Good Christmas presents??

[pipersam]

Just wondering if anyone got any good xmas presents this year? My parents bought me a familirisation course in a Cirrus SR20 GTS. Im soooooo pleased.
Merry Christmas to everyone, and have a good new year!

[Bankie]

My wife got me the whole Saitek shebang: Pro Flight yoke, throttle and pedals. It was completely unexpected, and now I can stop saving for them and get the TrackIR system instead.

[xxmikexx]

Well now. My middle grandson didn't get anything aviation related. Instead he got a radio controlled Panzer tank with a steerable turret that fires small pellets. But my older grandson did get a radio controlled B-29 with landing gear, four electric motors and a three foot wingspan. (Yes, he knows how to fly R/C.) It's not FS, but it's the next best thing.

But the mystery is, Where did these nifty presents come from? And no, I didn't get anything in particular for Christmas because after those gifts, what else could I possibly need?.

[myocardia]

Mike, most likely those presents came from a local hobby shop. These types of places sell all kinds of radio-controlled "toys", including R/C jets. There is one in Dallas that's utterly amazing. I bet they've got over 100 different R/C jets, and about 4 or 5 times that many R/C planes.

@ pipersam: Yes, I got a good present this year. I got a Samsung 940BX monitor. Of course, I had to buy it for myself. That's what happens when you grow up, unfortunately. I sure miss those days when my dad bought me my computer equipment-- Xmas was very nice back then, in the 1980's.

[xxmikexx]

Hi Myocardia,

I was kidding. I know where they came from -- I bought them over the internet at Raidentech.com. Great stuff, great prices. (Though I'm by no means an expert.)

My point was that as a grandfather I get to buy presents that my parents would have refused me. In fact, I don't even consult with my grandkids' parents, I just buy the grandkids whatever I darn well please, as long as I'm confident that they will want it.

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As for hobby shops, I don't go in them anymore. About three years ago I was building a plastic F-86 and needed some aluminum paint. I went down to my local hobby shop -- stocked out. I went to the western branch of Denver's largest hobby shop -- stocked out. I went to their eastern store -- same deal. I tried the north outlet of the chain I had started with -- nothing. Nobody in the metro Denver area had any. It was as if McDonald's had run out of French fries.

So I got onto the internet and bought a box of six cans of Bare Aluminum Metal spray. No muss, no fuss, the goods in my hands three days later. With one attempted exception discussed below I now buy everything over the internet.

The exception is that about three months ago I needed an X-acto knife immediately. I went to the local hobby shop -- and they had moved. Well, best of luck to them. I won't be dropping by. There is only one Denver area hobby shop that I might visit these days and that's Maizell's, a nationally famous model railroading store, staffed entirely by Union Pacific retireees, or so it seems to me. They don't sell, we just talk, and after a while they let me buy from them.

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P.S. Myocardia ... Aren't you a little young to be worrying about heart disease? Or is it that you're going to become a heart surgeon or something?

[Thunderbird8]

From my wife got a 'land away' flight from our local airport (Filton, EGTG) (to another one about 50 miles away, not sure which yet), coffee break then back home, probably in a Piper Warrior.

Going to wait for a really nice day to book it, and will ask the instructor for a copy flight plan so I can recreate it on the sim.

Lucky me.

[pipersam]

That sounds really nice! Have you been up in a light aircraft before?

[Thunderbird8]

Yes I have actually, over the years I have been up five times in total dual. In fact one time it was in a tiger moth! That was a bit scary as it was quite blowy and you can never quite shake the feeling that you might fall out (however illogical it is!).

I have had a few helicopter rides too, and they were great fun (never took the controls though).

[Ragtopjohnny]

I've been collecting TV Shows on DVD and got AIRWOLF seasons 2 and 3 since I have Season 1 of it. Now all I need is Season 4 but not sure, since that one seems like it is going to be kind of cheesy on what I read about it, but it'd be nice to have the whole series.

John Thuot II

[yankeeflyer72]

I got a HANNS-G 28" LCD HD monitor. Really brings FS9 to life. Running a res. of 1920x1200 with FPS of 24+ with all sliders maxed. I`ve flown small homebuilts in the RW that didn`t have much bigger of a panel than this one.