So, we had the "grand opening" tonight! Its done... well, done enough to open anyway. Still some "details" I want to finish. Like tables etc... pictures you know, nice stuff.

Heck of a turn out too! About 150ish people! Including one 2 Star General, about a dozen Full Birds (o-6), and more O-5's and below than you could count. Plus, the most important, lots of SOLDIERS/AIRMEN!

Now, any time, day or night, anyone can stop in, grab a cup of joe, some tea, hot coco and a snack, FOR FREE! Everything in the place is from donations. Cant beat that.

Plus, we have 2 tv's with AFN and one with an XBox 360 for playin games. Cant go wrong there either.

Enjoy the pics. Im just glad I can take some time off from it now!

Laine....Continue Reading

So, the Bagram RC Clubs fleet is growing a bit lately! I posted a "wanted" add a week ago or so looking for a trainer type plane to buy to teach a few of the guys here to fly. I have some Fun Jets with Neu motors and Optic 6 radios here courtesy of Castle Creations, Hitec/Multiplex, Steve Neu and Flight Power. But, they are not exactly good trainer planes.

Anyway, in what seemed to be minutes, one of the faithful RC Groupers "Shovelheadfreak" offered up 4, yes 4 airplanes for us and a bunch of misc motors/gear! I said, "how much?" he said I CANT pay him!!! What a great guy!

So, today they arrived! 1 slofly 28 arco 3D kit complete with motor, esc, carbon fiber. mountain models smoothie kit, hobby lobby super cub kit, and a lee strangle funfly kit along with enought covering to cover all 3 of them. a bottle of foam safe ca, older 4 channel cirurs radio and RX and many micro and mini servos.

Now, you cant beat that!

So, CW3 Matt Cole is working on the Super Cub tonight. CW2 Dennis Eelkema is building the Smoothie and I will build the fun fly kit and 28 acro.

Pics to follow soon hopefully.

Thank you Shovelheadfreak! Your a great guy man.

Laine

Now, everyone who reads this, send shovelheadfreak a PM and say thanks for me! lol, that should be fun!

So, good old CW3 Matt Cole and I decided its time for him to have a Fun Jet. Matt has a 40 size glow trainer that my good freind Bert Matos (Qbanflyer) gave to him last year. He has 4 or 5 successful flights with that.

So, yesterday I handed him a Fun Jet, Optic 6, two HS 65 Servos, a Neu 1112 1Y motor and Castle Creations Phoenix 45. Today, I came in from my flight and it was built, and painted! NICE. So, he wanted to fly it.... well, not such a good idea I thought. "Why dont you fly MY Fun Jet?" (Same setup, just mine is a little beat up already.) "Sounds good". So, we packed up and off we went to our little "off limits" flying area.

We got there, I did a quick pre flight, set it up with 50% throws on my DX7 and I launched it. I flew it a bit, trimmed it out then handed the TX over to Matt. 8 seconds later.... You know the rest of the story!

We have all been there and done that. Gotta learn somehow! So, now, after repairing the FJ, he has spent the last few hours flying my G-3 sim on his laptop. (shoulda done that sooner!) He is determined to fly one of these little buggers.

Here are the pics! Enjoy! And be sure to check out www.bagramrcclub.com if you get the chance!

Laine.

So, the "coffee house" / Chaplains office is almost done on the outside. A bunch of the Battalion Staff guys (Majors, CW4's, Captains and 1SGs) finished the painting the other night. Yes, the "big wigs" helped out too! They worked on it till about 3am!!! Sure looks nice! Kinda reminds me of a German shop.

Also, here is the movie screen we now have set up on our deck! Courtesy of my freinds in Cali, Deb, Patrick and Wayne! Killer projector (thanks!!!)!! Too bad I wasnt smart enough to turn off my flash when I took the picture.

So, now a few times a week, we are all able to "unwind" in the evenings while we watch a movie. This night just happened to be Saving Private Ryan... fitting maybe? lol

Thanks all!

Laine.

Just figured I would show ya'll the current progress on the building. All the little stuff will KILL YA!! Geesh!

However, we are done with electrical, and nearly done with all the trim on the outside. In a day or two we will start painting. I started sheeting the inside walls today. You cant see it, but the roof is done on top now. Looks just like the roof on the bay windows.

There are still a million things left, but, it should be up and functioning in the next week or so. Finally. I spend all my off time working on this thing.

Laine.

I got back from my R&R leave the other day and, well, nothing had been done on the building for the 24 days I was gone! Soooooo.... after taking a morning "off" to get back into the time change, I rounded up some Joe's and got to work.

