Aframomum

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Hey guys,

Just got a weird message from RCU about enabling cookies...don't know what that's about.

Anyways, got some pictures from yesterdays airshow outing at MacDill in Tampa. The weather was great, a bit overcast (so no open Fl sun!) and the temps about 78 tops. Plus the breeze from the water kept things nice. They had a great deal of aircraft from other bases (F-22 Rapters, F-16 Falcons, B1 Bomber, C-5 Galaxy, C-17 Globemaster III) and some DC-looking aircraft doing loops and rolls - what a sight that was!

And of course the Thunderbirds themselves - a spectacular show as always.

Enjoy the pics (the wife did a good job on the camera me thinks )

Mark

Aframomum

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Thunderbirds show...

JPEE

Hello Mark, thanks for making a big post of the pics. Will be short now as we are loading and leave in the am. for home where we get settled.

John

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Nick,

Good to hear from you as well, glad to see you are still keeping busy with the projects, hope they all go well for ya.

Sorry you don't have as much time for the club and helis with all your activities, maybe you can have some fun at those fun flys.

Mark,

Good to hear from you guys as well. I may take your advice, and do some google mapping of the area, but I'm pretty sure that there isn't too much open, There is a school field, in fact, my middle school field (from 1972!), but...that's a dangerous/risky place to take things as expensive as R/C helicopters and radios....if you know what I mean. Not the best neighborhood.

Still have the MCPX, and the 130x, although I'm seriously thinking about selling the 130x. It has never been crashed, and some of the stuff I've been reading says that they can be a bear to get flying again (vibration free) after the first crash...and like you said, the things are so tiny to work with...my eyes aren't what they used to be with stuff up close anymore...we'll see.

It's still to chilly/windy here to venture out with the MCPX, not that I have anyplace really open to fly it. I'll see how things go in a few weeks.

JPEE,

Hope you and Judy are doing well.


Take care guys,

Glenn

JPEE

Hi Guys,


Mark, great pictures. Tell the Mrs. "she done good, real good" with the camera work. She has a hidden talent there I am here to tell ya. Looks like you all a great family day out. Saw the WarthHog so must-ah been in Heaven!

Glenn, always good to hear from you old friend. Sounds like all is well at your end, we are doing well too.

Nick, you have big doings at this point in your life beside flying. You have bigger fish to fry as they say, continuing your education while working is quite an accomplishment, I commend you!

Pretty dang quite at my end too. This is a great time of the year for me. Both of daughters and one grandson all have birthdays in the next 16 days. So that means family time and good grub......... me likie the family BBQ!

Here is a video you all might appreciate, I hope

The AirCam is the greatest airplane ever because it will allow flying you simply cannot do in any other airplane. It's a twin-engine ultralight designed for use by National Geographic to explore Africa . It can fly 10 feet above the tree tops in safety as it can, with no engine management challenge, climb up and away on one engine. Such near-Earth exploration is not done in twin-engine GA planes, ultralights or any other aircraft, with the same level of assurance. AirCams can take off on one engine, easily, and with both Rotax 912's turning, leap off terra firma in less than 100 feet and climb 2,000 fpm at Vne, all while burning only 10 gph. Try all that in any other aircraft!

WATCH FULL SCREEN HD
http://player.vimeo.com/video/65863381

JPEE

evdreamer

Mark,

It sounds like you were pretty lucky with your jet landing in the water. It could have been a lot worse.

Those are some pretty cool pics of the air show.

John,

It sounds like you are going to have a good time celebrating the upcoming birthdays and BBQ.

I got my amplifier built and have been enjoying it since Wednesday. At first there was a lot of distortion and noise, but I corrected that and it sounds great even with the volume all the way up. I started working on a switching power supply to power my amp from a 12V battery for my 2nd project. I have been trying to design a successful switching power supply for over a year with no luck until today. I found a cool article that wasn't too technical that it was overwhelming and wasn't too simple I couldn't design anything with it. I managed to build a working version from spare parts I had. Once my amp project is due I will try and power the amp from this and see if it still works.

