Flying-Hobby Lucky Draw @ FACEBOOK Blog Facebook @ FLYING-HOBBY
ThermalThief's blog
24 Attachment(s) Rehab Treed Aspire
Build Log / Posted by ThermalThief / Jan 24, 2013 @ 10:48 PM / 1,305 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Just a few shots of my progress.
Sorry but it's not great detail on the processes used....Continue Reading
1 Attachment(s) TD Planes for this season
Yippee! / Posted by ThermalThief / Mar 24, 2012 @ 09:07 PM / 1,362 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Picked up a couple used models this past winter and gave them a little cosmetic attention. They are now ready to fly if the rain and snow would stop long enough for the field would dry up a bit.
1 Attachment(s) My CNC Router is up and running
Yippee! / Posted by ThermalThief / Dec 05, 2010 @ 02:00 AM / 2,538 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
I started this project last fall. I will use this table mostly for fuse molds and DLG wings. I have a 19"x33" cutting area.
This is my second CNC project. The first was a 4-axis hotwire cutter I completed a few years back. They both run off Mach3.
I still need to order some wire chain to get all those wires under control.

CNC.MOV (0 min 54 sec)
2 Attachment(s) New Supra with Disser
Cool / Posted by ThermalThief / Nov 02, 2010 @ 08:54 PM / 3,159 Views / 3 Comments / Reply
I have started on Supra #2.
Here is the new center section...I'm addicted to yellow and red.

RDS is a fit test after cutting the first pocket. Bass wood blocks were drilled and tapped before gluing in place then bagging.

Ken
1 Attachment(s) In the Zone
Gallery / Posted by ThermalThief / Jun 14, 2010 @ 02:53 PM / 2,892 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Phil Pearson snapped this great picture of my Zone overhead last weekend.
2 Attachment(s) Home Build Supra is Done!
Discussion / Posted by ThermalThief / Apr 04, 2010 @ 02:42 PM / 3,329 Views / 3 Comments / Reply
Hope to maiden it in the next couple weeks

51oz

Tools explained:
Discussion / Posted by ThermalThief / Feb 09, 2010 @ 12:42 PM / 3,574 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
DRILL PRESS:

A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar
stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings
your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which
you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.



WIRE WHEEL:

Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the
workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard
earned callouses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say,
"Oh, s---!"



PLIERS:

Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of
blood-blisters.



BELT SANDER:

An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up
jobs into major refinishing jobs.



HACKSAW:

One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle...
It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion,
and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal
your future becomes.



OXY- ACETYLENE TORCH:
Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your
shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out
of which you want to remove a bearing race..



VISE-GRIPS:

Generally used after pliers to completely round off...Continue Reading
1 Attachment(s) Just waiting for my delivery
Gallery / Posted by ThermalThief / Dec 29, 2008 @ 03:02 PM / 3,812 Views / 1 Comments / Reply
Can you relate?

Man I'm tired of the white stuff
3 Attachment(s) update pics on Supra build
Gallery / Posted by ThermalThief / Aug 14, 2008 @ 08:57 PM / 4,701 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Progress slow but steady
2 Attachment(s) Couple of pics from our last contest
Gallery / Posted by ThermalThief / Jul 23, 2008 @ 12:31 AM / 4,556 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Pictures from Northwest Soaring Society Contest in Spokane.

More here http://rc.meetup.com/63/photos/
1 Attachment(s) Start to something...
Discussion / Posted by ThermalThief / Apr 29, 2008 @ 10:41 PM / 5,121 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Slow progressing but finished a couple Supra tips and two tail sets so far.
4 Attachment(s) Latest Effort
Gallery / Posted by ThermalThief / Mar 09, 2008 @ 02:20 PM / 4,999 Views / 1 Comments / Reply
Now I have done it!

XPS 2.4ghz is loaded and ready to test.

I removed the receiver from case and have the vertical antenna exiting the pod.

