Biggles flies again!

Well it's finished!

After some weeks and extremely close attention to the instructions, Biggles can take to the skies again,  although I suspect he won't because  his operator no longer has the legs to chase after it!

                                                          Biggles awaiting take off

However,  it has brought back many memories of long ago when I sat in my bedroom,  building aircraft just like this.

For those who may be interested, the firm that produced the kit offers most of the old 'Keil Kraft' and 'Frog' models that many of you will be acquainted with  but now are all laser cut which dispenses with the need for much accurate cutting of balsa.  Their name is the 'Vintage Model Company' in Derbyshire and I would urge you, for nostalgia's sake to look at their website.

              Getting close, with jigs in place to get the correct geometry for the two wings.

The problem is,  where to display the six models I have completed during this ghastly period and I am afraid that this will probably be my last aircraft build because of limited shelf space to accommodate wingspans and my wife does not favour the idea of planes swooping down over the dining table or indeed in other locations in the house.

There again,  perhaps the loo might be an appropriate place where I and others might ponder the magnificence of my labours!!

Fishing, a Camel and a Mask!!

The other day I pootled down the road to a nearby village to fish at a local fishery and to test and hopefully 'blood' one of my recently restored vintage rods.

                                                                Hambleton Fishery

Well, I did catch some fish,  roach, perch and two unidentified specimens,  all were embarrassingly small, hence no photographs!  Incidentally it is probably 50 years since I last coarse fished and bought some maggots for bait, it was therefore with some surprise that I had to part with £3 for a pint of grubs!!!!

The Sopwith Camel is taking shape and is proving more difficult and demanding than the previous kit I built for the boys down south. At least the pilot is prepared for take off....let us hope that it will not be a futile gesture on his part!

In a conversation that I had with a lovely lady in Yorkshire when I was ordering another bespoke rod bag from her for my second renovated fishing rod,  I happened to mention that I had tried unsuccessfully to buy a mask with the 'Morgan' logo on it from either the Morgan Club or from the factory shop.

                                                   Not a perfect match but pretty good!

As we are going to be encumbered with these wretched masks for some time I thought that it would be a useful commercial opportunity.   I did receive a reply from the Sales/Marketing guy at the Company,  only after vigorous complaining about the lack of good business practice nowadays etc.,etc. but he admitted that they were too busy meeting the huge demand for the latest models which are in the £60-80000 price range....and people talk of austerity!!

But I digress as usual. Anyway I joked with the lady that if she had a bit of dark green material lying around she could knock one up for me!  What a surprise when the immaculate rod bag arrived complete with 'free of charge' mask!

Naturally I phoned her immediately to thank her and sought an embroidered logo to put on it.

To cut a long story short,  the small one I ordered from the Club was too large and would have looked ludicrous and then I spotted an old Morgan baseball cap in the garage with a super logo on it and as all 'one size fits all' caps look like peas on a drum on my huge cranium I decided to carefully detach the logo and dispense of the remains of the cap. 

                                                                   Not a pretty sight!

The result of these efforts can be appreciated in the photographs and I can now hold my head high with all the F1 drivers and pit crews who sport their company's logo on their masks.