Hi Folks

Last weekend 4 of us held our Annual camping get together at Lancing and rode out to Brighton Marina on the trikes .

With a combined age of over 255 years we still had great fun as can be seen on this video clip playing pass the Gopro .


Both of our 20/20 e-trikes are featured along with Danny's pedal trike and John's Middie powered e-trike .

4 go East (3 min 36 sec)

That day was our SUMMER !!!!!!!!!!

regards emma

Hi Folks

With lots of other hobby and pastimes using up my time ,it has taken longer than l thought to refurbish the Crash tender .
Still its had its new coats of paint and has a few embellishments to add to its classic looks . I hope to get down to the lagoon when the weather improves as I would have a hard task battling against the waves that are being whipped up by the wind , Maybe March will be a good time to get some good photos of it in action .

On the trike front , we completed the second 20/20 e-trike and used them as daily transport last September when we took our caravan away for our weeks holiday .
The trikes were in constant use as a car replacement all week and performed faultlessly .
Final specification on the electric 20/20 trikes
21 speed 17" to 86" gears , with q100 rear electric brushless motors , 20" wheels Under Seat Steering and disc brakes all round , range on a single battery pack about 15 miles

Hi Folk

I got this RAF crash tender or fire float ll from ebay , it was not expensive but it did need a lot of TLC , being a bit slow now I have fitted a 3530 brushless motor and 3s 2p 4ah lipos and a new set of radio gear , Today after a couple of months of tinkering and fitting new windows but still in need of some paintwork and a refit it had its maiden test outing today apart from needing a pound of lead in the stern to achieve the right ride height all is well , looks nice on the water but really is crying out for the refit and new paint ,

Finished off my mkll tadpole trike ( it has taken almost a year because it has undergone several upgrades along the way its a non suspension 27 speed with discs all round and Under seat steering .

and finished off my holiday trike this is small enough to fit inside the boot of my estate car and is light enough for me to lift it in and out on my own
. it features 21 speed and disc brakes all round with USS and a q100 328 rpm motor driving a 20 " rear wheel .

regards emma

Hi folks

The weather has started to turn , I have rebuilt the slope soarer and for our holiday I have built a slighty smaller electric trike with 20" wheels all round
the advantage is that it will fit in the boot of my estate car with room for a folding bike as well , this new addition has all the real features ( Under Seat steering , disc brakes and rear suspension and multiple gears ) of an expensive fullsize trike with the built-in option of electric assist , the use of a geared motor means the pedalability with out assist is the same as a normal trike without the overhead of turning an electric motor all the time , Slightly lower in power as the motor came fromm a scrap electric bike with the e-hub built into a slightly larger rim , to compensate the brushless motor has been given an upgrade from 2 12v SLA batteries ( 24v system ) to a 37 volt 9ah lithium battery and a 36v 10 amp controller this has balanced the disadvantage of building the motor into the larger rim .
I hope to spray the new trike at the end of the month after a couple more weeks of testing , this one will be racing red with black trim and a cream seat .

Hi Folks
The weather was really beautiful this weekend so Saturday afternoon we took the E-trikes down to Shoreham Beach , when we arrived we found we were not the only people that had the idea of going down the beach .
Its February , usually cold and wet but it was like a summers day, except it was a little colder . ( about 10 C )
Still we had fun
regards emma

Shoreham Beach 22 Feb 2014

Hi Folks
After a weeks test runs and tinkering ( about 80 miles or so ) I have finished adding the final touches to the trike , Mudguards panniers with rack and lights , As a little addition I fitted a bike computer on the front boom , Running costs about 1p per mile , so here are the photos of the finished Trike and a couple of shots taken during testing time .

