Two of a Kind
Posted: 08 Feb 2019, 08:04
Back in the mid 1970's I flew my first RC glider, it was not mine, it belonged to a CL flying buddy who had been given a MacGregor Digimac II and had installed it into a Veron Impala. We had nothing that resembled a 'slope' in the part of Essex where we lived but there was a massive grass covered mound close to where we usually flew, so off we all went and spent the day trying to keep the Impala in the air for as long as possible.
A few years later I had moved to the South West as my dads work had required a move from London to Bristol. I could not find any aeromodellers at my new school, but a couple of guys sailed boats and so I saved, and acquired a MacGregor push button single channel. Sometime in around 1974 the MacGregor was traded against a Waltron Mini2, the version with a throttle slider and a rudder stick. It was used mostly in boats, I was still keen on aircraft, but I really can't remember what models I had, or what their fate was.
At the end of 2018 I retired, and through a few chance google searches I found both my interest in aeromodelling returning and also singlechannel.co.uk and so here we are.
I still have the Waltron, in its original box and wearing my best quality rose tinted glasses I recently bought a complete Digi II set up. Both are on 27mHz and both still work in a manner of speaking, but, like their owner, they are a bit on the creaky side, so a change to 2.4gHz is on the cards and I thought I'd start a 'build' thread.
The Digi II Tx case was pretty grubby, the flash has glossed over the worst of it but you can imagine what years of use and storage have done. Careful use of Brasso on both a soft cloth and also cotton buds got a lot of the shine back, but those water slide graphics have to be treated with care, I have watched enough 'restoration workshop' programs on TV to know that a bit of good old fashioned spit can be used, and so it proved, with Wee MacGregor recovering much of his colour and losing all the grime from around the edge of the decal, the same for all the graphics.
Waltron Mini2 MacGregor Digi II, as received. Getting ready for testing. A quick look inside. As the Digi II is a mystery to me and needed a thorough clean, I started there first. As I said, the case and all the plastic parts needed a thorough clean, I also wanted to remove the ratchet from the left hand stick and put a spring in its place, as once converted this set will be used in a Veron Impala (in full on retro mode here).
I have an old Futaba 2 channel Tx here which I use for charging loose AA batteries, so that was robbed of the springs from both sticks and the Digi II got a matching pair. Looking at other conversion threads answered the question of how the sticks are kept in place as they are secured to the PCB, simple answer... you leave the PCB and just disconnect the feed to and from it, so, while I wait for Phil G to do his thang with the encoders (a task well beyond me), I will get a couple of FrSky hack kits on order and work will continue once all the gubbins has arrived.
Neil
A few years later I had moved to the South West as my dads work had required a move from London to Bristol. I could not find any aeromodellers at my new school, but a couple of guys sailed boats and so I saved, and acquired a MacGregor push button single channel. Sometime in around 1974 the MacGregor was traded against a Waltron Mini2, the version with a throttle slider and a rudder stick. It was used mostly in boats, I was still keen on aircraft, but I really can't remember what models I had, or what their fate was.
At the end of 2018 I retired, and through a few chance google searches I found both my interest in aeromodelling returning and also singlechannel.co.uk and so here we are.
I still have the Waltron, in its original box and wearing my best quality rose tinted glasses I recently bought a complete Digi II set up. Both are on 27mHz and both still work in a manner of speaking, but, like their owner, they are a bit on the creaky side, so a change to 2.4gHz is on the cards and I thought I'd start a 'build' thread.
The Digi II Tx case was pretty grubby, the flash has glossed over the worst of it but you can imagine what years of use and storage have done. Careful use of Brasso on both a soft cloth and also cotton buds got a lot of the shine back, but those water slide graphics have to be treated with care, I have watched enough 'restoration workshop' programs on TV to know that a bit of good old fashioned spit can be used, and so it proved, with Wee MacGregor recovering much of his colour and losing all the grime from around the edge of the decal, the same for all the graphics.
Waltron Mini2 MacGregor Digi II, as received. Getting ready for testing. A quick look inside. As the Digi II is a mystery to me and needed a thorough clean, I started there first. As I said, the case and all the plastic parts needed a thorough clean, I also wanted to remove the ratchet from the left hand stick and put a spring in its place, as once converted this set will be used in a Veron Impala (in full on retro mode here).
I have an old Futaba 2 channel Tx here which I use for charging loose AA batteries, so that was robbed of the springs from both sticks and the Digi II got a matching pair. Looking at other conversion threads answered the question of how the sticks are kept in place as they are secured to the PCB, simple answer... you leave the PCB and just disconnect the feed to and from it, so, while I wait for Phil G to do his thang with the encoders (a task well beyond me), I will get a couple of FrSky hack kits on order and work will continue once all the gubbins has arrived.
Neil