We added some of the "molding" to the sides, built a door and door frame, and put in the windows two days ago. Yesterday, we did squat! Nothing at all. Then today, well, its roof time. So, we got quite a bit done with 3 of us, and occasionally a 4th would jump in and help.

Dennis and I are the main designers/engineers/builders/ everything else. But, we have a few, like our 1SG and one of the E-7s from the Battalion staff, who are always willing to lend a hand where ever its needed.

Anyway, more to follow in a few days so you can all see our progress.

Laine.

So, I now have a nice E-Maxx added to my "garage" over here in Bagram. I got the Durango body back at home and the wife and I painted it one evening. Simple, but it looks nice... for now!

Then, when I saw the UH-60 body for my Blade CX, I HAD TO HAVE IT!!! So, I put that on tonight. Still flys like a blade cx, but looks cooler! I mean really, who dosnt like a Black Hawk??

And as an added bonus, you get to see my bed! Lucky devils! Usually it takes at least 3 beers before someone gets to see my bed! lol (just kidding wifey!).

See ya'll later!

Laine.

Well, the wife is horribly allergic to nitro exaust fumes, so I decided I may as well put my favorite plane up for sale. My 60" Cermark Pitts S2B. I listed it in the fuel planes area. Hopefully it will sell while Im gone.

Guess I will get another one after I return and build it electric.

Laine.

So, as you know, I got home the other day. Well, after knocking out about half the things on the "needs to be fixed" list for the wife, its time to build a plane!

Kameron (my 6 year old) and I got busy this morning and decided it was Super Fly building time. So, with help from my little buddy, we painted, built and flew a new Super Fly today. Tomorrow, he will get a shot at the sticks on the buddy cord.

Of course, it had to be done in a Mopar theme with some Kasey Kahne #9 Dodge flair on top!

As usual, after I knocked the rust off the sticks, it flew like a champ. 3 flights now and my Boxer (Hemi the super dog) is worn out from chasing it, my batteries need charged and I need a shower!

Laine.

Hey all, Im rolling out today for my leave! Yup, thats right, I get to go spend a couple weeks hangin out with the family. Dont have to worry about "show times", or small arms fire, or RPG's or mortars and rockets for awhile!

See ya'll later!

Laine.

Hey there folks, if you havent noticed it on the home page, check it out now!

WWW.BAGRAMRCCLUB.COM

Thanks to Lee at Castle Creations and a bunch of other "sponsors" we are decked out with a bunch of Traxxas Stampedes and Rustlers! Each one has its own Caslte Creations Sidewinder ESC and Mamba 4600kv brushless motor.

We are running them on 6 Cell 3000mah NiMh batts that Hobbypeople.net gave us at an incredible price (along with chargers and power supplies).

Some folks are using the stock 27mhz radios, some are using the new 2.4ghz Airtronics MX3 radios that Hobby People hooked us up with.

Not only do we have trucks, but Hitec/Multiplex squared us away with 4 Fun Jets, 4 Optic 6 Radios, HS 65 servos and 3S 2500mah lipos.

But wait, theres more! Steve Neu hooked us up with some 1112 1Y brushless motors to put in them, and Lee got us taken care of with props, prop adapters, connectors, servo extensions etc... We also have some 2S 4900 lipos on the way courtesy of Flight Power!

It sure is nice to have a little bit of time in the evenings where some of us can get together, bash around and just have great time not worrying about any of the days events.

So, if you can, make sure you do what you can to support the companies that help us out!

But wait, theres more! Lee hooked up some very cool T shirts! All the proceeds from the shirts is going to the Fisher House. What a excellent and appropriate charity! So, get your shirt soon! They are going fast!

Check out the site WWW.BAGRAMRCCLUB.COM

Fun Jet Video

Multiplex Fun Jet in Afghanistan! (4 min 34 sec)

Rustler/Stampede Video

Rustlers and Stampedes in Afghanistan (1 min 6 sec)

Laine.

Hey guys, just to put a little reality into what we do here, I'd like to briefly tell you about just one part of what we do some days.

I spent the day on QRF (Quick Reaction Force) recently. We got launched early in the morning to go pick up 9 "Heros". If you are not sure what that means, well, its not good. I can tell you this, seeing hundreds of soldiers standing in rows saluting as they bring them to the aircraft is an emotional deal.

Its not the first time I have done these missions, but something about it always makes you sad but proud at the same time. The soldiers out here give it thier all every day, for themselves, eachother, the rest of us in the military and all of you back home. I didnt know any of them personally, but I have nothing but respect and admiration for thier dedication. So, take a minute, think about them and their families and say a prayer for them all. They truely are heros to me.

Laine.

