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A quick update on the Mossie . Converting the half foam board model into a wooden kit had concerned me in a number of ways . Firstly , could the weight be kept similar (particularly at the back end ) in order that a 64" model could balance with just one 3300 4s battery ? Secondly , the joint separation behind the wing being easy be structurally sound . Thirdly , with the upswept rear fuselage meaning that my usual central crutch would not be horizontal , how did I mount the tail assembly firmly ? On the mock up shown below you can see that the tail has a long overlap onto the crutch and is at the same time , sandwiched by the foam decks making it nice and stable . The fuselage joint is nice with the radio aerial being extended through the model to pin it in place . There will be a magnet at the bottom of the aerial tube , so no screws or fasteners to lose at the field . The best result is that even with one pack and no props it balances pretty much on the money . Also note the little tail moulding which saves both work and weight at the rear end (well done Paul ) Out of interest , we found the quickest route was for me to make a wooden one , send it to Paul who then creates the same in 3D for a male mould . It compares well with the foam board variant in the last shot .

The Highways Agency found over 200 dead crows on the M4 near Bridgend recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be from vehicular impacts. However, during analysis it was noted that varying colours of paints appeared on the ...bird's beaks and claws. By analysing these paint residues it was found that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with motorbikes, while only 2% were killed by cars. The Agency then hired an Ornithological Behaviourist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of motorbike kills versus car kills. The Ornithological Behaviourist quickly concluded that when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow to warn of danger. They discovered that while all the lookout crows could shout "Cah", not a single one could shout "bike"

Weather was excellent today. Here we have a very unusual boy. He is 8 years old and is a recent member to our club. He is unusual in that he has NO relatives already in the game. . He just decided he wanted to fly R/C aeroplanes, and he even taught himself to fly. . . And he taught himself really well. He has skills which are noticeably more developed than many seasoned pilots. Until he had learnt how to fly, he didn't even realise that clubs existed. . . He does now. He did his RCC on Friday, and passed his "A" Test today (Sunday). His grandparents are proudly supporting him in his journey into model flying. They have bought him a Riot as a reward for his achievement. 👍 The hobby/sport could use a few more like this superb youngster. Passed his "A"...

We had our annual summer solstice hill gathering the night before last, delayed until the wind direction came good. We fly until the sun goes down and very enjoyable it was too with a good turnout.

One of my clubs, the South Norfolk Model Flying Club, runs a free flight and radio assisted comp during evenings of the last week of July and the first week of August. There are 2 classes, All comers vintage and Vic Smeed Tomboy so as I have neither in my collection I decided to build a Tomboy. I downloaded the plans from Outerzone and converted these to a file that I could then use with my laser cutter to produce the ‘kit’. I started the build last Monday with a view to having it ready for last Friday evenings Summer Solstice Vintage Evening at our smaller flying site at Tacolneston but other things got in the way which meant that I didn’t complete it until yesterday. Don’t ask what the motor is as I just picked one out of the spares drawer that looked about right and is powered by a 2s LiPo, but the model (the larger of the 2 options) has elevator and rudder and is covered in 15 micron matt laminating film. This is the first time that I’ve used this extremely lightweight lam film but I’m very pleased with the results.

