DICKEYBIRD

Hope to see as many of yuse guys there as possible....should be a hoot!

hfenn

I'll be there. Carolina Crew Member, but you'll find me at the Mammoth Spring Mafia tent.

DICKEYBIRD

combatpigg:

Brian (av8rsodt) from Vancouver, WA is flying down to the S.M.A.L.L. fly-in next week....you NEED to load up that Mustang in a suitcase and follow his example! Seriously....y'ain't got nothin' better to do, right?

Me & Driskill want to fly that thing!

ps: I'll even buy the fried pickles at the catfish joint!

matchlessaero

Will be there too Absolutely cannot wait....

Larry Driskill

Yes Sir Mr. Pigg, and I will buy the beer.

Oh yes, I am reminded that my CL Combat friend Bob Mears may be coming will me. We plan on flying a couple of dozen 1/2a CL Comabt matches and will have plenty of FOAM weapons so you can play too.

av8rsodt

My Feedback: (23)

Combatpigg,

That's correct, I will be there... can't wait. I want you to go so I can see DB and Larry fly your Mustang and also watch you eat those fried pickles.

Next year I hope to bring some planes.

9 days and counting...

Brian (Av8rsodt)

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

I am going to pass on the deep fried pickles but gonna have me some Cajun Catfish at Shortie Small's..
Oh yeah ... Planning to do some flying and some good ole down south Jaw Waggin"

Gremlin Castle

My Feedback: (14)

We should be there Thursday afternoon.

I just got the Stuart Little flying automobile test flown today so all things equal I will have it with me this year. It will be a little different without Randy there but it will still be a lot of fun. I did talk to Randy's wife Helen at a flyin last week and she said that she would be there.
Oh, one other thing, did you get some spare keys made?

DICKEYBIRD

I'd almost forgotten about locking my keys in the van. I'm sure I'll think of somethin' else real stoopid to do! I tend to get wound up at these things and get a little wacky.

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Fried pickles?? man[:'(],,about 10 years ago I went to a bar after work with my boss,,had a beer and some fried thing (bear in mind I was born in Mass. raised in the south by northerners),the girl came back to check on the beer status and I said ,, "I think theres something wrong with these tator tots".....it was fried califlower....Rog

Hope you guys all have a BLAST at the small.....

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

I would think that there is enough in the "Crew" to charter a bus to come down to L Rock for this corner stone event in Model Aviation venues.

Tim Wiltse-RCU

I'm so confused! I really want to go! A couple of us had started to make plans but then couldn't. I thought I would anyways but then said no, then yes, then no again. Last week my wife said she is leaving me(really) so I think some flying would so me some good right now but I have to get my nose in the paper and start looking for a place to live so I can't again!


LAter,
Tim

DICKEYBIRD

Geez Tim, I'm so sorry to hear that.[] Been there, done that. Keep your chin up and try to focus on the future.

Sorry you can't make it but there's always next year. Hopefully things'll be peachy-keen by then!

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

HI GUYS, My Son will be due to arrive here on leave during SMALL[&o]. It's going to be his final leave before going back to IRAQ again. It's been a year since I've seen him, so that's how I'll be spending my time. Thanks very much for the invitations and offers for the beer and pickles though! We're going to have our own version of SMALL, but it's gonna be called FAST. He's bringing out a nitrous oxide fed MUSTANG that we'll be thrashing at SIR, and I have a .40 powered speed plane project to get off the ground with him as my timer.

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Tim, sorry to hear about your problems, really,like Dickeybird,Ive "been there done that" too..maybe we can get the crew down there next year...I should be in better financial shape then myself,,Pigg, sounds like you'll be having a blast right where you are...I'll get down there one of these days.....Rog

DICKEYBIRD

This post should be titled "The 2005 NLR S.M.A.L.L (The Best of Times and the Worst of Times)" Or maybe "The 2005 NLR S.M.A.L.L., How Many Times Can I Screw Up - Let Me Count the Ways."

I apologize for the tardiness of this report....your reporter just finished five 13 - 14 hr. work days and one 11 hr. Sat. Between that and trying to clean up the "fleet" in the evenings, there just hasn't been much time for messin' about with pictures and text!

It all started with the Thurs. afternoon arrival. I couldn't believe the number of tents already set up and the number of people flying at 4:30 PM on a Thursday! I hastily set up the tent and then had some great thermal flights with the P-Jay and a flight or 2 with the BareCat. As far as my flying for the weekend went, that was about as good as it got. I'll explain later.

After landing the P-Jay, this fellow walked up and started talking enthusiastically about how great it was to see a Pee Wee powered plane and how Cox power was his real passion. It was Scott Christensen of Sig, the designer of the Rascal series (used to be Mr. Top Flight and is LSF #1) What a great fellow he is! He's a dyed-in-the-wool Cox fan and we talked for quite a while. He's a very prolific designer/builder and said that the electric stuff is what he has to work on to make a living but a big part of his modeling passion lies with Cox power.

The 1st pic shows the Sig/Scott C. fleet. You'd have to see the craftmanship of his planes and the slickness and precision of his MonoKote work to believe it. I have never seen anything like it. He must have a MonoKote spray gun!

Pic 2 is his .010 powered motor-glider that he built 17 yrs. ago if memory serves.

Pic 3 shows the power pod. It looks like it's molded from very slick plastic but close inspection reveals a carved balsa structure, covered in MonoKote. How do you do compound curves with no wrinkles and a 3/32" seam overlap?

