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Now that you've almost emptied the piggy-bank buying your aeroplane, an engine and the radio equipment there are, unfortunately, a few other items of equipment to buy before you can go flying!

One of the first things you must have is a model restrainer. This is to stop the aircraft moving forward when the engine is running. AT OUR CLUB YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO RUN YOUR ENGINE WITHOUT ONE!!! In its simplest form, a loop of rope long enough to go under the tail plane, over the fuselage, under the tail plane and through a peg in the ground and back will suffice (a large old screwdriver will do for a peg to start with). Eventually you may decide to progress to a purpose-made twin-pronged restraint.

A simple thing to make, but again essential at our club, is a flight board displaying your channel number and your name. This can be a piece of white-painted hardboard, approx. 6" (15cm) square, with the number painted on, (or use self-adhesive numerals from a hardware store), or you could make one on your computer. Use a very large font size (300 plus) and put your name on it in a smaller font. BEFORE switching on your transmitter you MUST place the board at the flight line and ENSURE that nobody else is flying on that channel. Receivers get very confused when receiving two signals. The results are always the same, and end up in a black bin-bag for the journey home!

You can use an old washing up liquid bottle to fill your tank with fuel. This tends to get very messy and you will quickly see the merits of a proper pump, whether it be hand or electric powered. See what others think about the different types of pump available. Special flight panels can be purchased which contain a pump, a starter outlet and a glow plug outlet, all run from a 12 volt battery. If you do not have one of these you will need a dedicated battery glow-plug clip, which can be purchased from any model shop.

Not essential, but it certainly stops one getting very sore fingers, is an electric starter. The budget alternative is a 'chicken stick' or 'chicken finger' ... or very quick hands!! 12 volt batteries of around 7 amp hour rating can be bought at most model shops, and at most of the shows, for a few pounds. The really cheap batteries are usually recycled from alarm system backup units but, generally, still have sufficient power for model use.

You will very quickly see the merits of some form of vehicle to transport your equipment from the car to the field. Many members use small trolleys, so you may like to design something yourself. You will also need a flight box to hold your fuel, battery, starter and all the other items we deem necessary for a day's flying. The wheeled type of plastic tool box from the local DIY stores seem to be quite popular nowadays. Be warned though, the box will always look much bigger in the store than it does when you've filled it with items for a day's flying!

That's about it for the basics. Now go flying, you will pick up other things as you go along.