I finally gave up searching, there are no wargamers sharing my tastes over here where I now live. They all go for those heavily merchandised chains, nothing to do with my taste. So all back to the shelf, I'll keep painting but at a very much slower (even more?) rate. I've been seriously thinking for the last couple of weeks of an alternative. I'm going back to another teen hobby of mine. To keep within a WW2 theme, here's what I'm looking at now: A few years ago I sold most of my old stuff, so I'm having to start from scratch again. Moreover motor and battery technology took an immense leap a few years ago so power systems are much more light in weight and efficient, which translates into less beefy structures and much longer flight times There are pure works of art done at litttle expense, like what's in this link. When selling my stuff I kept a kit of a 1.5m wingspan Beaufighter and a 2m B-29
Funny you should mention RC aircraft. I was talking to a mate the other day that I'd always fancied having a go at this - but knowing my skill level is would cost a fortune in repairs. Always fancied a helicopter. Maybe something to do when I retire.
Miguel, You certainly brought back memories of my mis-spent youth making KeilKraft, Frog and other balsa and paper construction planes of WW1 and WW2. Elastic band drive, but worked well until you overwound and broke it. Plus that wonderful smell of dope that my mother hated. Many hours of patience to build it followed by a short time before crashing to destruction. Regards Tom
Andy, if you choose the light-weight path actual expense can be quite low. hat plan I put up and which I'm redesigning a bit to suit my own building style has a 40" wingspan and will cost a few pounds only in balsa wood. It's literally sticks and paper so if you do break something up it will be easy to repair, and if it's a complete write-off it will cost you just a little to rebuild. Of course the most expensive parts will be the electronics, but the worst of it will stay on the ground in your hands: the transmitter. I've crashed innumerable times with my old trainer until it was just ugly with all that brown packing tape I used for repairs! When I thought it was too heavy and unbalanced for all those repairs and epoxy glue I binned it altogether and did a new one from the kit plans. And it was much lighter. And even so the electronics - servos, receiver, etc. - have become so cheap nowadays that I can even afford to have a complete set for each model. Beforehand it was a chore to unscrew it all from model A to reinstall in model B, today it's not nearly like that, prices did come down, especially if you're a cheap guy like me who buys most from the Internet and ebay. There are a lot of foam parkflyers (foam: EPP or Elapor, you can walk over them and they spring back to shape, I've done that myself!) which are quite cheap and some of them come with complete control systems. Excellent for an intro. I'm planning to do my own modelling from styrofoam, bought at the DIY shop. If properly done it can be rather tough, considering what it is. I myself never thought of Helis, one of the reasons is that these have very little input from you, so there is little you can repair yourself. You break a part, you buy$$ a new one, whereas on planes you can repair everything several times over. I could point you to a couple of good introductory models if you want. Tom, yes, that's what I used to do. I still keep the plan of my first model, a Slingsby glider from Veron There are still a lot of people who like those planes, see this guy. As for crashing to destruction, I never managed to do that with these 'peanut's, even when I tried. Loose them I did a few, breaking them never
My Nemesis was the "Widgeon" attempted to build a couple of them always always seemed to over dope and created the weight of a house brick
It looks like this gentleman is reissuing those long dead kits for you nostalgics link But I confess I'm worse than you, what I plan to do at least for some will be to pick old plans for these small free flight models, scale them up to sizes between 90-120cm wingspan, and then set them up with modern R/C and electric power systems. And there are also a few new techniques using insulating foams (depron - the stuff McD burger containers are made of) I want to explore. There are people combining sheets of this with paper models like these linkie1 and linkie2. Copy them to bigger size, transfer to the foam sheet, assemble like a paper model, install power and control systems and fly them I haven't flown a model in what, 15 years? One of my guide lines is to make them cheap enough so if I do crash them I won't have much to be sorry for, just repair or rebuild if feasible, otherwise no big loss. Did you read that Drew?
Well, if you want to play Apocalipse Now it's up to you, and you can do that for £134.99 [YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE] Like I said technology prices went in a nose dive. If I were to go into helis I'd start on something like this to get a handle, depending on what your instructor thinks. But beware of the butcher's bill if you think of crashing
Plus that wonderful smell of dope that my mother hated. always always seemed to over dope Seems to be a lot of dope, or am I missing something here?
I understand novice RC helicopter pilots can buy software to connect the RC transmitter to a PC and practice simulated flight without risking their precious model. Seems like a sound investment to me if somewhat lacking in the adrenalin stakes. Mike
Ah, yes, there are a number of simulators about, some of them technically astounding. And the investment certainly pays off in uncracked balsawood, fibreglass, carbon fibre, kevlar, whatever This one is free. Not the best, but free it is. You can use it with your keyboard, mouse, joystick, or buy a gizmo to connect to your RC console.
I understand novice RC helicopter pilots can buy software to connect the RC transmitter to a PC and practice simulated flight without risking their precious model. Seems like a sound investment to me if somewhat lacking in the adrenalin stakes. Mike I used to have one for my Atari ST in 1987.. what they could do with an 8mhz processor an 1Mb of ram in those days (I had the big STFM but the software would run on the one with only 512 kb of ram)! If you shelled out for an Amiga 1Mb you could even fly the thing in colour! A mate of mine used to fly RC helicoptes at competition level. I only ever got to fly it once as I didnt want to crash nearly £800 worth of chopper. A very nervous five minutes I can tell you!
See? One of the Principles of Za not applied. Keep it cheap so it won't be a great loss if you break it, for break it you will!
ZA School boy memories of small engines and fly by wire, spectacular crashes and balsa wood to rebuild. RC was just in its infancy and very expensive. Happy Days
The rubber powered kits were the height of technology. You knew exactly how many turns before it went ker twang or pulled the prop into the fuselage. Your wind-up is perfect. You launch into a stiff breeze Away she went Rising gently as the wings flip flopped A slight turn The 4.5 sec unwinding of the rubber band is now complete Higher she climbs another slight turn gaining height Up above the large Oak trees You straining and running zig zag to keep her in view. Gone. Lost in the canopy of the 400 year old guardians of the park? Bounced perhaps by an unseen foe? We knew not of thermals or North Easterlies. Carried on the wind to we know not where. Gone Oh well pocket money day tomorrow lets start again.
Cl1 Very poetic! you should have seen the neighbours cat trying to claw it out of the sky as it came to earth with a thump. The number I lost or smashed was amazing and dope my mum went way over the top when I used it round the kitchin instead of the shed.
For some reason I didn't see the wisdom in giving the wing undersurface the same number of dope coats. Unsurprisingly my wings were rather banana shaped Thank goodness for the new (40 years old...) fangled iron-on coverings!
