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Shadowburn

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Wednesday’s Wild Wing Combat

Foam Fighting. Three Wild Wings and a Boomer circle in combat.

Wednesday we welcomed a new guest Wild Wing combatant, Akkana Peck.

Akkana and her husband, Dave North, joined us a couple of weeks ago at the PCC Half Moon Bay airfield. Late in the day, Akkana engaged in Wild Wing combat, quickly showing her considerable skills as a pilot.

As a reward for her valor, Dave gave her his Boomer for future combat sessions.

Today, Akkana launched her Boomer and promptly lit up the frenzied four-wing furball. In less than a minute she was trading punches with the rest of us.

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Posted in Baylands | 1 Comment »

Overthinking Control Rods

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Control rod is adjustable via the elevon horn.

New Way. Control rod is adjustable via the elevon horn.

What’s the best way to rig a control rod?

Generally, I put a Z-bend in one end and thread the other end through a Du-Bro EZ Connector, which I use to adjust the deflection of the control surface.

Invariably, I put the EZ Connector on the servo arm and attach the Z-bend to the control horn.

Until yesterday, that is.

During combat sessions, we fly the Wild Wings close in. During the tumult of battle, we sometimes lose control of our aircraft.

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Posted in Elsewhere | 3 Comments »

Wild Wing Combat

Monday, July 21st, 2008

Gary, Mike and Dave in Wild Wing Combat

Mike Nadler, Gary Morgan, Dave North and I rolled and tumbled in ceaseless Wild Wing combat on a recent sunny day at Baylands.

Gary hadn’t yet built his Wild Wing so I shared my orange-finned WW with him and shot photos of the combat. In return, he took pictures later in the morning when I flew my new red-finned Wild Wing.

The result of this team photographic effort was nearly 400 pictures, about half by Gary and half by me.

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Posted in Baylands | 13 Comments »

How to Build a Wild Wing

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

Wild Wing on picnic table

We have reached a peak in our pursuit of the perfect combat plane.

The perfect candidate can float slowly in the air, then zip forward, up or down for a lightning strike or getaway. It can loop in a heartbeat and speed straight to a target. It laughs at wind and spins in a tight victory roll after bashing an opponent.

Our quest has taken us through Mini SpeedWings, Boomers and hacked Wild Wings. We’ve looked at other wings, too, including HyperFleas and even Strykers.

The Great Meadow is our laboratory and we’ve had altogether too much fun conducting this research.

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Posted in Baylands | 16 Comments »

BBOB 2008: More Photos!

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008

Slow Sticks compete in Last Down event.

Here are a hundred or so more pictures from Saturday’s spectacular Baylands Battle of the Bay event.

See Slow Sticks of every hue, dramatic crashes, focused competitors and exotic contraptions.

I’ve posted brief captions which you’ll see in slideshow mode.

Not sure what this is all about? Read Saturday’s BBOB report, and enjoy even more pictures.

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Posted in Baylands | 2 Comments »

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