I am working on an update for my blog, will have have a few flying things in it, but mostly what I have been through the last 18 months or so.

Conehead
Orrin Eldred
Northern Michigan

Each year the TRAMPS, Traverse Area Model Pilots Society, have an air show. Some years are better than others, but the weather for today was outstanding. We got a Southwest wind, 5-15 mph, clear skies, some clouds here and there, rain was forecast for late afternoon, which didn't happen. There were about 55 or there about pilots, all kinds of models. Turbines, gas, electric, twins, electric, some West Michigan Park Fliers were there. All sorts of airframes.

We were treated to an awesome show by Jase, "The Ace" Dussia, who just won the 2014 EFC. Jase and his Dad John put on a nice show. Jase flew quite well and what a treat to see him fly in person.

We were also treated to Tim Jesky, our District VP and he was talking about the current problems with the FAA and latest mess they have created.

I didn't even get an airplane out of the car. I ended up spotting for different people, took a few photos, got made fun of by many people, but I got big shoulders and so I treat it as a badge of honor.

I arrived home exhausted. It was hot, 80 degrees plus, and I am not going to complain one bit. After almost a month of below 20 degree temps this winter, 20 feet of snow, warm weather is WONDERFUL.

People always bring dogs to airshows. I am a dog lover, one of the neat dogs there was a Basset Hound that was so neat. She hopped up into a chair and was fast asleep. I also got to meet Ben's new dog which is a young puppy. He put it in the camper with the AC on and...Continue Reading

Well I finally had to do it. The weather here in Northern Michigan turned a bit nice. Mid 20's, nil wind, no snow falling, so I just had to fly.

I got the battery, plane, transmitter, hat, coat, gloves and off I went.

I walked out onto the lake, almost knee deep snow with about an inch of water under the snow, on top of the ice, which is about 10 inches thick. So this old fat man won't fall through. I didn't walk out much beyond waist deep water anyway, you know, Murphy's Law.

So I got ready, my bride of 40 years, yes I know, why one woman would live with me for 40 years is hard to believe. Susan shot the photos. She is very good.

So I tossed my Calypso into the air, some up trim and away I went. There were NO thermals today. So I got her maidened.

some photos to enjoy look at.

Thanks for looking.
Conehead
Orrin...Continue Reading

This will be the last of the photos of The TC-250 snowmobile race this past weekend.

You can only upload 150 photos per post, so I have to go back and edit the first part.

So this will be the last set of photos from the race.

Conehead
Orrin Eldred

Thanks for looking....Continue Reading

I can only add 150 photos at a time, so I have to make more than one entry

Sorry. so Read part 1 then Part 2 and then 3.

Conehead
Orrin...Continue Reading

There are many disadvantages to living Up North in Michigan. One is the amount of snow and the other is the cold. Flying outdoors is not much fun unless you are part Saquach.

The TC-250 happens at the Interlochen Eagles just a tad west of Interlochen Michigan. There is money involved in the prize money.

So some of us turn our attention to other things. I have access to fly indoors in a very small gym in Frankfort Michigan. We get a couple hours every Wednesday night when school is in session. Now and then they do close the schools up here, only because the roads and the possibility of an accident and the law suit culture of today forces the school district to do so.

One of the things I get to do is watch snowmobile races. We have a couple of people who build tracks to race old snowmobiles, single cylinder ones, many are modified some to produce more horsepower, but the tracks are small and the speeds are far more than what I would like to do.

I will post photos tomorrow here of the latest race.

We have the TC-250 here in January and the race was this past weekend. We had a number of classes. Kitty Kat sleds, very small sleds, kids are not very old. There is a 120 class, a Jr class and then the regular sleds.

This year we had the first woman race in this long race.Katie did a great job of racing with the big boys. She ran a very respectable race for her first time out.

I will post the photos tomorrow, since they are all on my wife's computer. There were...Continue Reading

I joined this forum in 2005. I had just started flying RC about a year before, I was flying a Nexstar. Being an old person, some reflexes were not great, but most of my losses were due to just trying to do things that I saw other RC fliers do, yet my skill level was not up to what I was trying to do.

I read lots of different posts, some on batteries, the new Lipo ones, some about building, others on reviews of airplanes. I have spend many hours reading lots of different forums and what I discovered was I enjoyed the photos of the builds, photos of the events and reports on different events.

