christchurch and district model flying club

editorial

When you have the urge to make a model, how do you choose which one to go for? Some modellers have lists of their favourite full-size aircraft, and as subjects rise to the top of the list, they get built and ticked off.  Others rely on a spur of the moment inspiration, or a trip to Channel 4 to see what’s on offer, or a troll through those wonderful “plans catalogues”. 

There’s a lot of building and flying done in the mind’s modelling room on these occasions. Who hasn’t researched, designed, built, covered, painted and flown their next project long before they get round to cutting balsa wood? It’s a lot cheaper to fly a quarter scale Lancaster at that sunny, close-cropped 10-acre field of dreams (where there aren’t any pylons, or inconvenient trees, or other fliers wanting the same frequency) than trying the same thing at Stanpit, where even if dogs and people allowed it, a rabbit hole would rip your undercarriage off. Even Howard’s Field has its traps for the unwary.

The trouble is, the more you let yourself imagine what might be going to happen, the less willing you are actually to do anything .  Every GP in Dorset must be seeing frantic modellers in their surgeries: “doctor, doctor, I just can’t get started on my latest project, please prescribe me some will-power.”

The summer is a bad time for these lack of building blues: there is far too much else to do. Wait until the clocks change, then all will be well. Got it?

In “Not the Chairman’s Chatter” the the Committee refer to Aeromodelling as a sport. I can’t think of many things more likely to raise a snort of derision from the public (except perhaps darts in the Olympics). Researching, designing, making, flying, repairing and throwing away the remains of model aeroplanes is a hobby, a pastime, an interest.  Sailing is a sport, marathon running is a sport, boxing, wrestling, perhaps even driving cars fast across country are sports.  Let’s not lose a sense of proportion!

Mike Roach

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