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A photo compilation of our club even over the weekend 24-26 June.

Similar experience here - we have attended several local fetes, sometimes flying, sometimes static only. A number of people stop for chats but not one has taken up our offer of some free 'tasters'. Typically, we get new members from our web (thanks BMFA!) and Facebook presence. Regarding age, the vast majority of our members are retired; some are 'returnees', some are new to the hobby, some are life long modellers. We have a few juniors who are reliant in parents; a couple come with their father who also flies so are seen quite regularly; one is brought by his father whenever that's possible - a less regular attendee. Over the four years I have been part of the club, membership has remained pretty stable, despite a number of members leaving for various reasons. We do have a club trainer that our chairman maintains, and he does most of the training, although most of the regular fliers are more than happy to help on a buddy box, or be on hand for less experienced pilots if they need to be 'talked through' things. "This will be the death of the hobby" has seemingly been an oft-uttered phrase since I started in the 70s. Nowadays, whilst equipment is much more sophisticated, and packages that almost guarantee success are readily available, flying sites seem to be less and less available - especially for any ic power. Unlike most clubs (I think) the number of ic powered craft is actually increasing! As ever, the hobby is evolving. Am I complacent? No. Am I alarmed? No. Just aware that we need to make sure that ANY & ALL contact with prospective new members is positive, and that the field is always a harmonious and welcoming place for our members. Obviously as people are different, we're not 100% successful! But pretty much so....

IMO it is the threat/potential of the wholesalers, publishers that is a real threat to the viability of our hobby. In the case of the UK there are circa 30,000 BMFA members which probably is a reasonable reflection of the UK modeller base. For the sake of argument that is 40,000. Why should this matter, it probably pretty much defines how many wholesalers and MS there can reasonably be in the UK. How many £400 models can be sold in any one year? It might be 4,000 spread across maybe 4 or so wholesalers (the likes of Ripmax, Perkins McGregors). Even with a good margin that is probably not a lot of profit). With quite a small scratch builders pool, the scope for income is possibly not great, from the bits and pieces. The likes of HK with their large world wide sales probably did a lot to keep modelling buoyant. Now from a UK perspective having disapeared, particularly with respect to personal imports (tax and handling charges being prohibitive). The numbers of mass market IC manufacturers now appears to be at the point extinction. The products that are available seem ever more outstanding, in quality, although yet again at a price that causes me to a sudden intake of breath in shock. I get the impression that the clones have all but ceased in production. Thankfully there are enthusiasts that are cottage industry scale, probably moving towards the scale of production that optimised the late 50s and early 60s. I do think there is also a major difference in my youth, than today. That is I built and flew models with my mates, no adults, no club. Flying on any bit of unsuitable waste ground that then abounded. Not an awful amount of success, lots of fun. Around October I would strap firework rockets to a collection of balsa bits, with often unpredictable results. A different world that much of officialdom, the BMFA etc. would deplore. Low cost, fun, outside of supervision, today, most would deplore such actions, freedom, attempted inventiveness.

We pondered for ages about the "club trainer" facility (who is going to fix it / look after it / charge it etc etc). Luckily we were donated a reasonable model, and secondly one of our committee wanted to help more than he was by looking after all aspects of training with this model. So far it has worked really well, with several potential new members having a go on the lead without spending a bean. Only yesterday we were discussing the option of obtaining another trainer which would cope with higher winds. We also had another member who agreed to teach gliding on the lead. So far so good.

