Archive for August, 2007

Pickleweed Place Perspective

Sunday, August 26th, 2007

Owl Burrow Picnic Site

I usually fly five days a week from the Pickleweed Place picnic spot at Baylands, but sometimes you gotta leave home.

On Friday, Doug, Mike, Bruce and I visited Rancho San Antonio, another excellent local flying venue.

I’ve written before about RSA and about the challenge of changing perspectives (Doug and I crashed into trees when we were displaced to the Meadowlands picnic area by the park lawn mower test track), but Friday I was again reminded of how much we depend on familiar cues when we fly.

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The Webcam Always Wins

Sunday, August 19th, 2007

The Barn

Early this year, I volunteered to manage the website for the Peninsula Channel Commanders R/C group.

The group’s site, launched in 2001, was functional but needed a new coat of pixels.

I redesigned the site. Actually, I redesigned the site a number of times, refining the look and feel with each iteration as I learned more about what I was doing.

Months Later… That went quite well, though it took me lots of hours. In February when I told her what I’d signed up for, Suzette said, “See you in May.” She’s an excellent prophet.

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Baking a New Plane

Sunday, August 12th, 2007

BluCor Wonder 5

Norman McKinstry checked in from New Hampshire a week or two ago to let me know what he’s working on: he calls it the BluCor Wonder.

“Your East Coast Correspondent has a new, simple project underway. I had seen one of these things fly at Cape Cod and was impressed at how SLOWLY it performed, especially with power off on landing.

Good for Beginners. “It is extremely light, yet flies nicely in 15-20 mph winds. For beginners, this is quite a bit easier to fly than an Easy Star or similar types.

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A Garage Full of Everything

Sunday, August 5th, 2007

My Garage

The other day, Frank D was showing us details of his British Lancaster bomber.

He was particularly proud of the greenhouse-style canopy and the pivoting gunner’s turret in the nose of the plane.

“I made these by molding clear plastic on a wood plug, holding it in front of a heater at about 250 degrees,” Frank explained.

The clear plastic was left over from blister pack packaging, the stuff enshrouding most electronic devices, hardware items, toys, you name it.

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