Following a visit to Bob's workshop Peter Cathrow reports;
I visited Bob Prestwich’s home last month just before he competed with his Vic Smeed Debutante down at Old Warden.
Bob had impressed me with the quality of his building -it’s beautiful - I’m very jealous and just wish I could build half as good as he can.
Anyone who has seen him down at the field with his Red Zephyr which he stick built from Mike Kennard’s Ben Buckle plan can not fail to be impressed.
I saw this model still under construction when I visited his workshop. One of the models he showed me was an own design ‘fun - fly’. He has only flown this model once on a very blustery day. It is powered by a 40 OS 2 stroke.
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One of the interesting models in Bob’s collection is a giant Ladybird 88” span and based on the 40” Keil Kraft kit. He bought this model at one of the club auctions. It was powered with a 2 stroke 40 when he bought it but he has replaced this with a 70 OS four stroke. At the moment Bob is considering this as a glider tug and has fitted it with glider towing gear. He is at the moment working on a glider tow release mechanism.
Bob is a very enthusiastic and capable builder. When you talk to him he almost bubbles with excited enthusiasm. He especially loves the vintage models.
It was a pleasure to visit Bob - he’s such a source of knowledge and expertise.