Its a while since I did a build blog here.. Retired two years ago and moved house 12 months ago (still ongoing would you believe although I can see the end of the 80 storage/transit boxes I bought). Add in to this a brush with Cancer and for some reason writing blogs wasn't anywhere near the top of my priority tree. ? One of the benefits of a house move is a new shed, my new one is 12x10 and has an island bench which is 3 feet wide x 2m long (sorry about the mixed units). Always wanted an island bench and have so far built a replacement to my Mystic 64 and also a new F5J glider (from a kit) plus the usual maintenance stuff that this hobby entails. My Fury is also progressing slowly.. Model storage is up in the loft... ? This kit appeared on Facebook about 3 months ago at a reasonable price. The plan is try and build a reasonable replica of this: Hope that Glyn doesn't mind that I used his lovely photo. Being an MFA kit it obviously quite old, in face the box had solarbo balsa enclosed. The kit is quite complete but with caveats - more of that later. Its a big box.. its been cluttering up my shed since it arrived so I felt compelled to empty the box, sort the contents into something more manageable and throw the box away.. I have a feeling that I may regret that later. The model has a nice polyester GRP fus and cowl and spats and was designed for a Schneurle ported 60 2 stroke. I *think* I can squeeze an OS FS70 in without having to make and horrible holes in the cowl, we shall see. If I cant then I may go el*ctr*c. Its a reasonable size, 1/5 scale and about 1.8m span and the box says that its 'almost' scale, the almost exception being the use of elevators instead of an all moving tailplane. Well, I'll put a fix to that.. hopefully. Lots of ABS bits for the cockpit interior, I suspect most wont be used.. Kit contents are very complete. Surprised that for an an early kit, it has laser cut ply parts, however, no laser cut balsa parts.. The bits were decanted into two boxes, wood and hardware with sheet and strip standing in the corner. and So, with that intro, its time to make a start.. More to come... as I used to say.

For those longer build logs, would it be possible (feasible?) to have a means of liking an entire thread rather than individually liking each individual post. It might also be a useful resource if it were possible to download completed build logs (with op permissions of course) so that they could be viewed offline as a reference? Just thinking out loud

I think probably the receiver of broken promises and the current situation in Eastern Europe causing a reduction in investment generally. Particularly in non-essential items. I hope they just mothball it until confidence returns. Better than waiting until it is too late and the company has to fold.

Forget about your BMFA members? a drop in the ocean, I took statistics when I opened up my model shop and ( from memory ) BMFA members was less than 5% of my sales, as for the local club that I taught 90% of them to fly ( mode 2 ? ) came to around a weeks sales figures a year,,?

Thanks, Missed that one, not sure how as I have a current order with 4Max, If im quick I may escape an additional delivery charge.

Lower cover inner dressings added. As supplied they had three indentations in the larger part whereas documentation only shows two. Also the lower was not the correct shape. Some lightweight body filler later and they are near enough now for me. You can see that the spruce blocks I made to hold the piano wire part, has almost completely disappeared from this view. Once painted they should blend in nicely.

Used paper templates to line up the hole positions for the leg covers. The holes are drilled a just little oversize and instead of a rubber block, as previously mentioned, short lengths of fuel tubing were cut and slipped over the threads of the ‘button’ heads. This allowed for a precise levelling of the covers as well as giving some shock/bump protection. In this photo you can see the tubing under compression. Also a closer look will show the piano wire guide lightly glued in place on the lower wheel cover. Once I had checked that the lower cover was correctly aligned and sliding freely behind the upper cover, some spruce was shaped and epoxied in place over the wire to keep it firmly aligned. As I had followed the correct scale outline for the upper covers instead of a rectangular one, as shown on the plan, I had to increase the gap at the top of the covers to allow for the widening taper as the gear is deployed. Still, pretty happy with the fit as this is certainly a challenging part of getting the gear and covers installed.

I got my JIS screwdriver set from the USA a few years back and after delivery was informed that Halfords carry them, just typical. ANyway, just checked their website and yes Halfords still carry a set of four drivers from just under £16. Search on "JIS screwdrivers"

Try googling Pole elastic (Fishing) comes in various lengths/thicknesses, could be an option on the small models.

That looks absolutely superb Johnathan, glad it went well. Meanwhile, a busy one on the slope today...

