Richard B (DB Sport and Scale Ltd)

Thanks for the mention Jon, kc, Percy and others. Very much appreciated. Yes they are created in batches because despite what it may look like at the end, there's a huge amount of work in selecting the required weight of balsa, looking for unacceptable blemishes or dinks in the wood. Even a scuff in a non used place may be enough to go into the 'Rich's pile to build' heap (it's quite substantial!). - some goes in the discard pile due to having to put out the occasional flame in the wood. Wood being a natural product obviously, it's not going to be uniform so the thicker stuff especially can have denser and lighter patches in the one sheet. Even ply can be subject to glue anomalies in unseen patches. It's all different thicknesses of balsa and ply. dowel and thick balsa can't be lasered so is handcut and you should also see some of the weird shapes and jigs for bandsawing that we need to employ. This week has been a 1/4 strip tapered down to 1/8 on a couple of sides as an example for the Vampire (which we had to halt Hurricane production as we'd run out unexpectedly, saying that, same thing happened with the Tiger Moth 58 the previous week. Fibreglass cowls. Make a batch and discard any with bubbles that affect the surface. Keep going till we have 7 or 14 kits worth. Same with vac forming but not so long a wait. Packing the boxes in the presentation we have grown used to and is worthy of that customer first open look, feel and smell. Not any complaints here, just an insight into the amount that still needs to be monitored and hand crafted. I haven't even mentioned the wire bending process - when I get a spare 60K I'll maybe invest in a proper CNC bending machine but for now, hand crafted Shame to hear of Flair, still love my Flair Kite (Trained on and still going strong) although that was bought by them from ATS, saying that it may be why I'm selling more Williams Brothers stuff (just received a huge two boxes with usual stuff plus dummy engine bits). I only emailed Flair this week to check they still produced the 1/4 Tiger Moth for a customer of ours. Not had a reply yet sadly and phoning didn't work either. I have had many new time builders call, buy and are currently beavering away. Some will fly (in time and with obvious trainer/club joining advice issued) and some just like modelling, I have also discussed starting up with any number of people at the shows, probably costs me sales whilst I'm wittering on but it's an investment so is good with me. Look at our facebook page for recent pictures and maiden voyages although I can only update it intermittently. Not sure about link rules so won't add one, facebook and dbsportandscale should get you where it's at. Even more of a shame about Wren, really wanted one eventually. Best I don't get here very often as I've waffled on for long enough. Happy building, flying and if you're unfortunate enough to suddenly have an extra space in your hangar, well, you know where we are. Edited By Richard B (DB Sport and Scale Ltd) on 21/08/2015 21:07:10

The suggested setup for the initial fight is: Ailerons 3/4" (20mm) up, 3/8" (10mm) down Just email me at the usual address (on the website) if you need any more info.

And it was very good to see, talk to (a lot) and put many faces to names. Intermingled with a dash of good old folk from Swansea, didn't notice any Reading people there but they may have been, it was rather hectic on Saturday! First show survived and enjoyed although it's very tiring this socialising and drinking - and selling some bits and bobs! There were so very many people that I'm unlikely to remember everyone's name but I will remember faces, I apologise profusely in advance for this. For any who experienced the slightly chaotic nature of our first event I both apologise and thank you for your patience, you should have seen behind the scenes on Saturday morning - it was a sight to behold but not to repeat. Shame about Sunday but it only seemed to get more and more windy as the day went on - you should have seen some of the chaos from taking down of marquees - my sister nearly blew away attached to the front of the tent. It was a great shame about the Jet, I saw it and it was not pretty. Many commiserations and much plaudits for flying it in the first place. I very much look forward to Woodsprings next and hopefully my plastic containers, business cards and leaflets will not all be trying to take off and attack me next time. I guess they are called flyers after all...

