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| <Group> Dart flights -- Where have all the 'soft' polys gone?? |
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| message from Seth Beckett on 16 Jan 2002 |
I've started throwing darts again after many years. I saved my
'stuff' all these years, including shafts, and a large assortment of
flights.
I recently ordered some additional darts supplies, including flights.
I notice that ALL the flights I find are of the "HARD POLY" variety,
which I find hard as nails and steel-stiff.
I don't like them, even with shafts that spin, because the darts will
always be deflected if the natural trajectory of the dart would result
in its being parallel and directly next to a preceding dart. Instead,
right at the very end of flight, the flights come into contact, and
force the angle of the dart inward toward the other dart.
The old "soft" poly darts I have work great, and are totally flexible
when they come into contact with anything, and adjacent darts are
totally parallel, and the flights are bent to allow this.
I vastly prefer these admittedly more fragile flights to these new
abominations. Other than durability, they have no advantage. While I
suppose folks will say they are more stable in flight (the 'soft' poly
bend more with air pressure) I do not find this to be true at all in
practice.
My old 'soft' polys are almost gone. The closest I can come are some
of the nylon flights, but I find them still too stiff.
Does anyone know if the 'soft' polys are still made, and better yet,
where they can be bought? I don't care if I have to buy them from
Antarctica or a back alley in Kuala Lumpur. TIA.
Seth
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| Robert Ross replied to Seth Beckett on 17 Jan 2002 |
"Seth Beckett" wrote
Seth,
Try using shafts that don't grip the flights so tightly. With loose-fitting
flights, if the flights come in contact with each other, the flight on the
incoming dart will just pop off, and the trajectory of the dart will hardly
change at all. Unicorn XL shafts barely hold hard poly flights on at all,
perfect! The "clothespin" type shafts work well, too.
I used to use the soft poly flights and liked them a lot, in fact I found
them to be *more* durable than the hard poly. The hard poly flights tend to
chip and delaminate faster. I also used "Re-seal" flights, which were quite
soft.
Good luck.
Robert Ross
Emerald City Darting Organization (Seattle, WA, USA)
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| Seth Beckett replied to Robert Ross on 18 Jan 2002 |
Robert,
Thanks for the note. I have some nylon shafts that are "loose" and the
hard flights pop off as you say. I'll take a look at the unicorn xl
shafts as an alternative to this. In fact I just looked at some on
the web, and I notice a "unicorn xl+" and "unicorn premium+" that both
look like white nylon of the clothespin variety.
Still, forever finding and picking up your flights from the floor is a
royal pain -- especially as my eyes aren't as good anymore, I have
trouble putting them back on the shafts in the dimmer light away from
the dartboard, and there is just a lot of needless fiddling around.
The soft poly flights, as you say, are very durable. All mine go back
to the 70's and 80', and I have been resealing them, but I can see the
day when they will all be gone. I've resealed many of them probably a
several dozen times.
What I don't understand is why their manufacture was discontinued.
Or, perhaps, I'm just not looking in the right place. It seems
wherever I look on the web, anywhere in the world, there seem only to
be half a dozen companies that even make flights. And at least I'm
not totally alone in the opinion that the "soft" polys make better
flights.
And to add insult to injury, I find that 95% of the patterns or
designs on today's dart flights are totally atrocious, unlike the days
of "soft" flights. Few chevron styles, but otherwise its plain ole
plain color. Well, I've got better things to do than worry about dart
flights, but if I find a source of "soft" flights, I'm gonna lay in a
lifetime supply -- which in my case probably isn't a whole lot.
Seth
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| Robert Ross replied to Seth Beckett on 18 Jan 2002 |
"Seth Beckett" wrote .
One consideration on using Unicorn shafts - if you don't have Unicorn darts,
the shafts will be a slightly larger diameter than the "barrel" of the dart.
No big deal, unless your fingers are on the seam there. It IS a big deal
to use non-Unicorn shafts with Unicorn barrels; the end of the barrel will
have a substantial exposed area that will get hammered on and chipped. I
loaned a set of Unicorn darts to a friend, he put generic shafts on them,
played with them for a few months, and you wouldn't believe the damage.
I haven't seen the Unicorn XL + shafts; I'd be interested in those if you
have a website you could direct me to.
I'd rather pick a flight up off the floor than a dart that was deflected
because the flight was too firmly inserted. I use clear hard poly flights,
and have actually lost them on a light gray floor. Where the hell do they
go?
I have a friend here in Seattle who regularly orders dart supplies from
England. I'll check and see if he can locate any soft poly or "Reseal"
flights.
Robert Ross
Emerald City Darting Organization (Seattle, WA, USA)
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| Seth Beckett replied to Robert Ross on 18 Jan 2002 |
I do have unicorn darts -- use the Barry Twomlow most often and I also
have a set of the John Lowes -- both the non coated variety. Maybe
the unicorn flights would be better, since the shafts I've been using
are slightly smaller than the BT's, and the tungsten is chipping off
the edge of the dart where it meets the shaft. I also use crystal
clear flights while practicing, but I been saving the "soft" flights
for more serious play. Yup, I'd rather fuss with putting flights on
than having darts bounce off them. It's amazing how far they can go
sometimes -- those hard suckers act like a spring sometimes, and bend
back and then flip the dart way out. "Soft" flights can't do that.
I have a picture of the xl+ shafts along with slickstick+ and
premium+; I don't recall where I obtained it, since I didn't source
the photo like I usually do. It may be the unicorn site in Greece.
I'll take a look around and get back to you maybe tomorrow. But I'm
thinking my local dart supplier carries them, and I'll take a look
there, too (USA).
Maybe oughta think about starting up a "soft dart flights"
manufacturing facility. (sort of kidding ...).
Reference: <TYY18.1155$_l2.92...@news.uswest.net>, by m...@my.computer
[ Fri, 18 Jan 2002 09:32:14 -0800 ]
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| Seth Beckett replied to Robert Ross on 20 Jan 2002 |
You asked about the Unicorn XL+ shafts. The "+" evidently refers to
the material used to make the shaft -- in this case some kind of
"miracle" polymer that is flexible but magically restores its shape.
They are not widely found.
LINK #1---------------------
A-Z darts (Sacramento, California - USA) sells them and has a picture
at their site: http://www.a-zdarts.com/dartsjava.html
(Assumes you do Java)
On the left-hand menu, click on Flights/Nylon/SlikStiK (any slikstik -
they are all on the same page)
You will note the photo of the "XL" is white - that's the "+". If you
click on it, you'll get a better photo of the two available sizes, and
there it also uses the designation of "xl+".
LINK #2---------------------
TopShot (Greece): http://www.topshot.gr/unicorn06.htm
All the "+" series are shown at the bottom of the page
This is the only site I know of that offers the "Premium+" shaft.
Hope that helps.
Seth
Reference: <TYY18.1155$_l2.92...@news.uswest.net>, by m...@my.computer
[ Fri, 18 Jan 2002 09:32:14 -0800 ]
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