Model is SGII plan form with Tabooish tails.
6 Attachment(s) Hand Launch Blue Lake (Portland) July 2006
Discussion / Posted by ThermalThief / Mar 06, 2007 @ 01:12 AM / 6,174 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Here are some great shot from last season taken my a fellow NWSS pilot dougalert and his wife. Makes me want to go fly.
9 Attachment(s) SuperGee wing on Raptr pod!
Discussion / Posted by ThermalThief / Feb 28, 2007 @ 12:22 AM / 7,632 Views / 5 Comments / Reply
Well weather has been really bad so lots of time for building. This is the latest project.
It is a SuperGeeII wing with a carbon rod spar system kevlar leading edge under 2 layers of .72 glass. Wing weights is 57g & 58g. I will be trying a single layer of 1.6 glass on the second set. Pics so the leading edge after the first rough sand. When I complete the finish work I'll post another pic. I am going with an external controls on the aileron on the first wing. RDS on the second.
Pod and boom is the infamous Raptr setup. Both pods I ordered came in at 26g. I removed the top of the clamshell nose and cleaned out the resin dropped into the nose and got the pod back down to 22g. It finished at 24g (40g with boom) after I reassembled with resin and filler in the nose. I decided to push the boom through the bulkhead which served the raise the front of the boom to get the correct angles for the wing cradle to the boom. The pod failures happen just ahead of the leading edge of the wing. I think this is a vunerable area due to the lever action created on launch with the heavy battery pushed all the way to the front of the pod. To additionally stiffen the pod I cut the top clamshell from the wing forward about 1.75" and glued it together with the bottom. By gluing the top clamshell I move the area being leveraged by the battery forward to a safer spot.
It's a work in progress and thoughts are welcomed.
3 Attachment(s) New Stab Mount For The Chinsee
Discussion / Posted by ThermalThief / Jan 29, 2007 @ 09:03 PM / 6,979 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Here is our newly designed stab mount. Slide on the boom and CA in place. Easy as pie

If you haven't seen 'em fly click....

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...48#post5971227

Not the best vid quality but makes me want to go fly!
5 Attachment(s) Chinsee Repairs
Discussion / Posted by ThermalThief / Nov 20, 2006 @ 01:19 AM / 7,077 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Pics of my well used Chinsee. This is after a year of flying and is the same plane as shown in my vids. We have continued to make upgrades this year. We have increased the area of the rudder, changed the layup for the wings and settled on the sul boom instead of the sul skinny. The wings come in at about 52g with the peg and are laid up with .007 carbon spar caps, 1.19 balanced glass with an additional layer of lighter glass in the d-box area. This has increased our launch heights into the 120-130 range. We also have been flying both dihedral and poly versions with good success.
3 Attachment(s) Ripmax Alliance
Discussion / Posted by ThermalThief / Oct 10, 2006 @ 10:34 PM / 7,707 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Finally took it out of the box. All up 16oz with 3s 700mah, Axi 2212/34 and thunderbird controller turning a APC 11x5. May be too light...original instructions stated auw 22-28oz. I guess we'll see.
3 Attachment(s) Chinsee flight videos
Discussion / Posted by ThermalThief / Aug 26, 2006 @ 10:00 PM / 7,732 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Fun day of flying today. We had 3 different pilots flying chinsee's. One of the pilots has had 2 weekends of experience flying RC. The Chinsee is a great plane for beginners and more experienced pilots. We fly all up last down mini contest every time we are out and have a blast.

I posted a couple of videos in the gallery....

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...48#post5971227

launch high

Ken
1 Attachment(s) Chinsee 40" DLG Launches
Discussion / Posted by ThermalThief / Jun 25, 2006 @ 11:32 PM / 7,701 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
June 25th. Nice conditions 90degrees and light wind. Focus of data was launch height only. Launch pre-sets would have helped. All launches had a left roll reducing total height. Flight weight was 128 grams.

Launch High

Ken
3 Attachment(s) New Maple Leaf Encore
Discussion / Posted by ThermalThief / May 29, 2006 @ 12:33 AM / 8,688 Views / 0 Comments / Reply
Well worth the wait....
Castle Creations      DRIVE / FLY / SUPPORT