cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

O where have kits gone is they are aound you just have search for them.Haven't checked in here in a year .this is the best thread you will find for building kit planei looked thru many posts and found several to my liking.i look thru ebay unassembled kits.i use rc groups as well.the answer is they are all over the plac i recently serached and found on ebay a masters kit for a Sorrell so hyperbipe.i plane to scale it to 25 percent.i also found sig liberty bipe and plan to maiden over the 4th.
I didn't see anyone list eureka rc.com.excellent for vintage pattern rc planes and the other site is trap let publications. If you like Brian Taylor kits they got them. And they have a link in us.

Kits are alive and well.just research and find them.sadly the hobby is moving toward a toy style plane instant plastic and cheap.balsa is unfortunately expensive but for someone like me modelling since 1971 nothing is more satisfy for me personally gratifying than constructing a balsa kit.and with laser cutting the parts are better than ever I love this site keep listing guys.

Telemaster Sales UK

I used to campaign an HP VT 25 and an HP VT 21 in a Junior 60. The Junior 60 is a British free flight cabin design which was first flown in 1946. It has a five foot wingspan and covered in Solartex, it's no lightweight. With the 21 fitted the model had to be hand launched most of the time as the engine produced insufficient power to permit ROG. The 25 flew it well enough. Nice engines, shame they require so much nitro and castor in the fuel from a cleanliness and cost point of view.

The kits are available from Ben Buckle or Flair. Flair's is the later version with the wider fuselage and the stronger wing. Plans are available from Ben Buckle or on the Outerzone.

Do you ride a Triumph T-Man?

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Maybe he drives one instead of riding one? My was a beautiful 1959 TR-3A with the original blue/black paint, steel wheels, OD and factory hard and soft tops. She was some car!

darren4

Great Planes 40 P-51 Kit, and Dave Brown Mech. Retracts would be the cheap way to go with a war bird. Darren

darren4

Great Planes 40 P-51 with Dave Brown Mech. Retracts 45 super tigre engines would be cheapest way to have WW2 War Planes. Darren

GallopingGhostler

Yes, those TR-3's are classics, I like them better than the modern offerings. Speaking of rides, Triumph motorcycles are also classics, I like the Bonneville. I don't have one, current ride is a 2001 Kawasaki ZG1200 Voyager tourer.

But the nice thing about nitro and Castor is the smell, I find that still exhilarating.

Those are classics. I'm still glad that one can find plans for these classics on at least Outerzone or Hip Pocket Aeronautics.

Telemaster Sales UK

I ride a fourteen year-old Hinkley Triumph.

GallopingGhostler

That's no slouch of a bike, 118 HP and 955 cc's. That's enough to put the black back into greying hair. To make up for declining testosterone, its why I moved up to a 1200 cc tourer. BTW, those Telemaster kits and ARF's are really nice planes, especially the larger ones.

Telemaster Sales UK

Yes I used to import the Telemaster range into Europe. I sold about fifty kits to enthusiasts from Serbia to Ireland and one to a man living in the South African Bush who wanted a Senior Telemaster so that he could film the local wildlife with it.

I believe the company changed hands. Certainly their policy towards me changed and no I didn't owe them any money! The new owners wanted to deal with all Telemaster enquiries centrally. They also vastly increased their shipping charges to European destinations with the result that the Telemaster is no longer seen on British or European flying fields. Shame really.

Never made any money out of Telemasters when you consider the cost of advertising and displaying the models at shows but I did get a small reputation as "Mr Telemaster." When I introduced myself under my real name at a recent fly-in, I was asked, "Have you brought the Telemaster?"

Perhaps I ought to change my RCU handle but having been educated in the liberal arts I do not know how to do it!

Picture of Team Telemaster from 2008 and of the sole survivor of the TSUK days, my "well-flown," i.e, scruffy, Barn Door Wing Senior Telemaster, Laser 90 up, which still flies regularly.

triumphman49

My Feedback: (149)

Hey all, Used to ride a TR5T (Trophy Trail). Modded a bit to run more on the road, but still a "take anywhere" bike.
1st auto was an MG A, but girlfriend had a TR 3. Lot's of great memories there.
Was given WELL used VT21 years ago, but when I located a NIB VT25, went ahead and sold the 21.
Good to hear it's a stronger engine.
Think Adrians' NewBee is more deserving of the dieselized K&B 21 (still have the original head also).

