Flite Test at SEFF 2014

Dumpster Jedi

The One Who Speaks
It was great seeing the crew at SEFF this year. A few of us from the forums spent the week/weekend together building, flying, fixing, flying and so on! I figured I'd share some of the highlights.

10259259_10152094305028935_8253166684753418271_o.jpg
First off I have to say thanks to Mac Hodges for the use of his land and facilities this week. Also want to give a shout out to Katie's Soul Food for keeping us fed well, honestly you guys, it was delicious.

Hodges' Field is a pretty big place. Plenty of room to put planes, helis and multis up at the same time, and LOTS of good flying was to be had and seen. The "Flite Test Friends" had a prime spot just off of show center, thanks to CraftyDan, who showed up on Monday to stake our claim. The Flite Test crew were set up a bit further down the line where they weren't to be missed.
layout.jpg

Many thanks to Josh Bixler, David Windestål, Dave Knop and Alex Zvada for coming out to SEFF this year. These guys worked around the clock meeting fans, making new ones and helping people build kits. And boy did these guys build! It was a nonstop build party at the FT camp, with Josh and David putting their touch on the speedbuild kits. CraftyDan got a hand from Josh building his Versa (with blue/red lights, pictured further down), and Liemavick assisted the Mad Swede himself with the construction of his very own Viggen. David got that airframe finished minus electronics in a very impressive 27 minutes.

456.JPG

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg

They worked until well after midnight, and much fun was had by all. Night flyers were in the air until almost 3 a.m.

6.JPG

After a beautiful Saturday morning that began with planes in the air as the sun rose, they brought out the 400th episode monster planes for the noon demos when they weren't busy building like madmen and getting footage which I presume we'll all see soon. I strapped on my Fatshark goggles and enjoyed some live FT FPV, let me tell you, these guys can fly, and those Blackout minis are fast!

In true Flite Test style, CraftyDan entered his Bixler-fied Versa in the 2014 Night Bowling tournament. Josh and David released the Kraken on the competition, which looked awesome sporting muticolor LEDs lighting it from the inside.

9.JPG

7.JPG

In the end, the Kraken took second place to what can only be described as a colossal showing by a young man (if someone can tell me his name I'd be thankful) with a UNLIT profile plane. He gave the Kraken a run for its money for number of pins downed, but in the end secured the win by flying like a pro and keeping that plane up in the dark even when it had an aileron standing straight up like a shark fin. Good show all around, the competition went on for at least an hour.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. I can't say enough about the effort the FT crew put in, and for nothing more than the enjoyment of it. They're truly a great group of guys and the very epitome of "what you see is what you get". You didn't really have to ask if they had as much fun as the rest of us, you can see it in what they do and how they do it.

Thanks again to CraftyDan, Liemavick and bitogre for putting up with me all weekend. ;) As well as anyone else here that was there, post your pictures as well! I'd like to see what you guys saw.
 
Last edited:

Dumpster Jedi

The One Who Speaks
No Problem at all. It was a fantastic event and I highly recommend going next year if you can make it.

Oh, one more picture. CraftyDan lived up to his name by whipping up some makeshift worklights with pvc and LED strips. Of course the only logical thing to do with them is duel.
444.JPG
 

DDSFlyer

Senior Member
Sounds like an awesome time! Been keeping up with videos and can't wait to see Flite Test's footage /episode covering it.
 

Dumpster Jedi

The One Who Speaks
Same here, DDS... they said we'd be seeing a recap episode soon.

I'm going to fill this thread out with more SEFF pictures as I can, they're slowly starting to appear on my feeds.

10250212_748972178467592_6441560846747121399_n.jpg
1654085_748972645134212_3721182703922942499_n.jpg
10174977_748972088467601_7624819291505934733_n.jpg
 

bitogre

Member
Thanks to all, especially CraftyDan and the FliteTest crew, who made my first RC event a great experience. Looking forward to future SEFFs.
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
Hey Bitogre!

