What did you do aeroplane wise today?

[TheLurker]

And I feel another Guillow's Fairchild coming on, maybe with yellow undersides and a camo top!

G'wan, you know you want to and, if you do, there's no way anyone can pick holes in the scheme; never mind stills you've got video. Nice little film too. Thank you.

Me?  Running repairs to I-ELIA (Olive!) and G-ACGL in readiness for Saturday's Trinity.  Let's see if I can launch Olive without throwing it into the floor this time, eh?

[Prosper]

Early today I rescued the model that flew into a hawthorn shrub last evening.

I spent wasted 15-20 mins last evening trying to spot the model before it got too dusky. Only when I reverted to looking from a distance with binoculars did I find it - standing out like a thumb which is sore.

This morning it hadn't moved and was still highly visible. After wrestling with a ladder I felt it was safe enough to climb (the ladder isn't propped against any solid branch in particular - it's just leant against a generality of twiggery and leafage. The worry here is that one's weight on climbing the ladder can cause it to sink into the foliage or twist and throw one off).

Anyway, when my feet were on the fourth rung from the top, I still couldn't see the model. Even though it was right in front of me. I finally latched on to it, after increasingly doubting my sanity. The model that showed so white from a distance was green from reflecting the leaves.

25 feet up. That's the Nth tree strike I've had recently, but the worst or joint worst in terms of recovery.

Then I went indoors for some breakfast.

Incidentally, the model is clearly visible (albeit slightly out of focus) in the last picture.

Stephen.

[Hughs Aircraft]

I suggest a long pole for retrieval. Where I fly we use telescoping fishing poles with a hook attached to the end.

[OZPAF]

That was courageous Stephen - glad you managed to retrieve it successfully.

I have had similar adventures due to flying in a local park with too many plane devouring trees, and so a long pole consisting of two combined fishing rods(sometimes combined with a ladder) has been my approach - except for the ones that have vanished from sight or found a new dimension - at least 4 so far.

John

[Prosper]

Ah, well I have long poles - there's one next to the ladder in the pictures. The problem here was that hawthorns are very dense and er - thorny. The model was in the shrub. Poking it with a pole would cause it to drop into an even more inextricable tangle. Poles are the best option in other cases. The fishhook idea is very interesting - fishing a model up and out rather than prodding it further into trouble . . .

That was courageous Stephen

Foolhardy, perhaps.

Stephen.

[ramses]

What did you do aeroplane wise today?

Today i flew my Westland Widgeon (indoor model) outdoors for the first time.
Also made a few flights with the Pawnee and made a short video:

Cheers, Ramses

[g_kandylakis]

"drill thingamajig"...

I would very much like one of these small tabletop things. Any ideas?

[Nigel_M]

"drill thingamajig"...

I would very much like one of these small tabletop things. Any ideas?

For serious? They are fairly readily available in the UK, either from eBay or through the auctions. Cost can be from c.GBP150 upwards but usually GBP2-300 depending on age, condition, and so on. Obviously those sources may require some patience while a suitable machine becomes available. Cost will also be affected by any equipment in the 'lot'; a lead screw will allow you to cut threads, a vertical slide will allow limited milling, a quick-change tool post is so nice to use, a Capstan tail-stock in theory provides for considerable flexibility but is only really highly useful for a large quantity of identical widgets (assuming they require lots of tail-stock-able operations). Those are fairly rare and expensive though.  If you've won your national lottery or simply like nice gear, Cowells' micro lathes are around GBP4k (but will match even your level of precision George!). Another well-thought of brand which is still available is Unimat. The cheap Chinese machines can be capable but might need considerable fettling to achieve acceptable performance.

I recently acquired a Pultra with all the gadgets but it lacks a lead screw and a simple way to set up a drive to the milling axis, so I'm thinking that, despite it's precision, it might need to be swapped out. It will be worth thinking about what you want to use it for before searching. That tends to set the equipment you need. Chris is showing us some good examples with a straight-forward setup.

The goto website for background info is lathes.co.uk
Happy to offer specific help if required.
HTH
Nigel

[Squirrelnet]

"drill thingamajig"...

I would very much like one of these small tabletop things. Any ideas?

It is very useful to have a drill-thingamajig. As Nigel says they go for around £2-300 for a decent one. Mine is an old one - a Unimat SL but it works as a lathe with a small swing of about 1 3/4" but they do come with a column that allows you to mount the entire motor and lathe head vertically and turn it into a milling machine, there are even dividing heads and 4 jaw chucks available

For finer jobs they can have collet chucks and even screw cutting and CNC control but that comes as extras to a basic machine like mine.

I bought mine from Ebay after a bit of shopping around for one that fitted what I wanted. Sometimes complete kits come up for maybe £500 are definitely a better buy as you inevitably need to get bits for it. The SL/DB are now date back to the 1950's so worth looking for ones that have been looked after or updated. I ended up buying another motor for mine after the first became a bit iffy

The later Unimats are maybe better and if you don't fancy going down the old machines route the Proxon ones look very good for £500

Not that I have a lathe obviously ...