Picture gallery

The 1970-89

Bolkow Junior

This was the first model I ever remember having, probably in the very early 1970's. It was made from die cut and printed 1/16 sheet. I think I managed to put it all together but as regards flying it probably never had a chance. In any case I certainly do not remember it flying.

North Pacific Sleek Streak

Sleek streak

This was the first model I ever had that flew! It had a solid balsa stick fuselage and 1/32" sheet wings. The wings were mounted in a plastic moulding which set the dihederal angle and allowed the wings to slide forward or backwards to get the balance point correct. The tailplane and rudder just pushed into slots in the rear fuselage.

The best thing about this was how well it flew! ROGs and handlaunch were no problem and it never went too far although I did manage to stick one up a tree in my Uncle's garden in Liverpool back in the early 1970's. He brought it down by throwing a sweeping brush at it!

Veron Colt

This was the first Control Line model I had, It had a solid balsa fuselage and wings which were machined to shape. My dad bought it and I built it. Naturally I gave it a coat of bright red paint but it was hopelessly underpowered with a little DC Merlin 0.75cc diesel engine. In any case we could never get the engine running properly so at best I think that we managed a couple of laps.

Serveral years later, I saw someone flying one of these with a 1.5 cc PAW diesel and it flew beautifully, just as a trainer should. This one is on the list for a rebuild at some stage.

Comet Zero

This was a rubber powered scale model of 22" span. It used goedetic ribs in the wing and a cardboard tube for the motor which also served as a fuselage jig. The wings used geodetic ribs and the structure overall was very heavy. Again it got a full paint job.

The model never flew as I didnt understand anything about the importance of getting the balance point right.The first and only flight resulted in a stall, dive and crash. Result was one broken prop! Perhaps it could be rebuilt as a r/c model.

Comet Gull II

This was a 33" span cablin type model, which contained rock hard balsa. After the zero I realised that a high wing model might be more successfull. The one and only test flight resulted in a broken prop. There was an option to use an 020 engine on the plan as opposed to the rubber supplied.Again, the concept of getting the balance point right was completly beyond me

I now have a copy of the plan and might consider rebuilding it again but for electric R/C. However it is not what you might call a "pretty" model so I am in no rush!

Piper cub

Piper Cub

Own design 18" rubber powered and very semi scale. I may not have even got as far as covering this one. The structure was all 1/16 strip balsa so it might well have flown but I think the major problem that I still had was getting props and not knowing about trimming free flight models.

Wigan 70 glider

Wigan 70

This simple 28" span towline glider was built from an Aeromodeller free plan. It has an auto rudder but I don't think that I ever managed to tow it successfully.

Panic control liner

Panic

This was an OD control line model for a DC Merlin. The idea was to build something very simple and light. I was hampered by having to use the small free flight plastic tank as I had no proper c/l wedge tanks available. Usually by the time I got the engine started, I only had time for a few laps. However I think that my brother managed to loop it at some stage.

Aries and Green Wing

These were 2 small control liners,about which I remember nothing for the very good reason that there was nothing memorable about them! Their design was probably inspired by reading control line articles in "Aeromodeller". Aries had a full fuselage and was covered in red tissue. I do remember that if looked magnificent after a coat of polyurethane varnish. Green wing was a flying wing covered in green solarfilm.

Roaring 20

This was my first model built from an ASP plan. It was covered in brown tissue and powered by a DC Merlin 0.7cc diesel. It looked great but my inablility to get the engine running consistantly meant that it only just survived the first few trimming flights. As I remember I managed to get one resonable flight after lots of semi crashes.