Nick

JPEE

Hi Nick,

Great news on the completing a fully operational amp. Nothing wrong with some minor tweaking to tone it out to perfection. Get that project completed and sell them to street Musician's to play their guitar's on street corners or Parks. What happened or better asked, what was the break through on the switching power supply? Did you see a mistake that had been missed? Was it more of your education that lead you to the resolve? I mean after a year to wake up one day and "nail it" you must have been ecstatic!!!! I wish you luck when your project is due and that it gives you a good grade. Once turned in you can plug it all in and she if she holds and plays out as designed.

Not much flying if at all. Before we came home for three weeks the wind blew for days and days in AZ. We have been looking for a newer/used and much bigger RV to take back and leave there to cut down on the towing back and forth. We only tow it down Nov 1 and bring it home on April 30 but still, we would love a bigger place and to just leave it there. $$$$$$$$$$$$ crap I didn't realize how expensive they are even at 2011 models, we shall see what the future holds. Two days ago we drove on a little 340 mile round trip to see a used RV up north but it just didn't meet our expectations sadly. So the quest continues..............

Take care


UPDATE 4/7/14
Hello Nick,
Last night we saw a Smithsonian special on Kansas. We learned a lot. I have driven through the tip of Kansas four times on my way to South Dakota for the Surgis Bike Rally. We learned so much from this show of just what an incredible countryside the state has. They also did a segment on your University too. We saw the tractor testing area there on campus. I would love to drive my Razor 4x4 through your rolling hills.

Smiles JPEE

Aframomum

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Hey guys,

Been a busy few weeks - last days of the fair for this year plus the big Sun-N-Fun airshow which had the Blue Angels performing. Very cool to be able to see both the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels 2 weeks apart. They also had the F22 Raptor do its stuff and that was amazing...I think it had its afterburners on most of the time to do the vectoring required for its maneuvers.

More later on...

Mark

JPEE

Hey Mark!

Aframomum

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Back again... Hi ya JPEE!

Nick,

Congrats on finishing the amp and powersupply project. I'm sure there were some trying points but you got it working in the end.

Hope your enjoying the warmer weather and thawing out from this years winter.

JPEE,

I bet your having a blast with the family and birthdays and of course BBQ - yum!

The Aircam video was interesting. Talk about freedom.

A short 340 mile trip...your sense of distance is funny. But I guess with you and the missus making multiple trips back and forth to AZ that is short. Sorry it didn't work out. Surprisingly there are many RV outlets here in central Fl. Our trip to Tampa a few weeks ago we passed several large lots seen from I-4, so I guess it is a big deal around here. If memory serves there is a mega RV lot in Indiana I think. Don't give up hope as I'm sure you'll find something before next year.

I haven't really flown since my jets water incident. But we really have been busy with family outings so it really has been good. We actually wound up going to Legoland over spring break and had a blast. Yes, in between the fairs and airshows, we managed to fit that trip in.

But now that things are slowing down and the weathers warming up a good bit (yes, day highs were hitting in the low 90's last week - yikes) I decided to start a restoration project on a plane I put into storage when my son was born. 5 years ago I put up my nitro planes, pulled all the electronics, and sold the engines as I didn't know when I was going to fly them again.

Well, I feel he's old enough now for me to start them up again. So I pulled out my old 40 size Twist and spent a few days going over the wooden frame checking for broken wooden parts or rot, checked the covering and CA'd any places it was peeling. Surprisingly the fuse was in good shape. The wing will be the big job as I need to completely recover the whole thing. Right now its just a skeleton of wooden ribs but has faired very well in storage.

All my servo's still work and I took them apart to check the gears. The servo's are Futaba and still work but as I got them back in 2005 I'll be watching them closely. I may ultimately wind up replacing them just for safety sake. Would be nice to get something more up to date.

As I sold off my original 2-stroke engine I picked up a nice OS 46AX 2-stroke used on RCG for a good deal. I took it apart, gave it a good cleaning and checked the bearings and seals...all in good condition so that was nice. I had the chance to fire it up yesterday morning in the garage and was rewarded with that oh so beautiful nitro smell in the morning that I so fondly remember! I think I also smoked out the neighbors as I had the setting quite rich.