Pic 4 is a Norvel powered Rascal, several years old but crisp as a new penny.

DICKEYBIRD

Pics 1 & 2 are beautiful little Rascals, both Tee Dee .020 powered (I think, possibly an .010...I didn't take notes)

Pic 3 is the C-Star, again .020 powered (I think) and I think he said is or will be a Sig release.

Pic 4 is close up of the C-Star power pod.

DICKEYBIRD

...then there was Pat Tritle (pronounced Tright-ull, I found out this trip), all the way from New Mexico. Another gifted artist-model designer/builder. His stuff is amazing.

Pic 2 is his Waco biplane. The trim work is astounding and he flies it very scale-like.

Pic 3 is his Bird Dog.

Pic 4 is his yellow biplane....I'm having an attack of old-timer's disease and can't remember the details.

DICKEYBIRD

Tritle's Aeronca and Porter

Tritle's J-3 floating in for a landing. He is a master of scale-like flying.

Pics 3 & 4 are of Ross Woods' Stuart Little flying car powered by a Fox .15 with a Zinger pusher prop. I hand-launched it for him on one of the flights and it flew right out of my hand and flew very well!

DICKEYBIRD

Eric Clutton's (Dr. Diesel) assymetrical rig....not sure what he calls it. I call it the eighth wonder of the world 'cuz it flies darned well!

Ed Couch's "Wanda" flying well in the 15 mph wind.

A carved foam "Pogo" with counter-rotating props.

A carved foam B-26.

DICKEYBIRD

....and then there was the rubber-powered stuff. Unbelievable! Those guys flew in 15-20 mph winds and didn't seem to mind at all. Many more were there than these few pictures show.

DICKEYBIRD

Keith Sparks stuff is always amazing. His trailer is crammed with all kinds of beautiful planes and this year had a neat mural on the side. I forgot to get a shot of it but picture this in your mind: A big P-51 flying from the left with a missle just launched from the wing headed toward a giant scale Extra (or whatever) hovering in it's path and huge lettering that says: "NOT IN MY PATTERN!" Apparently there's a story behind that.

Pic 1 shows his DC-9, C-130, Macchi seaplane and Martin Mars. All are beautiful and fly great! He's another precise, scale-like flier. Watching him just roll his fleet out to the flightline one by one, turn them on and take off for a fabulous flight (almost) makes me want to go over to the dark (electric) side! Durned good thing all them Li-Poly's, chargers, brushless motors and speed controllers are so expensive. Their ease of operation and cleanliness is tempting.

Pic 2 is his Boxcar, unfortunately it had an "incident" and was damaged badly.

Pic 3 is a close-up of the Macchi. Very, very nice.

Pic 4 is one of his Broncos.

DICKEYBIRD

I'm not sure who's B-52 this is but it flies very nice. Looks so much like the real thing in the air it's spooky,

One of the Texas gang had this scaled-down Kaos and the performance was amazing.

Pic 3 is one of my all-time favorites, the "Skyfarer." Is that cute or what! Brian Sodt just sent me a plan for one and man, is it tempting! Maybe a big light one for my Queen Bee. Me, stubborn? Naaaahhh!

Pic 4 is an oldtimer with an (I think) early OS Max on the nose. Beautiful work. Either silk or Koverall I think.

DICKEYBIRD

Here's a bright young lad that really did a great job of piloting his Randy Randolph "'Lil Easy." I'm sure Randy was looking down on this young'un and grinning ear to ear!

Speakin' of kids, here's our own Larry D. pumping up one of his fleet of R/C Hawks full of that evil brew he uses, getting ready for his buddy Bob Mears to launch it.

DICKEYBIRD

Those 2 got it on out in the u/c combat circle for hours with Mears coming out on top in the "How-many-times-can-we-mid-air-and-still-keep-one-of-'em-flying contest." I was amazed (again) at what these guys can get out of an AME or VA engine with a clipped Cox 5x3. Unreal!

Then, Mears fired up one of those FAI F2D ARF combat planes with a Zorro on the nose with a carbon prop. GODFREY DANIELS! That thing is scary. I was so blown away I forgot to snap a pic. These AIN'T your mom's .15's, I GUARANTEE it. C/Pigg needs to build a racer around one of them things!

Driskill flew his Cyclon powered 'Hawk on Sat. and you can't imagine what that animal is like. (The plane, not Larry.) It rips around in a truly awesome manner, screaming it's guts out. It's goes so fast, I heard a sound like one of those Star Wars fighters makes when it screams by, saw a flash of purple light and it was gone! It musta tore a worm hole in the space-time continuum and disappeared into another time and place. It ran out of fuel just after it disappeared 'cuz when I asked him about it later on at the banquet, he said they went looking for it and Mears found it out in the boonies, still glowing!

Last but not least was the MatchlessAero display. You'll notice the sparce number of glow powered planes. Yup, the dark side has got 'im, I'm afraid! 'Course he's like this sponsored guru guy now with these big corporate tycoons throwing high dollar electric goodies at him pleading "Build us something with this on it," then another guy stands up and shouts "No, ME! I knew him first, Mr. Jeremy promised me he'd do one for me first!" It's sickening, I tell ya.

Then to add insult to injury, Bob Selman walks up and says "Here Jeremy, I'll never run these things again." Hands him a BOXFULL of Tee Dee .020's, .010's yada, yada, yada. Enough to make a guy wanna HURL! It was so bad I had Kathy tell everybody what we used to call him back in the old days before he got famous.