The following was written circa 1990 when the Colonel built his original KK Gypsy, some of which has survived to be the basis of the current electric/RC attempt. For every one of those readers who has had a long and prolific modelling life filled with successes in design and competition, there will have been hundreds of schoolboys such as my younger self described below. Of those schoolboys who return to the hobby in later years, many (like me) will still struggle to get a tailplane almost square to the fuselage; so spare a thought for those of us for whom little has changed......


Tails of Woe

I have become a born again aeromodeller. Or to be slightly more accurate, a born again aeromodelling duffer. I used to be rubbish, and probably still am. Like many youngsters, I was a very enthusiastic local park model flyer in the seventies, though in retrospect the enthusiasm outweighed the skill by a considerable margin. Later, the hobby was resigned to the loft as age progressed and enthusiasm waned, to be replaced by the desire to risk life and limb riding motorcycles as far as possible around our and other people's countries. A brief flirtation ten years ago with a two channel glider was exactly that - brief. Ten seconds after launching, I realised that the book was right - you should not try and teach yourself to fly alone. <CRUMP!> Especially not with a glider with a warped fuselage and wings, as a result of an "almost" flat building board.

I still...Continue Reading

I have opened my eyes, and by doing so, have removed a level of frustration from my life! I feel liberated, and happier for it and now I wish to let others know, in the hope that it may benefit them. Let me elucidate:

You might be someone that I aspire to be.

Maybe you have got to that enviable stage where the mortgage is fully paid off, or even simply that income is now greater than expenditure. You may even be a Lottery winner. You may also be one of those lucky chaps whose time is unencumbered with the demands of work, family and spouse. You may be lucky enough to have your garden and accommodation sorted well enough such that a quick canter around with the vacuum and duster is all that is needed to have it set for a visit from the vicar or maiden aunt. Or perhaps you have a Utopian spouse who insists that evening times are a time for your relaxation, and that if to relax you need to shut yourself away in the garage, workshop, or converted loft emerging several hours later covered in a fine layer of balsa dust or foam bobbles and a contented smile, then that’s fine by him/her.

This may describe you (in which case read no further), but conversely.....

You are far more likely to be an ordinary chap like me, who gets home after 11 hours out of the house working, and travelling to and therefrom. Before the door is closed, you are greeted by the youngest members of the family presenting you with broken toys to mend, homework requiring your assistance,...Continue Reading