So I hired a Citroen Jumper. Something was lost in translation! The I wanted a Citroen Jumpy, but the Jumper was enormous, by far the biggest vehicle I'd ever driven, six speed manual gearbox and all! The first night was spent north of Macon which was a minor mistake. I should have booked a hotel to the south of the town butit was cheap. I went on to the Beaujolais Valley on Friday and bought five cartons of Julienas from the Chateau in Julienas and some St Amour as well. I then rolled down to the flying field. The was only one man there but we got talking, I had brought a dozen bottles of beer from the Salopian Brewerey, a small brewery operating out of a disused railway station near Shrewsbury. I'm a Shropshire Lad you know! It's not very strong by French standards only 4% alcohol but it has a good slightly lemony taste. The other man offered to put my bottles into the fridge in his motor caravan which kept them cool as the temperature was over 30C well into the evening. I rigged my tent and started to inflate the mattress only to discover that some animal had eaten some of it with the result that it would not inflate, however, I had taken some of Tiko's recently laundered blankets with me so I slept on one of those in my sleeping bag using the bag I kept my clothing in as a pillow, just like the old days. At 07.00 having given the dog a walk and having given her her breakfast, I had a a breakfast consisting of bacon and eggs, dry bread and tea. The weather was too warm to allow for butter. I put Bertie on my Best Mate Stand and tried to fire up the engine. I had not flown the model for about ten days but I could not get the engine to strart or respond to throttle. The screw which holds the throttle arm to the carburettor had come loose. A few deep breats, stay calm David! Spinner off, prop off, cowling off, wing off. Examine situation, examine settings on the transmitter's travel adjustment page, Go back to basics. Arrange the servo output arm and the throttle arm so that they are parallel to each other. Test movement just to be sure. Cowling on, propellor on, spinner on, wing on, spin starter motor and she bursts into life. Move to full throttle and adjust the main needle jet, reduce power and it would tick over all day. Transition immaculate but I am using very high nitro content. Go to register, hand over 25€ for lunch, it never used to be that much... Accept lunch token and off to watch the first "serie" or group. The first "epreuve" is a concours d'elegance in which the appearence of every model is judged against certain criteria. Out of fifty odd competitors my model finished fourteenth. Then the flying events started. In La Coupe des Barons you fly in groups or serie of up to ten aircraft at the same time. I was Pilot 6 in Goup 4. One of the other four-stroke users was Pilot 1 in the same group. The first round is "caisse baguettes" where you have to knock over 1 metre high balsawood sticks. I had previously made a note of all of the competitition numbers of every aircraft using a four-stroke. There were only four of us including me. One of them was in the first serie but I was distracted so never saw what happened but I never saw this aeroplane again so I presume that it crashed irrepairably in the first round. The other fourstroke user who was in Serie 4, the same group as me, crashed on take off but repaired it for the later rounds.. With the help of a Frenchman, Regis Besnier, whom I "met" through these pages, he posts as "Ron Ron," we had my Baron up and away. At the sound of the horn we all dived down to the sticks. I had been practising low level flight since January and this was to be my strongest suite. My first pass was too high so I went round again and came in nice and low but the wheels hit the ground and the model was tipped over fortunately without damage. I had hit one stick! The next round was the pylon race. The other four-stroke competitor in my group crashed into the pylon just after take off! But he was a game lad and had his aircraft ready for the fox chase which was the third round well, reinforced with parcel tape. I had mixed in some down elevator to the throttle stick above 85% movement for the pylon race but I completely forgot about switching it in consequently I was holding in considerable down at full chat. However, I managed to pass a number of pylons and make a safe landing. I didn't bother to ask the judge what my score was because my flying had been pants. There was a fourth four-stroke user from the Jonages Club who had finished his model in blue with red trim as had several of the Jonage boys. He'd made a good job of it. I watched his model in the pylon race and thought it was rather slow. Then we all had lunch washed down with Shropshire Ale then it was time for the "Chasse Renard" in which a trainer slowly pulls a streamer and you have to cut it or at least touch it. It's difficult to judge where the tug is and by the time you've caught up with it, it's somewhere else! I found myself below the tug but with plenty of speed so I thought that I might just be able to cut the streamer if I applied up elevator. I did so and crashed into another Baron! Mind you, you could have thrown a blanket over four or five of use. I lost my starboard wing entirely and he lost most of one of his wings and both models spiralled into the ground. It took us ages to find them. My starboard wing is still out there. The rest is destined for the wood burner. "Well that's it for this year," I thought, "no chance of the four-stroke cup this year. My two other competitors both crashed in tha later rounds. The Jonage lad with such force that it bought down the entire installation and flying had to be stopped while it was re erected! I stayed for the prize giving. Everybody started asking me my age because there's a prize for the oldest competitor and the youngest competitior.the youngest was 10 years old, the oldest looked to be about 62 to me and I'm 77. I thought that I should at least win the Best Crash Prize but that went to one of the high hidiens who normally finishes in the top five, so imagine my surprise when I won the Four-Stroke Cup! I must have accumulated more points in the pylon race than I'd imagined! One competitor taking home three prizes would have been too much! It was a very destructive Coupe this year with only about half a dozen making it home unscathed. Drove through the night. Got home at 08.00 very tired. I'm going to bed! Pictures and probably a video to follow.

I had my first flight with the eflightray 82" span Vulcan yesterday, it has pusher props which are close to the ground, the slightest touch of elevator and they catch the grass. After 4 attempts it struggled into the air, not a lot of power but it flew well. I changed the props for less diameter more pitch but couldn't get it off again. I will check the motors and esc's to see if they can take 4s, it is currently on 3S 5000 s. After 3 minutes flight I brought it down for a battery check, it had over 70% left. The wind direction was the biggest problem I had to take off on the short strip..

I´ve had this ARTF sitting around for years. A recent operation left me housebound so I put it together to pass the time.

