Lots of people watch us rolling & tumbling through the air in combat with small, maneuverable, rugged little wings.
Here are some notes for those who’d like to join the fray.
The most prevalent wing in our combat sessions is built from a $29.95 24-inch wing kit, available from Mini SpeedWing.
But you’re welcome to fly anything in combat, as long as it’s not too fast or too big.
Friday morning a flyer made a quick field repair with a hot glue gun.
Unfortunately, he glooped a bit too much glue onto the fix.
A fellow flyer pulled out his car key and offered it as a putty knife to smooth the excess glue. It worked OK, but when the helpful guy tried to leave Baylands his car wouldn’t start.
Seems the coating of cooled glue gummed up his ignition switch.
The other day, Gary and I visited Mike’s workshop, a rented space near Mike’s house.
Unlike my garage, Mike’s workplace is neat and well-organized.
What impressed me most, though, were Mike’s homemade tools, particularly some clamps he fabricated by gluing clothespins together.
A builder never has too many clamps, you know.
I’ve been shooting more pictures.
Last month saw more than 160 new pictures in the Photos section, which is nearing 1,000 photos in all. This month I’m on a clip to top 100 new photos.
I hope to maintain this rate. It’s easier now that we’ve hit better weather.
The pictures are getting better, too.
I’m shooting in RAW mode, which provides more latitude for adjustments, and I’m editing the photos with Apple’s Aperture software, which delivers great results. I also use Photoshop, which lets me use even more tools.
I launch my little wing, punch Memory and then Start/Stop on my talking timer.
It begins silently counting down.
Next to me, Bic is flying his Formosa. He’s been in the air for a few minutes already.
Bic was the first person I saw using these $12 talking timers.
At first I thought they were weird, intrusive, gimmicky, annoying.
I enjoy a quiet flight. Conversation is often enjoyable, but silence is a pleasure, too.
The timer was intrusive. But … I like to time my flights, and I really don’t want to take my eyes of my plane while I’m flying.
This is why you don’t...