Robin Colbourne

Stuart, if its built with PVA glue, or possibly even cyano, chuck it in the bath overnight and it will re-kit itself. I had one just as you describe, and once all the bits were separated I was able to scrape the glue off, tidy up the tabs, holes and edges and it all went togeher as Precedent intended without a gap to be seen. One tip. If you are using the supplied noseleg clamps, put some spacers, either washers or bits of lemonade or milk bottle under the saddle clamp pads. Otherwise they are pre-stressed and will break on the first 'firm' landing.

Paul, that looks a lot like a Chinese-made Magnum XL-40A to me. Maybe what you thought was an E is in fact an L? I imagine a distributor has had their own badge put on it, which is probably what was intended when making that flat area in the first place. Here's a Magnum XL40A for comparison. Edit: Weston UK still show this make of Magnum (as opposed to the Taiwanese or British Magnums) on their website. Maybe the 'WXL or WXE' was a batch that they had labelled up specifically for them to sell? By the way, if you Google 'Magnum XL', add 'engine' or 'motor', or you won't be getting what you expected... 😲

Paul, that looks a lot like a Chinese-made Magnum XL-40A to me. Maybe what you thought was an E is in fact an L? I imagine a distributor has had their own badge put on it, which is probably what was intended when making that flat area in the first place. Here's a Magnum XL40A for comparison. By the way, if you Google 'Magnum XL', add 'engine' or 'motor', or you won't be getting what you expected... 😲

I was recently trying to persuade a friend that he should be building aircraft tugs like that, and smaller ones for lighter aircraft. GIven that the average age of private pilots is fairly old, a lot struggle to get their aircraft out of the hangar without assistance, particularly where its onto grass or up an incline. You also have much better situational awareness if you can stand where you can see all the extremities of the aircraft, which is important, as it can get very expensive if you hit your own aircraft onto the hangar structure, or worse still, on someone else's aircraft. I was aware of these tracked tugs being available in the US, but didn't realise that any had made it over here.

I bought a Bossanova at our club auction earlier this month. It is going to need a fair bit of refurbishment though before it is airworthy. In addition to geographical location, the difficulty is going to be finding one in good condition. They have very light construction, are designed for a type of flying (3D) that is likely to result in damage and they have been out of production for ten years or more. I have read that the Bolero is pretty similar so you may be better off looking for one of them. That one in the ebay listing, with the exception of the missing engine cowl, looks pretty good. You could try messaging the seller to see if you could send him a box to put it in, and take the risk that the courier doesn't destroy it, however ebay doesn't encourage stuff like that, and with Parcelforce you are looking at around £40 for delivery and Evri light & large via Interparcel around £30. This is the manual for the Bolero: Ripmax Bolero Manual Inwood Models in Huntingdon are having a big sell off of used models. They aren't on your doorstep, but are a lot closer to you than Lymington is There is also 'A Plane Olde Bargain' in Lincolnshire who have a regular stock of similar models, such as this Hype which comes wth an engine & servos APOB 3D Hype

I agree, Just the wind noise of the glider going up the line. There's something magical about it as the energy it is using is your own, as it was your muscles that stretched the bungee, unless of course you have a 'fetchermite' to do that for you! 😁 The bit I really like, is that in a decent wind, even though you think you've stretched the bungee as far as it will go, often when you release the glider, the wind stretches the bungee even further, so the glider goes back from the launchpoint as the full length of the bungee lifts the ground.

Thank you for posting these videos Ron, its a topic in which I am very interested.

One of the problems with UAV operations, is that often the person manning the radio or answering the phone isn't as experienced or as knowledgeable of the regulations as they really need to be. The fact that this NOTAM was 24 hours a day, seven days a week, suggests it wasn't a model flying operation but some sort of trial. It doesn't surprise me that it specifies model aircraft as well as UAVs , as its not unusual for pilots on UAV operations to fly a low value aircraft at the site , i.e. a model, to get some site awareness before operating the larger, more expensive and more complex UAV.

Some food for thought here, plus a couple of plans Ornithopter.org This is the R/C Pterodactyl that HobbyKing used to sell.

Certainly in industry it is not unusual to make test pieces for peel and tensile strength to extend the life of epoxies reaching their use by date. It is also common for samples of mixed epoxy to be stored for future analysis in case there is any doubt about its quality. Getting the mix ratio right is critical. Unlike polyester resins which have a catalytic reaction. two part epoxies rely on the adhesive mixing fully with the hardener. If one part uses up all of the other and there is surplus, that surplus will stay in liquid or jelly form, weakening the resin. For the best bonds: Weigh out the adhesive and hardener with an accurate balance. Warm the parts to be bonded so the mixed resin wets out (reduces in viscosity), rather than chilling on contact (If the material being bonded is porous, the cooling substrate will pull the epoxy in as it cools). Having applied the epoxy to the materials, gently warm it to further reduce the viscosity, which helps get any air trapped when mixing or spreading out. Once cured, do a post-cure for 12 hours at a higher temperature than the part will ever see in service. If this isn't done, there is a danger of the joint softening if warm and under load (e.g. near an exhaust or speed controller) and either failing completely or resetting in a stress-relieved form. Geoff S, in answer to your original question, the time on the faster setting epoxies (e.g. 5, 20, 30 minute) seem to refer to how long the mix can be used for, whilst 24 hour epoxy seems to refer to stuff that is set hard in that time. Well, that is my experience anyway.

Rollin Klingberg did some research on tip fins. His conclusion was that they should be inboard from the tip. I think this is the video in which he talks about fin position: Rollin Klingberg on flying wing fins

A 3mm carbon tube would be my choice. With a metal pushrod there is a lot of momentum if the model stops suddenly and this is more likely to break servo arms and strip gears than a snake will. A 650mm 0.8mm steel wire weighs 25.8 grams (0.9oz). The same length in 3mm carbon tube is 3.9 grams. Of course you need to add the end fittings to the carbon, whereas you could have a 'Z' bend on the steel wire. If you used a 3mm carbon tube it has a 2mm bore, so you could epoxy a short length of studding into the ends to attach the clevises. Hyperflight 3mm carbon fibre tube

Material thickness and choice are very definitely very important. A friend is building the Valueplanes 1/4 scale Miles Hawk. It is 2.48M (97") wingspan, yet seems to use materials of the size and weight, or even thicker, than a full-size wooden glider. Where the wing roots abut the fuselage, the fuselage has four laminations of liteply, making it about 10mm thick. My concern is that the thing has massive strength in places, yet potential weak points where, for instance, the longerons are cracked to go from parallel to tapering in towards the tail. When scaling up, always remember, dimensions goe up linearly, areas are squared and volumes are cubed. Twice the size is eight times the volume.

Hoochykins, have you had a look at the Pegasus Models range. They do the Fiesta which is a traditional wooden R/C trainer which could be either electric or engine powered, plus a whole range of other kits. If you read the reviews, someone has done an electric conversion and lists the exact set up that he used. He also said that it is the ideal electric trainer. Pegasus Models Fiesta

Very nice find Roy! Was that the kit that 'A Plane Olde Bargain' was advertising recently? Is this completed one on Ebay a Simple Skyman or Escort? It appears to have a strange hump behind the wing, or is the wing too far forward? I spent ages searching "Galaxy Models Escort" on Google. Very interesting, but I didn't see any model aeroplanes... 🤪 Bowmans Simple Skyman or Galaxy Models Escort on Ebay