John H. Rood

I learned not to sandpaper my airframe in the house as this seems to initiate marital distress and anyway working in the garage is altogether quieter. Oh, and never has a PSS problem ever "INTRUDED" on a otherwise blissful MARRIAGE !!!

Just in case anybody besides me was curious, I was going to ask Dirk about what wax and PVA combo he used in his canopy frame molding process -- but seeing his photos I decided to just investigate them myself. So here are product links: Wax and PVA.   Edited By John H. Rood on 05/02/2020 18:04:54

I just this morning got my latest PSA blood test results -- all clear for me, a very low risk situation for me at this time. I feel very relieved and grateful. My dad contracted PC when he was about my age (64.7 years ancient), so I am on "the waiting list" as it were. Or at least it sure feels that way at times! Hang in there, guys. My dad is now 93 and he beat PC. They removed his prostate (bad) and put him on Lupron (not great but hey).  And a pretty intensive macrobiotic diet (oh dear!), which really helped him lose some belly and get exercising again.  Eventually he got off the Lupron entirely, stopped the macro diet, quit exercising, and pretty much slid back into classic middle-age male-ness!  AND thirty or so years later he is now remarkable healthy, all-told. I think he used a combination of nicotine and alcohol and steak and BBQ and a few other fun and toxic chem-trails! It also helped him A LOT to get involved with PC peer support activities. Hang in there -- be well, y'all. Edited By John H. Rood on 03/02/2020 17:05:04

Chris, amen. And if you're at all similar to me, keeping things SIMPLE might be a real good thing -- a real good DOG as it were -- as this is your first slope soaring build. Me? Keeping things SIMPLE is my NUMBER ONE challenge in trying to get my arse in gear. I love to defeat myself by over-complicating things. I was actually thinking of you the other day as I was landing one of my very simple non-scale foamie gliders; whilst trying to bring the plane in properly I couldn't imagine myself actuating flaps, a rudder, speed brakes, ordnance, drop tanks, et al. I find it is PLENTY for me just to proper fly and land even just a very simple slope glider! Remember, too, that, at least here in the USA, for decades the vast majority of PSS models did very well on just ailerons and elevator. As did Gordon & Martin's prototype Sabre in our PSSA Mass Build! Managing things on a transmitter in wind and no wind and lift and no lift and sun and trees and rocks and Andrew Meade's hounds and my wild rantings and wailings (and a thousand other variables) is PLENTY for most anybody. Slope has a steep learning curve, as it were. I might even need to forgo having an operating in-flight pilot relief tube system on my PSSer. . p.s. LOVE the EXCELLENT Dog Sabre tough guy look that's emerging on the nose and chin of your build! Very nice! WOOF-WOOF !!!

Chris, glad to hear you are on the road to recovery from that miserable flu bug. And who knows, the good chaps of the British Royal Air Force might even help out an errant Belgian get back in the fray. Heavens maybe even a bloomin' YANK, perchance!!!   Edited By John H. Rood on 23/01/2020 22:49:51

Chris, also you must remember that the vast majority of us Mass Build enthusiasts are known criminals; most are now behind bars and their access to computers is limited. The rest of us are still at large, and this, too, can restrict one’s ability to post F-86 Sabre build progress. But, no worries! All these fine young criminals will be seeping through the cracks soon enough. By their works ye shall know them? YES! Meanwhile, your Sabre Dog is lookin’ good!

Peter, once again I shall crawl on my belly down the alabaster tiles of my aeromodelling HALL OF SHAME... another unfinished project... this one here is a bogey in 1/10th scale ... I pollute your thread here because this MiG-15 has her nice portly fuselage constructed via the LOST FOAM process. I designed her in another lifetime, never finished her, and/but/however now I feel I just might need to raise the stakes for all these F-86 Sabres on zee rise...

A little FJ-3 Fury inspiration for y'all !!! A 1960s childhood flashback for me: The cover of my fave magazine, graced by this fair maiden and Joe Coles' Dyna-Jet (pulse jet) - powered control-line model of an FJ-3. Ever heard a Dyna Jet roar? God be the days! Nowadays the OUTERZONE online plans resource has PDFs of the gorgeous plans and the accompanying feature article from April 1962. look for the tabs down the page there to download those two PDFs if you'd like to add 'em to your stash. The Great Orme PSS Scale Fidelity Police will note that Mr. Coles has faithfully captured the deeper nose contours of the FJ-3 variant. David, best wishes on your build! Fun idea to do the great and mighty badass FJ-3 !!!

Chris, looking good there!

Amen! She's already looking to be one GORGEOUS model. Hi-Viz heaven, evokes the high desert, Flight Test out there at Muroc Dry Lake, halcyon days!

Fantastic job! These are truly great days in PSS model design and construction. p.s. Gotta love that shade of yellow... so reminiscent of the great old primer applied to aircraft structures back in the right and proper days. BUT I DIGRESS!

Chris, are you a trained artist or engineer or something along those lines? You dive into many interesting things here.

Chris, cheers on the holidays and kudos on your interesting build. Really looking nice!

Beautiful! Way to go, Mr. G !!!

Martin, your posts are succinct and VERY helpful. Many of us, we friggin' RELY on them. Chris, you are a skilled and meticulous creature, duly crazy.  So Chris, in your honor/honour, I stole this from one of your fellow Belgians and, so, here you go... Affectionately, John in Boston, who has Dane family living in Antwerpen since the 1920s, and whose parents actually met whilst working on the F-86D design/engineering program! Edited By John H. Rood on 05/12/2019 23:35:24

Whatsapp? Sadly, I am too old now for teenage chatrooms. ((( Turning 97 has not been nearly as fun as I’d hoped.)))

I have a lot of time in Meteors, mostly during the Malaysian Emergency and also out of Hal Far and Aden and West Kembleford and Barton-Shagglewood, and OK yes the more I look at it, Sub-Lt. Barlow's model *might* be one. FURTHER RESEARCH REQUIRED. This all very serious business, and therefore I must assist where I can.

That balsa airplane in the pic might not be a Meteor Mk 4, but the guy on the telly is DEFINITELY our hero Mr. "A. Meade". Edited By John H. Rood on 02/12/2019 15:44:03

These days we're all excited about these uniquely British waffles!

I've dated some of the Reggia Aeronautica's particularly fussy Scale Police. Come to think of it, here is one of them after she took me on a pre-event recce over Cinque Terre in her 1939 Fiat CR.42 biplane:

Thanks, Chris. Working off a 3/8' tempered glass tabletop, all gluing so far with Titebond aliphatic. The clamps have been asking me about yes/no to an operating rudder, flaps, air brakes, slats, and so on... and all I could think was "I need to keep this one simple" and but at my age what I will REALLY need is an onboard OPERATING PILOT RELIEF TUBE EVACUATION system! They also leaked these secret NAA photos of the very first liftoff of the XFJ-2; this happened on 27 December 1951 at NAA Los Angeles Division's adjacent Los Angeles International Airport. The great Bob Hoover at the controls.

Why use just one fabulous clamp, when you can use FIVE THOUSAND? Or... "WHEN CLAMPS ATTACK!" --- I't's a full-blown INVASION !!! #unnecessary #odd #theyletanybodyinthisjoint

A single video frame capture from extensive footage shot of another XFJ-2 at the US Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland:

From circa 1950s NAA promo materials, typical of the kind of thing our Dad would bring home from work for us kiddos. A major treat for us!!! An XFJ-2 off Southern California, prior to initial US Navy testing at Patuxent River, Maryland: