Originally Posted by granada don

Hi DW

If you can get to Cal. you really need to see Yosemite, when down on the valley floor the tall rocks that make up the park are amazing with all the water falls in the spring.

Go before summer as it gets hot like 95-100 in the valley and no wind to cool you off , so it is a bit cool at nite but spring is better plus the water falls are cooking from the snow melt.

This park is Mother Nature's best work with Yellowstone next on your list to see on your way home.

You could start by going to Monterey Bay then Big Sur to see the Redwood's then drive across the state and Yosemite then Old Faithfull etc.

Take 2 wks and you would have one hell of a neat trip, enjoy the beauty!!

G Don

G Don,

I agree. If you have never been to Yosemite,you have to go. My wife and I go there at least once a year for lunch. It's about a 2 hour drive from my house to the Valley floor. We went last year in the spring after all the rain and snow we had. Water falls everywhere. And there are all kinds of places to fly fish if you fly fish.

Sequoia National Park is nice also. Giant Redwoods and more fly fishing places. It's only an hour away.

Yellowstone is a MUST. And did I mention fly fishing. And if you go to Yellowstone,you have to go to the Teton's. There's something very spiritual there. At least for me.

Maybe we shoud have a sailplane fun contest in Yellowstone. And when we're not flying,we can go fly fishing

Dang,it makes me want to pack up the car and head out.

Eddie

Hi Eddie

If any of those Parks don't move you, you had better put your hand on your heart and make sure it is still beating.

I always remember seeing the Grand Titans with 6 peaks 3 up and 3 down looking at the reflection across Jackson lake.

I still think Yosemite is # 1 for shear striking beauty, each nite in the 60's they would lite a big pile of logs on fire and push the glowing coals over the edge for the ' Fire fall ' what a site to see.

The other thing i remember is how hot it was and to cool off we would ride a inner tube down the Merced river in the valley floor, The trouble was you freezed your arse off as the river water was right off of the melting snow and man was it cold.

You guys could meet there for lunch, how cool would that be !!

G Don

I did it, my first attempt at posting videos to u tube.

See post #10 , 2 videos of Dick Robbins E Merlyn maiden

Ray
Sky Bench ... Woodys Forever
http://www.skybench.com

Good vids, Ray! The Merlyn is beautiful, what a huge plane! Is there a maiden reort somewhere? Looks like the plane was very fast and looked low behind the trees in the last second of the vid. Hope all is well with it.

Originally Posted by dwells

Good vids, Ray! The Merlyn is beautiful, what a huge plane! Is there a maiden reort somewhere? Looks like the plane was very fast and looked low behind the trees in the last second of the vid. Hope all is well with it.

Don,

I think if you view the flight video on full screen, you will see the Merlyn going skyward right to left like a rocket, it became invisible very quickly, the flying object going left to right below the tree line is a foamy electric belong to some kids on the far side of the flying field. Rich has his flight report on his Merlyn thread in the Electric pages. I am building my Merlyn for winch launching and have narrowed the fuse to lower the frontal drag. This was the first time I have seen a Merlyn fly since back in the 80's and my visual impression was the wings could be longer and the rudder taller/wider. Don Harris and I had some stick time on it and it controled fine, but I will probably do some kit bashing and extend each of the 4 wing panels by 2-3 bays and a small change to the rudder, might even lower the tip panels and add ailerons and flaps and go scare the unlimiteds. I have a build started on my web and will show changes, but the Merlyn performed very well as is.

It is fast under full power, I'll have to get the equipment list from Rich for my web. It was a super enjoyable day.

Ray
Sky Bench ... Woodys Forever
http://www.skybench.com

Here you go Don.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...435268&page=13

Ray
Sky Bench ... Woodys Forever
http://www.skybench.com

Thanks, Ray, I'll follow your lead on this build. I need a bigger glass wang table for sure .

Hi Ray,
Regarding Max Patch, what do you think about hand tossing a big TD plane there and sloping/catching thermals? Too crazy without a launch? The pictures looked pretty free of people but your description said lots of people on the trail or eating lunch so maybe that would be the deciding factor?
Skye

ps - I'm thinking of going to the mid South in Tullahoma, TN and a Max Patch detour option is forming in my head.

Ray, thanks for the videos. When I get back from vacation, I am looking forwards to some more flights. Let's see. Spoilers down for flight, up for land ing. Right?

Skye,

I'm going to try the Max yet this month or sometime starting in November. I'll hand toss. Check the Site Map pic on page 2 for slope face orientation and the trails.

The place was a bee hive, laying out a hi start would have been very dangerous to other visitors .

Let me know if you visit the Max Patch.

Ray
Sky Bench ... Woodys Forever
http://www.skybench.com

Originally Posted by rjrobbin

Ray, thanks for the videos. When I get back from vacation, I am looking forwards to some more flights. Let's see. Spoilers down for flight, up for land ing. Right?

If you pause the movie at the right moment during launch, a couple of yellow objects pop up on top of the wings.

Originally Posted by tom43004

Ray, we flew an impromptu DLG contest very near there last fall... beautiful country.

Glad to see you're still at it. Building kits and airplanes for others can be a thankless job and I freaked when I saw the alert too.

Be good.

Tom Siler
Columbus, OH

Tom,

Some times it can feel thankless to spend my time putting woody kits together, but not very often. I have a huge repeat customer base that understands what it takes on my part, occasionally, the first time order customer expects me to have his order on the shelf. I have approximately 30 kits on my web and have never been able to have any sitting on the shelf because I'm never out of orders. Back in the beginning days of hand launch, the only kit I made was the Lil Bird and I had two people making ARF's while I cut the kits, Easy work.

Thanks for your concern about me, I'm still kicking and miss competing in HL contests, that was my favorite way to fly. Enjoy.

Ray
Sky Bench ... Woodys Forever
http://www.skybench.com

Originally Posted by Wazmo

Thank you for all your hard work making these fantastic kits available. Enjoy your well-deserved break.

Dang right! I have a couple of your 'short kits' and you do fantastic work! American initiative ... you are showing it!

Maybe Obama should make you czar of manufacturing and small businesses as he knows nothing of the sweat and toil of running your own business...

Thank you, get better, then get back to work!!!

Gambler

This is Lars, member of the WMSS club, performing what he has done for many other flyers that have ventured too close to the trees surrounding the field on a windy day.

He is approximately 65 feet up the huge Oak tree and had to stretched to his limit to put two fingers on a wing tip and pull it down from a branch. Then some how was able to lower the plane on the end of a rope to safety basically unscathed.

I asked him what got him started doing this for his fellow flyers, he said he is a rock climber and enjoys doing it. I watched his moves in the top of the tree and was amazed at his abilities and confidence, he must be one hell of a rock climber. Back at his car, I thanked him again and offered money, but he refused. I was told Lars has never accepted anything from others he has helped. I felt like I was talking to a SUPER STAR. I was the second plane he retrieved from a tree this day. Many of us, including me, have climbed a tree to help get a buddies plane down, my latest effort was on LOFT field a couple years ago when Holzy put his AVA in one of the Pines. But, never in my wildest dreams, could I ever climb to the heights that Lars did to retrieve my sailplane. His life was definitely at risk.

Ray
Sky Bench ... Woodys Forever
http://www.skybench.com

Yes, it's always good to keep one of these guys on the payroll.