T-man49 in Al

Telemaster Sales UK

I sold the motorcycle this morning!

I'm planning to retire to France so I'm getting rid of surplus possessions. Feel rather sad and numb. She was a good friend but the hassle of converting her to French spec was a but much, besides I quite fancy one of those 1050cc Triumph Tigers!

The photo posted above was taken at the border of Serbia and Bulgaria. Here's some of Greece, Turkey and Croatia.

GallopingGhostler

Really nice scenery, Telemaster Sales UK. Sorry to hear about the Triumph loss due to requirements, but as you state an opportunity to "upgrade" once in France. That's an interesting bit of history on your Telemaster experiences, too. I've noticed here across the pond, the kit costs at Hobby Express (formerly Hobby Lobby) are considerably up. I don't know if they are able to continue sales at those prices, it's why I haven't opted for their kit. Over the years I have noticed they have discontinued many items that I was interested in, hence why I haven't purchased from them in a while.

RACE 66

A little side bar here fellas, many years ago, I would think it was probably in Model Airplane News or Radio Control Modeler, there was an article on the Telemaster, regarding use as a lead airplane to install cabling or electrical wires across canyons/valley's. As I recall this was in Germany at the time.
The plane with a very light cord on the tail would take off and cross the canyon to the other side, land. This is where it gets hazy on my memory, the workers would then (on the other side, original take off spot) would connect a heavier cord to the original one and the group on the opposite side would pull that cord across in some form, each time attaching a larger cord/rope/ cable until they pull the cable/electrical wire size they want. This was obvious "pre" model helicopter days of performing the same duty in later years, probably around 1972 or so.
Maybe someone here may recall those procedures of years past and help clarified what I am speaking about.

jtotten

There is a thread on the history of the Telemaster somewhere on RCU . I have one of the original 12 foot Telemasters imported from Germany before the rights were sold to Hobby Lobby (now Hobby express) I believe the date on the instruction sheet is 1972, but the German version had been flying in the early 60's.

Telemaster Sales UK

Race I believe that story to be true.

GG the new Telemaster kits are slot together Laser cut jobs and if I remember correctly are twice the price of the traditional kits, the cost of production being that much higher. To be fair to Hobby Express you can still buy a plan and a ribset for about $50 but the cost of shipping it to the UK is prohibitive, far more than the US Mail would charge.

Telemaster enthusiasts might enjoy the following 46 pages:

http://time.fh-augsburg.de/~erd/Mode...Telemaster.pdf

Rv7garage

My Feedback: (10)

Here's a kit for you'all to drool over

Pica 1/6 WACO -- laser cut! This will have my Saito 120R3 radial in the nose. Should be a super fun build project!

GallopingGhostler

Thanks, Telemaster, and for the attachment. It is a rather interesting history, enjoyed reading it. I've located a plan of the original German Telemaster on Outerzone. It is one of the few kits that has a lifting tail with a modified Clark-Y stabilizer. Given that the wing is constant chord, in future I could fairly easily produce my own kit of parts and build it.

Because of the lack of practical availability of the Telemaster, I would be curious what other kits builders in Europe have been engaging in to fill the void.

Telemaster Sales UK

Feeling very sad, no longer having a bike but I suppose I could treat myself to that new Laser now!

Telemaster Sales UK

Your interest in what kits are available to the European modeller has provoked a fair bit of research! Let's start by saying that (unfortunately) most models at a British model flying site are likely to be ARTFs and that those which are not, have not necessarily been built by their pilots. There are two reasons for this. Radio controlled models can last a long time and from time to time owners have a clear-out selling on surplus models. Secondly, aeromodelling is an ageing hobby and the Grim Reaper takes a disproportionate toll of our ranks with the result that many models are sold in bereavement sales.

