It's been a while since my last newsletter, with Christmas, our Nationals, and the first round of our F3C series, I've been pushed for time, but hopefully things will slow down for a bit now!

Santa's Sack
I hope Santa brought lots of useful presents for your helicopter hobby. I did pretty good, I got a Proxxon Dremel tool as well as some wooden model helicopters to keep the 'real' ones company in the helicopter room. I had some indication of what I was going to get earlier in the year when I decided I needed a Dremel right now but Sharon, my girlfriend kept saying that I should wait and see what Santa brought. Dremel's are great little tools, and although I haven't used it yet, I'm sure I will soon :).

Nationals
Between the Christmas and New Year period, the New Zealand Aeromodelling Nationals was held and I went to compete in the helicopter events. While there I checked out a couple of the other events going on such as the F3A event. We ended up spending New Years eve at the Nationals where people did night flying with park fliers etc, if I'd known, I would have taken the Voyager and it's night flying stuff and mixed it up with them :).
It was actually quite cool to spend some time with people from other areas of our sport and share a few laughs over a few drinks. At midnight, a control line pulse jet was fired up and flown around the control line ring which I would say woke up everyone who was not asleep within a 10 kilometer radius!
All in all, we had a great time and will definately be doing it again. For those of you who think competitions are all stress, rules and no fun, they're not. Sure there's plenty of stress and more than a few rules, but they're a lot of fun and you learn a lot.

Vigor for sale
Now that I've decided to get into this competition business, I've decided to sell my Webra Vigor to get an exact replica of my CS. If you, or anyone you know, wants a Standard Vigor with upgraded tail pulleys, 8:0 gear ratio (with pinions for other ratios), Webra 91, Hatori 700, extended pitch arms. Can sell with servos if required (9204 and 9202's). If you're keen, email me at simon@littlerotors.com

Pilot Locator
The Pilot Locator has continued to grow in popularity since the last newsletter with it still rating second most popular section of littlerotors.com. Make sure your details are up-to-date! The pilot locator can be found at www.littlerotors.com/findapilot/

Market
The Buy/Sell Market has been growing also. It should be noted that this section will accept postings from all over the world, not just New Zealand. List your items free of charge! See the market at www.littlerotors.com/market/

Articles this issue are:

Comparing the Webra 91AAR and the YS 91ST
Bill Wegner does a high level evaluation of two of the most exciting big block engines on the market today! Click here

Engine Tuning
After many many emails asking what I learned from Curtis' visit, I've compiled an article on the tips I learned on tuning engines. Click here

Feel free to contact me at simon@littlerotors.com at any time.

Si