Chris Walby

I would like to thank Jon and the rest of the guys at Laser engines (past and present) for all their help and assistance over the relatively short period I have been involved in the hobby. Wishing Jon all the best in the future with his new job. Personally Jon and Laser Engines will be greatly missed, but time waits for no man and the hobby is in decline whether we like it or not and IC will be hit the hardest. Great Engines and great service

I would put it wherever it gets the C of G in the right place! From what I have heard this model benefits being as light as possible so sticking the battery in one place and then adding lead serves no purpose. Even if you up or down the battery size that is better than adding lead....but lead and the right c of g is better than no lead and a c of g that is way out!

Not sure why IC props are less efficient, but would say if its a hand launch or nose over with power on then more likely to bend the motor shaft if using an IC prop.

All the best for a quick recovery there Matty and count your blessings, my late wife had her TIA at the age of 27 (apparently not that unusual according to the specialist).

IMHO I think you are missing the point Stu as there has been lengthy discussions about why Richard has selected electric (cost, direction of the hobby etc) and why the FW is kept light (no UC, flaps etc) as it produces a well flying model. By all means add IC and anything else, but you risk increasing the wing loading. Not a problem as plenty of warbird models have high wing loading and poked tiger attributes to follow! We have come full circle where models for IC where designed to withstand the vibration of IC and now IMHO we have designs for electric and would require beefing up for IC. My justification is that traditional kits when fitted with IC balance up and so does Richards with electric..which means he has designed the tail to be proportionally lighter so we benefit from an overall lower wing loading (oorr he is clever!). On Leccy's point could any of the scrap be cut or fashioned to provide a jig for sanding? Richard, could you please slow up a bit...you are going to embarrass us amateurs 🙂

I discussed this with George at 4-Max and suitable solutions for me is to use a high current UBEC or power distribution boxes. Both or these are supplied from 3S2200 lipos which has a couple of advantages. Firstly I use 3S2200 batteries as flight packs which means they get a good performance discharge (way beyond the sort of load a RX/servos would exert in normal use) so I know they will perform when I need them to. Secondly with a high current UBEC I won't get a brown out on the RX if a servo fails or jams as the UBEC can supply more than enough current. Works for me, but I am sure there are a few die hard that would argue differently.

Well I am doing Red 23's other aircraft...the one that there are no photos of! And the fuselage is grey...don't know why the photo make it looks brown! I'll start watching Ron's videos and others weathering techniques so I am ready when I get to that point. Rubbish weather today so I'll make a bit more progress later on. John's FW190 and dolly are finished and James is somewhere in the covering and painting stage.

Looking absolutely fabulous there Richard and you are way faster than me on the building board 🙂 I was going to hum and harr, but the realisation that I don't have anything with a clipped wing nailed it for me (easily convinced after flying the FW 190), Put me down for one and I'll see if James and John want to join in. Might have the FW190 finished in time to start Tempest at this rate!

I had the same issues with a Ripmax Spitfire so I used a thicker piece of ply for mine, hopefully I won't end up bending the motor adaptor with my big prop!

Its just so simple...not!

....its meant to be heading towards this, So I have a fair way to go.....unless apparently he had two aircraft and mine is the one that never appeared in any photos 🤣

Eric, I have since bent the tail wheel up as for the maiden it sat up with a high angle of attack. Good news it leapt off the dolly, just with the 13x10 prop I think it might be better letting it build the speed up more gently. Although saying that the take off roll was a lot longer on the second flight. I'll compare the photo with my dolly stance, but I would expect the full size let the tail lift before easing the mains off.

Always wondered who the puppet was and who the puppet master is....The Green man himself...or could it be Baron von Sweep? Not seen them for a few weeks guess they are wind tunnel testing the Tempest real dedication when you have that much fur!

Could be quite hard to fly scale as it just begs to be given a bit of stick + with no normal warbird bite I think I will set a rates switch for just that! Oh and the rudder in flight is nice, a bit of yaw but not much roll so need to experiment with that + the stall...what stall! Will even try spin at some point as I think that will have a nice recovery if its anything like the rest of the flight envelope to date.

