Wow. Hadn't realized that it had been since April since I updated my blog. Lots of new stuff going on but the biggest news is that I'm getting usable parts out of my Phlatprinter now (with careful attention to detail.)

Anyway, I talk it up (with pictures) on my main blog for those who are interested.

More details on my main blog. It's been a haul, let me tell you.

I share some information and pictures about my ongoing efforts to validate the assembly process for installing ailerons on the new V5 Push-E Cat on my WordPress blog. I also offer my opinions on the importance of listening to customer feedback.

Check it out at http://garrisonaerodrome.com

It's coming with the Flat Cat not too far behind. I ramble on about it in detail over at: http://garrisonaerodrome.com

Hey, Folks:

As an FYI, I’ve uploaded the old, old Garrison Aerodrome web site to the new Garrison Aerodrome server. I chose to do this for a couple of reasons: 1) Because some site-squatting jerkwads snagged rc-aero.com a while back and even usurped the old web site naming structure in order to hog off all the links that used to point back to my old pages and 2) Because I wanted to make all the old pictures and stuff available for folks to gawk at so that you can see how far things have come in 12 short years.

Disclaimer: All contact information, pricing information, and availability information on these pages is obsolete and completely unreliable. Things may or may not work based on how HTML and Java have changed over the years. Also, any links shown on the links page are questionable at best if not absolutely useless out of hand. If you want to get hold of me or buy my stuff, be sure to start at http://garrisonaerodrome.com

Anyway, the link to the old pages is here. Enjoy your trip down memory lane.

Did a big, long post on how I'm doing the "Lite" trailing edges on EPP wing cores over at http://garrisonaerodrome.com. It's working really well so far in making perfectly straight and smooth trailing edges.

Just posted an update with regards to my "proof of concept" wing that I'm building to validate using the 3M 90 applied kraft paper reinforcement for EPP wing trailing edges.

Full story at http://garrisonaerodrome.com

Hi, Guys:

This is a cross-link post. I'm in the process of re-hanging my Garrison Aerodrome shingle back out for internet business. The web site is based off Wordpress, so I wanted to cross-link it here and share my first off-RCGroups post about the soon to be released Push-E Cat V5 EPP trainer.

http://garrisonaerodrome.com

Just had to share this. Three pics from my shop. One is the huge stack of kits that I want to sell. Two is a side-workbench that's supposed to be clear. Three is where I want to begin cutting foam in the near future.

Part of this is me recovering from being shuffled between four households in the last six years. Part of it is losing a decent sized garage and being stuffed into something best approximating a turn-of-the-19th-century carriage house. The other part is my own damnable "Oooh! Shiny!" nature.

The big bench is currently under seige by my drive to get all my available gliders up and running for the 2010 LOFT and OVSS season. Mixed in are pieces of a Dove, a Genie, a Sapphire, a 2M Kestral, and a Sophisticated Lady. Added is my recent purchase of a balancing LiPo charger and LiPo packs that are buried under the adapter cable box that usually nestles inside my flight box. Out of view are all my soldering tools that I left out at 2 AM last night after I finished a new wing wiring harness for the Genie.

I think that I'm going to clean up the shop today before I try doing anything else.

Image test. A couple pictures of the last Push-E Cat fuselage I completed for a friend.

There's a large pile of RC stuff to the left of the garage refrigerator. Traveling starting tonight, so won't be able to do anything about it until next Monday at the earliest.

Once again tried to re-kit the unfinished Sophisticated Lady wing on the way into the garage. Once again, naught but hanger rash added to the toll.

Need a workbench and some decent shelves, but can't drill holes in the walls, so it all has to be floor mounted. Eeeeh.

D

Moved all of the boxed kits, radios, electronics, tool boxes, and a lot of other unassociated things out of the apartment last night with the help of my son, Kyle. All the available RC goodness I have available in Bloomington at the moment is stacked against a portion of one garage wall in a niche next to the refrigerator.

Plus, I got a call from a flying friend who lost the last V3.1 Push-E Cat I ever built to a growing cumulus cloud. As soon as I get a workable bench, I guess I'm building him a new V4 PEC. Being paid to build is awesome.

And I'm back to the land of the blogging.

Completed the primary family relocation to Bloomington, Indiana. We're now set up in a 4 BR condo kind of thingy complete with our two cats, Vash and Belle. One of the BR's is now an office (the two girls are sharing a room).

I'm thankful that my first heart attack did not appear. I made it through the move with a bashed shin, a bruised shoulder, and particularly wicked splinter that went all the way THROUGH the pad of my left index finger.

One of my goals for this move was to assess how much room there would be for me to set up a workbench in the one bay garage attached to the condo. Answer: Yeah. I can get it in there. Just a little one, but enough to let me work the projects I plan to share while we're in this temporary (hopefully no more than one year) setting.

Next, I get to empty out my previous apartment of all the kits and arfs and radios and whatnot I stashed in there for "safety's sake" during the move.

Whee! I need shelves!

Okay, tying knots to servo arms using fine polymer thread inside a teeny fiberglass wrapped space? Not so easy.

Just sayin'.

Regardless, servos are in the Fling and attached to the tail surfaces despite my inability to resist the temptation to play video games. For my next trick, I'll solder a receiver pack in-between leveling up in Ghost in the Shell.

I just have to mention it because it absolutely beggars belief.

I tried to get hold of Carl Goldberg Models after I surfed their web page and found out that it was possible to get a replacement canopy for the Sophisticated Lady glider.

