Duratrax 1/10 scale Evader ST electric stadium truck....Happy New Year...

...celebrating with family and friends and staying off the road.

...or is it off road?

Blessings, grace and peace to you and yours, may you have a happy and safe celebration...

Duratrax 1/10 scale Evader ST electric stadium truck....

...a gift to my son from an online friend. My boy thinks the battle scars just make it all the cooler...especially when he did his own aerial 360 back-flip off the neighbor's driveway yesterday---and planted it on its feet. Not bad for a first time R/Cer...he'll be impossible to live with now....

1:64 scale Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Jr. remote control NASCAR racers...

...produced by Motorworks about 5 years ago. Picked up at a yard sale in like new condition---Sr's car was not even opened---they have excellent detail and very good paint, my son and I will be road testing them tonight.

They steer much like a real car, with both front wheels turning on their own steering points, the front end being fully adjustable...it simply amazes me how far rechargeable battery and micro-motor technology (the top picture being fairly close to actual size) have come in just the last 7 years....




UPDATE: The battery in Jr's car is toasted, leaving me free to experiment with it for future rail models, unless I find a source for replacement batteries.

The mechanism for steering is quite ingenious, using a rare earth magnet on the tie rod that is drawn to either side by small electromagnets.

Greater Baton Rouge Model Railroad club open house, Jackson, LA, June 12, 2020...

Forgot to post these, there were 3 live steam 45mm gauge engines running and my table, on which I featured my Wilesco D10, my marine engine (running off of a compressor) and my Mamod TE1A...











The tea kettle is for preheating my water for faster steam-ups. All in all a very successful first show, I can hardly wait for Diamondhead in January...

Life and death of a 1/4 scale B25...

Excellent home video, R/C electric motored "Kestrel"...

From the notes:

This was my first ever RC plane. I taught myself to fly it the hard way with no instructor, buddy box or simulator. It is called the Kestrel, although it is made by several different companies under different names, such as Jamara's Cessna 182, or Megatech's Freedom Flyer. It has a very small toy like apperance and is very quiet, allowing me to fly in areas unsuitable for other models without upsetting anybody. After gaining confidence in my flying i put in a Parkzone 480 motor and a 1400mah nimh battery, giving it a lot more power but also made it very heavy for the small airframe, which made it harder to fly and very unforgiving at slow speeds especially at landing, where it had a vicious tip stall. This is a compilation of clips taken over 5 years, hundreds of flights and many crashes later. It is still flying and is still great fun!

Northwest Florida Modelers swap meet, Feb. 6, 2010...

Yes, I primarily do model trains---but---I enjoy models of all kinds, I can easily get addicted to model engines...and...I do write a modeler's blog, which kinda obligates me to visit such places...oh, the sacrifices I must make...alas...sigh...










This Proctor #701 "Antic" monoplane caught my eye, the gentleman was well on his way to the finish line, there was very little left to do on it...beautifully finished to this point and one of the better deals to be found there to boot.






With woodwork like this, I'd hang it from the ceiling to admire before I'd skin it over.



Somehow, I managed to get through there without the desire to empty my wallet and stuff my pockets full of engines, there were some nice fixer-uppers there.

I was disappointed at the lack of 4 strokers...there were at least three twins but, alas, no 5 cylinder rotary honkers I've been wanting to see. There also was a single cylinder 4 stroker there for sale at a decent price, but it was one of those closed in models---must see the monkey motion of the rockers to impress me. I did pick up a couple of facsinating engines I'll post a little later and my beloved finally found her Renwall #800:498 "The Visible Man" anatomy figure for her homeschooling work.

OS Max SF .40 engine...

...with Master Airscrew 10/6 prop and Coverite 1 1/2" prop cone...



...almost ready for the test stand.

They call it, "re-kitting", "augering in" and "digging a hole"...

...whatever it is, it's the big reason I never considered R/C aircraft before. Even though the one I was given was a freebie, I'd probably still sob like a school girl when it hit the ground...



From the video notes:

Watch as Heidi's brother completely re-kits his brand new fully-loaded FiberClassics P-51 because he forgot to do a proper flight control check after he had installed new aileron servos the week before in Alpnach, Switzerland. Both he and his helper did see that all of the controls were moving, just not in the proper direction. This beautiful 1/4 scale Mustang weighed approx. 20kgs, and was powered by a 3W-75cc engine swinging a 26 x 12 Menz propeller. Also installed were retracts, flaps, drop tanks, opening canopy, fully scale detailed cockpit and pilot. You will notice the bird start to roll to the right, so he corrects with left stick. This makes it roll even more to the right until it is on its back and left wing low. He then gives it some right stick input and it now does a nice roll to the left and augers in. Listen to the delayed "Kerrr-splat!!!" sound that it makes.

As yet unidentified R/C trainer with OS Max .40 engine...

The story goes about a man who found himself surrounded by rising flood waters with no means to escape. Being a godly man he turned to God in prayer for deliverance.

Shortly a gentleman in a high stepping 4x4 offered to drive him out. "No thank you," said the man, "...I've asked God to deliver me from this flood." The truck departed and the floods rose higher.

Soon, a gentleman in a boat came along, offering to float him out of the flood. Again he said, "No thank you kind sir, I've asked God to deliver me from these rising waters." The boater departed and the floods rose higher still, forcing the man to seek refuge on his roof.