I ended up volunteering to work at what is now called the Horizon Indoor Event, which was a lot of work and now has become a fun task. I get to see the dome before and after the event. Watching the Dome come together for a 3 day event and then see it all go away, reminds me what what happens on the lake I live on. Platte Lake, here in Honor Michigan, in the fall everything come out of the lake. Docks, hoists, boats, nothing is left in. Then during the winter when the ice get hard enough, we get fishermen, a few snowmobilers and I get a chance to fly on the ice. I use floats, since they land on the snow, which is on top of the ice very nicely.

Then in the spring, the ice melts, much the same way the tables and chairs are set up inside the Dome. Then boats, docks, people appear, enjoy the lake, which lasts longer than the 3 day event, then fall comes, with color and then we return...Continue Reading

Each year, one of the fellows who are in the BARC's club has family visit and his grand kids love to shoot rockets off. So the word goes out on the net, come one, come all to fly and watch. So after a couple of aborted attempts, Friday night, 16 August 2013 was the night. Weather was supposed to be warm, mid 70's, light wind, less than 10 mph. The time for the event was between 5 to 5:30 PM and when I got to the airport, there were a number of cars.

David was getting one plane ready, problem was he broke all his O rings for the prop saver, so that plane was put away. Then he got out his Apprentace and flew it. In the meantime more people arrived. I got out my Trojan and got it ready. It had not been in the air in weeks. The other fellow, Bob, whose grandkids were coming got out his Trojan and we tried to fly formation. Well that was not going well. My plane was way out of trim, why, I don't know, but it was. We had other pilots who arrived and they put their planes in the air. We all got a couple flights in before we could see the rocket launches.

Finally after a long time of flying, arm chair flying, a few long tales about flying, all of sudden we were ready to witness rocket launches.

The first attempt, the engine didn't work. Back to the repair shop. Old engine out, new engine in the rocket and we were ready. The count down was uneventful, we waited and all of a sudden off it went. Up and away. I think it hit about 500 feet up and then boom. The chute came out...Continue Reading

I flew the Sea Monkey in the winter, not a fun thing to do. Cold, had some wind, wasn't the best time to fly it.

The other night we had a float fly at Fred's house on Crystal Lake. I flew it there, then when I got home I wanted to fly it off of Platte Lake for the first time. So I got my in-house photographer and I headed to the float fly dock.

You will see the Sea Monkey in Flight. My bride got some great photos. She culled these out of the 130 or so she shot.

The red lights stand out more than the green lights. The blue lights on the inside of the fuse don't stand out much. I guess if I had them on 3 cells it would be brighter, but this plane flies on 2 cells, 800 Mah battery. It is not a speed demon, so for me, a nice slow flier and it putts around great. I like to fly low, slow and close, which this allows.

Enjoy the photos.

Conehead
Orrin Eldred

Thanks for looking also. Just 3 channels and a neat plane....Continue Reading

Well I got home just in time for the start of the NCAA game Louisville. I was so tired and hurt so bad, no amount of drugs seemed to help.

I must confess that I know Terry Nitsch and I just love the way he finishes an airplane. His Saber Dance was really neat. Awesome in my mind. There were other very nice jets and I believe just about any of them would win best Jet.

There were many sailplanes this year. In years past there were a few, but to me this year, there seemed to be many more than in years past. Some were huge and a couple of really neat small gliders. Lots of neat stuff, some great deals, I didn't get anything special. I made a whirlwind trip, which meant many hours on the road. I got there early to get a free parking place, then got in and sat down.

Seemed to me to be many people in early and then it seemed to quiet down after noon.

Here are the pictures that I shot. I did shoot a few on the way home on the road, showing the snow still up north, yet it is going faster now, since it rained all night last night. Ice on the lake is melting and float flying will begin in a few days, as soon as the ice goes off the lake.

thanks for looking.
Conehead
Orrin...Continue Reading

I am going to Toledo this year for one day. I plan to leave Northern Michigan and drive down, go to the show, do a bit of shopping and see a couple of vendors for items I need.

I am taking some chocolate covered cherries to JoAnne Brown and a few to Dave Mathewson. They love them so much, so I try to keep them happy with a treat from Northern Michigan.

I am also going to pick up an airplane and come back home. This will be a whirlwind trip. I plane to leave here and drive till I get sleepy, pull in some rest stop or parking lot, sleep and then journey on to Toledo. I was going to go on Friday, but things got changed to Saturday. I will miss a couple of people. Dave, edge_pilot, Azarr and maybe some others that I know and have met at the JR Indoor.

I will take my camera and post some photos here in my blog so that people can see what I look at.

