Chris Walby

Prop and spinner - 2 washers and sorted, might push the boat out and make a a pacer, but got lots to do yet! PS, IMO has to be a APC

Thanks again Richard and no apology needed at all. You have set the expectation that they will be ready in 2024 and I am sure they will be! One British kit in 2023 was paid for and took 5 months to arrive and the same for an engine (paid on delivery, but the model was finished!). And the other factor....I haven't finished the FW190 so I am in a glass house surrounded with china and in no position to say anything!

Apologies as I have only read part the posts. I don't know of any RC aircraft set ups that have fuses anywhere, either on ESC to motor or battery to ESC/RX. Two factors come to mind, firstly additional weight and secondly what are you trying to protect with a fuse as it will be either over or under rated so serves no useful benefit! I have found very very few ESC's that have any form of over load or over temperature protection which its totally contrasted to industrial motor speed controls that normally have a mass of protection measures. Example 12A ESC, so its rated at 12A then use a 12A fuse. 12A fuse will not even start to operate until 1.5 its rating hence >18A will be needed and with that level of current the ESC will be damaged. You could prop it down to 8A, but now it might not fly + you are hauling a load of extra weight (inc oversize motors) for no benefit. Now you get an overload of 12A and the fuse might blow after 20 minutes, well that was helpful! There is of course the possibility of a fuse operating due to start up surge (back off and re-apply throttle) which is not very helpful in mid flight. For the Rapide it appears to me that weight is absolutely critical to it flying well, shape of wings and drag being major factors. PS Although I am not a marine Electrical Engineer, I have heard its standard practice NOT to have fuses on ships (of all sizes) on the rudder controls, the basis is that in the middle of a raging storm hunting around for a spare set of fuses will not avoid the rocks. The rudder either works or not! Other might have a different view 🙂

John (dark horse) turned up with this, which was a bit of a surprise as last week he said he was still trial fitting things! I have been messing around with the motor mount which is now complete, so have dropped back on to the wings. Hopefully progress on the fuselage in the week with the canopy and the tail end.

Try the 3 1/2 hours of reporting a lost model on a Sunday, CAA, BMFA, DoT and to cap it pilot error plus not yet found the model (good thing really as clearly it met the ground without incident!).

Don't have the benefit of tarmac so the small edf's just do great impressions of manic ground squirrels Perhaps there is better elsewhere 😉

Started bright, cool and and the sun was right at the end of the runway with 90 cross wind. Sun went in and it just got colder until it started to rain (a bit). the grass was cut in the week but as cam be seen in the photo the carpark is getting cut up. WooHoo given a load of flights + one of each for the others.

Now another big question? Any suggestions as to pilots for either model, but especially the Fokker Bust either commercially available or anyone know of something that can be 3D printed? Cheers

Any photos would be welcomed, cheers

I gave up EC3 connectors when I found some suppliers make the connection contact pull back and some push through...and I had chucked them all in the same draw! I like the XT series + quite a few batteries come with them as default.

Should you go back to the BMFA/CAA and update the reported lost model notification? Would at least assist with the statistics of lost ...and found models?

All three builds making progress with James further along ( no racing here!) as can be seen with the pictures below. I am still trying to finish the Tigercat, make progress on another build and do justice for this one! Little Jon said he will send some photos as IIRC he ahs dry fitted everything, but is holding off the glue until he has seen all of my mistakes! James's progress Of note James has gone for a fixed top hatch and removable cowl (though the very ice 3D printed fan - not shown!)

Weather was cold and poor sky, then it slowly got worse as the wind picked up! Squeezed 3 WooHoo, 1 P38 and 1 Habu flights in + a lot of coffee and gassing on the WR FW190 build so all in all a very productive morning!

I put my FT200 in a Eurobat and then a Balsa USA cub and on both occasions I had to add lead to achieve C of G (like nearly a Kg), so what? The FT is a light engine compared to others, but as the models were already built not much I could do. The point is the Cub just ended up the same weight as it was originally with the Super Tigre in it. You think you are adding lead, but its only because you want the C of G in the right place. If you put an inline or 2 stroke with all the additional kit that comes with it then you would not have to add lead to compensate for a light engine! My Acrowot has a Laser 70 and no lead as its heavy compared with a 2 stoke, but then you would have to add lead to get the C of G. The Dual Ace has 2 Laser 70's in it, spot on target weight and no lead, but the 2 stroke versions have a pile of lead in them to get C of G. The answer is to build a light tail end of a model, then a light engine will balance things out with no lead required. As said before its far better to fly a model with the C of G in the right place than one with a very reward C of G so it is what it is or lighten the tail and mover everything else forward, but my guess is that it will fly just nice the weight it is and save a lot of work! PS as for looping I have seen someone loop a Hurricane that only had enough power to fly and very gentle climb...just very good at energy management!

