Manlab Makes Things Fall


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BUTTERFLYGHT!
THE VIEW FROM THE WINGS
LESSONS LEARNED
Exploring Ottawa the Wrong Way
MOVING THE BODY
Think like a surgeon, Be the surgeon
Red Bull Safety
Of foam insulation, adhesive, saws and sandpaper (or, how to sculpt with home-building materials)
Lesson Learned (Don't use spray paint on foam)
85 Designs in 20 Minutes!

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Dan Choy
Manlab
2071 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3J 0K9
204 985 4180 ext. 225

dchoy@manlab.com
www.manlab.com

BUTTERFLYGHT!

Friday, Pre-Flugtag Flight: As Valerie and myself were the lucky people to get to fly to Ottawa, our trip was relatively uneventful until we were flying through a thunderstorm. The plane felt like it was shaking itself apart. It was a pre-cursor to what was about to come.


Saturday prep: Overall, a pretty normal day out in the park getting soaked by thundershowers, putting together the craft, and fixing up the loose bits. Even though there is a no-alcohol policy on the grounds, that didn't stop any of the teams from partying it up at Helsinki's.


Trembath decides we should all have nick names. He choses Victim for me.


Sunday: Flugtag! Feeling nervous now. Last nights drinking probably didn't help matters. I vaguely remember saying really stupid things. :)


We're all down early at the park getting costumed and I'm the butterfly in the stomach getting butterflies in the stomach. The Operation game is a great kid pleaser and Major Monarch (me) is running around like a maniac on a bender. Not a lot of people think we'll fly far. We'll show them.


Time to Flug!
10 seconds in: Amazing, I climb inside the belly without crushing, breaking, or falling. They cover me up with the bedsheet.
20 seconds in: I'm thinking "Man, this is taking forever" while they interview Trembath and I'm a crouching, hidden butterfly.
30 seconds in: Woot! Skit starts and we're putting on the show!
1:20 seconds: Uh oh... here comes the moment we prepared for. Do or die time... well, better be Do.

Some Miscellaneous Thoughts:

  • "Holy crap, I'm really trucking now, we might actually make it over!"
  • "Ahhhh sh*t! This isn't going well..."
  • [ Straight down into the cool blue water, leaning out of the belly ]
  • "Ow! my face!"
  • "Ow! my chest!"
  • "Ow! my eyes!"
  • "Glub! Gotta get out from under here!"


I have to hand it to the safety people, after 16 previous "flights", they really know how to zip in, grab ya, and zip out. Other than the face and belly flop, I'm feeling not too bad. It turns out that adrenalin is a powerful pain suppresant. The medic there wants me to follow him to the tent. My eyes have starting swelling and bruising. I get an ice pack and am resting in the medic tent. Apparently, I burst blood vessels in my eyeballs and bruised them because of the goggles acting like a suction cup plunger. Great... that explains why it feels like I'm blinking with sandpaper. The doctor says my sockets should be bruised and red for about 10 days, but otherwise, pretty good condition.


After getting back to the hotel, I notice that my injuries were far more extensive. My shoulders are completely black and bruised and my lower back feels like a knife is jabbing it. Glad I'm flying back. I love the reaction my injuries have on people. Looks much worse than it feels.

The lessons I learned from this experience:

  • Don't let Trembath give you a nickname
  • Swimming goggles ARE different from diving goggles




THE VIEW FROM THE WINGS

Thursday: what time is it? After getting up at my usual bedtime and picking everyone up we were off for Ontario. This being my first time driving there, I must say that the landscape is beautiful and I wish we had a looser schedule that would allow for a bit more sight seeing.

We switched some drivers in Thunder Bay so I spent some time watching the last six episodes of 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' before having to drive again.

After driving the last leg of the day's journey with the windows down and the radio cranked while trying to keep up to the truck in the dark Ryan and I tried to find a local drinking establishment in Sault Ste Marie. What we found served alcohol, but I have little else to recommend about the place (it's probably a good thing that I can't remember the name of it).

