Diary.....

Dear Diary....... :-) It's been a while since any of us have updated our pages on here - OK it's been months. Where have we been you may ask?

Answer - FLYING :-)

The summer has been and is now leaving us. I feel that this year the flying weather has been very very good to us. There have not been many Sundays (or Wednesdays) that we could not fly.

25-04-04

Look!! Blue sky! Hooray! - What a cracking weekend of weather.

Two proper nice days, warm, sunny and very little wind. Quick, put the models in the car and get up the field.

Sunday was the day for me. 5 flights on my models and a test flight on a new members Nexus :-)

Two models to take out again this weekend and yet another engine to run in :-{

The TT70 in the Millennium lasted less than 10 flights (All very rich for running in) before it decided to remove the piston ring from the piston grove - whilst running - Not nice :-(

I'm not going to rubbish the TT engines as I know from experience that a good TT engine will be great. However I am less than happy with their customer support blaming my fuel for the damage to the engine.

Now for those who don't know (me being one!) The 90 sized engines take up the same space as a 60, with the same sized crankshaft. Physically fitting the engine into the model was very easy.

The gear ratio of the Millennium for a 60 is 1:9.23. Bob Johnston at Skyline models recommends 1:7.5 for the 90 size. This means replacing the 13T clutch pinion with a 16T. Not hard to do just requires some filing of the side frames to allow for gear mesh. The engine is then shimmed out to line it all up.

"Time for a 90" said the man looking over my poorly TT70!

That would be nice, I thought, but I don't think it's going to happen. There was no way I could afford a new 90 sized motor, pinion gear and exhaust.

First piece of luck - MHW ads, an OS91 SXH complete with Hyper head - £cheap! and on my way home from work!

I've seen and read that the 91 sized engines can be very,very hard to start. I have been aware that my 12v battery in my flight box is getting tired and I haven't got enough room to carry a large car battery around with me.

Daren recently converted his high torque starter to 14.4v power and it has been very impressive. I thought I would take the chance and attach a couple of 2000 ma 7.2v packs to my standard starter.

Used it for the first time today - Great! Very powerful. Turns the 90 over well and is brilliant on the 60.

(Battery carrier kit available in the UK from Century - Stocked by your LHS or Midland helis)

18-01-04

Well what a day! Weather was great for January. About 5c and very little wind. I'll be honest - It could have gone better! Ian's Fury bit the dust (crystal fell out in flight.) Poor Russ splattered his Raptor (although thanks to a kind donation from Andy R and the frantic fingers of Daren, he was flying again in half an hour!)

Andy R was plagued by gremlins in both of his helis and just as he got his Vigor flying well he lost his hex cup!

Paul's Nexus was away on a coupe of very good first flights and even Mick's Nexus finally made it into the sky.

I had a couple of nice flights with the 60 and Daren seems to be getting used to his new Tempests (see his page for pictures)

Next job was an exhaust. Daren to the rescue!

Text message -Phone this number for a Hatori SB-15 £cheap.

Job done :-) Thanks mate. Nice pipe. seems to be very quiet and fits well.

9-12-03

It's been far too long since I updated my page! Last time the Raptor 60 was new! - Now I have my milli, which I am running in and I have sold the 30.

Membership at the club is increasing nicely and I am currently adding a new members page to this site.

As for the flying?? Well I've stopped improving at the moment. I had a flame out on the 60, which I saved (apart from blade tips) and I think I cured the problem with the engine, but it seems to take me quite a while to get that 'good' feeling about the model back again.

I hope the weather is kind to us through the winter!!

Merry Christmas!!!

23-08-03 - Well I'm a happy boy. My new Raptor 60 was finally set up properly today.(Cheers mate!)

WOW. Such a difference from my 30. The heli feels so solid and accurate. Unfortunately an increase in airborne value has brought back my old problem of height!! Sorry lads, I will fly it lower soon. Just give me some time to save up again!!!!

Created 23-8-03