Getting ready for the ETOC......

[Matchless]

Very cool RJ! C ya there!

On this preparation front, I've got both my practice planes flying well, but I've really got to get into an indoor facility to get some real practicing done. I can practice my freestyle stuff outdoors on a calm day, but not the precision.... and the sim is OK for the precision practice, but we all know its just not the same.

[TheRooster]

I just found out that the local college is cool with my flying in the gyms, might try a college if you havent already?

[Matchless]

Good suggestion John : ) Its funny you mention it. Last year, a local flying buddy helped me get into his church facility each morning for about a month. Today, while out on a road bike ride, I ran into him at my flying field. He recently made contact with another church about a mile from my house that has said they are OK with us getting in there and using their gymnasium.

Hopefully that will work out shortly. (he's calling them tomorrow for me...)



Thats another thing about getting ready for an event like this.... It takes the help of a bunch of good friends to make it happen. If you tried to do it by yourself, you'd never get it done......

Some good help I've gotten from friends to get to the event and get everything going--- I owe a big thanks to each of these guys.

Propstriker - has helped me get into a local multi-use facility to practice
Staggerbee/Jack01 - helped arange the flight up to Toledo and a hotel room at Seagate in Toledo.
aglenn - My practicing buddy/caller. Someone to practice with (and tell you where your flying sucks) is invaluable and AGlenn has been there all the way- I'm proud to get to fly with him in the competition.
Mrs Matchless -The lady is nice enough to let me get out and practice : )

[hpapilot]

Finally... the shipment of servos got here, so I have enough now to cover the backup planes. More batteries and motors on the way, too....

I've been lucky enough to have a few good practice gyms. Some friends from my club flew with and helped QuiQue practice for the 2nd ETOC when he lived here. Two local rec centers are open to letting me practice, and in addition another friend is a coach at a local high school, and whenever possible I go there to fly.

Now, I'm just wishing I had a sponsor... nice thing about foamies is that they're pretty inexpensive, but setting up 4 competition-caliber planes can get pricey...

[Matchless]

You're lucky to have all the great places to practice. Make the most of them!!!!

As for sponsors, just go and have a good time. Do the best you can and always have a good attitude- the sponsors will come when they see what you can do and how you handle yourself : )

[citrus]

Good luck Jeremy, look forward seeing you on the podium.

Chris

[hpapilot]

I am thankful to have the great practice gyms. Now I just have to work my practice schedule around school...

On the sponsor subject, I just spoke with Mark at 2DogRC, and I'm proud to say they are my first sponsor. I'll be running their great little 2S 360mAh packs. Thanks 2DogRC!

[Matchless]

Congrats on getting a sponsor HPA! Mark is a great guy, and his batts do the job well!

Got some really good practice time in yesterday evening. I started by burning some packs outside under the lights at the local church. Just practiced individual elements and a few of them linked together in blocks. As I was running through them, I picked a couple that were giving me the most trouble. I also spent some time practicing my freestyle work.

Then I went back home (and put the batts back on the charger) and fired up the sim. I turned the run speed wayyyyyyy down (50%) and practiced those maneuvers that were giving me fits. After practicing them for a while on slow, I turned up the speed a bit and practiced them some more. I'll continue to practice them at progressively faster speeds until I'm back at 100%. Then I'll transfer all of that work back to the real thing......

BigBird and I were talking via email/PM, and he said something that makes a whole lot of sense- It was something to the effect that if you're not enjoying getting ready for the event, then you're really not going to enjoy the event itself - Have fun and keep it fun. I think his thought was right on, and I'm definitely enjoying the practicing.

We got an indoor facility for next week. Should be able to get in several hours of practice : )

[citrus]

Which sim do you like Jeremy...AFP still??

Chris

[Matchless]

Still using AFPD, but G3.5 is good to. I just have AFPD on my home computer. I love the Reflex that Donatas posted in one of the other ETOC threads. Great sim foamy. I had to trim it a bit to make it fly like my birds, but I like practicing the known with it.....

Finally made some headway on the indoor practice facility.... Besides the 4-6 hours we'll get in the Multi Use facility next weekend, AGlenn has gotten us access to a gym on 1 night a week, and I've gotten a church near my neighborhood to agree to check their schedule for any openings between ball practice.

[c.meijer]

OK i´m on my way to ETOC
signed the paper with Thunder Tiger and AXI this week.
Trying to lern my Sharks the right movs now:-)

see you in Tholedo

Claes , the happy "Swed"

[Matchless]

Well, today I got a call on my cell that was very welcome!
My neighborhood is across the street from a church with a large gymnasium. The church is a private school during the week. I spoke Wednesday with the facility administrator, and he agreed to check his schedule for openings between ball practice. All total, he found openings for me on 3 days of the week (one of them 4 hours long) and agreed to let me use the gymnasium. As long as people are there and no practice is scheduled, I've gotten permission to 'help myself' to their gym.

I guess it just goes to show that a friendly introduction and a handshake can 'open' a lot of doors. I plan to use the facility up until the competition and always leave it in a nicer state than when I arrived.

YEEEEHAWWWW

[Matchless]

Got some time to build this weekend. Made some mods to my precision airplane to allow it to better handle the maneuvers in the routine. I'll find out tomorrow if they worked when we hit the indoor facility.

A huge source of frustration as of late has been my paintjobs.... Seems they just keep getting worse and worse..... The paint on the bird I framed yesterday is just plain ugly..... Soooo for that reason, and in order to keep my Precision airplanes light, I may just leave them bare.

We've now got everything covered for travel to the event as well....

[TheRooster]

hey matchless, dont get so caught up in building, and tweaking, that you forget to practice! ....practice practice practice..... all the best

[Jr.]

Good Luck Jeremy