I hope to see Tom from TnT Landing gear, I don't have any planes that need his landing gear, but Tom started the ETOC which I believe has become the premier indoor electric event in the USA. From my prespective, it started out as a bunch of guys getting together to fly and see who would be the winner, the event has become much, much more and the best pilots in the world will be there to compete and win. I wish I could stay there and watch, but finances keep me from doing that.

So I am going to Toledo, first time in about 2 or 3 years. There are planes I want to look at, transmitters I want to hold and I need a couple of batteries, which will make it easier to get there than to ship.

I will update this after I return, probably on Monday, since it is 5 hours each way, time at the show and then the trip back will make for a very long day, closer to a day and a half the way I figure.

So Toledo here I come.
Conehead
Orrin Eldred

I have been surfing the web and looked at all the new planes coming out for all the manufactures.

The area that has caught my eye the most is the "copters". Tri, Quad, Penta, and all the different copters that are now coming to market. It seems to me this is the next big or it has become the next big thing.

I read Sleepy's blog or the pod cast and he has started to collect quad copters. More and more people are trying them out and being successful. To me this has great posibilities.

Since I know nothing about them, I am in awe of those who are flying them and know a whole bunch about the. I have seen many different videos and what they can do with them are impressive.

So it looks like, at least to me, another great opening for the sport of RC flying and to see this happening is amazing. Technology has really made this hobby a ton of fun.
Conehead
Orrin Eldred

I just spent over an hour getting my floats for my Carbon Cub assembled. The screw heads didn't hold up, so I used other screws. They are fine now. Getting those little wires into the holders and get the screws to hold those tiny wires.

I wanted to fly my Carbon Cub on the new fallen snow. We are under a Blizzard Watch, so we can get anywhere from 5 inches to 12 inches of snow by tomorrow night. I got the snowblower ready, my sled is unloaded so I can go for a ride. I rode it tonight, 45 to 50 mph at night with needle snow. I was on the lake, it is now frozen hard enough to hold the sled and me. I don't venture out very far onto the ice. I am always close to shore where if something happens, I can stand up.

So after I get the snow blowed tomorrow, I will bind the Carbon Cub and install the floats and see what happens.

The snow is the light fluffy kind, which will be great to fly off of. So we shall see.

This will be the maiden flight for the Cub.

Thanks for listening to my rant.
Conehead
Orrin Eldred

Here are some photos of my weathervane. We have been having lots of lake effect snow and the other night, we didn't have much wind, so this is the result of our latest snowfall.

Hope you enjoy these.

Also a few shots of my street after the snow storm. We are supposed to get more lake effect snow. We need the snow, I just am tired of this snow, day in and day out.

Conehead
Orrin Eldred

Thanks for looking.

After 3 trips to different airports where I fly, two trips to Thompsonville, one to Empire, I got a chance to fly my new Sea Monkey today. My bride had to take the oldest dog to the vet and get her rabies shot, probably her last one ever and when she returned, there was no wind. We loaded dogs and my airplane and transmitter case and off we went.

We got to Thompsonville Airport and I flew it off the tarmack. It was covered with some ice and snow and only one small area was clear. That is where I parked and where my bride stood to take these shots. I didn't know how it would fly, I hit the throttle, up it went, about 4-6 feet on the ground, up it flew. I flew it around, needed some right rudder, about 1 or 2 clicks of up trim and it was fine.

What you see in the background is Crystal Mountain, they were making snow, since we have had such a mild winter and their snow was melting last week.

It was about 22-24 degrees, hardly any wind and bright a heck. Sun was out, it was cold.
Again, Thanks for looking.
Conehead
Orrin...Continue Reading

I finished up the Sea Monkey today. It was not as easy as I thought it would be. Pulling the wires through a small space was not the easiest, but I got it done. I glued the servos in, made the push rods, bound the rec and got the motor turning the right way. So it is all good.

Thanks to Lazertoyz for the lights, I bought them, I just like Diane and Dan Greathouse and they are very great people to work with. Emails, phone calls are always answered and they helped me a lot. Thanks Diane and Dan.

I am posting some photos of what I did. I made a hatch and used magnets to hold it on the fuse. I had some magnets from an airframe that went to Airplane Heaven, so I thought I would use them. I wasn't sure how to make the hatch work other ways, so I did it this way, hoping it will work. It is too windy for a maiden flight, so that will be in a few days when we have calm winds. No propurious voyage, since the lake has some ice on it and it is not safe.

Thanks for viewing.
Conehead
Orrin...Continue Reading

When I went to the JR Indoor, Thayer was there. He had a very nice float plane for indoor flying and I am sure it could be a good outdoor plane also, but it will require calm wind. Really little to no wind would be great.

