TJ Alexander

Thank you all. This has been an interesting read for me, as I think about building again. I have some West Wings/Guillows kits to practice my skills before looking at doing a more usable size RC, but there are some great tips in this thread.

Hey, Gordon & Steve, I enjoyed your reminiscing too! Great to meet up with old friends.

I do fly RC, though I am still somewhat of a novice. And gliders are my passion. I have several old books on RC gliding, and Stringwell rang a bell. I have his 'A Complete Guide To Radio Control Gliders' (1997), but that's one I haven't read yet (amazing how little time one has for books when one has a hyperactive five year old :D ). I assume this volume has a reiteration of the info in the soaring book you cite. I will get stuck in shortly. Thanks for the tip.

FT foamboard (the brown stuff) is water resistant, which helps.

Bird of Time is a plane I want to build one day, but I don't think I'll go for it as a starter. Fling looks like a contender. Easyglider looks good, but it looks like it may have been discontinued, and recent ones are pricy, so I can wait for a bargain on eBay or selling sites, I guess.

I'm a big fan of FT. Their reviews are really accessible, but the DIY kits are really cool, and their STEM programme is getting kids into the hobby. I admit, I want to visit the US to go see the Edgewater Park development they are working on.

Thanks. Good advice there.

OK, so I am Hi-curious, and bought a stake, surgical rubber, and the whole bit. There's lots of contradictory information on the net about proportions, so I wondered what the collective intelligence here suggested? Secondly, I was wondering what might be a good (cheap/resilient) model to practice with. I don't want to spend many hours lovingly preparing a beautiful glider only for it to smash to bits before my eyes due to my inexperience. Is there a suitable high-start foamie? My gliding fleet encompasses a Radian, a Conscendo, a Whipit, a Flyfly Fournier and (hopefully delivered today) a Superfly MiniDart DLG. What the hell have I got myself into??!!

The Whipit doesn't have a finger tab, either. This is a nice plane. Good job!

My brain hurts!

Ooh, I like that.

Oooh! Interesting!

And so say all of us!

I have a lovely little FlyFly Fournier RF-4D. It was originally an RTF, but I got it 2nd hand in a PNP format. Looking inside the hatch, there's very little room, even without the 2s battery. Does anyone know what receiver was originally specced, and the dimensions? I run Spektrum, and I'm guessing even an AR400 would be tight. Advice welcome.

This is the website I find most accurate for the UK, even though it is based in Norway. My audaxing friends swear by it. https://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/England/Worthing/hour_by_hour.html

Excellent! Looking forward to the fairly relaxed update

I have a problem with HK at the moment. I did a decent sized order, and parts came from UK, Europe, and the Far East. I have two of the packages, but one didn't turn up, and the tracking details are missing online. I needed to speak to Royal Mail about it first to check they weren't holding on to one I didn't get a card for, but I will be in touch tomorrow, and see how I get on.

I wouldn't like to ride anything but Schwalbe now. I have Marathon Supreme on my 'everything' bike, Marathon Plus on my tourer & tandem, Durano Plus on my commuting fixie, and Stelvios on my faster bikes. Oh - and studded tyres for ice. I don't know much about their MTB offering except that it's extensive! Seem to be designs for every sort of surface,and in a bewildering range of sizes, too.

I note from the internet that 159, rather appropriately, flew Liberators.

Thanks for sharing your story, Tom. Fascinating.

Posted by Chris Reid on 05/04/2018 19:44:22: Slow but meaningful progress in the last few weeks, interrupted by a birthday reminding me of the advance of anno Domini... Surely you mean Anno Dominie?

Wow. Looking really good now.

Thanks Nigel. Hope your lad isn't suffering too much.

I've flown one day so far this year. ONE DAY! :'( The weather is really getting me down, as the rain is very bad for my asthma, and I have been very ill since about Christmas. Also means I've not been out on my bike, though I did at least manage that today. Thoroughly depressing. It's only reading lots of RC & aviation books which is keeping me going.

*jealous