Originally Posted by alstrahm

Col. Thacker was just inducted into the AMA hall of fame a few weeks ago. he is quite the gentleman and modeler. I am proud to know him. He is still flying contests at 92 years young!!

Al

Al

The Col has been one of my California heros since day one, starting about 42 years ago. Seems like he is or has flown RC jets too.

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

Originally Posted by Ray Hayes

Steve, your wish is my command, enjoy.

Launching from a winch is not a problem, it is smaller than an OLY lll, but the cool way to launch it from a winch is ROG ( rise off ground ). Back in the day, that is how many did it prior to the hand throw.

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

And I thought I was a woody builder... don't think I'm even a spot on the rear of this fellow, Ray. The cabin detail alone is superb as is all the rest. Just to watch it rise off the ground and soar would be a privilege.

Ray... Any idea of how long he worked on it to get it finished up? I'm with Don in that it would take me years to finish up something with that much detail.

Just to watch it rise off the ground and soar would be a privilege.
__________________________________________________ _____


Man, have you got that right Steve.

When we builders put something together with our time and talent we can, should be and are, proud of the results. We all have choices, watch TV ( CommericalVision ), etc.,
but, when we choose to use our energy and time to create a woody, stick a radio in it and go fly it a half a mile high in a thermal, we all can feel privileged.

Earned, real, genuine pride is waiting for the Woody builders of the world when they open up a kit or plan and create and fly a woody sailplane. It is not old school, it is real school.

Marc, I'm sure, is his own critic and with each new project strives to improve, how else could he reach this level of Craftmanship.

Awesome ......

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

Originally Posted by scaflock

Ray... Any idea of how long he worked on it to get it finished up? I'm with Don in that it would take me years to finish up something with that much detail.

All I know for sure is he completed it in 2006.

You might be suprised how quickly a highly detailed build can happen, but obviously, this is something a builder's experience builds up to. The building experience and knowledge would dictate build time, plus all those other things in one's life. Hmmmm .... why did I say that, now I gotta pull the plug and do a little more kiting tonight.

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

not to hijack this thread but I thought some of you would like to know the history of Col Thacker. Quite an interesting read. Check out Betty Jo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Thacker

Al

AL
Thanks for putting up the link on Col. Thacker,i bet he sure has some good storys to tell !! Talk about a lot of stick time both big & small.
Don

Just some pictures from today.

WOW!! TD you must have moved.......no snow!!!!

It sure seemed like it.

Although there still is some snow by the field entry where it's normally shaded.

It's really nice not having to worry about slipping and falling while throwing a DLG.

TD, in your first pic, there is a vapor trail across the sky, is that your DLG ripping the bring?

Nice pics of good weather for you!! It's still stinking hot here on the Australia Day long weekend. I'd go fly but the fear of the film melting off my gliders has me staying home entertaining guests with a BBQ and drinking ice cold beer, roll on winter i say. Sounds like some of you folks might get an early spring and summer???

Like you I'm going college (university) again this year as well, but part time as a mature age student, I've had a two year break but its time to study more astronomy, just for the heck of it.

Originally Posted by Ray Hayes

Just to watch it rise off the ground and soar would be a privilege.
__________________________________________________ _____


Man, have you got that right Steve.

When we builders put something together with our time and talent we can, should be and are, proud of the results. We all have choices, watch TV ( CommericalVision ), etc.,
but, when we choose to use our energy and time to create a woody, stick a radio in it and go fly it a half a mile high in a thermal, we all can feel privileged.

Earned, real, genuine pride is waiting for the Woody builders of the world when they open up a kit or plan and create and fly a woody sailplane. It is not old school, it is real school.

Marc, I'm sure, is his own critic and with each new project strives to improve, how else could he reach this level of Craftmanship.

Awesome ......

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

Ray, you touched every base there.

I really like the "It is not old school, it is real school" quote.

Originally Posted by atmosteve

TD, in your first pic, there is a vapor trail across the sky, is that your DLG ripping the bring?

Nice pics of good weather for you!! It's still stinking hot here on the Australia Day long weekend. I'd go fly but the fear of the film melting off my gliders has me staying home entertaining guests with a BBQ and drinking ice cold beer, roll on winter i say. Sounds like some of you folks might get an early spring and summer???

Like you I'm going college (university) again this year as well, but part time as a mature age student, I've had a two year break but its time to study more astronomy, just for the heck of it.

The skies were really active today. I'm not sure why, but there was a lot of high altitude flying. I saw more contrails then I could count!

I'm not going to college for another two years. Still gotta finish this year, then my senior year. That's a good thing to do for sure though. We've been talking about black holes and stars in physics. Really makes you think, that's for sure.

Originally Posted by Ray Hayes

All I know for sure is he completed it in 2006.

You might be suprised how quickly a highly detailed build can happen, but obviously, this is something a builder's experience builds up to. The building experience and knowledge would dictate build time, plus all those other things in one's life. Hmmmm .... why did I say that, now I gotta pull the plug and do a little more kiting tonight.

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

That really says it all as well, from a man at the coalface of RC gliding.
Ray, you are a devil, I'm so tempted to do a shortkit scale bird next instead of the E-O2S I was thinking of for my tootling about the sky at home. Slope and aerotow, nothing touches a nice scale bird.

Well I'm sure you guys are probably Oly'd out by now but I'm still going . The humidity swings have been a real joy over the last 6 weeks...not! During this build I've learned that NOTHING is really flat as far as a work surface goes. I have a hollow core door, a 1/2" glass wing table and 2 other 3/8" glass tables that I build on. Are they flat?...kinda like nope! Cold flow properties of glass are amazing, guess because it's a liquid.

I've found that flipping and rotating the glass and door and repositioning panels during assembly averages out a fairly flat panel. We scrapped an Excellon Automation MK IV CNC drilling machine that had a hyperstyrene granite base that was 13" thick and about 6'x8'. It was flat within about .0001" over 24" but weighed in at about 4 tons so my wife would let me bring it home...it would have been perfect .

Anyhow, last panel on my backlit glass and I can roll up the plans. The plans held good for this tip panel within about 1/64" compared to the first so it's all good.

Cheers my friends!

Don