Still waters run deep

Well the new e-trike is finished and next week I hope to winterise it with Mudguards , lights , rack and panniers but here it is looking rather sporty in its summer guise

regards emma

Hi Folks
The temperatures are dropping and the winds getting colder and Oldies like me are looking for a bit of warmth by the fire ,
Well not me , We went caravanning the weekend of the big storm and survived
in a 13ft caravan parked behind a hedge , the weather was too bad for flying and I havent done any indoor flying for years ,

so

What have I done , built a couple more trikes and a recumbent bike , that had the turning circle of an ocean liner and turned that into a recumbent trike lower , meaner , more power , and bigger batteries , Nice things like disc brakes , rack and panniers bags , luxuries like mudguards and lights , and because the workshop is getting full a trike transporter to move them between garages .
I havent built a model , I've given a couple of Piper cubs to my cousin to fly ,
and hope to do more flying next year so pictures that follow are the new trike trailer with the original e-trike and the mk2 trike with my lad enjoying himself on it .
If I dont hibernate I'll post the new etrike Photos later after I have reassembled it ( just sprayed it red and black )

regards emma

Hi Folks

We managed a few days away caravanning and got a little air time in as well .
With a few days of very mixed weather from a mini tornado , thunder storm and brilliant sunshine with a rainbow , with some wind and a short period of almost calm .
We flew from the field behind the caravan , the only little problem we had was a prop-driver that worked itself loose but luckily we had a spare collect style one in the flight box and that fixed the problem and did some cycling.
As we were tiding up we heard the exhust of a WWII merlin engine a few minutes later a Spitfire flew low over the caravan site , probably down here in Sussex for the Goodwood event next weekend .
.
There is still nothing new model wise on the building board , the mig still remains unfinished , but we are building our second trike and are doing a few more modifications to the trex e-trike , in addition we have started a Voyageur ( atomiczombie.com ) recumbent bike .
well they say a photo says a thousand words so I will leave you with a few photos .

Hi Folks
Another month,
The streetfox is finished , it has been stripped , sprayed and reassembled

and the trex has been electrified , now sporting a 48v 500 watt motor and 48v 7ah batteries ,
trike number 2 has been started and a recumbent Bicycle ( atomiczombie voyageur ) has joined the workshop waiting its turn to be completed , watch and wait for more news and photos

regards emma

Hi Folks


I am feeling much better now ( thank you all ) and I am almost off the painkillers and Monday being such a nice day ( 33deg C over here and sunny )
We decided to finish the welding .

So after the final afternoon of welding yesterday and burning the midnight oil again the streetfox has been assembled , and recieved a short road test , Still a few little problems to sort and its ready to receive its new paint

Tech Spec 28 gears 7x4 20" BMX wheels with 14m axles front with centre point steering and 26x1.5 rear wheel and single damper rear suspension Dual brakes to front wheels and single brake on the rear.

Anyway here are the long awaited Photos

regards emma

Hi Folks
Its a month gone by since the last blog entry
The,Tadpoles have turned into frogs and we have had dragonflies in the garden during the last couple of weeks .

The weather has turned nice but the last month saw my life turned upside down

The trike was starting to come together and I had a holiday to look forward to all great until 6 days before we were about to go ,Saturday night about midnight I was admitted to hospital with tummy pains and it was diagnosed after xrays and a ct scan ( as I thought ) to be a bad diverticulitis flare up .I was released from hospital 2 weeks ago and told to take it easy for the next 3 weeks , given a large bag of painkillers to eat like sweets and left to get on with life,
Last Monday was the first day I started to feel a little better and had a little time that we spent on the trike , At least it has started to look like a trike now , With only a few more hours of welding to complete the handlebars , Mid pulley mount and return chain tube it will be ready for the trial fit of everything and the test ride before it is stripped and sprayed .
Here is the latest photo , with the electric mountain bike project in the background and now I am going back to bed to rest a while.

regards all

emma

Hi Folks
So where is summer ? , it appears to be hiding somewhere but not around here
too wet or windy to go flying so a bit more has been done to the trike
( and 15 minutes more to the mig )

so The frame is starting to look like a trike and the seat is finished and covered
some more welding to the front booms before they can be welded on and then there is a few more bits to fit before the final bits can be welded ( like handlebar position and gear train pulleys , Photos so far

The basic trike to date and the finished seat .. watch this space

Hi Folks

Since the last Blog I have done a bit more to the trike , I have most of the bits to hand and I am cleaning the second-hand bits up ,

The motors I was given by my neighbour were both " seized " or at least stuck so with the aid of my solarfilm heat gun they became free in 10 minutes of warmth ,
Here are the two engines the enya 19 mkV and the diesel webra record 1.5cc

The Trike brake lever has been remanufactured to cope with dual front brakes
and I have cut out the seat templates

At the weekend we went flying and used the bikes and trailer , with the new slightly smaller wheels (22") the trailer coped with the rough ground and these wheels have pneumatic tyre instead of the original solid ones .

