photo gallery

As ALLAN KNIGHTS said to me, we are a bit thin on scale items, so he thought I might be interested to see what he's been up to recently - I should say so! This is a sneak preview of something which will appear in one of the major modelling mags in a couple of months' time, so we're in on the ground floor!

		Allan writes, "The kit is a Mk9 Spitfire ARTF from Hacker, in the Czech Republic. It consists of a fibre glass white gelled fuselage, including the fin. The tailplane, rudder and elevators are balsa, covered in a similar material, three-piece foam wing and fixed U/C. The fuz is engraved with all panel lines, hatches and duz fasteners and, it has to be said, of a good quality, too. It's designed for a 60 to 90 size motor and has a span of 68 ins with a weight of 8 to 10lbs. "The build is very quick and simple as all the hard work is done for you, and you only have the wings to cover. In fact I would go as far to say 'One could have this built, finished and on the flying site in three weeks!' ( one week the fuz, one week the wings and one week covering and painting) in its most basic form, I must add! "I have taken just over 2 months, and have added a few more scale extras as the model lends itself to this kind of thing. I have added a more scale tail wheel, full cockpit, fish tail exhaust stacks, retracts, cannons and a couple of working hatches to hide the switch and access to the engine. The paint scheme is of a Mk8, as this kit has the pointed tail mk9 and not the rounded one. The nose art was hand painted which was quite simple, in fact the hardest part was making the canopy frame out of litho....Agrrrrrr!"

The pictures were taken on 1st April and to date it has not yet flown. Allan has a brand new SC91 FS for it and is in the process of running-in the motor in his old Wot4 test-bed. The last thing he wants, of course, is for a brand new engine to stop in mid-flight, in a new model on its first test flight. The editor who is waiting for the article would certainly not be too pleased either! Allan promises us some more piccies when she's flying - wonderful!

Following our enforced lay-off in recent weeks, a couple of nice new models have now appeared on our Test Valley Model Flying Club field
	Here's Dean MacNeill with his Galaxy Models Mystique. He picked this up 2nd-hand from Neville's and has done a complete re-covering job on it - looks good! Far right is Dean's Baron 30.

		Chris Haynes is now flying this Comet AF 629 from Phoenix Models which he has christened "Sweet Dreams". 56" wingspan and fitted with an OS 46FX. Chris describes it as flying 'like a bat out of hell' - it certainly seems to be in a hurry when it comes in to land!

Here's a first contribution from LARS WINBERG from Sweden
		At last I have decided to send you a note and some pictures of my latest project. It is a Heinkel HD 35, Nr 66 as at 1925 in the Swedish Army. Some years later, the Swedish Air Force was founded and nr 66 got the designation SK 5. (Trainer nr 5) There is only one of these aeroplanes that have survived and this is now undergoing restoration. It will not fly again, but after it is finished it will be displayed at the Swedish Air Force Museum at Linköping. I measure out and then draw my own plans for my planes. I did the test flight in October last year, and after some adjusting it flew very well. It is very slow and docile. Not a good aerobatic performer, but that was not the case with the original either. There are two more models that have been finished this winter season. One is a Nick Zirolis Ercoupe (bottom picture) and the other, an old-timer named Satyr. I´m only waiting for warmer weather for test flying. I will tell you more when they have been airborne. Data on Heinkel HD 35 ( SK 5 ) Scale: 1: 6.5 Span: 1680 mm Weight: 3920 gr Engine: OS 70 FS Surpass


*Thanks very much, Lars, and a warm welcome to ModelFlight -* and thank you for the possibility of future input!**

Introducing PONTUS LEGANDER

Pontus does a lot of soaring, mostly in Stockholm at cliffs near the sea.

Pictured here is Pontus with his smallest model, his NanoMustang P51D with a wingspan of just 36cm.

Next, we have his biggest one, a 1/4 scale Mustang P51D with a weight of 14kg. Pontus has flown this in Denmark in a wind speed of 20 meters per second, which I calculate to be 45 miles per hour - just great, he says! Displaying the model is Pontus' son, Simon.

Here is Simon again, with a Focke-Wulf in the foreground, built and flown by a friend, Krister Bergenfeldt and the big Mustang beyond.

When you look at these scale-like planes, you are inclined to forget that they are in fact soarers, aren't you? It's certainly nice to see something so different on our gallery - thanks for showing them to us, Pontus.

Send us a picture of your aero model

Large or small, kit, scratch built or ARTF, rotary or fixed-wing, electric, rubber or i/c, r/c or free flight, it matters not - and they don't have to be perfect, either. If you like it, let's see it!

Just use the e-mail facility at the foot of any ModelFlight page or send details and pictures by regular mail.