| meet GEOFF GRAHAM from
Lincolnshire, UK
GEOFF GRAHAM sent me an
interesting e-mail, part of which I'm using here as his personal profile.
Geoff was a meteorologist before retiring, and spent some three years in the
met office at Gatwick Airport - not as interesting as we might think, he
says. The picture of Geoff here was cropped from one of him with a
beautiful replica Victorian rocking horse he made for his grandson -
click the pic if you would like to see it!
 At
62 years of age, I have been a modeller for over 50 years on
and off, but until recently I flew only gliders, most recently
in Derbyshire where we were spoiled for choice of slopes, of
course. Then we moved to Lincolnshire, as a lifelong commitment
to retire here came about. After 50 years of building 'em, I
still get a great thrill from seeing another model emerge from
the chaos of the bits and pieces.
The noise issue was the one which caused me to
abandon power which was then FF, and that alone will tell you that it
was many years ago!
It recently became clear to me that I needed to
think again about power, as though there are slopes within
five miles of my home, they are not the 1200-feet high variety that we
had in Derbyshire. So, I built the Junior 60 as an electric
aircraft. That has been such a delight to fly that it whetted my
appetite for a personal power renaissance - and then followed the T180
and more recently, for the first time ever, I submitted to the
temptation to buy an ARTF. That was the J3 Cub, World Models
version at 71" for a Surpass ·52.
I would probably be accepted for the Guinness
Book of Records with that. Why? well, as the guy who took more hours
than anyone else ever to prepare an ARTF kit! I modified it for
closed-loop rudder and did not like the idea of fixing struts to wings
by the use of self-tapping screws into plywood. I therefore opened up
the wings and inserted some ply plates on which I had mounted captive
nuts, so the struts are now secured by M3 cap screws. I then decided
that the wings looked a bit of a mess with strips of covering where
these mods had been done, so I removed the lot and re-covered the wings
totally. I also resited the throttle servo position and fitted a
refuelling valve. Barmy! some folk would have scratch-built in the time
it took me to do that. I have not yet flown the Cub, which I finished
before Christmas.
 My
current project is the lovely DH71 Tiger Moth Racer from JB Aviation - John
Simpson's design. That is proving a delight to build as it is all CNC cut,
of course. I noted from one of your bits of
text that you fly a Kite from the same stable. I also picked up
on your liking for "low and slow" stuff. That is my scene, and
though aero-modelling is the broadest of churches, I have never been a
sufficiently good pilot to fly the fast, zappy stuff. That brings me to
the question about the Kite. Is it really an aircraft which may be flown
slowly and controllably as well as in its aerobatic, fast role?
geoffers@ntlworld.com
Firstly, it's good to meet you
through ModelFlight, Geoff - nice to get to know another
62-year-old retiree! Can anybody beat Geoff's attempts to scratch-build
an ARTF!
The ATS Kite is first and foremost a
trainer, with docile handling yet full aerobatic capability. It does
handle well "low and slow" as well as being a plane that can
take you right through to 'B' certificate level.
Take a look at Geoff's planes
on the photo gallery page, and
see how he's getting on with the Tiger Moth on the special 'models
in the making' feature, accessible from the foot of the 'photo
gallery' page.
|
It's
true! It would be good to meet YOU on this personal profile
page, so please join the fun and send some details of yourself, your
family, modelling and other interests and anything else you care to tell us about and let's get to know you!
