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Graham Davies 3

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Posts posted by Graham Davies 3

  1. On 25/03/2024 at 11:15, Nigel R said:

    Or, just fit the upright and let the servo arm stick out into the breeze, this is usually the quickest way.

    One thing to note if you do this; the axes of the servo and aileron are not parallel. This means that you ideally need ball joints at each end of the pushrod. If not, and you have no slop (there's usually a little), then the servo will stall to a degree as it tries to twist the pushrods in their respective holes. 

     

    If you put the servo on it's side so the axis of the servo is parallel to the hinge line, this problem goes away and makes pushrods simpler (you can use z-bends or clevises, or both!). That would be my bet; make a frame in the wing, make a hatch cover to fit in the frame, and then wrap the servo in tape and glue it to the hatch cover. Screw the hatch cover to the frame. Simple, quick, effective.

     

    Graham

  2. Jaydeez an genulmen, I give you...

     

    ...Dusty Crophopper.

     

    My 2 year old Grandson has taken a huge liking to the Planes movie. If you haven't seen it, it's really rather good and the aircraft are well represented. To stoke his interest, I've built a flying version that if we ever get some decent weather, he'll be able to see in the air.

     

    My usual B&Q laminate flooring insulation depron construction. Glass cloth/ B&Q water based varnish covered and painted with sprayed emulsion. The orange in Valspar matchpot, and a story in itself. I had a picture on my phone, but of course you can't match to a phone image, so I grabbed a B&Q bucket. This was too translucnt, so the match was dark, so we scanned the B&Q apron of the young lady operating the machine!

     

    Span is 47", 3536 1200 motor and will use 3S 1500 packs. Weight is just a touch over 2 pounds ready to go.

     

    I think it might qualify as a scale model...

     

    Graham

     

     

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    • Like 16
  3. 28 minutes ago, Eric Robson said:

    Hi Graham, 

    The problem with the Hurricane is mainly the sheeting on the outer wing panel I removed the underside sheeting and took large sections from the top, this has brought the weight down to half of what it was, if I can save some more weight then I will do the same to the rest of the wing as it is undamaged. The flaps and spars are very heavy which is all behind the c of g.

    There's no substitute for lightness! I'm sure you'll have it back and better than ever

     

    Graham

  4. It's not going to help David, or indeed anyone else considering brand swaps if we get into the 'xxx brand has more failures than yyy brand' argument. I have been very careful to avoid that when trying to resolve my own issues, as apparent radio reliability is a very complex issue. I don't believe the Radiomaster gear to be unreliable. Similarly, there are limitless ways to demolish a model aircraft, so best keep this to the point!

     

    Graham

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1
  5. Hi David,

     

    I have a TX16S mk2 with the multi protocol option. I've had it about 18 months, with generally positive experiences. Here's a snapshot:

     

    • I like the feel of it. I went for the CNC gimbals, and they feel of decent quality. I went from a 9CAP futaba, and didn't feel like I'd taken a step backwards. The throttle ratchet is very soft on mine; it can be adjusted, but needs the case opening. I'll do it one day...
    • I like the Edge TX operating system. Some people struggle, but that can be said of most systems. I find it quite logical, although it has so much power some thing inevitably can be harder to locate. 
    • Less good is that I have had some range issues. I bought radiomaster R88 receivers when I bought the transmitter, and by all accounts, these are not great. However, I have had spurious issues, and one directly attributed to poor range (model went into failsafe) at only 100m from the transmitter. This was on a Frsky clone (now in the bin). It would appear that the FrSky transmission is taken care of by the CC2500 chip, and this appears to have a slightly lower output than is ideal. I have since added an external module for Frsky, and the problem appears to have gone. But to be clear, on DSM (or whichever spectrum protocol I have!), there have been no issues.
    • Support from Mike at Hobby RC has been excellent
    • Similarly, Mike Blandford on here has been incredibly helpful

    Would I buy another one? That's tricky David, because all things are not equal, and we end up down a particular road due to our choices of receiver. If i was committed to all FrSky, probably not. I'd go for an X20. But as an option across many protocols, I probably would, although I would use a module for FrSky to avoid the internal CC2500 chip. Modules are very cheap though, and dead easy to use in the software.

     

    I hope that helps

     

    Graham

    • Like 1
  6. 1 hour ago, Eric Robson said:

    Sunny with a strong wind in North West Durham, only one there. Flew my Brian Taylor Corsair but the wond became blustery so after a few flights headed for home. 

    Some fly tipper had dumped two sex dolls and a suitcase at the entrance to the field, which I had to move to get to the gate. I did not realise how heavy they were and could only drag them out of the way. Before anyone says it I don't think they were drag Queens. 