Friday:
Are we there yet? Another exciting day of driving. Lost the truck and everyone else at one point, but we had a map so we just carried on until Pembroke, our next scheduled stop. While trying to catch up to everyone else, we apparently passed them and kept barreling on, oblivious.

Made it to Ottawa without further incident and got settled at the hotel. A bunch of us then decided to grab a bite to eat, settling on a crappy Mexican restaurant. After dinner we wandered a bit looking for a place that we could grab a drink before heading back to the hotel.

Saturday:
Ottawa! After getting more sleep than the last few days, we proceeded to the Flugtag loading area to unload and assemble our craft. We got kicked out after a short while due to thunderstorms so we went to try and return the truck, which resulted in a little game of car tag in downtown Ottawa.

After the rain was done, we headed back to finish assembly. We ran into some problems with the wings folding up, but we got it worked out (if not quite finished). I was invited to check out the local Ikea and having never been there, I thought 'why not?' But I soon found out that it wasn't that exciting, but there was a nearby Chapters that occupied my time (and wallet).

I caught part of the nightly Parliament light show with Valerie before walking back to the hotel. I arrived back at the hotel just in time to head to Helsinki with the other guys. Good sights, decent sounds, fun times were had.

Sunday:
Zero hour nine A.M... Well, the water I drank must have done something, as I didn't have much of a hangover. We finished our construction of the craft and then I took off to take pictures and stake out a spot for the event.

The event itself was amazing. I took pictures of everything, but after a while I couldn't move because it was so crowded.

Once our craft was on deck, the camera was glued to my face and the 'film' was being used at an astounding pace. The skit and launch went beautifully, however the flight went straight down. Brent and the operation dude (the craft) did a beautiful double-face plant and somehow Brent managed to bruise his eyeballs! He wasn't happy twisting an ankle or breaking an arm - he had to go for something exotic.

I didn't see much of the show after that since I ran out of 'film' and had heat-stroke so I headed back to the hotel for a nap. Upon awakening, I joined the others for a wonderful dinner at the Black Tomato.

I wasn't allowed into the Flugtag after party (I was only a roadie) so I turned in nice and early for the long trip the next day.





LESSONS LEARNED

Just off the top of my head, here's some lessons learned:
  • aircraft cable actually has some give.
  • 1/4" plywood can't hold a 2 5/8" eye-bolt - not enough wood (duh!).
  • Styrofoam, when laminated and painted is quite heavy.
  • 50 square feet of "angel wing" doesn't give enough lift for 450 lbs.
  • Dead bodies don't fly.
  • There is a difference between swimming goggles and diving goggles.
  • Ease up on the pushing just before going over the edge, so the back end doesn't tip over the front.
  • Girls in bikinis usually win.
Took some notes on the aircraft construction techniques. Have some ideas for the "next time". Just for the record, I really didn't think it would fly, but I didn't think it would go end over end. Lastly, never in my wildest dreams did I think Brent would bust his eyeballs. I'd figure a broken arm or nose but not the eyes. Sorry Brent.



Exploring Ottawa the Wrong Way

Saturday morning was our load in day. We had to get the craft to the designated area and finish assembling it by end of day. A few hours into construction it started to rain heavily and was ordered to halt because of lighting near by.

Since the truck had to be returned on Saturday, we decided to return the truck and go for lunch while it was still raining. I grabbed my phone and loaded up google maps to find out where we needed to go. I hopped into the cab of the truck with Ryan T. and the rest of the staff followed in a different vehicle.

We were almost there when we realized we needed diesel. No problem I said as I did a quick search for gas stations around the area. I directed Ryan down Gladstone and bank street only to find petrol and no diesel. We decided to separate the convoy and meet up at the car rental place as Ryan and I looked for a diesel station.

We ventured all around downtown looking for a gas station that sold diesel.

We headed back on the highway to look in more rural areas of Ottawa that might sell diesel. We were going to call it quits if we couldn't find a diesel station in the next ten minutes. After being on hold for over a 1/2 hour with the car rental company we found a diesel station!

