De Havilland TK5

[Ivanhoe76]

Here is a REALLY different De Havilland for anyone who likes to build unusual prototypes!

Only one TK5 was ever built, and takeoff problems meant that it never actually flew

Wilf

[Balsabasher]

What a different design Ivanhoe,I notice the draughtsman is the late J.D.McHard,a fantastic model builder and exponent of the canard design.
Doug built a whole series of canards called 'Swedes' I bequethed one of them called the 'Super Swede' the model was left at Wellesbourne Mountford airfield when he was a photographer in the RAF,a fireman friend of mine somehow came across the models he left behind and I finished up with this one,I rebuilt it and flew it as a control liner.
Barry.

[Balsabasher]

Ivanhoe, does your handle refer to Ivanhoe beacon a famous slope soaring site in the UK ? I also see your avatar badge is the 'National guild of Aeromodellers' which was long before the SMAE came about,very interesting,do you remember Eaton Bray model drome ?
Barry.

[Ivanhoe76]

Ivanhoe, does your handle refer to Ivanhoe beacon a famous slope soaring site in the UK ? I also see your avatar badge is the 'National guild of Aeromodellers' which was long before the SMAE came about,very interesting,do you remember Eaton Bray model drome ?
Barry.

No, Barry, my handle is from the hero of Sir Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe" who was Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, my real name being Wilfred, (though I prefer Wilf). The slope soaring site is actually Ivinghoe Beacon. The NGA actually ran in parallel with the SMAE for a few years, but their insurance scheme was way too generous, and they quietly faded away, I always liked the badge, (the motto means roughly "Fly with Care")
Eaton Bray was just a little before my active modelling life, although I've seen film taken there, another example of the "Golden Years" of modelling, sadly long gone now.


Wilf

[Balsabasher]

Thanks for the explanation Wilf,and I agree that badge is a superb piece of artwork in itself,modern badges just do not have the same amount of flair about them do they ? take the old AA badge for example and that awful modern square.
The name Eaton Bray lives on and still has aviation connections in that a farmer keeps a few aeroplanes there on his airstrip,the sad story of the demise of Eaton Bray after WW2 when people thought that they did not need planning permission to do things caught the management of the old 'Aeromodeller' magazine out under the leadership of the larger than life C.S.Rushbrooke.
My aplogies to anyone as I have gone off thread a little but just wanted to wallow in a bit of pure modelling nostalgia !
Barry.

[Ivanhoe76]

Nothing wrong with nostalgia, Barry, certainly as far as modelling goes, when I came back into modelling a few years ago, after a gap of about 35 years, I could not believe how much it had changed, and how much was lost! And the dumbing-down really annoys me, "British Model Flying Association", Bah!!  did they think "The Society of Model Aeronautical Engineers" was beyond the understanding of modern modellers? and on flying model plans, the "CG", understood by any modeller and full-size aviator for nearly a century, is now written "C of G" NO-ONE refers to "C of G"!
I'd better sign off, before I climb on my high horse again, as you can probably tell, I am a totally traditional modeller, or, as we are known, Dinosaur!

Wilf

[Balsabasher]

Wilf if it had not been for us stalwarts then traditional aeromodelling as we knew it would have long vanished,thankfully the internet has brought us together again albeit worldwide,one thing is apparent and that is the general older age group and the worrying aspect is that not many younger folk are bothering to follow traditional techniques, as there are far easier ways out,if there are any youngsters here then I say stick with it and carry these traditions forward,we are relying on you to keep real model building alive for the future !
I also like pre decimal plans Wilf because we were taught feet and inches at school,thankfully there are plenty of them still around.
Barry.

[Ivanhoe76]

Barry, I annoy no end of people by telling them I don't understand these foreign measurements! Miles, yards, feet, inches stood us in good stead for millennia, meters etc. barely go back 200 years, they are something else that Napoleon is answerable for, like most of the world driving on the wrong side of the road!
I live way out in the countryside, and I'm a Lone Wolf modeller these days, so I have no direct contact with other modellers, but I can believe that today's youth aren't interested in "Real" modelling, not when you can buy ready-to-fly R/C models which require no skill or craftsmanship, this trend was just beginning when I ran a modelshop back in the 70s, I'm afraid the basic cause has been the rise of  R/C, manufacturers produce for the big money, not the lad with a few pounds to spend on balsa and cement as we used to do, and  of course kids today can afford the RTF R/C Spitfire that all novices always wanted to build as their first model in my day!
As you say, it's we older modellers who keep what little is left of aeromodelling alive, a friend of mine in Australia belongs to a club which is still mainly our kind of modeller, though they have a big R/C group as well, and every year they hold a competition titled "Old Farts" for any sort of non-R/C model, which I think just about sums it up!
Wilf

[Will]

take the old AA badge for example and that awful modern square.

Just to reassure those of you outside the UK Barry is probably referring to the "Automobile Association" rather than the other AA!
Cheers (if thats appropriate)
Will

[cliff strachan]

Thanks Will for the clarification. Although I'd thought of it often i.e. before my return to model building, I never did get around to joining the AAs. I thought you had to own a car (automobile).
Cliff.

[Balsabasher]

The other AA !! hic...nice one Will.
Barry.

[Ivanhoe76]

The other AA !! hic...nice one Will.
Barry.

[Mothman]

"Old Farts"??  "Ah, I well remember a similar match in 10 BC against the darkies"...
Apologies to Monty Python.
Martin

[Ivanhoe76]

"Old Farts"??  "Ah, I well remember a similar match in 10 BC against the darkies"...
Apologies to Monty Python.
Martin

Ah, you got me there, Martin, don't know that quote!

Wilf

[Mothman]

Very unPC these days Wilf.  I seem to remember it was something to do with a sketch taking the P out of cricket commentators.
Martin