A tale of two planes

It was almost a year ago that I made my first submersible airplane, the Cormorant. I followed that up almost immediately by a two-seat plane — the Tigershark. The Tigershark was essentially a wider version of the Cormorant with a handful of nice extras.

So when I finished the Cormorant 2 last week, I thought to myself… “Hey.” Then I thought to myself, “Why don’t you make a new Tigershark too?” And after that I thought to myself, “Why am I having conversations with myself?” And I didn’t know the answer to that.

Over the last few days, with helpful input from several SL Flying Corps pilots, I’ve worked at modifying the Cormorant into a two-seater as I did last time. It’s lengthened and widened to include a tail gunner’s position.

Two planes: Cormorant 2 and Tigershark 2 (beta)
Cormorant 2 (left) and Tigershark 2 beta (right)

I have to say, this plane kicks serious ass in a TCS dogfight. In a few test battles yesterday, Rei Kuhr quickly mastered the split-second timing needed to fire a fixed-aim tailgun and took out several attackers. If anyone got on our six, they were toast.

So… two planes, both similar but different. Cormorant 2 is smaller (cheaper), seats one, and has one gun. Tigershark 2 is larger, seats two, has two guns, and has a nifty paint job. With luck and lots more testing, I should have Tigershark 2 done by the weekend. Take your pick!

Writing to you from street party central

It seems like people are making a habit of having street parties in my neighbourhood. A couple of weeks ago, it was a Doors cover band in front of my building. Today, only a couple of blocks away, The Black Eye Peas are doing a public concert in the street. As I understand it, it’s to celebrate the grand opening of a new Best Buy store. I guess The Black Eye Peas really get excited over big box stores, and spontaneously organized all their friends to par-tay.

Am I totally un-hip for admitting that I don’t know who The Black Eyed Peas are? I honestly don’t know. Today anyway, for me, they’re the guys who turned the neighbourhood into a zoo of screaming teens and traffic cops. Well, it was actually the teens who were doing most of the screaming.

Seriously… the buildings echo with the sound of “woooooo” and “eeeeeee” and all those things that one says to musicians that one really likes. I think I’ll put on my favourite CD, crank up the stereo, and party like it’s 1991. Hm. Yeah, even for un-hip guys, I’m pretty un-hip.

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Fifty million meters above Second Life

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