Christopher Long 1

I have quoted my earlier post for the benefit of Erfolg and KC. Perhaps if both Erfolg and KC, (who I assume are BMFA members) had bothered to accept the invitation to view the AGM via ZOOM, (no travel involved) and request the password so that they can access the relevant AGM documents they would have a better understanding of the true picture instead of the uninformed half truths they want to believe. I live over 200 miles away from the National Centre - so I am unlikely to visit anytime soon, however everyone I know who has, says it is a great place to visit and fly from and is a credit to the BMFA and the volunteers who run it, and yes from the figures I see the BMFA can afford it and I support its continued existence.

If you had watched the AGM (or as I did attended virtually on ZOOM as a club delegate) then you would have seen that the £63,456 rates bill for the National Centre included an back dated amount that resulted from the work that the BMFA has done to improve and renovate the buildings and facilities at the site which has led to the local authority increasing the rateable value by a significant amount and then back dating it! So in future the annual rates bill should be nearer half of that amount (at a guess). Also people should note that the National Centre is now the BMFA HQ and that allowed the BMFA to sell the old HQ with a gain of £218,000 (and also reduces ongoing costs) which after tax etc allowed £200,000 to be added to the reserves. This years AGM was also held at the National Centre again making savings by not having to hire a venue for the AGM. If you take out the back dated rates bill and the cost of setting up the cafe (which cost around £10,000 of which most has been recovered from takings since it opened, but won't appear until next years accounts are published) then the National Centre at worst broke even in 23/24. This is a good result as the poor spring/summer weather hit income due to a number of events being cancelled. Again, this was made clear at the AGM. I know some say that figures never lie, but they don't always tell the whole story either and used without context can be misleading!

I am shocked to hear that on the evening of October 15th 2024 it was announced Richard Grace lost his stoic battle with an ongoing illness. He was only 40 and will be a great loss to his family and also to the historic aircraft restoration and operating community!

AeroModeller has been 'back' since January 2013 (or 12 years!) Yes it was published as part of AMI for a while (2001 - 2011). Edition 1 of AeroModeller was published in November 1935 (89 years ago) now that is real heritage!

Don't forget Aeromodeller, a magazine with a much longer history and heritage than RCM&E, which also deserves to be supported and would be missed if it disappeared, it is also available in print and digital formats.

You could just ask Tony? His email address is [email protected]

Their website is rubbish, it is not secure (hardly with it technology wise!!), and there is absolutely no product information for instance, wingspan, engine size, is electric conversion available and so on. So why would they expect me to buy from them with so little product information. I am sorry, having a Facebook group/page does not count as being 'with it' in my book.

Shame for the human loss. Although it the plane pictured is not a B17, more likely a Lockheed A12.

If you have not got one how do you know the Chinese versions are more sturdy? With care and the right blade in my experience the Proxon will cut 8mm birch ply. Looking at some of the reviews for the Chinese ones on Amazon they seem to be poor and do not cut accurately (and seem distinctly unsafe) and also not 240V powered - which the Proxon is - most are only 20V from a power pack. When it comes to power tools you tend (with a few exceptions) to get what you pay for!

I have have used the Proxxon KS 230 Saw with the 28020 Fine Precision 50 mm Blade for many years and have used it to cut my balsa strip wood as well as lots of other cutting jobs, and it is very good and would recommend it. It also handles birch ply as well as light ply up to 8mm thick. I think Chronos Engineering are doing this for £132.00 inc. VAT & delivery supplied with the 58mm standard blade and the Fine Precision 50mm 28020 blade that I use. I have no connection with Chronos apart from being a happy customer. You might find it cheaper elsewhere.

I have a print and digital subscription and I see no option to renew my subscription (due in August) and get the book offer, I assume that as you are posting in this forum you are appealing mainly to those who already subscribe to the magazine? If so, why not allow us with active subscriptions renew in advance and get the book? It seems that once again customer loyalty is taken for granted.

