SNAFU,

I think that must be it. It's a DVD game in the CD-RW drive although in My Computer/Properties/Hardware it shows as a DVD/CD-R drive.

Folks,

Gentlemen:

Did someone say frighten? Let me tell you about fright. I am back to report to you from as near the 'other side' as I care to venture. After my last and apparently slightly over optimistic post I had a serious relapse.

I have been flat on my back for a solid week, correction, flat on my back or cowering in the john praying for death. I do not think I have ever had to endure such over powering internal distress since my wife made me taste chittlin's at her crazy aunt's house way back in 1976.

Wiser today, I hesitate to make any premature predictions regarding my improving condition, however, my first solid meal in a week gives me added hope. My advice to you pals is stay away from the intestinal flu in all its many variations.

Dux:

I kinda remember that there was a Jetex engine being flogged in magazines years ago. I always wanted to try one out. Though I came close I never actually set myself or anyone else on fire at any time over the years. Well, unless you count that time I put way too much crushed red pepper in my barbecue sauce.

My first cousin must have been trained by the same correspondence course in aeronautics as you were. He used to build plastic models and put a sky rocket in them as well. If you had only finished that course you might have learned in the final lesson that you were supposed to attach the doomed craft to the tip of a long tree limb by a stout string.

On being set off the doomed aircraft would gather momentum and spin round and round at greater and greater velocity about the center of its tether until the eventual climax when the main charge rendered any further cohesive revolutions more or less impossible. It was great fun until an error in ignition and faulty judgment ground further experiments to a painful and fiery halt.

After a week in hospital and serious damage to one of his central digits that caused him to forever seem to be giving someone a very rude gesture, the test program was summarily discontinued. Pity. We had a lovely scale model of the US Navy's Nautilus rocket standing by.

SNAFU:

We used to take a long piece of thick, steel pipe. drive it into the ground at an angle. We'd stuff a silver salute in one end with the fuse peeping out a hole drilled for the purpose first of course. Then we'd stuff an apple, tomato or potato in the other end and light the fuse.

Alas we never received proper credit for putting vegetables into orbit however several aroused neighbors complained to their worried physicians of having seen it rain produce.

JRT,

Crikey! Intestinal flu eh? Sounds pretty damned dreadful. I just knew it would have to be something dire to keep you off this thread though.
Hope you've seen the last of it.

Gents,

Having some trouble with Photobucket at the moment. I will post the model pics ASAP!

Folks,

I spoke too soon. Had another miserable bout last night and today. I'm really tired of all this.. crap.

Dux:
I just checked Photobucket and I had no problems deleting a pix. What troubles are you having?

Has anyone noticed things slowing down around here? It seems to take forever for me to get from the editing screen back to the thread. Sometime I just abort the interim screen (where they say "Thanks for posting...")and click on my SimHQ icon to go to the main forum page and back to the thread from there. Maybe it is my decrepit old PC?

JRT,

There does seem to be a delay in getting back to the thread and I have had to take the same measures that you have from time to time.

My problem is uploadind images to my album. I've tried shrinking the image to a barely acceptable minimum but it takes so long and results in only a part image. I'll just keep slugging away...maybe the solution is quite simple.

Gentlemen,

That's it! Seems to have sorted itself out. Don't know how or why...

All,

JR2, I meant to wish you well when last I read you were under the weather. I have been rudely remiss. Sorry mate. I do hope you shake the bug PDQ.

Dux, lovely, splendid, fabulous, well done I could go on but I suspect you get my drift. What a totally cool areoplane you have built. I most certainly would not allow that lil delinquent bart aywhere near the bloody thing or it will be up Lisa's poop shoot in a hurry.

Folks,

Dux:

WOW!!

An absolutely ripping good job from stem to stern say I. OK, I'm no expert and no one should care what I think but I can see no faults in construction whatsoever. The color is excellent and the wheels (whatever you made them from) look fine from here.

Scale looks good. The real thing was 32 feet in wing span and 23 feet in length. The cowling looks like real sheet metal and the cylinders of the Oberursel 110 HP radial engine look like the real thing. Only the pilot seems less than perfect as he seems a trifle faded and sort of washed out.

As our FF points out, your choice of pilot of course has always been an interesting one since it was I who sent that poor facsimile of Bart to you some months ago, I take the blame. I regret now that I did not send something better. I really did not think you would use it to be truthful. Perhaps you can splash on a few drops of paint to bring back his brilliant cartoon colors?

