Here is a link to the NATS scores. Good luck Scott and Ryan.

http://www.modelaircraft.org/events/...s.aspx?yr=2009

Jason

Eic Bin - If you bring the chair to the contest that will be a good time for me to get it from you. Thanks for grabbing it. I didn't know I was missing it.

Regarding the contest and a fun fly together. It will make frequency control very important and also getting everyone on the same page at the start will be important also.

Lee

E,

Hope you enjoy the Gambler!

Duey

I'm going RC soaring at the sod farm today. Should be there about noon. I'll bring a winch. Dr. Jack's says this should be a good day. Wed. and Thu. I'll be at the EAA. There are forum talks on both days about sailplanes. Wednesday is about an electric glider - the Antares. On Saturday and Sunday the Antaries is supposed to be in the Showcase area.
Lee

Well VAM was certainly well represented at the Handlaunch NATS by Scott and Ryan.

I heard from Ryan today and Scott made the flyoffs and placed third. Wow.

Ryan was in fourteenth place after 11 rounds and then had a streak of bad luck with some tough rounds and ended up 20th. I believe there were around 36 flyers.

Congratulations to both of them. Awesome flying. Get your DLG's ready for the Cheesehead Chuckfest. You'll be flying against a couple of the best.

Scott Z. put on another excellent show, this time at the NATS.

Scott was solidly in 4th place after the 15 preliminary rounds, and performed splendidly in the 4 round flyoffs to finish in 3rd place!! It should be noted that this is an open competition, so the 'Sportsmen' were competing with the 'Experts'. This means that Scott's competition included some of the best DLG pilots in the U.S. Familiar names like Bruce Davidson and Phil Barnes were Scott's competition in the flyoffs. A total of 34 to 36 pilots competed in the event and the top ten spots made the flyoffs.

There were only 3 flight groups, so there was very little rest between sessions of flying and timing. There was a mad scramble for timers early on Monday, so I got to know a lot of new (but familiar) people as they timed for me or I timed for them.

Monday was fairly windy but managable with a little ballast. Thermals were sporadic and tough to find, so it made for challenging contest conditions. With the tough conditions, there was a lot of separation from the expert pilots (like Scott) and the rest of us. It was common for a single marginally strong thermal to move through in the round, and if you didn't catch that ride you were buried by those who did.

Tuesday was a little more calm, but the thermals were still very sporadic. Between the two days, there were a lot of pilots landing out of bounds as they hooked a thermal and followed it downwind, only to struggle to avoid sink and maintain altitude as they struggled to get back to the field. It seemed to me it was key to know when to gamble and know when to play it safe. That's a skill I'm still hoping to acquire.

Overall, it was a great trip. Lots of nice people, good competition, and plenty to watch. We saw freeflight, electric soaring, and F3J as well. In fact, I got to be a 'tow mule' for the finals of F3J which was a good time.

Once again, congrats to Scott!!!

Ryan

Excellent job, Scott and thanks for the feedback.

Lee

WTG GUYS!

Duey

The NATS was another great year. Taking home some wood was just icing on the cake. This is the first time that handlaunch was able to be a two day event for the NATS. The goal is to be internationally recognized as a F3K event that is capable of determining the teams that will represent the worlds soaring championship in the upcoming years. As Ryan mentioned we got to watch about a day and a half of F3J, which is just a "have to see" event. It's phenomenal to see a two person tow team load up a 200lb test mono line and a tow time of ~3 seconds or less to 600ft altitude. There was even an occasion where there was a 1 second tow to ~400ft. The competition is so fierce that pilots will sacrifice the 2 seconds of time to get a couple more points. The time on the line does not count towards the total flight time and the event window is limited to 10 minutes. As humble as many of us are, Ryan forgot to mention that he was recruited to pull for the person that ended up taking the F3J championship. We also ventured over to the free flight area to witness launching many different large glow, electric, and rubber planes. During the handlaunch flyoff rounds it was funny to see free flight models raining from the sky from 1 mile or so upwind. They were the lift/sink indicators that I was expecting to see.

Nice Job Scott and Ryan!

Now I I just need a plane and losts of practice flights before Sept. so I have a chance of looking like I know what I am doing with a DLG- ha.

Matt

Originally Posted by MDCramer

Now I I just need a plane and losts of practice flights before Sept.

Roger! I should have it flying this week. I did a lot of cleanup on the wing and fixed the delams in a press for the mylars and laminating epoxy. Lastly I fixed misc. delams on the hingeline with foamsafe CA. One thing I found tonight is that there is the proper amount of CA accelerator found in 2 12oz cans of Coors Original. Next is to do a check on the fuse and find a new aileron connector. The wing should last you the rest of the year and would swap out for next flying season.

Do you plan on 2.4GHz with this? (Just so I know if I need to apply a new connector for the ailerons and not to worry the embedded antenna)

Originally Posted by szastoupil

Do you plan on 2.4GHz with this? (Just so I know if I need to apply a new connector for the ailerons and not to worry the embedded antenna)

Yes, that is the plan now that I have a working AR6250, I talked to several people who use them in both DLG's and larger full house carbon ships and as long as I get the wiskers out side the fuse I should have no issues, and then I have a radio that is easier to program all the mixes in.

By the way thanks again for helping me out, sounds like you are doing way more work to it than I expected.

Matt

Anyone up for a Smurfgee? I wish I had one of these for my desk. Probably would make some good earrings for your significant other too!

How do I get one of these. Is somebody making them?

Originally Posted by hayward

How do I get one of these. Is somebody making them?

No dice. Not for sale. There are a couple photos of guys making mini DLG models in another RCG thread. The smurf one was made by a guy in the Netherlands. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...3#post12856825

I may have some smurf shrinky dinks somewhere to tack a DLG model to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinky_Dinks