(Long story short: I framed up my SL back in 1991 when I was living in St. Louis. The plane has never been covered and has somehow survived 5 cross-country moves in the interim. However, the vac-form canopy succumbed to storage heat. I started to make a plug for either a lay-up or vac-form replacement but never got it shaped properly.)

Problem one: no on-line ordering. But, looky! A contact number.

Problem two: nobody ever answers the contact number. But, looky! An e-mail contact.

So, I send off an e-mail requesting a contact for ordering the part.

Two weeks later. . .

I get an e-mail with an attachment from CG: "Please provide address and CC number information."

Uh. . .okay.

I look at the invoice just enough to see that they had the right part number and then print it out. Why print it out? So I can write my new address and CC number on the "invoice" and fax it back to them because there's no way in hell I'm sending my CC number to them via e-mail.

Grab the print, sit down at my desk, and commence to practicing my good penmanship. It's at this point in time (and just before I write down my CC number) that I notice the shipping charge.

$12.99.

For an $11.99 canopy set (already...Continue Reading

Latest Footooba cycle came in at 161 mAh. It's become my equivalent of a gold fish bowl, watching the red LEDs on the Digipace flip an element at a time. There's obviously no other logic behind it, and I need to cycle other more worthy FM Footoobas, JR, and Hitec rigs.

Servos are in the Fling. Lord help me, it could probably use some truly small servos like Hitec HS-55s, but all I had were Maxx Product MX-50s. So, rather than screws, I used GOOP to hold the servos down. I'll tie the threads to the servo arms tonight since the glue had to cure.

I should probably pick up an extra Berg receiver so I can have one dedicated to my "current fav" and one for "review and test". I also need to build up my NiMH receiver packs.

I currently have my primary computer sitting on my apartment floor. I lost patience last night and hooked it up enough to fire up my Vellum Solids CAD program. I'm ready to build myself a disc-launch glider from EPP, but circumstances are frustrating in the actual building department due to moving flux and shop chaos. Grr.

I also want my 2m CyberCat. The current foamie gliders being marketed are a joke (and have been ever since the Highlander went off-market). The time is ripe for the CyberCat to appear in all its winch-capable and flexible control options glory. Bwahahahaha!

Lawsey, I hate moving. I especially hate moving with the knowledge that I get to move again within a year. Blech.

For grins, I cycled the Attack again last night since I was too tired to fiddle with installing servos in the Fling.

35 mAh.

Say what?

Turns out my old Hobbico "fast field charger" wasn't actually working so well. Neither was my Triton. Apparently the pack in the transmitter is false-peaking pretty spectacularly.

Ah, the weirdness of old, abused NiCADs.

So, I put it back on the Digipace for a 16 hour slow-charge and then I'll re-run the cycle just to see what happens.

Countdown to this weekend's move continues unabated. I'll definitely be putting servos in the Fling tonight because I really don't want to think about how much pain I'm going to be in on Sunday.

Got in late last night and then had to unload most of the stuff in my truck, so I didn't get anything physically done. However, over the weekend, I got into Phil's Hobby Shop and picked up an E-Flight Park 250 outrunner. So, right before bed, I read up on this little critter.

Pretty amazing what this brushless outrunner stuff can do. Looks like the little devil is good for 55 watts, which should be enough to fly the BLT. I will have to change props, though. Sure is pretty. The windings look kinda like a old-timey radial motor's cylinders.

Need a controller of suitable size next. Hm.

Got the tail feathers attached to the end of the Fling last night. Kind of interesting to watch the CyA wick underneath the transparent purple covering.

I also got the pull-pull threads tied to the control horns and the strings themselves sorted out. Had to supplement my fat fingers with a pair of needle nose pliers to get the knots made.

The Futooba Attack's battery pack is only putting out between 220 and 250 mAh of power no matter how long you charge it. Ergo, pack is hosed. The question now, of course, is why even bother putting a new pack in it? The thing's ancient and AM, not the best set of recommendations, plus its receiver is one of those old Futooba ones with the integrated speed control for Electra-type models.

At this point, just let me say that God for Patrick Delcastillo .

On the up side, I sorted out the issue with my Ace Digipace 3 and now have a reliable way to cycle transmitter and receiver packs again. Yay, me! For motor packs, I've got other options.

I'll be off over the weekend doing pre-moving things with the family. More update Monday.

Still haven't set things up to get the pictures off my SD card from the camera, so I'll have to make do with words.

Until two weekends from now, I'm stuck in a little box apartment at a golf resort next to Lake Monroe outside of Bloomington. Because of the impending move, I ended up going through all my modeling stuff and getting fired up to fly again. Downside? I can't keep everything with me. Between tools, kits, and raw materials, there'd be no room to sleep let alone work in the box apartment. Our upcoming temporary digs at the duplex are in similar territory due to the presence of wife, 3 kids, and two cats.

So, what I did do was take a bunch of ARFs I bought out of curiosity and speculation, a stack of stick-built 1.5 meter HL gliders, and a true smorgasborg of half-finished projects and brought them to my apartment along with a Wright Brothers building board and the most meaningful of my tools for such an occasion. It's still hard to walk in my "living room", but I can.

My goal for this exercise (and the foreseeable future) is to do a "little bit each night". In other words, nibble at the projects one at a time until their all built and flown and then decide whether to keep them, sell them, or smash them.

Yes, Virginia, I will smash models I consider unworthy of existing.

Right now, for example, there's a BLT in my living room that's perilously close to that. Why? Because for some unknown (probably "P" factor)...Continue Reading