With that, a rescue helicopter came along, offering him the last chance to be rescued before the floods overcame his roof. Again he declined, shouting, "God shall deliver me!" as the waters slowly overtook him.

When he drowned, he was greatly relieved to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus but somewhat distressed as to how he got there. "Lord, I've always been faithful to wait on you for everything...why could you not answer my call to be delivered from that flood?" With a loving look that can only come from God towards His beloved redeemed ones, He said, "I sent a truck, a boat and a helicopter to you---weren't they enough?"

Now...what's all that got to do with R/C planes?

In the last two years, I have been given no less than four complete R/C plane kits. "No thank you," I says to myself, "...a minister of the Gospel has precious little time to pursue such things, model trains are hobby enough and I'm blessed at that." At which I dutifully send them down the road to someone else.

A windfall of R/C parts and engines (three engines no less) comes my way..."Aye, " I says, "...a great way to pay for my children's Christmas as a minister of the Gospel has no time for such frivolous things."

Another windfall of R/C parts comes my way, AND a boat load of tools specifically designed for building and finishing these balsa beasts. "Nay," say I, "...but, I can use these in my model train endeavours because---after all---I am a wise and frugal model train person/minister of the Gospel."

Then this shows up on my doorstep...







Yes, it needs a bit of TLC...but...I have all the pieces necessary (even the muffler) to fix it up---remember the parts windfall earlier?

It is so easy to over spiritualize our walk of faith...

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (John 6:28-29)

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. (Colossians 3:17)

So...I don't know about you, but I will continue in the track (or airfield) laid before me and glory not in what I can or cannot do in Him and do what I do in these pursuits as unto the Lord.

Say...is that a Futaba 4 channel radio I see over there at that yard sale table?

Great Planes PT-40 MKII "The Perfect Trainer"...

I must have this Oliver Twist "Please sir, may I have some more?" look about my face. This is the third complete R/C airplane kit I've been given...the second in 2 months...the last two by retirees who'd like to see me assemble them...sigh...





The second kit is a Coverite "Black Baron Special". I sent the first kit given to me some years back on down the road to another modeler. At best, I'll likely assemble and finish them for the satisfaction of said retirees, then hang them from the ceiling. I really have no means to power or equip them properly and I certainly have no desire to see them careening to the ground at 120+ MPH after all that.

World's largest radio controlled model airplane...

...a 1/5 scale model of the B29 "Dina Might".

So that they are without excuse...

10:00 p.m. Christmas Eve 1967 found my mom 25 years old with four children under the age of seven and no money. She had just sent to bed 4 kids who were eagerly anticipating what Santa Claus would lay under the tree that night. Unknown to us kids at the time, there was nothing coming, there simply was no money for it that year.

As she sat in the couch weeping, not at all looking forward to the four faces she would be seeing early the next morning, a knock came at the door. Old Mr. Webbee, the head deacon on our church deacon board, was standing outside. He explained that every year on Christmas Eve, the deacons would get together and, out of their own pockets, would pool together their money and give the money raised to the family in the area they believed most needed it. He quietly tucked $50 into her hand and walked away, not even giving her a chance to say "Thank you".

The only store in our part of town in 1967 that was open that late was Toy Barn. As she walked into the store, the manager was putting the finishing touches on a clearance table filled with $10, $20 and $30 toys marked down to $1, $2 and $3. That coupled with stockings filled with all manner of clearance dime toys and penny candies made for a Christmas morning that all four of us remember to this day as the best of the best. It came at a time when Mom was at her lowest and her relationship to God at its most bitter, yet He graciously provided for her and us in spite of that.

OS Max FP Series .40 and .25 engines...





Our area has been going through some pretty tough times these last 3 years. My own property has been seeing occupancy rates that barely meet the mortgage, much less payroll and operating expenses. Christmas 2007 was looking pretty bleak, none of us counted on or expected any bonus that might help out,--our own employer had troubles of his own--being grateful just to have jobs and a paycheck that cashed.

Because we live in an area with no public trash service and so relies on private contractors that each homeowner must hire themselves, people were starting to sneak their garbage into our dumpsters late at night to save a bit of money. My job now has the added responsibility to rearrange this late night dumping to make sure our own contractor will remove whatever winds up in there.

Three weeks before Christmas found me going from dumpster to dumpster, ensuring that everything would go when tipped. As I aproached the last one, the sight of the top of this model airplane engine peeking out of a box bid me look further...



Setting my pride aside, I pulled the box out to find, not only the used engine, an OS Max FP Series .40, but also the two new in box FPs shown above. Those, combined with the other things in the box--mostly new, unused R/C aircraft parts and tools--netted a sizable chunk of change on Ebay. Unknown to me at the time, my finances would take an unexpected hit the last week before the holiday, leaving the monies gained by this find as the sole source of money for my children's gifts.

Needless to say, that old engine sits on my shelf as a reminder of God's unmerited favor on an unworthy and all too often unthankful man and his family.

And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

May your own eyes be open to His marvelous provision in these weeks before Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you and yours...

An amazing collection of vintage model airplane engines...

Bear with it in the beginning, it is a tour of the whole shop.

1:87 scale R/C modeling...

You don't have to understand a lick of German to know you're seeing some first rate model building.

R/C F-16 turbine with afterburner...