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Slope Trash Magazine Contributor Guidelines

Original Slope Trash Magazine logo.

We uncovered these Contributor Guidelines for Slope Trash Magazine from original publisher, Roy G. Biv, dated August 15, 2000! Well, all the basics still apply so read on. We made just a few updates to account for 17 years of Interweb advances.

Slope Trash Magazine strives to present high grade articles and photos of interest to extreme RC slope soaring pilots. In fact, we hope to present the highest quality words and images available in any RC soaring specialty publication. We want STM to be great, so send your best work.

STM is founded on irreverence, so topic areas are not limited. We may be crude but we are not unkind, so STM will not run material that ridicules individuals or puts down designers or kit makers or any individual.

The House of Blues motto, “Help Ever. Hurt Never.” applies here.

Articles: Should run from 400-900 words, may have subheads, and should be sent in Microsoft Word format, or in pure ASCII text format. We reserve the right to edit an article for length and clarity.

Photographs: Digital images should be sized to fit a 1920×1920 pixel box but need not be square. Simply the the longest side should be no more than 1920 pixels. We will hold a high standard for our photographs: action shots are highly prized, or photos of unusual people, places
and things that are related to extreme slope soaring. JPEG format
(.JPG) is best for web presentation.

Sorry, we do not pay for material. This is an all-volunteer force.

Contributed material is to be submitted in electronic form to the publisher, Greg Smith acting for Roy G. Biv, via e-mail to: greg@slopeflyer.com. You may submit under your real name or a pen name, as you wish.

Ahi One Design Aerobatic Contest – My Entry

This video is my entry in the dream-flight/slopeaerobatics.com Ahi One Design Aerobatic Contest. Check it out and vote early and vote often!

It was a windy day with 20-25mph winds at the small Big Bay slope in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin and it was a good opportunity to try out my GoPro Session 4 on the my helmet to make a bit of a video for the contest. This is a really tight slope but it was a fun flight. Gotta work on my video technique a bit but the contest looms so this is the one. Vote for Greg!

Also, it’s not too late for YOU to enter the contest! Submit your best 3 minute video of Dream-Flight Ahi slope aerobatics (remember it is a one design contest so the Ahi is a must!) to the VTPR & Slope Aerobatics Facebook group by the end of of the last day of summer – Friday, September 22nd, 2017. Judging will be done by members of the group! Good luck!

Prizes from dream-flight include:

First Place: $350 Dream-Flight Cash + SlopeAerobatics.com T-Shirt
Second Place: $150 Dream-Flight Cash + SlopeAerobatics.com T-Shirt
Third Place: $100 Dream-Flight Cash + SlopeAerobatics.com T-Shirt

Check out all the details at – http://www.slopeaerobatics.com/2017/08/18/announcing-the-dream-flight-ahi-one-design-video-contest/ 

Requiem for a Vindy

Requiem for a Vindy

The forecast was for rain, but they made a slight correction
“Winds gusting to 30 from the westerly direction”
When picking planes for days like these I’m not a big debater
This clearly was a job for my trusty Vindicator

I drove up to the slope with a reckless abandon
and did a quick range check at the top of that green canyon
The ocean down below was wild and filled with foam
From up on top there was no doubt the Vindy had come home

This beautiful old ship of carbon, foam and glass
looked like a mighty hunter as it sat there in the grass
And as I threw her out o’er the spectacular abyss
I really wasn’t thinking of the phone calls I had missed

She made a couple passes at about 110
Down for a beach run and then back on top again
Through outside loops and dives that would make you back away
the plane just kept on cruising through this monumental day

A feeling came to me that was a rising of the soul
I’d reached a Nirvana…but then that fu*!@ng pole
I didn’t think I was that close as I setup for a turn
“Speed sucks up the ground” was a lesson I had learned

It didn’t crash as much as it just came to a quick stop
From 90 down to 0 with just a little pop
As I approached the gruesome scene I gave a little sigh
The wings just hung suspended and the v-tail fluttered by

Surprisingly I found that I was not really dejected
it was sort of cool the way the radio ejected
As I gathered up the pieces I harbored no real malice
I waxed philosophic as I searched for the ballast

I thought of glider heaven where the skies are seldom black
Combat in the front and DS’ing off the back
And out there where the lift is strong and the days are always windy
Streaks the spirit of what once flew proud, my good old trusty Vindy

JE

Erickson Architects
John R. Erickson, AIA

If you remember past iterations of slopeflyer.com, you may remember a subsection called Slope Trash Magazine. Well, in the kerfuffle of porting old content to a new system I lost that part of the site but just found, on an old computer, much of the original content! I will be rebuilding the STM section of this site over time with blasts from the past but wholeheartedly encourage new submissions! If you are Slope Trash, or know of someone who is, tell the story to greg@slopeflyer.com and see your words on the big ol’ Interwebs!

Slope Trash Magazine Flys Again!

If you remember past iterations of slopeflyer.com, you may remember a section called Slope Trash Magazine. Well, in the kerfuffle of porting old content to a new system I lost that part of the site but just found, on an old computer, much of the content! I will be rebuilding that section of this site over time including a separate site look for Slope Trash Magazine stories. Meanwhile I’ll be posting blasts from the past but wholeheartedly encourage new submissions to greg@slopeflyer.com. With that said, here is the original announcement from 2002!

Thanks to an arrangement with the original publisher, Roy G. Biv, slopeflyer.com has agreed to provide server space so Slope Trash Magazine can again bring you the kind of stories you learned to love in the past!

Here is a bit from the new home of Slope Trash Magazine on what this site is all about:

Slope Trash Magazine’s future expansion and development will be driven by contributions from on-the-edge slope soaring fanatics (homo slopiens), and we look forward to presenting the writing and photography of as many contributors as we can.

STM is not for kit reviews or promotion of any specific maker’s products. Rather, it’s a place for stories and images that express the spirit, irreverence and boldness of extreme R/C slope soaring in both humorous and solemn terms. Our aim is to publish the highest quality text and images, so send your best work.

Welcome back, Slope Trash Magazine!

Finding a Local Hobby Shop That Supports Soaring

When my favorite independent hobby shop closed a couple of years back it was quite a blow. I’d been going to Greenfield News and Hobby (and it’s previous incarnation Cudahy News and Hobby) for 40+ years and really tried to make most of my hobby related purchases there. Unlike a lot of other shops I’ve tried over the years the staff at Greenfield was always willing to do what they could to get in unusual products to support my very niche hobby needs. I thought to myself, now what? Not having an real affinity for any other local hobby shops do I just take all my business to shops online? Doesn’t seem like the way to totally go. I often like being able to see things in person before I buy. So, I had to find another hobby shop. After poking around a bit I settled on Hobby Town in Germantown, WI. Yes, it is a franchise. Yes, they do carry a lot of stuff I could get online from Horizon Hobby but what sealed the deal for me is that the owner/manager Ryan is not only knowledgeable, and has some familiarity with slope soaring, but is a nice dude too!

I’ve been to a bunch of independent hobby shops during my travels around the United States and always appreciate a good one. I am going to try to report on the shops that stand out and have, at least, heard of slope soaring!

So, if you have a local hobby shop that understands R/C and, even better, soaring, by all means give them your business! If you have a shop that is particularly interested in slope soaring, leave a comment below so that other slope pilots can visit when they are in your local area or, better yet, pen an article and I’ll be sure to get it published.

Side Note: Interestingly, at least to me, is that my other main hobby, cycling, has a connection to the old store in Cudahy because the son of fellow stick twiddler, Russ Whitford, now owns a bike store in that location. Weird world sometimes! Chow!

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