Ripmax Models: Confessions of an Aviatrix (2006 Zombie)

I took this photo last week. It has barely changed over the years.

Pic snipped

The building looks the same – but it wasn’t grey in the ’80s. Brick?

He wasn’t homeless, he was an Irishman out looking for a job.

When he had made a real good job of the porch he carried on walking into the country and saw a sign at a farm gate. “Tree fellers wanted”.

He thought about it for a moment but realised it was too big a job for him alone and said to himself.

“What a pity Pat and Mike is not here”

3.Most people can’t pronnounce the name, and like Americans saying Moscow it sets my teeth on edge.

A homeless man knocked on my door and said he’d do any chores that needed doing if I’d give him dinner. I gave him a bucket of white housepaint, told him to paint the porch out back and we had a deal.

He was back in half an hour, which I thought was amazingly quick, but he said no problem, it was an easy job. “And by the way,” he said, “that ain’t a Porch, it’s a Ferrari.”

Okay, the true part is that my book “The Gold-Plated Porsche: How I Spent a Small Fortune on a Used Car, and Other Misadventures” is available through amazon.com. Lots of flying in it as well…

I subscribe to Jeremy Clarksons description of a Porsche as an ‘**** engined nazi slot car….’

If Jeremy Clarkson took credit for that, he’s a plagiarist. P. J. O’Rourke quite famously wrote that line.

I took this photo last week. It has barely changed over the years.

Thanks for all your advice and comments. All very entertaining. I’m itching to reply to everyone, but I’ll spare you all. For those that know me already, please just accost me at the shows and I’ll respond idividually.

I have advised Druiscilla that, if a strange man offers her sweeties and invites her to go for a ride in his car (even if it is a Porsche) – just go, it’ll probably scare him.

Dear Mr Ripmax, I fear this is a sad tale. I’ll see you one day on the other side.

Shame about the DB5

Well,there seems to be plenty of comment in this thread about the Porsche 911.
People saying its ugly,overrated,bad handling owned by the wrong kind of people in the late 80’s etc,etc.

Personally as an owner/driver/Porsche enthusiast I would say they are typical comments from people who are generally jealous ,or who have never experienced a 911 properly,or just go on what they read by idiots like Clarkson.

1.I would agree that maybe the look is an either love it or loath it look,but it is a classic design that has stood through time and still is loved by so many.

2.Overrated can’t see how ,they deliver exactly what they claim too,and mine although 16 years old still delivers like it did when new(still achieves its 0-60,6.5 seconds and still achieves its top speed 162 mph easily -manufacturers specifications for a 1990 Carrera 2)

3. Bad handling is down to bad driving techniques,not the car.If you drive it properly its a better drive than any other car i can think of at any speed.Maybe the comments about bad handling come from someone who can’t drive properly ,or who drives an easy front wheel drive.

4. Its true the late 80’s brought the yuppies into the Porsche showrooms and they thought it was a wonderful car and they bought them,but while the cars were getting questionable owners,the owners were getting superb build quality,reliabilty second to none,and top performance even if they couldn’t drive them fast enough to be rewarding.
The marque’s image may have been tarnished by these customers ,but the marque has survived and the yuppies have gone.

Hairyplane, I share your distress in selling a DB5, I have driven one of those at a driving experience and it was a truly awesome drive .
I wouldn’t swap my 911 for one for the driving but it was a great experience all the same and I would have one if money permitted.
Still the aircraft must make up for it I would think.

Steve (a biased 911 owner !!)

Some of the strange old men have to stick to offering sweeties! Play fair!

Last time I offered anyone sweeties we ended up with Druiscilla.

Actually, by all accounts he is a great kid and if he got a huge kick out of me making three simple phone calls then why not?!

Some of the strange old men have to stick to offering sweeties! Play fair!

Melv – Just make sure it is Micky Moody and Berrnie Marsden for starters…!

Who?!
I’m ……. shhh ,40 next week and I don’t know who they are !:confused:
Alan.
Ps Melv, they might be simple phone calls but you still have to know the numbers!
What a great deed. 😎

Micky’s an old mate, I could always suggest slide lessons!

Don’t see a problem with that. Always loved his slide solo on the live version of “Lovehunter”.

Melv – Just make sure it is Micky Moody and Berrnie Marsden for starters…!

Micky’s an old mate, I could always suggest slide lessons!

Needless to say, his mum got in touch to say thanks and also told me that he was getting into electric guitars.

Melv – Just make sure it is Micky Moody and Berrnie Marsden for starters…!

I suggested proper canvas camping once…..

And Ladies and Gentlemen …HE WALKED AWAY!!! 😮 On his own two feet! With no injuries!!