Didn't some E-IIIs pack 2 Spandaus? I'm wondering here and doubtless I am wrong but were some cockpits a bit more rounded with (as I think we see on yours) a bit of leather laced around their top for comfort?

Your taunt rigging looks smack on and that really gives the model an authentic touch. Did you carve that airscrew or was it provided? It looks like the precise shape seen in pictures except for the center. Didn't the E-III have a round center where it bolted onto the crankshaft with a round metal plate? Not sure but I think so.

Those Maltese Crosses look perfect. Did you paint them or are they decals? Decals can be tricky unless you use one of those chemicals they have now to make them easier to work with. I have ruined a kit with wrinkled decals.

I like it, no I love it. Lovely work to be proud of. Not finished by Christmas as projected perhaps, but well worth waiting for. I freely admit it is work far better done than I might have accomplished at any time past or present. Great photos too.

But will it fly.....

You have noticed a slow down too? It must not be my old P2-450 then. It could be that the longer delays are due to the filters all these posts have to run through these days to remove naughty words and such. I really don't know. Personally, I think the admin. do a great job and I have never felt I was being censored or restricted at any time.

SNAFU:

Thanks for your good vibes. I had a good night last night and a better day today. I am now eating 'real' food again. Cross your fingers. People around here are dropping like flies with some kind of flu-like symptoms. Some have coughs and congestion others like me have plumbing problems. It is that time of year I guess.

Congratulations on the win by Pittsburgh pal. I know you were rooting for them. I've watched all 40 Super Bowls and I can't say this was the most exciting or the least either.

Being in the business I've always been bad for critiquing TV commercials. My wife hates it but I do it anyway. I didn't think the commercials were all that special this year, did you?

I liked the Bud ad with the Clydesdales though. I thought that one was well done. As far as Super Bowl commercials go pally, if they don't talk about it the next day around the water coolers and coffee pots in all the offices across the land it was an expensive failure.

Folks,

As has become my custom over the years, here are the dates of special interest to our HWH members for the month:

FEBRUARY 2006

8- JRT's grandson "M"s 7th birthday

14- Valentine's Day

15- Bader's birthday

21- Bader's daughter Lady "F"s 2nd birthday.

Folks,

This is getting to be ridiculous.

It took forever to go from the posting/editing screen back here for my last post. I finally just aborted the thing and went to the main page and back again and... voilà! Here is my post after all. I thought I'd lost it. Why can't we just skip that extra stop anyway?

What is going on with loading that interim page between the editing screen and here where they say "Thanks for posting"? Dux notices it too. How about you SNAFU? Must be extra traffic on the server for some reason. If so, why isn't it slowing all pages equally? There's a bottleneck somewhere. All we need to know is that someone is aware of the problem and that they are working on fixing it...

Admin. HELP!?

JRT, SNAFU,

Thanks for your comments on the E.III.
Their are a few things to add on in order to complete the model such as the leather moulding in front of the cockpit and those tyres for the wheels. It has a 44" wingspan. The prop was hand carved from solid balsa and requires a central mounting plate as you observed. The whole thing was built up from a plan not a kit. It certainly took long enough being started in Wimbledon week!
I think most E.IIIs carried just one gun as weight saving was of paramount importance in these early scout types. The markings are hand painted.

Bart looks rather sickly because he has just returned from an eventful trip over the lines.
As he was about to land, a Tommy kite hedgehopped over the airfield boundary intent on mischief. Just the sort of shabby trick you might expect from those toffee-nosed Etonian types.

At the crucial moment, Bart reached for his Mk1 Stratothwacker catapult and dispatched a 5oz hand polished granite pebble which caught the sneak right between the eyes. That night the prisoner was feted by the Staffel, despite two shiners, in a nearby estaminet where Bart introduced him to the madam of the house Ludmyla Strokitup who runs the place helped by her lusty daughter Olga. He was left in their tender care until the morrow when he was handed over into captivity - on a stretcher.

Sincere birthday greetings to little 'M' from both of us!

Folks,

Dux:

Go Barttoffen. I do miss your stories Old chap.

I was already impressed, now that you tell us this is 'scratch' built I am all but speechless with unabashed admiration. I have built a few ships from scratch but never an aircraft and certainly never one I would expect to fly. I can't get over how beautifully you carved that airscrew. That must have been tough to get perfectly symmetrical and balanced with the proper pitch.

Is it a glider or rubber band powered or what? Is a balsa prop strong enough for that kind of torture? I suppose you have treated it with something for strength. All the balsa wood I've used was extra light but terribly brittle.

Congratulations on quite an accomplishment. I stand (more truthfully, I sit) in awe. Well done indeed.

