modeljet

Wings & Wheels 2009

2009-07-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well back again, never seem to get the time to update this blog, I always have something to do for everyone else ahhhhhhh!!!. Any how, I managed to get to the Wings and Wheels show in England recently. The day started at 3.00am, a quick drive to Ian robb's house and onto the airport with the rest of the guys. We arrived at the show around 9.30am and even at that time the trade stalls and show line were getting busy. As with most of the shows we attend, everyone gets side tracked at one particular trade stand and the party breaks up each person going their own way. I got caught up in the BRC Hobbies stand, talking to my old pal Scott, this guy is one of the best EDF pilots in the U.K. and a wealth of knowledge, no trip is complete with out a chat with this guy. The trade this year was very good with a good mixture of i.c. and electric models and spares on show. The bring and buy sale held every year was fantastic, if you want a bargain, this is the place to buy, jets,scale, boats, helis, everything, all at great prices.

In the afternoon we all met up at, where else, 'the beer tent' to show off the bargains obtained that morning. One of the best deals came from Al's Hobbies, we purchased a number of 2.4G mods for J.R. with ar9000 receivers for less than £110, all supplied by Ali No2 the boss!, who loves a good laugh and a bit of craic as we say in Ireland, thanks Ali, your one off price, paid for my air ticket over to the show.

The flying this year was very good, compared to previous years. The star of the show was of course young Ali of Al's Hobbies with his twin turbine A10 warthog and his thrust vectoring Euro fighter, wow!! a jet hovering a foot of the ground and flipping over in the air, shit hot!!

This years show was the best yet and hopefully I will get back next year. By the way I nearly forgot, according to easy Jet, it was my big '50th birthday' on the way back to belfast, and yes the flight crew made this clear to everyone on the plane!! for the record I am 47 not 50 and still have my own teeth!! 'Peter and Chris'.

Well thats it for now, Happy landings.

The B52 has wings

2009-04-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

Hi folks quick post today, well the B52 is coming along nicely I have cut out the wing panels, which will break down into three sections for transport.The wing cord is the classic Clarke Y section with a taper to the tip of the wing, also with a little wash out at the trailing edge of the wing tip.The next step, will be to strengthen the wings with wooden wing spars and design the wing panel joining system.I will post a few photos when this task is finished, well thats it for now!
Happy Landings.

Jets over Letterkenny

2009-04-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

Hi all, at it again, blogging, 'what twice in one week, I here you say, what going on John?' well to be honest, a hell of a lotttt!!!. Yes to day it was the Grant Capel Memorial Fly-In at Letterkenny in the County of Donegal, and man what a great day we had! both weather and flying where perfect, ??? I mean everyone else's flying was perfect, not I ( O.K. I'll tell you, Engine cut on my F16 and I landed in a field which had been full of cows, i.e the ground was full of little holes, which does not mix well with retracts!!!). Anyhow there was some great flying from pilots such as David Nolan with his usual mind blowing 3d heli display, the Ballymoney boys, Langfordlodge lads and many other club pilots from North and South of the border.

Some of the days highlights included three large ww1 models flown by Clifford, Andrew and Robert from the Ballymoney club, honest, they looked and sounded just like the real aircraft. Harry and Peter from NIJets flew two jet turbines, low and fast down the strip and put on a great display for the large crowd.

The big F14 made it's public appearance for the first time and flew great. The pilot, Ian Robb took off and made a high right banking turn, then made a high speed pass down the runway at a slight angle to the crowd, a flick of the switch, and the wings rotated into a delta formation, another turn and she was going vertical wings back, man she looked fantastic, and the crowd gave her a big cheer as she went past.

A big thanks to Seamus and all the Letterkenny lads, for a great day. Well thats it for now, happy landings

Slopesoaring in the Mourne Mountains

2009-04-17T04:55:00.000-07:00

Hello all! back again, this time with something different. I have got back into slope soaring this year, as stated in my last post, so a week or so ago, I met up with the Bandbridge guys in the Mourne mountains for a spot of combat on the slopes. The wind on the top of the slope was blowing around 15mph steady, just right for the models I brought along ( Phase6 & DR1000).

