Letter to the Editor

Dear Emil,
Let me put down a few random thoughts on the latest issue of “modellflugsport”; your editorial inspired me to do so.

1. Let’s not get frustrated by all the cheap ARFs that have been touted to us since the China boom. Let’s just enjoy the other new things we model builders have to look forward to:

• The Internet, where you can find information: I’m thinking, for example, of the recently discovered website by Oskar Czepa (http://www.czepa.at).
• The ingenious electric powertrains with brushless motors and LiPo batteries. You can even measure RPM right in your workshop!
• The wooden model kits with laser- and CAD-cut parts. That really makes a modeler’s heart race—the way the parts fit together!
• The Oracover polyester films for covering models. I still remember my youth well—with varnish and a worried mother fretting about my lungs!

2. Perhaps we also need to learn to distinguish between model builders and model pilots. Back in the days of modular kits, you were automatically both. In today’s digital age, however, not everyone is cut out for gluing one piece of wood onto another. You might feel a sense of regret about that, or

Take pride in your own skills! But some of us might just want to be model pilots and not model builders.

3. As for the full-page RTF ads, we’re still in good shape here in Switzerland. We have the magazine “modellflugsport.” There, articles written from the heart still predominate. Bravo!

But even here, two things caught my eye in this issue:

• Page 45: A long-familiar photo—the Inspire 60 from Fliton. Was there really no home-built model to photograph at this competition?
• Agenda: How could they possibly forget the “Blueprint and Homebuilt Model Meet in Huttwil”?

4. Finally, an example from my workshop. A laser-cut wooden kit for a combustion-engine model, built from scratch, covered in film, and even tuned for Silent Wing. Or in short: a “BMS” (Building Is Fun) model! (See attachment.)

With warm
model-flying
regards, Ruedi Schmid