Has anyone been in contact with Jon Point recently ? I sent him an e-mail around three weeks ago, but I haven't received a response. In fact, I haven't had any contact with him since before Christmas.Chris Low.

Nope no sign of him. Steve Hess' absence is a bit of a concern to:-(

Hey Folks, I'm back ;)Longest holidays of my life - 5 weeks :-eek Lazy days at the beach (i.e. home), bushfires in the backyard (almost), trekking through Burraga Swamp (the mozzies are nothing - the March Flies will literally carry you away...), sitting back by the campfire, surrounded by pademelons, possums and brush turkeys, whilst sipping billy tea. Then it ended. Today.It was real nice though. Got lots done at home:* The DHC-6 is done, apart from the cockpit. There are 4 versions, Era Airways, Skybus, Lehto Air(!) and 'D-IVER', the skydiving Otter! Oh, there's also an AI one (see below).* The ASW28 now has few enough polygons to go into FU3. Together with John's cockpit, it should do well. * The T6 is still 'early days'. I have to speak to Ansgar about the gear doors yet but the model's otherwise OK.*I have been playing with AI to get the Dash-8 and Twin Otter in there - again, I must speak to Ansgar about a couple of things.* New tree models, intended to replace the original (ntree) FU3 trees. I also played around with my 'forest' again but I'm still not happy yet.* A few other miscellaneous models. I found a heap of English historical building models, complete with textures! Any folk want to make some more models for UK? I have the 3DS files and textures, although the textures willl have to be re-applied. Any takers?Meanwhile, what's been happening here? I trust you all had a good Christmas ;):-wave******************* Jonathan Point *******************

Jon,It's nice to hear from you again :-)I am very interested in your Dash 8 and DHC-6 Twin Otter AI models. What will these replace ? The current Starship looks a bit ridiculous, so I would suggest getting rid of this. What about the weird stuff (UFO, Blimp) ? Can these slots be used ?Chris Low.

Good to hav you back Jon,* The ASW28 now has few enough polygons to go into FU3. Together with John's cockpit, it should do well.Im looking forwerd to this.Can you save the last set of bach files and BSP comands, and send them to me so I can see how it was dun and perhaps lern a bit mor ?A very hapy glidernut.:-wave

Whew ! We were getting worried. We thought maybe you had a drop bear accident or worse had been liquidated by some demented M$F$2004 followers determined to rid the world of infidels. I too spent some time on the Aussie beaches and it did me a great deal of good. I hadn't been back for about 3 years and was glad to see that Valiants, EJs, Kingswoods etc are still very much in fashion. I had to get use to being called Mate by female shop attendants however. In the civilised south (Rob back me up please) that sort thing is just not done. To top off a great holiday I managed to get my hands not only on a meat pie but also a Chiko roll. These delicaces are yet to be introduced in France but I am optimistic as I have already found a pretty good substitute for twisties.I am now back to another year on the Tigermoth - currently struggling with BSP who seems have developed a taste for the vertical stabliser ie. it bites a great chunk out of it. Cheers, QvdGPS please please post a screendump of the WIP T6

Hi All ;)Chris,Yes, the UFO can go for sure. I'm not sure how you set the flight characteristics though. A blimp may fly too slow :-lol I will contact Ansgar regarding these things soon.John,You'll definitely get the first one! And I save everything NOW... It's fairly plain in textures - because all my ASW photos show gleaming white aircraft!Quentin,Glad you enjoyed your holidays :-hah "I had to get use to being called Mate by female shop attendants however. In the civilised south (Rob back me up please) that sort thing is just not done." Civilised south? Puuulease... In Sydney, you're likely to be called 'luv', 'darl' or 'sweetie' by a female and 'mate', 'moit', 'maaahhte', 'buddy', 'cob', 'brudda' or 'dude' by a male :-lolWhen anyone, absolutely anyone addresses you as 'sir', grab your wallet and run like the clappers! You're in one of those newfangled, smarmy, too-clean-to-be-true, $10-a-sandwich places. Or Macca's :-lol:-wave******************* Jonathan Point *******************

Glad you enjoyed your holiday Jon! And the new models sound wonderful.But I have to clarify a few issues."Civilised south" - this is the correct terminology.As you know, Quentin, Australia is divided into two islands, the civilised south island (Tasmania) and the barbarous north island.This makes it the exact opposite of New Zealand.Very happy to support you on this important fact.Robert.

Yeah right!If Tassie is soooo good, why do neither of you live there?Too coldNo jobsEverything's a bleedin' 'reserve'The wood smoke is terrible in winterToo coldEveryone is relatedNo good surfToo coldFruit is expensive, meat is cheap (like NZ)Did I mention it was too cold?The more I think about it, the more it sounds like a small NZ.Without the great skifields or the glaciers (the two main reasons to go to NZ :-lol )I bet you two ARE related...:-lol :-lol :-lolTo any non-Aussies here, I probably sound like an Alaskan don't I? Besides, after setting Australia up as a penal colony, they needed somewhere to put the real bad ones...:-wave******************* Jonathan Point *******************

OK, I can't let that pass.I would like to Point out one thing, Jon.Do you know why Tassie (i.e. the South Island) is shaped like an anchor?That's to stop the North Island from drifting into Indonesia and becoming one of the 7000 other little islands up there.So you should be grateful.(Sorry to others who might find this thread irrelevant - here in Aust we have had problems with the north islanders for decades - they are a difficult bunch. In fact my presence here in the north island is to promote a more civilised atmosphere - to add culture. I know these problems don't exist in other countries - it would be like Scotland and England having a disagreement, or a dispute between those old friends Mexico and USA - it just doesn't happen. But we're sorting it out - plans to move Canberra to just outside Hobart are now well-advanced).RobD.