| Can you afford to buy and maintain a full sized aircraft, | | | | realistic as possible but make them fly! |
| especially a valuable vintage model ? If you can then | | | | Radio controlled airplanes can be made so accurately |
| read no further. The rest of us fly scale radio | | | | that when they take to the air they will have the same |
| controlled aeroplanes to get as close as we can to | | | | flying characteristics as the real thing. I have even seen |
| the thrill of controlling the real thing. | | | | a WW1 model, with wire wing braces that were so |
| There is something particularly magical about fighter | | | | accurate, that the wind made the same noise blowing |
| aircraft. Perhaps we know that young men risked all in | | | | through them as the full size version. |
| aerial combat to defend their countries. Manfred Von | | | | Retracting undercarriages, working bomb doors and |
| Richofen in WW1 who shot down 80 allied aircraft or | | | | lights add to the realism. Flying makes them much |
| the South African in WW11 who had 51 victories and | | | | more likely to be damaged than the display-only |
| revelled in the name of Marmaduke Pattle. However | | | | versions but surely the risk is well worth it. |
| no one comes close to the German ace Erich | | | | Electric rc planes have brought a whole new |
| Hartman who, in WW11, had an almost unbelievable | | | | dimension to our favourite hobby. By using the latest |
| 352 kills ! | | | | brushless motors and lightweight, yet powerful, |
| Many modellers build static models going to huge | | | | batteries we can enjoy rc planes that can be propeller |
| lengths to get every detail right. Using acrylic and | | | | or jet driven. Does this mean they are slow flyers ? |
| enamel paints applied with brushes or airbrushes they | | | | Far from it, there are prop driven scale models doing |
| replicate even oil marks, exhaust stains and chips on | | | | 30 to 40 m.p.h. and jets achieving speeds of 90 m.p.h. |
| wings and propellers. They are sometimes finished in | | | | or more ! |
| matt gloss to protect all the artwork then dulled down, | | | | No fuel to spill and ruin the planes paintwork or catch |
| by various means, to look more realistic. | | | | fire. Less noise to upset the neighbours and yet a full |
| I am a great admirer of this type of modeling and have | | | | 10 to 15 minutes in the air on a single charge. Scale |
| spent many hours inspecting their work in museums | | | | electric radio controlled aircraft, are huge fun and can |
| and special exhibitions, however one thing is always in | | | | do anything their liquid fuel cousins can but with less |
| the back of my mind - they do not fly. | | | | fuss. |
| An aircraft is a flying machine and needs to be up | | | | We may not be legendary fighter aces but why not |
| there, climbing, diving and rolling. It comes alive when | | | | join me and fly your own scale model fighter plane as |
| the motor is started and is hand launched or takes off | | | | it weaves it's magic in the sky above you and all under |
| from the ground. Scale radio controlled model | | | | your control. |
| aeroplanes are, for me, the answer. Make them as | | | | |