With a couple more FW190 maiden today any ideas as to how many are ready to be scrambled for flight duties? And of course not forgetting the Best of British at Buckminster 27/28/29 September this year. I attended the Lindsay Todd "Renaissance" meeting a few years back (mass build) and it was great to see them turn up and chat with the designer. Lets hope we can squeeze a WR slot in. If I get the Tempest finished I could be tempted to find another stick wiggler to be employed

Very similar maiden to mine, I had a very grey sky and a rather grey model! With you on the spinner balance and mine was C of G at 78mm so all good. Second flight I tried inverted and it did not need much elevator so I think we are quite close there + this helps the leap off the dolly so win win. Agree with you, BIG THANKS TO RICHARD AND TEAM for all there hard work. Great flying model that is low cost and easy to build...with lots of bling if you want Just leaves me with all the painting and weathering to do.

Maiden and one other flight. Did not need the slight up trim on the elevator so removed that and my aileron rates were too high on the maiden. C of G is 78mm and that was fine (has 60g on the battery hatch so will see if I can lose that at some point). I don't think the 13x10 works very well so at some point will try a 13x8 or even a 13x6/7. Second flight was 5 min of mixed THR and some WOT and landed with 50% on a 4S4000 so well happy with that! Better get on with finishing the painting and weathering. PS dolly legs are too long, but other than that it works a treat so thanks to Eric PPS thanks to everyone else for help, encouragement and filling the thread with a lot of old waffle! Possible John's maiden Sunday and need to chase James up now!

Mine is only a 600KV and anything under 13 inch dia and its doing less than 500W 13x10 yields 540 W and 120w/lb I don't want unlimited vertical or non scale, might even get away with the 13X8 if the dolly works well. Will soon find out once it heads across the grass on its maiden

Update time! Missed out on the FW flying as its still not finished so had to make do 😉 for 6 flights + 1 maiden and 3 training flights so a busy morning at the field! Might just glue the rudder hinges and get on with it as the rest is there from a flying perspective! John's is ready, but the excuse today when he brought up his dolly is that its too wet and muddy and would wait until Easter! James is in final painting stages... I think although he did say he was going to dope it as he likes the smell! Mine has been papered and some paint, but I might just connect things up and go fly now the dolly is finished! This flying by the others is just too much pressure and I'll finish the painting and weathering later! Prop testing with the model has given me 13x8 470W 13x10 540W so I am going to go with the pitchy beast for starters, failing that either the 13x8 or a 14 inch prop if I have to. What's the view of the green chap with the wild hair? or anyone else?

Failing all of the above suggestions, phone John at Logic RC, very helpful chap and I would expect he will know what the issue is and how to resolve it. PS people complain about the price of Specky stuff, but at least in my experience support is there and it works. PPS please let us know the fix!

Most likely you will need to set the trim or throttle end point down a bit and then the ESC will arm. Its a safety feature to stop the ESC arming and starting on the fly with the motor rotating! Its just Speky seem to output a slightly higher throttle setting compared with other manufacturers. Just make sure the prop is off in case it springs to life unexpectedly. PS you can check the TX in monitor mode that the throttle output is working with the RX unpowered first

There are always positives and negatives with this type of job, but if you have the right chemistry you could be fully charged and become one of the best at your post. Although once fully charged there is a risk of your electrolyte levels dropping if you start gassing on the job, but that might be a limit of your capacity so just be careful you don't dilute yourself with water.

My DR1 will be flown at or very well below scale altitude! But hopefully above ground level. PS still think I could get away with a barrel roll (especially if its a climb in/drop out)!

Hi Eric, Thanks for the motor info and dolly rational, I think I'll add a couple of foam wedges to prevent the fuselage moving as I have put the LE restraints further out. Looking at the video, do you purposely hold it down on the dolly until its picked up a bit of ground speed and then ease it off or just let it naturally lift off the dolly?

Hi Eric, I see you have moved on to flying your Corsair ! and what looked like a modified dolly and just had a couple of questions as I procrastinate with my build by finishing off my dolly. John, one of the other two builders on my thread really wants to launch via the dolly so I am just making sure I understand your design. Not sure what the hair rollers are doing on the crossmember as my FW sits on the center of the wing against the wood crossmember, so I have moved them inwards and put some hard foam blocks further out to support the wing tips The two uprights that sit against the LE, is there a reason as to why they are not further apart? Would the FW benefit form the Corsair dolly mod? Thanks for your time PS what size prop and motor are you running?