Forestry tape all around

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cshepherd
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Post by cshepherd »

Aaron, that's cool. Just need to remember that this is a family site and we do want to try and portray that image.

Thanks!
Hat Trick
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Post by Hat Trick »

After more consideration I don't think the mylar streamers would go over well here. I know the farmer who owns the land around our field wouldn't like a bunch of plastic streamers in his crops. It's impossible to pick everthing up especially when the corn is 6 feet tall! It would be nice if we could find something between forestry tape and crepe but so far no one has found anything!
AIM
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Post by AIM »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Hat Trick</i>
<br />It would be nice if we could find something between forestry tape and crepe
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Although other considerations of streamer may have merit. What EXACTLY is the problem with FT?
We seem to be looking for a material that we already have...Forestry tape...
Hat Trick
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Post by Hat Trick »

I think it is a bit to hard to cut. Not that thats a completely bad thing but it make pursuit cuts a lot harder. You can't fly up behind somebody and tip your wing for that pretty cut. You've got to hit it at a more right angle and with a lot more speed to get something to come off or you just get a drape. We talked at one time about giving points for drapes but it might make scoring a lot more difficult and subjective.
AIM
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Post by AIM »

Yes I'll agree with that. Tipping a wing for a cut would be very hard.
After thinking about things a bit I think that everyone is correct in thinking that something halfway between would be good. Until then I think that converting to FT would be great.
The search is on.
sgilkey
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Post by sgilkey »

i wonder if FT would become easier to cut, but still visible enough, if it were cut to 1/2 width? making a slitter and slitting the rolls would be time consuming but rolling crepe streamers is time consuming too, and we go thru so much less FT that it might actually save time to slit FT vs. roll crepe!
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

There is a FT splitter in the workshop section that would make quick work of it. I plan on building one.
mad
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Post by mad »

I sure don't understand this man-crush with forestry tape. It it good for practice and wet weather but not contests. Why you ask.

1 It disturbes the plane towing it while being cut. I have seen planes get tied together with it.

2 As a CD I dont want to have to go out and clean up the mess. We loose enough fields every year we don't need to give anyone a reason to stop our fun

3 As a CD I don't want to have to fuss with streamers. We have a supply network set up, Dr Evil spends a couple thousand dollars a year on streamer material. I ship out around 4 or 5 thousand pre-rolled streamers a year. ( And just so you know I don't have a dog in the hunt, I have never made a penny doing the streamers. and mike does it as close to cost as he can)

4 It promotes a more reckless style of flying. You have to hit it at a much steaper angle to cut it, and in a contest the competitive nature of our members will cause them to do what ever it takes to get that cut.

So I guess what I am trying to say is before you go pushing so hard for such a big change you need to have something to take its place, the material is just the tip of the iceburg.

Chris H and Jim C your last minute streamer orders should be arriving today or tommorrow.
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

I agree that the stuff is a undesired problem in many ways Michael. I suggested trying the split version for those wet days when crepe doesn't work. I think the split version may be closer to crepe when hit. I have seen several hits on the full FT when one or both planes flight paths were seriously altered.
AIM
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Post by AIM »

0
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Ed Kettler
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Post by Ed Kettler »

The forestry tape we get from Forestry Products is 1" wide. The rules state:
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Streamers will be thirty (30) feet long and <font color="red">no less than five-eighths (5/8) inches wide and no more than one (1) inch wide</font id="red">, attached to the model by a cotton string extending at least five (5') feet from the tail of the model. (At the discretion of the Contest Director, alternate streamer materials not meeting these specifications may be used if weather conditions prevent the use of standard streamer material).
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

so cutting the down the FT streamer is allowed to only 5/8" which would be wasteful.

The standard streamer material is specified as crepe, and the parenthetical reference is used to allow FT. Note that is says materials, not dimensions.
Vapor52
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Post by Vapor52 »

So if someone (AIM) submits a rule change proposal they need to include "at 1/2" wide"-----rick
Pat_Willcox
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Post by Pat_Willcox »

There are several things that need more discussion on this issue and a bit of more precise definitions.

1. FT be a abbreviation for "Flagging tape" which is NON-biodegradeable plastic and requires pick up after a contest.

2. FST be an abbreviation for "forestry tape" which is biodegradable but takes about six weeks to disappear. Should pick up but not mandatory.

3. HT be an abbreviation for Hattrick's commercial streamers individual pre-rolled 30' crepe.

4. HTR be abbreviation for Hattrick's 300' roll of crepe

5. HM be abbreviation for "home made"

Here are some of my observations:

1. I have experimented with FT and it is too hard to cut and it stretches. I have never tried to use this in a contest.

2. FST should only be used when mother nature makes the crepe paper fail. I am of the belief that less cuts makes for less fun and this stuff is hard to cut. I only use this to "save a contest", plus this stuff is a bit expensive on initial purchase.

3. HT and HTR is the good stuff. If you got help to roll streamers the HTR will save a few bucks. You will need to plan about $5 per pilot on a 3 event weekend

4. HM is the "limited budget" route. There is a learning curve to get to where you end up with good competition streamers. Cheap but labor intensive and quality not quite the standard of HT/HTR.
Captain America
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Post by Captain America »

We fly a lot more open class here. In the humid days of summer at the higher speeds you are lucky to get a good running open ship to start combat with a streamer left. loosing one early or even just after start robs you of the potential for streamer points and the other pilots of the potential points. I have not noticed b ships getting tugged around much from cuts.

Scoring... Forestry tape probably lowers the top guys score a little bit and makes more streamers available for those of us who fly the middle. I have more fun chasing targets than being chased. More targets=more fun for me, (Individual results may vary).

Clean up... We pick up all the crepe at nats and at our field... no real difference for us.

SSC, maybe some valid points, light less powerfull planes with forestry tape... I have flown with crepe and forestry, does make the plane move more, I leave that thought to someone who flies more ssc, safty should be the first concern.

Very interesting discussion.
AIM
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Post by AIM »

The fact that forestry tape "IS" harder to cut is 75% of the reason that I like it so much. (More streamer stays up longer)
My observations with crepe is after the first 2 minutes of a heat about all the streamer is gone and hanging off of one plane or just floating to the ground. Then for the last 3 minutes everyone is chasing after this one guy. I've seen this time and time again.
With forestry tape we consistantly had 3 or more streamers left in the air throughout the entire 5 minutes. Giving guys multiple targets to chase instead of just one. Which to me was more fun.

Addressing the safety issue. I don't think there is one. It's been mentioned that FT can change the flight path of an aircraft. Geez,, Like a midair doesn't. If we're worried about this then maybe we need to rethink the whole hobby.

For the record. My discussions here are about the wood fibered "forestry tape" not the plastic flagging tape. I hope I have not confused anyone with my abbreviation "FT".
I'll try to remember to do it "FST"
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