Chris Williams kicks off his new scale soaring column with a rare Fly-In report.
As we all know, there was precious little to be pleased about in 2020. But one thing happened that stimulated even my normal dystopian cynicism. The White Sheet Club (or White Sheet Radio Flying Club, to declare its full title) had lost most of its scheduled events by the time we got to September. All that was left was the proposed Scale Glider Fly-In on the 13th. (The 13th? You can’t make this stuff up!)
To add to the tension, the following day was when the existing 30-person rule was due to be chopped down to six, so the stakes were very high. You can imagine the surprise all round when the forecast was one of such perfection, that it’s never happened before, or since. I was a little worried that the 30-person rule might be breached, but on the day a manageable 20+ plus turned up to make hay whilst they could.
Roy Thompson rescues a once popular Brit kit from a clubmate's loft and launches it to lofty heights.
Back in the late 70s my then model clubmates and I were into thermal soaring, flying R/C gliders (pre-electric) at Cranford Park in West London. My club was the Hayes & District MAC. Throughout the summer Wednesday night was club competition night, with trophies to be won at the end of the year. A typical comp would be a six-minute duration event with a spot landing bonus.
At the time Bowman Model Kits of Ipswich advertised widely in the modelling magazines, being one of many small kit manufacturers in the UK. They had a good reputation for their no fuss designs and model kits supplied with good quality hardware.
Mike Bell describes his DIY film tacking tool for difficult to access areas.
When it comes to film covering an airframe, I'm sure that, like me, you have come across loads of annoying areas where the covering iron just can't reach properly. Areas like air intakes and air exit slots, together with fillets around wings and fins, all immediately come to mind.
Brian Hoddy reveals some of his secrets to making a realistic scale instrument panel and cockpit components.
I think we can all agree that our hobby has undergone quite a revolution in the last few years. Compared to earlier models they are getting more and more refined in appearance and complexity.
Alex Whittaker celebrates Indoor F/F scale models and recommends them as possible winter projects
Some of the sweetest model aeroplanes I have ever seen in my life have been indoor free-flight scale models. There is something intensely appealing about their cute size, their accurate but tiny proportions and, most of all, their cleverly judged level of detail.
In his February 2021 'Make It Scale' column Danny Fenton heads for the bright lights and seaside to compete in his first F4C competition.
It is interesting that the models shown in the very first column I wrote in 2012 are all currently seeing activity in one way or another, including my Apache PA-23-150 and my Black Horse Chipmunk. Even my Brian Taylor Mustang has seen progress. But you will have to wait for an update on those projects.
Foam models have given rise to all sorts of questions, not least how best to stick them together and protect them. Pete Lowe finds a few solutions using the Deluxe Materials range.
Why did the rules for model flying have to change? This thorny subject is discussed by Cliff Whittaker, who was an advisor to the BMFA during their negotiations with the CAA.
Alfred Vink relates the story of Aviation Club Leiden's 2019 winter group build.
In November 2019 no one could have known what 2020 had in store for us. In fact, it was business as usual at my local club LLC (Aviation Club Leiden) here in The Netherlands. A club with great history, founded as early as 1936, and still going strong.
Shaun Garrity looks back to early R/C helicopters. This time in Retro Ramblings we have something a little different - retro helicopters. It’s hard to believe it was the early 1970s when I first came across them (I suddenly feel really old). R/C helicopters were actually flying prior to this but they were mostly constructed by pioneering modellers having to figure things out for themselves, because as far as I know no commercial products were available.
When I first started flying in the 1980s, with my father, most models of the time, at least in our club, were quite traditional. However, Leicester Model Centre (LMC) changed all that with the release of several fibreglass fuselage and foam wing 'jet' designs that were prop driven and became rather popular.
If they're having fun then they'll want to go again. . .
Have we given up trying to save the hobby for the next generation or do we have to adapt to change to ensure its continuation? Are our flying clubs destined to deteriorate into fields of grumpy old men depleting slowly and recounting tales of how it used to be? As the BMFA struggle on with their free flight founded education programme I was asked if there was anything we can do, individually or as a club in R/C land, to encourage new youngsters in, or help keep the ones we already have.
24 days, 24 prizes!
As the year end approaches (and especiallyafter the year we've all been having) what better time to have a little fun in the form of our popular Advent Prize Draw!
Drop into the forum every day till the 24th December to grab a chancing of winning a prize. Thanks to our friends at J. Perkins Distribution, Sarik Hobbies and Overlander Batteries we've some fab things to hand out to 24 lucky winners.
It all starts on 1st December, see you then!
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We're grateful to Don Woodland who recently lent a copy of this, the first issue of The Amateur Aviator and Aero Model-Maker magazine from April 1912.
Although model flying had been reported in some model engineering magazines in the past, the issue here may well be one of the first dedicated model flying publications in the UK.
The Pioneer pictured here is Mr TWK Clarke of Kingston, described as one of the 'earliest successful model makers'. He has one of his all-wood heavy monoplanes and is noted as the inventor of the Clarke Flyer - of which many thousands had been sold before other model makers had made a machine that would fly at all.
Let’s cast our minds back 43 years to that long, hot summer of 1976.
On The Cover
There was just one cover line that month, introducing David Boddington’s 40” (1016mm) wingspan Nieuport 24. David’s inspiration for this W. W.
