Yesterday, we finally got our first outdoor meet of the year in the books. We had been rained out twice and we were all itching to fly. We had decent weather and about 17 members/flyers in attendance.
Photo of the Day: we found this plane while searching for another. This is a Phantom Flash that was lost sometime last flying season.
Here are three videos we were able to record.
It’s only two months until these contests and, as I personally scramble to get my fleet ready to fly, I’d like to remind everyone that I do accept PRE-ORDERS for delivery to Geneseo, NY and Muncie, IN in July. Submit your order and it will be packed and you can pick it up at these events, saving you shipping charges.
It is especially important to pre-order if you would like to buy any Superior Props propellers or accessories, so that we can get them made on time. If you need and Old Timer Folders or 3- or 4- bladed props, get those orders in now!
Just go online (www.volareproducts.com/BUY/) and select your items. During checkout, select “EVENT PICKUP” and be sure to add a comment at which event you will pick up the order.
After a long day working on the business (29 kits assembled, among other things), I decided I needed some Evening Therapy, as my friend, Chris Boehm calls it.
We haven’t had a chance to really fly outdoors yet, and while I have tested some new models, I don’t have the local space to properly trim. So I decided to get out an older, trustworthy, predictable model just for some fun.
This is my 16.5″ span T.E.A.M. HiMax filmed last evening. In a subsequent flight, I got the stalling power flight calmed down (more down thrust and a little right thrust) and the plane really gets up. It was very satisfying to have the plane simply go up and come down without having to fight it or think about why it’s not performing as expected.
–george
This is to get into the heads of all my FAC flying buddies that will be going to the 2014 Indoor Fling in Pontiac, MI tomorrow. Here is my hangar of airplanes for tomorrow’s competition:
Peanut Scale: Pegna P.C.1 and Junkers Stuka
FAC Scale: T.E.A.M. HiMaxDime Scale: Chambermaid
NoCal: T.E.A.M. HiMax
Phantom Flash
Embryo: BC Special
Goodyear Race: Falcon Special II
WWII Mass Launch: Stuka
Pinkham Field Stick: 19″ Cloud Tramp and Sleek Streek
Pinkham Field Victory: TriFlyer
Jet Catapult: Yak-21
As it says on my model box: “look upon my works and despair!” (Now if I just get a chance to fly half of them!)
For all of my years of flying, I’ve been pretty much a “by guess and by golly” or “TLAR” (That Looks About Right) flyer. I never put much scientific practice into my flying. I am pretty analytic, so I understand that it “could” help; maybe I’ve just been lazy.
Well, friendly competition never hurt anyone. I’ve come to realize that if I want to keep winning – or not give wins away – I better start applying some of the basic principles of rubber flying: I am going to apply Don DeLoach’s Tail Volume – CG formulae; I may start building more conventional aircraft (like my Chambermaid), I am going to venture into events that I never flew (such as Dime Scale), and I am going to start measuring torque while winding.
I was at an informal indoor event a month ago and was struggling a little to get good performance out of my NoCal HiMax and my flying buddy (and competitor!) Winn Moore asked “to what torque are you winding?” My reply: “I dunno – never used a torque meter.” He said “use my Wilder Winder with Torque Meter and tell me where you are.” I did and gave him a number and he said for that motor cross section I could go at least 60% higher in torque. I was shocked. I tried it and got GREAT results. I was sold. (Speaking of “sold”, I had been back bidder on ebay for the very winder that Winn let me use!)
I did a ton of online research and built some spreadsheets and I now own 3 Torque meters that I have built and I am working on a fourth. Here are two of them. The one attached to my winder should be good for all of my Indoor/NoCal/Phantom Flash motors. Full scale deflection to left or right (counter rotating twins?) should be 1 inch-ounch. The larger also fits on the Wilder and should be good for all of my peanuts and smaller ships with full deflection of 2 inch-ounces. And I build a long, detached one for big stuff up to 12 inch-ounces.
two homemade torque meters for my Wilder Winder
I finished up this plane yesterday. It is built from the laser-cut Short Kit I sell. Mine came out to be 25g without rubber – a full 20% higher than Bernard states his weighed! I put a short loop of 1/8″ in it and gave it a few powered test-glides – wow, what a floater. I bet this plane won’t be with me at the end of the flying season. The first flying will be this Sunday in Flint!
–george
Dime Scale Chambermaid built from the Volare Products/Bernard Guest Short Kit
Well, the weather seems to have finally broken; it broke 50 today and is supposed to be over 60 tomorrow. Regarding the weather, March is going out like a lamb.
But, I want to thank all of my customers. I don’t know exactly why, but March 2014 has been my best month ever and 2014 is off to a roaring start, business-wise. Below, you will see a photo of the outgoing packages for tomorrow. I’ve had 90 orders in March and they have kept me hopping, for sure.
Next Saturday, I will be at the TOLEDO R/C SHOW – Saturday only; in the Swap Shop area. Pre-order and pick up your package at my booth – save that postage!
This was taken nearly 20 years ago. It was almost certainly at a Cleveland Free Flight Society FAC contest. From left-to-right: Russ Brown (CFFS), Stu Weckerly (Cloudbusters), Dave Livesay (Cloudbusters), and me – George Bredehoft. In the late 90s, I had already moved to Michigan, so I was visiting Cleveland as a Cloudbuster, too. Dave no longer flies; he has other activities. A couple years after this was taken, I took a 10-year hiatus. Russ still does his CD duties and Stu still flies regularly. He now holds more FAC victories than any other living FAC member (over 400).
Russ Brown, Stu Weckerly, Dave Livesay, George Bredehoft – roughly 1996
I’ve been very busy in the last few weeks and now I can announce TWO NEW KITS!
Kit 1: a laser cut kit of Charles Hampson Grant’s classic stick model – the Cloud Tramp. This kit includes:
All of that for $12. I do offer a combo-pack: the kit plus a Superior Props 8″ prop blank; for a total of $16. Get it in plenty of time for the World Wide Mass Launch!
Kit 2: A neo-Dime Scale Short Kit of the famous Chambermaid racer, designed by Bernard Guest. As a short kit, we are providing a copy of the plan and 3 sheets of laser-cut parts. This is a very successful model in all scales and in Dime Scale, it consistently places at or near the top of the list.
This plan is so close to scale that the simple addition of two stringers to the sides of the fuselage and two stringers to the bottom of the fuselage, and flying wires on the tail should be all that is required to convert this to a full 16″ span scale model of the 1938 Greve Race proposal.
We will also include Bernard’s artwork for the model as a free download. This will allow you to print the color and markings onto your own tissue. The pages are formatted to print on 8.5″x14″ sheets (legal), but might work better on 11″x17″ paper.
The Chambermaid Short Kit is $10.
Cloud Tramp Kit
Chambermaid Short Kit
I participate in maybe two indoor contests a year (Kent, Ohio and Pontiac, Michigan) and I rarely get the opportunity to practice (no more than once a month at Potterville, Michigan). Today was my last opportunity to test/practice before the two Indoor meets.
I flew this plane respectably last year with three flights totaling about 340 seconds (roughly 110 seconds +/-). I used a 20″ loop of 0.075″ rubber and a 6″ Ikara indoor prop.
I decided to carve a 6″ Superior Props balsa blank to see if the greater blade area would help me extend my flight times. Unfortunately, I don’t have a football/soccer field house to practice in!
This flight, in the video, went to 1:08. With trimming, I was able to get 1:26 on 1500 turns. I think maybe this prop will allow me a greater time in a larger arena.
