Antiquated

Thanks - that does indeed look much cheaper! Have you used the clear or white?

I've found SLEC to be helpful. In the event of an error, they will happily correct it. For example, my delightful better half gave me a SLEC kit as a birthday present. Unfortunately several of the spars were badly split, and so SLEC sent out a new set of stick wood to replace them by next day courier. Of course the result is that I will happily go back to buy more things in future from them*! * So you could argue good service is bad for the bank balance

In early July I placed an order with MHS for a couple of binders, an article copy, and sheets of laser decal paper (one white, one clear). All arrived, except that one of the sheets of decal paper was for inkjet, not laser. I emailed, and was told that a replacement would be sent out (so far so good). Unfortunately, to date, this has never arrived. Subsequently I have emailed (numerous times) and was told that a refund was the only option (which I'm happy with). Unfortunately, to date this doesn't seem to have hit my credit card. I'm not a happy bunny. How long do you think it is reasonable to wait for a refund?

A long time ago (late 1880s) a female ancestor was asked by a foreign ruler to demonstrate her skills as a dentist. To this end, the ruler provided a slave, and insisted that she demonstrate her skill at removing teeth. Apparently she was pleased to discover several rotten teeth in the mouth of said slave, so she didn't feel *too* bad at doing the removal. The end result was she was appointed dentist to the harem for several years (until the locals decided that europeans weren't welcome).

I acquired a copy last week in a WH Smith in Hampshire. One minor quibble was in the article on connectors: inadequate connectors won't cause a current loss unless they are incredibly badly made and have a leakage path. They might however introduce an excessive voltage loss if used beyond their spec due to a higher than designed resistance.

I never watched "Minder", but George Cole was certainly good as Flash in the St Trinian's films, and superb as the repulsive MP and schemer in "Blott on the Landscape". Who can forget the scene where he is chased around his own grounds by the wild animals placed there by his wife?

Well, I've had a response back from MHS - it does indeed seem they have ended the discount. It would have been polite to notify existing subscribers though. It looks like I will be ordering elsewhere then.

Have MHS stopped the 5% discount for RCME subscribers now? They seem to have removed the option to enter your subscriber number, and a trial order today doesn't seem to come up with it either. Is this a deliberate change, or just a mistake caused by a change in the website etc?

Looks very useful, but it does miss a few. For example, ISTR that Britten-Norman had a four-seater, and there isn't any mention that I could see of Island Aviation/ARV with their Super 2.

But in the case of Maplin, it doesn't make sense! There are plenty of items available that don't have the "over-18" marking - but which could probably be used to inflict much greater injury. For example **LINK** or even **LINK** It is a shame that the actions of a few result in politicians feeling the need to pass laws to "protect" everyone else though. Or perhaps I'm just getting old!

What puzzles me is how this (**LINK**) is classed as an offensive weapon? A far cry from the days when as a child I used to go to the shops to buy glue and spare blades for my x-acto knives

My last visit was in 1990, when a relative was exhibiting at the show - this meant that we were able to go on a trade day, so less crowded. The airshow was definitely stolen that year by the russians with the Antonov freighter, and the air displays of the Mig fighters. Unfortunately I never got to see the Antonov fly as it needed a spare part brought over on the day I attended, but the vertical ascent of the Mig was fairly impressive. I agree, it would have been nice to see the shows in the 50s (again too young!), although one mustn't forget the disaster in 1952.

This is probably old-hat to many, but I thought I would share a method I came up with to make leading-edge if you can't use pre-shaped material. First, take a length of block balsa about 2" long and the right size for the leading edge (a bit bigger than the finished size). Mark the profile needed at each end (or iron on from a photocopy of a plan), and then sand down until the block has the correct shape. As this is a small length, it is relatively easy to get the profile correct over the whole length. Now cover the leading edge of this block with sandpaper, stuck down with glue. Take a longer piece of block (say 6-8" ), and about twice the size of the first (in the other two dimensions), and mark one side as "top". Now cut a small v-shaped notch along the middle of the front edge using a knife. You can now use the sandpaper-coated block prepared in the first step to enlarge the cut-out along the "v" that should exactly match the required profile apart from being one sandpaper thickness bigger. Make sure that the "top" side matches that of the desired profile. Once the slot is the correct size, stick sandpaper inside the profiled slot. At this point you have a tool to make the actual leading edge. Roughly remove enough material from your real strip leading edge to make it somewhat "pointy" at the front. You don't need to remove much material here, just enough to allow the slotted block to fit roughly over the front. You can now start to use the tool to sand the "pointy" shape into the actual profile (fit the cut-out with sandpaper over the point). Use long slow motions back-and-forth to make sure you sand evenly along the leading edge. You have finished when the leading edge strip fits exactly inside the sandpaper slot along the entire length I found this was a much quicker and more accurate way to get the desired profile along the whole length than the "sand by eye" method I had previously used. You can also keep the tool to allow for making more leading edge for the model if it is ever needed! Edited By Antiquated on 03/07/2014 14:02:57

Yes please, it would be nice to try out a new type of glue.

The maplin one in the link seems to only have "C" weighting - is this what is needed (no "A" weighting for example)? I know that for the expensive/posh ones (Cirrus/B&K/CEL etc) the manufacturers all offer calibration services (often recommended at least every two years for class 2 or worse, and every year for class 1). You can also buy small portable field calibrators that are intended to be used between service calibrations (ideally every time before a reading) - these output one or two levels (typically 94dB and 104dB), for example **LINK**