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I've known Russ since we were much much younger,
slimmer and had no gray hair. Russ was a Bob Dodgson devotee while I always
showed up with my own scratch-built creations. Russ built those kits and was
always a challenger at our NWSS meets way back when. Then he took a long
hiatus, while tending to his growing family. Then not too long back he
reappeared on the soaring scene and followed the crowd with ARFs and moldies,
again doing very well.
He'd seen me with my scratch built GENIEs and when
I came up with the smaller version, the LT/S, last fall, that is built for those
high stress deep dip and zoom launches, he decided he would get into vacuum
bagging, make an attempt to build one from scratch and give it a go in
competition this year.
Russ is, in my mind, the "poster boy" of having the
courage and taking the initiative to break away from what most everyone else is
doing, learning new things, being creative and doing it all for a fraction of
the cost for a competitive airframe that can hold its own among
today's contemporary RTF birds.
Congratulations, Russ. I look forward to having you
clobber me with one of my own designs! Oh, to be 70 again when I could still do
it well. . .flying I mean!
If you do not know about these airframes, see www.proptwisters.org/genie/genie.html.
Ask me for the document "Is a Genie Right For You?"
No, I do not build for resale, in spite of what
Mike Lee says in his soaring column in the March RCM.
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