Do You Ever Get Distracted??

 They tell me that model aircraft are only a hobby and you shouldn't let a hobby get in the way of life - yeah right - Bloody Life sometimes gets in the way of my Hobby! I recently took on the Secretary's job in my Model Club and pretty soon found myself also being the Newsletter Editor and then I was also 'nominated' to assume the position of Webmaster. Now my club is a small one and every member wants to fly - but club responsibility?? They run a bloody mile. I know that this is a common problem with many clubs but it is particularly acute in mine. Small membership, some members pre-occupied with business and family matters and all they want to do is grab a model and go flying on Sundays - more responsibility? NOT LIKELY.

Now - I'm retired - I have reasonable computer skills - and I'm available - yeah - I know - I should have ducked while I could. But - old age brings slower reaction times and suddenly I was the only one left standing. So as the Club had NO Newsletter AND no Website you can see my problem - it wasn't so much taking over as starting off - a whole different ball game.

Now - I'm not complaining - as I said - I'm an old fart and have the time and the skills to do the job BUT it does distract from time at the building board - you cannot code a website and build a quarter scale model WWI Biplane with 210 ribs and all that rigging at the same time!

I now find myself with 9 projects that are behind schedule, another five that have sort of drifted to the back of the hanger and a complete mess in the workshop. On top of that I'm rebuilding two wrecks - yeah - I did rush out to the field and didn't top up the batteries - and only one model in flying condition.

SO - I have now been forced to reschedule the building list in order to bring some order to the chaos; The bigger projects - that is the Lancaster, The Mosquito and the Texan to Wirraway conversion have now been moved to there own 'Bigger Project' list - in other words I'm having to put them aside for the moment to do the repairs and finish off some of the smaller models if I want to go flying in the forseeable future. In the next day or so I'll post up a project list so those those who may be following specific builds will have an idea what is happening. Oh - on top of all that I've just had my 70th birthday. - Bloody Hell - I'm now three score and ten, which might add to the belief that only the good die young!!

Merry Christmas - or what ever you call it where ever you are -

Cheers
Grumpy 42

I haven't run away - really -- but the sun is shining and

Sorry I've neglected this blog for a couple of weeks but as noted last time I've been doing other things. The Club's website is now up and running in it's final format but there are still a couple of tweaks to go. But - just to keep me busy - I turned 70 years of age on the 23rd of November - I don't really feel that old except when I'm getting up in the morning and when the Doctor sort of shakes his head in the way that Doctors do when they can't believe you've given your body such a hard time - AND - hooray - the weather has finally discovered we are halfway through spring.

So what all this means is that I got out to the flying field during the week and at the weekend - and - well, yes - the building board did get sort of overlooked for a few days. I shall yell at myself in the mirror (shudder) and get back to building this week - photos of progress next week - I promise - sort of - the sun is shining and the ....... 

I've Been doing Other Things!

Besides being Secretary of my Club I'm also the Newsletter Editor and now, the Webmaster of the Club's new Website. This has taken me away from the building board for a week or so and flying seems to be a thing other people get to do.

Anyway - it's some years since I built a website and so I had to get  the reading glasses out, brush off my HTML reference and try to put the bloody thing together - Yeah, well - last I heard we had HTML3 - now there is HTML5,  XHTML and a whole sh*t load of other stuff - ummmmm - steep learning curve. After a lot of coffee, swearing, muttering, assassination of gremlins, grinding of glitches and of teeth I've finally got a website started and on line. For anyone who is interested in how we do it way down here in Tasmania, or wants to have a giggle at my efforts, the website address is: -

http://www.tasmanianaeromodellingacademy.net.au

As mentioned I'm also the Club's Newsletter Editor so if you want a copy emailed to you contact me on my email address - echo.echo100@gmail.com - the Newsletter is published at the beginning of each month and you will need MSWord or something that can open Word documents. I can send a copy in RTF format if you ask.

Hopefully next week I'll be back to the building board and,  if the weather God's are in a good mood, I might even get to go flying.