Having said that you would be hard pressed to find a British i/c model aeroplane site without seeing a Chris Foss model. http://www.chrisfoss.co.uk/. Chris Foss Designs produce a very popular range of i/c and glider kits. As far as the i/c models are concerned the most popular are the WOT 4, which is a box with wings on and which looks a bit like a Stik and the Acrowot which looks like a racing aircraft. I'm surprised that they're not exported more widely because they are well made kits with first rate instructions. Having foam wings and balsa sheet fuselages they're easy to make and would be a good first step for an inexperienced builder. They also fly very well with a wide speed envelope. Having said all that, both models are now also sold as ARTF's, even foamy electric powered ARTFs!There were five WOT 4s and an Acrowot at the flying field yesterday and of those only one, the red and yellow one in the pictures, was a kit-built model. I confess that the small electric ARTF Foam-E WOT 4 belongs to me but must I feel that I must plead in mitigation that the model has a custom colour scheme and that I have two proper WOT 4s and a kit-built Acro Wot which gets its maiden flight later today! There were two other WOT 4s there at the beginning of the session, another Foam-E and a standard sized ARTF WOT 4 powered by a humble OS 40 FP. This was flown with great elan by the most skillful pilot in the club, Carl Gittins, an Area Examiner. He crashed it! It was the only time I've ever seen him crash a model. The green and white model is a WOT 4XL, an enlarged ARTF powered by a 120 fourstroke. I've also added a picture of my old Acrowot.





If you want a more traditional kit with ribs and spars, there are a number of suppliers but I'll deal with those later.

Telemaster Sales UK

The following are the remaining British kit producers that I'm aware of. I'm not too sure about the rest of Europe but when I've moved there I'll give you a report.

Flair used to be a pretty big player back when we had to build and not buy our models. They still continue to be produced but their new managers have adopted a lower profile, their website for example, refers to events which took place in 2005! Their range consists of two 1/4 scale biplanes, the Tiger Moth and the Stearman; a range of semi-scale WW1 aircraft, some much more semi than scale; two vintage models, the Junior 60 and the Black Magic and some sports models. Their models are still listed as being available on the websites of two major British retailers Sussex Model Centre and Steve Webb Models so they must still be going. http://www.flairmodels.co.uk/

Ben Buckle produces a range of vintage model kits. There has been some bad press about the quality of the wood in the kits in the past but I believe that has now been resolved. http://www.benbucklevintage.com/inde...=index&cPath=1

SLEC produce a range of sport and scale models including the Stampe biplane and the T240 which has a very similar wing and tail to the early Senior Telemaster. They will also cut out the ribs and formers of any plan you may care to send them. They charge for this service of course but I don't mind paying for it, I hate cutting out wing ribs and their CNC laser cutter will do a much better job than I can. http://www.slecuk.com/online-shop.html

Belair Models provides a similar service and are licenced to cut scale model part-kits of many famous designers. They also provide some vintage kits and a large sports model kit. http://belairkits.com/

DB Sport and Scale provide a wide range of kits, plans and part-kits originally designed by the legendary David Boddington. http://www.dbsportandscale.com/index.html

Finally, Mick Reeves, a former World Champion, produces a range of scale kits for the expert modeller and the Gangster sports model which is well thought-of especially in its latest lighter version. http://www.mickreevesmodels.co.uk/.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I have noticed in the last 5 years postage to Europe has really gone up. I send a lot of stuff back and forth to my son and daughter in-law living in Germany but have had to cut back because even the smallest of packages cost a fortune to send now. Hobby Express would be better off placing a warehouse on the continent and shipping from there if they can develop the demand.

hattend

My Feedback: (20)

There was a British kit maker called Complete a Pac (or maybe that was the kit line name).

Are they still in business? I had a nice Mosquito and a Vulcan (pusher propjet) from them that I had to sell to pay bills. I'd sure like to get those kits back. I'm glad I scanned the plans. If all else fails, I can scratch one out.

Anybody know the kit manufacturer's name?

Don

Telemaster Sales UK

I believe they are still trading.

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD="width: 900, bgcolor: #CCFFCC"]Complete-A-Pac and Bowman, 109 High Street, Gorleston, Norfolk, NR31 6RE
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 900, bgcolor: #CCFFCC"]Tel. 01493 664815[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

That's nice to know that one more kit mfg is still around!

VeeAte

Would the Bowman at Complete-A-Pac be Darren Bowman?

I have a set of plans for a 28% Ultimate designed and drafted by a Darren Bowman.
Have looked everywhere to try and locate the guy, but having no luck.

Mostly want to try and get a canopy for it.
The cowl I can make from glassed balsa.