Well, I was right – it was a busy weekend for me. I flew in 11 events, placed in 9 of them; winning 5! That was probably my best single contest ever.
The weather was not perfect, but it was mostly sunny, a bit windy, slightly humid, and hot; in the high 80s. The wind prevented most flights from reaching their full potential. In one mass launch on Sunday, 6 out of 7 planes went straight to the ground on the “launch” command – all because of the wind.
My Phantom Flash #4, built on Friday right before the contest on Saturday, put in some pretty good flights and it won Phantom Flash.
The highlight of my weekend though, was my newest model. I have decided that the next laser-cut kit will be Al Backstrom’s Big Cat embryo. I first became acquainted with this model in 97 or so when it was published in the Windy Sock newsletter. I was publisher of the web version of the newsletter, working with Joe Joseph. My son, Jack, built one when he was 12 or so and it was a success.
He lost or crashed that one years ago, but built #2 last year. He won with that one but lost it, too. He has built a third Big Cat and has won with it, too. All of this success made me realize what a great – and unknown – design this model is and I decided to build a prototype of a laser-cut kit to prove the kit.
On Sunday, I put in a half-power test flight, a full power test flight – and three official flights – and won the Embryo event. This included beating some well-known and capable flyers flying proven designs. I will get the kit assembled in a week or so and it will be offered for $20. This is one good plane that pretty much anyone will have success with.
Check out the build photos here: BIG CAT EMBRYO
Here is a Gallery of the event: McCOOK @ MUNCIE