Recent content by Tim Hooper

Security worries aside....... I'm a happy FB user, and have been for many years now. I find it very useful, not only to keep in touch with family and mates, but I'm in quite a few music, machining and model aircraft groups. Yup, there's lots of rubbish and spurious advertising on there, it's...

Thanks Gary, I've got several throttled diesels (some even get flown in model aircraft), so I realise their limitations. I'm attaching a pic of my plan-built Cardinal, which has flown today. It has a 1958 Mills .75 (with marine exhaust stubs), fitted with a carb from an Indian Mills replica...

Apologies for the long gap, but there's been definite progress! I finished the 5-week course at Shrewsbury College; 2 sessions on a lathe, 3 sessions on a mill. There then followed bit of a hiatus due to health issues for both of us, but we're both back on tip-top form now. In the interim...

I'd taken the day off work, with the intention of attending a model aeropIane event for the weekend, but the bad weather has put paid to that! So, I spent the morning unblocking and repairing repairing the guttering after last night's heavy rain. This afternoon I spent in the conservatory...

Just as an aside, over the years I've heard a lot of comments (both online and in real life), from individuals who have had no actual experience of FB, but who decry it out of hand. My own real life, 20 year, experience of FB has been very positive - both on a personal (family) level, and also...

As an avid aeromodeller, I'm a member of a couple of large forums. I'm also involved in several aeromodelling FB groups. Both have their strengths and weaknesses; I'm guessing that a lot forum users tend to access the net via a PC. The responses seem to be more considered and composed...

As far as I know, the only RC boats that are capable of reversing are electric powered, where the motor is controlled by a dedicated electronic speed control (ESC). I'm not a marine modeller, it's true, but the only IC-powered boats I've seen have forward thrust only, albeit with a throttle...

Hello Arnaldo, I'm also a keen RC modeller (electric and diesel power). I've yet to get a lathe, but I am learning from attending a machining course at my local college. Tim

It's been a little while...... I had my very first encounter with a lathe yesterday evening! As mentioned earlier, I'd signed up for a short course of night school classes at the nearby Shrewsbury College, and yesterday was the day. Over three hours, I managed to turn a lump of steel into the...

I sent Alex the link and received this response; "How interesting. Most Fireflys begin around the 7k to 8k mark until they are properly run in, and 11k is then about right. That lad has put a lot of extra work onto the head and crankcase. Cool. Very easy to build. Hope he goes on to build my in...

I think this is the design of well-known aeromodeller and mag columnist Alex Whittaker. I'll send him the link to this thread.... Tim

Lots of good info in this thread - so thank you all for your input! I'm aware of the dust problem when mixing wood and metal in the same workshop, so we'll be investing in a basic extraction unit to minmise the saw dust. Additionally, Mrs Hooper is a proficient seamstress, and will make...

Model Shop Leeds

Today is my birthday, and my wife took us to a local restaurant for a romantic meal. Naturally we discussed the relative merits of Imperial v. metric lathes and milling machines (like any other married couple would), and we've sort of arrived at the shared decision to source two separate...

I don't know your location, but in the UK, it's still readily available from several model shops - some will even mail order by domestic courier. A couple of manufacturers have recently retired, so Optifuel and ED have picked up the reins. Steamchick, Mrs Hooper and I visited the Chester Hobby...