stdun

As the high rolling fight director of our local combat group one of my responsibilies is to make the ribbons for each event. (no wonder I got the job so easily). We're talking 10 pilots, 4 rounds, 40 ribbons per month. I am self employed with 3 kids so time is always an issue. Yesterday I built a little wooden box slightly larger than a rolled ribbon with holes in the sides for a long (6'') phillips bit to go through (the 1/4'' dowel is too slick to wind with), then with a low power battery drill I can wind the ribbons up pretty fast in the box which helps them to stay straight. Then each ribbon must get it's end taped, the hole punched and the string tied on. This all doesn't take forever but it just seems like it. Do any of you have any other tricks for high speed ribbon making?

Montague

Order pre-rolled streamers from Mike Fredricks? Works for me, and you can't get any easier.

Btw, how do you measure out the length quickly?

rrh

Make the pilots tie their own strings on. That will save you some time. I've never been handed any pre-tied ribbons...

rrh

Montague

Yeah, what rrh said. No one (well almost no one) pre-ties the strings on.

Besides, many of us have our own, odd habits when it comes to tieing on the string. I hate HATE having a streamer come off before "start combat", so I have my own "magic" way of doing the string. Since puching a hole isn't part of it, I'd probibly end up undoing the strings and redoing them anyway if I was flying with you. No offense, just my own personal way of doing things. (though, if it's SSC, I care a lot less. The lower speeds means the streamers tear off much less often. It's 2610 where it really matters).

stdun

How do I get pre-rolled streamers, never heard of them? I measure by having 27' marked out on my garage floor. My wife holds one end and we roll out the 27' then I put one end to the drill bit and wind them up while she gets the next one ready to unroll. Using the 81' crepe paper gives you the last 27' pre-rolled. The end of the ribbon then has 2'' of packing tape applied, a hole punched and the string ties on in a manner that won't untie. I don't like getting my plane up and having all my targets ribbonless. In our foggy area the biggest hassle is wet grass from the fog and ribbons that self destruct immedialty. I will look into the pre-rolled ones if I can get the website. Thanks.

Montague

Mike Fredricks is the guy who sells them. He runs Hat Trick RC. I forget the exact name and I don't have the website handy. You can find him on the RCCA forums or linked from the RCCA site at www.rccombat.com though.

I assume you use 27' with the assumption that the streamer will streach the last 3'?

I live in a small townhouse that doesn't have anywhere that is a 30' straight line in the place. So I was wondering if you did anything that would help there. But I guess not.

stdun

The first answer is yes, our planes are so fast they easily stretch the ribbon the final 3'. The second answer is nearly everything I know about combat I've learned from the bunch of hoodlums I fly with. I didn't know the ribbons were supposed to be 30'. While we're at it, how long is the string supposed to be? If indeed 30' , then we're wasting lots of crepe from a 81' roll.
BTW, I've been blessed with a 4 car garage that's 2 cars wide and 2 cars deep. Plenty of room to roll out ribbons, build airplanes, store bicycles, store roofing tools and equipment (business), house a bathroom and my office, a motorcycle, etc. If I only had room to put a car in here................!

Montague

Well, the ribbons really only have to be as long as you want them to be if you're just doing club flying and such.

If you follow AMA / RCCA rules, then the ribbon needs to be 30' long, with a string leader no shorter than 5' from the end of the plane to the start of the streamer. (I always do my strings long, since I loose some length when I tie it on the streamer and airplane).

stdun

We use a 10' string. If you find that website for pre-rolled ribbons, let me know. My wife joked that since she now knows how to make ribbons, she could start her own local cottage industry here out on the left coast.

Demon

The direct link to the streamer page:
http://www.hattrickrc.com/streamer.html

Hat Trick R/C home page:
http://www.hattrickrc.com/

HTH,
D

gizmospal

These items are always so old that the links are often useless....