Looks like we all just missed each other. We'll need to wear bright red shirts next time!


Joe

went down to the Tuscon Aerobatic Shootout today. Pattern flying...boring But the freestyle competition was awesome. 4 minute routines to music for each contestant. I filmed the whole competition which was about an hour. I'm dumping it into the computer, need to see about hosting it somewhere once I figure out what size the video will be.

Bill, it was indeed an awesome event. I copied my hours worth of video to my hard drive twice. One file is 11 gigs (non-encoded)and the dvd file was only around 4 gigs. I'm just about out of space so I can't really upload any of the video. I did make a 4 minute one of a few favorite parts though. Good luck with yours and let us know when you get it uploaded. I'd love to see it from a different angle.

The heli demo (Chip?) before the freestyle event was most impressive! How the heck do they pull that stuff off without augering in?

Dave,how about "Chip" doing the walk around? Awesome!!



Sorry for the crappy photo's but there only screen shots.. Wont be at the bowl today. JR'S a bit under the weather. Sounds a little like what Dan and Dan got..

Have fun

Kenny..

11 gigs. Holy cow! I filmed about 40 minutes worth. I think I'll just hook my camera to the TV and watch it. No transfer to hard drive for me.

Watching those guys fly just made me feel even more inferior. I tried to do rolling circles for over an hour on Real Flight last night and never got close. Those guys are so good they make everything look easy.

It looks like I'm not gonna make it today either. I woke up with a huge kink in my back. I need to stay out of the sun for a while anyway. My forehead and the tips of my ears got burned pretty bad yesterday. (I knew I should have waited to get my hair cut)


Joe

Nice pics Kenny...where's the video?!

Looks like we're setting a record for none of us showing at the CB today. whoa...

Drivie

Kenny:

**Dave,how about "Chip" doing the walk around? Awesome!!**

My jaw hit the dirt during that stunt! I was also amazed at the inverted landing approaches with a quick, complete roll at the last minute! Every time they did that I thought "this one's gonna crash for sure." Naw, not a chance!

Joe:

Yeah, watching those guys fly is humbling to say the least! Luckily, I still suck at flying enough to just laugh and think "perhaps someday...."

daveWCO

Well, I'm pretty pissed at whoever got me sick. Looks like I really missed a show There's always next year, though. I think I will have to find something else to go to before then, though! Glad you guys enjoyed it! PS, if you want to see more of that kind of flying, there is a field out in the middle of the desert I know of, where people pretty much only fly 35-40%ers and jets. In fact, most of the pilots you saw practice there when they come in for events like this, I'm sure they were out there during the week. Kind of a weird place to drive into, a lot of places to get lost and signs that threaten trespassers, but apparently the guy who owns it flies himself. Kind of a best kept secret airfield. I don't remember how to get there, but my dad might.

Sounds like I didn't miss a whole lot at the CB yesterday. Didn't have anything to fly, still, since I haven't really had the motivation to stand up . I'm sure I can finish that Edge before next Sunday, though.

Kenny- that looks amazing! I wouldn't be worried about the weight, and it looks real strong now. Remember, my Tribute weighed +17.5 ounces with the Kans (since my scale only goes up to 17.5 ounces) and it flew like a pussycat. These flat-platers only seem to fly at a higher AOA and hover at higher throttle with more weight. Also, I still have a TON of space left on my site (293.36 mb to be exact) and almost a clean slate as far as bandwidth goes, so I could help you out if you can show me how to set it up so you can upload stuff.

Joe- does your cam have an A/V kind of output? I may be able to stuff a little TV and VCR in the back of the car next Sunday and you could show us the highlights, if you don't mind? Gotta love that power inverter That thing is worth it's weight in gold!

Dave- Sounds amazing. Too bad we didn't get a chance to meet. I could have probably picked you out from the crowd from the pictures you sent of you and coyotes and snakes and birds, oh my! As for Chip's famous walkaround, I have a few videos of that on my screwy computer. I have tried that, and it is incredibly hard, especially against the plane's rotation! No idea how he keeps up with it, I think there are strings attached somewhere Those guys sicken me. I wonder how many hours of practice they do each week. I'm sure you just need to give a 3DX, Foamtana, Tribute, Trident, Ultimate Bipe, Tim's new Yak, or anything else like that , and you could do most of the stuff they did after a couple of hours of "fearless foamy flight"

Well, off to makeup homework...