So now I just need to get started on going over the wing and I'll have a plane ready to fly again.

Mark

JPEE

Hi Mark,
So you took the old plank out of retirement hey, good for you! You remark about the smell of nitro reminds of the famous line in Apocalypse Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OnOvrTugiA "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning, it smells like victory"

I would expect you should go over the frame for dried glue and weak spots for sure after that many years. Good deal on the new engine too, glad you didn't receive a junker, my friend just did. Short story, he bought a 1/5 scale dirt truck to run in AZ. He new it was used. We took it out and it lasted 45 minutes until the engine seized right before my eyes. He opened it up that night and found it packed with gooey brown dirt jelly from where the owner must have not had a good air filter on the carb, it was junk...dead....over with and new engine had to be bought. Anyway............back you I am glad your was sound. I am with you on the servos, your not gonna drive a Corvette 120 mph on bald tires so why fly a balsa plane on 10 year old servos and endanger the plane and the newer nitro engine. Oh yea baby.............. your neighbors must LOVE UUUUUUUUUUUU lmao.
I must have missed the Jet in the water story or I just had another senior moment. In any case I'll go back and read about it.

How great is that, that now your son is old enough to understand to a degree what Daddy is doing and clearly in your videos he loves to be out there in the thick of too. So glad family days at Lego Land and such are so fun.....take when you can get them..........there is no going back............ a day lost is a day LOST!

Yes 340 miles of bad road as they say, but there is a glow at the end of the tunnel. I got a call from AZ and a 11'x40' Park Model is up for sale. A Park Model is an older late 80s kinda like a aluminum clad mobile home. They are about 400 sq ft. It is 30K cheaper that the RV. I am not gonna rush back there, I'll see it when we go back in a few days. I am older and grayer now and with that comes the knowledge there will always be another deal. I am honestly keeping my fingers crossed though.

Today was a grand day I am here to tellya. I finally got my DJI Gimbal and new GOPRO 3 to work perfectly on the 550. This is has been along haul on that puppy. I have worked on for three weeks at minimum. Each time getting frustrated and walking away to gain some sanity. My tenacious junk yard dog like mentality won't let me fail, I will prevail in the end.................... I just wished the end came sooner LMAO. As soon I get a decent video I'll post something.

John

evdreamer

John,

I added some more things to my amp to isolate it from the signal source. It had a bad design and wasn't isolated from the signal source and I almost damaged my computer's amp when I was messing around with the external amp. I presented the amp design last week and that went well. I am going to design a circuit board tomorrow, so I can use it at home.

The two main components in a switching power supply are inductors and capacitors. I better understand how to use their equations. I also am better at analyzing circuits with them. That made it easier to design. I am learning to apply the basics in school awhile back to my current designs. I have been improving my power supply design. I am happy with the current results. The switching circuit was causing me the most problems. So I programmed a microcontroller to have the same function as that chip. I was able to tune the program to the frequency response of the circuit. That helped out a lot to regulate the output Voltage. The power supply steps up 12V from a lead acid battery to power the amp. I am listening to music with my power supply powering my amp right now. This project is due in 2 weeks, so I have some time to design a circuit board for this. I will try to get some pics of the final designs on the circuit boards once I finish everything.

Good luck finding a new RV.

That is cool you got your gimbal working.

Mark,

It sounds like you got to see some more cool jets.

I am loving the temps so far. I am not looking forward to summer temps though.

Good luck with the Nitro plane.

Nick

Aframomum

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Hi guys,

Nick,

Glad your enjoying the nice weather - you definitely deserve it after this years winter!

Just reading what you write about your electronic projects show how far you've come with your degree...its amazing what you have learned and are able to do, you definitely will be an asset to any company when you finish your degree. Congrats!

JPEE,

Finally got that golden realization moment with the gimbal and got it locked in aye? Your junkyard dog tenacity paid off in the end.

I've been busy with spring yard work the past week - cut the yard, broke out the weed killer and put out the weed and feed for the grass. This year we have these pesky purple flowering weeds that have invaded the entire neighborhood - before everyone cut thier grass all the lawns were covered in this stuff. Who knows where it came from but hope the weed N feed kills it off.

