Were Just started our 2025 Journey, and its going to be one hell of a ride.
The workshop is busy with myself and my son Alfie feeding the laser with balsa on an almost daily basis.
Those of you who follow us on our Facebook builders group will no doubt have seen upcoming projects for this year. We are fortunate enough to have joined forces with James Hammond with a view to bringing small high performance aerodynamically optimised gliders into our Portfolio, but not as composite airframes that James is renowned for worldwide, but as traditional balsa Models with that characteristic AngelWingDesigns twist.
James has very generously provided us with a number of designs as beautiful hand drawn 3 view plans that we are converting into our fantastic 3D models in Fusion 360. The structure being designed by ourselves with James very much on hand to offer his input as and when required.
If you want to know a little more about James, then his short BIO is below.
James D. Hammond – Short Bio
Hi all - My name is Dr. James D. Hammond. I was born in Kingston-Upon-Thames, England, on May 11, 1952, the son of a watchmaker, boat builder, and later aircraft production manager.
About me:
I have been a lifelong modeller and have been fascinated by flying machines, from full-sized to models, since I could walk. From making Chuck gliders in my preteens to control line sports, I later became quite successful at FAI team racing in the ’70s. I have made a career designing military devices that I can’t tell you about. I am now quite well-known internationally as a radio-controlled model glider designer. I can boast that I have more model glider designs in production than any other designer on this planet. I also hold records for the most produced 2M and 1.5M moulded gliders ever.
After completing degrees in aerodynamics, mechanical engineering, and materials science and a short time as a turbine balancing engineer, I began my career with Metals Research/Cambridge Scientific Instruments as an engineer on the III-V compound semiconductor development and tech transfer team travelling all over the world for my job. Throughout this time, I was active in my club – Ivinghoe Soaring Association in Luton, England- designing and flying model gliders, which had become my main passion, apart from wine women and song…
Deciding on a career change, I moved to Taiwan in 1986 at the invitation of the Taiwanese Government, which required some specialised help for certain military aviation projects. I have been here since then. After retiring in 2005, I began thinking about making and selling my models—mainly because many people had hoped I would do this as they liked my designs and theories.
I work with a factory in China to produce my models. It has been an immense struggle to teach the factory to buy the right materials and implement and use the stringent QC procedures and SOP practices that I believe are necessary for producing high-quality models; however, with a great deal of time and effort, it is becoming successful. As I live in Taiwan, the Dongguan factory is within a day’s travel.
Over my nearly 40 years on this island, I have become a fluent speaker of Mandarin Chinese. I’m married to a Taiwanese citizen, Julia, and completely adjusted to Chinese culture. Although I am officially retired, I still offer engineering services and have extensive experience as a consultant to organisations wishing to undertake large, complex, high-technology projects, particularly in the fields of aviation, wind energy generation, and marine design and construction.
James Hammond. Aeroic Composites
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