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Ready to fly at the BCRCC Polar Bear

I’m back from the third (and fourth) flight, and it keeps getting better!  On Friday (New Years Day) I went to the BCRCC (Benton County Radio Control Club) “Polar Bear” event.  Basically, the idea is: On new years day, rain or shine, everyone comes and flies something.  There is a raffle for all those that fly.  I brought the Kadet, mostly because that’s the only plane I have, and the tiny Blade mSR that I got for X-mas. Read more…

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This weekend I was blessed with some good (great) weather. Saturday morning was cold, but very calm and clear.

My friend Tom agreed to be my test pilot for the first (well, second ) flight. He got it all trimmed and ready to fly. I say it was the second flight because while I was taxiing it around, I decided “what the hell” and decided to fly it… Well it didn’t end that well.

Takeoff cartwheel

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I’ve just finished building the first radio controlled airplane kit since, i don’t know, over a decade. I tried to build one 8 yeas ago, but never finished. Anyway, It’s pretty exciting. I’ll share some of the building process with you. My intent from the beginning of the project was to build a arial platform for autopilot development, photography, and, perhaps, an attempt at FPV (first-person video).

With those goals in mind I decided to select a “trainer,” which is a very stable plane intended for teaching new pilots.  There are several advantages to a trainer in this context.  In a way, I’m training an autopilot to fly, so it’s a fitting.  In addition, a typical trainer has a simple, boxy fuselage.  I think that the simplified geometry should be easier to build around.  The individual plane I settled on is the SIG Kadet LT-25, and my mom was nice enough to get it for my for christmas a few years ago.

Official photo of the Kadet

I wanted the plane to be on the small side because I’m 100% electric for all my planes and helicopters.  I don’t have any investment in nitromethane power, and I don’t want any.  It’s stinky, loud, dirty and annoying.  At the same time, electric power is getting better and better.  The batteries are increasingly amazing in their capacity and power.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any early building photos.  But, I’ll talk about some of the photos I do have: Read more…

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Photos from da Vinci Days and related frivolity.

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Hi, everyone. I’ve added a photo gallery with pictures of our IM softball games. Enjoy!

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