Hi David, The point I was trying to make (badly) is that adding weight and drag for some beneficial lift might just diminish the overall performance. I have owned two FMS kingfishers, the first bought off a clubmate as I wanted a model my wife could fly (on buddy lead) and although it had been crashed and well repaired it flew well. I then stupidly lost it so bought a new one and WOW what a difference in flight characteristics. It can't all be due to just the re-glued bits as some of it must be due to the minor increase in weight. Another example is we fly (Sunday morning crew) FT Versa's (foamboard delta) of which one of the chaps cuts the commercially white board and the rest of us just assemble. While I was ordering another FT kit and the P&P cost I added a FT Versa. Now the FT foam board is only slightly lighter and the overall weight of the model is low again the additional weight of the commercially available foam board makes a noticeable difference in agility and stall characteristic. I think if you can lose weight then you don't need to add drag and mass, I appreciate it might not be that easy now they are build, but worth considering for the next one

Might not be possible due to the rules, but based on your last few comments about 4 stroke weight and wing loading could you not move the engine back (shorten the nose on the fuselage) assuming you are using tail weights. If not move the engine back and make the tail lighter, but he idea would be to lose weight while retaining a 4 stroke engine. I know nothing, but making it heavier and longer wingspan seems to be the opposite to how you want it to perform (as in agile) and the lighter it is the better the power to weight ratio. Colin Chapman quote "Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere." Is there a minimum weight for the class?

Quick question, ESC cooling exit air hole location? Photo's please

I thought TE to a point was not such a good idea due to oscillating vortexes it sets up where a a bit more of a blunt TE was preferred or I dreamt it as a reason for not doing pointy TE's 🤣

I was given some advice by a very experienced pilot which I think was very sound and has put me in good stead as I have steadily improved! So I picked up a BH Speed Air (Kings Lynn Models £199, I paid less but it was a few years ago) as it has a reasonable amount of mass, is fairly aerobatic (did everything for the B test). Flew well in more windy conditions and is easy to set up as electric. After my B and many many hours flying (the red decals were a very light shade of pink) I converted to IC with a Laser 70 in it and again it was a joy to fly. Its demise was due to pilot error so I can't fault it at all. PS, I have an Acrowot (with the Laser 70 in it) and yes its a better flyer in calmer conditions, but not as good when it gets blustery.

Firstly there are two problems, those that fly "pinch" and those "thumbs" so a designer pair would need to cope with both! As a thumber its all about keeping my hands worm until I fly so asked my daughter to knit a pair of woolly gloves, but with a feature! They have a removeable thumb cover (attached to the glove like a hinge) so I can get right to the flight line and then its thumbs on sticks, but the weave is a bit open so they don't work that well in a biting wind. I have tried heated pads inside gloves but they are too hot in a local position and my thumbs get cold. I have a pair of heated gloves with integral batteries and adjustable temp so we will see how I get on with those...tempted to make a hole in the thumb of the glove so I can feel the stick. If anyone has found any gloves where the heater elements run into the finger area then please let me know, cheers

Could a mod change the title to "Three FW190's" as little Jon 2 has joined in with the build, cheers As its now 2024 my build has started FW190 No2 going through the dry fit process and FW190 No3 several dry fits over the previous few days, but no commitment to glue! So after the Sunday coffee and cake session there are a couple of questions if people can chip in please? Is it a case of make your own motor box to suit what the individual has? Motor box, what's suggested regarding material/thickness? Assuming it has no right or down thrust, but just wanted to check? Does the battery sit directly between F1 and F2, just seems a long way back, but don't seem to find any photos of others with batteries fitted? Is the tang sanded down so the cowl rung fits flush on F1? Additionally a question from me 6. Is there any reason why the servo pocket is not rotated so that its parallel with aileron hinge line? I assume it can't go any further towards the wing tip due to the thickness of the wing? Progress to date while the glue sets! Last but not least, big thanks to Richard, "the boys" and everyone else for what is going to be a great model and build. PS, Getting ahead of myself, but where is the best place for the brown paper?

Ok if you are a BMFA member, otherwise is that not a bad idea publicising flying sites to the wrong people (theft or complain about its being close to their back yard)?

Richard, List your top ten that you would like to build and we all get them to rank them in our preference then number crunch that lot and come up with the preference you started with! My vote is let the Green chap decide, TBH who would be prepared to argue with him!

I still haven't finished mine and as my late wife bought it for me, well its at the end of the build list at the moment. I have bought film for it, but am now seriously considering dope and tissue and whether it just becomes a hanger queen once its complete. Please keep posting Rapide and it will help me when I get back around to it,

Hope that's not a fire hazard there..I use old lead acid batteries as they have more weight to volume. Then again if the ammo box does have 7.62 cal a lipos might be the least of your problems! Appreciate the posts there Lipoman, 🙂