High Flyers
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Meet RC Frog, the newest member of AMOS, the Associated Modelers of Sacramento! Actually, he’s applying for the job of club mascot thanks to a commission from my good friends and collectors, Linda and Barry, who are model airplane enthusiasts and a members of the AMOS flying club. Linda found this charming airplane and asked me to create a flying frog pilot for their art collection. He looks like a real daredevil with his ‘no hands!’ flying style.
During my recent visit Barry showed me the model airplanes they fly. They are quite large – not quite full airplane size, but much larger than I thought these models would be.
While driving down the coast, I’ve seen them flying near Half Moon Bay, and from a distance I would have guessed they were maybe 2 or 3 feet long. Some of Barry’s were actually closer to 6 feet.
The biggest surprise though was not the size but the weight. These airplanes are made of foam and are feather light. My little frog in the metal airplane may actually weigh more than one of these planes!
Barry tells me that once you get the hang of the remote control, they are really quite fun to fly. To a non-pilot like me, their light weight seems like it would let them be buffeted about in the wind but I guess the science behind flight keeps them going in the direction their motors point them.
He explained that being made mostly of lightweight foam they’re not good in a crash so it’s good to start practicing with a basic model. As the pilot’s skills improve their planes get bigger and fancier, there is even a feature on some jet models that shoot ‘exhaust’ out the back so they look like they are fuel powered. It’s impressive!
What an exciting hobby! It combines speed while you’re out in the field flying the planes, and engineering back home tinkering with all of the features that can be tweaked. A nice meeting of fun and science – it sounds almost as great as pottery!
I still think I have the best of all worlds getting to create my masterpieces in the studio. My learning ‘crashes’ happen in the form of me rushing to fire something that’s not 100% dry and causing an explosion. I guess this feels similar to crashing one’s model plane except that clay is a lot more affordable that an airplane. Being light in weight is always a goal when I’m making functional pieces, and speed, well that’s just not part of a potter’s world.
For Linda and Barry’s sculpture I created a bench seat inside the plane which let me build a frog with the right torso proportions. The front of the plane is open behind the propeller so if you look closely you can see the frog’s feet coming forward.
I love the colorful paint job on the plane so we decided on a simple green skin for the frog rather than one of the many busy skin patterns frogs can have.
With his scarf billowing out behind him, this little guy really captures the joy of flying – I can almost feel the wind in my hair!
I think I’ll enjoy watching the pilots fly their planes but I’ll stick to the studio.
Here’s a fun video if you want to learn a little more about this hobby.
My "Animals in Found Objects" show is up at Edgewater Gallery in Fort Bragg through the month of December
Here is a link to some of the pieces in the show.
