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dues are due on 7/1/2002). To make things easier to get your new key, we will have the July meeting at the field on Saturday July 13^th at 6:00 pm.  We will have food from Sonny's or Tiny's and charge $4.00 a head (friends, family, and aircraft are welcome).  If you can not make it to the meeting, let us know so we can make arrangements to get you your new key. 

   A couple of days ago I got to try my first attempt at float flying.  Sebastian and Chris cut a set of floats for the infamous Soarstar and Sebastian invited me out for the maiden voyage.  In the early evening we met at Tom Brown Park by the small lake or actually, I guess, we will have to call it a pond. Sebastian brought out the Soarstar with the home made floats and they looked pretty good.  They were mounted fairly sturdily in a similar manner to the wheels, with an additional mounting point at the back of the fuselage, and were made of foam covered with Monocote.  A hand launch test flight was performed and the Soarstar, floats and all, flew pretty well with close to the flight characteristics we are familiar with in the model.  The Soarstar could still loop and roll with a fresh battery pack. It also could still fly pretty slowly, even with the additional weight.  The landing on the grass was a little rough on the floats and the rear mounting point broke loose -- oops!!!  A little string and the problem was temporarily fixed, until a more suitable mounting

solution could be devised.  On to the Lake, umm  I mean Pond. 
   Next, Sebastian set it in the water and it looked pretty good, although the tail was slightly low.  A few blips of throttle to test the handling characteristics on the water and it was time for the moment of truth.  The Soarstar accelerated fairly briskly, came up on step and gracefully took off in about 65 yards.  Sebastian flew around for several minutes and set up for a landing which ended with a big splash, but the Soarstar was no worse for the wear.  Several additional flights were attempted and Sebastian discovered that to land on the water he had to literally fly the Soarstar onto the water and all subsequent landings were very impressive. 
   Sebastian next handed me the controls for a try.  My first attempt at take off was unsuccessful; I added throttle and the nose of the plane rose immediately which pushed the tail into the water.  I aborted this attempt and taxied back.  On the next attempt I used full down which kept the tail out of the water and as it rose on step I released all the down and applied a good bit of up and we were off.  Now I need a set for my Soarstar!  Hey Sebastian are they ready yet?

   See ya at the field or maybe a lake.