David John Davis

I can still win in September! The hot money is on 7th September. This will be confirmed tomorrow evening!

Telemaster Sales UK

When I retired to central France I bought a lot of fuel from Southern Model Craft including five gallons of straight fuel, i.e, fuel which contained no nitro, because this was the recommended fuel for old Lasers at the time. It was a very pleasant day yesterday with sunshine and light winds so I took my vintage Big Guff powered by a Laser 62 to the flying field. I wanted to see how well it would run on straight fuel.

It fired up straight away, I adjusted the main needle for best performance but did not adjust the bottom end because the needle is rather inaccessible in my installation. Low speed running was rather uneven but impatient to get the model into the air, I took off. It flew well enough but on the landing approach I needed a burst of power so I pushed the stick forward. The engine responded then cut. In the subsequent arrival I broke the propeller but as I only live a few kilometres from the field I went home and took another propeller from my collection. This turned out to be a 16x4 as opposed to the 14x4 which I had been using. I drained the fuel tank and filled it with 5% nitro fuel. Again I adjusted the main needle and engine ran perfectly. I enjoyed two more flights. Guess I'll buy some 10% fuel and mix it with the straight.

As the weather was so fine there was a good turn out. There were at least four good builders there but with one exception, they had all left their own creations at home and they were flying electric powered foamies. The exception was Francois' newly built electric powered Baron which crashed on the maiden take off bending the undercarriage. Mine was the only i/c powered model there.

A sign of the times I suppose.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I will admit I have three electric airplanes in the works. All are kits specifically designed for electric power. None I see as viable to convert to IC. One is a Graupner Ju-52 Junker which came with the motors, Second is a Dumas DH89 Rapide, and the last is a SIG Dornier Do-217. The SIG Dornier Do-217 will be the first airplane I build with electric retracts.

mgnostic

It's not a Baron but it is a three channel plane. I've just about finished with a Sterling 58 inch Tri-Pacer. It is certainly not my best covering job but aside from the radio everything came came from various estates. Even the Monokote is at least 20 years old. I suspect that the kit dates back to the 1970's if not older. The design is dated to 1954 on Outerzone. It came from the estate of a local club member who had passed following the onset of dementia. I had a soft spot for this fellow as he was the first person to welcome me to the local flying field. He had once run a small hobby shop out of his home but he hadn't spent much time in the shop in the last decade. Several of us from the club helped his wife clean out his shop and I rescued this, a VK Cherokee and a few other things that would have ended up in the trash bin I I hadn't taken them home. Being a Sterling kit it had all of the issues that Sterling is known for, poor wood selection and iffy die cutting. The wing ribs were actually pretty good but a lot of the plywood parts had delaminated and had to be made from scratch. One of the plywood parts had a bit of die cutting blade still stuck in it. The Outerzone plans have a tracing of the die cut parts but even those needed some massaging. On the positive side it builds into a relatively lightweight plane. I'm sure that the modern radio contributes a lot to the lighter weight. The only really major changes I made were a steerable nose wheel and a bolt on wing. The Brat engine came to me in a box of old engines from another modeler. It looks unrun but he didn't know it's history so hoping to put it through a break in cycle this afternoon. I wouldn't call it a tribute build but I do think that Wilbert would have been glad that some one did something with it.

GallopingGhostler

Nice finish job on the Tripacer, mgnostic. Monokote has been around for a long time. I covered a Goldberg half-A Junior Falcon with orange Monokote back in 1973 or 1974. Then the instructions had how to use a standard clothes iron to attach and strink it. That was 50 years ago.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

He Matt what kind of old jalopy do you have it sitting on? Looks familiar.

David John Davis

I've always liked the Tripacer.

I have spent much of the last two days repairing Frans's Radio Queen. The weather's been unsuitable for flying or gardening!

mgnostic

It is a Nash Metropolitan. It's a parts car for one that should be drivable shortly. As you can see from the background I drag home the occasional jalopy. Also pictured are a 41 Chevrolet, a 62 International Harvester and a Ford 2N tractor.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I thought I recognized the Metro! There is a antique store that has a teal over white Metro sitting outside for sale. My first car was a 64International Harvester 1100. It was a good old truck, had a V8 and a T98 transmission. It had been a tow truck at one time until they tore out the Positrack rear end and replaced it with a Travelall rear end. It got the same milage umpty as overloaded. Pulled a house trailer with it one.

mgnostic

My international is a C-120 3/4 ton. It has the granny gear four speed but unfortunately parts have been taken off the engine and someone took one of the floating rear axels so the right rear wheel is just mounted to an empty hub. Internationals weren't particularly common in SW Oklahoma but we had an early 70's four wheel drive that we used as a fuel truck on the farm. The handling could best be described as vague.

Telemaster Sales UK

Recently it has hardly stopped raining here and when it has, it has started drizzling! On one rare occasion when it wasn't raining, drizzling or blowing a gale, we repaired to the flying field we flew a Radio Queen built by my Belgian mate Frans. The Radio Queen is a large stable British vintage mode. The prototype flew across the English Channel between England and France in the 1950s. As Frans seemed to have reached a brick wall as far as his proficiency in learning to fly is concerned, I thought that it would be a good idea if he was taken up by the Chief Flying Instructor. Now the CFI had hardly flown this year and was waiting for an operation on his eyes. During the flight the undercarriage of the Radio Queen clipped the top of an industrial building a few hundred metres from our runway, picture below. The model came to rest on the roof and being a Sunday afternoon, the place was empty. We had to phone the manager who arrived and with the help of a ladder the Radio Queen was rescued, most of the forward fuselage was firewood.

