January
December up-date
With the Air one ripping up the cliffs of Devon it was great to see that the mold for the new wing joiner is a serious piece of kit. Quality has been a real focus in the new Air ones, from molds to the materials and it’s showing.
As I pace up and down waiting for the new models you’ll be sure to hear of developments!
December up-date
Not since the distant past of my youth has Christmas been accompanied with such anticipation! The Air One project continues to move on at it’s own serene pace, with the molds nearing completion in readiness for 2011 production I can almost smell the frost bite in the workshop. I’ve now received the first pictures of the new 3m Air one mold. OK I’m biased but I think they look a work of art and reflect a focus on quality!
Right now I know how well the smaller version flys, the ingredients for athe bigger version are all there- if it looks good then it should fly good and this model looks stunning!
As the model develops we’ll keep you informed and you’ll hear the corks popping when the first production models arrive. Sorry guys but after this much of a wait- the first one is mine- but I’ll make sure there’s more than 1 in the box!
Now what to call the bigger Air one hmm......
The opportunity to be involved with the development of a model (even in a small way) comes along very rarely. As a process it can be both exciting and very, very frustrating. The Air one has certainly ticked both those boxes, for both myself and it’s builder Marian ‘Majo’ Maslo. After producing a string of successful models over the past 14 years I don’t think that even Majo could have predicted the ride we would have.
Although we had reached the point of ‘pre-production’ on a number of occasions both modifications or problems with the molds have lead to delays. The first Air One reached me in time for ‘Iron Pants’ Garnet to give it a good ringing out on the Wrecker during the Welsh Open weekend. With the next models received just a few weeks later, combining some lessons learnt from the original all looked good for 2010. My own model from this batch felt smooth, fast and remarkably grippy on the turn.
Further problems meant a completely new set of molds had to be made and production would be delayed. New techniques were learnt through the spring and summer, this has meant that the Air One’s construction has improved again. I have flown 4 different fuselages alone, each a step on from the last, working towards today’s version. Each time, the package got better and faith was restored in the design every time I took it onto the slopes.
In September, on the same weekend John Philips achieved a 35 second run with his Air one to win the Welsh Open, Majo contacted me to say that the final positive had arrived as he could get to work on the final version. After just seeing the model win the world’s fastest race, being told that we were a step closer to production was fantastic.
The first new parts to arrive are the fuselages, after listening to feedback, the fuselages now come with 2.4GHz friendly noses and fuselage mounted ballast. The numerous small improvements and modifications since the last version I’d had meant, as I took the first fuselage out of the box I had a strange feeling of both excitement and familiarity.
What also came with the models was some remarkable news: in addition to changing the construction of the new molds in order to to improve quality yet again – a new Air One X set of molds have been designed and produced. Following the same core design principals of section and plan form but scaled up to around 3m.
Majo is now working to complete the new molds to finally allow for production models. After Braving the freeze to test the latest Air one parts- I just can’t wait!
