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Grandma Claire (Tanguay) Bayerl, 1911-1974

Family and Heritage Section:

 I'm somewhat fascinated by MBTI®:

Also nominally attracted to Skepticism (it has saved me time, worry, money and looking like a fool):

Amateur Radio: Call N4XBH


(Click for full scale image and description)

Model Aviation and R/C

Summer 1991, me posed with my
Airtronics Sagitta 900

Graceful, relaxing model to fly, as well as to build and rebuild after it was totalled earlier that year. 

(One of these days, I'll figure how to get enough extra time to pilot such craft again with the Capital Area Soaring Association) 

Academy of Model Aeronautics 354,451 since 1990

I've built and flown model aircraft, on and off, since I was a kid.  My first project at age 10 was a balsa-and-tissue Guillow's Lancer, rubber-powered.  The first R/C model I tried was a Carl Goldberg Falcon 56 4-channel, with a K&B .40.  That was in 1982, several years after I sat in an athletic yard watching some folks fly off of a soccer field and caught the bug.  The Falcon was a rather hot plane for a "trainer", and I discovered that glow engines turn out to be surprisingly unpopular next to others' "back yards", when the Livonia Ribcrackers lost the Schoolcraft College field where I used to hang out.  My first solo was in 1990, flying an Astro 05-powered Airtronics Eclipse 2-meter electric (only I've not practiced, and consider that skill lost--2005).  Guys that hang around flying sites, I've found, are a most agreeable bunch when a newcomer arrives who shows sincere interest, but the newcomer must be vigilant, and willing to devote some serious time to the club.

Beginning at summer, 2001, my interests also included R/C powerboats, specifically, the "high performance" models produced by Traxxas Corporation.  I have now "collected" and run one of each of their three marine offerings.  Pictured below, L - R, are the Traxxas Blast (named Bánh Mì), the Nitro Vee (named Bò Nuóng) and the Villain IV (named Xá Xiú).  The names arise from my favorite Vietnamese food items; roast pork, fresh bread and skewered beef, respectively.
 
I have found various places over time to operate these craft, most notably, in the ponds in our old development (clandestinely, for a "No Boating" ordinance applies) and from a number of points along the Potomac River.  We have a flood-control reservoir now nearby, but I understand that nitro-powered boats are forbidden.  The Bò Nuóng, with its .15 fuel power, is the top speed performer, once it gets on plane, only the similar-size 31" Xá Xiú is much better behaved, both from its twin-motor electric power (using 14 3000 mAh cells) and in terms of stability.  The 24" Bánh Mì also shows hot performance on plane, and looks like it could beat the Xá Xiú (but not the Bò Nuóng) in a race, and with only 6 1200 mAH cells.  Traxxas states that these boats are "not a toy", only I'll let the reader be the judge of that...

I bought the parts, on an ebay.com auction sometime back, to build a Nitro Vee, but with a Traxxas 2.5 Racing Engine.  It still sits down there on the bench.
Well, now, look what has come next...an oldie but a goodie.  The Andrews Big H-Ray was a kit I bought, somewhere down by Westland, MI, as an impulse in 1987.  Gol darn it, I was going to learn to fly these virtual buzz-bombs, for big-time glow power is where the true action is!  The model sat in my parents' basement until I carted it to Northern VA some years back.  In 2003, I decided I'd build her into a real machine again; the Shootin' Star.  Out went the quirky old OS Max .40 FP, and moving in was an OS Max .46 FX, and also an 11x6 prop.  Turns out that I really need a "buddy-box"-compatible radio to use the NVRC's Loudon County field, so we're basically talking about an airframe with all new gear.  In the background is the huntin' shed I built in 1/16 scale from balsa.  The plane, on the other hand, looks to be 1/10, or so.  It might do all right with 1/12 action figures, but GI Joe, at 1/6, would never fit.  In 2005, the model continued to sit, fully-outfitted and with batteries being cycled, in the basement with the rest of the stuff.  It is "in the rear, with the gear", as I believe the line goes, from Full Metal Jacket.

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