A text message comes through from the guys that were waiting at the car rental shop, You have to return it to the airport it says. Great, so we alter the directions and head for the airport. We arrive after driving around a couple times not able to find a spot to park this 1 ton truck. The parkade ceiling height was a few feet too short to fit the truck into the drop off area so we parked it on the side. Two car rental employees walk out and tell us "You can't return the truck here, it has to go to our other location" which then we promptly responded "It's your problem now". We were done playing find the right drop off location.

I did get to see a bit of the airport, downtown Ottawa and some of the city parks. I guess this adventure wasn't all that bad.





MOVING THE BODY

The key to a good road trip is good road music. The eighteen hours of driving gave me time to reacquaint myself with some of my favorite as well as re-listen to some classics from Ontario bands I enjoy. Don't be shocked, but there is no Tragically Hip on this list.

Good Driving Albums
Motorhead "Overkill" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZTdfyaRHK4
Television "Marquee Moon" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6IAalgT4vU
The Ventures "Surfing" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ11y7pYl-8

Albums by Ontario Bands
The Kent Boys "Atticus Finch" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KRqcB-0hd4 Moneen "Are we Really Happy with who we are Right Now?" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWGnkrgMFM0

In between albums I sampled local radio to gather some insight into the people of the areas we cruised though. I was terrified when I was confronted with Boys II Men songs on 3 different occasions; I was wishing I packed pepper spray.

Driving through Ontario reminded me that there are still sleepy towns just "gettin' er done" all over this country. "40 hour week" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38b3RVg7Jpo by Alabama came to mind a few times while I zipped past kids on ATV's and logging roads.

PREPARING TO FLY
Saturday was a bit hectic. We loaded our craft in to the hanger area and got to work at assembling the pieces. The rental truck that brought the craft to Ottawa had to be returned by 2:00 PM so Jeremy and I set out to refuel and return it to the rental agency. This resulted in a two hour ordeal that led us all over downtown Ottawa and helped to hone my cube van driving skills.

If you drive anything that takes diesel fuel and plan on being in downtown Ottawa know this: there is nowhere to buy diesel fuel in downtown Ottawa.

Once the we got the truck returned we made one more frantic trip to Home Depot for parts and we were locked in. We'd have to get up early to make the wings of the craft stay up. The only thing left to do was hit the town and meet the locals. Gooooood times.

!FLUGTAG!
After some confusion as to where the scrubs (our costumes) went, we tracked them down and got ready for action. The last minute changes to the wings were made and we were ready to fly.

In an effort to get peoples choice votes I got intimate with the crowd that was walking through the hanger area, as well as those gathering on the site by the flight deck. My best Carnie hustle was something to effect of:

"You're a healthy looking group, unfortunatly our friend here is not so well. He suffers from an acute case of butterflies in the stomach...we will be performing a last-ditch effort to extract the virus on the flight deck later today. Please send your hopes a prayers via text message; Team 17 on your voting dial."


We didn't win, but it passed the hot, sunny hours leading up to the launch.

3..2..1..SMACK!
Our skit went pretty much as planned, but the craft failed to fly the way we had anticipated. Apparently a small scale model pushed off a computer tower doesn't quite react the same way as a 400 lb craft being pushed hard off a dock.

I knew we'd missed our mark when, instead of the slow float down we anticipated, I saw the craft drop, exposing the bottom side. Whoops. Guess I'll jump after him. I think we all could take something away from our first shot at aeronautical engineering, but Brent's face learned the biggest lesson. Finally, he gets that boxer look the ladies love.

UNDER THE 'OTHER' CATEGORY
- you can consume more than 3 times the recommended dosage of Red Bull and live to tell about it.
- yelling at strangers can help you make friends.
- next time bring the sex appeal.



Think like a surgeon, Be the surgeon

Today was 'fly' day, or I guess I could just say it was "flugtag." All throughout the day I helped Trembath work the crowd. I was playing the role of a nervous intern monitoring our patient's vitals. I figured we'd treat him like a real patient. We monitored his health (which was failing), tried to comfort him, and allowed people to come up close to pay their last respects.