The lift was great, so good that Matthew Poots was able to fly rolling circles close to the slope and rolls while in the stall position. My own flying was not bad, if I say so myself, a little rusty but O.K. however my DR1000, did get hit at one point by another glider coming out of a loop,resulting in the loss off 1/3 of the port wing, but I managed to land with no more damage.

Overall a great days craic, really enjoyed the day, If you would like more info and pics from the day, goto http://www.banbridgeaeromodellingclub.org.uk/tiki-index.php.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ajpptTrH50

I have added another photo of the Big B52 under construction, the tail feather are now completed, so next I will start the wing cutting, I'll post a few pics soon. That's it for now, happy landings.

2009-04-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well time again to get blogging, so as promised in the last blog, I have posted a few photos of recent models. I have been flying EDF jets over the last year due to the fact that they our cheaper than turbines' in some cases' and easy to fly. The fly fly hobbies range of 90mm edf's, new to the market last year, have been top of my list, with three jets build and two flown to date and one the mig 29 still grounded due to sh#?/ motors over heating. I still have two turbines jets in the work shop, hopefully ready to fly in the next month or so, still waiting for the ECU to come back from Jetcat turbines, 'four months now, great service Jetcat???????'.

So what else has been happening, well started back to slope soaring with the NIMSA guys. I use to slope soar a lot in the past but time and working most Sundays stop the gliding, however now with most weekends off due to a change in jobs, I decided to get back into this discipline. I build a B52 PSS (powered slope soarer), well I am still a jet nut! from the RM Green plans which I purchased at a table sale, nice flying model 78" wingspan 6lb AUW, looks great in the air, however not content with this, I have started building a larger model with a 16 Ft wingspan, I will keep you all posted on this model as it out grows my workshop building table.

Well I think I will close this post for now, going to get back into the workshop for a few more hours building, by the way I also build a new workshop, post a few pics next time. Happy landings.

For further info on gliding in Northern ireland got to http://www.nimsa.co.uk/

Modeljet blog back in action!

2009-03-20T06:48:00.000-07:00

Well believe or not, I have decided to start blogging again, yes it has been over a year since I updated this blog and things on the jet flying front have moved on, some good and some not so good. The bad news first! well the hawk that I was building and what the blog was set up for, is no longer, Yes, I did get the model finished and flying however the model was lost during it's test flight, a flame out in the engine 'due to an air bubble' on a low pass caused the crash.

So much time, effort and money was put into this project, I was really f*#~ off !, however, after a week or so I was over the loss and back to the drawing board. At persent I am building an Elan and also I have a very nice and VERY LARGE french Rafale which I purchased second hand from the JMA website, check this wedsite out it's great(http://www.jmajets.co.uk/). Also I have been flying a few large 90mm EDF jets from the Flyfly hobbies range of models and a couple of smaller model types from other kit suppliers, I will post a few photos later.

On the website front, I now run a new Website for the Northern Ireland Jet modellers association http://www.nijets.com/ , this covers all jet flying activities in Northern ireland with sections covering many aspects of jet modelling, check it out!

Well that's about it for now, I better get back to work, break time over, I have posted a few pics of the hawk before the crash, happy landings.

GWS f15 flys

2008-01-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

Hi all, just a few photos of the f15 inflight, also I have added a couple of other pics of the eflight 777 which Ian the jet man build in one day, and if my sources are correct, he has just added a set of retracts to the little airliner??? will it work, mmmmmm??.

Check out the pic of adam and Dave, both on sit down protest until they got their tea and biscuits, good help is hard to find these days?? happy landings.

Back to the Hawk

2008-01-18T15:41:00.000-08:00

Hi all, well it's 2008 a new year, a full flying season ahead and yes I am still behind with the Hawk build. So what have I done over the last few weeks? I have to confess, not much, work at the minute is non stop, however you will to glad to hear that a little progress has been made.

The two fuel tanks that came with the kit are made of fiberglass and joined at the centre. On close inspection the tanks look fine however to insure of a leak free system, the tanks must be pressure tested by using a small air punp to build up the pressure in the tanks, and then placing both tanks in a bowl of water to see if there are any bubbles. This test should be done with all tanks used in a turbine powered model, a leaking tank could be dangerous, thankfully no problems with my hawk fuel tanks.

