Got to get my head around that “C” rating, but I’m getting the idea.

Me being a nightmare as usual, how about this cheaper charger?

It “seems” to tick all the boxes?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LCD-Digital-Battery-Balance-Charger-iMAX-B6-AC-for-Lipo-NiMH-Polymer-RC-UK-Plug-/283497607296?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

Yes that would be fine :).

To be honest for what you’re doing at the moment, other than for charging purposes, the C rating is irrelevant.

If you get into flying models with electric motors it becomes more important as you need a high enough C rating to feed the motor without it getting bogged down.

I just thought I’d explain it 🙂

Going to start cutting the various slots I need in the carbon DLG tomorrow. Bit nerve-wracking to say the least. Don’t want to balls that up 🙂

I also have a new (to me) transmitter coming as well as I fancy playing with a Futaba set 🙂

Cheers mate. No I’m keen to know about such stuff as the C rating as I really like the techy side of stuff like that. It’s just that my knowledge of electrics is way out of date and also in a totally different field.Lol

Also I might have bought a small, rtf, electric mustang. Allegedly. N Eachine mini mustang, 40cm wing span, 5 channel… BUT… inbuilt gyro for stabilisation in beginner mode. I’ve always wanted an rc mustang so tiny or not, I’m excited!

Good luck with the carbon cutting. I’d be nervous too.lol

I don’t think I’ll be looking at any other tx for sometime. Open TX and Edge TX (the geek in me is tempted…) seem pretty involved a fun way. Nearest ive ever done to that is flashing android smart phones with custom firmware etc.

Looking forward to having a dabble but I’ll be backing everything up, text book style, first.👍

@poopscoop

Lots of fakes/clones/copies of the skyrc charger out there especially on ebay.

Genuine thing here: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/imax-b6ac-v2-professional-balance-charger-discharger-uk-plug.html?queryID=60b0a010ac6fc2294a0d64b8006dc3ef&objectID=74217&indexName=hbk_live_products_analytics

Point of note, the clones and fakes tend to skimp on the expensive internal components – when used at or close to their max output they have a tendency to go pop.

Second point of note, most of the cheaper hobby chargers that plug direct into the mains have (and I’m being generous here) very low quality laptop adaptors buried inside them. My opinion and experience, and, YMMV etc etc, a regular – decent branded – 15V laptop adaptor connected to a charger that runs from a 12-18V input will be more, er, robust.

Third point of note, if you only ever charge up on 450mA 8.4V RX battery, the clone will (probably) be fine, just don’t expect to charge a lot of larger stuff with it…

@poopscoop – yeah I have always fancied a Mustang. One very important note on ‘beginner’ mode gyros. They are self-levelling so unlike when flying a non-gyro plane you do keep the turn in for the duration of the manoeuvre.

So, if you learn to fly in beginner mode and then move onto bigger models etc you will have to re-learn everything which I would not suggest at all as your muscle memory will not develop and often they cause more problems than they fix.

I would certainly suggest some form of stability mode at first if you are learning on your own but not the full self-levelling mode. Small electric models are also a bit twitchy and don’t like wind but can be great fun.

IMO though, and absolutely feel free to ignore me. Buy something like the Durafly Tundra and join a club and learn to fly properly then enjoy the Mustang. The Tundra is very easy to get to grips with, doesn’t stall and drop out of the sky and can handle moderate winds without too much issue. Pics of mine on earlier on in this thread. Can’t recommend it enough!

Thanks for the continued info guys!

Pug shipped today too.👍 Got the letter through Danny, thank you so much, really appreciated matey!

Going to hold off on buying the charger just yet, didn’t realist the market was flooded with copies rather naively.

The little Mustang, I have a cunning plan you see.😉

Wont be building the Pug for a little while and even when I do I’ll be taking my time so I don’t bugger it up. So want something to use in the meantime. Just to learn a few basics of flight and get my head around OpenTX on the TX16s etc. You were right all along Danny the TX16s is THE best bit of kit for the money by far. The flysky is being sent back tomorrow, it’s good value for only £50 though, but it has to be said the TX16 is in another league.

I’m going to link up the TX16s to the SIM you suggested Danny and I’ll be using that a lot.

Then… Well, the little Eachine Mustang is cheap, hardy by all accounts and it also links to the TX16s, which also controls the 3 levels of stabilisation available:

Expert (no stabilisation)
Intermediate (reduced pitch/ roll etc)
Beginner (full stabilisation)

I’ll use the beginner just to get the thing high in the air then use Expert to try a few rudder turns and the like. The best thing is that at a flick of the switch I can take it back to Beginner and it will self stabilise. Even if inverse etc. I can also land it in beginner mode till I learn to do it properly.

Basically the stabilisation is a panic option.

So I do have a sort of a plan. Kind of. Waiting to hear back from a local flying club by the way. Fingers crossed.

I promise when I do crash it, I’ll take pics.😀

They really are hardy little beasties! Oh, I’ve ordered spare props too.👍

Take a look at this vid.

