and stabilizers, so the relevant section was cut out and the parts identified and removed from their sheets. The laser cutting in pretty good in general, with just a few places on the thicker balsa sheets where the cut had not quite made it all the way through.  Edited By GrahamC on 03/10/2020 15:37:36

This is covered with 38 Micron laminating film, Halford's primer and sprayed Crown Emulsion paint. A bit of a faff, with the masking, but at about £18 delivered for a 250m x 750mm roll of the stuff, another very cheap covering solution.

I've been using Frsky since around 2015 so that's quite a while. I fly most weeks. I've never ever lost link, simple as that. I'd consider the link very robust.

Posted by Stephen Smith 14 on 14/03/2020 19:57:52: A previous scare multipled by the media https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/21/pandemic.warning In essence the article says that sooner or later there will be a pandemic and that it might be a bird flu. It will cause massive disruption and kill a lot of people and preparations need to be made. Quite prescient I would say. Wrong type of virus but otherwise spot on. The final sentence of the article is salutary: "The most severe flu pandemic was in 1918-1919. It killed an estimated 50 million people around the world." The media may be having a field day, and at times being very unhelpful but that diminish the seriousness of the situation.

Posted by Shaun Walsh on 14/03/2020 19:10:53: Posted by GrahamC on 14/03/2020 16:42:53: Its much much more dangerous than flu. Lots of people have some immunity to flu and so it doesn't spread anything like as quickly as this is. None of us have any immunity to this, Yes most of us will be OK if we get it, but some will get very sick indeed and if the NHS gets too busy.... We should certainly put in place sensible safeguards to protect members. 1. Stand further apart to chat. At least a metre preferably more. Chat crosswind, not upwind / downwind 2. Don't shake hands and avoid physical contact with other members. 3. Don't go to the field if you have a new cough of fever. Stay at home for seven days. 4. Use sanitizer or wipes containing Benzalkonium Chloride to wipe down and borrowed equipment / buddy boxes etc before and after use 5. Clean your hands when you get back in the car and when you get back to the house. And don't close the flying field. This is going to take at least a few months to peak and decline. There are other problems that will emerge for those who are isolated for the long term. We (well most of us) are social creatures. Being able to get out to fly safely really could be a life saver over the next few months. I agree with most of this but BKC (Benzalkonium Chloride) is an antibacterial and not effective against a virus, you need high alcohol concentration, bleach or concentrated surfactants to denature the proteins in a virus (or elevated temperature but I wouldn't recommend boiling your hands). Edited By Shaun Walsh on 14/03/2020 19:13:53 Yes, you are right. A greater than 70% solution of Isopropyl Alcohol in a small spray combined with a wipe would be more effective.