Shudson

As I think you know, I have several that I have converted to 2.4ghz and may consider selling. I have messaged you.

Nothing at all wrong with Big Bang 20; It is a very forgiving fuel. I've used Model Technics for over 50 years with no problems. I've tried others along the way, including Optifuel, which doesn't impress me at all. As far as sticking with the same fuel used for break-in, that is a fallacy! The only exception is if you have used 25% nitro to run in an unsuitable engine or, in many cases, subsequently. You may then have to continue to use 25% to compensate for the loss of compression due to abnormal wear.

The engine you are using could have a bearing. If not suited to 25%, it could overheat and, with significant use, wear excessively, which could then make it a one way road. In 60 years, except for competition, with suitable engines, I have never found the need for more than 20% and for some engines, less.

Have you calibrated the ESC?

There seems to be a lot of people prepared to pay a premium for sticks; compare the prices paid for used Etronix/Code/Tamco 3channel stick sets with the price of Flysky GT3xx wheel of basically similar spec.

Is receiver aerial damaged/cut?

Try a different pair of crystals. They can deteriorate with age or physical abuse

You are starting from a false assumption that the charge shown by the charger is that available from the battery. It isn't; it is showing the amount of energy it has put in. After you have charged it, let it rest a bit and put it on charge again. The amount of charge will show a very low figure - more or less just the amount of energy to create a bit of heat. The battery should always have some residual charge when you put it on charge. If you get a reading of the full capacity, th4en there is a fair chance that the battery has had it. What the charger is showing is the same as a petrol pump. If you have an 80 litre tank that is half full and you then fill it up, the pump will show 40 litres, but you do actually have 80 litres available.

I suspect that you may not be able to involve the Ombudsman until you have gone through the bank's formal complaints procedure, and I doubt that will be straight forward!

Charge from your car battery.

Also, still have the boat that I won National and Regional speed championships in early 70s and the boat I got as part of my 21st. Birthday present, that I won many competitions with and both engines (OPS .60 and Rossi .60) still run, but not used in anger for many years.

I've still got my first proportional set that I too got as a teenager, but I'm nearly 73 now! still works fine, although not in general use. Nothing wrong with the old crystal sets (although FM more reliable than AM). Admittedly, I tend to use 2.4Ghz mainly (I have 35 sets - I prefer one transmitter to each model), but only for the convenience of not having to worry about frequency clashes and the shorter aerial. I still have about 30 of the 40Mhz FM sets and quite lot of 27Mhz, which I would happily use.

Almost any will be OK. It is a case of balancing capacity (mah) which governs run time, against cost. Not arguing against 5000mah, but for me, around 3300/3600mah is a reasonable compromise.

Is the car second hand? Probably the control potentiometers in transmitter that are not calibrated properly; they can slip. Not a normal user adjustment, unless you know what you are doing.

The Code CR152, Etronix ET1151 (I think) and Tamco TAC330 or 300 are all identical - as far as I know, just the same system but re-badged by different distributers. I have 15 sets covering all 3 "makes", as well as the earlier DSSS models by Code and Etronix. and about half a dozen extra receivers of various makes, including a Hobbyking HKR 3000. All of the FHSS ones are entirely compatible and I interchange them with impunity. As far as I know, the wheel transmitters/ receivers are not compatible with the stick sets. All are discontinued, which is why second-hand receivers change hands at up to £40 , apiece.

It is amazing just how corrosive these sea-filled pools can be - they are filled from the sea, water evaporates and is then refilled, getting greater and greater concentrations of salt. I remember sailing one of my boats at Fleetwood many years ago, in the days before proportional R/C, when the "bang-bang" servos used printed circuit tracks. After a couple of minutes sailing the throttle stopped working. When I checked it, the splashes of water had completely etched off the copper in under 5 minutes total? Essential anything affected is thoroughly rinsed with clear water immediately.

There is a lot of variation in exchange rates - there is no "one size fits all". If you are wanting currency, if you "shop around" you will find quite significant variations and rarely are the high street banks the most competitive. If you merely Google something like "convert $x to GBP", the result will be based on wholesale rates that you will never achieve in practice. Checking NatWest's (or any other High Street bank, or Paypal) currency exchange rate will give you a more accurate estimate in future. It is probably Google that is the villain, for misleading you, rather than the bank. Look up "Bank Rate", and then try to borrow money at that rate! Without getting into the argument of whether or not their profits are excessive, previous sources of profit are now being denied to them - for example penalty charges for unauthorised overdrafts (always seemed reasonable to me that if you dipped your hand into their till without their authority, you got your wrist slapped) - so they have to make that money in some other way, so that those who play by the rules are subsidising those who don't.