Our idea in itself brought a lot of positive feedback from the people passing by. Even a local motorcycle gang member told us it was a good idea - but that our wings wouldn't hold. We proved him wrong. Checking the patient's BPM on my watch drawn with a sharpee seemed to draw even more attention. On my clipboard the words "Not Good" were written in large bold letters and I showed the crowd each time Ryan T asked me how the patient was doing.

I didn't see any teams really working the crowd as much as we were so I think we left a lasting impression on a few people. It's too bad they were all too lazy to text message our number for people's choice.

I wasn't too nervous until we got up to the flight deck. We did our skit and before you know it we were in the water. They interviewed me post jump, and I maintained my Terry Weezer character - complete with crackling voice. I got a smile out of the host which is what I was going for.





Red Bull Safety

Today the Red Bull sales reps came to visit. The two of them read us the rules and regulations. It seems Red Bull is very concerned about safety. With all the safety precautions, Brent should be able to survive the fall.





Of foam insulation, adhesive, saws and sandpaper (or, how to sculpt with home-building materials)

Late last week we began the official build of the Operation guy (dude? patient?) at Dan's place. The materials were ready to go, although about 2 hours in we found ourselves hopping into the car for the first of several restocking trips to Home Depot ("More Glue!"). Burgess and I are tasked with sculpting the actual form of the guy, and we chose high-density foam for its lightweight and reasonably easy-to-work-with properties.

Zee Plan
The plan was to cut out basic shapes, matching up with Dan & Curt's pilot sled dimensions, then laminate everything together with adhesive (the headache-inducing kind). After a period of drying & curing, we'd start carving away the foam using a saw, then sand out the final form.

To be honest, it has gone surprisingly well so far (fingers-crossed). We came back on Friday after piecing together the basic torso and arm shapes, and got right into carving out the belly and arms. I handled the sawing/sculpting duties and Burgess came behind me with the sandpaper. The guy is a bit on the buff side at the moment, but I'm pretty sure the paint will fix all of the minor issues that crop up, and when viewed from a distance, it'll look great.

Safety First
The foam is all that is stopping Brent from going head-first into the water, but it's probably a good thing if he does go through it - it'll be much more forgiving than a wooden frame snapping him in half. The foam body will be fitted directly over the wooden sled that Dan & Curt are building. The sled is what will be bearing all of the weight. Brent will pop up through a hole we'll be cutting in the belly of the guy and should be able to sit comfortably with his arms resting on the top of the belly, about 21 inches up from the base of the sled.

Next Steps
We'll be back at it tomorrow, starting on the head and legs once we finalize how it will be attached to the sled. The plan is to have it ready for paint by the end of this week, so we have enough time leading up to our departure at the end of next week to get all the details right. We're also meeting the local RedBull representative tomorrow, who is coming by to see our progress and review the competition rules, itinerary, etc.

It's starting to feel real.





Lesson Learned (Don't use spray paint on foam)

We started playing with the idea of using installation foam to build the mold for our 3D operation guy. We needed to know if it was easy enough to sand and also weather or not it could hold paint.

Dan ran down to Home Depot to find some scrap pieces to test how they would glue together and how well he can sand them. The glue seemed to hold the pieces together and it was easy enough to sand the foam.

I then had the task of testing different paints on the foam. I feel most comfortable using spray paint, I thought that would work perfect on our foam structure. Luckily I used a scrap piece to test out the different types of paint. I used an orange Montana spray paint as my first test. As you can see in the photo, the spray paint ate right into the foam.

I also put a cream latex acrylic paint in the other corner. The acrylic paint worked and it didn't eat through the foam. We will also add a couple layers of primer before painting the foam guy with the acrylic paint.





85 Designs in 20 Minutes!

We had a great start. Everyone seemed pumped. I'm sure the sugar and caffeine buzz from the muffins and coffee helped too. Today was design day. In our twenty minute individual brainstorming session we produced 85 entry possibilities. Some of them great, some not so much. My favourites in the Manitoba themed designs included the perogies and kobassa, the falling Crocus stocks, and Brent as the Golden Boy, in a G-string.