Quote of the day following a mid air between two fellow members this afternoon - “I don’t understand how it happened…we were nowhere near each other!”

Hi everyone, this is flying video of the EP version flying

Gutted. Almost managed to get over the fence at Glastonbury but was caught by security and told to go back and carry on watching the Rod Stewart set 💔

The Mosquito is still progressing so lets not panic about that . It is complicated for me in order that it is way less complicated for you . It wont be for everyone though . So lets have a look at what else might be on the menu in the near future . I have had a Spitfire design running since 1996 . In 2016 it really took a leap forward into the laser cut Mk IX . But I havent made any for quite a while as people seemed to lose interest , or had already built one . Its a shame because both Paul and Eric still have theirs and rate them very near the top of their "squadrons" . Its not to say we didnt tweak the design from 2016 , so it may be time to look at the most iconic of WW2 aircraft once again . If there were any negatives about the laser cut kit , it would be the bottom loading battery and the undercarriage fixing and geometry . Paul , with his obsessive attention to detail (I'm cowering slightly waiting for the left hook ) has persevered with the undercarriage and now has it absolutely spot on . All three of our Spits run straight as a die and do not nose over ! The experiments with resilience have also paid off and no longer to do we hear the "click of doom " when the undercarriage plate either cracks or detaches . Given the success of the Tempest/190 pairing last year (well over 100 so far ) , I felt that everyone was ready for the ultimate pairing . It has to be the battle of Britain early Spitfire and its nemesis the 109E . You have probably all seen the 109E flying prototype that Eric has been playing around with , so you can see that with some additional mouldings and details that the Luftwaffe option is nearly there . I am under no illusion that it will be the main draw . Ever since I were a lad , Ive heard experts tell me that Spitfires are difficult to fly . But now , after 35 years of doing my own designs, admittedly in the same zone of the club size Warbird, I feel equipped to deal with the "Big Issue" . That issue is that 95% of people that get into building scale models would ultimately like to build a Spitfire but have been warned off by other people or put off by other difficult to fly design . For me, the Tempest /190 adventure was rewarding in several ways . Because of the simple way we presented the kits here on this forum , several newbies had a go . We really need these chaps , so everyone should be as patient and helpful as possible because they ensure the continuation of our kits and the building hobby . Secondly , the Dollies (special thanks to all those that shared their own designs ) have been way better than I expected . They give people the chance to get into WW2 stuff without the initial complication of retracts , which can be a huge barrier . Lets face it , if you have say 50 flights on the 190 and have belly landed with ease every time , you will feel quite comfortable landing on wheels with the same "old friend". So, with all of that in mind , my intention is to create an early mark Spitfire which will be tough and light so that it can stand both belly landing and retracts . The build must be quick and straightforward for those with limited experience . (I sort of assess it by thinking , that if you have made a Chris Foss "Whatever" you can do this ) . I have switched back to a four piece foam veneer wing . They are tough, light and accurate . They also take retracts better than a built up wing . There will be a new top hatch for the battery . The tail has been tweaked to give a slightly leaner look at the back end . The wind shape is very accurate in plan form and also generates a lot of lift at low speeds which means it will stall very late and even when savagely provoked just does a lazy wing over . The model below lacks any detail yet but only weighs 5lb . Hand on heart , it handles beautifully . So the "Big Issue " I referred to is that I want people to say in reply to those who announce the infamous words "dont buy a Spitfire , loads of trouble " , "perhaps not , I fly mine every week " . As they said in the war , the peoples Spitfire 😉

Buckminster Warbirds Festival 2025 Three glorious days of weather and warbird flying with everything from 800mm foamies to some >25kg in a totally relaxed atmosphere. IMO the no jets (turbines) was the right decision and they were probably somewhere else anyway 😉 20kg B17

HUSBAND: I want you to have this bracelet. It belonged to my grandmother. WIFE: Why does it say, “Do not resuscitate?” 😳😂

The Geordie Lad actually popped into Wiltshire today to let me fly the new Me109e prototype . Apparently he has taken to wearing two hats . This , he explained,is because the larger hat doesnt actually fit and ends up dropping down over his face . So he wears a smaller hat under the large hat . I pointed out that if everyone adopted this stance , we could all be wearing two or more sets of clothes . Why not just buy stuff that fitted in the first place ? Anyway , despite this millinery perversion he had made a very good job of the model . Needs a few cosmetic additions to be "Fit to Kit " ,but flies very nicely with benign stall and sprightly performance . Outside of Knotty Ash and the Treacle Mines , I don't think multiple hat wearing is going to become a thing 😬

https://youtu.be/0oUyZ1aoddc?si=Rj10xenHl0h0FEwU Hi all ! Here's a link for the flight video after paint Thanks all for following all these years ! I'm also very glad to say that there's an article coming up in the October or september issue of RCM&E !! THE CHERRY ON THE CAKE !

