personal profiles

Here's my favourite page, where we can get to know a bit more about fellow-enthusiasts from all over the world. So far, I've introduced you to chaps from South Africa, United States of America, Canada, England and Australia. Here's another from England and one from Alabama, USA.

But where are the ladies? Surely this hobby is not without some lady enthusiasts and we'd certainly like to meet one or two here on the ModelFlight site.

MEET CLIFF SEARS.

Cliff is 46 years old and married to Sharon and they live in the attractive village of Enham Alamein in Hampshire, England.

Cliff flies with the Test Valley Model Flying Club which has been featured for the last month in ModelFlight.

Cliff took up radio-controlled aero-modelling just about one year ago. He was previously into r/c model boats but when a change of job meant a change of location, he was unable to find any boating facilities and decided to give aircraft a go. He flies an ARC Ready Trainer and an Easy Pigeon electric-powered glider. He has his sites on a scale Cub as his next model.

Cliff suffers from spina bifida and when not driving his Ford Mondeo uses a wheelchair to get about, from which he also does his flying, as you see here.

Cliff is supervisor of an electronics department mainly involved in the manufacture of specialised cables.

As well as his enthusiasm for model flight, Cliff is also keen on archery, computers and quad biking - the latter interest also means he can accompany Sharon when she goes cross-country horse riding. His computer interests include on-line game playing (mostly shoot-em-ups!) and computerised music for which he uses a Yamaha midi keyboard and Cakewalk software. He also builds computers to order - an extremely handy guy to know!

Here's a final shot of Cliff as he prepares his Easy Pigeon for flight. Out of interest, the weather on this occasion was perfect, and Cliff was aloft (well, his 'plane) for the best part of 20 - 25 minutes.

Thanks, Cliff, for your very interesting 'personal profile'. Keep us posted on the Cub project - the picture gallery is waiting!

My thanks to TOMMY YATES, who used the ModelFlight response form below to introduce himself to us.

Tommy is a physician - an anatomic/clinical pathologist in fact - aged 36, married to Shannon and lives in Florence, Alabama, USA. They have two children, T.J. who is 11 and Madison who is 5 years old.

Tommy's interest in r/c models is in ·40 size and larger, mainly scale subjects. He's really keen on Warbirds and civilian transports; he has build and flown double-fuselage aircraft, as well as helicopters. He belongs to Quad Cities R/c Cub, Florence.

Tommy says, "I like to fish and I enjoy scuba diving, and am working toward getting my pilot's licence, but as you can see, my real love is model planes!! [See the proof of that in the right-hand column! - Reg] I would love to correspond to European modellers and to trade kits or plans.

If you want to get in touch with Tommy, his e-mail address is docyates@mindspring.com

Tommy has been in the hobby for 14 years and his list of models is certainly impressive (and includes his first boat):

	TF Cessna 182, OS 90 4-stroke, nav lights, flaps, glassed and painted, built in '98, flies great.
	Dave Platt FW-190, OS 90 4-stroke, Spring Air retracts, 5 channels, 65" wingspan.
	RCMA A-10 Warthog, scratch-built, Spring Air retracts, ASP 45 pusher - "tail heavy bird, but looks real nice".
	Panther, scratch-built, OS 46 FX - a funfly plane that will slow to a crawl yet fly circles around anything at the field.
	TF Spitfire MkIX, OS 90 Surpass, Robart retracts, flaps, glassed and painted. This one has not flown yet, but will be in the next few months.
	Goldberg Eagle II - everybody needs one, says Tommy!
	Aerotech Stuka, ASP 53 4-stroke, glassed and painted (awesome), not flown yet.
	Unionville Hobbies DHC Turbo Beaver, built but not yet covered, YS 120 AC, flaps, floats, 96" wingspan.
	Loyalhanna Dockyard HMS Beaver Frigate, 60", almost decked, twin screws with 2x6 volt electrics - this is the boat!
	Kits to build this year: GP Cherokee and Global Beaver and parts are cut for a Junkers 52/3m, 96" wingspan.

That list of models is really something - I'd love to have a picture or two for the picture gallery, Tommy . . .

Join in the fun, send ModelFlight an e-mail and tell us about yourself, your family, hobbies and interests, what you do for a living, how long you've been model-making, what club you belong to, if any - in fact as much or as little as you see fit. Include a picture of yourself if you can.

Your e-mail address will be shown unless you specifically ask for it not to appear. Picture files ideally need to be in JPG format for best colour reproduction and to minimise time on-line.

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Click on the post-box at the top of this or any other page to send picture files for inclusion with your profile or for the picture gallery page or simply to e-mail ModelFlight.