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Welcome to Frank Abbott, Malcolm Fisher, Lionel Kirby, Pat Thody, Trevor, and Fredrik Wergeland who have all joined the mailing list.

I just had to ad my two bob's worth to what Grapher had to say. I fully agree with all he says. I found the most important thing is a really good charger. I have an Astro 110D. It does not discharge but I do have a small device that I connect to my computer and it will read the voltage during the discharge. ( I just measure the voltage when running the motor till it stops). I can then put the numbers into an Excel spread sheet and produce some really good graphs. You can superimpose the curves and compare battery capacity. I will send you some details of the device.

I also have an Astro "Whatt" Meter. It certainly helps with the setup.

The Cutie is still flying well (featured on work in progress #42).

I have started on the Moth. I will keep you informed.

Regards

Tom Watson

Sydney Australia

I have just read Grapher's Electric Talk and I could not believe what I was reading!! It was as if I was reliving my own experiences. I too have purchased various cheap chargers then I purchased the Infinity II Charger realising the money spent on the cheap chargers could have been put towards a quality charger in the first place. As they say you get what you pay for!!

The performance of my cells has noticeably increased by using the discharge/charge facility of the Infinity.

I also went through numerous types of 600 motors before I bought an Aveox brushless motor and controller which opened my eyes to a whole new experience in electric flight. I appear to be one step ahead of Grapher as I already have a watt meter and rev counter. This has enabled me to convert the Kyosho Spitfire to electric power (16 cells , Aveox 1409/2y + Robbe gearbox with a 13/8 Master Airscrew electric prop) which flies with the same authority as a 40 size IC Motor.

Just felt I had to put fingers to keyboard!

Roger Ilsley

"Dear Jeffrey,
In response to your query posted in ModelFlight, John D. Haytree (The Haven, Rixey Park, Chudleigh, Devon, TQ13 0AN) is always a good bet for spares of any type of engine - particularly if they are old/obsolete. He lists Merco as one of the makes for which he provides spares/service. Contact him on 01626 852330. I've used him as a source for spares for a number of years and always found him very efficient and pleasant to do business with. Good luck with your quest."

Have spoken with them and they have some spares and some used parts but Merco went under suddenly leaving everyone in the lurch including the Haytrees who had a stock order for spares unfulfilled.

Thanks for your help
Jeffrey Bean

Hello Reg,

Delighted to be a part............I will send something of interest soon.

I live in Farnborough, Hants, and am Hon. Sec. to the Fleet and District MAC, I fly Electric models, and would say my abilities in R/C are about: slightly advanced intermediate . . .

Thanks

Regards

Ian

Hello Mr Heath!

Great club, or web-magazine, I don't know exactly how to file your site . . .

I want to tell you about my own site, it has not been on the web for even two years so it's still in the start-up, I would say. But I try to do my best! Maybe you want to add it to your "Site Seeing" section one day?

Please add me to your e-mail list!

Best Regards

Welcome, Fredrik. I guess for the purpose of categorization, ModelFlight best fits into the magazine slot, but I still like to think of it as a club really!

Go to site seeing for a look at Fredrik's brilliant website - it's huge!

Hi Reg,

Saw your site for the first time today, first class!

I am moving this week into a new house; forget the house, just look at the shed! Thirteen feet wide by twenty two feet long all painted and insulated, and all for me and my aircraft! I doubt 'er indoors will ever see me again! As soon as I move in I intend to start on a project I've wanted to build for some time, but haven't had the space till now. It's a model glider from 1936 called Fillions Champion. It has the most beautiful elliptical wing shape you have ever seen. If there is anyone out there who has built one, or has any information on this aircraft, please get in contact. My e-mail is malcolm_fisher@bigfoot.com .

Thanks again for a great site.

Malc.

Glad you like the site, Malc, and much happiness in your new home! Your glider project would be good for our 'work in progress' page, especially if you can manage a few photos to go with it - we haven't had a glider build yet. 

Dear Reg!
Thank you for for the nice #42 of Modelflight! I feel very honoured to be pictured on the title slide and to have all our pictures published at the Club Scene. All pictures were taken by my contemporary friend Yngve Johannesson with his electronic camera. This meeting took place at Gärdet, a large area in the outer periphery of the town, which is owned by the Royal Court but placed at the disposal of the public. It is the largest "green lungs" for Stockholm and intensely used by the dog-owners who exercise their dogs there, and by model-flyers who give their models an airing there. It takes me 10 minutes to go there by bus and 10 minutes of walking to get at a little hill there, where you can actually slopesoar in brisk winds. As a matter of fact, the first flight with aeroplanes took place here in 1912 with Baronet Cederström, a renowned adventurer, as pilot. The aeroplane was a Swedish built copy of Bleriot. 

The tower in the background of one of the pictures is the TW Tower, with a fearsome array of paraboles on it. Fortunately enough our double superheterodyne receivers seem to be immune to the interferences from the Tower, but micro receivers may get glitches on the border of their range.

The meeting, which always takes place in the middle of August (14th) has the name "Elkräftan", Electric Crayfish Feast, translated to literal English. The name refers to the beginning of the Crayfish season, when these creatures are consumed in great quantities together with one dram of vodka for each crayfish tail consumed. OK, we almost never consume alcohol in connection with flying, but perhaps afterwards. Alternatively we will also consume sour herrings, of course, also in connection with Vodka, drinking one glass for every sour tail!

