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12/22/2002
-- Checking out how the chains will work for the Helicopter Giant
Slalom. It became obvious after a few tries that the short chain
needs to be shorter. Probably set it to about 2 feet, but leave
the long one at about 6 feet. You can't watch the chains while
you
fly or the heli's all over the place. Just hold the Heli at about
eye level and fly the course. Chains are plastic decorative chain from Orchard Supply Hardware ($1.00/foot) and the balls are whiffle balls left over from training-gear. The chains are secured to the skids with a piece of velcro strap, looped through a short piece of cotton sewing thread to provide a "weak link" in case the ball catches something on the ground. |
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12/22/2002
-- Trying to hit that little gate from about 40 feet away is really
hard
while trying to keep the helicopter level and straight. Any lapse
of concentration leaves you either too high, too low or off to the side
of the gate. This is going to be challenging. Maybe 20 gates is too many. How about 4-5? |
| Heavy Lifting |
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12/22/2002
-- Made up some "Pickup-Jax" to see how hard it would be to make a game
of picking up stuff and moving it around. IT'S HARDER THAN IT
LOOKS!! Doggie toys with loops on the end present no danger to
the
helicopter, but are a real challenge to pick-up. Here are a couple of videos to show what it's like: Sometimes its EASY mpg 1,339KB Sometimes its HARD mpg 1,337KB |
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12/22/2002
-- A little practice and a little luck and Dave makes it look easy.
Probably need to enlarge the loops to about 3-4 inches to make it more enjoyable. |
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12/22/2002
-- How about another doggie toy. The ball is easier to snag, but
harder to drop-off at the target site. Soft rubber ball is
squishy
enough that it just collapses when you land the Heli on it when you
find
that it won't come off. (Don't ask how we know, but it's true.) |