Mike T

Posted by cymaz on 03/09/2017 12:36:30: ... Same potential failure I'm struggling to see what that is, TBH. The negative wires appear to be firmly soldered to the track and the (redundant) signal wire likewise, to provide a little additional strain relief. The +ve wire is soldered between the pole contacts and the gap between them is bridged to provide switching redundancy (though you'll only find out that one pole has failed if the other one does...) I used to buy the heavy duty locking toggle switches from Terry at SM. Of course, they attracted their 'sledgers' as well, with people claiming that engine vibration would cause the toggle to jump over the lock!! It's a pity they can't be got any more. The machining on the RCWorld switches is nice (polished/anodised alloy being de rigeur for big petrol 3D type planes), but the switch underneath appears to be the same DPST toggle that can be had from Maplins, RS, etc for a quid or so.

This is the original keychain camera info/review site: **LINK**

3 days of glorious sunshine on our new field We seem to have had the same weather pattern for the last decade - a fine spell in May/June. Crappy July/early August. Better weather late August and an 'Indian Summer' in September/October if we're lucky. It does seem to have been windier this year, but with the prevailing westerlies that just means we've spent more time on the slopes. A bunch of old geezers reclining in the heather, looking like an out-take from "Last of the Summer Wine"!!

You have to be very confident in your SS skills. I wasn't, so when building a Phase 6 recently, I used a joiner saved from a 1/4 scale DB Pup (pre- Stocker) kit. Strong enough - you'd think... It failed and the subsequent replacement was pretty much as Trevor described, albeit soft soldered: Edited By Mike T on 29/08/2017 10:35:58

Posted by Gary Manuel on 23/08/2017 15:22:03: Tried this, but no joy. Oh crepe!

JR radios are as 'propo' as you can get! Things may have moved on, but on my old 388, you have to use the higher number mixes to ensure the slave channel is governed by the master channel's trim. If you've used free mixes 1 and 2, then their trims will probably be on one of the pots. - try using mixes 7 and 8. Edited By Mike T on 23/08/2017 12:40:18 Edited By Mike T on 23/08/2017 12:40:49

So to sum up, best for contrast and visibility is black all over, with areas of dark black and pale black for contrast and highlights?

Just picked up this rather splendid book from "The Works" (TheWorks.co.uk) Down from £25 to a bargain £8. I'd add a pic, but the process is a bit tiresome...

@Steve. Was on the Meio yesterday with Mark and Chris - now I know why they've taken to parking on the far side of the grid! I've not had any car nibblers so far, but they do take a deep and abiding interest in my boot when I'm trying to load/unload. They are completely unfazed and often have to be physically shoved off! Re Kiwikid's pic of his field - I feel your pain. Until recently, our Club life has been one of mowing and rolling (with our cars!) to get a decent patch, only to see it trampled by cows. The bloody farmer always seems to put them in our field when it's wet! We are now moving to a field with 500 ewes on it... Edited By Mike T on 18/08/2017 10:48:10

Just looked it up. What a smart little plane! IMO, just ahead of or in line with the LE should be fine. I'd be inclined to fix the u/c to the fus. immediately forward of the wing seat - you may have to mod the fus. to get a 1/4" ply plate in there (with some triangular fillets inside). The swept back style of u/c would look good - and would put the wheel centre in the optimum position. Spats would make it look really good, if you have a bowling green to fly off (I'm guessing not!)

Well that takes the biscuit!  Den, if you look at the post just above your little rant, you'll see (in my view) a quite sensible and helpful reply, based on my own, practical experience of such a conversion. It's posted for everyone to see (and therefore useful as a forum contribution) not hidden away in a PM (and therefore useless as a forum contribution). Replies like yours make people less inclined to invest any effort in contributing information based on their hard-earned knowledge and experience. Suffice to say, I'll be saving mine for my Clubmates from now on, but extended the proper courtesy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr-8TkgLUS4) I might be prepared to reconsider...   Edited By Mike T on 31/07/2017 23:02:26

Not if you pick one up second hand...

A 3536/910kv motor is otherwise known as a 'Wot 4 foam-e' motor. Lots of them about. The DYS brand (usually gold anodised) is one of the better ones, as it comes with a 5mm shaft. Edited By Mike T on 04/07/2017 20:19:10

@Den Moran. Bet you wished you never asked, eh? Everybody has an opinion but the best advice I can give is to ask somebody who has actually done it. I have actually done it (and posted about it on here some time ago - you find my comments and pics) You need to start with the right engine (I converted a Moki 210) and the large STs are as good as anything. You may need to shim the head with gaskets to reduce the compression ratio slightly (I used 2 - supplied by JE) It also helps if you are lucky enough to have a Walbro carb handy and a lathe to turn an adaptor spigot to mount it on the engine (mine also needed a bit of cross-drilling to allow a pressure tap off the crankcase to feed the pump). You'll also need to fit a magnet in the prop driver and tap the front housing to take screws which hold the Hall sensor in place. The rest of the kit it the electronci ignition modeule - also from JE (though HK and others do them as well). I run mine on a conservative 4-5% oil mix (no needle bearings in the conrod...) ALTERNATIVELY - spend less than a tenner on an OS G5 glow plug (optimised for petrol) and just try the engine (ST carb and all) as is. It may work, it may be a bit rough, in which case you can look at adapting it to take a petrol carb or shim the head. It's a small outlay to experiment with - and you don't have the cost of the ignition unit. HTH

I used Plastikote rattle cans from B&Q on mine. If you spray too heavily, it will attack the foam - so light coats. You can actually make a virtue of this, by spraying sufficiently heavily to 'etch' the surface. Subsequent coats will then build up to a surprisingly durable finish.

Posted by Speedster on 17/06/2017 07:45:49: Posted by Mike T on 16/06/2017 23:09:31: @Soren Brilliant solution! Wing twist is the way to go! Please advise - how far back from the LE is your wing pivot? Hi The wing spar is 85 mm from the leading edge Soren Thanks, Soren!

80W Weller 'stained glass' iron, 26swg tinned Cu wire from Maplin, Fry's flux paste. Sorted... When I was in my early teens, an uncle gave me a small bottle of 'Killed Spirits', liberated from RN stores.  Brushing a little of this on a joint worked wonders!   Edited By Mike T on 16/06/2017 23:27:48

@Soren Brilliant solution! Wing twist is the way to go! Please advise - how far back from the LE is your wing pivot?

Toyed with going to this show yesterday. Looks like I had a lucky escape!

That's well worth doing! The motor pod also twists quite a lot laterally (i.e. in yaw), but I can't see a way of stiffening that up without resorting to draggy struttery.

How flexible is it? If it's too unyielding I'd be concerned about it scuffing surfaces. It looks like it would make a good outer cover, with a softer sleeve inside.

Using 'standard' 1300 3S LiPos, mine flies perfectly (elevator 'zeroed'. Apart from the pushrod mod (and replacing the ridiculous foam spinner with a smart alloy one that actually fits), it's otherwise OOB. If anybody's tried upgrading the motor, it would be good to know how it worked out, but I have to say, the whole package just works so well as it is!