Neil Gillies

Lol, you're not the first person to call me Ian, no idea why ? Surprised that SLEC had a selection of balsa, all they have on their website is three sizes of hard sheet. Yes, I'm particular about balsa - as are the folks that buy from me too ? It's impossible for me to keep all grades and sizes 'though - I just couldn't afford it - dread to think what the latest prices are going to be! I can see us going back to bamboo and tissue ? Maybe if 2mm poplar (not ceiba) liteply was available in the uk, that would alleviate some of the issues.

Looks like you just got an unlucky eBay mail issue, their message system is sometimes not what it should be ? I get regular ebay messages nearly every day. Regards Neil

Mmm, I must have missed the report from the CEO on that one ☹️ You say it with what appears to be some authority, perhaps it might have been wise to at least have done the most basic of investigation before posting fake news - it's unhelpul to everyone. Regards Neil

It ain't so ? "Just" a lack of balsa due to the Chinese buying it all up for wind turbine blade roots. That's been the story for around 4 months, I'm told that may change at the end of this month (June 2022). It's Neil BTW - not Ian ? Regards Neil

@kc - apologies, just noticed your question, Kamco plans - and some parts/kits are available from Rich Booth at Kamco Models ... http://www.kamcomodels.co.uk Rich kindly agreed to endorse the parts for the Kadet and Kavalier. He actually still has some old kits of the Kloudrider available too. Neil

Hi all @Dylan, profit, I wish I could make it work better too ) Having a laser (and a CNC router makes short work of many jobs that would be fretwork/bandsaw I wouldn't even consider cutting some odd hole these days, I'd rather spend 5 mins on the computer then press a button - then add thin cyano @kc, the spars are simply 2 off 1/2x1/8 spruce with 2 off 1/8 balsa sub spars - 1/16 vert webbing glued to the sub spars and mains. @Stevo - thicknesser all my own work, I think the original files I have are 1999 - built in 2003 'ish and re-done in sketchup around 2009 to put on my website. Mine also has a disc sander )) I only use it to create 'proper' metric balsa when needed and only remove a hair at each pass. Didn't have much issue with adjustment, bed was shimmed to suit sanding barrel. Bells and whistles would be nice if it was something I used regularly, but it works fine for occasional use.

Hi all One of my customers saw this thread on the forum and asked if I would give some info on it ) I'm not usually a forum warrior, so apologies if this ends up a tad long I advertise laser cut ribsets on fleabay with a store called 'iGull Laser" - my ID is 'cgulltech' - to see all the available items, just look for the storefront and you'll see all that are currently available. My website currently has nothing to do with cutting ribs, it's pretty old and is (was) just a hobby thing. It needs refurbished ) I only sell ribs and the occasional tip/braces/fin parts - I also do some FT (flitetest) parts as a help to some of the guys that do depron/foamboard modelling but don't wish to order from the US. This is only a sideline in retirement to feed my modelling habit, it's not Hobbyking and neither am I based in China (at least last time I looked, Edinburgh was in Scotland ) I also don't charge Chinese prices - but I do give 'free' UK postage ) @kc, the WOT 4 ribs are for the supplementary built-up wings for the WOT 4 Mk 1 from the plan produced by 'Yesterday's Aeromodelling Plans Service'. I checked the profile against a foam template we used in the 80' for the WOT 4 and it is very slightly different on the underside (it does say on the plan that they won't fit, but that was probably to ensure that any plan copyright wasn't breached) - it has about 1.5mm less 'camber'. I can't imagine it making much difference to the flying ability. You can get the plans on eBay I think - look for 'Yesterday's Aeromodelling Plans Service'. Regarding the cost of my ribs as not being 'cheap', I don't think you are aware of the cost and outlay involved in doing something that looks as simple as cutting a few ribs, try forking out 17k for a high quality RF laser, then something short of 1k for balsa and ply, then special boxes, shipping and finally the amount of personal time to completely redraw (accurately) all the ribs from crappy plans that have drawn parts that don't even match the plan they were made for ) Finally (and most importantly ) I need to make a small profit to feed my modelling habit. /rant ) @jeff2wings, really like the soarcerer, I haven't completed mine yet sadly - be nice to use your pics in the rib ad ??? Also liked the fact that you didn't spoil it with ailerons ! @Phil Green - thanks for the glowing report, I'll send you the money next week ) And you're right, I'm a real bloke (except at weekends, but we'll not go into that here LOL ))))) The range of ribs is constantly expanding - I do charge to redraw oddball ribs that no-one else would want, but if there are any 'common' ribs that anyone would like, I'll put them on my bottomless list Just mail me - [email protected] - I'll mail you when/if they become available. BTW, the laser I designed/built was sold a couple of years ago - I bought a smaller commercial RF laser instead with some of the proceeds - it's red not yellow ) Neil