Stinger Ready to Go

...hopefully it will be good

The Stinger has been reconstructed with its new fuselage and replacement fan unit, fitted with a zen-first R615X receiver  and, just yesterday, received its new Nanotech 2200 4S 45-90 power pack.

Apart from it looking sharp and new with the replacement fuselage, and interest in how the new DSMX receiver will work, it's the performance impact that the big nanotech will make that I'm most intrigued in.



And it is big; in fact it's too wide to fit easily into the fuselage, bulging the foam past the matching form of the canopy. I'm hoping that in due course the foam will compress a little to reduce this distortion but there's no denying that there's a lot of battery there.

My experience with 4S nano's on my Rarebear indicate that they offer substantial performance improvements, although I'm not sure whether, in this case, the additional grunt will be offset by the increase in mass over the 1800 40C Zippy I used previously.

Anyhow, I'm very interested to try out the reborn Stinger. I had, in fact, been hoping to get it out this afternoon for a test run but the weather wasn't cooperating with overcast and windy weather. Lets hope there's a mild and sunny afternoon in the offing soon...

Canadair CL-415 1390mm. Scenic Outing at the Little Lake

...a bit more successful

Following on from my rather unsuccessful previous expedition to the lake, I returned a week later with the Canadair again for another attempt.
I find flying off water to be rather stressful, due mainly to the inconvenience of failure, namely having to the boat out to rescue the plane and then pack it all up again. As a consequence I am much more nervous and therefore tend to fly much worse than otherwise.

The Canadair is easy to fly and I can generally fly it off the grass, not dissimilar in nature to taking off from water, with little issue. The takeoffs on this occasion were, happily, more successful although most were still a little nervy and one, which didn't make it into the video, was absolutely awful.

One contributing factor is that you don't always get to stand near the plane like you do at the field, and as a result you are literally distanced. I probably should've just gone to the large lake where I could have launched from right next to the jetty. However the little lake looked so scenic with the clouds in the afternoon sun..

Winter Antidote: Fox Glider Having Fun

...perfect sunny afternoon

Friday was one of those days; the weather so changeable that one could literally not anticipate what the sky was going to do next.

Despite the dull conditions, that afternoon I headed out for a fly as things had settled a little. As happens more than occasionally, I swung the Fox in in order to setup the camera; the low afternoon sun had sunk just enough below the western clouds to that warm rays were beginning to hit the paddocks.



By the time I'd got the Fox back in the air and done a couple of circuits, the whole meadow was flooded with almost tangibly soft and golden afternoon sunlight. The beautiful clouds, a moment before hanging grey and dull, now came to life with luminous white crowns and deep grey shadows.

This is the perfect sort of occasion for flying...