I have had my Deuce's Wild! since June. I have had it built for some six weeks now. I freely admit it is rather poorly finished and has already seen some pretty severe abuse. First off, the post office crimped the body tube severely in cramming it into a PO box. That was an adventure and both Jim Flis and I learned how not to have something shipped to Lyles, Tennessee. Then, once built, the Deuce somehow contrived to fall off my dresser in the middle of the night and cracked a fin pretty badly. Then I went a little overboard on the Fill-n-Finish--without thinnning it first--and as a result the motor tubes aren't smoothed exactly as they ought to be. And the paint job is my usual "night before the MC2 launch" job and is all the worse now for having spent a few weeks in the transport box since the August launch, where we ran out of time.
So. It's not pretty. But I was determined that it would fly. For the September MC2 launch I had two things I had to fly: my Comanche (full up, of course) and my Deuce. I had a range box full of motors, my son and I were really pumped; we were going to arrive early, help set up, fly, take pictures, have a picnic, and maybe stay long enough to help tear down afterward.
Then came the message...the sod company was reseeding the field. Not only was the September launch cancelled, but all MC2 launches for the rest of the year as well. Add this to the disappointment of HARA's apparent cancellation of the annual Rocket City Blastoff (it's still on the calendar for October, but the info is for 2002) and I wasn't sure I'd ever get to fly anything substantial till Spring 2004!
It's Sunday, then. I venture over to our local soccer complex to fly some small stuff. A "Stars & Stripes" and a "Fireflash" my son and I had just finished, plus some others. But at the last minute I wired up a set of homebrew clip whips, just in case. And I took the Deuce. And once I'd finished with the first two flights, I thought, what the heck, let's give it a try. I had a couple of fresh Quest B6s and their accompanying TigerTails, which looked to me to be better suited to firing a dual. Of course, I'd never used them before, but how tough could they be after Copperheads? And all I had was the standard Quest 9v launcher...
Oh well, let's give it a try. Nothing ventured, etc. I connected the whips to the TigerTails and clipped the launcher clips to the whips. Then I took a picture of the whole mess, just in case I never saw the thing again. Mind you, this was the purest of optimism; surely it wasn't going to fly, now was it?
I got back the prerequisite 15 feet, put in the key. Beep beep beep, it went. I mentally counted from five to one and pressed the button firmly and held it. I figured it would take a second or two to light...
...nothing.
Hmmm. Well, I wasn't surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. Still, I knew the launcher battery had seen some use, and I had a fresh one handy. Let's try swapping it out. More beeps, another countdown, another firm press of the button...
...WHOOSH!
I was so startled I barely had time to enjoy the trademark twin smoke trails. Boost was absolutely arrow straight even in a decent breeze, ejection was at apogee and the chute brought it home right at the edge of a thick growth of trees. I was covered with chiggers from knee to toe retrieving her, but retrieve her I did, and I discovered that WD40 on a rag gets rid of chiggers fast.
So. She's homely, she's wounded, and she's battered. But she's mine. And now she's flown, beautifully. I have said it before, and I will say it again: Jim Flis, you rock.
So. It's not pretty. But I was determined that it would fly. For the September MC2 launch I had two things I had to fly: my Comanche (full up, of course) and my Deuce. I had a range box full of motors, my son and I were really pumped; we were going to arrive early, help set up, fly, take pictures, have a picnic, and maybe stay long enough to help tear down afterward.
Then came the message...the sod company was reseeding the field. Not only was the September launch cancelled, but all MC2 launches for the rest of the year as well. Add this to the disappointment of HARA's apparent cancellation of the annual Rocket City Blastoff (it's still on the calendar for October, but the info is for 2002) and I wasn't sure I'd ever get to fly anything substantial till Spring 2004!
It's Sunday, then. I venture over to our local soccer complex to fly some small stuff. A "Stars & Stripes" and a "Fireflash" my son and I had just finished, plus some others. But at the last minute I wired up a set of homebrew clip whips, just in case. And I took the Deuce. And once I'd finished with the first two flights, I thought, what the heck, let's give it a try. I had a couple of fresh Quest B6s and their accompanying TigerTails, which looked to me to be better suited to firing a dual. Of course, I'd never used them before, but how tough could they be after Copperheads? And all I had was the standard Quest 9v launcher...
Oh well, let's give it a try. Nothing ventured, etc. I connected the whips to the TigerTails and clipped the launcher clips to the whips. Then I took a picture of the whole mess, just in case I never saw the thing again. Mind you, this was the purest of optimism; surely it wasn't going to fly, now was it?
I got back the prerequisite 15 feet, put in the key. Beep beep beep, it went. I mentally counted from five to one and pressed the button firmly and held it. I figured it would take a second or two to light...
...nothing.
Hmmm. Well, I wasn't surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. Still, I knew the launcher battery had seen some use, and I had a fresh one handy. Let's try swapping it out. More beeps, another countdown, another firm press of the button...
...WHOOSH!
I was so startled I barely had time to enjoy the trademark twin smoke trails. Boost was absolutely arrow straight even in a decent breeze, ejection was at apogee and the chute brought it home right at the edge of a thick growth of trees. I was covered with chiggers from knee to toe retrieving her, but retrieve her I did, and I discovered that WD40 on a rag gets rid of chiggers fast.
So. She's homely, she's wounded, and she's battered. But she's mine. And now she's flown, beautifully. I have said it before, and I will say it again: Jim Flis, you rock.