In The "Good Old Days"

As readers will know one of my current projects is a Lanzo Bomber and, as it a classic old timer design, I've tried to build it as much as possible by traditional methods and with traditional materials - SO - that just had to include covering it with tissue instead of one of the modern iron one materials.

Tissue?? - yep - and a good old traditional shrinking dope. Now the older readers probably know what the hell I'm talking about but younger modellers might think I've lost a marble or two. So - for their information and amusement here is how we used to do it in the "good old days"

I've added this comment because some one commented on the dangers of using chemicals: 

NOTE:

Model aircraft dope contains dangerous chemicals which are both toxic and volatile! Do not use dope without adequate ventilation and preferably with a fume mask. Do not smoke or use the product near an open flame. Children should only use this product under Adult supervision

First job is to select the grade of tissue - it's usually available in light -medium and heavy grades. For this job I chose SILKSPAN medium grade. Then for the typical covering job you need to cut out 4 panels - that is top and bottom on both sides. Of course for things like the fin and rudder you only need 2 and for a big wing you might use 8 or more.

You also need a couple of brushes, a can of dope and preferably a bottle or can of Acetone for thinning and cleaning your brushes after use.

I apply the first panel buy brushing on unthinned dope around the edges of the panel and then applying the tissue over the panel before the dope has dried.I brush a second coat over the edges of the tissue to ensure it is firmly fixed all around.

Trim the tissue after the dope has dried and cut slits every cm or so around curved edges - tissue does not have the same 'stretch to conform' properties as the iron on covering

When everything is trimmed I use a water spray to lightly soak all the tissue. I wipe off excess water and leave the tissue to dry thoroughly - this step pre shrinks the tissue so you get a nice tight finish when you dope the whole structure.

I apply an overall coat of dope - thinned by 40% with acetone over the whole structure. For light weight tissue this is sufficient but for medium 2 coats and some times 3 for the heavy weight.

And when every thing is dry this is the result. Remember that tissue is translucent and any marks that would normally be covered by heat shrink film will show through the tissue. Some Hobby shops might be able to sell you coloured tissue or if not you can colour the thinned coats of dope with food dyes. Remember to use a fuel proofer if you are using an IC engine.

Bloody Murphy's Law

I don't know if "Murphy's Law" is known in other countries around the world but If not I'm sure you have something similar under a different name.

Murphy's Law states  

 "What can go wrong WILL go wrong" 

- there are some other less gentile versions as well.

Murphy's Law is well known and active in Australia. I was going to post a heap of photos over the weekend but - thank you Murphy - it didn't happen. I'm now in the process of rectifying that so if you happen to be on this blog right now check back in about an hour and I'll have the updates and photos on the Telemaster and Lanzo Bomber pages. The rest should be there a bit later tonight.

That bald headed old fart holding the Telemaster is me 

SO

It's either a very big model

OR

I'm a very small builder!

The Senior Telemaster has a wingspan of 94"

Slowly, slowly -

I've just added a couple more photos to the Bird of Time thread. The NovaRossi hasn't arrived yet but it will be here soon - in the meantime I've got some more photos for the Telemaster, the Lancaster, the Texan to Wirraway conversion and the Lanzo Bomber but it's late and I'm tired so I will post them over the weekend.

With a bit of luck I'll also have a couple more of the Wittman Tailwind and even the Asso Champion - Wallaby Bob has a new Girlfriend co-pilot and I've got the retractable  under carriage fitted.

More pictures - and something different soon

I'm finally starting to get all those bloody photos sorted and onto the blog - it's been a bit of a circus but I'm getting there now - only a few at a time I admit - but they all  need to be cropped and sized to fit into this blog. Any way - a few I've caught up with have been added to the Senior Telemaster thread and the first update on my ambitious plan to rebuild a totalled Bird of Time.

The next update will be a little different - I've just bought a mint NIB NovaRossi 60 so I'm going to do a bit of an article on it - if you are an IC engine fan it might be worth a look. Should have it written by this weekend or early next week.