Recent Articles

Tests,Quizzes and Final exams

Tests,Quizzes and Final exams

I’ve been terrible about putting up blog posts on a regular basis, and I’m going to try to be better about it. but for now, I’m back to trying to remember how to interface with the website blog through my iPad. Hopefully, you’re successfully reading this… And learning that I successfully ran the brand new [...]

January 18, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Things Are Getting Pretty Moldy Around Here!

Things Are Getting Pretty Moldy Around Here!

I’m back from the workshop…. with some pretty cool progress on making fuselage and wing molds.  I’ve known for some time that Stefano Duranti’s DevFusCad and Profili Pro applications not only can design (and cut with CNC) conventional, built-up structures, but can cut molds with a CNC router as well.  But I also knew that [...]

August 11, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Sailplanes … By the Numbers!

Sailplanes … By the Numbers!

I just discovered that my air ambulance pilot friend Curtis Suter published a complete set of Excel spreadsheets….. that are great for calculating the correct C.G. position for your sailplane, the wing area, Mean Aerodynamic Chord (MAC), and a whole lot more.  I’m going to be putting together a tutorial on how to use this [...]

July 11, 2011 | 0 Comments More
I Love It When It All Comes Together !

I Love It When It All Comes Together !

  The Fourth of July weekend is just winding down. The big city sponsored fireworks show will be starting in just a few minutes. I’m moderately sunburned, and fairly tired… But it has been a great weekend. Our Albuquerque Soaring Association group got fairly well “skunked” as far as our traditional slope soaring trip to [...]

July 5, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Musings From The Land of the Luddites

Musings From The Land of the Luddites

Pardon this departure from my regularly scheduled programming. This entry is being written from my shiny new iPad.. Which has to be one of the sneakiest, most insidious devices ever invented. Did I mention that I love the darned thing. Anyway, if you’re reading this, it means that I got the WordPress app for the [...]

July 1, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Getting Ready to Think Big

Getting Ready to Think Big

Here in Albuquerque, we had a very unusual circumstance….. a local modeler, who had a VERY LARGE collection of unbuilt scale, RC Sailplane kits, had some severe medical issues, and had to part with his collection.  He donated them to the local club… the club had an online auction…. and suddenly, everyone in this very [...]

June 27, 2011 | 0 Comments More
It’s All Down Hill From Here

It’s All Down Hill From Here

Based on our previously established definition that sailplanes are able to climb from the altitude where they are released, and gliders can only fly down in “sled ride” style, we boldly venture forth into the ever descending world of …. Gliders! It was amazing to see how many gliders are permanently enshrined at the U.S. [...]

June 27, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Gliders versus Sailplanes

Gliders versus Sailplanes

The traditional difference in the “definition” of a glider, compared to a sailplane is that sailplanes are capable of rising higher than the point at which they were released from tow.  A sailplane is capable of harnessing the energy of warm rising air (thermals) or of flying in wave lift. (Waves are the rising air [...]

June 21, 2011 | 0 Comments More
It All Starts With a Launch

It All Starts With a Launch

Welcome to the Soaring Stuff blog. What a bizarre word that is… Blog. It almost sounds like something that my Scotish ancestors might have eaten, that was cobbled together from various inedible portions of various inedible animals. Yccchhhhhh! Anyway, this is the “launch” of the Soaring Stuff blog, so what better subject to deal with [...]

June 10, 2011 | 0 Comments More
A Dedicated Aerotowing Site

A Dedicated Aerotowing Site

If you haven’t already discovered it, there is a great new website that is dedicated to R/C Aerotowing. And it’s got an easy to remember URL….www.rcaerotowing.com. Len Buffington and Dave Dolly have done an outstanding job with this site. It is entertaining, if you do nothing else but load the home page, and watch the [...]

June 10, 2011 | 0 Comments More