Cecil Walker’s Blog

Will was someone that I always enjoyed seeing at the track. He was good fun to talk to and gave me lots of advice. Even though I haven’t seen him in a while, I think of him fondly. What follows is a personal letter that Larry and Vicki Pond sent out. I thought I’d share it with all of you.

It is with a heavy heart that I have to tell you that our friend Will Hartje passed away last Tuesday of a heart attack. Vicki and I have known Will as a close friend for over 16 years and will miss him greatly.

Will is survived by his wife Sharon, sons Tom of Phoenix, Lawrence with wife Megan of Seattle, and stepdaughter Meaghan of Chandler.

Will has touched many people as our classroom instructor for ASA-ProautoSports events. Over the 10 years he has been with us, he has held class for 5,000-10,000 students and instructed in car with at least 100-200 drivers. His sweet British accent and pleasant way of dealing with his favorite subject of driving was memorable for all of us.

Let me tell you a little bit about Will as I know him. He was born and grew up in London, England. At some point in his life he came to the colony (US) and settled in.

Vicki and I met him one day in 1994 when he came into our race shop, Gemini Racing Systems in Chandler, to purchase a Simpson Helmet, suit and equipment. We really liked Will right away. Later we met his sons Lawrence and Tom and over the years watched them grow up into terrific young men.

We attended his wedding to Sharon a few years ago and there met her daughter Meaghan. The wedding was a beautiful event held at ProAutoSports member Kelly Gallant’s house in Scottsdale. They have been a beautiful and happy couple since then.

In the 1990’s, Will bought a Lola 342 Formula Ford that I owned. He had a lot of fun racing it. He was a very good driver and very fast. He shared my love for that car and often said he would never part with it. He was so proud at the St. Johns Grand Prix one year when he showed up with it painted in British colors with his helmet painted to match.

The first thing he always greeted Vicki with was a British “hello darling”. It was a special greeting that Vicki loved.

Will had time to help anyone, anytime. He was a special friend to us. He always brightened the day when you saw him. To know Will was to love him!

I cannot tell any silly or funny stories about him. Will was fun to be with, but always serious. He left an indelible impression with Vicki and I and we are sure with many of you.

The services are planned for Friday morning June 26^th  at 11:00 am. You may join us at The All Saints Episcopal Church, 6300 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix AZ 85012.

Please bring cards and notes or send them to Sharon Hartje, 908 W. Pershing Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85029.

“Will, you are a special Brit member of the ProAutoSports family! You will be greatly missed.”

Sincerely, Larry Pond

I reached a 25 year milestone at Intel and was given lots of things to choose from as a gift. I thought this would be a great addition to the hobby bench!

(Note: Hover over the images for descriptions and click on them for larger photos!)

I’m enjoying flying planes far more than helicopters lately and given the choice, I’d rather fly my 2200mAh 3S Fusion-Pack lipos in my 3D Hobby Shop 47” Katana instead of the T-Rex! Here’s what you’d be getting:

• Align T-Rex 450SE V2 (carbon fiber frame)
• Align motor that came with it
• Align ESC that came with it
• I’ll even include the AR6100 Spektrum receiver that’s in it!
• 3 – HS65MG Hitec servos
• 1 – Futaba 9650 digital servo for the tail
• Futaba GY-401 gryo
• CanopyFX canopy
• 2 – Align blade grip/holders (one vertical, one horizontal)
• Currently running new Align 325 wood blades
• Head has Trueblood Engineering dampners in the new V2 blade grips
• New V2 swash plate
• Instruction manual
• Flight Leader aluminum case
• Extra parts:
• 6 – V2 main shafts
• 2 – V2 feathering shafts
• 1 – set of V2 tail blades
• 1 – V2 tail belt
• 1 – V2 horizontal boom fin
• 1 – V2 220mm flybar
• 1 – set of canopy nuts
• 1 – set of while landing gear
• 1 – set of metal frames
• 1/2 – set of cf frames
• extra set of main gears
• 1.5mm drivers
• 2.0 driver
• ball link pliers
• 1 – beat up Align canopy to practice with

$450.00 local pickup only (Chandler, Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Scottsdale, Gilbert)

(Note: Click on the photos to see a larger image)

I’m Buster and I’m the newest addition to the Walker household! I’m a little Pug with a cute little mug. This is only my second day with my new family but I’m already showing them that I like to play with toys and I’m pretty smart too.