Thank you for your good wishes. Although today is the date of M's birth the family will be celebrating the event with a big party at Chucky Cheese's on Sunday night. There will be much for the little kiddies to talk about at a certain school on Monday morning.

I hope you're quickly returning to fully restored health JRT.

Old Dux; very fine looking kite youve built there even if it does look a tiny bit fragile. Are you sure monoplanes will "catch on"? Biplanes still seem to be the right kind of aeroplane for the future to me.

Happy birthdays, anniversaries and what have you all around.

The tech-department is taking a hard look at the recent misfires in the old SimHQ engine, so hopefully we'll be firing on all cylinders again, sooner rather than later.

Folks,

MG:

Thank you for your good wishes. I am getting better daily and I should be restored to what passes for normal very soon.

Once again we find that, like Olga, we can depend upon you to be right on top of things. Thank you for popping in. The photos we post from time to time can also have a minor slowing effect as well. They are always worth it I think.

Monoplanes are surely just a fad. I wouldn't trust anything with fewer than two wings and, like my pal the Red Baron, I prefer them with three. Now if only they could figure out how to make a fighter with more than one engine....

Dux:

All the flying models I've built over the years were constructed (with some modifications) from kits. Usually 95% plus of the kit was more or less hand crafted from pre-punched balsa sheets. Some parts like the cowl, landing gear, armament and prop were usually provided complete. In the case of the R/C scale aircraft I had to provide the radio, servos, engine and prop myself separately.

Having had those experiences myself I marvel at your accomplishment from no more than a well-drawn set of plans. Take a bow. Ok,OK SNAFU stop nudging me, I may be rude but I'm going to ask him again....

Will it fly?

Gentlemen,

'Will it fly?' Yes indeed, this is the question.

Wether 'tis nobler in the mind to hang it from the ceiling or depart to the flying field in a sea of troubles.

It will be some time before we have long grass around here, probably June, so it has at least that long to live. The cushioning effect is essential should an awkward landing be the result. It is a rubber motor made up to eight strands with a possible 390 turns estimated but I won't try it anywhere near that. Don't want the darned fuselage to fold up in the middle.

I treated the prop with a couple of coats of sanding sealer which gives it a bit more strength. I was supposed to cover the surfaces with fine glasspaper presumably for strength but I couldn't be bothered with that.

There was a kite called the FK10 or AK10, something like that and it had four wings. A quadraplane. Looked something like a flying venetian blind. The visibility must have been poor.

Folks,

Dux;

LOL! Fold in the middle?

Once more into the breach dear friend...If you smoke enough of that "long grass" you won't mind if the E-III comes a cropper.

Besides which, anyone who built that bird from scratch can certainly mend it. Can the controls be set so she climbs and circles? We once built a gas engine powered flying model of the "Airwolf" helicopter. It would rise vertically and than circle climbing higher and higher until the gas ran out. Then it auto-gyroed down for a soft landing. That is still hanging in my shop.

I remember seeing a scratchy old news reel of some enterprising fellow in Britain attempting powered flight with an odd craft with at least six wings. Alas all those wings folded neatly in the middle during the attempt. Had the plane actually flown as well this useful folding feature might have made the man quite wealthy.

JRT,

Thanks for emailing that super piece of artwork taken from the jpg! It really is first class and more than worthy of framing and mounting. I have just the frame for the job.
I had no idea that you were such a master with the brush and canvas!

Is it oil or acrylic? You have completely captured the perspective and colour perfectly.
If this is not your main occupation...it should be. Once again - a splendid piece of work. Well done old chap!

Folks,

Dux:

Thank you. On a polite suggestion from Lady "T" I am attempting to master the 'dry brush' technique. According to her, for best results when I paint, all my brushes should be kept completely dry....?

As a result we have several perfectly white canvases framed about the house. One is, I tell the skeptical, a Polar Bear in a blizzard. Another is a snowball extremely close up.

I fear for your artistic judgment chum however I am delighted that you liked that blotchy mess poorly disguised as a piece of art. If you happen to have an old toilet seat lying about that would certainly make an appropriate frame.

Compliments aside, I know my place. You, Puff and C51 are the artistically talented ones around here.

JRT,

On the contrary old bean, I think it is most definately you who most excels in the paint and palette stakes

I have received the other batch, with thanks, which now resides in the My Pictures file. We think they are really splendid.

The grey squirrel in particular is most appropriate because we have two of these resourceful creatures regularly visiting our nut feeder and bird table! Nothing we can do can outwit them - they always find a way to get at whatever we put out.