Well, I live in a 3 bedroom detached house with my wife and two youngest kids. Space is kinda cramped and we know we needed more space.
About 9 years ago I had enough money to add some room, instead we bought a business and built into a thriving concern that has gone from 6 employees 7 years ago to 12 at present.
The UK tax laws are designed to give business owners incentives and we were granted a large pot of money two years ago to build our business. I learned from our tax officer that I could use this money to offset the profit that we made as a bona fide "investment allowance" and this resulted in a major (on paper) loss that I can carry over to the subsequent tax years as a loss against any profit that we make.
So my build log/blog is about the addition to the house that I am about to embark on.
We are adding two more bedrooms, enlarging the kitchen adding two more bathrooms and PRAISE THE LORD a workshop for me.
We have quite strong planning laws that govern what we can build and there is also a building control department that ensures that any construction work is adequately done.
The planning hurdles are over and the consent for both the design and the construction specification has been approved, this cost £1700 or $2744
At this point we went out to tender to three builders and received estimates that really made my eyes water. The lowest was £66000, the top one £93000, at current exchange rates that's $106520 and $150097 respectively.
We could just about...Continue Reading

I don't even begin to pretend to be a golf fan but the local satellite tv was shoving the Ryder Cup down our throats last week, the British newspapers were hanging the European team up as traitors, you know the stuff - lousy captain, players couldn't hit a barn if they were locked up inside; then suddenly everything changed, the very same reporters were saying how marvellous the captain was, how skilled the team was.
I bet the American golf fans are really pissed off with the way the morale and performance of their team slumped and particularly the performance of T. Woods, he's never been the same since he crashed into that tree.

Sincere condolences, get your golf coach to get the next Ryder Cup Squad to watch the Gregory Peck film "Twelve o'clock High" it might put some of the energy back into them.

Dropped my daughter off at her new home for the next three years, University of East Anglia in Norwich UK, we made a family day of it and all four went up and, obviously, only three came back.
Her brother who is nearly two years younger was really cut up about her leaving home, much more so than I expected.
Anyway, nice modern buildings, plenty of space and a city that is one of the best policed in the UK.
It'll take some time getting used to it then we'll go through the same process again when the youngest leaves home next year.
I have to be honest and admit it affected me much more than I expected as I was in the merchant marine for many years and got used to parting with my first family.
I don't suppose I'm unusual though.

It must be my age but I keep being drawn to the obituary columns of my favourite e-newspaper.

This one is worth a read http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit...joe-vaghi.html

I mentioned earlier that my enthusiasm for modelling was declining, well to cut a long story short, I've stopped. Kept my favourite models and unbuilt kits plus all the engines and radio gear and taken up hunting again.
Right now it's woodpigeons and rabbits but hey, fresh meat tastes great.
The woodpigeon (woodie) is a favourite, because there's not too much meat I just crown them and throw the carcase with wings, legs etc away.
I carefully pare the breast meat from the bone, about 3 -4 crowns is ok for 4 adults, grind the meat up and use it in bolognaise sauce for the most tasty spaghetti bolognaise I've had in a while.
In the meantime, should I want to indulge in modelling again I've got the gear just to get up and go after buying a few batteries.

Further to my earlier blog about the death of an American Pilot who chose to serve in the Bomber Command of the RAF,here's another link showing the memorial which was officially unveiled today by our Queen.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18600871

Just thought I'd add this obituary from the british newspaper the Daily Telegraph. It's especially poignant in that our Queen is unveiling a monument today to the 55,000 Bomber Command aircrew who died in WW2. Because of the backlash against the civilian casualties they inflicted the homage due them has been suppressed since WW2.
I hope the link works.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit...k-Knilams.html

Another, rather more fatuous link, is that the comic character from whence came my e-handle "Braddock, VC" earned his two VCs in several fictitious raids with Bomber Command.

Thought I'd post some pix of my 99% finished Xtrawot, just have to trim some of the trim edges, add the wheel pants and run the OS 160 Fx in then it's go fly, it started life as a kit in 2002!!!!

My eye surgery is scheduled for 17th January next year and I have to have a growth on my right foot removed and biopsied and my left big toenail removed, christ I'm gonna be off work for 4 weeks from mid january so I'll continue with the astrohog then!
A very merry Xmas to all, and Happy holiday to those who are pc.