A very enjoyable session today and done my confidence a load of good. Been getting a bad case of nerves recently but figured the only way to overcome them is to just get flying.

Nearly didn’t go at all as well but pushed myself as getting out and about and doing stuff is the best way to stop needing to go back on the anti-depressants 🙂

Bit of a challenging cross wind but good fun working out how to deal with it and I love the new Tx – Futaba 14SG. Brilliant bit of kit – really pleased with it :). Was out on my own for the first couple of hours too and it can be daunting as there’s no one there to help if it starts getting hairy.

Lovely field to fly from there.

Is that a plane built from kit too?

No, it’s balsa but it’s pretty much built up. You have to install the servos and stuff, join the wings etc.

I got mine second hand when in first wanted to learn to fly. I’ve also re-covered mine ad the original stuff was getting tatty.

Best proper engined trainer going in my book

https://www.elitemodelsonline.co.uk/Aircraft/By-Manufacturers/Seagull/19988-/Boomerang-V2-40-46-Trainer-155m-61in-SEA-27

That is a lot of very short grass, more than most clubs have I would guess.

Going to hold off on buying the charger just yet, didn’t realist the market was flooded with copies rather naively.

The skyrc charger was an early success when lipos first hit the market, so they in particular got copied and cloned a lot.

That tiny mustang will be a handful. Get your pug built. If you want a powered airframe, the tundra is a good one.

@mrmonkfinger. It is a sizeable field with no real restrictions to the left and ahead of that photo as it is all fields (and the farmer gets a couple of bottles of scotch at Christmas and in return we can fly over them and retrieve planes when necessary). I still find it small though when I am landing 😀

When we fly from the far side there is a road but it is far enough away that you really should not be that far out anyways.

Grass is cut regularly by the council with their big tractor mower so the whole field can be used as a strip. Really decent club with lots of decent members.

Has anyone scratch built a DLG? Looks like there are a few forums dedicated to building your own. Looking at the creations from foam, balsa wood and sticky back plastic it looks quite doable on a wet winter’s day. The components look cheap and easy to source.

Something like this->  https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/nndlg.16730/

Any thoughts?

@Neb – it is entirely achievable. The link you sent and then there are a few threads here too:

https://www.rcgroups.com/hand-launch-96/

Some people are even scratch building out of glass or carbon foam. That takes a bit more gear though 🙂

As winter approaches and the weather isn’t always kind for normal flying one of the gents at my club has kindly gifted me a slope soarer. It’s somewhat old school but still an excellent glider and I’ll enjoy getting to grips with sloping.

For those not in the know, slope soaring consists of finding a decent slope the faces the wind and just chucking your glider off. The updraft of the wind up the slope provides the lift and given practise and the right conditions you can stay up as long as the wind is blowing.

Slope soaring eh?

Foamie wing

Pike Brio Double Carbon

That’s Portland and Weymouth in the background.

@dannybgoode
Got to catch up on the thread but just wanted to post a little update.

I’ve been away from the forum and the thread for a while as frankly ive been struggling with my role as a carer and things have gotten well and truly on top of me. That’ll suffice for now

Moving on… my local club have vacancies and has asked me to pop along one Sunday to the flying field. I’ll not be allowed to fly initially without being buddied up, which is entirely expected… and needed!

I’ll be difficult to get there on a Sundays due to my responsibilities but I’ll see if family can help out.

I’ve accrued 4 planes/ gliders by the way. Not sure sure how that happened…would have been 5 but my mini warbird “got away from me” and was last seen heading London bound.

satellites could be catapulted into space with SpinLaunch’s slingshot launch system

@dannybgoode – you have a lot to answer for!

(Will be a while before I start it though)

Nice to see some Pug love out there. I haven’t been flying for a few weeks – weather not been brilliant and I’ve had some other bits on as well. Don’t think I will make it to the club field this week however I may well get across the road to my local field and have a chuck of some gliders – feeling the need for it for sure!

Need to get my carbon DLG finished as well – I needed a couple of bits for it and now they have arrived I can get it up and ready for some trim flights and stuff 🙂

Hey, glad to hear the carbon dlg is coming along well.

The club I’m hopefully going to join has an indoor venue for flying the smaller planes during the winter. It’s in a sports hall I believe.

I’m intending to pop down there one Sunday soon. Must be a challenge to even fly the small planes in such a venue!

Tillydog you’ll need to go bigger if you plan to fit that jet engine.

On the subject of gliders… I would quite like to get a couple of child friendly ones. any recommendations? working out of the box but with scope for modifying would be good. Lots of foam chuckies etc its hard to tell what to get as all the videos tend to go straight into “modified LIDL glider” etc.

Must be a challenge to even fly the small planes in such a venue!

no wind indoors
and
the real flyweight stuff can fly very slow

but yes – mind the walls (and the ceiling)

I haven’t been flying for a few weeks

nope, silly season at work plus the storms… tis the season to retreat indoors.

you’ll need to go bigger if you plan to fit that jet engine.

