With the weather forecast looking pretty dismal, the high temps. only reaching 18deg. F as well as having the in-laws in town, the burning question was, what to do with my weekend?

Remembering back to last season, freezing my hands off trying to fly Cape Cod with a 40mph wind at 20 odd degrees, I instantly thought of a project, A TRANSMITTER MITT!

I had decided to use an old LL. Bean jacket that was sitting in the back of the closet that had a faulty zipper (that had already been back to Bean twice for repairs). Needing some sort of transmitter mitt but not wanting to spend a load of money, the idea was born to transform this jacket into, what my Mother in-law called, a "transmitter cozy". (Apparently in the UK they use a similar idea to keep their tea pots warm).

So the collective minds of my Wife, my Mother in-law and I brainstormed, verbally throwing out design ideas. Sort of a 'design by committee' concept with only one of the committee really knowing anything about R/C I'd already acquired some vinyl boat window material the previous week, so we went to work cutting up the jacket and finalized the design as we went along. The back of the jacket was cut out, the arms were cut off and we made a trial fit of the transmitter in the 'center wrap'. That didn’t work, so we turned the material 90deg. and tried again, BINGO! Now by cutting the sleeves at a steep angle, they were now the same diameter as the center tube! (great idea by my Wife)

At about the same time the tube exterior shell and the fleece lining were to be stitched back together, the velcro enclosure was sewn in, the window location was worked out and stitched into place and the transmitter neck strap hole reinforcement was installed. I had managed to get the first stage of this process done but when attempting to stitch on the Velcro, the machine went haywire. It left gobs of thread on the back side and the girls went to work to fix it. Once fixed my Mother in-law simply continued to stitch up my project until she realized ‘I’ should be working on my project.

I made my best effort to get the sleeves sewn on correctly. I had the first one on right but the second one I messed up. I’d somehow managed to let the shell slip away from the other layers and not get stitched, leading to a 2 hour stitch picking lesson. Since my Mother in-law is a whiz with a sewing machine, she once again took charge of the project and finished the second sleeve while I brought in some firewood and split some kindling out back. (real manly work

I was all too happy to relinquish my project to someone with greater sewing talent than my own if it meant my project would end up looking top notch. So, at last the sleeves were sewn on, the project was done and it was time to test it by placing one of the transmitters in it. Perfect fit (it only took all day).

The final word, BRILLIANT! The 'Cozy' came out much better than expected, it's very warm (quickly became sweaty inside the house) and I’m looking forward to giving it a full sloping work out later this winter!

Peace,
Matt

Sorry if you covered this in your post (too long for my attention span ;-} ) but.......how is it getting your second hand into the sleeve? I'm guessing you definitely need a second person to launch for you. If no, I'd think you might have trouble getting your second hand into it without the assistance of your other hand. Great idea though! You might find some folks interested! Nice work.

Matt

It IS tough to get the second hand into the mitt quickly, BUT if launching left handed I can still keep my right thumb on the stick. This should give me enough time to get my left hand into the mitt before it freezes Although anyone standing around with their hands in their pockets to stay warm would likely be launching my plane for me as it would be much easier.

Originally Posted by luger007

Although anyone standing around with their hands in their pockets to stay warm would likely be launching my plane for me as it would be much easier.

As if...

mw (cold just thinking about it)

It's always fun flying with others. That is a very warm looking mitt there! A very fitting ending for an old jacket

Matt, the transmitter cozy looks great, thanks for posting your design. Where did you get your vinyl boat window material?

Looking good buddy