Flight line this morning. The big Beaver on the right didn't fly today, there's still work to do on the power system. The Cub lying on its back is waiting for the glue on the landing gear to dry!

No matter how hot a pilot you think you are, this plane does not fly in 40kph winds, especially not when it's gusting.

I was climbing against the wind and all was going relatively well, though there was a lot of wing flutter and I needed to control the rate of climb. Disaster struck when I turned with the wind -- there was a sudden powerful gust behind the plane and the effective air speed of the airfoil fell to zero. The model immediately stalled and fell out of the sky. I tried to get some speed by diving (I was high enough), but the G forces from the pullout, combined with the wind, bent the wings back so much that it didn't work. The aircraft impacted nose-first into soft earth, destroying the fuselage but leaving the wings and tails pretty much intact. Luckily for me, I was carrying the dummy payload and not the camera, and the forward fuse acted as a crumple zone that saved the electronics.

Will make a new fuselage this week and the plane should fly again next weekend. As long as there is little or no wind, of course...

Aeromodeling is a hobby for those that like to fiddle with stuff. I just got 12% more Watts out of a motor simply by eliminating a vibration in the power train. Turns out the prop wasn't seated 100% flat on the prop saver. Doh!

I took the Mini-Beaver to the construction site down the street. Pretty heavy gusts of wind, the plane was very hard to control, but hey, first flight of 2013!

I took down my STOL E-Starter for the pre-season inspection and I figured out why I almost lost the plane during the maiden flight. Look at the picture below -- that 3S battery is sitting in the correct position for the CG. I flew with a 2S battery located behind the landing gear!

I will need to figure out a new two-piece cowl and a battery holder. While I'm at it, I'll replace the ad-hoc foam wheels with better ones. Should help with drag!

Hmm... First soldering attempt with the new station. It works, but it's no easier than with an iron. I can't seem to tin the tip properly, the molten solder just hangs there in a bubble. Too hot? Oxydized tip?

Big octocopter taking aerial pictures at the construction sites on the way to the dog park. Possibly ND Heli team?

UPDATE: Confirmed, it was ND Heli.

Though you might like to see this. I'm assembling the kit for a clubmate (he will cover and paint it).

Only the forward section is glued, the rest is just dry-fitted to check for accuracy while the front dries. Liberal use of the T-square to make sure that everything is straight. Nicely laser-cut kit. The lightening holes are mine, though (saved 1.2oz). That's the weight of the servos, not bad!

The tail outline is ready, I'm keeping it on the foam pattern for protection. I'm going to sand and frame it up once the fuselage is out of the way.

Went to couple of hardware stores and they don't have 3.75" O-rings in stock. Will have to check plumbing supplies places or find an alternate way of doing the wheels.

I started a build log for "Lucky 13" (my thirteenth plane, of course). Take a look here.

Not a lot of updating recently because I got started on two new planes: “Lucky 13,” an aerobatic plane for me, and a 1/8 WWI Albatross DII for a clubmate. Balsa and plywood dust everywhere…

Neither cold, wind or rain will stop us, for we are beasts. Flying beasts!

Had to stop midway through this morning's session because of rain, but when we went back we had four planes in the air at one point. Hopefully the videos will turn out nice!

UPDATE: Not much to see on the videos, alas. Planes are too far, and there's not enough light for the cheap camera. I hoped for better results from the one mounted on Bob's plane, but he flew it like a mosquito on speed. Attached images are all I could salvage of the video of our formation flying.

Here's a "work in progress" pic of my latest flyer. Not bad for 3h of work, design phase included. 10oz AUW, it's to use a pair of small 2S batteries that I never know what to do with... and to practice landings without damaging my nicer planes.

Hopefully next weekend will be nice!

UPDATE: Plane is completed, or at least enough for test flights. If it's a keeper, I'll tidy up the wiring and add more markings to it.

UPDATE 2: Whaddya know, it flies! Needs either some downthrust or a bit of down trim, and I need to change the prop, but otherwise it's a nice flyer. I can finally use those spare 2S batteries!

Nice flying this afternoon -- there was a lull between the rain and the other rain, where it was like summer again. [sigh]

Not too costly. Only busted a ball link on my helicopter and potentially lost a battery to low voltage (forgot the timer). Better than the guy who lawn-darted his ParkZone Spitfire...

My Earthstriker foamie got into a dogfight with an Edge 540 running on 4S. I lost.

(Both planes are fine. My pride is just slightly scratched.)

Back from the field, second trip of the weekend. Almost lost my modified E-Starter on its maiden flight, hopefully the video replay will tell us what went wrong. For sure, I didn't have enough power -- going to have to go to a 3-cell battery. But hey, any landing that you walk away from with only a cracked cowling is a good one, right?

UPDATE: Just watched the video -- you don't see much, especially the landing, but what a save! Definitely need more power. Will hog out the bay for a 3S battery.

Back from the field -- windy as all heck, still sent my Delta skyward! Had a great time, brought the plane home safely.

Another pilot was with me, he was flying a T-Rex 450 helicopter modified for 6S batteries (22.2 Volts!). Doing aerobatics in the wind, that was especially impressive...

The unfair thing is, during the week (when I'm at work), there's no wind whatsoever. It only gets windy during the weekends.

Went flying all morning. High winds with gusts, raw adrenalin! Unlike some*, my "planks" don't have gyros to help...

Got everything safely back home. In fact, only stopped because Tx battery was low!

*My rotorhead friends -- all flying flybarless and highly computerized.

Picture from less than 3 seconds after maiden launch of my new Funbat. Camera is attached my - the pilot's - head. The checkerboard pattern is on the underside of the plane(!). My spotter dove to the ground and I managed to pull the plane vertical.

Landed safely, but I cut elevator motion by 75% after that...

Orbiter Recon 3rd Flight - Sep. 2, 2012 (4 min 49 sec)

Sep 2, 2012 - "Orbiter Recon" Maiden (2 min 44 sec)

Maiden flight of my eleventh plane, the Orbiter Recon. Adapted from a design called the Simple Twin-Boom Pusher, this 15 oz AUW, 50" WS model has extended wings, spoilers, a V-Tail, and carries two video cameras, one in the nose and one on the left side looking slightly down.