    IMG-20240213-WA0000.jpg

    20240213_122302.jpg

    Of those pictures, I can't tell which is which. I find the blue doll sexier myself...

  7. 4 hours ago, Eric Robson said:

    WARNING! 

    The battery exited my FW190 during a roll , it flew out as the plane levelled at about 60ft. Despite a strong wind the battery less plane flew two flat circuits and made a perfect downwind landing.  The problem was the hatch catch lever had moved on the pin giving the impression the hatch was closed. Pushing the pin from the back restores the original position. 

    I have flown the plane today but the lever moved again after 2 successful flights, my batteries just fit in so I have to put pressure on the hatch to align the pin with the hole. Using lower capacity batteries may not be a problem but do make sure the catch is secure before flying even though the lever is at the end of the slot the pin may not be in the hole

    Eric, that is about as jammy as it gets! No battery usually is matchsticks!! Glad all ended well

     

    Graham

  8. Update:

     

    The 1/6 scale depron spitfire flew at the weekend. I went with Jon's advice (thanks Jon, usually right on the money!) and fitted a 17x8 APC. I sprayed it black and painted the tips and the shape then became rather unnoticable. The model itself was off the ground at 2/3 throttle anyway, so it has more than enough. I didn't bother with a tacho reading (what was I going to do about it, whatever it told me!), but at 6s, a 320 kv motor is spinning at around 7.5-8k. For this 'bird weighing just 8punds 6 ounces ready to fly, that is more than enough...

     

    Thanks again everyone, it's been emotional...

     

    Graham

     

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    • Like 2
  9. 3 hours ago, EarlyBird said:

    I had the sane thought Nick while I was looking at the fuselage it's a bigger version of the Mini Super. Which made me check the wing incidence and downthrust. Incidence I calculated to +3.8 degrees and downthrust 3.5 degrees.

     

    If I changed downthrust to 0 and incidence to +0.3, or any combination, what would be the effect and why?

     

    Steve

    Why would you want to do that? As has been said many times, DB's designs fly very well. Deviate from the plan, expect poor results...

  10. One note about the Hobbywing ESCs. The genuine ones are fine, but I had a counterfeit one from Ebay and it didn't work! Fortunately, from the outset and I got a full refund. But as with hookie servos, take care.

     

    I've realised now that I have to stop trying to save money as it was costing me a fortune!

     

    Graham

  11. 29 minutes ago, martin collins 1 said:

    Taking depron/foam building to another level Graham, do you have any build pictures you can post up? Looking forward to some flight video.

    I have a few. Attached here. 

     If anyone wants any details, I'm always happy to chat through what I did, how I got there and what my thought processes are!

     

    Graham

     

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    • Like 3
  12. Right, she's ready*

     

    1/6 scale spitfire Mk1; P9374. This is a replica (let's not be too eager and call it 'scale'!) of the aircraft that crashed on it's second operation onto the beach at Calais and remained there until the 1980s before being removed and eventually renovated to flying condition. This is detailed in a wonderful book kindly given to me by Peter Miller. As happens with me, reading the book (and particularly John Romaine's pilot notes of the maiden flight) inspired me, and I was 'locked on'.

     

    This is the latest evolution of my learnings of how to make use of Depron. Particularly laminate flooring under floor insulation. This is sold by B&Q under the Diall brand in white in 3 and 6mm and their own brand in black at 6mm. The construction uses some ply and balsa to put strength where it's needed (a hard structure between wing root and motor mount), and B&Q 6mm square strip wood for the wing spars. It has flaps, retracts and Oleos and is set up with a 5065 320kv motor on 6S and currently spinning a 17x8 prop. I'm yet to do the full power checks, so not sure what the output is, but expect around 900-1000W. The battery (3300maH) sits vertically behind the motor, and it looks to balance without ballast. AUW is 8lb. As this model is 74", this is very light. It's the same size as Mick Reeves' Mk9, which apparently fly very well, and usually come in at around 12lb plus. Jon from Laser reckons this is the correct weight, so I may have to stake it down to stop it floating off! In any case, I should get a nice scale speed.

     

    It's covered in 25gsm glass cloth applied with B&Q water based varnish. Paint is good old valspar (again, B&Q) matchpot emulsion matched to the book. It's a tiny bit light, but the effect is good. This is sprayed with my little HVLP gun, and then sprayed over with a light coat of gloss varnish to give a slight sheen for the vinyl to adhere to. Vinyl, canopy, decals and the wonderful dash are all from Mick Reeves. The exhausts are 3D printed.

     

    *Some detailing to do, electrical checks, a lot of worrying, and purchase of bike clips notwithstanding...

     

    Graham

     

     

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    • Like 23
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