cats corner

Here's an item or two from the latest catalogues, magazine advertising or websites - not necessarily all new products on the market, but items large and small that will be of interest.
If you contact any supplier as a result of reading this page, please be sure to mention ModelFlight.

I bought one of Balsacraft's printed self-adhesive building jigs that was covered on an earlier update of ModelFlight. At just £12.95, including brackets, etc., I was pleased enough but I must admit that it is a devil of a job to lay the long self-adhesive grid straight and true. For more serious and frequent builders the AEROTEK U.K. Mk.2 FUSELAGE AND ALIGNMENT JIG seems a much more accurate and professional job, but we're talking slightly more serious money here.

The board features a large 48" x 15" ready-drilled and slotted melamine baseboard with warp-free heavy-duty base runners fitted. All necessary hardware and parts are provided, and the tough, accurate, machined brackets will not twist or distort. There is a special tailplane alignment fixture and the clear, easy-to-read grid and reference lines are printed direct to the board.

Models up to 60" long are easily accommodated and very detailed comprehensive instructions are supplied.

The board can be purchased only from PETERBOROUGH MODEL CENTRE, 60 Southview Road, Walton, Peterborough, Cambs, PE4 6AG; telephone 01733 322894. The company welcomes mail and export orders and accepts major credit cards. The price is £42.95 plus £7.50 post and packing on the U.K. mainland - export at cost.

I've got a birthday coming up - I wonder . . . ?

BENIGN 'SANDING SEALER'

Here's a product recommended by GEOFF GRAHAM for those who, like him, have become sensitive to solvent-based products. Though intended as a finishing lacquer for hardwood pieces, Geoff uses this as a sealer for balsa and liteply surfaces. It is a milky, white substance which can be readily thinned simply by adding water. Geoff says he understands it to be odourless, though he cannot be certain as he no longer has a sense of smell, poor chap.

It costs about £11 for a litre which is likely to last you for ages. It is quick drying and works well with those plastic spongy type sanding blocks. It gives a superb finish, which is what Geoff always aims for BEFORE covering - tiny imperfections on the wood surface look awful behind a taught, plastic covering such as Solarfilm.

You can buy this product on line from http://www.toolpost.co.uk/

Also available is a dedicated Chestnut brand acrylic sanding sealer which Geoff is going to try when he has exhausted his current stock of lacquer.