"Anyway its been stood in his bedroom ever since and not a problem until now"."My wife's, sister's, husband has just died and we need to turn his room into a bedroom for her. Speaking to my son he said he is too busy up in London to worry about it at the moment and that I should get rid of it for what I can. I knew you guys flew here so I thought this a good place to start." "W e l l" I said "have you no idea what model it is." "Its quite a big one he said, my son was told that it was too big for him to learn on and that he should buy a smaller one to try first"I was beginning to become intrigued, a big one, not a trainer,could be interesting. Where do you live I enquired. Harman's Cross NR Swanage he said, and so it was that I reluctantly agreed to call round and have a look and perhaps advise him on my way home.
About an hour later saw me knocking on his door, His wife who was just as frail as he was, answered, "Come in dear" she said "Manny calls me A, Its quicker to shout when he wants something and I'm down stairs". Now that I new his name I was able to be more informal.."I do hope you can help" Manny said over his shoulder as we all climbed the stairs ,' she' 'the wife's sister wants to move in next Saturday and we were hoping to give the room a coat of paint before that" He turned the key in the lock then threw the door open wide, "There that's the thing" he said indicating to the perfectly preserved Alpina 4001 Pro." Wow" I said taking a huge intake of breath,Then realising that my shock could be mis-construed as I must have it and will pay a lot of money for this, I quickly covered up by saying "No this is most definitely not a model to learn on Manny".
I walked over to the model and inspected it, every thing looked like new. The little work that had been done looked good and professional. Seeing that I had taken an interest in the model Manny said "He kept some boxes of stuff in the cupboard to the right". He opened the cupboard and there stacked on top of one another were a number of 'I don't believe its not butter' yellow, plastic boxes. Handing them to me I opened the first. It contained a 12 channel DMX receiver with three satellite's, and 8 futaba metal geared, double ball raced servos. The second box contained all the linkages and horns to fit out the model, The third contained a new Hacker B50 geared brushless motor with a Castle craft 100 amp controller. He obviously had intended to motorise it at some point and had certainly done his homework.
"Its all got to go said" Manny "hasn't it A" " yes" she said "is it any good to you love". This brought me back to the here and now with a bump as my mind had sloped off into my own little dream world as it often tends too these days. I was flying the Alpina across our south slope having called for the air, it was doing mac ll from left to right, Paul Watson was on my tail and appeared to be gaining some. Simon Cocker was behind Paul and making machine gun noises with his mouth as if he were a Messerschmitt 109. Andy Shaffer, Simon Warren and Jimbo were all bringing up the rea,r their wings screaming with objection to the speed. They were closing fast and it looked as though I was going to be taken, so I pushed open the throttle bending it to the stop while pointed the nose skyward, and for fun did a couple of twinkle rolls on the way up before levelling out at 600 ft. I took the power off and released my breath.Then shouted, Do it again guys?.
"No came the unison of replies we just cant match your flying.!! "
"Are you O.K. asked Manny, noticing my blank expression," Ah', oh' a yes', yes" I replied coming down to earth with a bump.
I had been thinking if I wanted a new project just now it would be just this one.However I am a retired young man and unfortunately the government don't give out pensions that run to buying such models.
My eyes fell on the set of draws holding up the work bench, I opened the first of the 4 draws. It was filled with the tools that only model engineers would recognize. Each tool mostly new just as the Alpina. The second draw was filled with all the gubins needed for solderng, the third was filled with film covering equipment including the tack iron and the heat gun.The fourth draw contained a small compressor and spray gun the type especially made for modellers.
It then dawned on me, Its no good me even contemplating a purchase until I know how much it was going to cost the government.
"How much are you looking for" I asked with my toes crossed. "Oh the money will be used for redecorating the room before she moves in" said Manny."Well" he stuttered whilst glancing at A. "We were hoping to get enough to redecorate the room". then as if he felt he had to go for it he blurted out "we were hoping to get a hundred pounds". "Or there about's" chimed in A.not wanting to out price my attention.
I turned around and looked at the frail old couple still standing in the doorway. "No", I said, "No Its worth a lot more then that. I cant let you sell it for just £100.00.It wouldn't be right. lets make it £110.00 and you can buy a small rug for her as well".
The delight could be seen appearing on the old couples face's. "You are good to us" she said "Thank you dear."
We turned to go down the stairs when Manny backed up and said "Oh,yes, you ll have to have this bit as well and from under the bed pulled out an aluminium box which when opened revealed a brand new Futaba18 Transmitter complete with manual and add on's. A quick check showed that the battery was completely flat but other than that it was perfect.
My head was still spinning as we followed one another down the stairs and too the front door. "Thanks for that Manny" I said as he opened the door, "I will clear the room for you tomorrow" As I shook their ageing hands I turned to his wife A, and said "I'm sorry I never did catch your real name. Who shall I tell my mates you are". "Tell them I'm April dear. I'm April fool...good night dear".
All the best guys. Regards Terry