Got to start somewhere! 😀

Not been flying for a good while – late Sept / early Oct I think. Depression, illness, doing my back in etc all conspired against me.

However today I had a full day free so I hit the field at 10 and didn’t start packing up until after 3. Got the Tundra trimmed back in following repairs and then put a few flights on the Spacewalker. Had an awesome day, first time I’ve really just relaxed and enjoyed it.

Loops, rolls, even a bit if inverted flying for the first time and also managed to smooth my landings out quite considerably. They’ve been a real weak point for me so was good to get some decent touchdowns in the book.

Going to look at a new plane tommorow too. Can’t see me not coming home with it to be honest.

New to me plane on the hanger. I have a thing about nice scale models and this came up at a local model shop. Really nice 1/6 scale Chipmunk.

Will be a little harder to fly than the stuff I’ve been learning on however it’s a useful stepping stone before I try some of the biplanes etc I have.

Lovely looking thing imo. Bit of work needed before it’ll fly but hoping to get her ready for the weekend.

This is quite cool (for a plane geek like me at least). The actual Chipmunk my model is marked up as – WD325 – is still around and is now owned by the Historic Army Aircraft Flight. Built in 1953 apparently.

I’ve been doing some work on mine and hope to have it flying at the weekend weather permitting.

Chipmunk

Well, this is my very modest contribution:

37″ span ‘Tiny Trainer’ from the Flite Test plans.

Made from foam board (from The Range).

Hopefully I will learn to fly with it (not tried yet). I was hoping it would come out at <250g so I wouldn’t need to register with CAA, etc. but it’s nearer 350g with a battery and trimmed for CG.

(Would it be terribly irresponsible to creep off somewhere quiet, with a bin-bag in my back pocket, and have a go?)

(Would it be terribly irresponsible to creep off somewhere quiet, with a bin-bag in my back pocket, and have a go?)

No not really 🙂 . Nice looking thing, should be very easy to fly. The Flitetest guys are awesome! Reminds me though – need to put my OP_ID on my Chippie.

@tillydog, loving the trainer mate!👍

@Poopscoop, Ta! 🙂

should be very easy to fly

Let’s hope so! 😀 I’ve been practicing with Picasim to try and improve my coordination, and I think it has helped. Hopefully some of it will translate into the real world. (I found that setting the physics to 100% and adding some wind made Picasim much more challenging.)

(I’ve registered with CAA anyway, as I was sitting here waiting for a call and thought I’d have a go at the theory test…)

Picasim is excellent and I have found sim training useful. particularly with coordination and yes, putting some wind in is an excellent idea. That said I have actually got better in the sim now, particularly at landings, by translating what I’ve been doing at the field 🙂 .

At the sim is seriously useful for me to test ‘what if’ scenarios. What if I slam the sticks like this for eg and inverted flying training which is the next thing I want to nail.

Good work tillydog, should go well. The flitetest stuff is all good. As a thing, the foamboard they use/sell is lighter than the Range stuff (or the hobbycraft stuff) so anything made to their plans with the board available here, winds up a bit heavier than you might see quoted on the flitetest website.

Nice Chippie, danny. They’re usually docile lumps on the whole. What’s up front? 10cc ish four stroke?

Nice Chippie, danny. They’re usually docile lumps on the whole. What’s up front? 10cc ish four stroke?

Nothing quite so big. Just an OS 52 Surpass but that is the recommended engine for the kit apparently. Has been finished to a very high standard, loads of scale detail. Should look nice in the air and they generally handle basic aerobatics well.

8.5cc then! They’re good runners, OS make a quality engine.

Possibly got one last plane joining the hanger tomorrow and will be flying Sunday.

The wind will determine if I fly anything new or stick to my tried and tested easy to fly models.

At least I’m getting more opportunities to get to the field at the moment and need to get my gliders finished as well 🙂

Good to see other MTBers enjoying RC flying. The hobby has very much improved in recent years with far better radios etc.
I’m also a keen fixed wing RC pilot and builder. Chipmunks are great fun. I regularly fly my SLEC 80 inch span Chippie that I built a few years ago and is great fun and very docile . I also enjoy flying Warbirds and I’m waiting for the spring to maiden my DB Spitfire Mk1 that I built last year.

RC flying is a bit like biking in terms of early lessons. Knowing what you can do and cannot do safely is the most important thing.

Rotten unsuitable conditions are an easy way to smash up nice gear.

@Radioman

Any more details on the DB Spit? That’s a piece of kit and no mistake.

Would love to do one as a project, although I have too little time and too many projects already…

Another good day at the field yesterday, albeit a cold one. And I think I can safely say I have shed the fear and nervousness I was having when flying and am now just enjoying it all :).

Took the Chipmunk and got the engine running and tuned but didn’t fly it. Grass needs cutting and the light wasn’t the best so just flew the Spacewalker. Want to be 100% sure I can handle the Chippie without panicking if things go a bit squiffy.

Aye, I would be interested in more details of the Spit as well. Nice planes the DB range – all of them…