This past April, I had the pleasure of attending Cornerstone’s Men’s Retreat held at Young Life’s “Lost Canyon” in Williams, Arizona. It was an amazing venue and the facility was first class all the way. Jonah Werner was the Worship Leader and he also gave us a concert Saturday night. Amazing musician and storyteller much like another one of my favorites, David Wilcox! (Note: keep an eye out either here on my Blog or on the Cornerstone site for the Men’s Present event in August where Jonah Werner will be our special guest!

Here’s a short video I put together  for a recent Man Dinner held at Cornerstone! It only scratches the surface of the many activities held over the two and a half days we were there!

Cornerstone’s 2009 Men’s Retreat video from Cecil Walker on Vimeo.

As always, let me know what you think of this or any other video I’ve posted!!!

Here’s a few quick photos from our trip to San Diego with my wife Donna, daughter Brandy, son Andrew and daughter-in-law Amber (expecting!). Click on the thumbnails to see a larger image…

I’ll add a video of the trip once I finish editing it!

I recently went on a motorcycle ride to benefit brandedPhx and became aware children all across the world, all across the US, right here in the Phoenix metro area are being held captive as sex slaves working the streets. Yes, children. Lured, abducted, trafficked and held captive against their will to be used as property. Sometimes they are physically branded with crude scalding irons and tattoos to identify them as the property of their pimp.Stripped of their childhood and reduced to being a commodity.

According to BrandedPhx, an organization here in the Phoenix area that is dedicated to ending child slavery for sex and prostitution, the FBI estimates that well over 100,000 children and young women are trafficked in America today. They range in age from 9 to 19.

This motorcycle benefit ride was put together to awareness of this problem and raise money to help fight it! If you want to know more about brandedPhx or their partner streetlight (an organization dedicated to the creation of safe transition facilities where children removed from sex for profit can heal and recover) then click on the links I provided in the sentence and get involved! Be sure and check out the Learn More section as well as the Connect and Take Action areas! It’s not only eye opening, it will compel you to do something about it!

I put together some RC (Radio Control) videos recently for my friends at the Chandler Bowl and out on RCGroups.com

Here’s the Saturday Compilation video…

and the DLG Throw Comparison video…

WWII reenactment at the 2009 Electric Flight Expo

WWII Reenactment at 2009 Electric Flight Expo from Cecil Walker on Vimeo.

Yesterday, Kevin Paine, Ben Tsai and I went to the Chandler Dazs event at the Chandler Airport.

One of the main attractions was the Sentimental Journey B17 bomber flown by the Commemorative Air Force. One of only a handful B17 bombers that still fly on a regular basis! I had the opportunity to walk through it for a small donation of $5. Actually, there was some crawling involved as the passageways were pretty tight!

There were also several biplanes ranging from nostalgic and historically correct Stearman’s to full-tilt biplanes that fly incredible aerobatics!

Speaking of aerobatic planes. This non-assuming plane was sitting at the end of the row and drew very few people to really look it over. This was one of the the best aerobatic planes on display!

Here’s a few photos of the new 40” Edge 540 from 3D Hobby Shop. The first set is right after I finished building it in its stock graphics package.

Here’s what it looks like sitting next to my 47” 3D Hobby Shop Katana.

While it was a beautiful plane just the way it was, I really like the looks of the Red Bull Air Race graphics on the real planes. Here’s what it looks like after applying the graphics package from my friend Rob at ADCHobbyStore.com.

I’m looking forward to its maiden flight sometime this week!

If you’re interested in keeping up to date or just staying in touch, you can usually find me on Twitter and/or Facebook! I also post photos on my PhotoBlog on a semi-regular basis (ok, whenever I get inspired) and I post videos on Vimeo. One place you can definitely find me is out on RCGroups in the Chandler Bowl thread. I’m known as “Throwdown” there.

Feel free to bookmark these and STAY IN TOUCH!

