Good day gentlemen!

Having retired to central France from England in 2015 I was unsure whether to opt for a Union Flag or a Tricoleur when registering! I built my first model aeroplane when I was eleven years old, I'll be seventy-five in March if I'm spared! The model was not a success neither was the second one but the third, a free flight Veron Cardinal powered by a Mills 75 was successful.

Soon after there followed the sex'n'drugs'n'rock'n'roll years but one day in the late Eighties I saw a man flying a radio controlled model aeroplane and I've been an r/c pilot ever since.

My first scale model was a control line Sopwith One and a Half Strutter designed by Brian Sichi. Mine was covered in nylon, and painted with car touch-up aerosols. It was rather heavy but flew well enough powered by a Fox 36X. Another contributor to RC Scale Builder has built a much lighter one for indoor use.

Curiously I am just finishing Mr Sichi's "Guidato." This is not a scale model, it's an early r/c design. I do a fair bit of instructing these days and plan to use it as a basic trainer with the large number of retired beginners who are members of my club. AFAIK Brian Sichi only had two plans published and I've built both of them!

Once the Guidato is finished I'm going to finish a Flying Flea started by my best friend Michael Harker shortly before he died of leukaemia over twenty years ago. After that there's a DB Sport & Scale Auster which has been waiting for me to finish it for at least ten years!

I'll keep you posted.

Welcombe BE2 man

I built a Veron Cardinal powered by a Mills 75 . . followed it by a Deacon, i think that was the bigger one. McGregor valve radio.

Look foreword to a thread on the DB Sport & Scale Auster.

That would be a kit cut by Dave Toyer who i fly with regularly in the summer.

Nice building whether...........

Thank you for the welcome gentlemen. I omitted to say that amongst my finished models is both a Flair and a Brian Taylor Harvard and a Roy Scott BE2e, however, the BE2 was bought in an estate scale and I need to improve my landings before I fly the Brian Taylor AT6!

I have also been building a Roy Scott BE2e for several years. I have been interested in the BE2e ever since I found out that a man with the same name as me was shot down and killed by Manfred von Richthofen in April 1917, hence my "handle" on RCSB. I'll get it built and finished in the markings of my namesake's BE2e if I live long enough!

I also participate in a daft competition every year here in France called "La Coupe Des Barons." It's an event for a three channel French trainer which looks vaguely like a WW1 monoplane fighter. I won the four stroke class in 2021 but it's not an event for scale models so I won't relate my experiences in the competition unless there's an overwhelming demand.

Long term I plan to build David Hurrell's Fokker Triplane. I already have the plan and a Laser 160 V twin for it.