bisco

i got the same feedback when i installed ailerons on my smart dart xs. an expert told me it was foolish and unnecessary.

i enjoy it though, and it is a perfect 4 ch mid wing trainer.

acdii

I wonder of the designer for the LT-40 would complain about me reducing the Dihedral on mine. At least until he flew it and saw how responsive it is. Only plane I have flown that can do a ribbon loop. It also does inverted flight very well, for a trainer.

donnyman

Modificationa to existing designs can bring about fascinating results, I have removed the dihedral from several designs especially the falcon 56 which takes on a different personality seems to be more responsive with improved handling the same for the skylark (low wing falcon 56)

DAVID
I intended to comment about you using a heavier wood to reduce crash damage but was afraid of irritating you, but I am in total agreement with cha cha? it has been my experience on that type of model, any weight gain tends to have a negative affect on it's handling.

My Eagle II with a O.S. Forty, has a fuselage made of lite ply. it is a good flyer but I have built a few using all balsa it produces a much lighter air frame that seems easier to fly and has better responses, makes me wonder if I should remove the dihedral also.

ElectriMan

I am enjoying reading this thread and remembering those good old days. I can't post any photos because I am new here so you will just have to believe me when I say I started flying model planes when I was about eight years old. Thanks for the memories.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Well my 9 year old grandson in Kansas is officially an AMA Youth member! He went to a EAA event at a small field and was signed up for a free membership in the EAA and the AMA now he wants to come down and fly with grandpa! Maybe I can make a builder out of him?

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Congrats! Remember, having grandkids is your reward for NOT killing your teenagers!!!!

Show and brag time.....

acdii

YES Shake them up and had them back. Fill them with sugar and caffeine and hand them back. LOL the list is long on grandkids!

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Yes it is!

Telemaster Sales UK

Donny I know exactly what you mean. Light models fly better.

However, I have practical experience of the strength of the basswood fuselage as opposed to the balsa one and in the rough and tumble of La Coupe Des Barons may be a basswood fuselage would be more capable of withstanding an accident than a balsa wood one. My basswood arrived yesterday I will measure the weight of four strips of balsa against the weight of four strips of basswood and if it's more than 2 ozs (57grammes) I'll use balsa. I'll compensate for any weight gain by using smaller servos.

Talking of weight, I'm fond of fourstroke engines and have eleven which conform to the rules of La Coupe. I was reading the specs the other day and apparently, my Magnum 52 is over 5ozs (142 grammes) heavier than my OS52 Surpass. I'll check on my digital kitchen scales!

Finally, going back to everyone's reminiscences, I'm toying with the idea of building a simple free flight model to demonstrate trimming techniques to those who've only ever known r/c modelling at my club. It could help with their understanding of aerodynamics. Maybe a Keil Kraft Ajax which was my very first model! https://www.stevewebb.co.uk /index.php?pid=AKK2010&area=Aircraft

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Since you bring up the subject of your basswood longerons plan let me put my two cents in. I have a kit waiting to build it is the Dumas DH89 Rapide designed by Pat Tritle. For thos of you who don't know Pat he is a very prolific small electric powered airplane designer who likes to build as light as possible and fly on the minimum amount power. His designs are excellent and very airworthy. The kit has 1/16" Balsa stringers/longerons in the fuselage construction. I have purchased Basswood to replace them not because I doubt Pat's design because I know with my fat fingers will break them trying to complete the airplane! I'm sure M Chauzit is correct on his own design but I would point out to him we do not all have his skill or build talent.

donnyman

I remember my son's junior tiger needed reinforcing around the wing bolts and he used two metal washers which worked fine, but when I mentioned weight he revolted and said It didn't matter, so I made new washers from wood the same size as the washers for him to use, the first takeoff he made with the wood washers he raved about the increase in performance. To be honest I was surprised how much difference the lighter washers made also, from then on I paid more attention to the weight of my add-on's. for me it has been a live and learn process.

Yesterday we picked up a 2019 Nissan Rogue to replace the car damaged in a fender bender in December, I can get into it a lot easier, and was surprised by the technology, all the gizmos and doflinkies take a while to understand. The color backup camera is my favorite item. We have been in the need of new wheels for a long time. My paying cash caused me problems getting financing because of no payment history, (no comment) I have to make room in the garage it is a bit larger.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I agree light building is the way to go but in the words of Dirty Harry a man has to know his limitations. I'm sure I will continue to triangle stock to firewalls butted to fuselage sides to increase glue area, corner gussets where I see them as necessary, and the like. Along with "D" tube wings with shear webs will continue to be a favorite design element.

OFF TOPIC: Any of you guys received a COVID Vaccine shot yet? The wife just left in the hopes of getting her second. They are not vaccinating those under 65 with underlining conditions yet so I'm still waiting. My sister in-law in Tennessee runs a hospital lab so she has had both but her husband is over 65 and still waiting. SHe said the first one was a breeze but the second on left her with a sore arm and shoulder for a couple of days. My No. 3 son participated in the field trial of the vaccine and he reported the same symptoms on the second shot.

acdii

I'm still waiting to hear the validity of the vaccine. From what I heard it doesn't give you immunity from the virus, you can still get sick from it, and there is no evidence, yet, that it reduces the effects. We also don't know what the long term effects of it will be. It's not like the yearly flu shot where when they get the strains right, people don't get sick from from the flu. I prefer to wait to know this before having something like that injected into me. It's not like say the Measles, Mumps, Ruebella, or the Polio vaccines where there were long term tests, and they actually do prevent you from infection. As NBC used to say, The More You Know!

donnyman

Covid 19 shots............................ Well I am of the mind to wash my hands a lot, wear a mask and social distance. in short I lack the confidence of the shots affects over time, Though I may regret it, I am going to wait a while to see how all this "rush to cure" works out.

