My name is Dave Whiston , I work and live in Mexico. Previously I did 5 1/2 years in Brazil and prior to that 3 1/2 years in Spain.

Well I am back again, it's been a busy couple of months traveled to Puerto Rico, Panama and did a few visits around Mexico. Flying starts with some bad news and some good news. First the bad news - Remember my nice looking Texan ? OOPS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The good thing is that I wasn’t flying it ! I was trying to get photos. Anyway the maiden flight did not result in a maiden landing. But the Good news is that the pilot also owns the local model shop and is actually pretty good on the sticks. He believes there was something wrong with the model (We all saw it on the balance machine) anyway he felt so bad he GAVE me a World Models Spitfire and we sent the Texan back to Hangar 9 who in turn paid back the “ex Works” value. Our flying field was getting a bit rough, I had suffered a broken undercarriage leg as a result of dropping a wheel into what looked like a cows foot print. Being the nice chap I am I managed to talk our local dealer into providing us with a 7 tonne roller for free, we now have a nice smooth runway, hopefully it will remain so for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, “El Nino” struck early this year and our wet season is about 2 months early, We still get plenty of opportunities to fly but the ground is usually damp and we now have a very wet area at one end of the runway.

John wanted a few more shots of our flying site so here goes with a pictorial guide to our club Hangar 5. This is our sunshade, Ok its not fantastic but the ladies appreciate it. Whilst Model flying globally seems to be a man thing, here in Mexico al the family turns up which too be honest creates a really nice atmosphere. Joining the club costs about 45 pounds and the membership is approx (depending on exchange rates) 450 pounds a year. YES that made a few of you fall of your stools. The UK is fantastically CHEAP in comparison also you can get insurance to cover in the event of damage etc. Here there is no such luxury. Hangar 5 is also by no means the most expensive, there is one club near to Toluca (I hope you guys are looking these places up on a map !!) about 40 KM away where the annual fee is $2000 US per year approx 1200 pounds So what do we get for our money, Well most of the money is going to build the club house which is slowly taking shape. Unfortunately we got hit by the global wave of hooligans and all of the pipe work for the toilets was stolen. But it is coming on slowly. The transmitter control is in a prominent position, this ensures that the safety officer (I think we are the only Mexican club with one ) can see all down the flight line and with a clear view of the runway can police the movements of both people and aircraft. This is the guy I mentioned in an earlier episode who hands out fines for wrong doers and as most people in the club are safety minded they pay up. This is him, megaphone in hand and ready to pounce !! The runway is lined on one side by some trees, and the whole plot is set in a small valley, this can make for quite difficult flying conditions but if you can fly here you should be ok anywhere and considering that, one of my objectives is to ensure that when we return to UK Michael is both a competent and safe pilot. Extreme concentration being modeled by Michael, reason being his Matix 40 had just flamed out but , he got her back down with no fuss. All being well and weather permitting Michael should test fly his new Funtana 40 this week end, due to a little over enthusiasm I somehow slipped a Magnum 80 four stroke into it, I am pretty sure it will hover with that up front.

Project number 2 is a ¼ scale Taylorcraft which I have been fiddling with for a while, I have finished the wing and due to its large size, I have fitted Metal High Torque servos this should cope easily with the ailerons and prevent any possible servo related problems. I made a start on the fuselage and have fitted the tail group and installed a Zenoah 26cc engine which should provide sufficient grunt! I have also fitted a couple of high torque servos for the rudder and the elevator. The rudder on the Taylorcraft is a closed loop, something I have not used before, it's a bit fiddly to get in but once you have got it in and tighten up the cables, the “pull pull” action is pretty smooth. I did not like the fact that the cables just come out of the side of the fuselage, so I glued a couple of plastic tubes into the exit points to stop chaffing of the fuselage sides. Now in the instructions, the servo for the motor is fitted way back inside the Fuselage, I decided to try to shorten the run and fitted a mini servo directly to the fire wall. One thing I have learnt is not to use a metal connector to the carb, I think this will make a neater set up although it will need a bit of thought on how to mount the support. Now during March I traveled to the UK with a group of Mexican customers and to take advantage of the visit her in-doors and the sprogs came along for one of our annual home leaves. Whilst in the UK Mike and I wanted to pick up a couple of items, Mike wanted a Magnum 80 – 4 stroke (its going to be flown in a Funtana) and I wanted a smoke system for the Taylorcraft. Now I know smoke systems are not normal shelf items in UK model shops, but I would expect the shop owner to be a little communicative when someone asks questions. If you read my second installment, you will recall I was not pleased with a model shop in San Antonio, Texas. Well Shrewsbury Model Centre beat them hands down, ever felt like you are combination of the invisible man and local village idiot? Well go and visit this shop they have a great way of making you feel welcome (NOT!!!) So as not to have to bother upsetting any more shop owners by wanting to talk model aircraft, I have settled for mail order from the States. I went to visit a local flying site the other week, just to see what was going on, sorry no photos as my digital camera had gone to hospital to have some circuit changed. Anyway the strip was pretty busy , a couple of Great Planes Stuka’s, were busy beating up the strip until one of the pilots miscalculated and beat into the strip (OOPS!). But the thing that really did need a photo, was the family who were sitting at the end of the runway having a PICNIC!! totally oblivious to the danger they were in, and even worse the pilots kept flying !! I informed the safety officer of the danger and was happy to see flying suspended whilst the family, were moved on.

Whilst in the UK I popped over to visit a mate who had a bit of modeling gear for sale, for a “very reasonable” price he parted company with a large Carl Goldberg kit of the Sukhoi and its ASP 1.08 engine. Then to demonstrate home grown generosity he gave us for free a complete aircraft which had all the servos etc still inside. Include these two with the Flair ARF Focke Wolf 190 we had 3 aircraft to return to Mexico with. Luckily our company has a parts export department who are pretty good at packaging things up . Unfortunately we had a bit of damage to the wing and the tail section of the model shown below. Does anyone know what kind of airplane this is ?? Also and possibly due to the pressurized hold the covering lifted off the fuselage and wing. Checking out the damage revealed that the rear turtle deck was a foam veneered item. Unfortunately the worst damage was done to the foam. Now you probably already know this but the spray can foam you get for DIY home repairs makes a good repair , so I filled the damage area with the spray foam waited for it to dry, formed it into the correct radius with a sanding block then planked it over with fine balsa, sand all to shape, paint with balsa loc and recover. Well I have to go now , but we will return, Dave. PS if anyone knows how to balance a Partenavia Victor Twin !! PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

Article by Dave Whiston from Mexico
For Bumpy Green Model Aerodrome
July 2004

Comment by dave marsh on 20040910084703. Rating 3

l saw your bent Texan and as l have one on order l wondered if you had any thoughts on what the problem was, or any thoughts on what to keep an eye on,enjoyed your article regards Dave Marsh

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