Every time I move to a new page (on both MS Edge and Chrome) I get the pop-up titled We value your privacy asking to Customize, Reject All and Accept All cookies. This is incredibly irritating and should not happen once I made my choice - please fix!!

Actually there are more than 28000 BMFA members - you missed an 0 off!

From the accounts presented to this years AGM Balance at 31 March 2023 £218,830 From what I remember the money used was from BMFA funds that had been built up over the years from donations etc to provide for a National Centre.

Not true, anyone who is a member can go if they wish, and going by the fact that most weekends during the good flying months are booked out months in advance would also seem that a lot of members are making use of the facility. Strange that you seem to be willing to travel all over the country to attend the LMA shows but can't make it to Buckminster to take part in anything!

Not true, the subs in 2017 (7 years ago, or 8 if you count in 2024) were £33.00 for an adult. If they had doubled they would now be £66.00. In fact they have risen slightly less than 45% over 8 years at the new £47.00 adult rate.

The figures you extracted from Actual and Budget forecast include depreciation, which as I wrote earlier is an 'accounting paper loss' (not actual money) to take into account the reducing resale value of the lease (amongst other items) and as the treasurer at the meeting pointed out are 'worst case' scenarios. -22/23 the depreciation is £33,103 -23/24 the depreciation estimated is £28,900 -24/25-the depreciation estimated is £28,900 But if you look at the other AGM documents - specifically - SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023 Page 7, The total show before depreciation and tax show a small loss of £853 and even with the tax payable being added on of £1,125 amounts again to a small total loss of £1978. And as the BMFA office services will now operate out Buckminster that is quite a small cost. When looking at these figures you have to look at all of them, especially the supplementary information.

If you watched the AGM and looked at the accounts, then you would have seen that the 2022-2023 reporting year Buckminster National Centre only lost £853 in real money (before depreciation is applied - which is a 'paper' amount for accounting purposes) - and they have moved the BMFA office to Buckminster having sold Chacksfield House. The fees increases are nothing to do with the running of Buckminster (Not sure where or what Buckminister is but the BMFA don't own or rent it!). More it has to do with rebuilding the reserves to a safe level after an accounting issue.

Wrong, try www.Belairdigital.co.uk (Belairdigital.com is a domain that is for sale!)

Working for me as well.

Rapid RC have 1s 150mAh lipos in stock - but they have a lead and plug unlike the E-flight types. Esky LiPo 1S 150mAh 3 7V 40C Battery UMX for Scale F150 (rapidrcmodels.com)

Contact Vintage Model Company [email protected] who have the licence to produce the West Wings range.

When I tried the link you posted Jon, Norton blocked it with the following message. This is a known dangerous webpage. It is highly recommended that you do NOT visit this page. When I looked further it seems Norton had detected malware on the page.

If you look at Companies House you will see a statement of 'Affairs in Administration' which lists its assets and liabilities etc. According to the list of creditors (of which there are quite a lot) the largest are Nicholas Moss was owed around £1.1m, HMRC approximately £993,000, Futaba around £142,000! and Seneca £290,000! Realised assets are likely to be just under £600,000 and the total liabilities are around £2.6m - and the HMRC gets first dabs on any money so the rest of the creditors are owed a total of just under £1.9m (of which as said before Mr Moss is owed £1.1m). According to an accountant friend, this possibly looks like a what they call in the business a 'Pre-pack administration' in which the company is put into administration and then almost immediately purchased by arrangement by another associated company/person and the 'new company is then debt free. Totally legal, but I am not sure that the likes of Futaba would be willing to swallow such a large loss and continue to do business with the 'new' Ripmax unless they are paid what they are owed.

The curse of the random adverts appearing in between posts has arisen again - admittedly only for RCM&E, but as there seems to be a permanent advert for the magazine at the foot of each page it would seem to be unnecessary and annoying!