Editor Kevin Crozier shares what’s coming up in the February 2024 issue of RCM&E.
Welcome to the February 2024 issue of RCM&E. This will be the first issue to reach you in 2024 so the time is ripe to wish all of our loyal readers and advertisers a very happy and prosperous New Year.
In this issue we are very pleased to bring you the first of a two-part Pro-Plan for the stylish SZD Foka 4 sailplane and an accompanying feature on its build by our classic glider guru Chris Williams.
On test this month we have the Avanti mini sports jet from Arrows models, which is a fabulous looking EDF model. And yours truly dashes out on a rare sunny winters day to clock up maiden flights with the two new XFly Model kits that I reported on in the last issue, the P68 small scale twin and the fast and furious Eagle flying wing with its two wingtip mounted electric ducted fan jets.
Amongst the regular columnists to clock in for this issue are Tim Hooper (Bench Blog) who resumes building a weird and wonderful Waterman Arrowbile flying car. Dave Goodenough (One Man & His Shed) looks at more popular model fixtures and fittings, whilst Chris Williams (Scale Gliding) resumes his regular bi-monthly slot with a visit to the last White Sheet slope scale fly-in of 2023. Next, Keith Jackson (Aerobatic Scene) files a report from the Triple Crown F3A ‘Home International’ event before lending his column to Peter Jenkins, who starts the first of several contributions about how to get started in model aerobatics.
This time we have the conclusion of two features which we started in the January issue, starting with Mike Delacole and Chilli Breeze EP. Mike finishes the build article for his new electric version of his popular aerobatic design, Pro-Plans for which were published in the last issue. In the January issue Mike Roach introduced us to the scale plans of Canada based modeller Ivan Pettigrew. Ivan’s designs result in lightweight scale models that are often praised for their scale like flying speeds and appearance when airborne. But his drawings are regularly used as the basis for other scale designs, often multi-engine types, which Mike and other Pettigrew aficionados lovingly refer to as being in the ‘Spirit of Ivan’. Mike presents a few such models in his latest article.
Wrapping things up for this issue is Shaun Garrity who, although best known for his love of all things retro, is also a large model enthusiast. Last year was not kind weather wise to a lot of model shows but participating modellers and pilots did a sterling job of carrying on with their displays, as typified in Shaun’s round-up report on his local LMA events.
I hope you enjoy reading it all.
Happy Flying!
Kevin Crozier
