It's true!

You can either e-mail your information from the post-box at the foot of this page or use the Response Form below - and if you've got a picture of yourself, so much the better!

and find out what happened to his pulse jet project which we first heard about at the beginning of July.

I am 42 years old, having been born in Stranraer, Scotland in 1958. I first became involved in aeromodelling at the age of 11 when my father built a control line model called a Starshooter, powered by a DC Sabre diesel engine. It was this model that came adrift from one of its control lines, on launch, leading me to attempt to catch it to prevent the inevitable crash! I succeeded in saving the model at the expense of a rather nasty injury to my hand, the scars of which I still bear today. It was around this time that I saw a pulse jet for the first time.

After control line flying came a single-channel Super Sixty powered by an ED 2·46 Racer diesel engine. This aircraft gave many hours of service, allowing my father and I to learn so much. After a few more adventurous models, still single-channel, we progressed to multi-channel radio in the form of a set of RCS reeds. With this sytem we had little success and quickly moved on to proportional radio by purchasing a set of Simprop 5-channel radio from a model shop somewhere in Bolton. With this system we soon mastered the art of radio control, flying models like the KK Fleetwing, Ripmax Gangster, RM Soarcerer, Graupner Foka and many others.

I left home in 1976 to join the RAF which curtailed my activities, until 1980, when I was posted to Linton-on-Ouse. It was here that I stumbled across York Models run by a man who was to become a good friend and mentor, Dave Smith.

Dave led me through the basics of competition aerobatics and was a great help during the two years I spent in Yorkshire. During this time I flew a little Mig 15, a Lark Helicopter, a Cub 20 Pylon Racer and a Curare.

In 1982 I was posted to Cosford where I began flying the odd display here and there using a variety of models which included an interesting delta called a Stratos designed by Hanno Pretner.

Having flown models for 16 years on and off, I was presented with a chance to compete in the other love of my life, motorsport, in the form of kart racing. I competed in this sport for 5 years and was privileged to be selected for the RAF team which took me abroad to compete.

I left the RAF in 1992 and started my own kart engine tuning business. Engines that I have tuned have won hundreds of races and many championships including the 1998 British Championship.

It was in 1997 that I stopped trading and took up my current employment with the MoD at Cosford where I was employed as a technical instructor.

The year 2000 led to to take up the hobby of aeromodelling with the intention of building and flying some quick models, namely fast prop, pulse jet and possibly gas turbine.

My initial intention was to build some models to assess my flying skills (or lack of them!) with a view to building a smallish, but quick, pulse-jet powered delta. These included a Pico Jet and the three models pictured below - a Street Machine, Extra Slim and the very fast Diamond Dust.

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Everything was going to plan and I had received the front end of a jet from USA. Unfortunately, the manufacturer would encounter difficulty in supplying the tailpipe for the engine. This delay, which ran into months, led me to begin learning about the progress made in the gas turbine model world and gave me time to consider the implications of the pulse jet, i.e., noise, etc. In the end, I returned the pulse jet parts and decided on another route.

I have recently purchased a PJP Hawk from Mark Leavesly with the intention of fitting the new Wren MW54 gas turbine engine. This project will take me at least 6 months to complete but will satisfy my philosophies of building something different which is also quick and exciting to fly. This model will break new ground as it will be the first PJP Hawk to be fitted with a gas turbine (unless someone beats me to it).

stuart@macskart.cfreeserve.co.uk 

Many thanks for that, Stuart. I hope we might hear from you again with news of the Hawk project - something rather special, I must say!

from Sydney, Australia

TOM is 58 years old and is an Ericsson Network Engineer.

Tom is married to Shirley and they have four grown-up children - Wayne, Geoff, Corinne and Gavin, all in their thirties.

Tom's is a lifetime's interest in model flying, having been involved in the hobby for 50 years now . He has flown all kinds of models during that time, although his current favourite is his Flair Tiger Moth which you can see on the photo gallery page.

Here's Tom's impressive fleet of interesting models:

	Flair Tiger Moth, 1/4 scale, Enya 1.55 engine, Futaba 9Zap radio
	BVM (Bob Violet Models) Sabre Ducted Fan, BVM  ·81 engine, BVM fan unit
	Bridi Kaos, Tower Hobbies ·46 engine - weighs 5 pounds and flies beautifully. This model is the ·60 size version and Tom got it down to its low weight by slightly slimming down the fuselage and using lots of contest balsa and carbon fibre
	Electric Glider Mini Challenger, Astro geared 035 cobalt FA1, 7 cells
	Electric Lanzo Bomber, Astra cobalt 035, 7 cells
	Buzzard Bombshell, Enya ·53 engine, old-timer contest model, weighs just 3 lbs 3 oz
	Schleuter Champion Helicopter
	Airsail Aviation Powered Parachute
	Robbe "Charly" Parachute Man, great fun, has fallen to his death several times - now has a positive release servo!
	Aeroflite Invader (rudder only), a replica of Tom's first r/c model, Fox ·15 and a single servo to control the rudder. Tom flies it with his normal radio and says he had forgotten how much you can do with only rudder and motor control.

Of his other activities, Tom says, "I spend too much time on the internet and not enough modelling. I retired from full-time work three years ago and the plan was to do lots of flying. Ericsson made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I am now working more than ever. We travel all over Australia doing work on the Ericsson Telephone Exchanges. I would dearly love a turbine, but my flying skill is not up to the standard required at the moment. Perhaps when I retire!! I get a lot of pleasure just doing touch-and-go's with the Kaos".

Thanks, Tom - Stuart's gas turbine project will no doubt appeal to you! I guess there are some of us who would like to know more about those two parachute models - they sound rather intriguing! 

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Reg Heath, 60 South View Gardens, Andover, Hants, SP10 2AQ, UK

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