Dan

Dude, where have you been? We've all been worried about you. Last we heard was a sky high temperature and then........nothing!
Don't scare us like that. We were all checking with each other last night to see if anyone had heard from you since there was no posting on the Zone or any e-mails. Don't do that again or you'll be grounded mister!


Joe

Welcome back, Dan. I hope you have the bug beaten back!

I FINALLY got to give my Dandy Sport a true maiden flight today. Besides a half dozen nasty looking flights (more like "fights") with my E-Start*r, this was my first "true" flight on an aileron/balsa plane.

Man, what a difference there is between foam and wood and ailerons v.s tail only control surfaces. Yeah, I know, I'm preaching to the choir!

She flew nice and smooth, responded instantly to input and cruised a looooooong time with the Etec 1200mah 3s (thanks again Kenny for picking that pack up for me).

The only problem I noted is that the plane "feels" heavy with the Etec pack. The landing was somewhat hard and the LG can't fully support the weight of the plane without sprawling and bending in various directions (she's 13.3oz AUW).

Do any of you have this problem with the Etec aboard, or is it just me?

Thanks!

daveWCO

Hmm...I had that problem when I was flying my Dandy on KAN950 8-cell packs but the E-tec 1200 packs made a world of difference. My DS is 12.2oz AUW with the E-tecs so yours might be a bit on the beefy side but it should still do okay. Mine also has the older thinner gear wire. If you have a new kit, you probably have thicker gear wire and thicker tail feathers so that could also account for the difference a bit. Make sure you don't have any wing warp!

Drivie

Hey, welcome to the pack, Dave. Having learned to only use rudder on the ground at first, I'm curious: which flight control do you like to use better? Which is easier? I don't have any tips with the Etec pack, but I know what it is like to have a heavy plane like that My dad's Live Wire flies OK, but it takes low altitude and 3/4 throttle. Kinda nasty for the side of the CB with trees, where we flew last time. He was sort of dissapointed, but it should do better once I get that $#%@!$ pinion on the Razor good.

Joe- actually, I would have gotten on here, but my dad didn't want to catch whatever this is, since the good internet computer is in his room. That is why I told you I wouldn't be getting on for a while in that email. Thanks for the concern, though! Hehe,

Dan

Originally posted by daveWCO

The only problem I noted is that the plane "feels" heavy with the Etec pack. The landing was somewhat hard and the LG can't fully support the weight of the plane without sprawling and bending in various directions (she's 13.3oz AUW).

Do any of you have this problem with the Etec aboard, or is it just me?

Thanks!

daveWCO

Dave, I assume you mean it "feels" heavy in the air. Try moving the CG back a bit. When it's right it "feels" like a Slow Stick only better. You're 1.3 oz heavier than mine with 3x1200 E-Tech's and the Astro 010.

Joe

I know it's not up to Kenny's standards but this is my attempt at scratch building. What do you think? Is it Dandy sacrilege or does it look okay. I think it gives it a bit of Cessna flavor with the raked back "window". Everything is just taped together right now to check fit so it looks pretty ragged. It'll be easy to make it all look seamless when I'm done though. I thought about cutting out windows but decided windows made from covering would be a whole lot easier.


Joe

That looks pretty good. I like it! I definately agree with windows made from covering rather than cut out of the balsa. The only advantage to that would be to use them as lightening holes but that add-on couldn't be too much of a penalty...

Drivie

Wow, Joe, that is taped together? The must have been some precision cutting! I like that sloped rear window look a lot. Ya done good! Just curious, do you guys order your balsa? I have heard that some of them have better balsa than the balsa in most hobby shops, but that kind of defeats the advantage of scratch building .

Keep it up!

Dan

Dan,

I just built the cabin area. The rest of the fuse is pure Mountain Models. Every piece of wood in every MM kit I've built has been much better than anything I've bought in a store with the exception of some Sig contest balsa and it's not THAT much better. By the way the whole add-on area with doublers comes out to 8 grams.


Joe