Currently under construction: the Dragon canard. Going together fairly well, but with the occasional delay waiting for some part or to solve some quirky problem. To be powered by one of my Thunder Tiger Pro .46 two-stroke motor! Work on the Dragon is currently on hold while I wait for inspiration on how to overcome a few minor difficulties.

Work has been suspended, on the Nutjob, an easy-to-transport, durable, knock-about scratch-built model to take part in events held for our 25th 'WingNuts' Squadron. Why? Because I've just acquired a Shrike, which I intend to shoehorn the .25 into.

I keep remembering the nice Percival P6 Mew Gull that I started work on, based upon a free plan from RCM&E by Brian Peckham. The original Mew Gull was flown by famous Spitfire test-pilot Alex Henshaw, to win the King's Cup in 1938 at an average speed of 236.25 mph. The same aircraft broke (and still holds, I believe) the record for the fastest trip from London to Capetown and back, set in 1939! (And if you want to know what happens when you give a lunatic a racing aeroplane to play with, you can read Henshaw's book "The Flight of the Mew Gull" to find out!) Since I've already started work on this airframe and even have a nice, new Magnum XL-80RFS four-stroke to go in it, I just might concentrate on this model next, and see if I can get it finished!

A while back, someone offered me a Dynaflite talon for a very good price, so I snapped it up! The kit awaits my attention, which it shall have in due course. Another local pilot has one and it seems to be a nice little glider! Selling for less than US$30 from Tower, and requiring only two servos, this might be a good intro to sloping!

I've also got a kit of the F-117 NightStik sitting here waiting for for me to acquire the proper motor, battery pack and folding prop. It looks like it will be a quick build, and could be an interesting model to take to the field. I particularly like the option of colouring the airframe black (or I suppose you could use red or any other colour) and leaving the covering transparent so the "guts" of the aircraft are visible!

Long ago, inspired by an article over at The E Zone, I went out and bought a couple of Lanier U2 free-flight gliders. I hope to be able to convert them for the slope. They are just big styro mouldings, and the wings are not very exciting (under-cambered) but I think they might make for an interesting (and cheap!) glider for the slope. I'll reinforce with strapping tape and if it flies well, I may even build up the second one with brown paper sheeting. Actually, there is so much white paper in the box wrapping the things up, that I may use that instead, with a top layer of coloured kite-tissue to make it beeoooteeful.

Got some ideas for other aircraft too, such as:

• 1931 Gee Bee Z

Make some suggestions!

Tell me about classic scale aircraft that I might want to build! Or interesting sports models. Or unusual and unorthodox designs. I am always looking for exciting or interesting aircraft to add to my "Someday..." list.

Sorry, not terribly interested in C/L or FF aircraft, and the conditions aren't good for thermalling. But if it's R/C and it is either glow-powered or electric powered or a sloper of some sort, I'm interested. So long as it looks good!

Send me details of the aircraft, including photos or URLs linking to photos so I can see what it's like. If you know of an existing kit or plan available on the web, you can send the apropriate URLs for that as well. Try to keep it sensible. Yes, a 1/4-scale B-52 would be damned impressive, but you'd have to cut down half the balsa-forest to build it and those 1/4-scale nukes would be very expensive to build, and I'd probably get attacked as a terrorist supporter or something. (Oh, wait! I don't own any oil-fields, so I guess that won't happen...) But wait! Look at THIS!

So I'm looking forward to hearing from you, with your suggestions for interesting model subjects, plus any ideas and comments you may have on construction, etc.

Oh, if e-mailing, please take care to avoid having your mail eaten whole by my draconian SPAM-filters...