The Wild Wing Mothership
Dave North and Mike Bowns added streamers to enhance the combat experience. See the movie.
This Saturday (that’s tomorrow!) we’re hoping that the weather forecast (possible rain) is wrong.
Kasra has invited our Dublin/Livermore Wild Wing compatriots to come down and battle at Baylands. That would include Boomer Butch, who started this craziness with his Boomer design and Wild Wing variations, and Kevin Chin, who first introduced Baylands flyers to the Boomer.
We just might top our record of 11 simultaneous combatants.
In preparation, we’re repairing our battered combat craft and considering a few events beyond combat: a pylon race, perhaps, a limbo contest, spot landings, perhaps more.
Mike Bowns has his own ideas. He brought orange crêpe streamers to extend the combat target area. He also designed a Wild Wing Mothership, a jumbo Wild Wing which he hot-wire cut from EPP.
We’ve enjoyed attacking the Mothership for several days. It’s slow but so much bigger than our lightweight wings that when we hit it it hardly wobbles.
Unfortunately, Mike decided to let one of his co-workers pilot the Mothership late this morning and the pilot suffered a spell of Severe Vertical Confusion. He lawn-darted the Mothership with such force that it split into two Daughterships, neither one flyable.
I suspect that Mike, who works fast, will have the Mothership back together by tomorrow. We’ll see.
Meanwhile, here’s a fresh movie of Dave North and Mike trying out streamer combat today.
Postscript [Dec 14, 2008]: It didn’t rain, but the morning was cold with very gusty winds. Despite the weather, we had a great series of battles, peaking with 10 or 11 wings in the air simultaneously. Butch didn’t show, but Kevin Chin and Paul Viscovich drove down from the Dublin/Livermore area to join the Baylands crowd. And, yes, Mike Bowns restored the Mothership.
Photos & Videos:
Tags: Baylands, Combat, Flying, Wings.
It was far better than we could have expected from the weather forecast. The wind put the kibosh on any pylon races or limbo, but we all had a good time. The streamers are fun, but really add drag in a heavy wind.
Looks like you did get footage of my plane landing on the Mother Ship! Neato. That or a nose-nudge are about the only things that affect it. If you hit it, he doesn’t even notice.