Finished my engine test stand today. Got some ideas off youtube of other peoples setups and got to work. Its not too bad and I'll be putting the 46AX on it to work out the high speed and idle settings.

Other than that not too much going on.

Mark

JPEE

Hello Boy's

Nick, I have to second what Mark said about reading your text. Your vernacular and expression of what your learning at school come through in your written definition of your latest projects. I grasp most of what you explained you doing but there were some terms that we over my pay grade as they say lol. Good on you I say................. you have "your future in the palm of the your hands" right now, grab every bit you can. Perhaps you have heard this old adage, If your doing what you love, you'll never work a day in your life! I think your on your way.

Mark
Yes the dog has barked lol. My buddy Jason who gave it to me got his on his 550 and set up Tuesday. He asked me for some odds and ends on the set up, which never generally happens, he is brilliant. It felt good to be able to contribute from my end. Just arrived back to AZ late yesterday, the place is windy, HOT 89 degrees and nearly a ghost town. Our friends are still here but leave on the 25th. We may go home then too. Because we left on March 28th to catch both daughters and a grandsons birthdays and then to return now seems a wasteful. I think next year we'll leave on the 28th and call it done. Each year we are here we grow with knowledge of the weather, windy periods, butt cold periods and to good months. Right now it is overcast and warm only to get A/C hot mid day. I can't see to fly with the low grey clouds so crap..... I am kind of grounded. I wanted so badly to fly the 51 at least once this year......................just once before we pack up.
Enjoy the bench maiden on the 46AX glad your having fun with it. I like the change of planes and helis and multi rotors.

Cheers Boys

Aframomum

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Hi JPEE,

That's funny about figuring out the weather patterns for AZ - I also had to do that when we first moved down here. Now I'm pretty much up on when is good flying times and when its too hot/windy/rainy etc. Hope that your trip didn't turn out to be wasteful and you get a chance to fly something.

I'm glad to hear you got the chance to help out your friend with his 550...nice to share what you've learned through trial and error.

Got the AX engine (not motor as that's entirely electric ) hooked up and running nicely. Wanted to share some pictures of my quick setup...

Mark

JPEE

Hi Mark,

I knew the planes power plant was gas/fuel and not and E electric. It has an engine that makes "noise" and "smoke" and throws oil every where lol. Are you breKing I the motor there at home? When you fire that baby up don't let it power drag your mount and work bench across the floor!

Yes to learning weather conditions it your residential area is an experience.

I am proud to share that after 9 months of searching we bought a new/used 38' 5th wheel trailer with 4 slide outs to have set in place here to stay in AZ! We will tow home our Toy Hauler as we do every year and sell it. Then we will just load the RZR and clothes in our Cargo Trailer and come back.

I charged up "a" pack for the P-51 and "a" pack for the 700. Got up this morning and 35 mph wind. The news said tomorrow morning it will fade, then perhaps I can burn those packs out about 7:00 am. I am ah hopin!

evdreamer

I finished building my amp and power supply. For some reason my volume control on my amp was wreaking havoc on my power supply at louder volumes, but worked fine at lower volumes. I removed the volume control circuit and everything is working great now. I have no idea why it was doing that so far. Both designs have room for improvement, but it has been a fun learning experience.

There is a guy interested in buying my Velocity and Furion 6. I will meet up with him on Thursday. Hopefully I can sell them, since they have been in an ad for a year now.

Mark,

Good luck with the weeds.

John,

That is good you found a trailer. I hope the wind is calm for you to fly.

Nick

evdreamer

I just sold my Furion 6 and my Velocity 50! Now I am just down to my Furion 450 and my Whiplash.

Aframomum

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Congrats Nick on the sale of your 2 heli's...that was quite a while to wait, who said patience never paid off?

Curious as to your plans with the Whiplash concerning the unfortuate closing of MA? I know many guys are stocking up on common parts from RonLund as he really is an exclusive MA dealer and still has a decent stock pile of parts.

Nice to hear you finished the amp and PS - maybe you just got a bad volume control that was causing the issues?

BTW, the weeds, and ants, are dead now.

