July 2007

Adam (Real Boomerangs Tasmania) Caroll is BACK with a new web address and what looks like a great new range of fantastic rangs!

March 2007

Want to learn how to throw? If you live in NSW, Australia, check out the website of the BTA NSW.

and they are happy to show you how to throw a boomerang.

Oct 2006, Tracing patterns and cutting blanks

I started with some new rangs. I rescaled the plans in Photoshop and printed them on A3 paper. If the thickness of the wood you have, differs from the thickness on the plan, you can use this conversion table to rescale the plan. (Table is from the Files section of the Yahoo Forum BoomerangTalk). The paper cut outs are placed on the sheet of plywood in an economical way, traced with a marker and cut with a jigsaw. I don't really like this part of the process. The fun starts for me with the sanding and making the airfoils.

October 3 2006

My latest hook works really well. It is made from 6mm 5 ply and I have added a 5 cent coin to the bottom of the dingle arm. The painting scheme is very simple but the white tips look great during the flight. The photo was taken outside my house on a mirror.

September 2006

When I started throwing I was very curious about other throwers favourite boomerangs. I now realize it is quite a personal choice and no wonder throwers carry a huge variety of rangs to competitions.

It often really depends if you just like to throw for the fun of it, or are training for a certain comp. event and how well you are able to customize or tune the rangs to match the throwing circumstances. As for me, I am not throwing with any particular event in mind, maybe just a relaxed version of Aussie Round. The 2m circle moves with me, as I try to catch the rang..and I am pretty happy with any catch, bulls eye or not.

I also noticed the progress and change in throwing style. I used to throw all rangs from the lead arm. Now almost all rangs are thrown from the dingle arm. This way I manage to keep it lower on the outward path and on return it is a gentle float towards me, rather than hovering down from outer space. Initially I was also throwing all rangs with full power which meant they all climbed fairly high on the second part of the flight. I find they often fly better when you manage the power better. Live and learn. Also rangs that didn't do it for me at first, now become true gems. Enough said, these are my current (sep 2006) favourites, in no particular order.

A.The Wave. A great rang with a beauty of a paint job. Flat outward path, then a climb, and a float back. Quite similar to the Viper Mate, another fantastic flyer.

B.The Parsec. A very small rang, but enough mass to give it a good throw. It always feels like it will not make it home, but instead of dropping down, it just keeps on floating. A beauty.

C.The Aussie Omega. This is one of my first rangs. Duncan MacLennan made it. It is fairly heavy, 130 grams, made out of 8mm plywood, and initially I couldn't get it ot work at all. It became a rang, which at the end of a throwing session, I just gave the biggest hurl I could give it and then see what happens. It was always good exercise as most times it seemed to crash at the other end of the field. But at one stage I managed to get it all the way back. It made my day. Early this year I had some problems with my wrist, hurling this one, without warming up. I know better now. If I throw this one, and I see this big lump of wood making a 40+ meter circle, it feels like an ancient art rather than a modern sport.

D.The Xtreme. I still prefer two bladers, but this is a very accurate flyer, a great shape, and other than the name might suggest, a very easy throw. For low to medium winds, and a limited size field, this is a solid performer. Great when people are watching, and you want to be sure of a catch.

E.The Ferdinand. What can I say, nice size rang, great flight.

F.The Viper Mate. From the way Bob Burwell decorated the surface of this rang, you are tempted to simply hang it on the wall and look at it all day. A true work of art. But once you get the hang of throwing it, you realize the true art is not just the surface. This one does an easy 60 meters. Off all the luck, this was the first one I had to repair after I let somebody throw it. The repair was successful, but I am very careful who I let throw one of my rangs.

G.The Triskelian. An Underhand rang. It is released at knee level, so it starts the flight 50 cm over the grass, and the first couple of times will probably end up in the grass rather then just over it. It takes a bit of practise to get a correct release, but once you get this one going, you will enjoy a great flight.

H.The Ayr from Adam Carroll. It is weighted on the lead arm, but initially I only managed to throw it without it and still it would rocket a 50 meter circle. I can throw it now with the weight attached, so even more distance, and with the right throw, it makes it all the way back, bulls eye. Truly awesome.

September 5 2006

David Fantone (BearBoomerangs) sent me two rangs he made from ABS. I managed to fly them yesterday, when the winds were up a little. In between the gusts I could catch the Bat Rang (has a great hover) a few times. The four blader also flies very accurate, but came in a bit too fast for me. I'll try catching that one on a less windy day. Thanks for these great flyers David!

August 10 2006

I decided to repaint some of my rangs. Here is a picture of a great flyer made by Duncan Maclennan (has boom shop in Sydney), the Hurricane Hook made of 8 mm plywood.
Initially I was throwing this big boom way too hard. It just needs a gentle toss and it will just continue to fly a big low and slow circle. I use a rubberband at the dingle arm tip to slow it down at the end, otherwise it will just keep on going. For the new colors, I first painted the entire rang white. Then I positioned some of the cut-offs over the rang and sprayed with the various colors, and finalized with some black as it is the darkest tint. When all the paint was dry, I used an almost empty white spray can, to spatter and splutter some white dots.

August 2006

I decided to try to make some plywood MTAs (Maximum Time Aloft). This type of boomerang is very light and especially designed to stay in the air for an extended time. If correctly tuned, which is not all that easy, it will set up in a hover at the highest point of the flight and then slowly helicopter down. That is quite a magical sight.
I cannot print any plans at the moment, so I am using a Golum and an Oxygen as example. The book in the picture is the "Performance Boomerangs" book from John Cross.

June 2006
Not that I don't have enough rangs, but just for the fun of trying to make them myself. I used sheets of cheap 6mm and 3.6 mm plywood from the local hardware store and used a few plans from the Kutek database. I also made some copies from rangs I own (Vipermate, Blast) so I could have a look at how they did the airfoils and hopefully learn something.
It is really rewarding to be able to catch your own creation.

May 19 2006

After I had posted the clip with the Triskelian, David C. Fantone emailed me about another great underhand boomerang the RDB109. In a later email he provided me with the plan and measurements for it.

He also told me he had made one for me ... and as we speak it is making its way from the USA to Australia.
Thanks for that David!. Link to his rangs (gallery).

April 26 2006

On the Boomerang Talk forum Kendall Davis was looking for some cartoon graphics for his new website. I managed to make a few cartoons for him and will make some more in the weeks ahead. I received some fantastic rangs from Kendall to thank me for the work, some he specially painted in the Dutch Red White Blue colors. I've added them to my online collection. I also created a small making off page.