Vanquishing volks vie for volksplane victory at St Vincents

We finally held our peanut Volksplane contest!
Amid a swirl of media attention and hounded by hordes of paparazzi, five contestants faced off before a small but fanatical group of spectators on Sunday July 25, 2010. When the props stopped and the dust settled one man emerged to bask in the glow of victory.

Mike L, with his exquisite model - decorated to perfectly mimic a real Volkspane - emerged head and shoulders above the rest, and not just because he is a lot taller.

Mike won all 4 categories as follows

BEST THREE TIMES OUT OF FIVE

Mike L 169.5 secs
Ed S 112.6
Tom W 80
George B 72.1

LONGEST SINGLE FLIGHT

MIKE 1 minute 02 secs
Ed 40.4 secs
Tom 28 secs
George 24.1 secs

CONCOURS (a totally subjective scoring method by myself)

Mike 85 points
George 84
Jim 77
Ed 76
Tom 65

MASS LAUNCH (IF YOU CAN CALL FIVE MODELS A MASS)

Mike (still going after the rest of us had gone home)

So first prize of a Gizmo Geezer went to Mike, and Ed as the runner up received a packet of rubber bands - both provided by George.

Jim broke his prop during a final trimming session and was unable to compete in the main section)

Models from top right clockwise - Ed, Mike, George, Tom and Jim.



Thanks to everyone for a great session and lots of laughs. We invite anyone to email us with times and photos of their peanut Volkspanes.

Summer Time

Part of a mural painted by students outside the St. Vincent's gym


One of several models competing in the Volksplane contest on Sunday. I will leave the reporting of that event to others who took better notes and more pictures. Hope to see a report here.


An example of the Easy Built Models variation of the Little Richard design. Distinguishing features include polyhedral breaks near the wing tips and tail feathers extending aft of the fuselage.


Ed shows his finely crafted mini-square.


At his first St. Vincent's session, Haoyang flew a Phantom Flash and then this GM Aero-Bat.


Thanks to those who brought cookies.


Dave K just built this immaculate dime scale D.VII from the Skylake Models kit. This one flies really well both indoors and out, and of course it looks fantastic.

Wassup?

The wind was up yesterday. No problem when you've got a trusty hound to track lost models.

Ding and Ray assess the wind conditions.

Does size really matter?

Brian had some long flights with his Flying Aces Moth, which handles the wind pretty well.

I think this is the first time I've flown my Born Loser embryo outdoors. This model seems to like the calm air inside the gym better. But it was a nice Sunday to be outside, windy or not.

Photos by my cousin Mark, visiting from Berlin

6-27-2010 Indoor flying

Sunday's session saw many versions of the peanut scale Volksplane being readied for the upcoming event.



Jerry concentrates on trimming his VP, in Luftwaffe livery.



George's VP is a real lightweight.

Much attention is paid to keeping the weight to a minimum.
Tom knows the importance of this, and he shows us how its done.

Part of Jim's air force.

Mike's Sparrow & VP.



Dave K's Fokker returned to base with battle damage.

Jim pauses to answer questions, in midst of winding.

George's Bostonian-sized VP suffered major damage after encountering an immovable object.

More of Mike's handiwork, an Aeronca L.

Additionally, heres some pics from the previous indoor session that didn't get posted...( better late than never!).