Thanks Percy, and yes I look forward to meeting everyone - I also look forward to attending shows I've not been able to before due to work commitments. Just one more thing before it starts looking like I'm hogging the limelight on here. Many things in this setting up / relaunch / continuation rely on other things to be done first. I have been updating a Facebook page for some time ready for go live because I didn't want to launch an empty page. Equally I didn't want to launch anything or advertise until I'd sorted out McAfee (see previous thread for more on that). Now that the new larger Ad is in the latest RCME and the website is all green and safe (not that it wasn't safe before), further evidence of packing niceness can be seen on earlier photos on the facebook page **LINK**. Hmm this link looks a bit like my ecommerce software but that's just digressing... You'll also see some before and after photos plus a few wire bending pics and general unit setup. Keep checking as I have not finished getting new stock lines in.

Thanks chaps, and gently no longer applies. We are in full swing with Eddie and Judy providing backup for any questions remotely and then dropping in when we have sufficient tasks to be demonstrated. The latest Piper cubs are now being boxed up and it's taken a bit longer to finalise than expected. Our GRP process for the cowls needs to be repeated multiple times in order to get a full 14. We have to make more than this because we reject any we can spot flaws in even though most of the flaws I'd be more than happy to build with. But not to put in a kit as I very much appreciate that first opening of the box should be an absolute joy. Yesterday I consigned a number of lengths of strip to the 'personal use' pile, some for very minor defects. Same with the sheets, any flaws prior to or after laser cutting are rejected even though some are so minor as to be barely noticeable. Having said that, the densities of the balsa do vary and even though we weigh every piece to be lasercut (to try and get a consistent cut) sometimes a light scalpel over the join may be required or conversely the parts may be more eager to pop out of the board than usual. Due to it being checked on cutting and then again on packing, any potential issues should be caught early but occasionally something may go amiss. If it does, then we will remedy the situation immediately. Packing is along similar lines as before as Eddie and Judy created packing guidelines although some is open to interpretation and can be a bit of 3d puzzle. Often at points of confusion we deviate from the written under the principles that everything be packed safely and it should also look nice when the box is opened. Some of the rejected GRP will be sold as less than A1 at the shows (or before) because they are easily repairable and there may be some other items also. I think, as a rule, I will try not to involve myself in this sort of discussion as I believe that could lead to forum checking madness and I could easily miss posts but rest assured, I build and I fly. I will be increasing the things we sell as a supplement to the kits (mostly building related and often things I like to use) but the kits are paramount and they will be created as I would like to receive (and I have high expectations). Nothing should spoil that feeling every modeller should get when opening the box and perusing the many contents. Got to dash, off to the post office to send parcels to Sweden, the US and the good old UK. another will go to Finland on Monday along with plan pack bits to Australia and new weekend orders that don't involve manufacturing processes. And finally, I'd like to see all the plan packs returned but that is a work in progress (or planned to be progressed at least). In the meantime, it is true that Eddie (having retired) now has more time to do some work for me on a couple of models Top man.

I'm more lurker than poster but crikey, if that doesn't make you break cover, I'm not sure what would. that is a work of art even before being built. best of luck, it will be a stunner

It's difficult to tell exactly because of the epoxy and the wing bandage, not forgetting the covering. However, my servo lines exit 12.5cm back from the middle of the leading edge and with a bit of gentle probing with some piano wire I'd guesstimate the brace is around about the 11.5/12cm mark. Seems about right from memory but it was a few years ago that I built it so I could be completely wrong. As to how long, I can't tell because it's obviously encapsulated in wing now but it was fairly substantial I think. I'd guess again at around the 30cm range but that really is a memory test guess.

Me too, lots of bites driving me mad at the moment. Is there any proof DEET works? I have extra strong jungle fever spray and virtually bathed in the stuff on the weekend but a massive so and so landed exactly where I'd just sprayed. Think it was having a bath in the stuff. I think they smell it and so know where exactly to go and bite, it's the horsefly equivalent of a neon restaurant sign

Please add me in, thanks.

Replace my fingerless gloves with these reduced? I'm in and have received in the post very quickly, lovely feeling gloves but think I may have made a sizing booboo. Kevin is being very helpful in sorting me out so full real test is still required. I don't think they're going to be restricted to the flying field though.

4 months, still not arrived but have got a refund. Problem is that it's a HK credit and they're now only used as a last resort

That's very worthy of a first post I think. Wood / Jig would be greatly appreciated