Earthbound

Sunday 10th August, 2008. A perfect day for flying. Still air and thermals by 8.30 am.
But two of our star members were earthbound. Poor Richard C had no models and Brian S is still recovering from a broken foot.

This didn't stop them enjoying the day and here they are pointing out an Ivory billed woodpecker which would have earned the photographer the front cover of Audubon magazine . . . but he has his priorities straight.



Here's a nice follow through as Dave W launches the Island Flyer on another perfect flight. Dave has somewhat unusual criteria for models. They must all fit in a small brown box bungeed to the back of his 'bike and be capable of being buffeted and battered by blasts of 100mph winds? That's winds not winds if you know what I mean.



Here are some new hats and old models. Jerry L, Phobe and George's Jimmy Allen Specials have been through the wars - all have suffered direct hits from exploding rubber yet still perform. In the third picture George is looking longingly at his Czech DT in the hope of needing it one day, whereas Phobe is happier using the falling-out-noseblock technique which saves weight. We were lucky to get the shot of Ray B who spends most of his time in the vineyards looking for the P-30 which has a sticky DT. And finally Mike, who likes to work on his pecs using the compressed air pump. (George is wearing cowboy boots, and not because he plans to visit the equestrian center down the street. The east coast may have its Starleaf - - but out west we have very impressive Star thistle.




Dave K - who clearly would prefer to remain incognito has a trunkfull of great scale models that all have OOS capability, I think the shades are OOS. Incidentally, do kids use "OOS" for texting?


I have no hat because I still have hair, and a hi tech winder adapted by George B from an Ed S original. It has a rare type of counter. Because the ratio is 1:1.25 it actually takes more energy than hand winding, so I simply wait for my right hand to go numb. The torque meter consists of marks on the six inch nail that holds down the rear line of the stooge. As torque increases, the nail pulls out of the ground, and more marks are revealed. Calibration is a challenge.


Gale W continues to delight us with his self-designed marvels which fly majestically, and are almost too good. In real life Gale is a extremely talented sculptor who works a lot with huge steel structures. They tend to be earthbound too.
Tom W