Scratch Building From Foam Core Board

I started this plane to use left over parts. It uses pink foam, Dollar Tree foam core board, and some balsa. The airfoil is very simple.

 

Canadian Geese Wintering In Lubbock

Despite that fact that it was cold and rather windy I took out the Firebird Stratos with the little camera attached and got some photos of a playa lake with a lot of Canadian Geese. Canadian Geese winter here, and have been doing that for a long time.  I had hoped to fly my plane into a flock circling above the lake but they were all on the ground or in the water. Even so, the shots turned out well.

No Flying!

Winter weather! No flying lately. I'll post some pics.

The first one is a model car I built when I was a teen-ager, from a Lindberg Mercer Raceabout plastic kit. It was about 1/16 scale, I think. There were several released. I had the Mercer and the Stutz Bearcat. This is the only one that survived long enough to photograph. I thought about restoring it, but it was too badly deteriorated. The second pic is a model my sister built long ago.

The final photo is an airplane from the first phase of my RC hobby. It was given to me by a gentleman who got me into the hobby. In fact, he used to be my boss. A very nice guy. This plane flew well. It had a 55 inch span and the engine was a McCoy .40. I would never go back to this kind of RC plane. Electric is the only way to go. No storing fuel, no mess, no noise, no prop flipping, no backfiring, no bruised fingers, no tweaking of needle valves. 

One more model car, another one my sister built:

 

Hawk Sky On 7.4 Volt Battery

I had a couple of 2 cell lipos left from a crashed FMS 1280. They have the same connectors as the 11.1 volt battery that I've used in the Hawk Sky. I decided to try a flight on the lower voltage and it worked fine, although power was down. I got a pretty long flight, about normal, from an 1800 mah 25 C 7.4 volt battery. I used full power a lot but the battery never got hot. Wind was very light. A few hours after that flight the wind picked up out of the north and now we've got a strong winter weather system moving in. Cold and getting colder and very windy. Probably no flying for at least several days. Maybe I can work on a scratch built plane to use the components salvaged from the 1280. I've got pink foam and lots of balsa. I have not had much success building my planes from scratch, but maybe this time...

Cardoba, Remote And Lonely!

Well, no. Actually I'm really impressed with my new guitar. It has a truss rod! All Cardoba classical guitars have truss rods and that is a major innovation. These guitars are highly regarded, and the high end models are quite expensive. I'm always pleased when I can spot something that a pawnshop owner did not see. In this case they did not do their homework. That happened to me several years ago, when I found an old Guyatone electric, all neglected in a corner of an EZ Pawn. I got it for $50 and sold it on eBay for more than $700. I use a pick to play classical guitar because I never got the hang of finger-picking. The best pick for it is one I found many years ago at Jent's House of Music (now defunct) here in Lubbock. It is copper.

Too windy lately to do any flying but I painted the undersides of several of my rc planes dark blue, as it really aids orientation. I like to fly them far out and high up.

Guitars Too

Yes, I'm also into guitars. At one time I had a nice collection but I sold them on eBay. Now I have a sunburst Stratocaster, and a Fender Squier steel string acoustic. This afternoon my wife and I checked a pawnshop on 50th Street near Avenue Q and I found a very nicely constructed 3/4 size nylon string Spanish guitar. It was going for $100 but I offered $75 and they took it. Come to find out, it is a Cardoba Iberia Cadete and it retails at over $300! Typical street price is about $250. The one I got is in perfect condition and seems to have never been played. Perfect strings and no smudges or nicks. And it really is a nice sounding instrument. Excellent intonation all over the neck and that is surprising on a guitar with a 24" scale. Actually, 24.1 inches. My next electric guitar will be a Jaguar or Mustang, so this gives me a chance to get familiar with the scale. Now I think I'll list the steel-string on eBay.

Rotating Airplanes

This past week I've flown the little T-28, the Cessna Champ, the FMS 800, the Easy Hawk. I try to keep batteries and planes in circulation. I flew the Easy Hawk with the Thunder Power 1350mah 25c three cell. Great battery. I can fly a long time with it. I am still bugged by the amount of up elevator it takes, hand-launching this plane, to keep it from diving nose first into the ground. Almost two years ago I tried to get back into radio control flying with a Dynam Hawk Sky. I destroyed that plane without ever being able to fly it. I thought it was awful. But no, the plane was very good. The problem was me. Give it a good toss and haul back on that stick! UP!

I spray painted the undersides of the wings on the FMS 800 and Easy Hawk with a very dark blue. I used ordinary spray enamel. This helps with orientation.
 

Ultra Micro T-28

Yesterday it was very calm so I tried the little Park Zone Ultra Micro T-28. I got a better flight than usual out of this very twitchy little plane but I had to be on the sticks constantly. It's a handful and I don't fly it very much because it just isn't very enjoyable. It still is not trimmed perfectly. I'm glad I got it cheap at a swap meet because I'd hate to have too much money in it. I might list it on eBay, along with the transmitter and battery and charger. It is a little beat-up though. It has had some tape repair.