1. I have run an at least once weekly often twice weekly after school RC club for approaching 20 years. (I'm 74) This includes sessions at school and at my local model flying club. I therefore promote and allow 11-18 year olds to get hands on experience of Fixed Wing, Helicopters, Hovercraft, and Freestyle Multicopters. Parents WILL happily do the taxi runs to and from the field or school, but as for sitting there bored for a couple of hours, well, no. The Friends of the School support bigger purchases to some degree financially, for example computerised timing gear for Car and now Hovercraft racing (these are converted from multicopters and built and maintained by boys in school workshops) . I do not charge for any sessions, and most of the field flying gear is being provided at my expense, or less from donations (often from modellers who have passed away). Recently a person in the USA sent me a donation of an FPV headset and parts at his expense inc shipping when he learned what I was doing!! I have in the last couple of years brought boys into the RC flying world initially by the Freestyle Multicopter (and FPV Multicopter) route, but their interest then ALWAYS widens into the other forms of RC flying once they see and experience it. (and that includes building balsa and correx free flight gliders, no less!!) SO, don't tell ME there's no interest, or that DRONES are killing the sport/hobby, been there, its not true! 2. IN the Multicopter world, from about halfway through the worst of the pandemic, components for individual purchase got so difficult and so expensive that home building became more expensive than buying from a PNP/BNF business getting the benefit of buying parts and building (say) a thousand or more at once. Also true for Helicopters, too. Its still that way and no sign of supply chains improving. ARTF fixed wing like the HK Bixler2, Wot4 Foam-E, etc are still cheaper and more durable than making from scratch, and yes, this is from direct long term experience. Does not mean that NO traditional modelling ever takes place, but you do have to enthuse, and weeks of workshop building is NOT the initial best route. 3. Stop whinging and stalling and GET INVOLVED, you probably all have Hangars of suitable stuff simply laying there you never use, so even if you are not prepared to actually stand up and donate your TIME, you could find someone interested and prepared to take it on and try.

Nothing like sticking wood together, Balsa kit 200€ engine 140€ glue and silk 30€ retracts 45€ ( not necessary )and the rest I had in stock, I love it,,,

It's a five minute walk from my house to the pub, but it's a 35 minute walk from the pub to my house.The difference is staggering.

Maybe OS use Japanese Industry Standard. http://www.motorcycle.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/101617-japanese-screwdrivers-JIS-vs-Phillips-633x490.jpg Looking at a JIS tool next to a regular Phillips screwdriver, most people are hard-pressed to tell the differences, but they are definitely there. Ninety-percent of the time, a regular Phillips will work on a JIS screw; but it’s that other 10% that gets us swearing, then throwing things – those tight screws holding on your carburetor float bowls being particularly devilish once they’re past about two decades of non-removal. That’s when the right tool can make all the difference. The right tool is a JIS screwdriver, which just fits better in a JIS screwhead and is designed to let you apply more torque than a Phillips driver. I use heat and WD40 to help get "difficult" sews out. And I never use fuel containing castor oil!

What a weekend, we were blessed with fine weather on every day with well over 100 model autogyros appearing of all shapes and sizes (and only one ARTF!). The largest model there was Harold Booms own designed pusher, he travelled from Germany and managed to shoe horn 3 models into his 1980's VW Golf. This model has been developed over a couple of years with a few crashes along the way to get where it is today, it is now vice free and powered by a Moki 5 cylinder radial it's sports 4.5m rotors, he flew it many times over the weekend. The ducting around the motor was added due to overheating of a couple of cylinders, this houses a fan unit which is incorporated onto the prop driver. An outstanding model. I will upload more videos and photos in the coming days.

Another happy Chappy

Hello Determined to get this over the line before starting any new projects. On with molding the canopy. Or at least molding the plug. mike

Having a go at making a functional flap position indicator. The photo and text above speaks for itself but modelling the device calls for a fair but of fettling. As the view hole in the top skin reveals the wing skin thickness a small piece if G10 will need to be let in to the top skin to give the same effect. A bit of trial and error appears to have things in order, but until a hole is made I shan’t know for sure. I am actually amazed that the pilot would be able to see the display clearly. Those Luftwaffe boys obviously had 20:20 vision!

