Tim Flyer

I also add my best wishes for a speedy recovery 👍

Very sad to hear this . An end of an era! Good luck to Jon with his new job.

That’s sad to hear . I have been going every year for some time. It was great to see the traders there as well as other modellers and do some shopping.

I use neoprene fingerless fishing gloves. Fishing gear is cheap and tends to be nice and warm and well made. They are fine for flying in all but the worst weather. There are a number of different types available.

Solved!!!! 😊😊😊😊😊 I had restarted the Mac a few times but that hadn’t worked What fixed it was deleting all the browsing history on Safari. Apple has a great browsing history with lots of added functionality that can be much too helpful 🥺. I think that’s what spoiled it

Cheers Dick . Thanks for your speedy reply…I will try to see what’s happened from this end then 👍😊

Good afternoon I have been struggling to log into the BMFA website for the last few days. I keep getting “error 404” which is rather frustrating. I managed log on to it about a week ago to renew our club affiliation and do some other club administrative duties but each time now I go to BMFA.justgo.com I get the error after initially being able to access their homepage menu. Could it be because the site is closed over the holidays? Any information would be appreciated Happy New Year to All!😊 ps I’m using a Mac

Hi Alan it is good to hear you are getting on with your build. It’s a long project, but well worth the effort and makes an attractive plane. Good luck with your build and it’s great you are enjoying the process. My DB Spitfire construction is all finished and it’s now happily hanging in the garage after enjoying a few flights last summer. Hopefully next year the weather will be better and it will get more flying. Im also putting together a Hangar 9 P51 which will be out when the weather improves and our runway dries out.

The annual BMFA subs are a very small price to pay when we consider they do so much for us. Everything from dealing with the expanding maze of regulations to promoting our hobby and insuring us, plus helping us run our clubs. I do not begrudge this subscription at all, and our club is firmly affiliated to them. The cost is only the same as a tank of fuel in a very small motor car. Considering the cost of models and what many spend on them it is not expensive .

I have been working on the cowling over the last few sessions. I have installed my own cowl fixings which are comprised of two M3 threaded inserts on each side inserted into wood beams . I will be using M3 threaded plastic screws to fix into the inserts. It is worth noting that the dimples already marked by the manufacturer in the cowl are in the wrong place when using their cowl spacing. This is no problem as I used my own fixings and the simple cowl “hidden thread measuring tool”. I also cut the motor shape out of the cowl using my dremmel and was pleased that the fit is good with only a small part of the cylinder head exposed. The spinner alignment plate hangar 9 provided was useful for cowl cutting. The other job I did was glassing the floor of the cowl with 300gm weave to reinforce it . I have also added a baffle made of aluminium mesh and glassed with light cloth which will direct the high pressure airflow from the front intake directly onto the cylinder. I have also cut the air outlet in the back of the cowl. I will do the exhausts when it all sets.

Just as an aside . On my Mystic I glassed the ABS cowl internally and externally, and it became almost as rigid as a full fibreglass version , so it’s worth saving the ABS one even if it isn’t the first choice. I’m sure the VW White will look great 😊

After having more time on this kit I must complement Hangar 9 on the quality. It’s the first time I have actually used the supplied metal clevises and the fit of the model is very good . I swapped out the cyano hinges for flat hinges on all the control surfaces (apart from flaps which are supplied with round hinges) as I prefer the flat hinges. The manufacturer also supplies spare covering which is of the self adhesive type … I did save the film I removed from the wheel bays by sticking it to grease proof paper. This week I have also been working on the retracts. I have bought a set of JPerkins electric 60-120 size electric retracts from Steve Webb Models , rather than the far more expensive(and mostly unavailable) E flight ones. These are similar in spec and fit into the same slots as the e-flight retracts but are 90deg rather than 85deg so will require some washers to get the angle right due to the wing dihedral . The JPerkins retracts came with 5mm wire legs which i have cut to form the new strut pins. The J Perkins retract wire legs are fairly “mild steel” and I might replace the pins with some stock piano wire pins if they bend too easily. The model is supplied with fixed U/C plates and some fairly decent struts which I have chosen to use. The suppled struts are too long for the retracts. I guess if you buy the expensive £200+ e-flight retracts you would also need to buy special retract struts to match unless like me you shorten the kit supplied ones? The struts needed about 1cm lopped off the top as the supplied fixed U/C plate mounting point would be nearer the wing tip. Lopping the end off also required me to make a new internal bushing to act as a spring stop and hold the retract pins. I used some spare steel builders studding. This required careful drilling and then I epoxied the studding into the end of each strut and drilled and tapped them and put 3 grub screws in the end of each leg to retain the pin. I also needed to shorten the strut springs as the supplied ones were far too long and also had a far too high spring rate.