The other job carried out on the Hawk, was to install the steering system for the nose wheel. I used a JR 591 servo and a closed loop system, so that when the wheel retracks, the wires will fold up into the wheel bay neat and tidy. A trick which I got from a friend, is to place a small tie cable between the wires, therefore as the nose wheel comes up and down, the wires can't get twisted around the nose leg. ( see photo)

Well thats about it for now, except I flew the little F15 last week along with the F16. Both flew very well, not as fast as I expected, the f15 was a little under powered, however very stable and fun to fly, happy landings.

GWS F15 ready for take off

2007-12-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hi all, a quick post today, still suffering from the joys of christmas, however I had a call today from a fellow jet jockey Seamus, the word is, this man has over 100 models in his workshop, no one ready knows? could be Irelands own 'area 51' ?????, anyway this friend and all round good guy, ask me to post a couple of photos of my new GWS f15, now ready for the big test flight! your wish is my command Seamus, happy landings all.

Christmas greetings to all jet fans

2007-12-24T14:38:00.000-08:00

It's Christmasss!!!, Merry christmas to all jet fans around the world. I love this time of year, food, drink, more drink and best of all presents. It's christmas eve here and I have every thing ready for the big day, or should I say! my wonderful wife ( she who must be obeyed), has all organised, just need to pop the turkey in the oven and thats it, finish. So what's under the tree I hear you ask?, well technically it's in the work shop, but the boss got me a new jet kit for Xmas, the new GWS F15 with twin ducted fans, WOW! thankyou Roisin a fantastic little jet, just the right project for over Xmas. I will post more photos later. Well things have been a little rushed recently therefore not much to report on the hawk build, however I have now completed the jet pipe installation, so next we can start to install the Jetcat 120se and the rest of the electrics and air tanks, by the way sorry for the lack of photos, problems with my canon, however I should have some for you in the next post. I have included a few photos of the new gws f15 and also a pic of my Ripmax f16, which I hope to fly over Xmas at my local club, I will let you know how it flys later. Well that's about it for now, hope you all have a wonderful Xmas and a peaceful new year, also please feel free to add your own greetings to my blog for all jet fans around the world.

Hawk wires and pipes

2007-12-13T05:57:00.000-08:00

Hi all, back to the hawk build and 'boy is it looking good!!'. We have completed the wings, tail feathers, fin and all the wiring and plumbing for the wheels and brakes. Note I use 'we' in the text, yes all this great work has only been possible, with the help of a fellow jet pilot 'BIG DAVE', i.e. 6ft ??????? tall, lets just say! he shows up on Belfast International Airport radar, when standing on the langford runway.

No major problems encounted except the control horn channels in the wings and even the rudder were cut out at the wrong angle, which put stress on the servos i.e. buzz! buzz!, however I used ball links on the rudder connection and wings which helped to reduce the pressure on the servo arms when in use. Dave made up all the wiring extentions, 'a lot of wire was used so buy in bulk'. The wire used was the heavy gauge type with a twist from SM Services, also we used heat wrap over the various connections, better to be safe than sorry.

All the piping used was Rom air with metal T joints, ' top tip' use different colours of tubing, it makes life easier when it comes to connecting every thing up.

Well that's about it for now on the hawk, however check out the photo of Chris and Adam holding up the f15, this model was constructed from a picture in a book about ten years ago for ducted fan by Ian the jetman, all foam and wood no plastic here. A jetcat P80 is going to be installed, should be interesting, I will keep you all updated on this project, also, remember I showed you a few pictures of another project 'the Concorde', well we are going to try a test flight of this monster shortly to see if the model will fly, two cars a motorcycle and a very long rope will be used 'watch this space' the fun is about to begin.

F3P a first for Northern Ireland

2007-12-08T09:53:00.000-08:00

Hi fellow jet jockeys, here again with another post, and before you ask, yes I have been working on the Hawk, yes the wings are done and yes, I will post a few photos on the next post. I just wanted to tell you all about a first for our little area of the globe and I think maybe a first in the U.K., 'what can it be?', well last night I went to the Northern Ireland Indoor flying championships under the F3p rules .

