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Post by felix on May 18, 2008 21:11:58 GMT 10
wow sounds like a top day for you's two and some seriously impressive speeds there!! pretty scary ;D
andrew and sean an idea for your lantana problem....get a fence pailing or similar and drill a hole in each end.then get yourself a length of rope. put the ends of rope through the holes and tie a knot.basic idea is that you hold the rope and put one foot on the board and then use the board to stamp down the undergrowth.works a treat and a couple of blokes can clear a massive area very quickly -another hint is to put some garden hose on the rope too avoid hands full of blisters at the end of the day.
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Post by Pij on May 18, 2008 21:12:16 GMT 10
It was a case of one person climbs over the fence, thru the bush, launches then hands the radio back to the guy on the road. I wondered, could you make up a long buddy cord, connect 2 Tx's. Then the "slave" does the launch, the "master" takes over control for the backside, and when the launch person crawls back to watch the action he can unplug the cord from the master Tx. It would have to be a long enough cord, though.
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Post by felix on May 18, 2008 21:14:20 GMT 10
...or maybe fly the same freq and as one switches off the other switches on?
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Post by ezza on May 18, 2008 21:23:55 GMT 10
Well done guys!! Sounds like a fun and adventurous day. How was the LZ? What happened with the other flap? Did you tape them? Great work, ds'ing and bringing the Wiz home in one piece. Eric
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Post by thevon on May 18, 2008 21:58:59 GMT 10
Felix, you're the expert ... if you're prepared to help with some lantana-bashing, count yourself in on the next trip! It seems to be an occupational hazard with sloping .. I've had some shocking lantana experiences at Pedwell Rd and other sites too.
The launch works OK but I can think of a place where the 2-radio, switchover technique would be useful !(Hey Ezza?!)
Nah didn't tape the Wiz flaps. Not sure what went wrong. I'll check it out but I suspect that when we crashed it initially, a bit of shrubbery got jammed between flap and fuse. We checked ailerons and elevator but not brakes. After the landing it came free as soon as I grabbed it.
I think the LZs not too bad, really. Sean got rolled a bit coming in but he was a bit too far back over the slope. If you stay close to the edge it's not too bad. Good thing is there's not much of anything solid around to hit - all regrowth so it's mostly "soft".
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Post by felix on May 18, 2008 22:56:58 GMT 10
hey andrew that sounds alot like blackmail ......but i'll take you up on that offer for sure (someone may be missing half a fence shortly lol).although some of the sites you madmen fly may be a bit beyond my skill level by a long way! meant to take one up to pedwell rd last time and leave it hanging near the gate but i forgot.could of really used it a couple of times climbing through shrub much higher than my head whilst listening for servo movement -one of these days i get the hint and get a LMA. thought up the 2 TX idea after the the conversation the other night and pij just sparked my memory....hope it makes your flying a little less stressful ;D
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Post by thevon on May 19, 2008 8:38:33 GMT 10
A couple of pics from yesterday, but we didn't get any photos of where we were DSing. This is Sean with the Bat on the "lower" part of the ridge/ paddock. This is late in the arvo, as we were leaving just after the dramatic Wizard landing. Standing on the road on the ridgetop. Sorry for the light and dark, but you get an idea of the lantana! The road is a corridor between walls of lantana!
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Post by sean on May 19, 2008 14:29:14 GMT 10
Nice pics Andrew The LZ for the faster spot is pretty good but will take some practice for good landings on windy bumpy days (the pic above with the Bat shows the slower spot and has a much better LZ). But as Andrew says lots of turbulence, when I was landing my Bird I got about two metres off the ground and it got flipped and ended up in the lantana on one wingtip Lucky it's pretty tough and can take that kind of thing, but you wouldn't get away with it every time!
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Post by chamm37 on May 19, 2008 22:05:43 GMT 10
where were you guys flying at thevon
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Post by skyboyken on May 19, 2008 23:42:55 GMT 10
Hi Sean and Andrew, I was going to come join you but I actually fell ill with as virus and have just got out of bed after 36 hours. Oh well I'm getting better. Glad to hear you ended up having a good day . The large scale aerobatics were really impressive by the way. The strong wind didn't slow them down at all. These are a must-see if you get a chance, I reckon. Go Great!