The Precedent Stampe is a real classic. The model has only a few issues regarding centre section strength, but easily rectified and well noted on this build log. With the original build and all the contributions it is a fabulous resource for any Stampe builder.

Here's my friends almost complete larger version at the recent LMA show

Mike, Andy Meade used magnets to hold the undercarriage onto his large JU87. They should work for some small bombs!

Mike, apologies for jumping on your build blog but thought you might like to see a photo of the completed paint job. The comments by Andy B regarding the durability of a doped surface are spot on, the surface is easy to mark when handling in the workshop but I am pleased with the finish considering there were a number of firsts for me during the process. I would recommend going the glass cloth route. Decals are from Pyramid Models with the aircraft codes produced by a club member on his vinyl cutter, I still have to make the 3 Sqdn crest for the tail and am going to try and make a water slide transfer (another first!) Hope this spurs you on with your build. Paul

Just received this email. Dear Radio Control Scale International Subscriber, We are sorry to have to advise that the magazine has ceased publication with immediate effect and for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, this decision has been forced onto us by a combination of factors, including the fact that a number of potential advertisers that had advised that they would take advertising space but, in the end decided not to do so. We had the option to lower the quality of the magazine and reduce the number of world class contributors we have been using, but this was not something we could contemplate, as we want to offer the highest quality product to our readers at all times. As you still have part of your subscription to run, we can either refund the outstanding amount, or if you are already a reader of RC Jet International magazine, or would like to be, we can transfer your remaining RC Scale International subscription over for you. If you would like us to do this please just send an e-mail to [email protected] with the words "Please transfer my RCSI subscription to RCJI" by the 30th June 2022. If you would prefer a refund please do nothing, and we will start to issue these automatically on the 1st July 2022. Marco Benincasa & Colin Straus Radio Control Publishing Ltd It's a shame as it had the makings of a good magazine. At least they are offering refunds on unused subscriptions.

Good flights with my EFlite P-47D and Spitfire XIV on a gorgeous morning with light winds and blue cloudless skies. I had remaidens planned for my electrified Magnatilla, repaired Henschel Hs-129 and Dynam A-10. First thing to go wrong was a nose over with the P-47D, which broke a prop blade and I have no spares of that particular prop. So, onto a maiden flight with the Magnatilla. She got off the ground just fine and fair pootled around the sky just like a Flair Scout should do, very sedate and definitely not overpowered, but everything well under control. In flight piccies to follow. By now the wind was fairly brisk and across the field. but I thought I'd have another flight with the Magnatilla, given the Jug was grounded and the grass hadn't been cut yet for the A10. The Magnatilla was a bit awkward on take off, ground looped and that should have been my clue. Anyway, I repositioned the model and tried again and this time she got off okay directly into wind, with a gentle climb out. Trouble was that she didn't seem to want to turn and I was having to add loads of rudder to get any directional control. At times she seemed almost uncontrollable and lurched about the sky, but gradually I tamed the model I thought, given the sluggish nature of the roll response, that I might have incorrectly set the lowest rate on the ailerons, but she was such a handful that I couldn't take my thumbs off the sticks to check. I must have completed at least ten circuits - other models were landing and being retrieved, so I stayed up. Eventually the field was clear and I brought the model in to land - the approach didn't look too bad, but five feet from the ground she dropped a wing, I countered with opposite rudder, but the wingtip dug in as the wheels touched and the model cartwheeled, destroying the tail end. ? On getting the model back to the pits and taking off the wing to disconnect the battery the cause of the lack of control was obvious - schoolboy error and failure in prefights, I hadn't connected the aileron lead when I refitted the wing after the successful maiden flight. Forum language rules prevent me posting what I said next, but that was the end of my flying for the day. I should have heeded the warnings but I didn't check my ailerons before taking off. Unforgivable.