From the Editor – August 2026

Welcome one and all to August 2026! Somewhat to my surprise, and greatly to my personal gratification, I’m still on deck and able to bring you yet another edition of this ever-expanding website! Despite the current instability in international affairs, I’m still doing my best to continue living life to the fullest extent possible under the circumstances – what else can any of us do?!? Happily, I still seem to be holding my own on the health front – something to be thankful for.

During early July, the soccer World Cup tournament continued to offer US Dictator Agent Orange (AO) further opportunities to demonstrate his total lack of any sense of propriety or responsibility while confirming the utter spinelessness of his lickspittles and the myopia of his remaining supporters. Quite apart from his country’s shameful treatment of some of the visitors and participants, we were treated to the unprecedented spectacle of an elected President of the USA stooping to intervene in the matter of a red card issued by game officials to a member of the US soccer team by putting pressure on his good buddy Infantilo of FIFA to overrule the decision of the on-field officials – this after his public admission that he didn’t even know what a red card was! To add to the totally bizarre nature of this action, AO’s intervention was in support of a birthright citizen whose right of US citizenship is under intense attack from AO! According to AO, he shouldn’t even be on the US team! Clearly, MAGA’s Red Card is just as “flexible” as that of FIFA!

Worse yet, we saw FIFA spinelessly cave in to this pressure, rescinding the red card and its attached 1-game suspension in defiance of their own rules. Whatever the rights or wrongs of the original on-field decision, the optics of AO’s successful intervention have utterly destroyed FIFA’s claim to any remaining shreds of dignity and integrity, irredeemably tarnishing the whole event. AO’s public thanks to FIFA for rescinding the red card was a clear statement of his egocentric view that they did it for him. Not only the king of the USA – now he’s the referee-in-chief of FIFA! My earlier decision to join many others in giving this disgracefully politicized event a complete miss has been fully justified.

At least AO was denied his hoped-for payback – the Belgians took care of that by ousting the USA very decisively despite AO’s intervention (or more likely motivated by it?!?). Their mocking dance after the game said very clearly what they (and the world outside the USA) think of AO – they danced for all of us!! AO’s suggestion that the game was rigged (where have we heard that before?) is so patently absurd as to be laughable – it simply highlights his distorted view of the world. If the US had won, he would undoubtedly have claimed all the credit. The fans’ deafening booing during his shameful grandstanding at the Cup presentation was richly deserved – he disgraced America by trying to remain on the presentation stage with the winning team. The accompanying image of Infantilo attempting to get him off the Spanish team’s stage shows him as he appeared to the rest of the world at that moment.

I feel bad for the US team members – although the world cheered at their defeat in the wake of AO’s meddling, they weren’t responsible for all the shameful circumstances created by AO in connection with this event and do not deserve to be tarred with the same brush as AO and FIFA. Better luck next time, guys, and I mean that very sincerely. They’re a good team who’ve worked hard, and they represent a once-and-future great country – too bad about their mentor. Everything that he touches turns to shizte!

Now that that’s over, can we please get back to Epstein?? AO was hoping that everyone would have forgotten about the Epstein files because of the distraction of the World Cup, but we haven’t ………and we never will. Nor will we fail to draw the appropriate conclusions from his childish anime self-characterizations as well as his clearly delusional gaffes about the Islamic Republic of Japan, the mythical Tic Tac video app, the “great company” of Turkey and the reference to Zelensky as Putin. Is that the sound of loose marbles rolling around that I’m hearing??

As one of the chief architects of the climate change disaster which is now engulfing all of us worldwide, AO’s punitive actions against Canada for daring to be afflicted with all too many of the consequent wildfires at a time when France and Spain are burning up despite AO’s puerile climate change denials ring criminally hypocritical in the extreme. This while Canadian firefighters are dying while helping US States to fight their fires resulting from the same cause to which AO has contributed so much! Has he looked at the wildfire map of the Western USA lately? How will he retaliate against them? By giving them rakes?!? We’re outraged…….....close friends and neighbours don’t treat each other with such callous and cynical disrespect. If AO can’t be friendly with his country’s long-time neighbours, allies and major trading partners in Canada, who can he be friends with?? Looks to me as if he can’t have a friend left anywhere! That’s a lonely place to be ……….. how does it make America “great again”??   

Now that AO has ramped up his trade war, resumed his bullying assault against Denmark and the people of Greenland, re-invigorated his Middle East war (that was some “truce”!), delivered his embarrassingly rambling insult-filled speech at the recent Correspondents’ Dinner, stood by while his health care cuts kill thousands of US citizens, confirmed his intention to overthrow the US Constitution (again) by running for a third (and fourth!) term and allowed his private ICE army to resume killing innocent citizens on US streets, can anyone still seriously doubt that the Oval Office is occupied by a violent, intellectually-challenged and delusional 5-year-old with serious behavioral and ethical issues? Any other country would view this situation as a national emergency requiring urgent attention! Next question – who’s got the Nuclear Football?? Please keep it well away from this idiot while dodging the loose cannon that’s rolling around on the heaving deck!

Moving on to model engine matters, I must continue on a very down note by informing readers that my long-time friend and valued colleague Hugh Blowers passed away on Saturday July 11^th. He died peacefully after a battle with cancer.

Hugh will be familiar to many readers as one of the main architects of the wonderful OnTheWire (OTW) website which is dedicated to the history of model tether car and hydroplane racing. I’m sure that all of my readers will join with me in extending our deepest sympathy to Hugh’s ever-supportive wife Lynn in dealing with her loss and eventually moving on to whatever still awaits her along the road of life.