Pilots, 22 in all, from all over Northern and Southern Ireland and I believe also Scotland, flew two rounds of a pre planned schedule in two classes, Basic and F3P-C, with another round of flight to music.

The quality of flying was of a very high standard in both classes, and with 51 flights completed, the judges had a very hard task in deciding who to award the top honours to. The final results were as follows:

F3p-C

1) Matthew Poots
2) Robert Graham
3) Richard Boyd

Basic

1) Alistair Henry
2) Sean Scullion

3) Adrian Boyd

1) Matthew Poots
2) Robert Graham
3) Simon McNeill

The event had an impressive line up of sponsors including: Flight tech, Freestyle RC, Motors and Rotors, Philips, Mid Ulster Models and Express Fly. There was also a brilliant demo by David Nolan and his father Liam, with the new MA 450 machine ( a world's first), and also a 3D demo flight in the dark with night gear on, wow!! I could hardy watch, this guy is sooooo!! damn good.

For a complete report on the event go to www.banbridgeaeromodellingclub.org.uk/tiki-index.php
Well that's about it for now, happy landings.

Jet pilots

2007-11-29T14:14:00.000-08:00

Hi all, well I'm back, blogging again, twice in one week, a new record I hear you say, well I just had to show you all the two brave young pilots ( Wolfman and Gil) who will be sitting in the cockpit of the hawk, when ever the wheels leave the runway on her maiden flight. I have been looking for two 1/6 scale pilots for months on the web and also while on my recent visit to Florida, yes I could have got them over the web and one in a local model shop, however at a price of £65 each and over the web from another country, once you pay for the p&p, import tax, vat etc, it works out not much better. I searched the web the other night in the U.K and HELLO!! on page seven of google, found a company called the 'Modellers Loft', with a fantastic range of model figures and as luck would have it, they stocked a range of 1/6 pilots from Dragon models, perfect in every detail. A quick call the next day and a very helpful member of the modellers loft staff had the two figures wrapped and posted and at a price of £60 for both +p&p, great service and a very quick delivery thankyou modellers loft I will be calling again with you, check out their wedsite http://www.modellersloft.co.uk/.

I have also been working on the wings this week with installation of the servos, cutting out the servo covers, made heavy wire cables and installed the control rods, still along to go, but a couple of hours more should finish the wings. well thats it for now, talk to you later.

Jet wings

2007-11-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

Hi all, sorry for the lack of updates to the blogg, the last post was from the USA, since then it has been busy,busy,busy at work, however, now things are back to normal, so hopefully I can get back to building the Hawk. While over in florida, I went to a few model shops in the Orlando area. The best model outlet with the largest stock was Florida Central Hobbies, just 10 min from international Drive on Kirkman Drive. The shop is packed with items for planes, boats and cars, with prices well below what we pay in the U.K. however for the real bargains, buy the local products i.e. Great planes, Robart Air and other U.S. products, for example, I was looking for a new Li Po charger from Great Planes, price here £120, I picked it up for £45, also I needed quick release connectors from Robart Air for the wings of the Hawk, price here £10 for a pack of two, I got these for £2.50, it pays to look for the bargains. Bob and sharon run the shop, very helpful and nice to talk to, so if you are in the area on your next holiday to Orlando, call in and grab a bargain.
So what about the jet?, well I started on the wings, by adding the control horns, simple job, next I added the wing servos JR 3301, a slim servo is required due to the limited space at the wing tips. For the flaps ,I used a standard JR digi servo, a 5.5kg model, should be o.k. One thing I did notice, is that the servos mounts in the wings, with the servos in place, do not line up with the control horns, now I know I can bend the control rods to over come this problem, but later I will be adding the underwing control rod covers, which must run at a slight angle to the wing surface, well they will not fit, I will have to check with the 'jet man' Mr Robb to see what can be done to over come this. Well thats it for now happy landings.

