Hi there,
Just wanted to introduce myself quickly. 35yrs old, have been flying planes and helicopters for the last 5 years or so. Started with a Taxi II that I only had to finish with Oracover. After the Taxi I mainly focussed on flying with Micro Helicopters and then scratch build foamies.
While visiting San Francisco a couple of weeks ago I met Sean D. Tucker, the very friendly pilot of the Oracle (Pitts) Challenger. He gave me the opportunity to come to Salinas Municipal Airport for a ride up-side down in an Extra 300L. What a great experience!!! One of the instructors of Sean's Flying school, Ben Freelove took me up for a ride. After talking about flying aerobatics with RC planes he allowed me to steer the Extra for 13 minutes, doing some loops, rolls, a Wing Over and a Hammerhead. See youtube for the onboard video:
(I had to cut the video to less than 10 minutes otherwise Youtube wouldn't accept it).
Since that day my love for Aerobatics has grown even more and I hope to come over to the US next year and try to arrange another flight. In the meantime I want to keep practising my Aerobatics with RC planes and make sure that I have a list ready of moves that I want to do in the 1:1 Extra whenever I get the chance to fly again.
Yesterday I picked up an old 33% Laser 200, 2.5m (96"?) wingspan, I think it's an old Lanier kit. Apparently this plane belonged to an American who has lived in Holland for a while, if you recognize your old plane, please let me know.
Unfortunately the previous (Dutch) owner had a hard landing which damaged the wing and the Cowl. I am going to strip the plane to do some repairs and cover it again.
Not sure which motor to use yet. The bulky cowl screams for a nice boxer motor..... any suggestions are welcome. I have not decided which new colour scheme I want for this plane.... I may do something similar to the Oracle Extra 300L scheme..... we'll see.