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Spares to Spare

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

The first ones were black & white, then we found color!

A Feast for the Eyes. The first ones were black & white, then we found color!

Combat flying is a rush, but it’s hard on the planes.

Props break, motor mounts rip off, elevons get chewed, wings get gashed and sometimes they split apart from the rigors of multiple impacts and hard landings.

Dave North now flies with a spare prop or two in his pocket and an extra O-ring on his finger. (We use O-rings to secure the props to the prop saver.)

He and I regularly bring an extra Wild Wing to the combat scene. When one steed goes down, we swap the battery into a new mount and charge back into battle.

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Posted in Baylands | 3 Comments »

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 »

I Eat Carbon Rods!

Monday, July 14th, 2008

This little cutter makes quick work of sizing carbon fiber rods.Cutting carbon rods is a pain.

Compression cutters such as side cuts mash the ends of the rods, fanning out the fibers.

I’ve been using a little Dremel-driven abrasive cut-off wheel to do the job, but in the process it spews carbon dust, which is Very Bad For You.

The turtle-faced cutter pictured here nips right through carbon rods up to 1/8 inch in diameter, producing a clean cut with no squished ends. No dust, either, and it doesn’t take much pressure to lop through the carbon.

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Posted in Elsewhere | 3 Comments »

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