My 4-year-old granddaughter asked: "Where does poo come from?" To make it simple, I said: "You just had breakfast?" "Yes," she replied. "Well, the food goes in your mouth down into your tummy. Our body takes all the good stuff it needs out of the food and then what’s left goes down to your bottom - and when you go to the toilet, that comes out as poo." She looked confused and stared at me in stunned silence for a few seconds. Then she asked: "And Tigger?" 🐯😳😂

Best definition I ever heard went something like this: Political correctness. A concept, initially devised by West Coast academics as little more than humorous Devil’s advocacy but subsequently adopted by liberal idiots, which asserts that it’s perfectly possible to pick up a turd by the clean end. BTC

After last week's carnage I settled on a set of good honest models with no foibles and despite the disappointment of forgetting my coffee, plus suffering with hay fever the flying was good and the day went from good to better. Initially overcast, but with light winds, that swung round and strengthened a bit, but was no bother. Got good flights in with my Ripmax Mustang and Spitfire funfighters, plus my latest wee Volantex Corsair and Arrows Hawk, but the highlights were flights with what is now firmly my favourite model, the Warbirds FW190. Just what was needed to get back on the horse after last week. Half a dozen of us at the field and I didn't see one single crash resulting in any damage, so I think everyone had a good day as well, A few piccies to mark the day, with Derek's Robbe Dash 7, Jim W's Tony Nijhuis Spitfire , plus newish member Barry's Precedent T180, a once very popular model I haven't seen for many years.

The Yak was one of those designs that just flew great straight form the first flight . The La7 is also good in all sizes , but the Yak is a little more frisky , but at the same time easy to land with a slow stall . Its light and simple so very quick to make . Crafty wing section and light loading is the trick . Personally , I don't even think of it in the context of todays disputes . If we do that , we better stop flying Mustangs and Thunderbolts . Anyone who has seen the real Yaks fly at an air show would recognise the same traits in the model . I might ask people their views at the Best Of British regarding the Yak kit . Seems that there might be a dozen people out there for it . sounds nice too ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI_1jBb_0v0&t=3s

Just had a couple of really nice flights with my J60 floating around without a care in the world.

Not a new model, but newish to me. I did sneak a picture a few pages back, but I am now happy to report that the L-39 has flown. My first of hopefully many Jet flights.

Reached the point where the design of the wheel hub has been frozen and the flying version printed. On the inboard hub I have added a recess for the brake assembly and the steel brake disk drive dogs slot into those 3 holes. They are also the attaching screw holes so the hubs are screwed into the tires first and then the brake disk is inserted. I find that it normally take 3-4 prints of the tire to get one that I am happy with, so once I had a good example. I made 3 of those. I like to have a spare especially in the early days of a new model just in case the design needs some tweaking . the TPu printed wheels will go through what I would term an extensive post production process to get them looking like tires. The printing of the final scale exhaust hubs is also underway with just one more set to come off the printer

Ready for flight, currently the weight is 1700g without battery, the flying weight is about 2kg only. I will convert it to IC version in the future and post here~

Hopefully a couple of budding young pilots in the making. Zachary 6 and Betsy 3. They both had a blast.

Panel lines on the wing (1/32 Chartpak tape) added and all the access hatches made from cut up beer cans. Someone had to drink it! Simulated piano hinge is a thin carbon rod with notches filed. The cellulose primer doesn’t adhere well to the thin metal so a light spray of etch primer should help. Wings now ready for final primer coats and then the joy of burning rivets. A task I have been putting off for ages are the two exhaust shields. I decided to fabricate these ‘off the model’ first by way of a simple mould for the indented section. .8mm Aluminium sheet was first cut oversized and the forward part scribbled over with a sharpie pen. Next a thorough heating with a blow torch until the pen marks disappeared to soften the metal. Much faffing/burnishing eventually had a reasonable form and after cutting to size each were given a thorough polish. After making the first one I had to redo the mould in reverse for the opposite side. Not glued in place yet but looking ok. The hinged scale position hatch above gives access to the receiver switch and air fill valve. I think it should be hinged from above but it’s awkward for a model that way.

