Kit Airplane: Airframe Arrived!

The airframe kit for my Zenith CH-650B has arrived. 12'x4'x3' crate that weighed 680 pounds; picking it up from the distribution center...

Removing the top...

Underneath the packing paper...

I emptied out most of the heavy stuff, then some neighbors graciously help me move the crate inside...

I also went through and ensured everything had arrived on the packing list...

I ordered the tool kit with the airframe...

And this is why I went with an experimental. "Certified" aviation part for several hundred dollars? Or what has worked in millions of cars for many decades for a tenth the cost?

The most egregious difference I've seen with this has been avionics.

A 10.6" Garmin G3X Touch for Experimental Aircraft? $4,995.00

A 10.6" Garmin G3X Touch for Certificated Aircraft? $11,895.00

Parts for the vertical stabilizer / rudder are out and ready to be assembled (as well as a few for the horizontal stabilizer that will be constructed next).

I actually already built a vertical stabilizer, but I want to do it again as I think I'll do a better job the second time and it will help me re-familiarize myself with the process (drawings, instructions) with something I've done before. The old rudder can hang from my shop wall!

Campaign Manager: Coming Soon: Game Mode

Coming soon, Game Mode!

Create interactive stories with branching paths and be able to play it directly in Campaign Manager. Use items in Encounters to build out the game world - including music, text, images, and navigation options.

You can download Campaign Manager from:

https://kamoly.itch.io/campaign-manager

Campaign Manager: Printing Maps

Lately, instead of using a computer screen for my DnD players, I've been using printed maps and notes. The print feature in Campaign Manager has come in very handy for this. Something it couldn't do well though is print the battle maps, until today.

Battle maps can be selected on the Player View, a grid configured, then hit print.

It will ask across how many pages should the print span. In this example it is spanning across a maximum of 4 pages.

It will give a print preview for review.

The printed pages can be easily taped together for an exceptionally large battle map using standard letter sized paper.

You can download Campaign Manager from:

https://kamoly.itch.io/campaign-manager

Kit Airplane: Airframe Ordered & Work Bench

The full CH-650 airframe kit has been ordered! It should be delivered around April 2024, so I'm working hard to finish as many other projects as possible before it arrives.

I need a large work table to assembly the parts, and Zenith recommends a size of 12'x4' for it. A few 2x8s, 4x4s, 3/4" plywood, and a helper puppy...

My original plan was 6 legs and additional cross bracing lower down, but I think 4 without bracing will work out. It's pretty darn sturdy with three 2x8s spanning the full length.

Completed!

Campaign Manager: Encounter (Battle) Maps

New for this month are encounter (battle) maps! They're intended for use with the player view on a second screen where they can have optional grid lines, rotations, and scaled in a variety of ways, but they can be utilized in any way to improve the campaign. The number of maps bundled with Campaign Manager will also grow over time.

You can download Campaign Manager from:

https://kamoly.itch.io/campaign-manager

Campaign Manager: UI Improvements

 This new update has UI improvements in many parts of the software.

- Encounter notes now support HTML tags and can be put in a "View Mode" where they are rendered using those tags.

While editing...

While viewing...

- Improvements to combat evaluations user interface.

- Added buttons on combat form and encounter engagements to open details of the character.

- Added ability to cut/copy/paste asset characters, items, and abilities between assets. This makes it much easier to copy assets from SRD 5.1 and makes your own versions / tweaks in your own asset.

You can download Campaign Manager from:

https://kamoly.itch.io/campaign-manager

Campaign Manager: Printing

Latest update for Campaign Manager is printing!

Encounters and assets (characters/abilities/items) can now be easily printed as hard copies for play without needing a computer.

Select your print device...

Verify looks good in print preview...

If a PDF printing device is available (defaults with Windows), then you can also print to PDF format to easily share your creations electronically.

You can download Campaign Manager from:

https://kamoly.itch.io/campaign-manager