Flight Log: 12/22/10

45F and light breezes with no rain!  Took advantage of it to fly, and of course nobody else was at the field.  Wind was pretty much directly out of the South, so I took off and landed on the short runway!  Sounds nuts, but it was fun with the T-28 Trojan, using 15 degrees of flap on takeoff and full flaps for landings.  This was the first flight time for the T-28 after I installed new front and rear bearings in the Saito 82a a couple months ago.  Somewhat dubious about how it would run, I was very surprised when the engine started IMMEDIATELY with the starter.  The engine ran perfect without any needle adjustments and I logged in 4 flights.  It's just so fun to dive from high for the field with full flaps and 1/3 throttle, gain no speed, let up over the far end of the runway (in this case the dirt road), cut throttle, and drive the plane down the last foot of altitude to a 3 point landing.  Gee, that was a fun outing!

Flight Log: 12/19/10

Another gift day...it was supposed to be windy and low 40's.  Woke up and it was calm.  Couple hours later it got windy so we cancelled flying (Joe, Jer, me), but another hour later it was light and variable.  At 11:30AM, I headed to the field.  The wind was light, temp of 42F, no rain, no sun, haha.  As good as it gets for Winter!  Jim Stone had his Radian up high when I got there.  Cory and father James were there but not flying yet.  I got out the Yak 54 and had 3 great flights...sure needed the starter on the first start.  It took a while to get primed and finally got started, but it ran like a top after that.  All good landings.  Nice rolling circles today.

Flight Log: 12/16/10

Calm, grey, 45F, dry...about as perfect as it gets for this time of year!  Flew the Imagine 50 4x with nary an issue.  Easy starting OS 70 Surpass II, good power, good idle, nice speed for about 32 minutes of air time.  Brushed up on rolling circles to the left, many stall turns, loops, avanches, cuban 8's, reversed cuban 8's, four point rolls, and slow rolls both left and right rolling.  Mike was there too with his Twist and his new Aerostar 40 that looks and flies great.  Took off and landed in both directions.  Mowed the field after flying.

Slip Sliding Away

This is my latest RC gadget...the Traxxas 1/16 scale Rally VXL car which is great for drifting, thus the title of this post!  Just received it yesterday.  It has 4 wheel drive, oil filled shocks, and runs with either one or two battery packs.  In series, the packs offer 50mph speed; in parallel, they offer longer run times.  The great thing is it has a 2.4GHz radio, so there is no such thing as frequency conflicts!  Anthony at our plane club got it first (green version), and as soon as Jer and I sampled it at the field, we had to have our own to race with Anthony.  Jeremy got the silver/black version of the car a few days before me .  While we have encouraged Joe and Tad, they have not succumbed to the temptation, YET.  There is one more color available...red, but we can run an unlimited number of these together due to the 2.4GHz feature.  I'm very anxious to run this car outside on the driveway to see it perform.  Gentlemen, START YOUR ENGINES!!!!  Vroom, vroom, vrooooooooooom!!

Update on 12/16/10:  Alex and I drove the car on the driveway for the first time.  Now that is fun!  Stock tires seem to work well on the driveway, allowing drifting without a lot of unwanted spinning out of control.  Ran the 1200 NiMH packs in parallel and got about 25 minutes run time, running pretty full out most of the time.  Hmmmmm, would like longer run times!  Need more batteries.  :)

12/19/10:  Jer and I ran our cars under the shelter at the elementary school.  Set up a course with 4 frisbees.  The pavement is smooth and it was cold, so the cars were really slipping, but that made it cool for drifting.  The cars hit each other sometimes, but all impacts were minor side swipes.  They seem to be durable. Tad came and drove both our cars and liked it a lot.  It's going to be tough to beat these boys, but IT CAN BE DONE!  Lots of fun had by all.

Pet Peeve - protect your tender ears!

I just spent 15 minutes outside, scooping cat shit from around the back and sides of my house foundation.  I have to do this every few weeks (more frequent is actually required) because the damn cats come all the time to poop and piss in my yard.  I fling the shit as far as I can with my rake out into the tall grass field behind my property.  I never walk out there and neither should my sons if they have any brains.  After getting rid of most of the shit, I use the same bamboo rake to level the barkdust smooth again.  THEN I dust the area with whatever cheap red pepper I have on hand.  It probably doesn't help, but I have to feel like I am trying something other than just prepping the ground nicely for the next friggin cat to shit all over again.  I am PISSED OFF and wish the damn neighbors who own these critters would keep them inside. I don't own a cat and shouldn't have to suffer this aggravation.  I don't piss and shit in their yards, so they should keep their crap out of mine.  I have a BB rifle and feel I should have the right to use it on tresspassers in my yard.  There I feel better saying that, but will feel better if I can get rid of the cats.  Some I know are feral/wild, so nobody would miss them.  BTW I have also tried some homemade concoctions of rosemary to keep the cats away, to little avail.  End of tirade today.

The Ultimate ULTIMATE 20-300

I am now assembling the 50cc Ultimate 20-300 made by Aeroworks.  On Nov 16, I got a nice deal (hohoho) from Tom at Valley View for the plane, DLE-55 engine, Xoar Sword prop, CF spinner, and 42% Optokill switch for $1,100 shipped to my door.  Yeah it doesn't sound like it, but it's a deal, haha.  I already ordered and received Tower TS-150 servos for it, CF servo arms from R2Hobbies (China), and the helmet head (Horizon Hobbies).  I also got some Testors enamel paints, and I have painted the head to match the color scheme of the plane.  It's all painted by brush and came out pretty COOL!  Note dash panel: I found one for the Ultimate online, copied, pasted, enlarged, printed (on photopaper) and mounted it with spray adhesive (Krylon).  Not that sharp resolution, but it does the job quite well, especially since it is viewed through the smoked canopy.

 

12/21/10 Update:  I have installed 6 servos in the plane for the 2 elevators and 4 ailerons.  Tonight I installed the control horns on the elevators.  It's amazing how stressful and sweatful it is to do because these are the first ever for which I have put the screws in with a drop of medium CA on them.  There is no changing anything once the screws are down and SET!  Spooky, but that is what the AeroWorks instructions specify.

Flight Log: 12/05/10

Yay, a decent day to fly came along today...just over 40F, 7pmh wind, no rain, nor sun though, haha.  Jer went too, as did Mike, and Cory and Brandon.  Flew my Giles 3x and my SNAFU about 4x or more (?)  Can't remember.  All flew well.  Wind out of the North, so we had to land with speed and quartering into the wind, down the runway.  SNAFU was no prob to just use the short runway to take off in 10' and rollout on landing in 3', haha.  Just fun to keep the fingers nimble and not lose the memory.  Buzzed around using the SNAFU when Mike flew his Twist, and using my Giles when Jer flew his Extra.  Oh, the Giles would not start at first.  The plug was weak, so I tossed it and put in a Fireball.  It started right up and ran well.