Florida jets

2007-10-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

Hi all, well not much to report at the moment, why I here you cry!, well folks I am in Florida for three weeks on hols. This is a great spot to party, lots and lots to do if you have lots and lots of money, any way I am going to visit a few models shop over here, so I will let you know how that goes, so its goodbye for now or as we say in Florida, " have a nice day " happy landings from the good old USA.

2007-10-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hi all, well what a weekend, Saturday was the best day we have had in months, the water at our local lake was like a mirror, just perfect for flying off. The flyin attracted a large crowd of pilots even this late in the season, many models were on show small, large and big big big! models, thanks to every one for making it a great day. What about the Hawk, I hear you say?, well not much work done this weekend, however I hope to get a little done this week, a fellow jet jockey is making up a set of cables for the servos, thanks Dave. Well thats about it for now, not much happening at present in the work shop, happy landings.

Elevators part 2

2007-10-05T05:40:00.000-07:00

Hi all, well back to building the hawk. In the last post I was trying to install the elevators, well this has be completed, see photos. The first step was to install the two 25kg servos onto a small ply plate already glued into the tail section, the two servos are first attached to two metal backets, which are then screwed to a set of wooden blocks. Next the two completed units are glued in place onto the ply plate, however excess is limited as I have mentioned before, therefore to overcome this problem, I made another plate, glued the servos in place, added additional ply strips to support the servo blocks and glued the finished unit into the tail with 2 ton epoxy. Next the holes in the horns had to be drilled out to fit the metal control rods, be careful when doing this!, the hole for the bolt must be a good fit, an over sized hole could cause flutter in the elevator. The next step is to drill out the four holes in the horns and add M3 nuts and bolts, easy to get at and provides a solid fit when installing the control horns.

The only mistake I made at this point was that the rods were slighty off line, however a little re-ajustment of one servo block will solve this problem.

The next job, add the wing and tail servos, however thats for the next post, heading off this weekend to another float plane event, I will post a few pics of this for you all next posting, also have a look at the hawk pic with the all the cups, this is the work shop's new coffee machine cup dispenser, thanks guys. O.K. thats it for now, happy landings.

hawk elevators

2007-09-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

Hi all, sorry about the long delay between posts, very busy at work at the moment, however you will be glad to here that I have managed to get things moving on the hawk, little things may I add, arrived at the jet man's work shop, i.e. my good friend Ian, and forgot to bring most of the items I needed to install the elevators, 'Lucky my head is screwed on'.

To install the two elevators is a simple process, place the plastic washers onto the elevator rods and push into the holes pre-drilled. Next add the control hornes, a metal block with two screws preinstalled for holding the control horns on. Sounds simple to do, but it was not, remember I had concerns about these fittings when I first looked at them, well first, only a person with a small hand can get at the fittings when installed, next you have to secure the two control horns onto the elevators rods by tightening the self tappers, problem here is that you can not get proper access to the horns to do this. I have decided to use another method, used on the other hawks, replace the 4 self tappers with nuts and bolts (M3) should work, you can tighten these quickly and insure a more secure fitting of the parts, (if the elevator goes it's curtains, better to be safe than sorry, I say), so with the next post, I will show the fittings installed and with luck the servos in place.

I have included with todays post a few photos of Ian's workshop, a modellers paradise, and 'yes that is a B17 in the background' also the jet boys, i.e Ian, Peter, Chris and Stanley(the worlds greatest saftely officer), just had to share with you all, their latest box of modelling goodies.

Well thats it for now, off to a model auction tonight to see if I can pick up a few bargains, happy landings.

Dungannon flyin 2007

2007-09-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hi fellow jet jockeys, well what a weekend, wind, rain and bloody cold, so much for a late summer as forcast by the weather gods. Our flyin at my local club went on as planned, many model pilots arrived, however many of the full size aircraft could not land due to a strong cross wind at the field. The weather also grounded many of the jet aircraft, i.e. the hawks, however the boomerang pilots put on a good display, talks guys, great model to fly. We had a great display from some of the large models, see photos, thanks to simon, matthew and sean, great flying even landed the models at their feet. Tea and coffee supplied by two wonderful ladies Karen and Mrs Miller, funny when I took over, the demand for food disappeared, I am not that bad a cook, am I???. The electric models got an outing also, and guess who crashed and burned? mmm me, to a cheer from the crowd, the foam F14 snapped in two, back to the workshop for this model, by the way, if you want to have some craic, get one of these foam jets from Robot Birds, we put on a dog fight for the crowd, great fun at around £25 each, you can't go wrong.

