Mike.K

Just acquired from one of the Falcon guys, a brand "new in box", unused and in perfect condition, an SC120FS for a very reasonable price. I`m well pleased. To make things even better, crank case width, mounting bolt pitch and forward crank case/crank shaft length also appears identical to the OS90FS which I had originally intended to power this Fly Baby bipe. Apart from perhaps some mods to the cowl, this motor should be a one for one swap. This nice thing about the change is it will give a useful additional amount of forward ballast to a model that has a long tail moment and a short nose

Light can be seen at the end of the tunnel! Wings have now been constructed and fit well to the fuselage. Wing build for this model is NOT easy especially around the centre sections which are swept back and have dihedral. Scarf joining of the spruce spars is required together with butt joint reinforcement. This part of the build has been slow and somewhat tedious. Great attention to detail has been required to ensure the wings remain flat, accurate to the plan and have some chance of mirroring each other. This is not a beginners build. The replacement motor will now be a brand new SC

If you are an Avicraft customer and have ever glanced up towards the ceiling in the shop, you may well have spotted a rather down at heel and unloved Seagull Zlin Z50LS. It was particularly notable due its baggy and wrinkled covering and neglected appearance. Emma told me it had been hanging there in the shop for something like two years. People had looked at it and walked away. I did that same thing at least three times myself before looking harder at this model which was badly in need of some TLC. Structurally, the airframe appeared sound and undamaged. That gave some cause to consider the m

Well here are images of the recently acquired YS pumped 140 motor. It`s a real belter of an engine for the money. It reminds me of the 6.75 litre engine in an old Bentley I owned many years ago! I miss that car if only for its incredibly solid engineering. I don`t miss its fuel consumption. It was every bit as heavy on fuel as the Jaguar V12 XJS I also ran for a while. The Yamada built YS140 is quite stunning and the motor, although as yet untested, is nailed to the front of one of my Ultra Stick flying test beds for familiarization and air tests. It really is quite a chunk of proper Japa

Back on thread again now with the continued story of my Fly Baby bipe construction. This build stalled badly around October of last year due to non availability of a further supply of 115 covering film from Hobby King. I was assured that the material would be back in stock again by the end of December. No such luck and remained completely unobtainable apart from a half roll obtained from a seller on eBay. This was insufficient for my needs but I bought it in the hope of turning up a complete roll at a later date. The model has sat neglected in The Hangar whist four other air-frames were b

Sorry to see you go , Ben. Your studies must come first. A similar situation to my own back in the nineteen eighties when I had to complete a course then find gainful employment. Then I bought a house, got married and had kids. Forty four years later, I returned to the hobby and I`m glad I did. Perhaps your return might occur a bit sooner than my own. Lets hope so. All the best, Mike K

Guys, The date of this post is 10/02/2020. Please treat this thread as live for the next couple of years or so. I need the following RC model plane bits and pieces on an ongoing and regular basis for personal use and NOT for commercial gain. Do you have anything you wish to sell? Realistic prices paid in cash. Wanted. Good condition "new in box" and used low airtime four stroke engines, 0.70 > 180 size. I don`t mind them grubby, but I don`t like them worn out! Always wanted, Futaba R617FS FASST 2.4 receivers. The lowest retail shop prices are around £51 each, suppl

Just keeping this thread alive.....9th February 2020. Six Ultra Stick 10cc models now in stock, plus one large 30cc scratch built clone. No 1 is my original Hangar 9 , now a little battered electric version. Repaired several times and still going strong. No 2 is an Irvine Q72 two stroke side mounted in a clone fuselage. Unflown. No 3 is an original Hangar 9 fuselage fitted with a high powered, pumped, Yamada YS140FS with tail mounted servos and rear of fuselage mounted battery pack. Built as an engine test bed. Unflown. No 4 is my original Hangar 9 kit converted to low

I`m beginning to favour No 4, the low winger as the B-test airframe. It has an ASP.91 two stroke and weighs a moderate 8.7Lb dry. It is now fully completed but still has to have its maiden flight. No Ultra Stick could ever be said to be pretty. Perhaps though, this low wing conversion goes some way towards being angularly attractive?! Mike

Be warned! I`ve had four of these digital servos fail immediately after installation. More fool me for inadvertently buying these Lofty Ambition servos via eBay. I bought a few on the basis of their being Tower Pro metal geared MG996R units. Clearly, they are not Tower Pro and examination of the labelling reveals the truth. I`ve had no issues with the Tower Pro units. I got caught good and proper with these near identical Lofty Ambition products. I`ve had this make of "knock off" servo loose centring, stall, produce smoke and seize. Not fit for the purpose is an accurate description in my

I`ve got a few here ready to go but which one would be best suited to taking the B-test? Only trial flying will tell me. No 1 is my six cell, 360Kv original fitted with either 15x8 or 16x6 prop. With the 16x6 it goes like a rocket but gobbles battery power. With the 15x8 performance is reasonable and dependent on flying style, will give about 10 mins of flying time. I used No 1 to gain my A-test and very suitable it was too. Its a good hack model. No 2 has a brand new and only just run in Irvine Q72 two stroke. This engine was formerly an un-run spare reserve for Rob Newman`s Panic T

