Wednesday was busy as usual. I pulled out the Sixth Finger mask and much to my disappointment it has thin spots in it. This happens from time to time and it’s usually caused by areas of density differences in the plaster but I have never had this happen with this mold. Checking my own copy from 12 years ago I didn’t find any thinn spots. So it must have to do with this latest batch of rubber.
I plan today to add more rubber and paper towel to the inside to thicken up the thin areas. Overall the mask is excellent but if I don’t thicken it it could over time break down in the thin areas.
I did get two perfectly good apes masks out of the molds and a good set of Spock ears. Go figure.
Being in a holding pattern I took advantage of the free time and worked further on my jet. I managed to get the wings and tails blended to the fuselage with putty and then primered the whole plane one color. It’s really starting to take shape.
Today I’ll be painting masks, patching masks and getting ready to paint the Sixth Finger tomorrow.
Tuesday was another good day with lots done. I poured up Chris’s 2 masks and checked the Sixth Finger mask which is so thick I opted not to remove it from the mold until today. It was still a bit wet in spots.
The rest of the day I got to do a rare thing these days. Work on my own projects. I got back to work on the ME P. 1101 RC jet I created in 2003.
Here’s a picture I found on the net of me in 2004 about to fly it at the basin field in Van Nuys.
So I worked on this old kit and got the wings and tails glued to the fuselage. It took weeks off and on fiberglass epoxy covering the wings and tails. Lots of sanding and filling to get them to this stage. Now that the airframe is in one piece I get to primer the whole body in gray and start mounting the retractable landing gear.
I have an event in October in Arizona that’s been on the bucket list for sometime now. This year I plan to make it and I’m building a few free flight airplanes for this event. This Cessna is one of them. It’s been sitting for a while and it’s time to finish it.
The event is called WestFACS. And it’s all free flight airplanes from all over the country that meet in a huge sod field. http://www.westernfac.com/Acres and acres of grass fields. What could be better for free flight stick and tissue model airplanes?
No radio equipment. No stress. No noise. Just graceful silent flight with friends and follow wingnut crazies for three days. All planes are rubber powered. This is a warm up event for the 2023 big contest event I hope to be at too for a little competition. It was a fun day and I plan another day today! Thanks for all the orders and support!
It was a good start to the week. After making masks for months now things got pretty messy and I took the morning to clean up the mask pouring area before I started pouring the new orders for this week.
First off I poured with Mary’s help this huge full head mold of the Sixth Finger from The Outer Limits. It’s a monster and takes two of us to move it but we did it and the mask will dry out for a couple of days before I can pull it. It’s very thick rubber because this one is for display only.
It took all five gallons to fill it. Now that the rubber is poured back into the bucket this morning I’ll be pouring two more apes masks and a set of ears. Things have slowed down a bit but the pace is good after having that huge wave the last two weeks while being sick.
I actually had time to work on my jet yesterday. I might get it finished in a few months or less.
I’m also cleaning and reorganizing the shop. It has been awhile.
Flying an RC airplane is an amazing thing and it never gets old for me. Unlike any other experience with a hobby RC airplanes carry the largest risk of one’s money, nerve, and pride more than any other model hobby in this author’s humble opinion.
You send a good lot of money on a kit and all the equipment that goes with it. You spend time building the plane. Just the batteries alone to fly such a jet as I did yesterday cost 109 and it gets you a 4 minute flight. You do get to recharge them thankfully.
It all comes down to your nerve, guts, and most importantly, your skill. Because in a few seconds in a short moment all your hard work and money can be turned into a pile of garbage.
I have been doing this since my first build and flight with my instructor in 1986. Since then I have flown everything from the Bell X-1 to the SR-71. In all those years it’s still the same. You always have the jitters the night before you go to the field to fly that new never flown before aircraft you just bought and built.
It’s called the dreaded maiden flight and whether it’s a J-3 Piper Cub or the SR-71 you have intrepidation, anxiety, a churning stomach, and usually a bit of a sleepless night.
You know when you get to the field there will be all your friends and pilots there. And they will know your plane is new. They will all sit and watch the maiden. And they know everything I just told you in this story thus far.
So to add to the pressure you know you can’t screw up or you’ll have to do “the walk of shame.” We’ve all done it before. No one, no matter how good they are, escapes it at least once. If you’re lucky.
So after a rather restless night you wake up. Try to eat your breakfast and load up that beautiful plane you hope is all sorted out correctly. You checked it over the day before going over everything. This is not a toy but a highly sophisticated bit of technology that can lift off a runway, climb to 400 ft or higher while traveling at speeds in excess of 140 mph.
To make matters worse you’re not sitting in the cockpit, you are on the outside of this technological wonder standing on the ground flying it. In fact this takes greater skill in this “earth bound pilot’s” opinion to fly than a full sized airplane. Sounds less like the thing the unknowing public always calls these models. Toy airplanes. Remember, “a toy airplane is something you wind up and it rolls across the ground.”
So I waited for the sky and the runway to clear at our field yesterday. It seemed like an eternity. There were a lot of people there flying. You just have to wait.
The moment happened and I taxed this beautiful brand new F-16 to the runway. You could hear a pin drop. All the other pilots sat watching this moment. With a gulp I eased the throttle forward and the jet responded well and straight down the runway. She lifted off straight and true and climbed to about 100 ft and I turned her to the right and retracted the landing gear.
