Martin

Ground interaction has always been a weak point of the simulation IMO - it's one of the things that makes takeoffs a bit too easy on the simulator. Other than one or two of the big warbirds, pretty much all of the models can be taken off by just whacking the throttle full open and pulling back once there's a bit of speed. No nosing over, no ground loops. It was a bit of a shock to first try taking off a real plane and find it wandering all over the runway! That said, if they're going to provide a water environment, then they should at least make a bit of an effort! Presumably if the plane

Thanks for the tip. I'm glad I updated to the latest 4.0 a few days ago! Martin

That's not even the cheapest, though this one does have more people bidding... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Phoenix-Fligh ... 1317424947 Martin

I really need to fix my Phoenix installation! Martin

An update... I've just had the regular newsletter/offers email from HobbyKing, and they say: I checked with a single tiny battery (1S 160mAh), and it did offer me among the shipping options "International (Registered) Air Mail 0 - 100g Lipo $3.99", so it does seem as though they do indeed have some way of shipping these again. I haven't checked for bigger ones, but I've never bought these from HobbyKing anyway. On the other hand, since they also have a much better stock than before in the UK warehouse it's less important now.

Another thing that can cause warps is if the joints are not totally flush before gluing. This shouldn't be the case with laser-cut parts, but can be when cutting all the pieces by hand. If the wood doesn't quite fit together cleanly (say, you've sanded the end of a cross-piece at slightly the wrong angle) then it may not have as much strength as it should. As Trevor says, shrink things evenly, but also do just check things as you go. If things are warping as you shrink, then twist it flat (or even very slightly beyond), and shrink the covering until the wrinkles caused by your twist disapp

Ah, so maybe what's happened is that the Switzerland route is no longer available. I think all my previous orders have come via Switzerland.

Well, in this case I wasn't trying to get big batteries, just small indoor ones. The dispatch page now shows a "Total Li-Po capacity", which also links to http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/mahtotal.html: ... but in this case I am well under the 3200mAh limit. Experimenting a bit further, it seems even a single 1S 160mAh forces the "SCS Express to UK" shipping, so it's nothing to do with the capacity. I've definitely bought lots of those from HK in the past and not paid excessive postage. Perhaps the shipping rules have been updated but their documentation hasn't been.

I was just looking at ordering some indoor LiPos from Hobbyking (HK warehouse), and the postage costs seem to have gone crazy. It's only offering me the "SCS Express to UK (Under 500g)" at $19.87 (or two FedEx options for even more). I even removed some things from the order to get it first under 200g and then under 100g to see if that made a difference, but no luck. Previously, they've always sent this stuff airmail for about $5 postage. Has anyone else noticed this? Have they had to tighten up their postage options for LiPos? The postage table only says "NO LIPO" for the Royal Ma

Yes please! Martin

It seems unlikely that you'll be able to find plans for that particular trainer, especially since I think it was sold as a kit with foam wings. However, if you want to try building from plans there are plenty of trainer designs out there. A few minutes of web searching turned up this list (from 2010) of lots of kits and plans available, with comments about each one: http://www.modelflying.co.uk/news/artic ... iner/6101/ Don't forget that it can be surprisingly expensive to build from plans - all the little bits of hardware soon mount up, along with the tools and equipment if you don'

I'm also intrigued about the "hanging by the prop" mentioned earlier in the thread... Is this with a loop of cord around the spinner/prop root? Martin

Ah! I couldn't see the brackets in the picture. I take it you're not worried about, or found some other way to suppress, oily drips from the engine? Martin

Looks nice! What are the projecting bars made of, and how are they attached to the uprights? I need to do something. Right now, the WOT4E has a nice space as it's small enough to sit on top of a cupboard, and doesn't leak anything noxious, but the Boomerang has to sit on the floor with a sheet of newspaper under the engine to catch any drips. I did consider mounting fuselages vertically, hooking the undercarriage into a bracket on the wall, but I'm not sure: it makes it hard to catch the drips, each undercarriage is different, and I've heard that it's not a good idea to store engin

Usually if you turn up on a Sunday with good weather then there will be people willing to instruct, and hopefully a club trainer plane for a couple of early flights if you don't have your own yet. If in doubt, just post in the Flying Diary in the members section and ask if there are likely to be any there. There will often already be a post about the day in question. It's always worth reading and/or posting in the Flying Diary if you're even thinking of going, as it serves as a useful reminder of the various exclusions on our use of the field (e.g. Airsoft, clay shoot). You can also subscr

Doesn't having two external motor pods add quite a lot of drag when the motor is shut off? Martin

... and if he hadn't said that I'd have had it! Martin

I have had some luck using a hairdryer set to maximum heat and minimum airflow, and holding it much closer to the covering than would normally be recommended (under half an inch away). However, as Trevor points out a proper hot air gun is much better. I only used a hairdryer once out of desperation. Martin

I had an order with RS quoting something like an 11 week lead time. A few days later, I also placed an order with Farnell (quoting something like 4 weeks), and a week later one arrived (so I cancelled the RS order). It generally seems that Farnell do get them much quicker. Martin

This is also the reason why a lot of LED lighting doesn't show up reds very well, since the light source is only really emitting blue and yellow. There are LEDs that do, but they're quite a lot more expensive and less energy efficient.

A couple of people have asked me about my taildragger mod for my Boomerang, and so I'm posting it here so it's archived. I have tried a few versions of this, and this is the one I'd recommend. Unfortunately I don't have photos of it, so I'll try to describe as best I can. I might also try to get some photos of the installed one, but they're unlikely to come out well inside the fuselage (if only I'd taken photos as I did it). If you're modding a brand new airframe, do this as your first action on the fuselage assembly. It'll be much easier and you won't risk damaging the tail assemb

This is a good introductory book about model aeroplane design: http://www.amazon.co.uk/RCadvisors-Mode ... 982261322/

Where do you find space in the car for the passengers? Martin

Do you mean Arun's link? I don't think there is a UBEC in the picture. With 7V tolerant electronics LiFe can be used directly. Along with being reputedly the most stable of the lithium-based chemistries, that's one of its key advantages. That's with a switched UBEC, I assume? I always balked at the idea of sticking in a LiPo and a linear BEC, as throwing away 30% or more of my battery energy (and producing yet more heat to deal with) before doing anything useful seems wrong. With a switched UBEC able to use the higher voltage to draw less current from the battery this does seem like a

You don't try to bring it down to 4.8V. If your electronics can run off a 5s NiMH pack (nominal voltage 6.0V, but fully charged voltage around 7.2V) then they should be OK on a 2s LiFe pack (nominal voltage 6.6V, fully charged also around 7.2V). For example, see the discharge graphs (figure 2) on this page (I posted NiMH discharge graphs in an earlier post): http://www.efirstpower.com/li.html There is more information about this battery type here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ir ... te_battery