I flew it around a few times and the Sea Monkey is an easy flier.

So I got a kit from Thayer and have been building it. I got most of it assembled now. I plan to put some strip lights on it and then it will ready to go.

I am enclosing some photos of it. It is a rather simple kit, at least it seems like it is simple.

I always liked checker board paint schemes, so I thought I would try one. I wrote to Azarr and asked him, he said he uses tape, although you could cut a mask. I said, I wanted to do it the easy way, didn't think I could cut a mask worth a darn.

I have never airbrushed anything, but I bought one this summer, I got it all hooked up and the Elevator and one side of the rudder, the paint ran under the tape. I thinned the paint too much. It will be fine from 50 feet away. The other side of the rudder, I used the paint straight, no thinning. It worked very good.

I then painted the left wing tip red. That paint was just right. It came out pretty nice for a first timer using an airbrush. The right wing tip, the green was a bit thinner and it ran some, not as much as the blue did.

So I am learning to airbrush, maybe after a hundred gallons of paint I will get a lot better. Right now, I suck at airbrushing. Now that I see what the...Continue Reading

I got this from a friend on FB. I don't usually watch videos, but this time I did. I was very moved, why, I cannot tell you. Maybe because my Grandson is overseas in the Army in Afganstan, maybe it is because of all the fellows I worked with in the can factory who were WW II veterans, some of the others were in Korea and 'Nam and they came back. For the life of me, I don't know why I was so moved.

All I can say is this. Being the pilot of an Angel Flight is an honor, much like being one of The Old Guard who guards the Tomb of the unknowns.

These men and woman who serve are heroes many times over. God Bless them All.
Conehead
Orrin Eldred

Angel Flight (Radio Tower Remix) - w/ Lyrics (4 min 8 sec)

I don't ask to fly other people's airplanes usually. I have on one or two occasions over the years, but I just don't do that. At the JR Indoor Event I was watching Joe Malinchak fly his Night Vapor with Durabatic foam floats that he built for it. They weight almost nothing. He said, Here, fly it,!! I was flabergasted. Joe wants me to fly his plane. I have a Night Vapor and so I know the airframe. Joe tossed it into the air, I flew across the lake and turned to make an approach to land on the water. I landed, throttled up and away we went. I did that about 5 or 6 times and then landed it on the ground in front of Joe. I was thrilled beyond belief. Joe let me fly one of his planes.

Then Joe said, wait, you got to fly my Folker. So over we went, he got this little plane, a work of art in my mind, off we went to the micro area. He made sure it would fly and then he handed me the transmitter and I throttled up, he tossed it and off it went. I was flying the smallest airplane I have ever flown, the lightest, and most delicate plane ever. Joe has created a work of art. I flew it around about 10 times, then back towards us, Joe held out his hand, I came in pretty close and cut the throttle, Joe caught it.

What a thrill. I am now an RC pilot. Joe let me fly one of his creations. You have to remember, Joe builds the smallest, lightest aircraft ever. He flew a 10 gram A-10 Warthog this year. Amazing.

So thank you Joe. You have given me a thrill in RC that is beyond belief. What a great guy you are.

Conehead
Orrin Eldred

I started going to the JR Indoor Event, I believe back in 2006 or there about. I was very worried about flying in the dome the first year. I was all over the place, I had fun, but wondered if I would ever learn to fly inside. I drove up from Cincinnati Ohio after the event to fly there on Saturday nights, I learned a lot then and the next year I was very comfortable in the Dome. I picked out places to fly outside that were close to the dome size and forced myself to fly inside those areas. Made a world of difference then.

This year was the Best Ever year for the JR Indoor Festival. We had air races again. The first year was the P-51 Mustang. I knew I couldn't fly one of those, so I didn't race, Next year was the T-28. I had one of those, so I raced, didn't win, but in the raffle for the planes I won one. Last year was the Polecat, I raced, I was terrible. I landed early didn't hurt the plane, but the other pilots destroyed them by the end of the race event. This year we went back to T-28, I raced, the event was fun, I didn't make it out of the first round. My friends said when I turned in my plane asked if I understood the rules of pylon racing. They stated to me I was supposed to fly around the pylons, not try to do 3 D with the T-28 between the pylons. One fellow said I got one lap in, the other pilots got 6 laps in and I had the most air time, although it was between the roof of the dome and almost the floor of the dome, but not around the pylons. My flying was the...Continue Reading