JPEE,

A new trailer for your second home state several months out of the year, also congrats! I'm sure you'll have no problem selling the ol toy trailer as I'm sure its in pristine condition.

Hope you got to run down the P-51 and 700 packs in flight and not on the charger. 35mph is kinda brisk, even for the 700 I'm sure. Definitely not for the P-51!

Speaking of the P-51, I forgot to mention we saw one at the Sun-N-Fun a few weeks ago. It did a trio flight with the F-22 Raptor and P-38 Lightning - sort of a WWII era and modern era of aircraft. The first thing I was surprised at was the difference in size in the aircraft. Got real close as it taxied to its parking spot - close enough to really enjoy that Rolls Royce Merlin engine!

Wanted to include some pictures of the airshow and of my engine test stand that I forgot to post earlier.

Enjoy!

Mark

evdreamer

Mark,

I don't plan on buying any spare parts for the Whiplash. Knowing my luck if I crash I probably wouldn't have bought the parts I would have needed. I don't plan on flying for a couple of years until I graduate. I also haven't crashed in a really long time.

My volume control was made up of four resistors and one variable resistor. Those are fine, so it was just a design error on my part.

Those are some cool pics.

Nick

Aframomum

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Forgot to add the short video too!

Here you go: https://vimeo.com/93000111

Mark

JPEE

Hi Guys,

Sorry I have been dark, once again I did not get email's which I am supposed to when either one of you boys post.

Mark the engine stand looks like it works real well for you. It appears you don't have to bend over and that is safer too. I expect the Allen wrench is for adjusting the mixture for low and high RPMs. That engine is a monster! Man that will pull anything you want to fly for sure. I would assume you do you engine tuning at a reasonable hour, like 7:00 am. so as to let any of your neighbors be late for work lol!
Your videos were excellent at the air show. Yes there is something about the purr of the RR engine for sure, it was sweet..........you did have a great place there at the taxi area. Good luck on your plane when you get the engine in. BTW way your street and front yard look marvelous.

I did not get to fly anything before I left AZ accept the 51. I got to the field at 7:00 am. and had the place to my self. The sun was at my right to the east at the end of the runway and I was facing north. She took off really nice, but even with the prop mod she is sluggish in the air. I did get two barrel rolls in just trying to get handle how this planes fly's. Very clunky is my best expression. I stayed high and tried flying a bit slower but no way she starts to become unmanageable. So I had to fly her at nearly full throttle and even then she was heavy. Well before the pack was depleted I wanted to come in, in case I needed some pass's to get her feel down for landing. I came around and had good speed and also knowing I was flying east towards the sun at the end of the runway, I had no choice as the wind had started blowing. As I my turn south east I pulled down my hat as low as I could to protect me and I was was darned near 20 degrees off of the runway when the sun hit my eyes and I was blinded. In she went just before the paved runway............ Behind the wing the fuse broke from the middle belly up the side to the top almost behind canopy, one wing tip cracked about 3" from the wing tip, of course the props are gone and the prop shaft is bent. Perhaps that comes off the motor as I recall and can be replaced. All in all she can be repaired with hot glue and tape. But this plane has never worked for me. I know without a doubt I am not the best plane flyer but I do really well with the T-28 and she is 10 times faster and agile too. Some say this particular wing style is hard to fly, but in my humble opinion I really think a bigger e-motor is needed for it size and weight. She is up on the wall in the shop and in a few weeks I'll make the repairs. We are still unloading here in Ca. after our arrival Saturday and getting the house back to normal. We do have to go back to AZ possible next week for 3 days to complete the storage procedure for our newer trailer and then tow home the Toy Box and get it listed for sale. Yesterday I discharged the few batteries I mentioned earlier I had charged for some last days of AZ flying and put everything in storage mode.

Mark, sorry to read that you had some frustrations with your project, But it seems you found the root issue and hopefully you can find a fix. Sorry to hear your selling off the fleet. I completely understand and respect you for your good judgement, as I have mentioned you are carrying a tremendous load with works and your higher education and to not give 100% to both would be senseless. You have so much life ahead of you to fly.