Back to Gärdet, the meeting gathered 15 applicants, all of them flying mostly flying wings and one, Olle Sköld with his own construction , a four engined Hercules, which flew very well and with great authority in the breeze. My mini Scorpion had just enough headwind to fly several hundred feet, before landing at the foot of the hill. Actually four successful flights of the same record length for this model. A new and longer wing for it will be the next project!

Our latest meeting was the yearly old-timer meeting in Påldalen last Saturday. Fourteen flyers mustered in the very ideal weather with almost no wind. All participants were as usual fed with free hotdogs and soft drinks on this easygoing meeting with no entrance fees. As a matter of fact even the prizes were hot dogs, if there remained any room in the stomach.

After a timed motor run limited to 60 seconds, you get one point per second in the air, plus 30 points bonus if you landed within a circle of 30 meter (about 10 feet) diameter. The points of three heats were added together and shows the total points. I had the impudence to win the competition, the first win of all competitions during 76 years. Talk about slow learning curve! My mount was the 13 years old Playboy Senior, first flown at Old Wardens Vintage Days 13 years ago! It was just repaired but not test-flown before the meeting, so all parts evidently got on the right places. Of course some friendly thermals happened to gather under the under-cambered wing!

Congratulations on your success, Tore, even though you've had to wait a while! 

Tore actually sent me some pics from the Påldalen meeting, but I failed to copy them in order to transfer them to my new computer - sorry! 

I visited the RCM&E site looking for the Magister plan. Saw so many I wanted to build. Dennis seems to have the same engines - I have 3 x .52s for example -  as most of his models are about 70" span, and my mind was totally blown. I wanted to build most of them. In the end I ordered a Westland Widgeon which was a contemporary of my DH71 and Cirrus Moth. I seem to be getting stuck in a twenties rut. In those days though, Westland were a real force in World Aviation being the first manufacturer to get an a/c above Everest. Was it a Wappity I wonder?

Great, Geoff, glad you found something. If you can manage to find the time to document your build, I would love to put it up on 'work in progress' - here's hoping . . .

Forecasting by that method is pretty good for say three hours ahead. If the more adventurous wish to consult a site like http://www.metoffice.com/weather/europe/uk/ukforecast.html taking the toolbar option (top of page) for "Weather charts" then there is a 3 day animated, surface chart. Now using that for your forecasts is a little more dodgy because it is itself a numerically produced (number crunched) set of charts and is what is called "Synoptic scale" i.e. takes in about a quarter of the northern hemisphere. We are seeking to forecast for what is effectively less than a full stop somewhere on that chart!!!! That is precisely where the other site comes in to its own.

http://expert.weatheronline.co.uk/uv10_frame.htm - these are also numerical predictions and each value if you study them occurs at the corner of what is pretty clearly a grid. The data shown is just one layer (the 10M layer) taken from a mathematical model which on the global scale would look like the layers of an onion, one upon another. Full size aviators would of course have many of the layers giving them winds at all the levels they require for their flight planning, fuel load etc.

Felipe Villar has a plane for sale . . .

Congratulations on a very nice looking website. I'm trying to sell a  fully built - but never used or flown before - trainer which I assembled but  have to get rid of because I'm moving this September. Is it at all possible  to advertise this on your website? If not, do you know where I can  advertise this, or better yet, do you know someone that wants to buy a nice not-quite-second-hand plane?

Here's what I have:

It's an Excel 2000 trainer from Black Horse - fully built balsa and ply ARTF - 1.54m of wingspan, with an OS 40LA engine. The radio is a Futaba with 6 channels. Everything is included  (radio, chargers, and even an electric starter for the engine). Brand-new condition - never even started the engine! Price: around 350 pounds sterling, but this is negotiable. I've invested over 400 pounds in this airplane but I need to sell it because I literally have no where to put it!

Anyone interested  please e-mail me at:
> felipe_villar@excite.com

Thank you for your kind comment on ModelFlight  - much appreciated. Sorry you will be unable to carry on your model flying; perhaps you will be able to find something more easy to store and take it up again. If you do, please let us know - it would be good to catch up with your progress.

You may already know, but, if not, you might be interested to know that both RCM&E and R/C Model World, regarded by many as two of the best English language modelling mags, offer free advertising for private sales like yours. You can e-mail your ad to R/C Model World at advertising@traplet.co.uk and for RCM&E you have to fill in a Free Readers Advetisement taken from the magazine itself.

Another great place to advertise for FREE is R/C Pages - Gary Clemans-Gibbon's brilliant advertising site specially designed for model flight enthusiasts. 

Hi Reg

Really enjoyed reading the last issue you sent me. Thanks again for your previous help with my Twinstar. Since I last wrote, I have had two successful flights with my Twinstar, although the conditions with the wind could have been much better.

I have lost the instructions for it and cannot remember exactly how far back from the LE the C of G should be. I'm pretty sure it measured out to the first support spar. Do you or anyone know? Also, I'm powering it with 6 2000 cells. I can't (due to the wind on each occasion) make up my mind if the plane was under-powered.

Best Regards

Nice to hear of your success with the Twinstar, Derek. I don't know the answer to your questions, but Derick Veliz confirms that the LE should be just on the first spar back from the LE, as you thought.

Insofar as power is concerned, Derek thinks 6 x 2000 cells are too heavy and will mean you're under-powered. He uses 8 x 1600 cells for windy conditions (and the 1600 cells are heavy) or 7 x 1300 cells for calmer weather, although with these you end up with a lazy plane.

Thanks for your help, Derick!

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