Tim Tim

Presumably 'Old Warden day' has passed this year? Where is it anyway? I have heard of it, but never been.

Yes, plenty of food for thought. Thinking about it, the earliest planes I flew were little sheet balsa jobs, about 8" wingspan. They came in a little plastic envelope; you could see the bits inside through the printing. They were pretty cool actually. Does that ring any bells for anyone? That was in the late 1960s.

I believe they had little rubber motors - slung underneath. Either that or they were gliders. I remember the distinctive smell of the kits, and would recognise it instantly if I came across it now.

I see what you say about the ARTF models. I suppose it's ok if all you want to do is fly. It's a bit sad really, as the model shop I'm talking about in my town has a very small section of balsa supplies, and a smallish selection of Keil Kraft and some WestWings (I have done a couple of them: the Spitfire and the German WW2 plane with props at both ends, can't remember the name). A few other oddities.

Onl a final point, and I guess I could be saving these points for other threads, I also find going into model shops somewhat daunting as you get the feeling that the people serving somehow just want to hurry up and serve you and get back to what they were doing, where what I need in my position is to go at a little slower pace.

Grumpy moan over (and I am only talking about one shop where I live, not all model shops!).

At least on the www you can go as slowly as you like.

Cheers for now (oh, Old Warden - when and when?)

Tim

duncan

Old Warden is near Biggleswade in Bedfordfordshire. It is the home of the Shuttleworth Collection (vintage aircraft and cars). www.shuttleworth.org will give details. Nearby is the giant airship hangars at Cardington, sometimes used for indoor model flying. Both are a step back in time. Worth the trip. A bit closer to you is Middle Wallop, the Army Museum of Flight air field, lots of F/F events there. It occured to me that the UK S.A.M chapter is SAM35, is 1066 just the Hastings branch ? Good links on the main SAM website, USA of course but lots of tips,pics etc. www.antiquemodeler.org

wonwinglo

Tim,I know what you are saying about model shops,there was only one exception to this and that was 'Barry's models' a shop devoted to real models back in the eighties,the place was more like a museum crammed to the ceiling with scale models hanging up,I ran it for 15 years and always gave the utmost attention to my valued customers,the problem was I was having difficulty getting materials as simple as lightweight tissue etc parking restrictions finally put paid to the shop and I sadly had to close it.
Unfortunately modern shops seem to operate on a profit basis disregarding personal attention to people,take a look at any modern shop with young managers who have little experience of handling the public,the problem is profits come before anything else and by selling an ARTF off the shelf gets rid of a lot of the hassle to the shop owner of having to explain the build to them,this all stems down to 'communication' or should I say the lack of it ! communicative skills seem to have vanished from the curriculum.
Whilst the demise from the shop shelves of traditional modelling goods has not helped the high street shopper it has spurned the specialists like the SAMS shop,George who runs it searches out such things as nose buttons,thrust races and specially packaged balsa from the States.
If you can hang on until next year ( not that far away as the scale meetings are in the summer) then I think a visit to that stall will amaze you as to what is available,save your money and select a subject that suits you from the excellent cottage industry kits,or alternatively you could get his catalogue full of goodies.
The rubber models in a packet were the 'Sleek streak' we had one young lad who assembled one and on its first flight flew OOS never to be seen again,these have been replaced with styrofoam designs.
The German push-pull design done by Westwings is the Dornier 335 Pfiel,no chances of getting this flying except with drastic weight reduction by thinning everything out from the kit contents.
Anway hope that this helps,warts and all regarding the present situation with this type of modelling.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

duncan

Tim , have a look at www.myunclewillies.com Loads of re-drawn vintage plans of all types.