Around the Patch
Tips and Resources
By Thayer Syme | thayer@flying-models.com
I HAVE A FEW THINGS for you this time around, including an oldie-but-goodie tip worth revisiting. I am also including some resources that I thought you might enjoy. They have provided me both modeling information and new friends around the world, so let’s get started, shall we?
Elegant Cutting Guide
I was perusing a (gasp!) model railroading forum recently and noticed a great tip in one of the photo captions. George D., of Yorktown, Virginia, had included a photo of a small straightedge that he was using as a cutting guide while working on a small structure. He mentioned that he had glued a piece of emery paper on the back side to prevent it from sliding while in use.
This a great idea that has been around for a long time, but it’s one that I felt was worth repeating. It will work perfectly with a piece of K&S brass strip from your local hobby shop, and you can make up a few so that one is always at hand.
Another option—and perhaps even more useful—would be to use one of those small, 6-inch pocket rulers that are often given away as promotional items. The beauty of the ruler, of course, is that it is also useful for measuring, and its new nonskid backing will no doubt prove quite handy in numerous circumstances where the bare metal might prove too slippery.
Yeah, I know we all have a full complement of cork-backed steel rulers on our workbenches, but you might want to give this one a try as well. The emery paper will be thinner than the typical cork backing strip, and I expect it will also prove to be more secure. Both of these attributes will allow more precision in your next project.
I’ve already made mine and after a quick test, I made a few more. Thanks, George!
The FF Mailing List
Some 25 years ago, my job required more presence than participation for most of the day, and I was free to spend some of my idle time online. Much of that included chatting with other modelers around the globe in the early days of the World Wide Web, via the usenet rec.model newsgroups (think extinct, stone-age version of RCGroups).
Even then, a few of my online friends and acquaintances expressed concerns about all of the irrelevant chatter in such forums. In response, I proposed and organized an email list in early October 1996, specifically for the discussion of Free Flight (FF) models of all types.
The Free Flight Mailing List (FFML) was manually administered at first, with each of the dozen or so members responsible for carbon copying every message to everyone else on the list. That approach sort of worked at the beginning, but the burden quickly became cumbersome as our membership grew.
It was soon obvious that an automated solution was needed. One member offered to host the list on some unused server space at his office. This worked great, until someone in a bigger office decided to ban all noncorporate use of their resources. I guess network security was less of an issue in those days.
FFML bounced between a couple more corporate and commercial servers throughout the next decade before roosting at Yahoo Groups in early 2006—our home for the next 14-1/2 years. Yahoo Groups was finally shuttered in mid-December 2020, although not before I had moved FFML to its new home at groups.io.
Any and all are invited to join the list, and all manner of FF model aircraft are welcome
in our discussions. Subscribers have experience with competition, Sport, and Scale FF models that are powered with rubber, electric, CO2, glow fuel, diesel, compressed air, and rocket motors. There is also often discussion of Hand-Launch, Catapult, and Towline Gliders. And yes, we even stray to Control Line and RC from time to time.
If you have any interest in FF models, by all means, join us. As of the start of 2021, there were nearly 700 FFML subscribers worldwide, with experience levels ranging from “I know nothing, help me learn” to “I have been building continuously for the last 80 years, how can I help?”
You can choose how you receive messages or not at all if you prefer to read them online. More information is available by following the “Sources” link at the end of this column.
Monday Night Modeling
Vance Gilbert is a name that needs no introduction to the FF world, although an RC friend who shall remain anonymous was surprised a few years ago when I mentioned this good, good man in a model airplane context.
“Really?” As in Vance Gilbert, the singer-songwriter? I only know him from his music,” was my friend’s response, so I started emailing him some YouTube links to support my assertion.
Similar to pretty much all performers everywhere, the proverbial stage doors slammed shut on Vance’s schedule because of the COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020. He quickly initiated a weekly YouTube livestream each Monday evening to keep a little sanity in his world. He has maintained that schedule every week since, save Labor Day.
These events are not concerts per se—he prefers the term “AcousticPajamaParty”—and
there is no pretense of formality. They are much more intimate, with Vance’s interminable sense of humor, caring, and community permeating each evening.
Vance plays a never-ending variety of original songs from his home office that are mixed with classic standards. The playlist usually comes with a theme but always with model planes rolled in the corner, shoes hanging from the closet door, and, occasionally, a new project spread out behind him as he plays.
Thanks to YouTube’s live chat feature, he regularly interacts with his listeners in real time, taking requests and asking after news of the past week. His audience has grown into another sort of club, welcoming familiar names each week as we log in and say hello. It has been interesting to see the community evolve, with many modelers from the US and beyond among its regular numbers.
Vance insists that he needs these evenings just as much for his soul and peace of mind as any audience donations. Indeed, these he generously shares each week with a deserving local Boston-area cause.
If you find yourself looking for something to do on a Monday evening while just relaxing after dinner, or background accompaniment while at the workbench, consider stopping by Vance’s next pajama party and maybe saying “Hi.” You might find that his voice and guitar help you sand your new model just a little smoother—or cover it with a few less wrinkles. Or maybe not. But you won’t know until you try it. You don’t need to wait until Monday; his past streams are all available on his YouTube channel.
Speaking of extended communities, I hope you are all doing well and have found some extra time for modeling throughout the last year. Here’s to a smoother ride in 2021.
SOURCES:
K&S Precision Metals
(773) 586-8503
www.ksmetals.com
FFML on groups.io
www.groups.io/g/ffml
Vance Gilbert’s YouTube videos
www.youtube.com/user/vancegilbert1958/videos