She flew perfectly and she was fast. I reduced the throttle to about 60 percent and she was still hauling the mail. After about 2 minutes of flying I thought it best to set up for a landing while I still had plenty of battery. Always a good thing for a first flight. I slowed the jet down, put down the landing gear and made my base turn onto final and lined up on the runway. I put the plane in about a 20 degree angle of attack to the runway. I used the throttle as my elevator to control descent. As she got over the runway I reduced the throttle bit by bit until the mains touched the runway. I further reduced throttle until the nose wheel touched the runway. I throttled back to zero throttle and she slowly rolled to a stop in the center of the runway. People clapped and some cheared. I didn’t disappoint them or myself.
I taxied back to the pits, shut her down and had a nice sit. I felt a big sigh of relief. It had all been rather uneventful. One always wonders no matter how many times we do this. Was it skill or luck or both?
This is why we keep coming back to this hobby. If it was easy everybody would be doing it.
I’m hoping that this inside look from the RC pilots POV might help those non hobbyists better understand why we do this and why it’s so important to us who fly.
For several weeks I have been working at catching up with all my backorders and this week I did it. That was the most work I’ve done in a long time. Working while being sick made it harder. I just got swamped. 30 masks and they all had hair work. It was a good thing for business- thank you.
I also made a few pairs of Spock ears without the shadow box this week for collectors.
There was no time to work on anything personal, really. I picked at my glider that I built and finalized it for its first flights next week. I’m looking forward to some sailing, slot car racing, and flying also.
The Samba 2 meter wingspan is all hand built in balsa. She has an all up weight of 14.5 oz. Amazingly light.
Thanks to Dave at Smith Brothers for once again helping me get the right equipment and covering material for this build. I could not have done it without his help.
Next up some experimentation making Ape prosthetics using poly foam and if successful these will be offered. I may start that Tolosian from Star Trek next week as a new mask to add to our selection of masks that continues to grow.
Today I’m going to the Smith Brothers Hobby Center in Reseda to pick up a F-16 Fighter Jet I plan to fly tomorrow and get some R&R at my field here in Ventura. One of my favorite things to do.
Mary has been busy this week being very creative; weaving a new wall hanging and painting. I was so glad to see her doing these wonderful things since she got over the same “whatever it is we got”. I’m just a little behind her.
Thanks for all the emails and support as always. I’ll get back to your emails this weekend. I can never thank you enough for your patronage at Patreon and Buy Me Coffee.
Happy Birthday to 2 of my favorite people, Steve Dix, who I get to see on our monthly SNG chats and Emily Griffin, Mary’s daughter.
SNG Aero – Rockets by Steve Neill …and Mary on the web As always, feel free let us know if you want to be removed from our newsletter by emailing us. Share with friends if you think they would be interested in what we do. Comments and suggestions are encouraged. We love hearing from you!
The newsletter says it all but I’ll encapsulate it here. I’m caught up at long last with my orders. I’m taking it easy next week. If you’re interested in being on our Newsletter, email us and we’ll put you on the list.
I am open to more orders at this time and now that I’m feeling better I can stay caught up. I finished and shipped everything yesterday.
I’m heading to Smith Brothers Hobby Center today to pick this baby up and fly it tomorrow.
Next week. I’m going to make up some Chimp prosthetics
and start and new mask sculpture of this:
Thank you all for your orders, emails, and patience while I was making up your orders. It won’t take so long next time!
Here it is 5:30 am and I’m just sitting down at this computer to write. It’s a usual routine and I must confess at long last I’m feeling better.
The week has been good but also hard. In fact the last 2 weeks were a real struggle to work through while being sick. I had quite a load of work to get through but it’s nearly done now with the exception of a few pairs of ears.
I’d like to take this moment to thank all of you that bought a mask from me. I especially appreciate the emails, PM’s on FB, and posts in the groups expressing your joy for what you recieved. I find that if something you can do makes the world a better place, then I’ve done my job.
To see you smiling and having fun is everything to me. I think it is what we all live for and need. Happy, fun, joy, = love.
Today I’ll be painting the ears and those will ship on Monday. All the remaining mask orders ship today.
And in closing this picture caught my eye yesterday as I spoke to Mary. Such joy to have these companions in our lives. One look at them and you feel an inner peace.
All the masks were nearly completed yesterday with the exception of the teeth which I cast the last pair of before I left the studio. Today the teeth go in and I start packing.
I cast up all the ear orders and they get painted next. And that was my day.
I did get an hour in on my own projects of finishing my new glider( all hand built wooden kit) I have been picking at for weeks now. She’s ready to fly next week.
I’m also very slowly working on the jet kit of my own making from molds made in 2003. It’s an electric ducted fan jet.
It has sort of come to my attention that I have a steady job. It just happened and after all these years of working in the studios on movies I’m still working like I always have on creatures and models. I’m just older now.
It’s kind of sobering on so many different levels. If I really think about it (and I try not to) I don’t feel any different but so many of my peers have stopped doing the work or have passed away. My era is being kept alive by very few now and I’m so appreciative that I’m one of the few keeping it moving forward.
These pictures popped up on the internet recently and I was amazed to see them.
I had a nice sports car back then too, I still have it. Gilly was in my life. I built and flew RC jets and airplanes. Flew Rockets and did everything exactly the same as I do today. I had dogs I loved and played with and when these pictures were taken I was working on Ghostbusters. The time of my life? Well it still is.
Everything today is much the same. I’m happy, in love with Mary, and have two nice dogs I love and play with. And yes all those hobbies too.
I say it everyday. Thank you oh great Spirit of this amazing Universe. We are all connected with you.
The Art of Steve Neill 