« Previous Entries

A Mighty Crash

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

A crowd of spectators marvels at the debris strewn by the crashed Hawk

On Wednesday, Tom Guerrette brought his red Fly Fly BAE Hawk jet to fly at Baylands.

The day was windy, but this is a hefty plane, big enough to shrug off the wind.

“You shouldn’t take pictures,” Tom smiled. “It’s not painted yet.”

The Hawk did look mottled. Tom had spackled it to fill in dings and dents and hadn’t yet applied makeup. But it was mostly a nice bright red, and I’ve seen Tom fly much more homely aircraft than this spaceship-graceful speedster.

(more…)

Posted in Baylands | 6 Comments »

Slashed!

Monday, May 26th, 2008

Shredded Wing

When a 6-ounce foam wing runs into a 3 lb. 450-class helicopter, this is what happens.

Fortunately, Danh Le’s T-Rex helicopter survived the encounter and landed successfully, suffering only a nick in one blade.

The Mini SpeedWing lost its right elevon, about a third of its wing tip and some shreds of foam from the wing itself.

This little wing has proved itself in combat. I’d guess that it’s flown 70 or more combat sessions without suffering serious injury. I’ve rehinged the elevons, Gooped up rips in its foam and resoldered the motor leads. Otherwise, it seemed indestructible.

(more…)

Posted in Baylands | 2 Comments »

Does Dave Have a Death Ray?

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

Charles Addams cartoon from the <em>New Yorker</em>

Yesterday during wing to wing combat, Dave North killed me twice.

In both instances, he collided with my wing, which then lost power and promptly dropped from the sky.

Usually, my wings literally bounce back from impact, continuing their flights to fight again.

Secret Weapon? These suspicious crashes lead me to suspect that he’s developed a Death Ray, or some other sort of WWD (Weapon of Wing Destruction).

Dave, of course, denies everything.

A quick frisk of his 24-inch wing revealed no suspicious technology.

Perhaps it’s concealed in his sunglasses…

(Cartoon by Charles Addams, originally published in the New Yorker May 16, 1953)

Posted in Baylands | 2 Comments »

Quadrophesia

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

Four Wings

Last October (let’s see… that’s five months ago!) I started building a pair of Mini SpeedWings so Mike Nadler and Gary Morgan could join Dave North and me in foam-slamming combat sessions at Baylands Park.

I finally finished them last night and delivered them this morning.

Why did it take me so long?

Work was speeding along for a few days in October, then I made a mistake.

(more…)

Posted in Baylands | 5 Comments »

Disaster Stories

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Dump TruckMerry Leap Year Bonus Day!

I’ve been sidelined for a couple of days with an eye infection but I plan to venture out to Baylands today.

Meanwhile, here are two of my favorite R/C stories.

Mike Nadler told me this Best Crash Story just the other day.

A Pulverizing Mishap. A few years ago, he belonged to a group that flew on a leveled section of a dump site.

One of his friends flew his plane over his head and, as happens, lost orientation and control as the plane passed behind him.

Unfortunately, the plane landed in the bed of a passing dump truck.

(more…)

Posted in Elsewhere | 4 Comments »

« Previous Entries