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Mike Etheridge 1

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  1. David, Thanks for the offer of the Rover but the cars I use are also somewhat old but in good condition and both passed MOT's without any work necessary. One is a 1988 MK2 Polo Ranger that my wife bought new and this has been valued at £1200 by Car Wow. My other car that I paid £20K for in 2006 is a Jaguar X TYPE estate XE that is ideal for transporting model planes is only worth under £1K despite only covering 7200 miles. Therefore the Rover value is beyond that of both my cars. I thought I could avoid the ULEZ cameras but there is one at the top of our road plus three others that would catch me on my way to Bartons Point MAC in Sheerness and I assume plenty of other cameras on my route to Epsom Downs. So far my ULEZ fines have exceeded £100 and I am sure there will be more. I also got fined £100 for doing 34 MPH on a restricted stretch of the A303 last summer where the speed limit had been dropped to 30MPH near the Royal Navy aircraft museum.
  2. A good effort David. I have carried out similar repairs to a Super Air I was given and also a club member's Challenger plane. At present I have not got a car that is ULEZ compliant so I have dropped the hobby for now. What do I do with all my planes?
  3. Last week three double rotor helicopters flew over in line towards Biggin Hill. Also a falcon which may have been a Kite ?
  4. It looks good David, I look forward to a flying report. I don't think i have built twenty RC models but I certainly have repaired other's basket cases and somehow I must have over 30 models in the loft. That includes a Middle Phase 2 that has yet to fly.
  5. My first Futaba 35MHZ radio system only had electronic facilities to number model planes from 1 to 6 without any naming . Hence some of my old planes have numbers on the fins.
  6. I took my ancient Twinstar 2 to Epsom Downs to fly a few weeks back as part of the celebration of 100 years of model flying. It was raining so there was an urgency to get the planes off the ground so I did not make the full checks that I would do normally such as a range check. Inside the cockpit of the plane I had marked the location of the front of the very heavy NIMH flight battery, but the mark had disappeared so the battery finished up slightly too far back. The plane was launched and it was immediately obvious it was stalling so I put in a bit of down elevator trim and I managed a rather slow flight and a reasonable landing. Following this trip I returned to the Downs on 'Cloud tramp' day with the Twinstar and had enough time for a flight or two. I remembered the battery issue and fitted the battery further forward. I remembered also the elevator adjustment i had made and then managed to forget it prior to the plane's launch. The result was a bloody awful initial flight with the plane diving and almost out of control but with the help of Roger M who operated the elevator and aileron trims whilst I moved the sticks the plane survived and flew normally. This illustrated to me how complacency and lack of checks can affect a model plane even one as simple as the Twinstar 2 that I have flown for 16 years.
  7. Anyone that remembers Mactuators and Sidewinders must be having senior moments by now Patmac.
  8. Patmac I used a Macgregor 'Terrytone' receiver in the JNR60 and it only needed an Eveready 1289 battery to power both the receiver and the Mactuator. The 1289 battery delivered 6 volts to the receiver and the receiver fed the Mactuator.
  9. Here is the Rip Max 'Mactuator' (Model Aircraft Actuator) advertisement from the june 1962 Aeromodeller:
  10. A Mactuator (I still have one somewhere) was used to operate the rudder movement on single channel model planes. It was wired to the receiver and consisted of an electro magnet which closed with each press of the transmitter button. It also had a 4 pronged wheel that would turn a quarter of a revolution with each button press, so the rudder would move full right and then neutral and then full left and then neutral. It was rubber powered so you needed a device to wind up the rubber, I used an Elmic Side winder. I employed this arrangement on my 1962/3 built Junior 60 which still exists. The Mactuator was fixed to a ply bulkhead about 8 inches from the rudder and a piano wire shaft was fixed to the Mactuator and extended through the back of the fuselage and cranked to link on to the rudder. The Sidewinder was mounted near the front of the plane. A drawing would make more sense I think ?.I was hopeless flying the JNR 60 with the Mactuator and eventually installed a Sanwa 'Mini Two' proportional radio some 10 years later. The JNR 60 now has 2.4GHZ radio.
  11. A better picture is attached. The cover picture is described as follows: 'Gaynor Holden a charming assistant for Alan Whittaker and his AM25 powered ''Guidato'' made from A.P.S RC/677 (9 shillings including post)!) and fitted with a Hill receiver plus Mactuator. Seen at the 1960 Woodford Rally sponsored by the Stockport Advertiser'.
  12. I remember the Guidato, it was shown on the front of an Aeromodeller magazine between 1961 and 1963. I do have the magazine and will scan the cover but I am currently having problems on the website.
  13. My 1962 KK New Junior 60 still flies on 2.4ghz as does my 1970's Easy Rider. Also from the 70's is my Flair Heron plus others that rarely see the light of day. My Uproar built by Chris Olsen in the late 90's/early 2000's has been borrowed by the BMFA for their 100 year celebration
  14. A superb plane Bas and a joy to fly. Due to it's size it got a lot of attention at the flying field. It's a shame the Merco 49 (As new condition and once owned by Chris Olsen) kept cutting out, but I was fortunate that none of the dead stick landings resulted in any damage.
  15. Basil, my Falcon is still collecting dust in my loft and I still have the option of fitting a 4 stroke motor in place of the Merco 49 . I think it's over 10 years since it flew after I had carried out minimal repairs to the wing plus rodent damage repairs to the fuselage. The plane is covered with orange nylon which could do with replacement on the fuselage
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