How to make Streamers?
 

Ok, Im trying to get a little combat action going on at my local feild.

I have been to serveral web sites, but I need to know what do you guys use for streamers?

Are theStreamers the ones used for a kids B day, that you get at party city or walmart?

We are going to fist try with our Parkzone Warbirds.

So I was told to ask , what is the best way to mount/secure the streamers?

I was thinking, just cut a 20 foot peace, rap it around the front of the body and have it go down the bottom side ofthe wings.

Thanks Mike

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

We used 1-inch streamer. Do not know where they were purchased. In a bind, you can use the ones sold for parties, but those are 3-inch streamers, and will increase drag. We kicked around the idea of cutting party streamers in half with a band saw, but never did it.

Tie kite string around the tail of the aircraft, leaving a tail of string behind the aircraft. Tie the streamer to the string tail. We used 5ft separation between the tail of the plane and the streamer, and a 30ft long streamer. You could adjust that if the drag is too great.

I should add that this was using 25 size nitro combat birds.

Rafael

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

buy the 1.5in party streamers, cut them in half width wise with a band saw. we use 10 ft of cotton string followed by 30ft of streamer. you might want to use less, i dont know how they would pull the streamer. this is how we do it with .15 size combat.

loop the string around the tail then tie to streamer.

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

For th contests that I have CD'ed I have purchased 2" streamers from a party shop and slip the rolls in half with a very fine blade on my band saw, that gives me two rolls approx. 1" wide I then cut the rolls up into the sreamers. I use a rip fence on each side of the paper roll the same hieght as the roll dia. so the cut can be made fairly straight. Our group of flyers have used these stramers for 5 contests now with no problems.

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

kite string - cotton string
3 inch - 1.5 inch - 2 inch
5ft from the aircraft - 10 ft from the aircraft

The details get blurry when you have not done it in a while. The idea is the same, tie a string (loop a string) around the tail of the aircraft, then use the other end to tie the streamer. Get the party kind and cut it in half (hopefully before you unroll it) :D

Rafael

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

we buy the streamers from hattrick enterprises. he has the regulation size for sanctioned events.

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

We ordered 100 prerolled from the guy listed here http://hattrickrc.com/streamer.html for our informal club event.

Check http://www.rccombat.com for a lot of good info

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

Wow. $5 per 500 foot roll. That would make 50 F2D streamers, problem is one needs at least double weight crepe for that. People have been buying streamers from the Russians for EUR2 per streamer without string, so I'm jealous. In the US people have moved to the forestry tape - works well in the wet. Before that we were stripping plastic tablecloths with a bandsaw, which worked very well, too, too short for RC combat, though.

For string, check out McMaster Carr (www.mcmaster.com).

Iskandar

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0kSWx6zev0&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

Hi Guys. You really have nice streamer ideas here! Thanks!

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

What about surveyors tape? It is about 1 inch wide and made of some sort of plastic. You can get it at any Home Depot or Lowes.

TW

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

Surveyor's tape is tough stuff. I've seen surveyors tape get tangled on a bush and bring an airplane down with it. It also tangles in the prop and prop shaft of the "attacking" aircraft killing the engine. I will not go into details of how the hot engine looks after the tape get wrapped around the head while it's hot.

Makes for some very intersting combat situations. Try it! Better than buying a lot of it, talk to a survey crew out on a jobsite to see if they'll give you a roll or half a roll. They usually carry plenty of that stuff.


EDIT: I should add that you will not cut surveyor's tape with your wings. It is prop or nothing (see above statement about tape and engines ;) )

Rafael

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

We use old unwanted VHS video cassette tape.
Cheers
Phil

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

For Combat?! VHS tape is even tougher than surveyor's tape. WOW.

Rafael

RE: How to make Streamers?
 

Wow it s been a while. Squeeze the roll of decent crepe paper between a couple of boards and run it through a band saw.
Roll off 30' sections and reroll get some little light rubber band or drafting tape to hold the rolls.
fold a triangle in the end and wrap 10' kite string around the triangle a couple time and tie off. Reroll withthe string on and rubber band it. the rubber band is nice for holding the roll on the tail until its launch time.
There was a brand of crepe paper that worked better but I can't recall.
bag up a few in zip lock bags for storage or for handing out at a contest.