Take care you two



<font color="#000000"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA1AxWF_qm4

Aframomum

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Hi JPEE,

I am really sorry to hear about your 51 going in, nothing worse than a crash b/c of sun blindness. As you said some time will do you good and when your ready she'll still be there ready for the repair. On the motor shaft...I remember you can disassemble it but think the shaft is tapped out either from the back or the front, can't remember right now.

One other thing to think about, what kv motor do you have in there right now? The 540? I know Motion states the 580Kv motor is a more powerful upgrade for your plane so you may want to think about upgrading and see if that helps the plane out. I know the early Zero's FMS put out had the 540 motor and then they started including the 580 as most reviews stated the 540 was too underpowered. Looks like Motion offers the Freewing 580kv motor and DiamondHobby offers the FMS 580kv motor (~ $43).

Your video really shows the size of your new mobile RV and the pictures are terrific...I can't get over how much it comes with. It looks very nice and I'm sure you guys are going to enjoy it.

Did I do my engine tuning at 7am? Do you know it was 62 at that hour and thats too dang cold to be outside tuning some slimer engine! Nope, I wait till 11 when the sun has warmed things to a nice toasty 80. lol Wanted to show you some pics of the plane before I got started on the wing covering. The fuse was fine, it is just the wing I need to deal with.

I also recently picked up another engine from a guy on RCG...a Saito 65. My very first 4-stroke engine. He had it advertised as being rebuilt with new bearings and new gaskets so I'm getting it setup to test next weekend. It looks good, has decent compression, so I'm hopeful.

But right now I want to get my plane finished so I can fly her on Sunday. All I have left is to cover the wing, install the aerilon servo's, reattach the aerilons, attach the linkages, and balance her. 2 days worth of work should do it.

Mark

Aframomum

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Covering has begun!

Now I should confess that my covering skills are, well...really, really bad (so don't be too critical). Still trying to get the wrinkles out but not too much success at the moment.

Mark

JPEE

Hi Mark,

Where to start, I was beefing ya on the 7:00 am. test running of the engine. I meant, why not wake up the neighbors and let them know you have a new SAITO lol. I see the guys at Joe's Field (grandsons) there tune to the ambient temps, so I get that part of course. Side note, we need to do that with our Naza's in our Quad copters, also the same with V-Bars. If you carry the copter in the car you need to let it sit for a few minutes in the temps and atmosphere that is will be flying in) end side note.
When I get to the 51 I will check and see what motor is in it, thanks for the tip.

Your plane and wings look great! You have really put some time into that plane and it has paid off in my opinion. Don't beat yourself up over the wings mono coating not coming out perfect. That's how we all learn, time after time hands on experience. They look great and I LOVE the color too.

Your newly acquired SAITO is so cool. A guy at the field had one for a brief time. It sounded spectacular and flew well.................. well until his plane lost radio contact and flew off and was never to be seen again! This is to say, he took and flew three circuits around the field. On the third pass with the elevator and left aileron he started his left bank and then lost radio contact! The plane flew in huge circles and slowing climbed. There were 4 of us watching and we all felt helpless. As she slowly climbed we prayed she'd run out of fuel and crash in hopes for some salvage. But not that day...... as she rose in altitude she drifted towards the mountains. As she disappeared I took my iPhone and tracked a compass heading and started out that way. We searched the foot hills for some time and never found it. He was not concerned with the plane, as much as that motor....the SAITO. I must say that while he is a grand guy he is also duck-tape and glue guy (jury rigging) with an older DX6i with a $10.00 clone Spectrum knock off receiver. Sometimes you get bit!
You on the other hand will do well with your plane as you have done with your others. There is the big difference between the foam flyer and out of the box $99.00 balsa plane fliers and the talented builders like you. There seems to be that "go the extra mile" when your sweat is in the plane. You, I, nor Nick would fly a $10.00 knock-off receiver just as a starter.

I hope you got some flights in this weekend. We are taking off again for AZ for just three days to tow home the Toy Box. I want to get her home and detailed and on Craigs to recoup some cash. Oh, did I mention is is 103 there today............ I am NOT looking forward to this trip at all

Smiles Boy's