Flight Log: 01/28/2012

Finally a decent day weatherwise again, so I took the Toledo Special to the field for some exercise. Took 2 flights and was happy with that, and with just spending time with the few that braved the chilly 45F with light breeze.  It was dry and that was the main thing.  TS flew well, engine ran well, but I just landed awful bad today.  Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy!  Joe flew his Hawk and electric Citabria, and had flown his Zlin before I arrived.  Mike flew his Revolver and Stearman.  Dave Miller flew his Extra, which he purchased from Jeremy.  It flew well, but on a deadstick, he lost too much speed and stalled from about 5 feet up.  One main LG tore out of the fuselage, but it looks pretty easy to repair.  Rudy and Ty came out today too, but Rudy forgot his transmitter tray at home, so couldn't fly.

Note to self:  I affixed a FUTABA banner to one of the pilot box fences today.  Let's see how long it lasts.

Stormy Seas

Watched  Bob Ross on OPB today and about an hour later I tried to recreate the painting.  It was a struggle at times, having to scrape the paint off a couple areas and repaint them, but in the end I am totally satisfied.  Most times my seascapes have smaller waves with crashes that are below the horizon.  This has a pretty big wave with crashes way above the horizon, so the impact is pretty high too!  Colors are different too, so it was a good show to watch and learn some more on color and layout variations.  Note to self...the sea has a background of black gesso (allowed to dry completely) with alizarin crimson in the center, followed by purple around that, and then brown on the bottom/sand areas.  The waves are then created on that layer.  My other seascapes typically have the black gesso base, with pthalo blue (top 3rd to horizon), pthalo green (middle 3rd), and brown with yellow on the beach.  All are blended slightly at the overlap.  BTW this is painting #57 since starting the Bob Ross method of wet-on-wet oil painting exactly 2 years ago, and it is my 7th painting for 2012.

Winter Serenity

I tried some different things on this painting.  The sky is different than my others partly by plan and partly by accident.  I wanted a lavendar and pink sky, with dark blue corners.  I put the liquid white base down too skimpy, and the lavendar, pink, and dark blue did not blend well at all.  So I put a layer of liquid white on top of it all and blended it together, then applied prussian blue to the corners  again.  For clouds, the titanium white with slight bright red tint did not stick so well, and I had to add some liquid white to it.  The result was these really delicate clouds which I love.  For the first time, I put a little cloud in front of the mountain.  Background trees were with the fan brush vertically, and using a brown mixed with lavendar mix.  Tall background trees are with a little darker shade of that mix.  Foreground evergreens were done by pushing the large fan brush up instead of down.  This is the first time I tried it, and the result is pleasing.  Sandy says these are optimistic trees since the branches go up, and all my past ones have been pessimistic, lol.  For the cabin, I really let the white get dirty for the roof, and I made the walls much more splotchy than in the past.  The result is a much more relaxed looking cabin.  I had fun doing the snow, just dragging dark colors from the trees, shrubs, and cabin to create shadows as well as the lay of the land.  The fence adds interest and depth by making the posts change in size dramatically from back to front.  I really enjoyed painting this one today with having hardly any idea what to paint...I just decided to practice with a different sky, make "optimistic" evergreens, and build a better cabin.  It all came out just right, and Sandy was the most complimentary of this landscape than any other.  Yay!

Foggy Flight Log!

Based on weather forecasts we thought the fog would burn off  today by noonish, so we went out, Jer and I.  The weatherman was wrong (again) and it never burned off, but we had a blast anyway, freezing and flying our electrics.  Jer had his Reflection, L-39, and Extra 3D.  I just have the Extra 3D, but Jer let me use some of his batteries, and kept recharging all day with his 12v MR2 battery and charger that I gave him for Christmas.  I probably got 10 flights in.  My batteries in the xmitter finally went too low during a flight and crashed my plane in a dive.  Luckily the plane is feather light, and the grass is soft.  There is some minor damage to foam and cellophane covering that can be fixed with CA and tape.  We had just a few other diehards there today...Joe, Mike, Brandon and Bruce.  Good fun had by all even in the fog and with temps that probably never went over 40F.

Flight Log: 01/08/2012

Barely over 40F, but calm and rainless, it was a good day to fly with handwarmers in the pockets!  Flew the Intruder 3 times and the SNAFU 3 times.  Jer took the SNAFU for a full flight too.  He flew his Albatross while Joe flew his little silver Mig, which was real entertaining to watch.  Looked like the Mig had a slight edge in speed.  Mike flew his Revolver, which sheered its main LG off after a decent landing...weird.  It came off pretty clean and will be fixed easily with some epoxy and bracing.  He had his Uproar for more fun.  Other than that, no crashes today, and everyone went home happy.  Oh, I did a full Intruder flight with 90% left rolls only.  It got pretty weird, but I shall do it again because I want left rolls to look as smooth and axial as right ones.

Midnight Mystery

This is painting #54 overall, and 4th for 2012.  Son Tad suggested doing a night seascape, so here it is.  Bob Ross had done a night landscape recently, so I just used the same technique for the sky, and put one of my seas in.  Not bad!

Midnight Mystery

Flight Log: 01/03/12

What a mild day it is today!  It was nearly 50F when I woke up, and calm, so I headed out and flew the Intruder for 3 flights of pattern smoothness and grace.  Worked on different rolls, doing some to the left.  Really should try to fly complete flights with left rolls only to get the same comfort level as right rolls.  Maybe next time.  The Intruder has to be one of my faves for its trueness in the air, and the smooth running OS 91 Surpass II engine.  The plane, engine/prop combo is right on.  Great day of flying, albeit alone!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It was a great way to start 2012...with calm air, no rain, over 40F, and flying RC planes with Jer, Tad, and a few other club members like Joe, Mike and Rudy!  I flew my Stinger 4 times and the SNAFU 3 times.  Engines in both ran flawlessly (tweaked OS 52 in SNAFU just one click and it seemed to smooth out high end without going too lean, yay) and the planes were as groovy as ever.  Joe flew a new F4 Phantom twin EDF, using his PVC pipe launching rails.  Very cool and worked well.  The F4 is FAST and just makes me smile every time it streaks by on a fast low pass!  Jer also maidened a jet...his EDF Albatross.  Noisier and slower than the F4, it still was awesome on its low and fast passes.  Sure slows down nicely for greased on belly landings!  FUN DAY, January 1, 2012!!