Piers Bowlan

Returning to the OP, I think proximity to a suitable slope and one’s fitness has a big influence on how ideal RC slope soaring is to a beginner. I was lucky in that I was living in Fife with an abundance of hills on my doorstep when a friend and work colleague gave me a magazine plan for a Rivington Hawk. I liked the design but I can’t think of a more unsuitable trainer, being small, slippery with no natural stability! Eventually when I had it set up properly the penny finally dropped and I was able to cruise it up and down the slope to my hearts content, by which time the model was mostly epoxy held together with a little crushed balsa! The morale here is to start with a suitable model and I can think of no better choice than a Wild Thing for the slope as it is pretty much indestructible, being made of EPP. Incidentally, I bought a Zagi flying wing in the US, back in the day and modded it so that the wings were slotted together with carbon fibre tubes. Velcro kept them together as were the wingtip fins. Secreted in my suitcase my Zagi accompanied me on my travels around the world, sometimes flown in exotic locations including, Hong Kong, the US and Japan. Try doing that with your club trainer 🤣

I don’t know about the best way to start in this hobby but slope soaring was how I did it many years ago and am hooked on it to this day.

Really excellent video Stubbsy so thanks for that. Good luck with your future projects.

If it flies as well as it looks it will be fab! Good luck with the maiden. A free plan in the mag soon?

Very much looking forward to the plans appearing in the mag. Richard. This months RCM&E plan, SDZ Foka 4 by Chris Williams, might be a work of art and fly extremely well but I wonder how many will actually get built? I would guess not many people these days have the skills or time for a project of this scale or complexity sadly. Richard, your Shifty duo designs ticks so many boxes; simple, quick and cheap to build. Quirky (stylish), chuck in the back of the car, type of models. I foresee quite a few getting built. 👍

I found the BMFA/LMA guidance invaluable in completing the consultation survey, infact I probably might not have bothered were it not available. So thank you all those who gave their time and knowledge to make this guide available. Thank you also BMFA for the timely email reminders. 👍

Sent response 10min before deadline! Phew 😥

I should start by saying I have never built an autogyro so maybe I shouldn’t comment but presumably the motor offset from the model’s centreline is to counteract yaw as a result of the slipstream effect from the pusher prop on the fin and rudder? Could you not achieve the same fix by introducing a few degrees of motor side thrust rather than offsetting the entire motor? Just a thought.

Presumably all servos purchased at the same time from the same source? Duff batch? Now for one of my sillier ideas… have the control linkages seized up or corroded in some way restricting their movement? I said it was a silly idea! I have a lot of HS85 servos in models stored for years in an unsuitable location (a barn) but never experienced this kind of problem. Were the models stored with batteries connected in them? Black wire corrosion?

Some great looking models there Andrew. Love the VC10. Looking forward to hearing more about your aeromodelling exploits in the future. Welcome to the forum and Seasons Greetings from me 🎄.

Brian, it looks fast just standing still! What motor and LiPo did you fit?

Welcome to the forum Arthur. What do you fly and what part of the world. Do you build from kits/plans too or do you prefer ARTFs? I hope you find the forum to your liking. Have fun.

I think you are getting your spars and ribs mixed up Toto, which makes reading this a little confusing at times. Incidentally, for (rib) cap strips I use cyano. A dot of glue one end, make sure it is positioned correctly, then hold in position while you glue the other end. Thin cyano wicks along the length of the strip. You don’t need the wing pined to the board and a lot quicker than pinning and using aliphatic. Just don’t glue your fingers to the wing!

‘FW109’. We know what you mean! 🤣

Nothing in life if free, even air!

Weights with lightening holes. Love it 🤣!

Doesn’t the collett go on the motor shaft?

My own take on it is that 4S would be the ‘sweet spot’ using that motor which potentially could give you 700-800W with a suitable prop without frying the motor (hopefully). More than enough but you don’t have to fly it like you stole it, you have a throttle! You could give George Worley of 4Max a ring and ask him for advice on which set up he would recommend. You don’t have to tell him you already have a motor, besides he might recommend another. 😊 At the end of the day to some degree it is about how you want the model to fly. Just check with a Watt meter before you commit aviation that you are in the right ball park.

Toto, you ordered a couple of 14x7 props for your Quantum motor, (as recommended by Kings Lynn Models). I just wondered if you will have sufficient ground clearance with that sized prop, bearing in mind the Force46 prop range is 10x7 to 12x6? Perhaps you might consider lengthening the UC a tad, if so. Just looking ahead! On the Quantum motor spec sheet it suggests a 12x9W (presumably W is wood?) Might be worth running the figures through e-Calc or find a friend tho can. I guess you will be running it off a 4S LiPo?

So a pretty major change from IC to leccy, having installed your engine. Not a criticism but what is your thinking behind the change? Just curious.

Please put me down for a Tempest please Richard. I hope Graham is not sitting around drinking tea too much, there is a Tempest to build!

I have a new un-run OS30 FS bolted to it’s ply bulkhead, I just need to attach it to the rest of the airframe! Peter’s Alley cat was a free plan in RC Model World, I forget the year but I will dig out the article to check.

The Ohmen is a very nice electric model but if you are going to put a 30FS in it why not build one of Peter’s IC designs like his Alley Cat? The wing is identical to his Ohmen incidentally. I started building one years ago…I must finish it some time!

Look at any Peter Miller design and you will find shear webs added between the ribs (with the grain vertical). Even 1/16th balsa shear webs add a lot of strength for a minuscule amount of weight gain. ‘Egg-crate’ construction with the ribs slotted onto the spar used to be popular, particularly with smaller designs. Some of David Boddington’s designs featured this, amongst others. The Sky 40 not only has a full depth spar (WS1) but also the upper and lower members. Belt and braces!

This design does not have ‘shear webs’ as such as it has a full depth slotted spar (WS1) over which the ribs fit, ‘egg-crate’ style. The upper and lower square section members of the spar were added later. The end result is pretty much the same though; a strong structure.