Fast cars

The thread began with fast cars…I got rid of my Aston when I got too nervous ( and dare i say responsible??) about the zero crash protection. It went for a motorhome for Nickys kids. However, she got fed up with posh camping quite quickly. For those who know the lovely Nicky, she is definately a high maintenance 5 star hotel model. I suggested proper canvas camping once…..( only once).

We seem to be inventing more and more uses for the R44 – unlike my Robin Regent, which I am sure(?!) would sit happily at 5280ft on autopilot – the 44 is better suited to heli shopping and lunches.

HP

My Porsche story:
Mate of mine with the same bike asked me to come over & bleed his brakes. He owns an exotic car dealership in Santa Monica & has some nice toys. I’m about 2 miles from his house & was about to stop & call for directions when some Porsche twin turbo thing went past the opposite way beeping the horn etc. Next second the car has done a U turn & is right behind me. I’m wonwdering who the heck it is & then noticed my mate driving so I pull over.
He tells me to follow him & promptly takes off like Don Garlits in a Fueler. I jump on the gas & take off after him. So now we have a Kaw1100 hauling tookus after a Porsche something or other down some VERY narrow roads in the local canyons. I almost wad it on one bend & eventually arrive in one piece at his house.
I look over his brake set up & ask for some brake fluid. He tells me he has none & “we” can go get some in the Porsche. I tell him “we” aren’t going anywhere & I’ll wait at the house as I’ve just seen him drive (made Nick Gray look like an little old lady driver). He looks at me & with all seriousness says “Whats the problem? This car has like 8 airbags!”
Yeah, thats makes me a WHOLE lot safer! LMFAO!!!

I stayed while he went to the store…

There is aviation content in this post

I have been in touch with a couple of people via “Friends Uninvited” and it is nice to know they are doing well. One is someone I used to fancy like mad but we never got together although we always got on really well. However, she is now happily married and has a young son and we talk via email every month or so, just keeping up to date. Year before last she told me they had been to Chailey and that her son was well impressed with the Spitfire, the Red Arrows and the Utterly Butterlys. At the time I was doing a big piece on the BBMF and so I called Sqn Ldr Rowley and he put a signed photo and a brochure into the post directly to James. Next up he got a bunch of stuff including the little model aeroplane from the Utterly’s as a simple call to Hels was all that was needed. Last up I called Rachel Huxford at Scampton and Rachel used to be a wingwalker and PR girl at Rendcomb and so she sent a goodie bag to James too. This had a letter that was along the lines of “A friend of your mum’s tells me that you are one of our fans, here is a brochure, a signed photo and we would like you to come and see us next year at a show and tell us if we were as good as this year” Apparently the look on his face was superb and that was SO easy to arrange.

Needless to say, his mum got in touch to say thanks and also told me that he was getting into electric guitars. At this point I though “How much influence should one person have on another person’s son!!”

So James is looking forward to this coming year’s airshows and to getting his first electric guitar. The worrying this is that his mum knows what effect these two things have had on me and she is still letting him do it.

Actually, by all accounts he is a great kid and if he got a huge kick out of me making three simple phone calls then why not?!

I went to a class reunion (after 40 years) a couple of years ago.

I was worried about recognising people after all those years and for some people it was a challenge to remember who they were.

But not Marilyn the school beauty – considering her age she’s still a stunner! I wish the years had been as kind to me.

Oh, and the connection with historic aviation, is there one? Yes, actually, I ran the school model flying club out of which came the Midland Aircraft Preservation Society out of which came the Midland Air Museum.

Sadly Marilyn never expressed any interest in aeroplanes!

Roger Smith.

Interesting how a few glasses of vino can produce such a thread, I suppose the references to well worn friendsreunited women reflect the historical theme of this site.
Personally I would leave friendsreunited well alone, I did innocently contact some old female pals some years ago, who turned out to have aged very little in nearly 35 years and were even more impressive than they were at school, this caused, (naturally), a bit of fear and loathing with my other half.
Please don’t turn this into a site of adulation for fast cars, I hate the bloody things. I have a regular client base of about half a dozen developers with a few extras thrown in. Three of them are Ferrari owners and fanatics, then we have the Bentleys, the Jags, Maserati’s and only one Porsche, which drives like a bitch by the way, I feared for my life in that one.
I can borrow a Ferrari whenever I want, I have driven the beasts about before, but it’s not my thing, and I don’t think it ever was.
So can we get back to a/c and leave the cars and elderly women out.

Tee Hee, it’s a laugh really, looking at the previous posts, my missus is 23 years younger than me, perhaps thats why I don’t give a damn about Big Boys Toys.

A PT-22, Miles Falcon (swoon) Maggie,, DR1, R22 and a bird 12 years younger than you –

Lifes a b1tch sometimes innit Hairy? 😀

TT