The funmaster had another lipo passed through it as the sun was setting
That was the end of a great day

After 2 really nice days the wind has returned so it's back to building the trike

regards all emma

Hi Folks
We are only a couple of days into May and The weather is starting to change
The back holiday weekend is almost upon us and the sun is shining ,

The tadpoles in the pond have hatched and yesterday my neighbour came over to see me , his father in law had passed away ten days ago and they were busy clearing the house and wondered if I would like these:- Holding out a plastic box ,
Inside was an early webra 1.5cc diesel and a enya 19 interesting I thought until I noticed the Model magazines underneath and they were very interesting several 1942- 1944 aeromodeller magazines , including some feature magazines of that period here are 4 of the covers , look at the prices 2/- = 10p by todays money and 3/- = 15p , more interesting was these mags were printed during WWII and apart from a couple of ads in them there was no mention of the war the odd contributer was a F/l I assume a flight lieutenant
and the mags were FULL of free plans what a change from todays mags
the other mention about the war was that balsa wood was scare and rubber even more so ,the Kit prices were about 7/- or 35p less than the price of a mars bar today . These books are over 70 years old and as I read through them the memories of when I was small came back . what a piece of nostalgia

Well apart from that and as I had previously said that I have to many models , I am having a fly year and not a build year so my attention has turned to another project I have always wanted to build .

A...Continue Reading

Hi Folks

With 2.4 ghz becoming the Normal over here in the UK and supposed no interference , Is it that people just believe it and go fly anyway , No I don't want to go into that and make a discussion point . But with Wifi , Bluetooth and RC Transmitters all sharing the same band , It is going to get crowded , Im surprised that nobody had come across with a solution and built a low cost Spectrum analyser , until I found somebody had done one better than that.
The Program "snoop " that I found was written to use a RangeLAN2 FCC ID IMKRL21PC Wireless Lan adapter. snoop scans the model/broadband frequency band and displays in a visual format of frequency and Power , Just what you might require to check your own Tx output or run at the club field just in case someone is getting some airborne interference . at least it can be proved one way or the other
Most Spectrum analyser are several thousand Pound to purchase and to lease would still be an uneconomical piece of test equipment to have sitting around doing nothing for long periods but here at under £20 I got the program and a pcmcia card .

It surprised me at just how noisy this band can be without having a RC transmitter switched on .
here is the PCMCIA card and a screen dump of it in use without a TX switched on the noise are local Broadband routers

Hi Folks
Just for a change from Spitfires and P51 Mustangs a mig based Funfighter.
Not even a stand-off scale model a scratch build 29" span depron model , that should have better manners and fly-ability than the highly tapered wing platform of the mig . The 150 Sq in wing is a KFm2 built of 2 thickness's of 6mm depron with a pine spar and wing tips ( sanded to give a bit of washout ) and a pair of balsa te section ailerons , A bolted on wing will make storage a bit easier , and a built up fuz using a mixture of white and grey depron with a 13mmx6mm pine spar for rigidity , 3, 3.7 gm servos( Chinese exports at £7 for 4 inc postage ) are ideal for a pint size model ( wow they are small) but after a re think suggested by Goldguy 9 gm servos will power the ailerons and elevator, and a 20amp esc fed by a 450maH 3s lipo will supply the grunt to the 1800kv 2805 motor's 7x4 propeller giving about 130 watts at maximum . This choice will give a good power to weight ratio as I expect the weight to be about 320 gms approx .
The model will be fitted with an orange 610 rx to keep the weight down to a minimum , and finished without an undercarraige ,
The canopy extracted itself last night from a mouthwash bottle with a bit of help from a pair of scissors and the battery hatch is located under the nose
The model will be finished in a drab olive / blue under colour scheme of the early 40s with soviet stars on wings and fuselage . I'm not in a hurry to finish...Continue Reading

