Over the past year, myself and a few of my flying buddies have been helping out a relatively new sloper while he grew from flying his zagi 5c around the slope to purchasing more than one high end 3M moldie.

About a week ago, he called me to discuss the merits of the EVO9. Apparently, he wasn't happy with his JR 9303, and was having a hard time learning to program it. He thought that he would like the EVO9 better, and wanted to hire me to help him learn to use it, since i know the evo very well.

I told I would do it for free, but he explained that he would like to get me something nice for helping him, and that it would also serve as a thank-you for other advice I had given him.

Today he came over with a brand new Mini Destiny for me, along with all the electronics to get it finished. He even brought lead shot.

For those of you who have never flown a mini destiny, it is a blast; it is even more fun than the full size destiny. They require a decent amount of lift to get on step, but are pretty fast, with an insane rol rate and good energy retention. Add in their tossibly small size, and you get a great fun flier.

--Alex

PS, once again, sorry for the poor camera phone pics...I really need to find the cable for my digital camera...

A couple of weeks ago they held the "MWE spring fling." Which is ironic, because the "MWE" fly in is traditionally the "mid winter electric." But it invariably rained, so they were forced to change the date.

I hung out with chris klick, and we did some sloping afterwards on sunday. We flew at the bowl at sunset cliffs, which is a place with OK lift but a very tight lift band. It is so tight that if you go too close to the edge, the difference in lift over the two wings will roll you into the cliff.

The prototype flew very well. It was my first oppurtunity to fly it at a tight coastal site, and it was handled the small space available better than most of the other wings at the slope.

After some shameless bragging about my wonderful new car, I thought I'd post my latest R/C stuff. About 4 months ago, I got a set of prototype cores from my friend Chris Klick at Ritewing RC. I finally got them done.

He's been developing a new sloper that is supposed to be an "all-in-one" type of plane that will handle light lift well, combat, be reasonably fast, agile, etc.

Overall, he has succeeded in my view. The wing is a relatively high aspect ratio planform with moderate sweep and washout, and a nice lift airfoil.

The flight tests are more than favorable. Although it's definitely not a halfpipe competitor in the overall speed ring, it is faster than your typical "slayer" type of combat wing. Roll rates are normal for this type of plane, inverted is simply excellent, and the low speed handling is very slow and stable. But most of all, it turns harder than virtually and other wing I have flown. With the right technique, it can bang a turn incredibly fast.

Below are some pics. I had some wrinkle hickups after adding thinned goop over tyvek (BAD experience), and ended up being forced to use transparent monocote. So, its not the prettiest thing in the world, but if flies great.

--Alex

I'm normally not a blog type of person, but I just got an RX-7, and I wanted to show it off. I recently found out that the clutch is slipping on it, but I got an amazing deal on the car, and by all accounts it shouldn't be prohibitively expensive to fix.

The car is in very nice condition, with the original paint being in decent shape (rare for a 20 year old car). It has a couple of very minor dents, but nothing you can see from 10 feet away. Plus, it has a rebuilt engine and many new parts.

It has been upgraded everywhere. Racing wheels, straight back racing exhaust, port and polish, K&N intake, aftermarked steering wheel and shifter, high wattage stereo....etc....

This car is so much fun to drive. Handles awesome, and pulls hard at freeway speeds

--Alex