Perfect Fall day for flying at Fort Jackson

[RknRusty]

Two clear and mild flying Sundays in a row, what luck. Late November is making up for mother nature's recent rudeness.

We brought all kinds of planes out, even some 1/2As that we never managed to get in the air.
There has been a black and red Cardinal hanging in Watt Moore's shop for some time, and I always stopped and looked at it, thinking how I'd like to have a cool plane like that. I've always liked Cardinals, but never flown one. One day Wayne showed up at the field with it, and gave it to me to help replenish my thin fleet. I'd been on a balsa bashing binge since late August, when I started trying too hard to fly low bottoms like all the guys ahead of me do. But the results of my efforts were opposite from the desired outcomes. So after fixing some hangar rash and bench trimming, it was time to see how it would fly a stunt pattern. That was my number one mission for the day, and I got it on video. Other than a poor triangle and and a really ugly V8, everything else went pretty well. It's nice and tight on the lines, even overhead, right on 5 second laps. It seems to be a good fit for me.


Here's Bob's Jezebel, which looks like it recovered nicely from a crackup in Huntersville. It's spectacular to watch, and to hear both Fox engines singing in harmony.


I put an OS MAX-S 35 on my Shoestring and wanted to try it out. It may not have been cranked in decades, but it's been on my shelf for two years. It has an RC carb, so I wired it open. It ran either too rich or too lean. Maybe the first flight, running rich, would have been better with a more aggressive prop, but I started with a 10-4. After that, Bob suggested a 10-6, but a 10-5 was as close as I could come, and we tried that. It was perfect at first, then went lean and fast, so I just flew high and safe, not wanting to bust up an old favorite. I'll wait til I get a CL venturi to try it again. But the video has pictures of all of our planes in the pits, so take a look if you're interested.


No movies of Wayne, he was the videographer today. But here's one from a week ago of his e-P40. Listen to that 12-6 prop chopping the air. Up close it reminds me of the sound of a 3D helicopter. Especially in the sharp corners.

[mike londke]

Nice to see you with a new stunter Rusty. You are flying it well.  I'll be working hard all winter to improve my score for next spring. See you in the circle! Mike

[john e. holliday]

I little hint Bob Z. should remember, if engine is running lean, fly low to the ground.   Flying high makes them run leaner.   Rainy and cold here in Kansas.

[RknRusty]

Doc, I don't think he's forgotten anything, but if he hollered out for me to fly low, I couldn't hear him over the unmuffled bark of that Max. I love that sound. I need to add some oil so it smokes more Lol. I like smoke too.

Hey Mike, yeah we both should be better prepared, I don't want to make it so easy for you in our next Intermediate showdown. I'm glad you decided to get into stunt, you've got a great touch for it. I wish more people would enter it. Maybe Sam will be in the mix soon too. He could be the youngest winner of Beginner ever. I wonder who holds that honor. See you at sunup in the circle.
Rusty

[Tim Wescott]

I'd been on a balsa bashing binge since late August, when I started trying too hard to fly low bottoms like all the guys ahead of me do. But the results of my efforts were opposite from the desired outcomes.

Hey Rusty:

After going through just such a phase as you're mentioning, and being told by locals to just place my bottom line up, I stopped crashing nearly so often.  Basically, you want to aim at a consistent level line for your bottoms that's just low enough so that the lowest "OH S**T" moments result in the plane about a foot off the ground, but no crash.  So as you do the pattern, your bottoms will slowly go down.

For me, this ultimately meant about half a year of people saying "fly higher and you'll get higher scores", but I wasn't crashing planes at the time (and consistent three foot bottoms are kinda fun, even if they aren't regulation).

[RknRusty]

Hey Rusty:

After going through just such a phase as you're mentioning, and being told by locals to just place my bottom line up, I stopped crashing nearly so often.  Basically, you want to aim at a consistent level line for your bottoms that's just low enough so that the lowest "OH S**T" moments result in the plane about a foot off the ground, but no crash.  So as you do the pattern, your bottoms will slowly go down.

For me, this ultimately meant about half a year of people saying "fly higher and you'll get higher scores", but I wasn't crashing planes at the time (and consistent three foot bottoms are kinda fun, even if they aren't regulation).

Thanks Tim. I'm back to just concentrating on the shapes and not making bouncy bottoms, a problem I've always had. I can see a wobbly bottom in a couple of maneuvers in the Cardinal video but not all of them like it used to be. Back this May I thought I was improving enough to belong in Advanced within a year, but I started trying to force it, and that didn't work out at all. So now my attitude is, if I get there, fine, but If I don't, I'll get as good as I get. And that's more fun anyway.
Rusty

[Robert Zambelli]

It's really nice to fly with Rusty and Wayne.
The field is in excellent condition and NOBODY bothers us!
We share the field with an RC club but hardly any of them ever show up - not complaining!

I'm pleased to report that the twin is flying better than ever thanks in part to converting from 9-6 props to 9-4 and bringing the plane to a more reasonable speed.

Thanks to Rusty and Wayne for the fine videos.

   Bob Z.