Spektrum DX8

A few days ago, I went to fly the SE5A, didn't do much, apart from take off and roll into the ground. Fortunately the model didn't even suffer from a broken prop. I'd been having a problem with the SE's rudder servo. Initially the servos were by Fleet and were in the model when I got it. The rudder servo had a pronounced RH offset at switch on. I thought it was the rather old Fleet servo, I took them out and replaced them. I was surprised to find that the replacement rudder servo acted exactly the same way as the Fleet one. I thought that it was a fault with the transmitter, a Spektrum DX8 1st gen. Not a popular item and apparently not to be relied upon. However, My DX8 is a bit special. I bought it for £50 from a chap who hadn't crashed a model for years, but had crashed three in a few days using the DX8. Itook a risk and bought it. I sent it to Horizon Hobby, with a note telling them that I'd bought it knowing there was a possible fault and asking if they could find it and rectify it, and please let me know the cost. A short time later the DX8 was returned, it had been fitted with the latest mainboard and RF unit, the gimbals had been replaced by later versions, instead of just plain old DSM2, the transmitter now coped with DSMX as well, and best of all there was no charge at all. Now I should have known better when I had a problem with the rudder servo, in fact it wasn't the servo and it wasn't the transmitter. It was the receiver causing the problem. Today I did what I should have done when the funny rudder on the SE5A first occurred. I checked the transmitter with two other models, both tested out without a glitch. However, its not all bad, in between the problems with the SE5A's rudder and doing some ground tests with a MIG, I managed to almost drop the DX8, unfortunately I caught it by the aerial. This caused the loss of the aerial's pivot pin. At Cashmoor last week, the aerial was patched by Kevin using sticky tape scrounged from Simon. During a discussion about a replacement pin, Peter Willis observed that a Spektrum aerial pivot pin is a two part item. Today I found the solution, drilled out the original pin holes to 1.9mm, made two new pins from lightweight snake inners. These were a tight fit in the aerial body. Now the aerial is a three position click in place item that it was before I broke it.