Post by thevon on May 31, 2009 20:35:40 GMT 10
Winter was definitely in the air this arvo at Bald Knob - our fellow flyers were barely recognizable garbed up in jumpers, jeans and beanies. Even so, there were complaints about cold aching hands when standing on the slope!
It was a really fun arvo, and lots of faces. Various club members (Pete, Charles, me, Shane and more) and a few good visitors (Mike, Nick, and a new young feller called Jarred and his flying mate Rex).
Pete had his new unbuilt Vento (3m F3F racer with 2 piece wing) to show off. That is one seriously good looking bit of kit! I loved it. Great carbon construction, great finish, good design points. Heaps of room in the nose so you could even fit standard servos. And man, the price is good.
Steve Cuz had his Jaeger there too. That thing also looks built to go fast, and it’s great value for money too.
The frontside action was good. Flying at the Knob is an real privilege, with such an incredible panoramic view of the coast and Glasshouse Mtns as the backdrop for the aerial action. But with the wind being fairly south it didn’t take long for a few diehards (me, Nick, Shane) to try DSing the Hump. I got the Miraj fairly whistling around, although since it’s not hollow it doesn’t make a moldie noise! I was going fast enough to be worried about snapping something, so I tried to hold back on the turns! Mike gave it a go too with his amazing little Stinger 45 and it survived his zingy laps, but unfortunately later hit a power line up the top and did some bad wing damage. A real shame. But Mike’s always positive and reckons he’ll fix it easily.
Nick just oozes enthusiasm and at the moment he’s dead set keen on learning to DS with his nice Skua. Today he really started to put it all together. Since my radar gun’s been stolen we couldn’t get any speeds today, but Nick may have got the fastest foamie speed and he certainly did more laps than anyone else.
Shane also showed determination and persistence with his modded Reaper and it went very neatly and quickly. Really good laps. At times there was barely enough lift to stay up on the front and Shane would take his 1.4kg Reaper up to the top, launch and gain height, then walk back down the hump to drop in and once he was going, there was no stopping him!
I convinced Nick to have a go at “reverse” direction (standing on the hump looking back at the towers and circling anticlockwise). Nick agreed the effect was better, so we got Shane into the action too.
Then Steve Cuz came down to start his DS training and asked me to test DS his newly built JW60. Steve’s builds are exceptionally good and for foamie slickness he rivals Sean and Shane for craftsmanship. This JW, like mine, is covered in laminating film and is as slick as a moldie. Big rounded tips and a rubber band fuse mount system (great idea). The plane flew beautifully and in a minute I was doing very smooth laps, and faster than my 1.7kg JW had just been doing. I reluctantly handed it back to Steve who bravely started dipping over the back.
Young Jarred also threw out into the action. He’s an experienced power flyer who lives at Palmwoods. He was lapping and learning and I only later heard that it was his first time DSing! Great to meet you today Jarred – great flying and we appreciated your good manners. The kid’s a natural, and suddenly it was 4 or 5 foamies all DSing the back of the Hump at the same time! I stopped and gazed at the scene, and felt very happy! Boys and their toys, grassy hills, windpower, speed and excitement. It was a heckuva lot of fun.
I also flew my Vector today and I can’t help raving about it again. Frontside it’s just so lovely to fly. Nice to be able to cruise, roll inverted and push forward to an outside half loop. Both thumbs up for the Vector for frontside aerobatics. But I also DS’ed it again and I am absolutely amazed at how easy it is to DS. I found the same thing with my Ricochet, so maybe conventional aerobatic airframes have something. You’d have to have a go to see what I mean, but it is extremely good. It was really getting a howl up, but so easy to control. And with that monstrous wing joiner I wasn’t really worried about snapping it!
I had to leave at 4:20, but before I headed off I walked thru the trees and looked over the fence at the 4 foamies all circling in that bowl behind the Hump. DrCuzo must have got the hang of it, because all 4 planes were doing it! What a magic scene to file in the memory bank. Wish we’d video’ed it. I shook my head, hopped in the car, and went home happy.