Well, as if I dont have enough going on here in good old Afghanistan with work, work, more work. Then there is the Bagram RC Club stuff, playin trucks and flyin planes on occasion. So when the Chaplain asked, a few of us decided to help out our good old ex Army Ranger Chaplain (Yeah I know, no such thing as an "EX Ranger") and build him a new office next to our office.

So, one thing led to another, and now the Chaplain will have a 2nd story office with a coffee shop/MWR area under it and a huge 2nd floor deck! We dont go halfway on anything apparently.

Yeah, they are workin on getting coffee makers, popcorn machine, cappachino maker, refrigerators, freezers, nice furniture, TVs etc... all in there. They even want to make pancakes on Sundays for everyone. It will be great to have a nice place, run by us to hang out for a few.

Of course the entire thing will be volunteers and donations from folks here and in the States. We are just supplying the "know how" and labor to make it happen.

Besides, you cant say "NO" to a Chaplain! They will put a curse on you or somthing right?

Laine.

PS Be sure to check out www.bagramrcclub.com Get a shirt! They rock!

Hey folks, do me a huge favor and take 5 min to check this out. My great freinds in the RC business have hooked us up in a HUGE way over here. More info here... (Im diggin the t-shirts on the site too!)


www.BagramRCClub.com

Laine.

So, we flew up to Bamyan, Bamian, whatever, again the other day. Im told that there is a "no fly zone" somewhere around there... hmmm... interresting. Anyway, got some really nice looking pictures of the Bhudda statues, or rather, the holes where they are rebuilding them.

Laine.

So, when was the last time you got to play catch with some M. L. Baseball players? It was a first for me! I LOVE baseball!

They came for a visit, we asked if they would like to check out our UH-60s. So, after crawling around the helicopters for awhile, someone asked if they would play some catch! Too cool. Never knew a ML outfielder could throw such a mean knuckle ball!

These guys were great, and I wish all "famous" people were this fun to be around.

So, anyone recognize any of them??

Tim Salmon from the Angels
Dean Palmer from Detroit
Mike Remlinger from Chicago
Jeff Nelson from NY

Thanks guys, it was a day I wont forget soon!


Laine.

Well, we decided that our "coffee drinking area" at the house, well, sucked. So, this is what we have done to rectify the situation.

Now we dont have to stand in the rough rocks in our flip flops at night. And we have a nice place to hang out when we are not at work.

16 feet by 32 feet of "relaxing area" is what it is. Built primarily by Dennis, Ervin and myself. With some help from others on occasion.

There is still a lot more to do, but, its gettin there! We usually only have time to work on it one day a week or so... and thats if the weather is decent and we are not beat dead tired. Maybe it will be done before we leave in 8 months!

Laine.

Well, as you know, Im in Afghanistan. So, I figured my kids needed some way to get thier RC fix while dad is gone. Yeah, they all have or have had planes, but no great interrest in them. So, now they all have trucks!

Cartoon (14 yrs old) runs a Traxxas Stampede with a Castle Creations Mamba Max ESC and 5700kv Mamba brushless motor.

Loo hoo (13 yrs old) Runs a Traxxas Stampede with the stock brushed setup (for now).

Kam shaft (6yrs old) Runs a Duratraxx Evader with the stock brushed setup (for now).

As you can see, Hemi the super dog has to get her fix too. She normally chases my planes around when I fly, but, since I am not there right now, the trucks will have to do!

The kids are, with moms help, building a nice sized track out back behind the house as I type this. Cool deal, cool kids, cool trucks, cool mom. What more could a daddy want!

Laine.

These Russian MI-8 HIP's are all over the place here, and I swear they are crazy. They just kinda do thier own thing, but, they do look cool. And I finally had the time to get a few pictures of one sitting next to us the other day.

The guys on the HIP must have took 50 pics of eachother sitting in our Black Hawk at the M-240 door gun. Then pics with us, then... then... lots of pictures. Nice fellas too.

Anyway, if you have never seen an MI-8, they are a monster. Built like a tank, they certainly are not built for comfort. They can weigh up to about 26000lbs in flight. Pretty good helicopter really. Big old 5 blade rotor (and it turns the wrong way!) and man are they ugly! Well, when compared to a UH-60L anyway!

Laine

The other day I got to fly to one of the places everyone wants to go. Its called Bamian (Bamyan), they spell it different ways. Its a New Zealand run base. Great guys too. The senior enlisted guy on the post walked us around showing us things.

Anyway, there used to be some GIANT Buddah statues in the mountain side, but the Talliban or someone blew them up a few years ago. They are currently being re-built. Im not certain of the entire story, but Im sure you can find lots of info on it on-line if you look a little.

Laters!

Laine.