In our (the Cloudbusters) monthly Indoor contests, I’ve been trying to “get better”.\u00a0 The AMA indoor Nats are going to be held on my “home field” – at the Soccer Arena in Pontiac.\u00a0 This is exciting, but my flying probably needs to take a couple steps up.\u00a0 I will be surprised if I come out on top of any of the FAC events – and there are a LOT!\u00a0 Online registration is now open on the AMA web site.<\/p>\n
Outdoor season is set to start here in Michigan on the second Sunday in April.\u00a0 Our normal schedule is the 4th Sunday, but we add one in April and one in October, just in case the weather is bad.\u00a0 Or rather, there is a good chance that one or both April contest will be called due to rain.<\/p>\n
Yesterday (Saturday), I drove down to Muncie for some test-flying.\u00a0 Archie Adamisin (Kentucky) and Mike Smith (Dayton) were driving over to fly their Vintage Coupe de Hivers for a Postal contest that ends at the end of the month.\u00a0 Archie had planned on LAST weekend, but he wasn’t ready.\u00a0 Too bad, because the weather was great LAST weekend.\u00a0 Yesterday was windy.\u00a0 Not breezy, but windy.\u00a0 When we wrapped up, it was probably approaching 20 mph.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the three of us flew.\u00a0 Archie had two coupes, Mike had one, and I brought two new models that I built over the winter:\u00a0 the Three-Nite P-30 (Mike Jester design) and the HepCat OT Fuselage (John Barker design).\u00a0 Both flew off the board, but trimming for really great flights will have to wait until there is less wind.\u00a0 I did hit 90 seconds on both of them.\u00a0 By the way, Archie hit 2:07 on his last flight and Mike had a very long flight, too (no one timed it, but it went way off the field).\u00a0 Oh, no one broke a plane, even in that wind!\u00a0 Archie did have a cracked spar, but I’m not counting that.<\/p>\n
Here they are right before we packed up.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/volareproducts.com\/new2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/coupes.jpg\")
<\/a>Archie (left) and Mike with their Vintage Coupes<\/p><\/div>\n
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NEW PRODUCTS:<\/strong><\/p>\n I have released some new products since the last announcements of tissue paper and the Cessna 177RG.<\/p>\n I’ve added Teflon Washers<\/strong> in three sizes – find them HERE<\/a><\/p>\n I’ve added a cute little original Dimer – the Comet Curtiss-Wright Coupe<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Short Kit comes with\u00a0 copy of the original plan and the parts layout and prototype built by Archie Adamisin.\u00a0 He had it at the March Indoor Meet and it was cute as a button AND flew great!<\/p>\n There’s a flight video on the product page – find it HERE<\/a><\/p>\n Archie’s Comet Curtiss-Wright Coupe from our Short Kit<\/p><\/div>\n Mike Jester, in California, asked me if I would be interested in producing a P-30 Short Kit<\/strong> for beginners.\u00a0 He designed a flat-winged P-30 he has called the “Three-Nite<\/strong>” (read all about it on Hip Pocket) and I produced a Short Kit.\u00a0 It comes in two flavors:\u00a0 a) plan and laser-cut wood and b) plan, laser-cut wood, Gizmo Geezer P-30 Prop Assembly, DT fuse, rubber, for one motor, dowels and tubing.\u00a0 That’s pretty much everything except tissue and stick wood.<\/p>\n Mike lost his kit prototype and is now building his third.\u00a0 As I mentioned above, i had mine out yesterday and it was a very good flyer, even in the wind.<\/p>\n Find it HERE<\/a><\/p>\n my Three-Nite P-30 . “Props” to my cell phone, because the prop was really spinning in the wind!<\/p><\/div>\n Another modeling friend, Ken McGuire, designed his first model – an Embryo – and it flies, too!\u00a0 He asked if I wanted to kit it – I like kitting planes that are flyers!\u00a0 He’s built two, including the kit prototype, and will probably build another.\u00a0 He calls this embryo the Zephyr<\/strong>.\u00a0 It has clean lines and should be a quick build.<\/p>\n Find it the Short Kit HERE<\/a><\/p>\n Ken’s prototype Zephyr<\/p><\/div>\n Over the winter, I drew up and built a new Old Timer.\u00a0 As you can see above, I took it out yesterday and was very happy with the performance right off the board.\u00a0 It is the late John Barker’s HepCat<\/strong> and it qualifies for FAC Old Time Fuselage.\u00a0 It was flown by John in 1944 and on newstands in December 1945 (in the Jan 46 Aeromodeler).<\/p>\n You can find my Short Kit HERE<\/a> and a 3D-printed noseblock HERE<\/a><\/p>\n my HepCat for old Time Fuselage<\/p><\/div>\n OTHER ACTIVITY:<\/strong><\/p>\n Since the beginning of the year, you all have been sending in orders like I’m going out of business. You sure are keeping me hopping. I know that I am behind on getting some of them out to you, but I will get to them – thanks for your continued patience. As you should know, Superior Props folders are custom made and I have to wait for my 82 year old dad to send them to me. In addition, the Superior Props hardware is all made by him. I have to make some other hardware, and some days packing orders takes priority over machining parts.<\/p>\n Other things that have been getting in my way – winter blahs and sniffles, getting COVID shots, doctors’ appointments, family obligations, sick dogs, and so on. I’m one guy deep and I have to make choices all around. A similar choice is not to answer my business phone at 9:30pm – haha!<\/p>\n Some weekends this spring and summer will be taken up with contest flying. Other “days off” will be taken when I take my 1963 Studebaker Lark down to my dad’s so we can do a two-car engine swap. That will take some time, but should produce a good-running car on my end and a sale-able 55 Studebaker President sedan on his end. This will be time-well-spent with the old man, something which I haven’t done enough of over time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wow, I haven’t posted on here in 6 weeks!\u00a0 Let’s see if I can provide some updates. ACTIVITY: In our (the Cloudbusters) monthly Indoor contests, I’ve been trying to “get better”.\u00a0 The AMA indoor Nats are going to be held … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n
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