RedBaron

The Can-Doo article is 2013 December Page 64. There is a copy on eBay. Probably there is a copy in the digital archive

IMHO the best solution is to get an old version of W7 SP2 install that and lock it down so it cant update. And of course run a good firewall and good anti-virus etc just as you would have to with W11. My W7 has been locked down for 15+years with never a sign of problems. I also run Office 2010 Updates no matter what the manufacturer says are just more bad code else why do they keep coming. W10 was meant to be the best... hmm. Why do the updates keep changing the user interface? hmmm.... They call them security updates just to make the user feel that they are critical. No one knows how to write bug free code, even 100 lines worth, let alone the millions in W11 🙂

I have used MacWet gloves for years, warm, wet proof and with good feel through them. Possibly a bit expensive but what would you pay when your hands are numb and you want them warm again

Perhaps RCM&E might re-introduce 'SPECIAL' issues that have been missing for some years now. And featuring some of Peter's many articles and plans.

My oldest Rxs are about 20 years old and as already indicated A working old one may be more reliable than a new one See the bath tub curve

Zulu E low winger 2009 Feb Zulu ET high winger 2010 Oct

Thanks John most helpful and quick Way to go yet on the index It is a Office accdb file, that can just be used as is or queried into a spreadsheet Really this is the only way to go. From time to time I have seen partial indexes in Word format but not much use in reality

The subject of INDEX seems to have faded out again perhaps I can resurrect it? My RCM&E collection from 1960 issue #1 to date is missing just 13 issues all are pre 1980. I really must attempt to fill the missing issues. It is just not possible to manage that bulk of paper so I have scanned all of them for my personal use Now having the searchable scans to hand it is relatively easy to extract the index data and to reformat it to save into a database Whilst doing this I have tried to correct original index errors, OCR errors and to make minor changes to achieve consistency in use of terms Although somewhat mind numbing I now have all index data for 1999-date in a database Today I have been working on the 1960s period and have hit a snag with my copy of 1968 April that does not have an index page in it. I suppose I could make up my own index for that issue but would prefer to use an RCM&E original to work from So if anyone can post a scan of that index I would be most grateful Observations on using the database: Many index entries are jokey and obscure giving no clue to what the article is about, one day I may add comments to the database to make it even more useful. Hint to magazine composers jokes are great but do not obscure the data Having found an index entry of interest it is quite easy and quick to get to the magazine scan and move to the required page. Much quicker than shambling through bookshelves of paper mags. In the period around 2000 the page composer who did the index used white text with a very dark background, OCR programs do not like this at all. Did cause me to curse somewhat. Composers tend to use fancy fonts (that add nothing to the content) this can fool OCR programs Having a complete index in one place does make it much easier to query for anything, like: all Alex Whitaker articles, make a list of all free plans, make a list of all references to a specific Radio make, any article about hinges etc etc Being able to search by year or by volume is helpful as there were a small number of years when two volume numbers were used in one year There was also one magazine that had the wrong year printed on the front cover! Anyway help please on the 1968 April index Thanks RB

Investments - Don't believe any advisors unless they can show you they have made millions by their own efforts. Take out a subscription to Investors Chronicle. Practice running a dummy portfolio of your choice on a website such as Hargreaves-Lansdown. Do not follow the masses, have a goodly proportion of foreign investments to defend against falling value of the £. When I started the USD-GBP was about 2.5 now it is 1.1ish? Wills - Decide what you want to leave and to who, this is the only difficult part. Then there are plenty of "free" will blank forms. But as you will have made lots by following above advice don't underestimate the help of a good solicitor firm, they may well say things you did not think about. In my will, I put a clause to the effect that if anyone challenges my will then they "automatically get nothing" Cars - be very wary of electric or hybrids, we know enough about batteries to understand some the problems. This dive to "net zero" is a very very expensive activity and is in my opinion doomed to be an asymptotic failure. One medium volcano explosion in the year will nullify just about anything we can do. There are just too many people for any of this to work. Also a lot of people are making a lot of money out of it

My Frog 100 never even fired. I wore it out just by flicking and flicking!!!!!!!!!!!!

The measurement system that one might want to use depends on what you are trying to do. Using a lathe - mm and its subdivisions is OKish Doing woodwork - a saw cut is about an 1/8th of an inch. Also many things built years ago were done in feet and ins Centigrade for measuring human temperatures is pretty useless as it does not have fine enough increments. When I use a weather website I always set my temp. default to Fahrenheit. I would vote for all the old measurement systems being taught in schools then pupils might be able to think in bases other than 10 and 2, thus achieving better mental flexibility. Lets face it there is nothing special or magical about the number 10 to be used as the only base, I would vote for using a prime number like 13. If 10 is so special why do we still have 60mins/hr and 12 months/year etc The metric system is all Napoleons fault anyway and he did measure stuff wrongly to set the standards for rulers etc, so a metric ruler has no actual comparison base in the real world. After we went metric here the UK was just about the only European country where you could not go to the local market and buy a "pound" of butter. The pound did vary a bit from country to country. What did we do here? we punished shop keepers who continued to mark up produce in lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For modelling purposes an Imperial drill set together with a Number Set is much more useful that a metric set I still feel that measuring vehicle speeds in light years make a lots of sense..... 🙂

There is no standard answer to the question what is a good IR?, it depends on the number of cells, the capacity, how you have used the batts, how you have charged the batts, the make etc. Generally large capacity batts have lower IR per cell than small capacity batts. What you have to do is measure the IR for every cell of every battery that you use and record the information. If you have not already done it label each of your batts. After a period of time like two months repeat the exercise at exactly the same temperature as your original readings. A small change in ambient temp will make a noticeable difference to the resistance measured. What you are looking for in this information about your batteries is for changes in the IR of cells. Usually if done accurately IR becomes higher with age as the the chemistry of the "ode"s deteriorate. If all the cells of a particular battery have drifted about the same amount then it is just getting older. If one of the cells has drifted more that the other cells then you are headed down hill, test this battery more often. If you have any batts that are more or less puffy it is a high probability that one cell may well be much worse than the others. Unmatched restistance + puffy = bin time. Your data will be of no use to anyone else and vice-versa. It is all about changes in the IR of your set of batteries.

Don't forget that the originals had a pretty tacky finish when in use, different repairers in different places, bits salvaged from wrecks etc, so for scale tacky and not quite matching is good. If you want museum or factory finish that is another story.

Thank you leccy for quick response RB

I am in the midst of tidying up my library of RCM&E issues, and I am trying to establish the years that had special editions. I have specials for 2014-2019, I think that there were none after 2019. I have not got copies but there appear to have been specials in 2012 and 2013 were there any earlier than 2012? Many thanks RB