Martin Harris - Moderator

Sorry, of course they were common crankpin flat twins. As to the owner wanting them, I think I recall that it was the opposite way round and Jon created his “Frankenstein” prototype out of personal interest and was inundated with support from modellers asking for them to be put into production, having to work quite hard to persuade the boss to run off the parts needed. I do hope that you’ll find a way to obtain spares should you need them in the future. It’s not for me to comment on the stockist’s policy on international sales but perhaps it might be reviewed if sufficient enquiries are received? At least it sounds like some provision has been made by Laser’s owner for a batch of spare parts to be produced and stocked. I don’t think this has happened for ASP/SC since their decision to withdraw from the market as stocks seem to be running out fast!

I think that’s a bit unfair on Jon. The “development” of the boxers was a minor exercise by all accounts and its well documented that he didn’t feel that he was getting the support he wanted from the owner of the parent business which, after Neil’s departure, was felt to be very much of a sideline. I understand that Jon had no financial interest and was purely an employee - admittedly with a keen interest in the product. Any “beef” should be with the owner of the company who made the decision to terminate not only his company, but any (remote) possibility that Laser engines could carry on in different hands.

It’s a shame that some feathers have been ruffled but I’m glad this has worked out well for you Aiden. Personal taste has a lot do do with whether others might adopt your solution but the alternatives have been aired (pun not intended) extensively so it’s time to close the thread here.

You can only hope that MSL can change its policy in the circumstances. Are you going by present advertised policy or have you approached them directly? Might be worth doing so if you haven’t.

I’ve removed some of the more inflammatory and provocative posts. Sorry if any good information has been lost but I’m not prepared to waste time editing posts selectively.

Let’s all take a step back. There is no place on this forum for personal insults.

Can we draw a line under this please. There will always be differences of opinion on forums but we don’t need to resort to sniping at each other. While I understand the frustration of seeing repeated advice seemingly ignored, a new poster will be unaware of past advice so perhaps a little more tolerance would avoid this sort of situation. Please don’t respond to this post (PM me or another mod. if anything is unclear) and let’s return to the subject of sharing information about the Galaxy/Pegasus Hurricane.

If she flies as well as she looks, you’ll have a ball. I’m getting inspired to dig mine out - I haven’t flown it for a couple of years. Jon has enthusiastically espoused his recommendations for smaller elevator movements coupled with more rearward CofGs here for quite a while and probably didn’t realise you were new here. We do like to keep things friendly on the forum and I doubt that Jon’s frustration was aimed at you in particular. I am very tempted to remove some of my lead and put the theory to the test as mine has always been a handful on the ground and I’ve limited outings to summer conditions with hard ground and short grass. I do have fairly small wheels (2”) due to physical limitations which don’t help. What size are you using?

Yes - I was reinforcing your point! Hopefully this slight diversion will have clarified how EP models can benefit from a "tickover" setting for approach control, especially if they have a high wing loading and low drag - not that a T31 of any variety needs much help in this direction!

Ok, a tiny amount but it's negligible compared to a slow spinning disc.

The real thing needs a gentle dive to loop...

Not for nothing was the T31 glider known as "the brick". Add a pair of large wheels and a draggy prop disc and it's not likely to be kept from getting back on the ground for very long. Just remember, if you're fitting electric power, that you won't get any braking effect from a stopped propeller.

And I thought mine was weighty!

Very cunning.

Title and OP corrected.

Painting. I never seem to be able to organise myself to start - my Tempest airframe has been in primer for over a year! I've had a lot of distractions this winter so haven't even touched the model since I created the panel lines with masking tape/primer and pencilled in the camouflage pattern last autumn. My radio installs are planned during the build process so it's not a one off task. It does take a lot of thinking through on more complex models. We had a club member once who claimed that his radio installations took "half an hour". He was one of the most prolific crashers I've ever known - I wonder if there's any connection!

I'm very tempted to follow this advice the next time I dig mine out...it will be interesting...hopefully not too interesting! My FW190 has excellent ground handling (but it does have nice big wheels) so perhaps Black Horse followed this principle when they specified the CofG?

A not so obvious reason why (jet) engines on wings are set away from the fuselage is that the mass of the engines opposes bending moments due to lift and consequent G effects (e.g. the engines get "heavier" while the wings are generating more lift in a turn) so the centre section doesn't experience as much stress.

I've weighed it this morning and it comes out at a rather porky 9.62 lbs (or 4.36kg for Paul) without fuel. I can't see any guidelines on the Galaxy site but it flies fine at this weight.

Spoilers and airbrakes are actually quite different so make sure you're searching for the right thing. Spoilers normally lie flat on the wing surface and were fitted to many earlier gliders. They work by spoiling that part of the wings lift but only contribute a limited amount of drag. Airbrakes are blades which come out of the wings vertically, both spoiling lift and contributing significant drag. They can be provided on the top surface only, or far more effectively, top and bottom surface with deliberate air leakage through the housing. Learning to sideslip on the approach was a very useful skill on vintage gliders! As the T31M was a conversion, essentially just sawing off the nose section to mount the engine and adding an undercarriage, I would think you can safely assume that the spoilers would be in the same place as the original glider. I've had success with using ailerons mixed to deflect upwards on several non-braked or flapped model gliders - including a 4 metre Fly-Fly Discus. Not scale of course but fairly unnoticeable except by the pickiest purist...

Dunno. 11 years on, the original battery (more correctly, cell) in my DS16 is still performing well.

Really? I’d be quite happy to be asked to pass either side - this reflects a choice whereas both is an instruction!

Well, I’ve just maidened mine and I don’t recognise your description, Futura. I didn’t fit the undercarriage though so perhaps it makes a significant difference? I found it very responsive on the recommended first flight high rates and switched to low where it was still quite lively. It got away steadily and as soon as the speed built up performance was excellent with big loops, both positive and negative coupled with benign high alpha flying. This was with a new GNB 2600 4S (120C claimed) - perhaps your battery is past its best? I flew for 6 minutes but will probably standardise on 5 minutes to allow a good margin as I landed with 14% remaining.

Timing is self regulating by the amount of heating of the element. As loading with increasing revs increases, the element (a catalyst) reacts with the methanol more readily, effectively advancing the point of ignition. If an engine such as the magneto equipped Zenoahs has no method of varying the timing, you have to compromise either to easy starting or maximum power. Damage mostly occurs when timing is over advanced, causing detonation, which causes the damage to piston crowns etc. Normal engine running is a controlled burn - not an explosion, which detonation is akin to.

Like all Hurricanes, a pain on the runway but if you can keep the spinner off the grass then once airborne it should be a delight to fly. I can’t tell you the weight offhand but with air retracts (now electric) and a 90FS it is no lightweight although the builder (I bought it when it was already quite elderly at the Watford Swapmeet in 2003) had taken the trouble to fabricate a built up tailplane. It still has a large slug of lead in the nose though. As far as I can recall, I went with the plan CofG.