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Post by thevon on May 22, 2008 17:43:47 GMT 10
Took the path of immaturity and irresponsibility, and on the basis that today was the only day this week with wind, Sean and I met up at the Knob this morning, to catch the SSE before it swung too E for DS at the Hump. We played around with the Reaper, finding that the hill was working but quite lumpy and bumpy. Weird, coz the wind was very south, and we wondered if it actually needed to be a bit E for good effect. One recollection is that I was all over the sky with the Reaper, then handed it to Sean, who straight away put it into circuits like it was on rails! Impressive. Chucked out the Wizard (having moved its CG forward 4mm and reduced the elevator throws) and it was good, but still a bit flippy in turbulence. Still not back to the comfortable feeling it had before I changed the elevator servos. It would stall and fall if pulled up too hard, so we cut the rates back more, added more nose weight, and we were away. Beautiful. We swapped DS sessions with the Wiz, and it flew nicely. I was impressed that Sean was impressed. So Sean got the Erwin out, to try to wind it up for the first time. That thing is so slick – hard to see as it comes up towards you and it makes a noise like a movie sound effect, a sort of metallic zing. It wasn’t great conditions and it only got clocked at 111mph - but did more when I was flying and not gunning. Sean had to go about 12:30 and I had planned to, but the wind was holding SSE - only 15kts or so but it was working, so I couldn’t resist staying and had fun doing figure 8’s over both ends of the Hump. If you stand on the Hump and dive in between the towers and yourself, it’s scary; you have to dive down close to the hill on the way in. Sean doesn’t like it but I find it pretty good, and you come thru a much cleaner shear layer on the way up. Even rang Ezza to crow about how good it was! I was about to go, then decided to try the 645gm ballast rod that Alan (Livefibre) made for it. Checked the CG first, and the ballast moved it forward by about 1mm – perfect! It flew just the same, then over the backside, and … Kapow!!!!! Man, that thing went ballistic. Scared the crap out of myself. No speed coz Sean was gone – needed someone to hold the gun. I was amazed. Time to wrap this up, but I have to say that the moldies are really inspiring to fly … a different experience to flying the foamies. I was thinking that maybe it’s the way you can slow them on approach and bring them in with flaps for landings appeals to a childish fascination with things that fly like real planes?? I dunno, but they feel very magic to fly, you go home on a cloud – and for me, totally tired too! A few pics And one very happy chappy snapping pics of himself being very stoked about life in general:
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Post by felix on May 22, 2008 18:40:48 GMT 10
mate blo*dy awesome pics!! ...and sounds like you's were having a ball. hopefully the wind is good saturday and i can get in the gate up there,can't wait to fly circles again.
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Post by sean on May 23, 2008 10:57:15 GMT 10
Great pics Andrew! Wish I'd been there to see the Wizard go ballasted.
The Erwin really is a noisy plane when it gets going, sounds much faster than it is ;D.
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Post by sean on Aug 16, 2008 19:57:14 GMT 10
Andrew got a new PB today - 138mph flying his Wizard at Lemon Tree Hill near Dayboro in only about 15kt wind. He really dug deep to get it too - we found almost by accident a really fast line that required diving further down the back than we normally would, perilously close to some high-tension power lines, and staying really low. Flying classic, fairly flat smallish circles we we could only get 100-110 then once we'd cottoned-on to the new line Andrew started banging out 120s and 130s then the 138. Given the hill and low wind it was an absolutely top-notch result IMO - Andrew was consistently getting it low and holding the fast line, which took a bit of effort thanks to some turbulence on the back. Stay-tuned for Andrew's more detailed report . The day wasn't without carnage though, most of it inflicted at Wild Horse Mtn, which we visited earlier in the day before driving over to Dayboro. Unfortunately Shane's Caracho was damaged landing at Lemon Tree (a very difficult place to land a big mouldie) and four foamies including Shane's beautiful Reaper were seriously damaged at Wild horse. My Bird got a small hole in the LE from a rough landing at Wild Horse.
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Post by thevon on Aug 16, 2008 20:34:23 GMT 10
Thanks Sean. I'll post a report soon. By the way, to give credit where it's due, Sean cracked 141mph flying my Wizard soon after my 138. It was great. The wind was only 15 knots or so, maybe 20 at max in the gusts.
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