Virtual Skyaak soon to be a Reality

The concept of a down-loadable Skyaak model (‘deuce’) is really taking shape and form. I have started designing a mini-series of customized graphics for the shaft and wings and that is crystalizing as we speak.

I’ve been shunting design ideas back and forth to Oakland CA for about the past week or so and Fred’s been coming up with brilliant suggestions. Man, this guy has a real knack of shooting straight from the hip and getting right to the crux of the issue(s) around putting this idea together piece by piece in a very dynamic way.

Right now we are trying to figure out a way to get the Skyaak to tell people how to build itself, just like every good model kit ought to. We don’t want separate instruction sheets (for assembly and flight tips)...we want the download to be as economical as possible. Economical in the sense of efficient and elegant vs. one less sheet of paper. We’re thinking of including a sort of ‘prompter’ schematic that will graphically assist you in building the shaft and wings. I visualize this system of symbols to be a skeletal overlay that is positioned at all the dynamic points ( eg: the parts that get folded or rolled or inserted or taped or clipped or cut...) so your Skyaak ‘deuce’ literally tells you how it wants to get built.

Fred’s idea.

Pretty neat, eh?

The Skyaak ‘deuce’ will be interactive on two levels:
1) after you print your model it will tell you how to build itself,
2) after you build it you get to toss it around to witness the cool spinning motion and see how it glides in a nice gentle arc-shaped trajectory.

My vision has always been to share the unique ‘Ring-Wing’ aeronautical design with as many people as possible and we all have Fred Schechter to thank for first suggesting this delivery technology. For 2 bucks everybody can try it out. Now our job is to pack a positive, interactive experience into this little bundle and then deliver it to you!

Skyaak Dream Team Cometh

Skyaak 'Deuce' early prototype shows detail of nose w 3 paper-clips doing double duty as both fasteners and ballast. "Appropriate-Scale Technology" at it's best!

It always amazes and delights me when a high-power professional designer/product developer expresses an interest in my Skyaak project and its R&D. Fred Schechter is a prime example of someone who knows the R&D business inside out and is a person who is expressing a very lively interest in the Skyaak project.

That is so cool!

I have always thought that the only way we are going to see the R&D progress successfully is to attract fellow professional developers into a 'Dream Team' working environment where everyone has equal opportunity to benefit as a result of their input and level of involvement.

Well, Mr, Schechter is a wonderful example of this philosophy in action, as we are working away behind the scenes as you are reading this post on creating a very cool new concept: providing an on-demand .pdf down-load that will give you a printer-friendly template so you can build your very own working model Skyaak 'Deuce' .

Check out Fred's musings here as a product developer and package designer out of Oakland, CA. But don't take my word for it. Check out what self-proclaimed "Investigative Designer" David Seah has to say about this guy. Here's a taste of David's latest blog entry to set the scene:

I had a long coffee meeting with Fred Schechter yesterday, an industrial designer based in northern California that I've been talking to on-and-off for the past couple of years. Industrial Design is one of those majors I wish I'd known about when I was applying to college; not knowing any better, I had gone into Electrical Engineering. Fred himself had originally started in Mechanical Engineering, but thanks to a chance conversation with a friend ("they have a MAJOR for making cool stuff???") he made an early exit and jumped to the world of product design. Anyway, we've been chatting about our mutual interest in making and selling our own products, and Fred's perspective on it from the industrial design / manufacturing side has been invaluable in fleshing out my next steps. He's an enthusiastic guy too, so if you're looking for someone to talk to about early-stage concept and prototyping for manufacturing, it's worth dropping him an email. Anyway, the conversation has helped solidify some thoughts on my personal career direction, so I thought I'd share them...

Fred has been an incredible (and credible) mentor and adviser on this latest Skyaak endeavor and I want to refer his talents to anybody who has an idea for the next 'big thing' but maybe lacks the expertise to take it to the next level.

The thing I am really enjoying most about our friendship and working relationship is Fred's unflagging optimistic spirit and his ability to 'cut to the chase' to distill the essence of an idea and take serious steps to work it out! I am very happy and excited about all of the progress we have made on our .pdf download project.

Just wait, this is gonna be lots of good clean fun!

BTW, I see that visitor #7001 has come and gone without claiming his *FREE* Skyaak Model 3.

Oh well, no biggie. We shall see what happens with visitor #8001, #9001, #10,001 and so on...

Air-Foil Primer

Anybody interested in the endlessly fascinating art and science of "Air-Foil" design and engineering can check out this excellent primer by aeronautical engineer John Dreese:

http://www.designfoil.com

This is a very informative, well-written and concise overview of air-foil methodology that I highly recommend to anybody considering a DIY airplane or glider project.

BTW, I see that the visitor counter at the bottom of this page is now at 6997. This means, of course, that the fourth-next visitor will trip the counter over to 7001 to instantly qualify to receive a FREE Skyaak Model 3 shipped FREE anywhere on the planet.

No pressure, folks...I am merely drawing your attention to this because I want the lucky person who lands here as visitor #7001 to be 1) aware that you are a winner, and 2) take advantage of the opportunity to accept your prize. It's that simple.

Remember, just send me your copy of the counter pasted in a note to mrgaudet@gmail.com along with your surface address and we will fix you up!

In the meantime, work is progressing nicely on the latest Skyaak joint project, the R&D of the 1st "Skyaak on demand" to be available soon as a down-loadable scale-model working Skyaak, dubbed the "Deuce".

Watch for the Widget coming soon that will give you immediate access to your very own DIY Skyaak model.


Flies this way >>>>>>>>>>>>

One of the 1st Deuce prototypes, made entirely of regular 8.5" x 11" printer paper tricked out with packing tape and a few paper-clips. This model executes the trademark spinning (on its axis) motion in flight shortly after being launched and tends to keep its nose up for a nice arc-shaped trajectory. Very promising!