Well what about the Fie Bao Hawk, I here you say? yes I know, will I ever get back to building?, you will be glad to hear that some more servos for the hawk have arrived, (two 25kg digi ) these will be for the elevators, I did have a quick look at the set up for the elevators, excess to this section of the model is limited, I can see a few problems developing, however I will get some pics for you of the setup and tell you how I get on with the next post, 'fingers crossed'.

By the way one last note, remember I told you that there was no instructions with this jet, a total pain in the rear end!!, well a friend gave a me copy of the skymaster hawk instructions, not the same, but very close, better than nothing I say. O.K. thats its for now happy landings.

2007 jet Masters teams

2007-09-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

Hi all, just posting a few photos today of the jet masters 2007. I see from the traffic reports for my blogg that many from around the world are logging on, great stuff keep it coming, hopefully some of you flew at the masters, therefore I have posted a few more pics of the masters, that I took of the teams. By the way, more great news, another fei Bao hawk is on the drawing board, a friend is about to part with loads of cash, poor man life will never be the same again.

Also check out the photos of the thrust nozzles on this mig, then do work, more later, happy landings.

Inside the Fei Bao Hawk

2007-09-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

Hi all, quick post today, getting ready for our flyin this weekend. I took a few photos of the inside of the red arrow Fio Bao hawk, sorry about the quality of the pics, still leaning to use my new canon. I hope to get back to my own hawk next week,( fingers crossed), also I will post a few photos from our flyin, happy landings.

Fei Bao Hawks on display at Portrush airshow

2007-09-10T05:18:00.000-07:00

Hi all, no building this weekend, spent both days at the Portrush airshow, displaying various models to the public. This is a great airshow, which takes place over the seafront at Portrush, a local seaside town here in Northern Ireland. The event manager, provided us with a large display area for the models and also another area for starting the engines. Members of the Northern Ireland masters Jet team and local club members, displayed various models from wwII, model jets, helicopters and foam models. We placed the three Fei Bao hawks together on the display line, ( many oohs & aaa), then we started the turbines on the Goshawk(Jetcat 160) and the Red Arrows hawk (Jetcat 120Se) together, wow!! what a noise, two turbines at the same time, the crowd loved it, even the cars stopped on the road beside the display area to have a look. Next weekend we will do it all again, with a flyin at my local club's field (Dungannon), a great day out for all rc pilots, almost 300 last year, pilots and visitors, not bad for a small club.

Well that's about it for now! I will have to get back to the building soon, the need for speed is growing, by the way one last note, the big model of concorde in the photos, woooooow! I hear you say, well this belongs to a friend, so I will keep you also updated on this build, because I will be helping Ian ( the jet man)to build this monster, can't wait!!.

Started building the Fei Bao Hawk

2007-09-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

Had a great weekend at our local lake, flying off the water. I had three flights with a Seamaster, however the other float plane, a Tiger Moth, had to be grounded due to the high winds in the afternoon, pity, looks great in the air, even better on the water. (check out the pic )

Now onto more important news, I have finally started building the Fei Bao hawk and came up against my first major problem, (the damm workshop i.e. the garden shed), is to small, lesson number one, only buy models that fit into your car and also your workshop. My good friend Ian Rodd (Mr jet man) to the rescue, Ian's workshop is large, very large, e.g. I hear that the RAF Red Arrows practice there, on windy days!!! so all parts into the car and 40 mins later, with the hawk sitting on the stand I was ready to get struck in, (sorry Irish speak again).

I decided to start with the wings, so with a little epoxy I carefully installed the flaps and ailerons. No real problems here except, that the holds pre drilled for the hinges, must have done by a drunken person riding a donkey,way to big and not even round, however with a couple of wooden spars, the hinges where in and secure. Thats all for now, check back later.