I recently attended a IMAC Pattern competition at the East Valley Aviators (EVA) field south of Apache Junction. Pattern competition involves the precision flying of set patterns or routines. A simple Basic pattern may involve: flying straight and level, pull to a 45degree upline, level off then perform a Split-S manuever, fly back across the field, pull to a vertical upline then let plane stall performing a Hammerhead turn. Level out and fly across the field. At mid-field, perform one axial roll staying flat and level then pull to a 45degree upline, hold, then pull back coming all the way over into a vertical downline, rotate the plane a 1/2 turn (this is known as a Teardrop),  pull out and fly straight and level, then…. (you get the idea)

All of this is done in an imaginary box. Points are deducted for poorly performed manuevers, going out of “the box”, etc.

IMAC requires the planes to be at least a minimum size but can be LARGER!

Here’s a video of my friend Josh Ziering flying his IMAC plane…

Josh Ziering flying at the 2008 EVA Pattern Contest from Cecil Walker on Vimeo.

I spent a Friday and Saturday at the Arizona Electric Fest in northeast Mesa. I would have spent Sunday as well but our checking account wouldn’t have survived it! Here’s some photos and videos I took at the event. Some of the photos were taken by Chris Wuester while I was videotaping.

2009 Arizona Electric Fest - Friday from Cecil Walker on Vimeo.

2009 Arizona Electric Fest - Saturday part 1 from Cecil Walker on Vimeo.

2009 Arizona Electric Fest - Saturday part 2 from Cecil Walker on Vimeo.

I’ve been flying (after finally figuring out how this plane wants to land!) my 3D Hobby Shop Katana quite a bit lately. It’s a 47” wingspan joy to fly. I left off the traditional Katana graphics and put on some Honda Racing decals instead. I also put some Fusion Pack stickers on the cowl as that’s the lithium polymer batteries that I fly this plane on and they really do the trick!

What’s in the hopper that’s coming up soon? Another new 3D Hobby Shop plane! I bought the new 40” Edge 540 as I heard nothing but glowing reviews of this smaller plane! I also bought a Lee Ulinger Models “SF1” foam 3D plane. I’m working on getting the right motor and speed controller for it now… Stay tuned for photos and a review.

 If you’re a fan of Kutless like I am, you’ll want to check this out! 

A free Kutless MP3 is being given away at Bible Study Magazine. They are also having a contest to win cool Kutless gear and Logos Bible Software. Go check it out!

A few of us from Cornerstone Christian Fellowship photography group took our cameras out last Wednesday night to see what we could capture at the monthly Art Walk event. Here’s a few shots I took…

When Andrew and Amber arrived for Thanksgiving dinner they gave us a new Christmas list. Since Andrew is famous for adding more things to his “wish list” each year I didn’t think anything special of it, that is, until I saw my wife’s reaction. She handed the list to me and I fully expected to see something very expensive on it. Instead, this is what the list said…

As you can expect, we are extremely happy about the news and look forward to each month to come!

I’m set for on the go type shooting. I’ve got an awesome HD video camera (Canon XH-A1) and a Bogen 561B fluid monopod to help steady it.

For any set shots (interviews, studio, etc) I need a lot more gear! I have the following on loan…

• Lowel DV Creator 44 Light Kit  (Omni, Pro, Tota and a Rifa-lite)
• Background stand kit
• Medium-duty light stands
• Boom Stand

Here’s what I’d like to start out with (in order of priority)…

• Bogen / Manfrotto Pro Video Kit w/351MVB2 Aluminum Tripod Legs, 501 Pro Fluid Head
• Lowel DV Creator 44 Light Kit  (Omni, Pro, Tota and a Rifa-lite)
• Shotgun microphone and boom pole
• Collapsible background
• Wireless Lavilier microphone set

Now here’s the stuff I’d like to have to do the shots I plan to do…

• IndiSlider
• Jib Crane
• Homemade Dolly and track system

Looks like I can only get the calibration “close”. I’m only 1 or 2 tenths  of an f-stop off. I tried it in both 60i and 30F frame rates. They both use 640 iso for the correct calibration. I just need to switch between 60 fps and 30 fps on the Sekonic.

Now to try it for real!

So, Adobe’s OnLocation is officially a very cool product. I was able to get the waveform pretty much spot on to 50% using an 18% gray card and opening up my Canon XH-A1 aperture to f/3.4. Now here’s where I’m stuck. My Sekonic L-358 will read either f/3.2 or f/3.6 but won’t calibrate in to f/3.4.

Anyone have any ideas or is that close enough?