Spring Sizzle Pilot's Notes

Visit our "Y2K" Sponsors

Check out our Site Weather

Pondside & Puddlemaster's Owners Club.

Home

Hi Folks - And welcome to the holding point for  some info on the DC Metro area's biggest gathering of electric sports fliers, the (Un)Official homepage of the CASA Spring Sizzle - and the BRAND NEW "Pondside and Puddlemaster Owner's Club"!  CASA - Capital Area Soaring Association - despite the title, about the third of the active members are sports fliers who prefer electric power.  If you follow the link left and high, you get to the CASA site.  Look in the title bar for the flying sites, then to "Gude Drive".  On a good day, it looks like any other RC flying site, but no irritating whining.  Just watch out for string - glider pilots leave it lying around all over the place. The PPOC is an unofficial SIG for this delightful 48"span flying boat from Scott Hartman's drawing board.  Originally kitted as the "Puddlemaster" by Ace RC (when they were a model aircraft company), it migrated south to re-appear as Hobby Hangar's "Pondside".  This link takes you to a showcase for a model that can be built right out the kit box, be powered by what it says on the box - and do exactly what is claimed of it. And there aren't many around that can do that! If you have built either - send in a photo so the PPOC can see your handiwork.  We're open to 'altereds', 'scale models'  and even the Hobby Hangar "Electric Scout" which has wheels, but uses a Pondside wing, therefore it's halfway there. One who has is Bernard Cawley, who sent us some great shots of his "Scout in Seaboots".  Not only with floats, but with ZIP!  Motive power for this little cracker is one of Jeti's new brushless motors! PPOC dues are zero, collected on the 31st of February next.  Anyone wishing to design / peddle a T shirt / logo / custom SUV - feel free.  If you make any money on this, we'd be amazed!.  If you ain't done a splash and go - you ain't flown RC! Back on Track - This is also the home page for the CASA Spring Sizzle.  "CASA" means Capital Area Soaring Association, but on Memorial Weekend, it could mean "Capital Area Silent Aviation", as Mid-Atlantic E-fliers converge on Rockville, MD. Memorial Day Weekend - 26 / 27 May, 2001 - came and squelched off into history.  Despite the early rain Saturday, and the late Sunday afternoon "Mother of All Rainstorms", the hardy logged a lot of airtime. Meeting Highlights?  First off, and an object lesson to would-be event organisers - the competition free funfly is "The Best" in the history of aeromodelling gatherings!  Any flyable time going, all kinds of models were airborne.  With no stopping of flying while a few perform, and no need to have a specific type of model, all that's left is to fly and hangar-fly! Chris True, almost a local, lit up Saturday with his brutal "SportCAP" - 10lbs and 27 cells that made three or maybe four fast vertical rolls look easy.  His EAM supplied Mig 17 is blisteringly fast and looks the wicked part flying fast sweeping circuits around the field. Dave Robelen, who flew rudder / elevator aerobatic competitions as a lad, flew, flew and flew again all weekend.  His S400 "Peeper" loops, rolls and flies inverted like you probably think a lightweight three channel model shouldn't.  He tore up the sky with his buddy's "Aerial".  Bill Conklin has been tinkering with this compact aerobatic ship for a couple of years now, and I keep twisting his arm to publish what is now a well sorted out device.  On ten cells and a geared MEC motor, this cleverly designed model is definitely one for the aerobatic hungry flier.  Bill let me fly his Sig LT25, an easy going, good handling model  that is a pleasure to fly.  Bill uses a Kyosho Magnetic Mayhem - under $30.00 - and a Great Planes TG 600 gearbox - around $14.00.  This and ten Sanyo 3000 Ma NiMh gives him around 12 minutes of lively flight - an ideal trainer package. Home team player, John Bergsmith flew his elegant Proctor "Antic", and treat us to "slide and go" landings on the wet grass Saturday, with his new Pondside flying boat - where have we heard of that kit? I think the S400 sports model was the dominant type, if there was one.  Only saw four 'soarer' type models over the weekend, and one was definitely not soaring - it was continuously looping for much of one flight!  For much of the time, the sair looked like your average and everyday flying club - but for the missing noise.  Sports fliers rule!       "Model Aircraft Should Be Seen - But Not Heard" Yours in modelling Dereck Woodward, MC, Spring Sizzle

Map to our place

By popular request, this is pretty much what my new ten cell toy looks like.  Ten cells, because it is far easier to get decent aerobatics out of ten cells using pretty much the motors everyone thinks of as eight cells.  "New" because there's a dismal lack of sports aerobatic models for e-power and I figure I might as well stop bemoaning the fact and do something about it. "Puts-E" is 44" span, with 510 square inches of semi-symmetrical section'ed wing.  Mostly open framed, D box wing, and a fuselage mounted taildragger gear.  Power will be an Astro 035 on 2.8:1.  Photo will appear when I get around to taking some of the complete model, flying weight is looking to be around 56 - 58oz