Dad_flyer

Start here: and then forwards and back in that thread...

I have an Overlander RC-S60 with a servo-plug type temperature probe port. Does anybody know what sensor and how they are wired? Is it just a 10kOhm NTC thermistor, and if so between which leads? My old NiMh drill charger died, so I am wiring the socket from the charger to a normal flight plug to use my model charger. The socket has a built-in thermistor, so it would be nice to be able to wire that in as well.

Two in close formation! ?

We use OpenSCAD, which is also an engineering type of package. You effectively write a program to generate your object. It is not based on constraints, but on adding and subtracting simple shapes. Everything can be parametric, so you can make a design and then just change the value for a parameter to make it fit a different fan or servo or screw size. There are a couple of really useful transformations, of which Hull is one, and you can also define modules which provide sub-shapes or combination rules. Blender is not so good for engineering type shapes, it does not have the record of where you started from, you are always manipulating the current version of the shape, not the process needed to build the shape. Child_flyer uses Blender, but more to draw and animate in 3D than to build things.

Does your CAD have a 'Hull' transformation? It makes smooth transitions between your geometrical start and end shapes. Like a ship's hull made from the formers, except that the shapes can be 3D, so in this case a 50 mm cylinder and the inlet triangle. I find it can help with a lot of complicated shapes.

I am surprised there, they are decent quality radios. My very budget Fkysky have two. I was about to order a Radiomaster as the Flysky has some intermittent problems in the gimbals. After replacing the gimbals the problem went away, but now there is a different one.

For 2.4GHz most (all probably) transmitters have two aerials as well. One pointing out of the top, the other crosswise. This overcomes the problem of pointing the aerial at the model. The horizontal one must end up doing most of the good work.

For once I did not dither, and I got a battery order in as soon as I saw the Hobbyking sale late yesterday. So Regal eagle is a step closer.

We saw their show at Woodspring a couple of years ago. Very impressive and graceful. A real highlight of the weekend.

I think there will be more young railway modellers than flyers. Maybe not a lot who are committed to the modelling part, but it is so much easier to start. Trains don't fall out of the sky ?, and parents and grandparents are more likely to buy a train set than an RC plane. The second step is harder, working out what you might want from a layout as a set loop is a bit boring. It is also still expensive. On my sample of Child_flyer and friends there are more railways than planes.

Well, I had planned to get this done for the 60th Anniversary fly-in. Instead lockdowns cancelled so much flying in the year of the 60th, and the uncovered wings of Kakadu have been doing service as part of my background in remote working instead. I really need to get it finished. Maybe not this weekend, the weather looks good ?.

'heavily weathered'? I like that colour scheme. Wow, you are rapid Ron.

I do record rpm, partly because I have a range of budget props as well as the good ones. There can be a remarkable difference: 9x4.7 with same current and rpm as the same brand 9x6 for example. Also I notice that without perfect connection the resistance of putting in the wattmeter reduces the rpm and current.

I have used Halfords grey plastic spray primer on Easycoat. It worked reasonably well. Then painted with Humbrol acrylics. Some small patches lifted, but I think I had not keyed it enough with sandpaper. In this post: https://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/42463-se5a-dogfight-double/&do=findComment&comment=788783

At work we use the Prusa textured plate mostly, with PLA. The rule there is never to touch the plate with your fingers, or anything else if possible. We don't use anything on the plate for adhesion, and very, very rarely clean it. It apparently needs cleaning when someone touches it, but I have never cleaned it or seen it need cleaning. Adhesion is certainly better when it is hot. Prints don't come off when the bed is still hot after printing, but come away nicely once it is cool. The plate is removable and flexible, which makes it easy to get things off without touching.

I have the Prolux digital, it was the freebie when I subscribed to the magazine. Before that I borrowed an older one from a friend. It had a much nicer balance in the hand. I felt much more connected to the place I was covering, and I had a much better view of the edge of the iron. The shoe was narrower but a little deeper than the Prolux, with a flatter foot. Unfortunately I had to give it back... I also use a heat gun, but I have always had one with a variable heat dial. It makes a heat gun so much easier to use, whether paint stripping or shrinking film.

Brim is important for two reasons. The first is to make a bigger area that has more opportunity to stick to the bed. The second, less obvious, is to round off sharp corners. For example, your motor mount is quit large, and one would expect that there is plenty of area to stick. However sharp corners pull up harder when they contract a little as the printed material cools. Adding a brim will help, or alternatively rounding the corners of the part when you design it. Some parts designed for 3D printing will be rounded in the base layer and transition to a sharp square outline in the first few mm.

Model fixings have the good stock of small sizes. For M3 and up, Westfield Fasteners have a good range in length, head style and material, and an easy to use website. Edit: Westfield do actually go down to M1.6

I use La-Co flux from my plumbing box. It is widely available and looking at the datasheet is actually specified for use on mild steel. The datasheet does not say it contains zinc chloride.

It is called "brim". It should be under build plate adhesion in Cura.

Digital scales (and not just cheap ones) have some kind of processing between the sensor and the display. They do not show up small changes well. They may measure 500g correctly and within a few g. But if you then add 2g it will probably not register. The scales somehow are deciding that you are measuring the same thing and the change is just it wobbling or something. Bathroom scales definitely do this. If you weight yourself several times in succession it displays exactly the same answer back to you. But if you weigh someone else in between then it actually measures you again and the number will be just slightly higher or lower each time because of the uncertainty in the measurement. My digital kitchen scales are not as bad as that, but it is still really hard to get a good measurement of a sheet of 1/16" balsa.

Inkscape will import vector PDFs and output .SVG. I have a feeling it will do Gcode, but I have never used that. It will also import bitmap PDFs and do a reasonable job of tracing into vector format. It is pretty powerful, open source and free

Flite Test FT 3D from the downloaded plan using Hobbycraft foamboard. Maidenhead today. Plans are at https://www.flitetest.com/articles/ft-3d-scratch-build Usually the heavier Hobbycraft board makes the models tail heavy, so this time I removed the paper both sides for most of the structure, which is half the weight. Left it on the non-moving parts of the tail for stiffness. Covered with laminating film, courtesy of @Ron Gray, thank you. It ended up rather nose heavy! After a number of short hairy flights an increasingly big bag of bolts taped to the tail skid calmed it down. Reasonably axial rolls. I built it because Child_flyer wants to knife edge for real, not just the sim.

The browser pdf readers usually have a very limited set of print options. Acrobat free version is always best for complicated things. Also using the Acrobat print:

It sounds like a problem of a pdf in US Letter paper size being printed out on A4? It can be a pain to persuade the printer that you do not want it resized to fit.