John Bunting

I thought I'd be the oldest here, at 77, but Leon King has beaten me, at 80. I started aeromodelling in 1941, making the usual beginner's mistake of doing a small scale kit - a Frog 'Vickers Wellesley', instead of a simple glider or rubber job. However, I still have one model I built in 1946, a 'Baby Gull' glider, designed by R F L Gosling, kitted by a firm called 'Aeromodels' of Liverpool, price 8/3d. It's been patched up and recovered once or twice in its lifetime, but still gets taken out for an airing every year or two. So, any one else here with a model over 60 years old, still flying?

Humour? No gags like the old gags. Who remembers the Freddie cartoons and the McGillicuddy stories in the Aeromodeller: "The Great Tremble Trick", and  "The Wisdom of Wang Ho" ?  I also remember an Editorial, sometime about 1943, which related how someone on the Aeromodeller staff, idly passing by the ladies' underwear counter at Woolworths - (yes, he said, we are married!) - spotted some packs labelled "Knicker Elastic - 1 length 24 in., 2 lengths 18 in." - which, on closer inspection, turned out to be 1/4 inch flat model aircraft rubber strip, which was almost impossible to obtain at that time.  I remember almost the exact words that followed: "The yardstick by which most things are judged these days is by their relation to the War Effort. It is not for us to say whether aeromodelling rubber strip makes a greater contribution to that effort by supporting ladies knickers, or by supporting model aeroplanes in the air. We merely draw attention to a supply, the extent of which is unknown to us".  

Thanks, Timbo, Martin, Eric and Adam, for your help. Component-shop sem to have just what I want, 1/4 and 1/3 AAA cells at very reasonable prices. Can't see anything similar on Maplin or Overlander, and cordless phone packs all seem to be larger cells, but your 3.6v packs, Martin, sound about the right cell size. If you feel like selling me a few I can probably split one or two up and add cells to others to make 4.8 or 6v packs.  Thanks, everyone. As a point of interest, for anyone who makes up their own packs, I see that John Emms on the Puffin website recommends soldered rather than spot-welded cell links, for minimum resistance. This is OK as long as you do the soldering quickly, to avoid overheating the cells, so I think you need the cell ends and the connecting strip pre-tinned, and an iron with good thermal capacity, so it doesn't cool off as soon as it contacts the cell. I was looking around for something to use for connecting strips, and hit on some copper plant labels, which should be available at any garden centre. Mine are .006 inch copper sheet, quite flexible and easily cut with scissors.  Checking the resistance, I found that a strip about 1/8 inch wide and 1 inch long has a resistance of about 1 milli-ohm, which should be OK for low to medium currents, say up to 20 Amps. Above that, something a bit thicker might be advisable.

I need to replace some small NiMH cells in a cheap RTF model. They are the same diameter as an AAA cell, but about one-third of the length, and I think 120 or 150 mAH capacity. So far, I can't find anyone who sells them. Does anyone know of a possible supplier? Thanks. 

I see one or two retailers are now selling portable 'jump-start' units for £20. These might be useful for on-the-field chargers. They have a 17 Ah lead/acid battery, which should be enough to charge an average model several times, using a 12v. input charger such as a Shark 10. You can reduce the size and weight a bit by taking out the jump leads and inflator pump if you don't need them.