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Ross Batten wrote for the first time . . .

Nice site,Reg. I'm just getting into helicopters myself, using a model sim to get the basics before committing to a model. Nice to see someone giving useful information and links.

Cheers, Ross.

Thanks, Ross, and welcome. A simulator is a good starting point, especially for helis! Keep us posted on your progress.

. . . and so did Tony Smith

. . . we would like a reciprocal link to your site. Please take a look at www.4cyb.org

It's a web site about a 4-year-old boy's venture into control line flying.

It really is! Here's young Reece with his model. Take a look at the website!

Jack Rogerson asked:

Hi,

Just spotted your website, looks good. I would like to send some pictures, but have neither a scanner nor digital camera. Which would be best, do you know? Could you also tell me, please, do I need a computer with a USB port for a digital camera?

Keep up the good work,

Happy landings.

I sent Jack an immediate reply, but it kept coming back to me as a failed delivery. So, hoping Jack may read this, here's my reply which might also be useful to others.

If you want to send me some conventional photos (which I would be delighted to have, I assure you!), then just send them ordinary mail to my home address which appears at the foot of the home page.

If you are wanting to get into the business of processing pictures on your PC and do not want to kit up with both a scanner and a digital camera, then I guess a digital camera is likely to be the most useful - it's certainly the quickest and easiest way to produce picture files for your computer. However, if you are also wanting to produce good quality pictures for your conventional photo albums from the same image, then a normal camera is still generally regarded as the best. You can get good prints from digital images by printing them off from your computer, provided they are of a suitable high resolution, but printing in colour on photo quality paper through a computer colour printer is expensive (a lot of folk don't realise just how much each print works out at!). I generally use my digital camera for pictures destined for the web and an occasional print, but if I'm going to take a whole batch of pictures that I know I also want for the photo album, I use my normal camera and then scan any pics that I then want to play about with on the PC.

You do not necessarily need a PC with a USB port to connect a digital camera. Most cameras come with a variety of leads to connect to the computer, but you should definitely check with the store or supplier to be sure that you have the necessary lead to connect to a serial port.

When you connect your camera directly to your PC in this way, you actually use camera battery power during the download operation of transferring your pictures to your computer. Batteries are rechargeable, of course, but it can be a nuisance to suddenly find you've run your batteries down. However, you can also purchase a separate card reader which you connect to your computer (and these also come either for USB connection or serial port connection) into which you slot the card used in your camera for storing the pictures. When you download via a card reader, you are not using camera battery power as your camera is not connected to your PC.

If you buy a card reader, just check that it is compatible with the type of card you are using. This may sound obvious, but there are two or three types of memory card and you must ensure that you are using the right one. Similarly, be careful NOT to buy USB compatable cards if you are not going to connect via a USB port!

Stuart Quinn-Harvie's first contact:

Fantastic site, well done. I am particularly fascinated by Chris Hardie's MB141 and would love to build one myself. Do you know if Mr Hardie will be making the plans available.

Once again, thanks for the superb site.

And thanks for the encouraging comments, Stuart. Chris built his model from a set of plans for a foam version which he then modified and which he obtained from the Nexus Plans Book, plan no. MAG61. I also see that there's another model of this plane featured in the December issue of RCM&E, stated to be built from Ziroli plans apparently, but I can't find a source for those plans.

My son, Tim, wrote

Your tip for separating vac-formed components is a commonplace practice amongst scale modellers. I've never made a vac-formed model but certainly remember seeing the procedure you used referred to (and illustrated) in Airfix magazines of the early 1970's. It's clearly a good idea, whoever thought of it.

I had a feeling Chris Haines' idea might not have been as original as he thought!

Gordon Walker will get there in the end!

Hi Reg,

I'm Gordon Walker and I fly at SEBRFC up near Wokingham, UK. My main interest is in electric flying, with my current fad being flying boats. At the moment I am developing a version (the third) of the Model Air Tech Watter. Photos available if you're interested.

The second version (Watter-B) was going fairly well until the electric speed controller went phutt when the water got to it at the Beale Park event. The Watter-B was given its flight testing from a puddle alongside our flying field after a couple of days heavy rain!

The waterproofing is much enhanced in the Watter-C. And I can ensure you that the D type will probably sort out some, all or none of the C types deficiancies . . .

Just in case, I'm building a Pondside as well for the next Beale Park event.

How did I ever get into this????

Best Regards

Gordon Walker

Nice to meet you, Gordon; keep at it - and keep us posted!

NEXT ISSUE on Air Space - a full, frank and funny account of Gordon's developing project!

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