Model jet crashes jet masters 2007

2007-09-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

I will start building the hawk soon, I need to get a few more items, however, as promised, here are a few more photos from the Jet Masters 2007. As you can see, even the best of the best can get it wrong somtimes.

The Fei Bao hawk

2007-08-31T04:42:00.000-07:00

The new Fei Bao hawk is here! the build can begin. A very big box arrived today from Digitech Turbines, with my new Bae systems hawk. A quick inspection of the parts, everything on the list except the turbine pipe, however a quick call to Digitech and one pipe on its way, great service guys, thanks. 15 mins out of the box and woooow! one great looking model, so thats it for now I am going to a flyin and I will have to get sorted. By the way, no plans or instructions with this model, should be an interesting project????

Jet Masters 2007

2007-08-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more photos from the Jet masters, 'more, more I hear you cry', keep posted and I,ll try to upload a few more later.

Thunder in the skies

2007-08-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

The world Jet masters, this is where you meet the best of the best of jet model pilots, 29 countries, over 90 jet models, all under one roof. I managed to talk my way onto the Northern Ireland team, a great group of guys, a great competition, 10 days of jets, food, great craic, drink, more drink, even more drink, ' was it 10 days, mmm! lost count of the days, or was that the drinks.

Back to the drawing board

2007-08-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

'Another bin bag job' I here you cry, however not this time, this model f16 or whats left of it, belongs to a fellow club flyer, who decided to push the envelope of speed a little to far, a 120 piped engine at full revs, the f16 blew up in mid air. We flew two f16s in formation, one upside down the other right side up, just like the real Thunderbirds display team down our runway at full revs, one pilot landed, the other crashed and burned. Need to rethink about a turbine jet ??????. O.K. thinking over I still want one, next step 'lets see whats out there?' and the best place for this, lucky for me, the 2007 Jet World Masters, taking place right here in good old rainy Northern Ireland.

up,up and away

2007-08-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

The next step in the race to space was the purchase of a great planes F4, 'man this was sweeeeeet!!, fast and steady as a rock in the air, 'oh' the flying was improving also, no fences,cows or tractors hit this time only my wifes patio chairs during an engine run up in the back garden. The next jet creation came from cermark, the F16, man this was even more sweeeet! and f*!# / fantastic to fly, heads where turning at the club when this baby flew, a great prop jet and fast. The need for speed was now even greater than ever, the next step ' a turbine jet', the smell of jet fuel in the morning and the roar of a jet engine setting off all the car alarms around my house ahhh! better than sex!

The quest for speed has begun

2007-08-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

The quest for speed had begun, or a better quote would be 'the era of the black bin bag had started'. With the help of a friend I became a member of the Dungannon model flying club, and leaned to fly a basic trainer model, however 3 months and 3 bin bags later, the standard issue for any up and coming top gun pilot, the thick plastic bags are best, keeps the 1000s or so parts of the crashed model togather, easy to burn or hide from the wife. So I was now flying on my own, full of confidence and very light in the wallet, I decide to sell the wife, sorry I mean my most treasured processions, hi fi, boat, bike, however the first idea might work? mmmmmm.
I flew 6 or 7 different models until I purchased my first jet type model, a great planes F15, wow what a model, well designed to take a couple of knocks ( Irish speak) or in my case a lot of knocks- 5 fences, 3 trees, 1 model plane, stood on it twice, and ??? yes I managed to hit a tractor in a farm yard and also a bull, he was a bit upset, I had to drive home with the car windows open that day due to the f15's new colour scheme.

My first turbine model jet.

2007-08-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

Let me first introduce myself, my name is John, a 45 year old big kid at heart, and like many a person, watched Top Gun the movie released around 1984 and was hooked on jets ever since-' I feel the need the need for speed', therefore, how do I become a Tom Cruise of the skies?, well being small, over weight or some might say under tall and with the I.Q. of a jam donut, no airforce was going to give me a 50million dollar F14. After many hours of hard debate and a life long promise to her indoors ( the wife) to do every D.I.Y job she ever asked for (now were did I put that set of paint brushes?) I took up a new hobby of flying radio controlled model aircraft.