It was a really fun arvo, and lots of faces. Various club members (Pete, Charles, me, Shane and more) and a few good visitors (Mike, Nick, and a new young feller called Jarred and his flying mate Rex).
Pete had his new unbuilt Vento (3m F3F racer with 2 piece wing) to show off. That is one seriously good looking bit of kit! I loved it. Great carbon construction, great finish, good design points. Heaps of room in the nose so you could even fit standard servos. And man, the price is good.
Steve Cuz had his Jaeger there too. That thing also looks built to go fast, and it’s great value for money too.
The frontside action was good. Flying at the Knob is an real privilege, with such an incredible panoramic view of the coast and Glasshouse Mtns as the backdrop for the aerial action. But with the wind being fairly south it didn’t take long for a few diehards (me, Nick, Shane) to try DSing the Hump. I got the Miraj fairly whistling around, although since it’s not hollow it doesn’t make a moldie noise! I was going fast enough to be worried about snapping something, so I tried to hold back on the turns! Mike gave it a go too with his amazing little Stinger 45 and it survived his zingy laps, but unfortunately later hit a power line up the top and did some bad wing damage. A real shame. But Mike’s always positive and reckons he’ll fix it easily.
Nick just oozes enthusiasm and at the moment he’s dead set keen on learning to DS with his nice Skua. Today he really started to put it all together. Since my radar gun’s been stolen we couldn’t get any speeds today, but Nick may have got the fastest foamie speed and he certainly did more laps than anyone else.
Shane also showed determination and persistence with his modded Reaper and it went very neatly and quickly. Really good laps. At times there was barely enough lift to stay up on the front and Shane would take his 1.4kg Reaper up to the top, launch and gain height, then walk back down the hump to drop in and once he was going, there was no stopping him!
I convinced Nick to have a go at “reverse” direction (standing on the hump looking back at the towers and circling anticlockwise). Nick agreed the effect was better, so we got Shane into the action too.
Then Steve Cuz came down to start his DS training and asked me to test DS his newly built JW60. Steve’s builds are exceptionally good and for foamie slickness he rivals Sean and Shane for craftsmanship. This JW, like mine, is covered in laminating film and is as slick as a moldie. Big rounded tips and a rubber band fuse mount system (great idea). The plane flew beautifully and in a minute I was doing very smooth laps, and faster than my 1.7kg JW had just been doing. I reluctantly handed it back to Steve who bravely started dipping over the back.
Young Jarred also threw out into the action. He’s an experienced power flyer who lives at Palmwoods. He was lapping and learning and I only later heard that it was his first time DSing! Great to meet you today Jarred – great flying and we appreciated your good manners. The kid’s a natural, and suddenly it was 4 or 5 foamies all DSing the back of the Hump at the same time! I stopped and gazed at the scene, and felt very happy! Boys and their toys, grassy hills, windpower, speed and excitement. It was a heckuva lot of fun.
I also flew my Vector today and I can’t help raving about it again. Frontside it’s just so lovely to fly. Nice to be able to cruise, roll inverted and push forward to an outside half loop. Both thumbs up for the Vector for frontside aerobatics. But I also DS’ed it again and I am absolutely amazed at how easy it is to DS. I found the same thing with my Ricochet, so maybe conventional aerobatic airframes have something. You’d have to have a go to see what I mean, but it is extremely good. It was really getting a howl up, but so easy to control. And with that monstrous wing joiner I wasn’t really worried about snapping it!
I had to leave at 4:20, but before I headed off I walked thru the trees and looked over the fence at the 4 foamies all circling in that bowl behind the Hump. DrCuzo must have got the hang of it, because all 4 planes were doing it! What a magic scene to file in the memory bank. Wish we’d video’ed it. I shook my head, hopped in the car, and went home happy.