My old friend Canopy Glue does it’s job, with only the odd bit of smearing of that crystal clear canopy. Does anyone manage this job with no small messiness whatsoever? At least the hot weather means the glue sets reasonably quickly. A few internal parts to the sliding section have been added after painting them blue as well as some grey inner frame parts. Masked up and a trial fit before gluing the front and lower frame in place. A little filler to blend the lower edge and thankfully after the glue had set and tape removed the sliding mechanism is bind free. The cockpit area and instruments are complete

New models. First VQ Spitfire with SC91FS engine I rebuilt as needed a new crank shaft bought the engine as scrap and had a spare crank.

Good flying this morning, though a bit chillier than forecast, with a brisk SE wind and rapidly clouding over after a sunny start. Eight of us at the field and with grass cutting pencilled in for the afternoon it was about getting the flying done by lunchtime. Conditions were not good for photography with that alternating very dark or very bright overcast. At my local club we really enjoy mass flights of the wee 50mm Red Arrows Hawks and I've been trying to encourage my pals at my old club to take part as well, We've had a couple of three ship flights, but today managed a couple with four up at a time - super fun, even if it is only for three-four minutes. I think there's only two or three Hawks in the club, but Jim and Derek's Sea Venom and F9F Panther slotted in perfectly. We welcomed back a couple of our flyers who had been laid up for a few months with their first flat field powered flights, following the slope flying at the weekend, which was great to see. Jim brought his Decathlon out, to join a swapmeet bargain Dimona motorsegler - lovely fibreglass German kit whilst Rainer flew his Riot and one of his Lidl glider conversions. New member Barry debuted a scratch built flying wing, which went very well - he was delighted with how she flew. As well as having some very enjoyable warbird flights my main mission for the day was to remaiden my venerable Kyosho T-33 refurbishment - which last flew in July 2005. That should have happened last week, if I had not needed to hack the combined motor/fan/ESC out and replace it when it refused to work, having been perfect prior to installation. I replaced it with a more modern 12 bladed fan, with brushless outrunner and a 60Amp ESC. With no markings on the motor I couldn't tell if this was a 3 cell or 4 cell motor, but trying it on both it seemed quite happy and the current draw of 32Amps and 46Amps respectively didn't seem too outrageous. It has to be four cells anyway, as even with my heaviest 3s1p 5200mah pack it didn't get anywhere close to balancing. That needed a 4s1p 4000mah pack and she got away perfectly from Derek's handlaunch and flew really nicely, even throttled back a bit. All was well and checked out okay, so was just getting set for some photos when I suddenly lost thrust. Shutting down and restarting didn't improve the situation, so called deadstick and with height to spare was able to bring the T-33 to a smooth, safe landing, no harm done. Firing up the motor again on the ground resulted in a stream of smoke coming out of the jet pipe, Jim did say that he thought that there was a hint of an exhaust trail in the air, so that was it - in the minute and a half flight I'd fried the motor - presumably a 3 cell job. Anyway, no harm done, no damage to the aeroplane, but I;ll have to open up the fuselage again to replace that motor.

Remember the one about the dyslexic pimp? He opened a warehouse.

Great weekend so far - at the field early yesterday for some basic fun flying, no high stress maiden flights just the usual warbirds stuff, bit of tail chasing and loose formation flying with my P-51D and Derek's Russian P-39 Airacobra. Had a second flight with the wee Durafly Brewster Buffalo refurb, not quite as hairy with an additional 20g of lead in the cowl, but still not as comfortable a model as my Martlet. No major problems though and Derek managed to get a few piccies, Put some flights in on my PZ Mosquito, but with no signal for my phone there was no Ron Goodwin 633 Squadron accompaniment. Good day though, very warm, quite breezy but nothing too outrageous. The plan for today was for the ADS Club Slope day and the wind direction was right for the Cairn O'Mount, but only 6mph SE to start with, so packed an electric glider as insurance. Ended up flying my Easyglider Pro for most of the day, needing motor assist to get away from the slope and into lift on a few flights, but motor off on other flights. The wind did gradually increase to around 9mph with some slightly stronger gusts, so definitely a day for gliders that would work in light lift. We did see some booming thermal as well and I think everyone enjoyed the day. Also flew a couple of oldies when the lift had improved, in the Veron Cobra and my rescued MicroMold MiniPhase. The two Steves had great success with their composite ships carving up the air and we were delighted to welcome back Jim and Rainer for their first flying session since they have both had orthopaedic ops in the past few months and are on the recovery path. The light rain arrived as forecast, so we quicky packed up after a grand day's flying, with no-one really getting wet. ADS Slope Day at Cairn 21st June 2025.mp4 ADS Slope Day at Cairn 2 21st June 2025.mp4 ADS Slope Day at Cairn 21st June 2025.mp4