I've got a package of wood ready and am marking out the astrohog fuselage formers and wing ribs. The method I use to mark out the various components is to photocopy each component on our ancient canon photocopier that uses toner; the paper wing ribs are then snipped out and placed on a 4" wide strip of paper to avoid too much waste then placed photocopied side down over the 4" balsa sheet and ironed with a covering iron turned right up. The outline is transferred to the balsa. I cut round the outline with a sharp scalpel then bolt them together to cut the slots for the spars and to sand the edges smooth.
I bought a large sheet of 3mm birch ply for the fus formers and a rake of 3/32" quarter grain balsa for the wing ribs. I can't get 5/16" balsa sheet to strip off the various spars that are made from this size balsa so I've bought 2 x 4" wide sheets of 1/8" medium balsa and one sheet of hard 1/16" balsa sheet to laminate the sheet which I will then strip off into 5/16" square sticks with my band saw.
I keep my bandsaw in a loft over my business so the whole lot, sticks, formers and ply wing ribs will be cut out at the same time. I am buying a 1/4" square tool ( google permagrit to see what I mean) to file out the spar notches en masse but I have yet to decide what material to use for the spars; the plan shows 1/4" square hard balsa - I'm torn between basswood or 2 square carbon tubes per panel with balsa for the rear spars, we'll see as I'm off to the local model shop to see what they have and how much it costs before committing.
Next week it's quiet at work so I'll leave the staff ticking over and go and visit my relatives in Wales (on the west in wales whereas I live in Dover on the East coast).

I don't know what it is but I've lost the will to fly. I think I've bought to many artfs and just can't bond with them, also I've been getting bigger and bigger airframes which seem to take me away from what I really wanted to do which was fly smaller aircraft, say 5 feet wingspan with smaller engines.
I've been following the thread on here called is the astrohog the best plane ever. I had one of the flair models and it was a real pretty plane and an excellent flier so I sent off to the X list of plans and bought the plans for the original as drawn by Fred Dunn. This plan is a work of art and I've decided to build it over the winter so I'll bond with it and perhaps bring back some of the fervour to my modelling.
I'll post some pix of it as the build progresses but only when the components are complete.
I have to go in for surgery on my right eye to straighten it up so I get back my depth perception but I won't know for sure until late November so whilst I'm recuperating I'll make a kit of parts, I've got most of the wood, just need some 1/16" 3-ply and then it's on with the show.

A bit out of date now, but we had a great time.
On the way down we spent the night in the city of Tours, France about 160 miles SW of Paris.

This city was the centre for the American expeditionary force in WW1 in 1917 where 650,000 men set up a distribution centre for the logistics of your brave soldiers. Your Army built a beautiful memorial to your boys and it is well looked after. The French built a bridge over the River and named it after your President Wilson. In WW2 somebody bombed the crap out of it but the French rebuilt it and it stands today as an emblem of gratitude to all your boys who came over and fought for freedom.

All to often nowadays the people over here forget the debt of blood we owe to the USA for all their help and sacrifice in two world wars, many ignoring the debt when asked to help out in the current conflicts in afghanistan and Iraq. I'm pleased to say that we brits have helped out but because we are such a small nation the amount of help is limited in size but not, I hope, in effort.

There are many memorials over here in Europe and most of the western front soldiers of both opposing armies who gave their lives lie in beautifully kept cemeteries.

On the Eastern front it's not the same story, mass graves with little or no access for the german relatives of the dead to visit.

I've tried to paste a picture but can't so if you want to see the memorial in tours go to the website of the american battle monuments commission and search for "Tours"

We love the town of Nerja in southern spain and we try to have a few weeks there every year, normally over Christmas as it's fine but not hot.
The kids asked if we could go down in the summer this year so we rented a villa which is literally right on the beach and started getting the car ready for the run down.
The car is now 7 years old and there's a few faults so I had all the brakes replaced, full service etc etc and just over a week ago the airconditioning packed up. They want nearly $1100 to fix it, the damn car isn't worth much more so I started preparing my SUV, a gas guzzler if ever there was one so I wasn't very happy about that, the cost of fuel for the trip was more than the cost of the rental of the villa for over 3 weeks.
I spotted an ad in the paper, free credit for a new vauxhall(General Motors, bless em) and next Tuesday a nice shiny new vauxhall insignia is being delivered, a 2 litre diesel car.
The cost estimate of the fuel is less than half of the SUV so that saves us nearly $700 and I got about $3500 in trade in for the old car.
I'm quite surprised neither the wife or kids moaned about the expense and the real neat thing is I can offset the payments against tax for my business which saves a further stack of money, great!!!!