Secondly, in August and September last year I spent a few weeks in England helping a friend to build a garage in his back garden. I took my dog Tiko with me as well as three vintage models which I planned to fly at the Cocklebarrow Farm vintage event. At Cocklebarrow it was rather too windy for the Super 60 and the Guidato, so I just flew the Big Guff. When staying at my friend's house I used to lock the dog in the van overnight otherwise she would have eaten his cats, and one night she jumped over the seats and landed on the wings of all three models. The damage to the Big Guff was superficial and is still in flying condition but both of the others required considerable repair. I repaired the Super Sixty's wing last year and it's now in flyable condition but the others still require attention.

In view of the inclement weather, Frans and I have been repairing his Radio Queen. Sometimes I have done some of the work by myself in order to get the model into the air as soon as possible. Frans is a novice and takes longer to do things. I decided that the best way to repair it was to build an entirely new fuselage from the trailing edge to the leading edge of the wing and to glue it to the rear fuselage as a sub assembly. The fuselage in front of the wing seat is mainly block so we should be able to recycle most of that. For the first time I have used Gorilla Glue which I find to be an excellent product. While I was waiting for the glue to dry I took down the wing of the Guidato, removed the top covering and found that the spars were intact so I only needed to make up some wing ribs to repair the damage. I still had the templates from when I built the Guidato so I soon cut the ribs out and installed them. Then it was time for a light lunch and a cup of tea. I made the error of switching on the computer and found a thread of someone who had built a Dancing Wings Albatros D III and of course I just had to have one...

Now wait a minute...

Looking around my workshop I have:

A Galaxy Models Mystic, a large sports aerobatic model, to finish off . I bought it two years ago as a "quick build!"

A DB Sport & Scale Auster in a similar condition. I was given this model over ten years ago.

A Roy Scott BE2e to recommission and another one started but never finished.

My late best friend's Flying Flea to finish off. He died in 2002!

A Dave Smith Models Aerostar patternship I'd bought on a well-known auction site. I need to to strip, recover and recommission it.

An incomplete Bristol Blenheim which I said I'd finish off for its owner six years ago.

And the fuselage of a Sharkface!


I also need to repair the following models:

Big Guff, largely cosmetic repairs but one or two of the wing ribs have been damaged.

Reserve Baron, Boris, build a new starboard wing to replace the one damaged in practising for La Coupe Des Barons.

...and I have the following kits in boxes waiting for me to make a start on them:

A Hanno Prettner Supra Star

A Joe Bridi Super Kaos Junior

A Stampe Monitor

A Hawker Hurricane

A short-kit of David Hurrell's 1/4 scale Fokker Triplane

...and I'm thinking of building another Junior 60, another vintage design which was my first successful r/c model and I'm thinking of sending off to Colin Buckle for a Pioneer plan. I saw one many years ago and I have admired it ever since. https://www.benbucklevintage.com/ind...products_id=96

I have also recently bought a Laser 50 engine. I thought that it would be ubercool to have a British engine in my Baron for next year's Coupe Des Barons but as it's much heavier than my OS 52 Surpass I'll have to build a new Baron with a shorter nose!

...and on top of all of that lot I'm thinking of buying an Albatros kit!

Guess I'd better reduce my wine consumption!

PS.

The CFI has recently had an operation on his eyes and he now sees well without glasses.

As I look out of the window at 08.08 local time it's still raining. There are puddles on the lawn and damp has penetrated the wall of my cellar. What's next? A plague of frogs?

A picture of the offending roof attached below ... some of those DIIIs were painted in pretty colours weren't they!

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

David, your shop resembles mine more than I want to admit! I too have fallen prey to an engine I couldn't pass up. Yes, I have a project for it too!

David John Davis

The date for La Coupe Des Barons has been moved yet again from 7th September to 14th September because the 7th September is the "Journée des Associations" and several competitors are committed to that.

David John Davis

I've just heard from the organisers that for "logistical and organisational reasons" La Coupe Des Barons has been cancelled for this year which is a pity as it's the highlight of my aeromodelling year.

Looks like I will have to prise the label from the base of the trophy I bought. At least I'll have lots of time to build my Laser 50 engined weapon!

Snomas

My Feedback: (3)

I was 15 in 1955. and at age 13 I got interested in control line flying. initially I. flew a 1/2 A size plane and then when I could save enough $$$ I bought a ringmaster and a FOX 35 engine. I still have the FOX 35. I flew combat with a friend who had a Yak 9. In 1969 I built my 1st rc model. It was a 60 size Cherokee with an OS 60 engine.], airtronics radio. $500. later I went to fly it and it went straight up and straight down full power into a concrete runway on Orange County, CA. I obviously couldn't fly RC planes so I quit the hobby until 13 years later in Texas, I built a senior falcon and had a local Hobby shop owner teach me to fly. I eventually built a 60 size big stick after crashing the senior falcon about 5 times. I learned how to rebuild and repair balsa planes with the Falcon. I quit again after 3 years of rc flying. I moved to Colorado in 1992 to start a new business and In 1997 I found a club flying in Arvada, CO. I have been flying ever since 1997 and now live in Sedona AZ. I obviously love aeronautics!

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

We were just in Sedona a few weeks ago, did some hiking and a jeep tour in the mountains. What a beautiful area. I thought about looking into local clubs but other than the Pima museum, the wife made it clear it was a family vacation, not an RC trip.

flyboy2610

My Feedback: (1)

"Oh, Pooh."