Sadly, it appears that there will be no further editions of this marvelous website. I quote Lynn’s final comment in the July 2026 OTW Editorial (written prior to Hugh’s passing):

“I am not the wordsmith that Hugh is or the great retainer of memories and data that he absorbs like a sponge, so it is with great sadness that as his health is declining rapidly, we have decided that this is our final publication. To thank everyone who has assisted, helped, provided and just been there for us would risk missing out someone. So to all of you we send out heartfelt thanks, we've had a great time. Lynn”.

Accordingly, the OTW site must henceforth be considered to be frozen as it now stands. I don’t know whether or not the frozen site will remain on line as Hugh’s legacy, but I truly hope so. Failing that, I hope that there’s some way of preserving and distributing the information after the site goes dormant. Much of that information is irreplaceable – it could never be recovered by any future researcher.

In the same unhappy vein, I have to report the passing of long-time MECA Regional Director and Webmaster Roger LaPrelle in early July. Roger did a great deal for the organization and the hobby over the years.  He will be sorely missed. 

Still on the subject of departures, I was sad to observe the passing of yet another wonderful publication relating to aeromodelling. July 2026 saw the publication of issue no. 100 of the always-enjoyable “Free Flight Quarterly” (FFQ) e-magazine. Sadly, that will be the last-ever issue of FFQ – its hard-working primary Editors Chris Stoddart and Sergio Montes have decided that it’s time to move on to other activities. Nevertheless, they plan to continue publishing collections of past issues of FFQ, also continuing the publication of the Free Flight Quarterly books compiling notable model designs and articles covering a range of specific topics.

Those of you who are familiar with FFQ will know that a number of engine-related articles by yours truly appeared over time in the pages of the magazine. It was a pleasure and a privilege to be associated with this fine publication, which I for one will miss very much. Sincere thanks to all those whose efforts kept it going for so long!   

Putting a positive spin on an equally unhappy event, I’ve previously made readers aware of the fact that the wonderful engines constructed by my late valued and much-missed mate Ken Croft are in the process of being passed on to new owners who will appreciate them. Many of Ken’s creations have now gone to new homes, but a few still remain. Check with Anne Croft at annecroft947@gmail.com to find out what’s left.

I was among those who spoke for several of Ken’s engines, including his superb rendition of the mega-rare 3.8 cc Grayson Gnome sparkie of 1936. What a lovely piece of work!  I’ve now put that engine through its paces on the bench, with the resulting test report having been added to my earlier article on the Grayson engines.

Also on the subject of updates, I noticed that my article on Brazilian model engines lacked any details regarding the WB 35 glow-plug motor, although that unit was mentioned by name in passing. Following further consultation with Brazilian enthusiast Alexandre Tapxure as well as the arrival of a nice example of the WB 35, I’ve been able to provide a considerable amount of information on that model, including a bench test. I’ve added this material to the section of the article covering the WB engines.

Finally, I stumbled across a nice example of a 3.5 cc plain-bearing diesel made in Prague, Czechoslovakia (as Czechia was then) by Václav Stejskal. This has enabled me to add a bench test of this model to my earlier article on the Stejskal engines.

Regular readers will recall the image of the Froggy 249 which I shared in my last Editorial. I subsequently heard from the creator of that image, who wishes to remain anonymous. He shared a few other images in similar vein, giving me permission to use them as I saw fit. I’ve chosen the attached Bambi image to share with you this month. Enjoy!

An interesting arrival this month was a lovely little .06 cuin. (1 cc) rendition of the Dooling 61 - a Deci-Dooling?!? The accompanying image of this unit alongside a McCoy .049 Duro-Glo diesel should give some idea of its size, as should the way in which the standard glow-plug dominates it! I’ve been told that this engine is very likely the work of a constructor named John D. Ellis, but have been unable either to confirm this or to learn anything about Ellis. If any reader knows about Ellis and his engines, please get in touch!  I’d love to know more about the dates and origins of this little gem!

Now, on to this month’s new articles! The first such article deals with one of the last English model engine ranges which remains to be covered on my website. I’ve taken an in-depth look at the final model engine series to be manufactured by the legendary Dennis Allen – the AE series. This high-quality range of barstock diesels was produced in modest numbers between 1986 and 1995. My article includes bench tests of three of the AE models, including the remarkable 0.1 cc and 0.2 cc models. There’s a good deal of tried and tested operating advice relating to those two miniatures which should greatly assist anyone wishing to give one a try. Once you know how, they’re far easier to start and run than legend might suggest!

For the second new article, I thought that it was about time for us to return to the USA (if ICE will let us in!). I’ve prepared a detailed review of the various renditions in which the K&B Tornado .049 glow-plug motor appeared. Far from being “just another .049”, this was a very useable little engine which presented several unique features. Well worth a look!

The MEN transfer article this month deals with another British diesel from the late 1940’s, when diesel engines were entering the 25-year period during which they held sway among the British modelling public. I’ll be reviewing the excellent little Ace 0.5 cc diesel from London, which bore the distinction of being the first ½ cc diesel to enter production in England. It was also quite a useful little engine, as you’ll learn when we encounter it on the test bench.

That’s about it for this month, fellow enthusiasts. All being well and assuming that my neighborhood remains free from the sound of tramping Belleville jackboots, roaring Abrams tank engines and M7 gunfire, and that the mushroom clouds of WW3 or the fires of climate change don’t engulf us all courtesy of AO, I sincerely hope to be still on deck in September to present a few more reviews for your reading pleasure. In the meantime, I really appreciate all the expressions of support and encouragement that I’ve continued to receive from so many of you! Stay safe ‘n sane!!  

Adrian Duncan 

British Columbia, Canada (the NATION, not a state!)

Greenland forever!

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