Correction...make it two flying engine test stands! I found my first prototype clone copy (No 6) Ultra Stick kicking around in the garage. I knew it was in there somewhere but only had to find it. It is a bit heavier in the tail than an original Hangar 9 kit built example, but that's not a big issue. This rendition is the roughest build of the Ultra Stick bunch, being constructed last year when I was under pressure due to my Father being in hospital. I recall being exhausted at the time and in the rare moments I had to myself, built this example as a sequential batch of two spare fuselage

I`ve acquired a number of new engines recently for up and coming new builds. I`m a tight wad so many of the new to me engines are often " pre-owned or pre used low time "new in box" or low use examples in good physical condition. Before committing them to use in expensive new models, as a rule of thumb, I`ve decided to commission and test them on a relatively cheap and proven air-frame. The Ultra Stick provides an excellent test platform with a wide Centre of Gravity range. Servos can be tail mounted to off set the weight of some of my larger capacity motors. I have six and a half availab

A small update on the forthcoming Jungmeister kit assembly. Obviously I`ve a while to wait before the kit arrives in the UK, so my thrust has been to secure a suitable power plant for the project. Trawling eBay found a brand new and unused RCV 130CD four stroke glow engine. This unusual engine features a geared rotary cylinder valve arrangement rather than the traditional poppet valves found in conventional engines. Martin W has several engines of this type in various sizes and very good they are too. Bidding for this listed YS130 ended on Saturday evening. The bids had topped £96 up to t

Need now satisfied. An elderly but apparently sound and easy starting Yamada YS140 four stroke sourced from eBay. Lets hope its a good `un! Mike

Always worth asking. I`m in the market for a good, top quality, new or used, 120 or 150 four stroke motor. Does anyone have one they wish to sell? (Date of this posting, 23/01/2020) Please contact me if you have something suitable to sell. Mike Kennedy 01883 625406

Here we go again....I need another kite to build! With Emma`s kind help at Avicraft, we looked at the Seagull Bucker Jungmeister kit listing online. It would make a great stable-mate for my Seagull produced Stearman, Fly Baby, Sparrow Hawk and Gypsy Moth. The Jungmeister is presently in transit from Vietnam and expected at J Perkins on or around 20th February 2020. That should give my ruptured wallet time to recover from my Christmas and New Year spending sprees. In the meantime, I`m on the hunt for a good used OS1.20 FS or similar spec motor. There is a pumped version listed on eBay

With Seagull kits now well and truly established in my model collection with a Stearman, a Fly Baby and a Miles Sparrowhawk built recently, I just couldn`t resist the 72" Gypsy Moth. A Youtube video of an identical Gypsy made that resistance impossible. Rob had a kit delivered from Perkins in just a couple of days. This video shows an identical model being flown in the Australian Outback. The model flies wonderfully in the hands of an experienced pilot. The video alone sealed the deal and I`ve had a great time assembling this enigmatic and charismatic model. I had no constructional issues with

Rob at Avicraft managed to get a kit delivered in time for Christmas. It came in a whopping great box full of goodies. I was well pleased. The core build progressed rapidly until I hit the first of several issues. Then the trouble started.... 1. Three rear cabane struts and only one port front one was included in the kit. I was forced to make up a temporary substitute until Rob could get Perkins to open up another kit and cannibalize it for the part I needed. The replacement strut was sent by post to me immediately but that too was incorrect. In frustration I drilled new holes in the

Need now satisfied via eBay. A Sullivan Super DynaTron, little used for a fair price and saving me £50 or thereabouts on a retail new in box unit. Good enough for me! Now I need my Stearman kit to go on the end of it!! More Christmas expense.... Mike

This re-build has progressed quietly as time allowed. Only the installation of a pilot and two cockpit screens together with battery, Rx and a little ballast are now needed to see completion. Air-frame numbers will also be added in due course. Its been a fun little project with the model now looking rather better than it did. Perhaps the worst part was restoration of the glass fibre cowl which was split, battered and bruised. This cowl glass fibre actually accepted epoxy and glass repairs and the physical bond between old and new materials formed a decent bond. On other cowls, I`ve not been so

My wimpy little yellow and black Turbex starter is unlikely to be strong enough to start a 180FS size motor. I need something with a bit more grunt. Does anyone have a large (preferably geared) powerful unit surplus to requirements that might be suitable? Worth me asking. Thanks guys. Mike Kennedy 01883 625406

On advice from Martin Wood, I`ve just ordered an onboard programmable glow plug activation unit which will be powered by a separate NiMh cell. This permanent fixture allows plug power for start up and also whilst slow flying with the engine running at slow speed....in other words it keeps the glow plug alight at low throttle openings which is when the engine is most likely to flame out. I see that as additional security when on the landing circuit. There is nothing worse having an engine stop at the wrong time! This Stearman will cost nothing less than £650 to get flying so its an expensive in

Putting the cart before the horse, I bought a two flight only, used SC180FS complete with a nice pair of engine bearers from an eBay seller for £210 delivered. That`s about a £120 saving from buying new. I couldn`t let such a low time engine slip through my fingers. Images below. As you can see, the unit is almost unmarked. As regards the Seagull Stearman kit itself, that is on the slow boat from Vietnam and expected to be in stock with J Perkins at West Malling on 23rd December 2019. Delivery before Christmas seems unlikely. At least that gives me further time to accumulate the necessary

Here it is in beautiful condition. Its hardly used and came with an engine bearer set. Mike