What's It all About ???

This page is all about the building and flying of radio controlled model aircraft. It's a highly diversified hobby that takes in as many skills as you like to use. Everything from electronics to carpentry, to painting, to drawing and designing with a little bit of metal work thrown in. Some builders even go into doing their own machining, pattern designing, fibre glassing, moulding and engine design. You can use electric motors, 2 stroke or 4 stroke internal combustion engines or even minature turbine (jet) engines for power. My own models use 2 and 4 stroke internal combustion engines and range in size from about a metre in wingspan to well over 3 metres from tip to tip!


Sunday, August 5, 2012

Week 29th July to 4th August


Another month gone by. Seems as I get older time goes faster, or perhaps I've just slowed down as time moves on. Everyone seems to build faster than I do these days and their models are faster than mine as well. Perhaps that's why I've found myself favouring Old Timer designs lately. They are big, so my fading eye sight can still see the bloody things, and they are slow so my reactions can keep up with their behaviour in the air. I even find myself using that fateful line -"Now, when I was young .... " a lot lately.


I've been a virtual hive of industry this week and I've done quite a bit of work on the Senior Telemaster, the Lancaster, the Fournier and finished off rebuilding the Phoenix. I've also almost completed the kit of components for the Mosquito and started on the Lanzo Bomber and the Hustler Delta! Then, because I had the bit between my teeth I decided to pull the Aero Commander out from the pile at the back of the shed and start making up the fuselage bulkheads! This is the old Bridi kit from way back in the seventies that I rescued from another pile in another shed. The fuselage shell is fibreglass and the wings, fin, rudder, tailplane and elevator are all veneer covered foam. Luckily the plan was still there so I have some guidance on construction although it's not highly detailed.


Ah yes - and now we come to the continuing saga of learning to fly those bloody electric 3D helicopters. I have progressed - a little bit - sort of. The thing is the bloody things have an evil streak. I'm slowly progressing in my attempts to learn to fly helicopters, I can now reliably hover - turn left, turn right - rise and fall at a controlled rate, even - go forward and backwards - UNTIL THE BLOODY THING DECIDES ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! Then suddenly I seem to get the cyclic and collective mixed up - forward is backwards, - left is right and next thing I know the bloody thing is back - upside down - at a hundred feet - and intent on a full bore corkscrew into the ground. On these occasions - when the evil frequency demon takes over - thankfully - the model has an inbuilt "failsafe mode" which, as far as I can work out, cuts everything out and allows the model to drop like a stone!  I have become reasonably adept at a lunging stumble that allows me to catch the falling model before it totally destroys itself.
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