Last year I blogged about the dutch guy who tried to fly his 1/2 scale bleriot XI over the channel from Calais to Dover.
I got a call in late March this year and it was on again. One fine morning in april he took off from Calais and about 40 minutes later he landed at St Margaret's at Cliff, near Dover.

Here's a couple of videos on youtube, the short one I took, the longer one was taken from the chase heli.

Model Bleriot Channel crossing 2011.wmv (3 min 54 sec)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B807GPRG3s&NR=1

If those links don't work just go to u-tube and search model bleriot landing at dover.

We got great press coverage in the UK local press, front page on one and a full centre spread in the othe plus I arranged for the editor of AMI a uk model mag to get a seat in the chase boat and he did an article in the AMI.

Just an update, I've nearly finished the xtrawot but had an engine change, I bought a clapped out OS 160 Fx, sent off to Tower Hobbies for a new piston, liner and ring as they were unobtainable in the UK, 4 weeks later they popped through the letter box after being held up in Customs for nearly 4 weeks and they are now in the engine, just have to drill the mount for the engine, bolt it in and connect up the servo, a lick of paint round the cowl and she's ready to run in. A nearly new 160 FX for under $200 can't be bad. The bearings are so big they are cheap as chips, under $15 for both, german ones too.
Hopefully she'll fly this weekend, won't get another chance for 4 weeks as we are driving down to Spain for a vacation on the beach in Nerja.
My two youngest kids are 18 and 16 so it's probably the last holiday we'll have together before they go to university.
I'll post some pix next week.

Well I hope you chaps had a good holiday, I'm no further forward with the extra wot, and the chances of it flying in the near future are remote.
We had an extension built on our business and much of the work was done between december 27th and today so it's now ready for occupation and all it needs are a few coats of paint and the security sensors wiring up and she's a goer.
Unlike the xtrawot. I've had to buy new standoffs, 4 metres of fuel tube, a new silencer, new tank bungs, new felt clunk weight, new propellers and two new servos. Then some more paint, some thinners and a bottle of airbrush cleaner.
Sometimes I hate this hobby of mine Since I had my gall bladder out I cannot touch alcohol without getting severe acid reflux so I can't even get pissed to lose touch for an evening.
On the brightside, I'm saving a fortune so should be able to buy some new gear shortly.

Took a day off work to apply the decals and the fella that cut them has only cut the shapes for the starboard wing, 2 bloody sets of starboard wing decals - Fortunately solarfilm's solartrim came in the right colours so I had to cut them out by hand, and I got a fresh supply of paints for the cowl, u/c and spats. Should get them painted next week.

Bit of a change of plan on the engine front, I've decided to change the engine, bought a dla 32 gasser to go in there, never realised how many different accessories I had to buy, new fuel pump, new fuel tubes, the list is endless.

Should be ready to fly before Christmas though. I hope.

Can I get the time to clear a space on the table, lay some soft towelling over it to lay my plane on and apply these bloody decals?
The answer is NO! Always the way I have 4 busy days and nights and next weekend my son is playing away and I'm the taxi so I won't be finishing the Xtrawot for at least a week.
It's almost christmas, I've done no shopping so that week might stretch into two and then three then it's christmas and I need a vacation but I can't go as we've a major expansion going on in my business, hot damn I only work to pay for my hobby and I can't get the time to do it.
Rant over but I guess you guys out there know how I feel, I need four hours or so, tops and I can't string em together.

Frustrated of Dover.

Here's the layout of the graphics I have to add, couldn't do it tonight as I'd something else on, perhaps tomorrow.
BTW the colours are much brighter than this, the red is a much deeper red and the light blue is sky blue.

I hope these pictures come through, this is ready to go in the white.
I have 3 colours of vynil trim, there is dark blue and the cowl, spinner, u/c and pants will be this colour. Also light blue and maroon.

By the way it's fitted with the two seater canopy.

Whaddya think?