·:[ Darryl's Coot Building Journal ]:·
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Here is a Youtube video I came across of a Coot landing on and taking off from a lake.

I just upgraded the blog to WordPress 2.5, so drop me a line if anything seems broken.

While you are waiting for another construction-related post, here is a youtube video of me flying my AA-1 Yankee last summer:

Some months ago I linked to a Youtube video of an RC Coot in China. Here is another video, but this time from Vienna:

Here is another video—apparently the official factory video:

If you are interested in purchasing one of these, Park Flyers has ‘em for under $200! They also provide a mini-review of the model.

Finally, here is the manual.

I spent most of a week out of town two weeks ago and then have a very busy week last week. The University of Washington autumn quarter started while I was gone, so this was catch-up week for me. Even so, I did get to work on the Coot over the last few days. I’ll post a couple of entries this evening (early morning, actually).

I’ve gotten all of the wood and fiberglassing supplies I ordered from Aircraft Spruce. I should now have all wood for the last two bulkheads (127 and 96) and all the fiberglass supplies to glass in the bulkheads.

Work and play have conspired to keep me away from my Coot. I have the roof of my shop extension nearly completed now. I have also done a little more badly needed cleaning and reorganization of the shop.

I met Russ, a Coot builder (or soon to be builder) from N. Seattle the other day. He stopped by to claim the wing tanks I was giving away, and we spent a couple of very pleasant hours talking Coots. If anyone out there has a Coot hull for sale, Russ may be interested.

I will be out of town for much of next week, so posting will be light. I’ll take along plenty of Coot-related material with me.

I purchased plywood, foam and 2×4s for building a “squaring cradle” for my hull. Right now, I have a cradle (on casters) that is supportive enough to allow me to step into the empty hull between station 80 and 96 and move around a little (the sponsons are supported by saw horses). But, I need a better frame for final squaring-up of the hull and fitting of bulkheads.

I am also waiting on an order of fiberglassing supplies and spruce (for station 127) Aircraft Spruce.

Most of my work day on Sunday went to re-roofing a tool shed. I built the unattached 120 sq ft shed almost exactly 4 years ago. It is set against the garage door to my workshop, which extends the length of the shop by 12 feet when the garage door is opened.

Unfortunately, the down-spout above the flat roof occasionally gets clogged with leaves and it dumps water on the roof. It was only a matter of time before leaks started. I am about half-way through with the job.

Sean Wiens made the excellent suggestion that I display recent comments on the sidebar so that people don’t have to fish through old posts to spot recent comments and active posts. I found a plugin for the blogging software (WordPress) that does the trick.

Thanks, Sean, for the suggestion!

I also added local weather to the sidebar—just to keep everyone interested in weather and the Puget Sound region. Additionally, I added a search box on the sidebar and I added a comment preview function.

Unfortunately, I have not done much building for the last couple of days. I have had a very productive email exchange with Sean Wiens. Additionally, I had a very nice chat with Richard Steeves yesterday.

I’ll get back to building before the evening is through, however.