Hi Folks

With this rotten weather we have been having for the past few months it has given me time to catch up on a few books I got after Christmas
So Here is a quick review
Having been interested in the local WWII airfields of which very few still exist or can even be traced, I managed to track down a couple of books on airfields in Hampshire and Sussex , Most of these WWII airfields have returned to farmland without even a plaque to honour those who fought and died to save this Island over 70 years ago. These two books from a series are a good basic to find and explore the airfields and see what if anything is left . As caravanners we usually go with bikes and enjoy riding around the country lanes and armed with a book in the saddlebag and a camera we can find the fields where these pilots flew from and survived , a lot billeted in tents without proper accommodation or running water .
I found these books on Amazon and paid more for Postage than the price of the Books , Still both were interesting and a good read ( there are several more in this series and I have another couple on order )
The third book is a book on aerobatics again I found a copy on Amazon although printed over 18 years ago it was "new " and came from the states . The book gives a good grounding and theory into how to complete the manoeuvres , Personally I found it a good read and reference book although a little dated

Since then I have got the next 3 books , Kent and Surrey where some of the Bombs for London were dropped and Lincoln Where a lot of Bomber command were based all three look good with the brief scan I did through the books ,
One of these cost me just 1p with £2.80 postage charge

Continued below under comments

Hi Folks
Its March and the weather is bad
we have had more snow but the good thing is the little extension to the workshop is done allowing me to clear the building bench in the garage ,
The original part of the workshop housed the mill - lathe, main bench and the vice with storage cupboards underneath. The extension allows us to move the band saw and drill press into a less cluttered area with the bench grinder and compressor.
The exterior of the whole Workshop is clad in upvc boarding with double-glazed uPVC windows and doors . except for the felted roof, the outside should be maintenance free for the next ten years

Our next caravan holiday is only a while away . Hopefully the weather will be kind to us and allow us to get a bit of air time in , The problems are starting to be overcome and after a bit of a fight, last weekend the replacement rear wheel bearing has made its way onto the car. One of the Torq headed bolt rounding off before we could remove it .
I have rebuilt and recovered the Chara H-29 and covered it with vinyl rather than the sellotape I had originally covered it with, now in blue and orange with an uprated battery It should give it about 10 minutes airtime

photos :- the h-29 's , and the workshop extension , bijou but cute and tidy.
Access to the workshop is by way of a functioning bridge over a small wildlife pond . Today I noticed the frogs have spawned so we should have a few tadpoles later in the year.

other photos added 15/3/13 as my new windows phone wouldn't release them earlier

Why do I hate windows so much?



regards for now emma

Hi Folks
Its almost 2 months since my last blog entry and a lot has happened in the last 8 weeks
My Colleague Bryan passed away a few days before Xmas ( BIG C ) and at the wake I was told by his ex wife that he wanted me to have the laptops he was working on . Bryan was an engineer in all senses of the word , He had grown up as a mechanic and later gone into electronics and electrical installation work .
So as January started I inherited about 20 laptops in all forms and guises , So as the weather has been too bad to fly and I must admit I have too many toys I have spent the last 2 months playing with the laptops so 16 working laptops later at the end of the 2 month period that I allocated I am going back to doing a bit of modelling .
So today an overcast but dry day with temperatures hovering about 5 Deg C Colin and I went out to put the Ultimate through its paces and have a bit of fun with the baby Falcon . With 4 batteries we set off and have a fly at our local and grabbed a few photos , Here they are of Colin , with the falcon and the Ultimate Bipe

The Bipe is only 24" span with a KFm section of 3mm+6mm+3mm its only 190 sq ins and the full fat replacement fuselage works a treat the model is fully aerobatic and with the 2822 motor 8x4 prop 20a esc and 1000 3s lipo packs a punch being responsive with its 1" fullspan ailerons on the lower wings . With the deep fuz its knife edge flight is quite good.

The Falcon having recovered from its nose...Continue Reading