How'd the combat footage of the Banded Bloody Wonder come out?

Still need to drag out my camera and see what pic's I have . . .
 

bitogre

Member
Hey Bitogre!

How'd the combat footage of the Banded Bloody Wonder come out?

Still need to drag out my camera and see what pic's I have . . .

I am still getting the video transferred and into a format to send to the Flite Test Crew. I will be taking a closer look once that is done and posting the video on to my YouTube. I will let you know when I have done that (I expect to have that done later this week or sometime next week).
 

Flynn

Member
Thanks for the great pics! Especially the light saber one, the look on David's face is priceless!

I guess I'll have to try and make it down there next year if I want to say hi in person, huh Dan?

Hope everyone had a great time!
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
Finally dragged out my camera. Man! I didn't take many pics :(

First off, great to meet you DJ, Freaky and Bitoger, and great to see you again Liemavick!

It was genuinely a pleasure meeting the FT crew, and simply hanging out and building with them. If you get a chance to catch them while they're building or repairing, lend a hand if you can. It was more than once Josh remarked he likes meeting people but it's more meaningful to build with people . . . and the build parties Thursday and Friday night were a lot of hanging around, Joking, goofing off and BUILDING! While it was great to build with Josh, I got to meet and build with Russ and Chris (not regulars on the forum . . . yet), and that was just as genuinely fun as meeting the FT gang . . .

well enough of that sappy stuff . . . on to the pics! (discalimer: most of these are mine, but a few have been posted elsewhere . . . )

A carload full of planes . . . soooo much promise for a nice week :)
DSC00521.JPG

Not everything flying around was "scale" -- caught this MH-53, probably inbound to Robins AFB, and also a CV-22 Osprey inbound to Moody AFB, a local Skyking, and a Piper Pawnee on it's way to some field to dust.
DSC00624.JPG

And the FT guys announced their arrival with a big park flyer:
DSC00643.JPG

DSC00644.JPG

DSC00645.JPG
The Cruiser also came out, but not that day, and never got a pic of it . . . or of the Spit's untimely wing folding over Hodge's lake. Saw it happen -- sad to see it go, but it was an epic death . . .

Another grand thing to experience: COMBAT!!!! All lined up for the turkey shoot!
SEFF 2014 Saturday (129) (Medium).JPG

SEFF 2014 Saturday (131) (Medium).JPG

SEFF 2014 Saturday (132) (Medium).JPG

A couple of pics of the day-glow spit -- my FT spitfire, painted orange, then lighted inside so it glowed orange
DSC00757.JPG

DSC00647.JPG

DSC00649.JPG


Josh, lights in hand, with his "let's get this build party started" look
DSC00653.JPG

Of course, you've got to play with the lights to get them right (DJ thank's for your pic above -- it's the best one of this I've seen :) )
DSC00654.JPG

DSC00656.JPG

And time to BUILD! Start to finish, David and Brian slapped this Viggen together in 27 min!
DSC00664.JPG

DSC00667.JPG


And Chris's DeathDactyl II is born !!!!!
DSC00668.JPG

DSC00672.JPG

And minutes after this, it maidened in the dark, and Chris flew his first wing . . . and night flyer . . . and flew well :)
DSC00689.JPG

And minutes after that, my versa, "Tycho's Alchemist" maidened . . . and flew beautifully :)
DSC00761.JPG

And later flew in Night bowling:
1506049_10201654505139723_76146409680175489_n.jpg

10246500_10201654506259751_6253895256424781202_n.jpg


Ans as the nights grew later and the airspace clearer, a few power gliders went up for a trip to the moon . . .

DSC00701.JPG

DSC00702.JPG

DSC00703.JPG


Simply put, it was an excellent week. A pleasure to meet so many great people, a pleasure to fly, build watch and relax.

SEFF's a great event if you're in range of dropping by, but if not and a fun-fly event is happening nearer to you, GO!