The Slowness of Now (plus Secrets Revealed!)

I haven’t posted in three weeks.  I feel sluggish, tired all the time, and unmotivated.  It is most likely due to lack of sleep, but a certain amount of the ennui or lethargy is due to the time of year and this year, in particular.  Winter is hard for me when it comes to building and flying.  I can build, obviously, but I cannot really test as I have no testing area.  Here is a photo of outside today.

The weather is rarely good enough to test outside – it is either wet and snowy, like the picture, or warm and windy, or cold and windy.  Rarely do we get a day where we have soft breezes and a ground that is neither sopping wet or rock hard.  I can only test indoors and that is once a month – at contest time.  And this year?  well, it is bringing its own challenges.  We did get the November meet in, but spiking COVID cases are a constant worry and the state has limited gatherings.  It may be relaxed by the December contest, but maybe not.

So where am I to get motivation?  In addition, my shelves are getting full of models.  I am running out of places to store them.  Anyway, I will push on, but right now the push is less than a crawl, and more of a stall.

I didn’t write a personal report on the November contest, mostly because I didn’t want to come off as bragging – I took 4 of 5 events and was mere seconds away from the 5th and left that one on the table, due to the model needing a repair.  But there were things that I was particularly pleased with.

My Phantom Flash (#11) continues to be perfectly set up, at least for me.  I made up some motors BEFORE the contest (that’s a shocker, if you know me) and put one of these new motors in the PF.  I guess I can’t read my own notes because the new motor was short – with the model running out of turns well above the ground.  On one flight, it ran out about 20+ feet up in the air at about 2:30 and landed at over 2:40.  That is about my highest flight time – imagine what it would have been with another couple hundred turns from a longer motor.  Next time…

The other great flight was in an event that wasn’t even contested.  I took my newly finished Hobo2 Embryo out for some test flights.  Bob Bienenstein flies his Hobo design on a LONG loop of 1/16″ and a 6″x6″ prop.  I’ve tried to emulate this, but just cannot get the duration that Bob gets out of a loop of 1/16″, probably because I can’t build as lightly as Bob.  I built a 6″x6″ wide-blade prop and put in a 3/32″ motor.  After a couple of initial test flights, I wound it up.  I had 2800 turns and let it go.  It leapt right off the board with a very strong climb-out straight away, as it came to a gentle stall, it put in a little right turn and climbed straight out again.  After the second power stall and right turn, it continued on with no more power stalls and a nice right turn.  Everything went well in the flight, it got good height and had a smooth transition from power to cruise, and it landed at 2:15.  Success.  I think there is more potential – I can probably go with a slightly thinner motor for a longer duration, but it was a most satisfying flight, even if no one else had an Embryo to fly.

Speaking of contests, in case you are not aware, July 2021 will be especially busy for some of us.  Currently scheduled: in the middle of July will be the yearly FAC contest in Geneseo, NY – the next week will be the AMA/NFFS Indoor Nationals in Pontiac, MI (my home field!) – and the week after that will be the AMA/NFFS Outdoor Nationals in Muncie, IN (home away from home).  I anticipate there will be many people that will attend one of these three major contests, there will be a smaller number that will attend two of these contests, and… right now, I know of two people that are planning on attending all three of these contests!  Mike Welshans and I plan on being at all three of these!  What a month – we will be dog tired come August.  Let me know if you are planning on one, two, or three of these!

Every year around this time, I create a Potential Project List that I keep taped to the wall right next to my desk.  It is a reminder of what I want to design/build/fly/kit for the next year.  It is a living document – meaning I add to the list as I get inspiration throughout the year.  Often there are carry-overs from the previous year that didn’t get built, but I still have interest in.  Right now on the 2020 sheet (initially created last year this time) there are 32 models, with 11 completed, and three nearly completed (built and not finished or cut parts waiting to be built).  In the next few days or weeks, I’ll look at the 2020 list and determine what should be carried over to 2021 and create a new list.

So what’s coming up?  Traditionally, I don’t usually share too much of what is in the pipeline.  Maybe I should share some of this information.  I’ll divide this into several groups, based on the current stage of progress on the project (comments welcome).

• Ready to Cover
  • Peanut Fike E “Dream” – I built this last year for Indoor, but Indoor got shut down.  Then EasyBuilt came out with a Peanut kit.  My project stalled.  I will cover it and fly it for Indoor, but I don’t know if I will kit it.
• Ready to Build
  • Al Backstrom’s Dimer Mauboussin Hemiptere – as seen in the NFFS Digest – prototype being built by Oliver Sand
  • Jonathan Nuñez’ Peanut Yak-3 – also seen in the NFFS Digest – sitting on my board waiting for motivation
  • Gil Sherman’s Convertible – 2 Bit Old Timer – prototype being built by Archie Adamisin
• Old Successful Builds, but not Ready for Production
  • Jumbo Stallion – drawing needs finished – depends on public interest
  • Peanut Stuka – drawing needs cleaned up, instructions written, and most importantly, I need to figure out how to design a canopy buck that I can 3D print
• Drawings in Process – Top of the List
  • Mike Welshans’ 24″ Rearwin Speedster
  • Gene Smith’s Champion 21″ Cessna Cardinal
  • Comet’s Fokker D.vii Dimer
• Any Interest in These that are also In Progress?
  • Peanut Occipinti’s Tailwind (Wittman Tailwind with retracts)
  • Ace Whitman Sky Rider for OT Fuselage
  • Korda C Stick Tractor for OT Stick
  • Ralph Kuenz’ 24″ F-82 Twin Mustang
  • Gollywock-based Embryo
• About 100 Other Subjects, Some of Which Have Drawings Started

That’s about it for now.  Orders need packed, Kits need cut, Things need 3D printed, and Models need built.  Stay safe, everyone, even if that means staying separate on Thursday.  I hope to see you at the flying field in the future.