I had absolutely no idea building RC cars would be nearly this much fun! Except for tyres. I can understand now why people have more than one vehicle. £70 isnt a great deal of money to spend on a new electric model, plus it comes with a sense of achievement too (unlike beer) and you get to keep it and enjoy it afterwards.

I couldnt wait to drive it when I finished it (in the wee hours this morning!) so I just grabbed it and legged it outside, thrapped it all over the place, no shell, wires hanging out everywhere, chased a few cars ...as you did when you were kids "whats that nutter doing, its after midnight!" jumped it off kerbs, and managed to flip it over half a dozen times, the "backwards then forwards too suddenly thing" wheel spinning all over the place, crashed a few times, puddled it (probably not wise). Brilliant! I found a grassy common which had street lighting and managed to get it filthy and covered in damp lawn cuttings, looks like its been hauled out of a bog, I'll have to clean it again before I do the obligatory new shell photo shoot.

I was surprised at just how powerful and quick the hornet was too, I mean its blindingly fast. I know you can get much faster cars, but for a beginner, there really is quite a bit of power there! I suspect if the studded tyres were made of metal, it would rip up the roads.

I wanna build another one!

I'll have a look, cheers

Bob, if you want an easy build/fly first plane, look into GWS, they make a Piper Cub foamy that looks great and flies great, very easy but be warned it is addictive, if you want to jump one step ahead GWS do a plane called the E-Starter which can be built full function (4 ch) if you want.

Estarters fly really well if you get the CofG bang on, not really powerful enough to do loops but when you get used to it then you can get a Spitfire with a brushless motor and kiss your social life goodbye ! I sold all mine last year as I didn't have the time to fly them but the builds are good fun.

just got the one proper rc car



It's a Schumacher Nitro Fusion and is scarier to drive than my real STi.

oops, forgot about the tamiya, enough about that.

from wikipedia:

"The Schumacher Fusion is an on-road 1:10 scale nitro-powered radio-controlled car made by Schumacher Racing Products. It is the fastest ready-to-run 1:10 on-road car created as of 2007, featuring a 0.21 in³ (3.5 cm&#179 engine capable of producing 2.1 horsepower (1.6 kW) at 38,000 rpm. It is four-wheel drive with a three-speed gearbox, making it capable of speeds in excess of 80 mph (130 km/h) and 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h) times in less than two seconds.

The "E-start" system is used to start the engine, this means the starter is operated using a portable electric drill. The gearbox is not natively adjustable, the only way of adjusting it is to open it and change the springs themselves. The Fusion will reach around 65 mph (105 km/h) with standard gearing and around 80 mph (130 km/h) with optional high-speed gearing (in the form of an optional clutch bell). There is also a low-speed gear-set available for even faster acceleration to use on smaller tracks."



edited to say that it's pretty hard to handle. When I bought it I got it home, built it up, took it down the local industrial estate and rolled it about 20 times, the wheels popped off and it was pretty goosed. 50 quid to repair (and that was only 10 minutes use)

not allowed on track (as far as I know), too quick or something according to Marionville Models

I normally just doss around down the industrial estate at the weekend with my mates and theirs, good fun though.

p.s. drinking and driving is bad don't you know

here's a crappy video I made with my camera mounted on the roof. I don't think it's out of first gear on this video. If you feel dizzy after watching, I do apologise.

The roads around Duxford are a great drive too.

Have you built it yet though?

(There's one in it's box on the guy behind me's desk actually, don't why he bought it, he only buys and builds models of Constellations normally. Buys more than builds, in the normal manner.)

Built the Airfix TSR2 yet?....................Erm - No!

I made sure I bought one when they initially came out as Airfix had said they were limiting the production run.

I will build it - one day.

The magazine "Model Aircraft Monthly" ran a four part series on the TSR2 and all its colour schemes - both actual, proposed and speculative, in their April, May, June and July 2006 editions. They are probably available through their back-issue order scheme.

For the record, the only scheme ever worn by the three TSR2s actually built was, as you say, Anti-Flash White.

The official designation of the white was DTD900/4740 - manufactured by ICI.

The roundels and fin flashes were in the following colours -

Pale Red - 33B/220-2442
Pale Blue - 33B/220-2443

I find the easiest white paints to use are those stocked by Halfords in their spray-can range. White Primers and Appliance White seem to be popular choices amongst modellers.

The serial numbers and most of the stencilling was in the Pale Blue colour.

The overall finish was gloss, although in scale model a "silk" type finish would look more realistic.

It is highly unlikely that the aircraft would have worn this scheme in operational service. By the time the prtotype flew in 1964, the RAF was switching to low level tactics and the V-Force of Vulcans, Victors and Valiants was being camouflaged. BAC were issued with instructions to devise a version of this camouflage scheme for the TSR-2.
This would have consisted of the Anti-Flash white on the undersides only with a disruptive grey/green camouflage scheme on the upper surfaces and sides of the fuselage. The RAF markings would revert to the more normal Red/White/Blue colours with black serials and stencil markings.
Again, the overall finish would have been gloss.

If the aircraft HAD entered service, there is no doubt that they would have been repainted in the toned down matt finish version of this scheme by 1973/74. This featured a Light Aircraft Grey undersurface finish with the white removed from the national markings.
By the late 70s and early 80s the disruptive camouflage scheme would have extended around the whole airframe in the "wrap around" scheme.

And, there is also the possibilty that the TSR2 could have served in Gulf War 1, which means that some of them could have carried the "Desert Pink" scheme.

All these colours are covered in the Model Aircraft Magazine articles - I would highly recommend it (although the text is rather tedious, the side drawings and profiles are very interesting).