I have this one, available periodically from Aldi. Handy because it has a rotating chamber to easily select your regularly used bits.

I have been playing with model engines for 60 years, initially with boats, when I won a number of championships, including speed, and subsequently with planes, cars and almost anything that uses them, and have never found it necessary. I suppose that, if it keeps you amused twiddling your thumbs while you heat an engine, then I suppose fair enough. However, as to whether or not it can do any harm, I suppose it is a question of degree - what is the worst thing that you can do to an engine and that will guarantee its early demise? Running it too hot when it will ultimately seize up. Rather defeats the argument that heating frees it up. However, heating a badly worn engine, and running it hot, can make it usable for a little longer, because it seals better. To revert to your comment about expansion, that does rather depend on the construction of the engine. In the early days the cylinder was usually machined from cast iron, frequently with an aluminium or light alloy piston. This was OK for smaller engines, but in my boating days, our larger 10cc (.60 cu in.) racing engines had to use ringed pistons to accommodate the differing coefficents of expansion. Then came the ABC (Aluminium/Brass (or Bronze)/Chrome) cylinder/piston construction used by most modern engines, certainly with any claim for performance. This uses an aluminium or light alloy piston, Brass or Bronze cylinder with a Chrome plating to reduce wear and carefully matched coefficients of expansion to preserve the "fit" throughout a range of temperature. This rather defeats your heating argument. As to why racers use engine heaters, not being a racer, or other competitor these days, I cannot really say. However, in my competitive boating days when I suppose I was one of the "elite" and certainly mixed in "elite" circles, for many it was essential to have the latest (and most expensive) gadgets and kit, without any thought of whether or not it was effective. Part of being the best, it was presumably thought that you had to have the "best", or better still, the most expensive. Just as a final poser on the heating/expansion question, imagine taking a piece of metal and drilling a hole in it. If you heat up the piece of metal, does the hole get larger or smaller?

I too can't get the hang od wheel/trigger transmitter, although I have been using sticks for 50 years and keyswitches and micro-switches before that, and this old dog sure as hell ain't learning new tricks! I have about 40 2.4ghz stick sets, 15 or 20 of them the 3 channel Code/Etronix/Tamco sets that were cheap and cheerful, but now discontinued. The remainder are "high end" 40mhz sets KO, JR, Futaba, Hitec etc. that I have converted to 2.4ghz. The JRs, Hitec and some Futabas can be converted simply with plug in modules, the others require minimal soldering. The 40mhz conversion route is what I would recommend - you get a quality, solid feeling set, with all the bells and whistles you could want, for much less than their current 2.4ghz versions.

Alternatively, most car accessory shops sell cigar lighter sockets with crocodile clips on. If that is the charger you are going to use, why not just charge from your car - I assume you have one, as you really don't want to be humping a liesure battery about! Then just keep starting your engine occasionally, to ensure enough charge left to start your car.

If, by whatever means, you have applied a sufficiently high voltage to receiver to blow it, then odds on you have blown the servo as well, as it takes its power from the receiver.

Would need to plug ESC into channel 1 or provide alternative power supply, otherwise no power to receiver.

You could do a lot worse than another Hyper 7. Better bet than those you have mentioned and a decent used one probably quite a bit cheaper at the moment (off season). More robust and better parts availability.

I don't think that is what he is saying. Personally, I would be guided by the look and feel of the engine; the exhaust is still on and if it still has a plug in, then provided the air intake looks fairly clean, I would take the plug out and see if it turns over smoothly. You can then decide whether a full strip, clean and re-build is warranted (I'm a great believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"). If all seems OK, with the plug still out, flush it through with a bit of thin oil in air intake, followed by some fuel to flush the surplus out. At this point, with the plug still out, turn it over quickly to clear it out. I will have to find a manual but, from memory, I'm not sure it will have the detail you are looking for - probably just standard guidance for RTR on running in and tuning, together with exploded parts diagram showing options and part numbers.