XFC 2012 - Time to get off the couch and get over here!

[davesheli]

For those of you that might still be planning to go, apparently there will be a Goblin 700 competing AND Pinion will be there:

I was a little surprised to see it is a Belt drive, I kinda thought (but that may be what I get for thinking again) all the big boys were running TT.....





 

[Wayne]

Yes, well, it is very sad to see that the Goblin and Logo have belt drive tails.  I'm not sure why they do, most of the other high end  brands are all TT tails.

[Wayne]

I'm not sure how recently it was announced, but it is official now, there will be full scale plank performance at XFC this year.  Should be pretty interesting:  http://futabarc.com/xfc-rc/

[jomac]

Yes, well, it is very sad to see that the Goblin and Logo have belt drive tails.  I'm not sure why they do, most of the other high end  brands are all TT tails.

          Tighten ur belts boys  Umm Are we seeing a tread here a lot of  the big names going Back to a Belt      sorry Wayne just had to though that jab in there,   Man  i would love to be able to get up there heck anywhere close and see one of those events    nothing within 5-6 or more hours drive one way for me 

[Wayne]

XFC and IRCHA are 6hr one way for me and I have been to both the past two years

[Wayne]

Time to set your home page to http://www.weather.com/weather/5-day/Muncie+IN+USIN0452:1:US until Friday AM.  So far Fri high 87, Fri night low 63, 0% chance precip.  Sat high 87, Sat night low 65, 0% chance precip.  Sounds like needing the SPF 50 and a lot of fluids.  I would be shocked if a nasty Tstorm does not roll through Sat PM though.  It always seems to.

[Wayne]

The outlook has not changed that much, Friday looking for high of 89 and low of 64, 0% precip and Saturday high of 90 with a low of 68 and there comes that 10% chance of precip.  I'm telling you, it will turn into a monster downpour about 7-9pm Saturday night...it always does    I should be more optomistic I guess.

RC has agreed to help post pics here from my photobucket whilest I am on site.  See if I can get some good ones for you guys.

[Wayne]

Well, I just set my alarm for 4am, going to finish up a few things in the shop, then start packing everything into the car after UNPACKING all my day to day equipment out of the car.  The email from AMA now says the full scale show is both Friday and Sat at noon.  I should only miss 1-2 hr of the openeing action tomorrow, but hopefully by noon I will be firmly ensconced in my chair on the flight line, and hopefully Pinion will be nearby...YEEESSSSSSS!   

[ricky crack]

  :yesguy:wish I could be there with you

[Wayne]

RC!  You didn't post the pics bud.  Oh well, I got on site about 9:30 this AM and baked in the sun at 90F all day long.  Good seat, pretty good action so far, but have not seen Pinion make an appearance yet.  One guy, I am assuming with THC had Pinion on his demo tape, so that was cool.  Bobby Watts as always has the showmanship angle covered very nicely.  There is a pretty young girl that has been flying planks only one year that is really throwing down on the planks!

What my impressions of the first day are so far:  I am underwhelmed by the Goblin so far.  I mean it's ok, but something about it is just off.  Kyle Stacy ditched the Logo 800 for it, and I DO like the Goblin better than the Logo 800!  In fact, NO one is flying the 800 in competition this year, which I am glad to see.  It is just too big and lumbering to do good 3D.  A couple guys are flying the new Logo 700, which I think IS better than the 800 but still not nearly as good and agile as the 600.  For that reason, I am very glad to see that Jamie Robertson is sticking with the 600 for competition!  Now, the only other heli that is really impressing me is the Gaui X7.  Bobby Watts and one other kid are flying it and it looks almost as good as the Logo 600. 

Here are my heli equipment rankings:
Logo 600
Gaui X7
Logo 700
Goblin
Logo 800  (thankfully none competing this year)
Anything Align

[Wayne]

There was a couple of spectacular heli crashes today.  In the noon smack down competition (outside of the actual XFC competition) Dude was inverted, struck the hub, started to climb out and it started to shake itself to death and plied in!  The other heli crash was actually during competition and he had been cutting throttle hold earlier in his act and I thought he just did it again and didn't recover, but something went wrong and he really did lose total power.  Hit hard enough to smash a skid off.  One plank was doing some spin routines and just never pulled out and smashed up quite badly.  Another plank came in after his time was out and made a nice landing, then on roll out, his main gear came off and slid on the belly a bit...OUCH!  Probably not good on his DA!

[papascotimini]

Nice pics Wayne. Looks like you are having a good time 

Happy Flying

Papa

[Wayne]

So, another day in the heat, best flying in the world.  Noon time full scale demo again--awesome!  Then some noon time off the record smack down flying!  This kid Mitch killed it flying his heli inverted BELOW the runway, totally out of sight (the ground drops off on that end of the field) TWICE!  Then he came in low inverted hover at show center and the announcer talked him into a blade scuff.  Can you believe a pro ruining a perfectly good set of $150 blades purely for our entertainment.  He kept it flying though.  Night flying was awesome as always, can't wait to see the video so I can take it all in instead of just wondering when they are going to hit the flame throwers next and scorch us with the heat.

After that, drove all night to get home so I can take my girl out for lunch for fathers day and spend the rest of the afternoon /evening with her.  I did just finish my demo track under the fresh inspiration of the XFC and flew it twice this AM on sim.  I have a lot more to work out and going to fly it I hope a couple times this week leading up to our event.  I will certainly be no where near an XFC style performance, but these people up here never saw anything so they will probably still be impressed and at least I have a kicking soundtrack!

[Wayne]

End of the day yesterday, my boy Jamie was in 2nd place to Nick Maxwell, I think just because of the known round and the extreme difficulty of the known maneuvers.  In the Sat known round, I watched very closely and Jamie only missed one reversal on the piro globe.  Go take a look at these maneuver descriptions, then check out the video when they finally come out:  http://www.xfc-rc.com/known-heli.html  For sure the required maneuvers have never been more difficult!  I did not see anyone nail the piro globe yesterday, but Nick must have to have received a perfect score in the known round.  VERY difficult!

[ROUNDMAN54]

  Nice pics Wayne!! Looking forward to more pics they come out really clear. Keep em comin!!!RM54