Here are the front modifications to place my Kavan 14oz tank at the bottom of the fuselage. The inside has been glassed for extra reinforcement. The servo and battery trays will fit above the tank.

I recently purchased a Hangar 9 Mustang ARTF from Kings Lynn Model shop at an excellent price after noticing it on “special offer” due to a damaged box. It’s a break for me from full construction kits but I’m very happy modifying bits I feel I would like to change, plus the original manufacturing quality of this kit is very good. I have had this model in mind for a couple of years after seeing a rather nice example at my club, plus also having a perfect engine for it . The 155 Laser is probably at the largest possible engine size in terms of neat fit but will provide great performance. I thought it might be interesting for any others contemplating this model. It sits at a nice practical size range where costs are not astronomical and handling should also be good.

A really nice build Nick👍

I have fitted the air brakes as per Chris Foss’ s specification on my Wot 4. I actually enjoy using them and it adds extra interest and functionality to the model. I can do very steep approaches and short landings with the brakes deployed. I know many are satisfied with the standard spec model which performs well but I always try to modify my models where I think I can improve them or make an extra fun factor. For me that is the whole point in building them myself.

Cheers Ron . I think well worth fixing 😊. It’s a very steady flying model . The foam core wings are quite easy to repair with gorilla glue. I have also had the odd mishap with it but it keeps on going which is a credit to their good design. I’m also using it to brush up on landing skills for my DB Spitfire…which we also had out last week. Thanks too Aidan . Totally agree with you. The weight doesn’t seem to be an issue despite its relatively modest 4s laser 80 power. The spitfire is nearly 22lb and is still fine on the 180 4stroke.

Still enjoying my Warbird Replicas’ La7 . It’s quite a few years old but very strong (and quite heavy) with my 10.5lb ‘ industrial build’. I think the weight helps it fly well especially in stronger winds. We had around 20mph on Monday and it flew very nicely.

I always use plastic bolts threaded into metal inserts for wings and for cowls. Plastic bolts are very strong and less susceptible to loosen with vibration. The reason some modellers may have trouble with plastic “threads wearing out” with metal threads, is because the threads on blind nuts are often very badly cut. This can normally be easily rectified by running a tap through them. Unfortunately threads cut in modelling hardware by some manufacturers is often of very low quality as many will testify. Metal wing bolts also can lead to a greater risk of damage from over tightening especially on delicate surfaces.

On my Wot 4XL where I had a powerful OS120ax I used “UP Flaperons” . These act like air brakes cancelling lift and are mixed with a bit of up elevator. The flapperon setting just moves the ailerons up about 1cm . Setting these up only requires a bit of fiddling with the radio. Mine operate from a slider on the side of the transmitter. They enable a rapid slow down and add another fun feature to the plane. Of course they aren’t really necessary at all as it’s certainly possible to come in slow on Wot 4s but I like the extra controls. Even my little Wot 4 uses the great fun air brakes that Chris Foss designed. If you do add up flaperons / air brakes make sure you do plenty of testing high up first! Adding this feature adds interest/fun with extra controls to the flying, and it’s nice being able to come in fast and stop when necessary. I also use the up flapperons on my Acrowot XL and Galaxy Mystic and It works very well and provides ann extra bit of interest.

Get well soon! … so painful!

The only modification I have made since the photo is turning the undercarriage (from a Wot4XL) around so it is swept back. That brings the wheels rearward near the correct position which takes excess weight from the tailwheel and improves handling etc. . I changed the undercarriage from the original kit wire design to aluminium to make it more durable. The aluminium Wot 4 XL undercarriage works best with wheels swept backwards bringing them close to original design .

I hope your Mystic is flying well David I’m sure the Laser 155 is a perfect match. I also recently built a Mystic but used an old OS 120AX which I had spare which is also a nice fit in the cowl. I thought I would add a couple of photos of my Galaxy Mystic which I finished in May and have had many fun flights with since. I extended the high rear section for aesthetic reasons and it is great on “knife edge” flying! It goes very fast and is precise it can fly slow but certainly doesn’t slow down much on landing so I have added “up flaperons” which act nicely as air brakes.

Nasty injury , very sorry to see that . Get well soon Ron!