Dinkar Narwade in India has been receiving lots of positive recognition for his involvement with model planes and education.
He’s printed out this portfolio of some of his activities to show his Block Education Officer.
I am aware that the Aero World club in India makes a lot of Squirrels. I noticed they changed their Facebook page to a picture of a bunch of kids with Squirrels.
I met with Richard Lyle Barlow yesterday. He’s very active in the model airplane community and I had the opportunity to snag a meeting with him when he was in town.
He’s a bit of a fan of the Squirrel project and we discussed the project a bit. I also showed him the new Dayton design. He had a couple of great suggestions. one was to slant the toothpick. I think that’s a great idea. It will make it easier to assemble too. It will make it easier to install the part that goes right behind the toothpick since it’s orientation will be more clear due to the angle.
Another thing that came up was the small parts. I used some shards of balsa to widen the motorstick to accommodate the wing mounting technique I learned from Lloyd Shales. This produces 4 small shards of balsa. I will look further in to the wing mount system. I really enjoy the stability and ease of the system so I will see if I can simplify it without using too much wood and avoiding the small parts.
I was able to construct an entire Dayton during this meeting. I must admit it goes together faster than a Squirrel.
I returned to the same venue later for another meeting to help somebody with a Web site. During that meeting I flew the Dayton off the bar a couple of times. In one case it took off from the bar, circled the room and landed right back on the bar. I wish I’d taken video. 🙂
This evening I finished another revision of the Dayton. I made the motor stick thicker and moved the thin part further back. I made the tailplane spar thinner. Few other small things. If all goes well, tomorrow (Thursday) I will make one at the pub!
Some sample model planes just arrived safely in India. I enjoy sending models to far away places. You learn a lot about different areas of the world. I sent some lubricant so my new friend Dinkar (who is a school teacher) can try for some higher duration flights.
This is the second attempt. They always seem to explode. I think it’s the low pressure during the flight across the ocean.
I think for now the best bet is to keep the soaked plastic and transfer it to the rubber bands. You only need a couple of drops per elastic. This must be done after the elastics are tied of course you’ll never make a knot with this stuff on the elastic. In fact, I never lubricate the knot in case it penetrates the knot.
