Archive for October, 2008

Tricycle Bee

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Dennis’ work-in-progress is a whopper.

Dennis’ work-in-progress is a whopper.

I can count on Dennis Castleman to show up at Baylands with an oddball plane, usually huge.

His latest project is a very bright, very big yellow wing sporting tricycle landing gear.

It’s based on the Queen Bee, a three-piece wing with a span of 100 inches. Dennis flew the Queen Bee earlier this year, but decided that he wanted to give it a radical makeover.

At heart, Dennis is an inventor. He likes big swiveling ducted fans, gnarly covering materials and oddball airframes.

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Fin Crazy

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

Rick’s Wild Wing looks almost prehistoric.

Rick’s Wild Wing looks almost prehistoric.

Rick Carmichael has gone nuts.

Most of our combat Wild Wings sport two fins of varying sizes and shapes, flanking the motor. They provide a steadying vane above and below the wing.

Mike Nadler added a tiny pair of fins — horns, really — to the front of his Boomer, completing the effect by drawing eyes and a smile with a marker. Purely decorative.

Otherwise, we’ve found that two fins are plenty.

Rick’s latest wing has eight fins. It flies fine.

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Spreckels Lake

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

Richard’s fancy runabout makes a dramatic turn.

Richard’s fancy runabout makes a dramatic turn.

Spreckels Lake is a lake in the sense that the miniature craft that ply its waters are boats.

In other words, it’s a model of a lake: less than 1,000 feet long by 500 feet wide, 5 feet deep in the middle with vertical edges to prevent boats from running aground.

The lake was built in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in 1903, named for Adolph B. Spreckels, scion of the Spreckels Sugar Company. As San Francisco Park Commissioner, Spreckels was committed to the development of Golden Gate Park.

Established in 1898, the San Francisco Model Yacht Club serves as primary custodian to the lake. Its members sail regularly throughout the week and the club often stages special events such as races, parades, tug boat and barge pulls and displays of building craftsmanship.

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Doin’ the Limbo

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

Dave’s Rare Bear shows how it’s supposed to happen.

Dave’s Rare Bear shows how it’s supposed to happen.

Bill Smith started this.

One day he showed up with some poles and a length of rope, the basis for a simple limbo setup.

We had a very good time displaying our poor depth perception and imprecise positioning skills — missing the poles entirely most of the time.

I consider Bill the leader of the Stryker Gang: a set of four cheerful co-workers who often show up in the late morning with battered Strykers. Sometimes they join our Wild Wing battles, flying fast through our furballs and occasionally whapping us with the force of cannonballs.

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Farewell, Half Moon Bay

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

Brian Chan’s aerial photo captures the beauty of the location.

Brian Chan’s aerial photo captures the beauty of the location.

The last day of September marked the end of flying at the Half Moon Bay airfield used by the Peninsula Channel Commanders since the year 2000.

A local farmer had rented his land to the club for the airfield.

But the farmer recently sold his land, including the patch used by the PCC.

Two months ago the new owner notified the group that the lease was now month-to-month. More recently the new owner decided that the lease would end on the last day of October, and that flying was to end immediately.

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