Hi Chaps, James Hammond here, I'm a hardcore Brit who happens to have lived in Taiwan for the last 34 years. I have had a lifelong interest in woodwork started at the age of 6 by my father who was a watch repairer turned boat builder. Long hours I remember watching him fashion dumb old bits of wood into beautifully shaped pieces that fitted exactly where they were supposed to - then he'd transform them into art by lovingly applying the finishes. Oh the smell of Turpentine! Later I transferred the skills I had learned into what turned out to be a lifelong passion for model aeroplanes - in the last three decades, radio controlled model gliders - but I digress. Now retired after a long career as an aviation/aerospace engineer and designer, I have more time to do what I'd like to - and that includes various woodwork and cabinetry projects, furniture, glass cases clocks etc etc - but I have so many offcuts of really fine and sometimes rare woods. So what to do with them? The answer: Slingshots! - or as we used to all them when we were grotty little kids in England - Catapults! Hopefully I can learn how to make these lovely little devices from you wiser and more experienced heads. Cheers, James.
Welcome from Chile James, building slingshots is fun for sure, with your background I have no doubt you will do it very well ... after building then time to shoot ... double fun !!!
Hello! A few of windsurfing bros and sisters were born in the UK. Good times at the beach bar. Especially when the accents and idioms result in a good misunderstanding and laugh. Sort of also fly R/C platforms. Hand launched and electric launch gliders. "Fly" as in glide, crash, repair, repeat, and finally trash. Except for one that caught a boomer of a thermal and ascended into the glider heaven. Not a modeler. Store bought "foames".Less tears shed when crashed and trashed. Did build one from scratch. Few deficiencies in design and build resulted in a bit unstable platform.