Well, so far in the last two weeks, I have bought a new house in Alabama, put my house in TN up for sale (not sold yet), moved on trailer load into the new house/shop, flew two flights (both evaluations), cleared all agencies at Ft Campbell, cleaned, power washed and stained my cedar house and 2 car garage, coached 4 baseball games, held one practice, and who knows what else.

Then, just a week ago, I get a call in the morning that my dad is in an abulance on the way to the hospital with chest pains. To make a long story short, after arriving at the Lincoln, NE Heart Institute, he had a massive heart attack. They revived him with CPR and the paddle thingies. Less than 8 hours later, he was on the operating table for tripple bypass that turned out to be PENTUPLE bypass surgury (yeah, 5 bypasses). Hes doing well now, and is back at home.

I am much like my dad. I cant sit still long. He loves to work, build things, shoot guns and screw off. So, since he cant do much for a few weeks, I picked up a Tower Trainer yesterday. Gonna build it this week and take it back to him in Nebraska on the 11th.

Anyone have a good .46 to .50 size outrunner laying around that will kick some butt on 4S 5000s? If so, shoot me a PM and we'll work out a deal.

Back to work....

Laine.

Here is a quick video of my SBACH 342 from Sunday. Im still feelin it out and trying to get comfortable with it. Sure is a nice flying plane though.

Power system:
AXI 5320/34
Castle ICE HV 80
Castle BEC pro
10S 5000 Thunder Power 45C
Xoar 20x10 prop

SBACH video (3 min 26 sec)

Woke up this morning with an idea. Jumped out of bed, and out to the trailer I went. Well, bummer, power was out because of the storm last night. So, drug out my big old Dewalt generator, plugged the trailer in and off I went working on a new plane for my little 9 year old Kameron. About 3 hours later, we went out in the wind for a maiden flight, and to my surprise, the thing flew awesome! So, I asked the little bugger how we should decorate it, and, here ya have it. The fully decorated FFF Kaminator! Elevons and rudder for controls a 3S 1320 and a 10x4.7 apc prop. Video coming soon.

Laine.

The Kaminator (7 min 23 sec)

Here ya go folks. I promised you'd see it after I got to SEFF, but i couldnt get photos uploaded until I got home.

FiremanBill helped me get it ready and we put just 2 flights on it to make sure it was there for the folks from Castle to see it.

Thanks go to Castle Creations for the ICE HV 80 and BEC Pro, Hobby Lobby for the AXI, Thunder Power for the 10S 5000 45C lipos, Air 2 Art for the killer paint job and Redwing RC for the custom covered ARF.

The green looks stunning in the air too, simply a beautiful paint job on a great looking airframe that flys awesome!

I cant wait to hear what the local yokals have to say about it when I get it out to the local field to fly it.

Laine.

Added a couple more pictures. I also downloaded the in flight logging from the Castle ICE HV 80, shows 49 amps, 2700 watts, 6000 rpm....Continue Reading

Look out SEFF LMR contest, here I come with the Acro Maxie. Im sooooo gonna get my butt kicked! Never done an LMR contest or even flown a sail plane. Should make for a good time.

I'll slap a motor/prop on it soon. Shooting for 8lbs of thrust in a 5lbs plane. Good enough for me.

Laine.

Well, bad news on the phone for me today. All leaves are cancelled indef. due to the issues in Libya. So, all the work, all the time, all the money spent to get ready for SEFF is for nothing. I have only been home from Afghanistan for a bit over a month, and now this? It really needs to end at one point.

Needless to say Im more than a little irritated about it, but, when it all comes down to it, its my job, its what I signed on the dotted line for over 18 years ago, its what I do.

You guys have fun at SEFF and hopefully I'll see you next year.

Laine.

A good buddy of mine gave me this plane at SEFF 09. I built it in 2009, but had no motor/servos in it until tonight. It has sat on my shelf, built for nearly 2 years!!! Finally, it has come to life! Cant wait to fly the little bugger.

Laine.

Here is a preview of the paint job on my 73" span Redwing RC SBACH 342.

See ya at SEFF guys!

Laine.

Got the airframe done tonight, aside from the cowl bolts. If all goes well, I'll install the servos and control rods tomorrow. Then, its just a matter of finding just the right motor/prop/battery combo for this one.

Laine.

Got started on the Gee Bee R2 tonight. About 3 hours and the airframe is mostly together. Really really easy building plane so far. We'll see how it continues I guess. Gotta figure out a good power system for it.

Its supposed to weigh 10lbs and use an AXI 4120/18 with 5S and a 15x8 prop. I dont think that will be quite fast enough for my taste though.

More to follow as I get it ready to go.

Laine.

The third plane I have built since gettin back from Afghanistan a month ago. The 25% Cermark Pitts S2B is done. Really easy build for a biplane. Power system is an AXI 5320/34 on 10S 5000mah lipos a Castle Creations ICE HV 80 a Castle BEC Pro, Hitec 645mg's on the tail and 635HB servos in the wings, currently an APC 18x12 prop (probably a Xoar 19x12 will go on it) and a Spektrum AR 7000 RX. Should be a power house of a Pitts.

