I've got the BIG RED feeling!

RHF2 Tee-Shirts $15

Get yours with a $15 or more donation to the RHF2 construction fund.

Getting ready for red bull video shoot

IT'S TOO BIG!

That's what she said! Hehehe! Well, last night after assembling the second wing section and temporally putting the upper middle wing section in place it is apparent that the Red Hot Flyer II is freaking huge. The wing span right now is almost 24 feet and with a addition of wing tips it will be 28 feet. I know size does matter but this is a bit ridiculous. What was I thinking? So I think I have decided to reduce the size of the center wing sections by almost half and possibly cut down the size of the wing tips a bit as well.

It's gonna be BIG!!!!!!!!!

As you can see in the photos above, the Red Hot Flyer II is gonna be big! That is just one of the three plus wing sections. What was I thinking????????

WINGing it 1.3

Construction continues on the four main wing sections. Last night I glued the cardboard strips to the leading edges of the wings and started working on finishing up the undersides of the wings. I should be able to finish this up tonight. Then it is on to the center wing sections and the wing tips. I hope to do a test assembly of the whole wing this weekend.

WINGing it 1.2

This weekend I continued to work on the four wing sections that I have been building. All, four sections are 75% complete. I had A LOT of help from my very supportive girlfriend and on Sunday, one of my teammates, Seth, came over to help me. We cut and glued up all the trailing edges of the wings, cut out the leading edge portions of the ribs out of foam then glued and nailed them into place. Holes were cut out of the cardboard on the trailing edge to help reduce weight; the center rib sections were topped with a strip of cardboard and the top part of the leading edge ribs have been covered with cardboard strips.

I'm WINGing It!

This weekend was not as productive as I would have liked due to a few necessary distractions. The first distraction was for some inspiration. I had to go see The Dark Knight, which by the way was awesome and the second was to celebrate my girlfriends birthday which brought a big smile to her face. Anyway,  back to the Red Hot Flyer II, I am 90% finished with the 4 wing struts. I spent time reenforcing then with foam and added blocking for wire bracing if needed. I have also moved on to building the first wing section. There are 6 main wing sections and 4 wing tips making up about 55 feet of wing length. After all it is a biplane.

Gettin' Jiggy With it!

So last night, and trip number two to The Home Depot, I purchased a new jig saw, flush router bit and some MDF. I had actually bought a Black & Decker jig saw the day before because it was cheep and they didn't seem to have the DeWalt one I wanted . After testing it out I really didn't like it but, to my surprise I found the one I wanted  in a product display and it was on sale for only $5 more then the B&D one. It works so much better! It's so smooth. Anyway, last night I made a jig to cut out the plywood support ribs for my wins. I was able to get the jig built and over a dozen ribs cut. Tonight I hope to get the rest of them cut. 

Red Hot Flyer Redux

It's  official the wiener will fly again! The Red Hot Flyer II been accepted into the 2008 Red Bull Flugtag Chicago. It has been nearly five years since I entered and competed in the 2003 Red Bull Flugtag Chicago with the first Red Hot Flyer. Now that the nervous excitement has started to subside I must get busy planning the construction of my bi-winged flying machine. I will keep you posted all along the way with this blog so, stay tuned.

"This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last."
- Oscar Wilde