I reinforce my firewalls also. It all depends on the models use and power supply.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

In my case I already have lung issues so in my case it would make sense even if all it does is lessen the symptoms. I can understand the position of you guys with few risk/different factors than myself. Like any vaccine its a personal decision you just have to make sure you get it right the first time.

acdii

Yeah, I tend to agree Mike, if you feel it will help you knowing how getting the Vid will affect you, then by all means, whats the worse that can happen? What I am really waiting for are the true actual numbers to be released from last year to compare to previous years. It then will boil down to how much was real and how much was hyped. Unfortunately it will take a few years before all the data is available.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Viruses are also a moving target constantly mutating as you can tell be the news. There are at least 4 different variants of COVID we know of so far. Just don't get hung up on the effectiveness percentages, the original Polio vaccine was only 60 to 70% effective when it came out. The current modern Polio vaccine, yes Polio still exists and still makes people in the US sick, is 94% effective. There is not nor will there ever be a vaccine or a medication for that matter that is 100% effective or safe. There is no such thing as perfect this side of heaven or in my hanger!

acdii

True, and by the time they are discovered, they have already been spread to other countries, so blocking travel is a knee jerk reaction, pretty much how it has been from day 1. One would "think" the experts would know this. I'm not an expert and I know this. By the time the decision to stop travel from China was made, the virus was already here. It only takes one case to know that, because that one case has already spread it to every person they came into contact with, and it cascades from there. Had China stopped all outbound flights when they first discovered it, I think the world would be in a much better place.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Speaking of medicine here is a bit of irony for you. I am sure you all have seen the ambulance chaser commercials about the Zantac settlement for causing some cancers with long term use. Back in the day when I was diagnosed with GERD my insurance company wanted everyone to use Zantac because it was cheaper, I had a reaction to Zantac and got put on Prilosec. I'm surprised the insurance companies aren't get sued over the product liability too since they forced people to go on it..

Telemaster Sales UK

Further to my comments on 9084 I weighed four one-metre lengths of hard balsa and four one-metre lengths of basswood. The difference in weight was 22 grammes or 0.77 ozs. I think I'll use basswood on the Baron's fuselage as I've already proved empiracally that the basswood fuselage is stronger than a balsa wood one. The Baron's fuselage is not even one metre long.

I also weighed my Magnum 52 and my OS 52 FS. I must have misread the specs. The Magnum was only half an ounce heavier than the OS.

As for Covid jabs, France is very slow getting it organised, but the UK's vaccination programme is rolling out ahead of all of the other Western European countries. Mind you the UK has the highest death rate per 100,000 people in the world, except for Belgium...

acdii

Good point. There was a drug for arthritis, can't remember the name, but I was on it for a while, then they found something about it and stopped making it. I still have some sealed sample packs left. I don't remember if the chasers went after that one as well. If you or a loved one has died from taking this. I facepalm Every time I hear that. Funny thing was, it was the only one I ever took that actually worked to ease the pain in my hips. Nothing really works anymore, so I don't bother taking anything, with maybe a couple Alieve occasionally when they really hurt or after doing heavy work when I know parts of me will ache. Who the heck knows what all these drugs are doing to the rest of your body.


Except Vicadin, I cherish Vicadin, I save those for the really really really bad days, and darn near out of my bottle from 5 years ago. I think there were 20 pills in it when I got it, have 5 left. Even with that I am not affected by them as I was the first few times. These pills scare me though, I won't take them at night because I am afraid I may not wake up. I caught myself a few times where I stopped breathing I was so damned relaxed. I don't need that because even without those pills I at times will stop breathing, and have to force myself to breath. So I live with the pain, and really have no choice when it comes to my back, mid chest level. Bone degeneration and pinched nerve, nothing they can do about it either, no surgeon will touch that area, there is no fix, so have to live with it.

acdii

Interesting that the Magnum and OS are different weights since one is a copy of the other. Must have a thicker casting on the magnum. I have 3 90 Magnums, but no OS to compare them to, I had a 52 Magnum, but traded that to a friend for an OS 70.

If you listen to the Fake News here, they tend to say the US has the highest death rate. And because of that, they earn their Fake News moniker.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Side affects are to be taken seriously! My cousin Clifford has a very robust immune system, he has never a cold, the flu, etc but he was put on Celebrex for arthritis and it caused kidney failure. He has been on dialysis ever since He refused a transplant because he didn't want to have the anti-rejection drugs destroy his immune system.
I had a former coworker who had congenial kidney failure and he did get a transplant. He did OK for about 10 years but was hospitalized when his transplanted kidney failed to await another transplant. He caught the flu and died from it while in the hospital.

To lighten things up does this sound familiar I know it did for me.

acdii

I put my symptoms in WebMD and it redirected me to autotuned cats videos.

Listening to the side effects of some drugs, I would rather have what ails me than what those side effects are! One of the reasons the only things I take is Vitamin D, Potassium and Nexium. I take Glucosamine too, but ran out last week.

One of the ones I remember was an anti depressant, side effects include sudden vomiting, sudden diarrhea, and a few other things. How you feeling, GREAT, Bluapp, PPPPFFTT, uh, oops, sorry, hehe. That will wash out. I don't know about you guys, but that would make me even more depressed!

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I had to get off all NSAIDs due to some kidney damage they were causing. I started taking chondroiton, glucosamine, and MSM, it has raised my comfort level considerably. The pain is usually low or almost gone. I still have some bad days but I don't need painkillers like I did.