Neil's Blog

Blimey - burning down the house indeed! and boys' toy wrecked! and burnt fingers - man that's gotta prove best to do nothing on a Sunday!

Blimey - burning down the house indeed! and boys' toy wrecked! and burnt fingers - man that's gotta prove best to do nothing on a Sunday!

Sounds a bit of a nightmare

Been back to the hospital this morning, and as I'd thought, there's only an issue with two of my fingers (tho the others are blistered from the burns).

The 3rd finger on my right hand had broken skin around one of the burns, so that's been redressed so that it doesn't get infected. This should clear itself up ok given time.

The 2nd finger on my right hand is the one that was most badly burnt, with a teardrop shaped burn on the fingertip about 1/2 inch square. The skin is almost white here, although it's all intact and unbroken. When it's touched it feels like a fingertip feels when it's got a coating of superglue over it (I'm sure most people know that sort of feeling). Anyway, at the moment the 'nurse practicioner' (what's one of those anyway?) who looked at it wasn't happy to say it'll be OK (tho he seemed to indicate that he thought it probably would be), so I have to go back in three days for him to check it again. At worst, it might need (plastic?) surgery, but i think this would be more to restore any lost feeling than a medical necessity, and bearing in mind that it's a not too important finger on my non-primary hand, it's probably something I wouldn't bother with ... at the moment, I have some feeling but it's unclear if this would be permanent.

All in all, I've had a very lucky escape!

What sort of a toy was it? A remote control type thing or something bigger?? ..Just curious? and are you going to have a chat with the shop keeper that you bought from - might be worth it incase there is a common fault of some kind?

that's shite.. hope your hands get better soon.

What sort of a toy was it? A remote control type thing or something bigger?? ..Just curious? and are you going to have a chat with the shop keeper that you bought from - might be worth it incase there is a common fault of some kind?

it was an expensive remote control helicopter. The battery was a Li-Po.

Yes, I'll probably take it up with the shop I bought it from, but part of me is embarrassed to do that. There's two realistic options for the explosion - a dodgy battery, or a dodgy Neil.

The reality is that neither can be proven - the battery is now a lump of melted metal, and there's no way of knowing if I'd connected it the right or wrong way round. I'm a qualified electrician, so I'd like to think I wasn't an idiot - but I have no way of knowing for sure.

it was an expensive remote control helicopter.

It was one of these beauties....

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blimey charlie, thankfully it happened whilst you were there or it could have been a lot worse. We have a proper toyshop near us that has been selling a remote control helicopter for some time, I had been giving it considerable thought as well, I think I will stick to solitaire.

blimey charlie, thankfully it happened whilst you were there or it could have been a lot worse. We have a proper toyshop near us that has been selling a remote control helicopter for some time, I had been giving it considerable thought as well, I think I will stick to solitaire.

Even if the problem was a fault with the battery and not something I did, I would have thought it was highly unusual for the battery to explode like it did - if there was that much of a problem with the batteries, I wouldn't have thought they'd be being sold.

If you do think about buying a 'copter, be careful what you buy. Until you start spending major cash (all of the kit I've bought has cost nearly a grand in total), they're only good for flying indoors because they can't handle even a tiny bit of wind. The prices might not look too bad for an ARTF (almost ready to fly) copter, but then you have to buy the radio controller, gyros, servos, battery, chargers, etc, etc. And then you have to build it (which is where you discover it's not 'almost' after all ), and then get the setup & balance right else it will never fly well.

And if you do buy one, don't go thinking you'll be able to fly it straight off, they are mighty difficult to fly (I've been told that helicopter pilots reckon the real thing is easier!). I've been having lessons where the instructor has dual remote controls (so he can save his copter from me crashing it!), and after quite a few hours of these lessons, plus practicing on a realistic simulator (Reflex XTR) with my remote controller plugged into my computer, I know I'd do nothing other than crash if I tried flying the real thing solo ... and with the copter being expensive, crashing is expensive too!

If you buy one, you need somewhere to fly it (either a club site, or make an arrangement with a farmer). The local park is NOT a good place to do it, cos you could decapitate someone!!! (seriously!).

Having said all that, I've got bitten with it - it's great fun. For the moment I'm going to hold off buying a replacement (the training happens on a copter of the instructors), but I'll buy another one at some point. A guy I was chatting to last week has bought himself a collection of different models (both electric and internal combustion) off ebay, so that's maybe what I'll do when I'm good enough so that a crash isn't guaranteed.

I've been back to the hospital this afternoon, and the good news is that my fingers should all be fine, tho it'll be a while before they're properly healed. At least they're bandage-free now, which makes normal life a bit easier.

Glad all is better with the hands..

Didn't realise the cost involved with model aircraft (more planes than choppers) till I seen a friend of rollergirls website. He builds and sells models and is often in China on business.

http://www.glensmodels.com

Expensive hobby

I took the plunge again on Saturday, and decided to have the knackered burnt 'copter rebuilt .... pleasingly, when I actually bothered to have a properly look at it, it wasn't as melted/burnt as I'd originally thought (I'd avoided looking at it before Saturday as it was too depressing ). The re-build will cost around £250 I guess.

I also had some more lessons at the w/e, and my flying skills are coming on a bit ... i'm maybe at the point now where I could take off, hover, and then land again without a serious crash ... well, perhaps 50% of the time.

Shit, and there was me thinking Neil was talking about a woman. I hope your fingers heal ok Neil

about ten weeks on, and I'm now pretty sure that I've permanently f**ked one of my fingers from toasting it.

It's not a great problem - in fact it's minimal, but strange all the same. I definitely have a different sensation of feeling on my fingertip now, which every time makes me consider if i should use a different finger for whatever I'm doing.