Hi everyboby, Just writting this to say hello and say that although I was a modler a long time ago, technology has moved! 

I'm looking forward to reading and exchanging ideas.

Regards.

Marty 

Hi Martyn and welcome to the forum

Please remember to fill in a little about yourself on the profile page - that way you will be sure to get more response to your questions! Don’t miss the several threads dedicated to Newbies such as yourself, in the beginners section, together with the few guidelines we have listed to help you with using the forum.

 Perhaps this in particular may help

And this.

http://www.bmfa.org/clubs/index.html

Once again, welcome on board and have fun! Timbo.

Hello Marty, and welcome from me aswell

What were you flying in the past...?

Hello Martyn.

 I think a lot of modellers could say they are restarting the hobby, I certainly did about 5 years ago. It is a great decission to come back, and the products available now are far better than they have been in the past.

Good luck in which ever direction you decide to go.

Hi Guy's and thankyou for the welcome!

I'm not actively modeling at the moment but in the exploritory stage. (most of my spare time is spent with my airbrush).

In the past I flew ic trainers, the first was a "Kiel Kraft" something or other, (memoryis faded with age it  was two channel and I ended up in the late 70's with a Graupner "Maxi" ....then a strange thing happened, I discovered sailplanes and fell in love with them. I flew a Colt slope soarer but my all time favourite was my Cambria "Miri".

If I become active again I'm interested in an electric power assisted sailplane.

I live in Holyhead, N. Wales. There are a few clubs which are a couple of hours away that I know about but I am a "Biker" and I don't have a car so travelling with a model is bit awkward.  this is the main reason I haven't got back into flying before.

 I wont bore you any more except to say that joining any forum can be a bit intimidating so thanks again for the welcome and I'm sure we will chat in the future.

All the best

Marty 

Solution to the "have plane, will travel" issue is to make or buy a fishing rod holdall type of device with outside straps.

Fuselage goes into the holdall, wings strap to the outside. I used to carry my 100" thermal soarer in just such a manner, together with Tx, bungee ect..

I remember the Miri, never saw one fly. Electro assist has gone a long way since the 70's, there is some superb kit in the shops now. Enjoy your window shopping.

Welcome back Marty We all come back in the end, mine after 15 yrs lay off . Please dont ever think you are boring us as if you are we will put it down to age, ours of course

All the best which ever course you take and there are many in this hobby as you are no doubt aware

Garry

The Club at Valley is part of the RAF or so I'm lead to believe and I've been told that they don't allow "Civvies" to join which made me a little miffed as I served 12 years with the "Colours" in the good old days when you could shout at people without having a court order! But I digress. If anybody has contact details for Valley I would appreciate it.

Rhyl is a bit of a distance but doable, does the club have a field? I'm interested in electric soarers? A bit tongue in cheek its a long way to carry black plastic bags of "bits" back! My last model was the "Pupiteer" which I pranged to a total write off on it's maiden flight on Epsom race course. The guys there said it's a good idea to fly with the boot open and if you get into trouble you just fly straight into the boot! It doesn't diminish any damage but it saves you picking up the bits.

Model shops seem to be in short supply in this corner of the world, there was acouple in Bangor but they just disapeared.....

Hi Martyn- sorry about the name mix-up , I have sorted this now

The Valley club is NOT " services only "- however, my last conversation with a couple of members who fly there suggested that membrship was closed due to certain "incidents" recently involving a large Turbine powered model and full size Sea King rescue chopper! Apparantley even existing members ( including our very own Nathan farrell Jones ) are having difficulty flying there at present....so I think it is looking pretty unlikely as a venue . However I will enquire next time I speak to NFJ etc.

The Rhyl club does indeed have a flying field and it is actually sited at Rhuddlan - it takes me approx 15 minutes door to door from Colwyn heights ( near the Welsh mountain Zoo if you know that location ). Electric gliders are frequently flown there, indeed pretty much anything is OK - one of the valley lads successfully flew a turbine boomerang there earlier this year, and a couple of our own lads have these too. Here is a link to the website

( managed by "ultymate" of this here forum ) - there is a downloadable membership form here too.

  If you want....you could always pop along to a club night, or indeed fly as guest with myself sometime and then yo can assess the strip etc - ( assuming you have BMFA Insurance ).

If that sounds a possibility, then PM me via the forum and we can sort out a meeting - I am free prettty much anytime any day.

Model shops - I use the tinternet these days for almost everything, because as you say, nearest available is noe Holywell, Frodsham, or Wrexham.

I ordered 4 LiPo batteries on Monday afternoon this week, and they arrived yesterday all nicely packed and terrific value - absolutely unbeatable "locallly".

Where from I hear you ask???

Hong Kong !

Timbo, thanks for all that info M8 sorry I haven't answered before but me and the ball and chain spent the weekend in a log cabin (read shed) in mid wales!

I think you are probably right about the Rhyl Club but I may aswell wait until after December as the Subs are renewed then I believe.

I had a little giggle thinking about Model meets full size at Valley!...it's unfortunate that they aren't takeing new members as that would have been perfect for me! Oh well....... 

I'm in the process of wading through all the posts to get a feel for all the stuff there is available and also there are posts which are answering my questions which I sure will save the "older hands" having to answer the same inane  quiries over and over. But... the latest thing to modeling when I was in it before was Nicad, what's LiPo?

Martyn, I'm also a two-wheel transport aeromodeller, (temporarily underwater!) and have built a model carry-frame that clamps onto the back of my bike. I'll have to put it together and post a pic on here! It is basically a box that sits on the rear grab-rails, with a vertical plank on the off-side (so pedestrians cannot grab hold!) with a shallow 'box' at the bottom, and a wind deflector on the leading edge. All my wings are strapped to the carry-frame, leading edge first, and upper surface inboard. The fuselages go into a rucksack, and the tranny, flask, etc go into the box.

So far the coppers haven't complained, and nothing has got broken!

I used to go scuba-diving at Trearddur, and took a sloper with me on a couple of occasions, and flew it off the cliffs around Porth Dafarch.

I never saw a single model flier when I was there. (20 years ago now!)