Now it gets put aside and I just started on my 60" Gee Bee R2. Gotta get em all done for SEFF!!!

Laine.

I have been working on my big SBACH 342 from www.redwingrc.com. This plane is beautiful first off. I special ordered it from Tim at Redwing in blue and white. Its the only blue and white one in existence which makes it pretty cool to begin with. Well, then I had to go one step further and take it to an airbrush artist in Nashville, www.air2art.com. I told Shane at air 2 art that I wanted Castle Creations logo on the plane and the rest was free for him to do as he wished. When he told me his plan, I was skeptical, but after seeing the finished plane, WOW WOW WOW is all I can say! This thing is so cool its silly! Too bad for you guys, you dont get to see it until SEFF! Those of you who are not going to SEFF can see pictures of it after the show.

Power for this one is a AXI 5320, Castle ICE HV, Castle BEC Pro and 10S 5000 lipos. Servos are Spektrum 6010 digitals. I must add, this plane is soooo PERFECT for a E conversion! 2 screws pull the HUGE canopy off with very very easy access to the "battery bay/fuel tank area". You could fit 20S 20000mah lipos in this thing if you wanted to.

Here is a picture of the plane before the airbrush work was done... just a few more weeks and you can see the new paint job!

Laine.

Started work on my new 1/4 scale Pitts yesterday. Turns out, there is more damage to my wings than just the tips. So, looks as though I'll have to strip the wings and do some rib and tip repairs. Big bummer for me.

Since the Pitts will take some time to complete, I pulled out the 73" SBACH 342 instead. Wings are hinged and servos are mounted, I'll start on the fuse tonight.

Apparently I have the best wife ever.
While walking through our local hobby shop yesterday to pick up some basic hardware, the wife saw a 61" span Gee Bee R2 in a box and a really decent price. She said "buy this", and of course I said we didnt need to spend the money on another plane right now. Well, she stood there with her bottom lip out (seriously!!) so, we brought home a beautiful Gee Bee (she likes to call them Bee Gees). Just one more plane I want to get done before SEFF.

Laine.

Figured I'd add a few pictures of the Mega Dart with the lights on. Gonna be a nice night flyer with over 250 LED's in it.

Still need to add some pinstripes to it and get the graphics made for it. Other than that, its pretty much done.

Time to clean up the shop and start on my big Pitts biplane.

Laine.

The Mega Dart 60 kit I have been workin on is ALMOST done. Yes, its pink for a reason... you'll see later when I get the vinyl decals made why its pink. Besides, the wife is the one who decided what to do on this one.

Oh yeah, did I mention over 250 LED's inside of this one? lighted pics will come soon.

Next up is my 60" Pitts S2B. Gotta get ready for SEFF!!

Laine.

So, as you all know I got back from Afghanistan on Friday night, the 18th of FEB. Well, today is Tuesday and here I am, starting a build on an airplane. I dont know how my wife deals with me sometimes, but, she does.

I have quite a few planes I'd like to get ready for SEFF, wont have the money to get them all up, but I'll get the important ones done.

This weeks project is called a Mega Dart 60. Its a 60" wingspan "stick like" plane. I picked up this odd looking kit here on RCG for about $30 while I was deployed. It seems to be a pretty straight forward, easy build so far. I'll put a crazy electric power system on it and have some fun. Gotta come up with a neat covering scheme for it and probably some LED's. I think it would make a great night flyer.

More to follow as the projects continue!

Laine.

Finally outta there! Hows it goin everyone? Im writing this enroute back to the good old USA. Sitting in Manas, Kyrgyzstan (where ever that is!) right now. Wont be here long though. Soon, I'll be on a flight outta this joint and back to Ft Campbell. I'll spend some good quality time with the family, then, its time to start getting ready for SEFF!

See ya'll soon.

Laine.

Its time to get outta this joint! These pictures are what I woke up to this morning. I took them standing in the doorway to our building. Getting the 5 miles to work today wasnt exactly easy. And of course, its raining again tonight, so we can expect worse tomorrow.

Laine.

Hey folks, just got back in from my LAST flight here in Kandahar! Logged 1.0hrs on a training flight. For a grand finale, I asked tower for a low pass over the active runway. He cleared me for the option behind two departing F-18s doing afterburner takeoffs. I buzzed the runway at 50' and 150 knots, full length with a 55 degree left turn out back to "Mustang Ramp". I officially now have 1000.0 total hours of flight time and 387 hours in Kandahar.

It also means that in just a couple days my butt will be on a big plane on my way back to the USA. It will take about 4 days or so after leaving Kandahar, but, every minute is a minute closer.

See ya!

Laine.

Hey folks, just like the title says. In less than a week I'll be jumping on a plane and I will be on the way back to the good old USA. Its been a long year, but its coming to an end finally.

This will also be my last combat tour. After 18.5 years of this, I have asked to move to Ft Rucker, Alabama to be a flight instructor. I'll be there until I retire. So, no more deployments, just flight students trying to kill me. Not long after my return to Fort Campbell, we will be packing up and moving to Alabama.

Cant wait to get back to the wife and kids, real food, a nice bed, my planes, a real car and normal people!

See ya'll soon,

Laine.