The 2006 Little Rock S.M.A.L.L.
06-12-2006, 10:12 PM
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The 2006 Little Rock S.M.A.L.L.
“A good time was had by all.” That about sums up this year’s S.M.A.L.L event at Wrightsville, AR. The North Little Rock Sky Tigers lost their field at Burns Park after the 2005 event so the F.A.R.M club stepped in to help out. They have a beautiful grass runway with a huge area surrounding it. Their clubhouse is equipped with electricity, water, microwave, fans radio…you name it, they got it! Great guys and gracious hosts for sure.
Kathy and I had a good laugh as we turned off the Interstate and headed towards the field. We were looking around, taking in the sights when lo & behold, there sits the BadaBing Grille! We just had to get a couple pics of the BadaBing! In front of the BadaBing Grille. Talk about a coincidence!
Attendance was a little down from last year, I guess because of the new site and it being a little further out from the city and the lodging & restaurants being a bit further. Maybe gas prices had an effect as well. The weather was great on Thursday with the obligatory gale rolling in for Friday’s session. Saturday was perfect with stable air and mild temps.
I was hoping more of the Carolina Crew would show up but Hollis Fenn was the only one I know of that did. Hollis brought his Blink and flew it several times. I had my box of reedies with varying performance levels from past years of play-racing so I decided to offer him one of the more consistent ones to strap on and give his Blink a taste of Tennessee power.
Fortunately, the cobwebs blew out of it pretty quick and Hollis seemed to enjoy wailing around the sky with it. He offered me the box and I got a few circuits in before it ran out of fuel. The little feller flew real well but I forgot how much induced drag a thin winged delta has in the dead-stick mode. I came up way short and ended up out in the rough stuff. Just as it was about to touch down, we hear this WHACK! I didn’t notice the low electric fence running parallel to the runway and center punched a steel post. Man did I feel rotten! I just knew the poor little thing would be totally demolished. We walked out to the crash scene and I couldn’t believe it when Hollis picked it up and the only scratch on it was on the prop near the spinner. That good 'ol black 5x3 prop absorbed the whole impact! Apparently, I have good luck with other peoples’ airplanes.
There wasn’t as many 1/2A glow planes there this year….mostly electric. Ralph Barnett must’ve really had his radial factory working overtime because he had 4 of them on airplanes this year. His Trimotor is getting close to being ready to fly and is looking great. He had his Top Flite Elder there with a radial on the nose ready for a flight attempt. Alas, the grass runway, heavy radio gear and onboard glow batteries were too much of a burden for the little radial to get airborne. It sure ran and sounded great while taxiing out and making takeoff attempts though! Joe Wagner was there taking pictures of the attempts. After hearing the one radial scream, I can’t imagine what 3 of them will sound like.[X(]
The last 2 pics are of Alan Porter and his beautiful little Spad. It has printed tissue covering he did on his PC printer that replicates the camo, the insignias, the weathering and everything, all in one shot. Very clever indeed. It had Cox reedy power the 1st time I saw it fly a while back but has now been converted to electric. Alan sorta sighs and says it sure flies nice & easy now with electric power.
This was one of the few (if not the only) times he found time to fly due to his commitment to Frank Fanelli of Flying Models to photograph the event and write the article for the magazine. Frank was supposed to attend this year but had to withdraw at the last minute and Alan agreed to do it one more time. Alan has done a fantastic job for 3 years in a row and if you ever get the chance, give him a big THANK YOU! for sacrificing his enjoyment of the event to do the article.
My eyes are glazing over; been up since 5 AM this morning. I have a lot more pictures and thoughts left to post but they’ll have to wait ‘til later this week. I gotta go get some shuteye!
Kathy and I had a good laugh as we turned off the Interstate and headed towards the field. We were looking around, taking in the sights when lo & behold, there sits the BadaBing Grille! We just had to get a couple pics of the BadaBing! In front of the BadaBing Grille. Talk about a coincidence!
Attendance was a little down from last year, I guess because of the new site and it being a little further out from the city and the lodging & restaurants being a bit further. Maybe gas prices had an effect as well. The weather was great on Thursday with the obligatory gale rolling in for Friday’s session. Saturday was perfect with stable air and mild temps.
I was hoping more of the Carolina Crew would show up but Hollis Fenn was the only one I know of that did. Hollis brought his Blink and flew it several times. I had my box of reedies with varying performance levels from past years of play-racing so I decided to offer him one of the more consistent ones to strap on and give his Blink a taste of Tennessee power.
Fortunately, the cobwebs blew out of it pretty quick and Hollis seemed to enjoy wailing around the sky with it. He offered me the box and I got a few circuits in before it ran out of fuel. The little feller flew real well but I forgot how much induced drag a thin winged delta has in the dead-stick mode. I came up way short and ended up out in the rough stuff. Just as it was about to touch down, we hear this WHACK! I didn’t notice the low electric fence running parallel to the runway and center punched a steel post. Man did I feel rotten! I just knew the poor little thing would be totally demolished. We walked out to the crash scene and I couldn’t believe it when Hollis picked it up and the only scratch on it was on the prop near the spinner. That good 'ol black 5x3 prop absorbed the whole impact! Apparently, I have good luck with other peoples’ airplanes.
There wasn’t as many 1/2A glow planes there this year….mostly electric. Ralph Barnett must’ve really had his radial factory working overtime because he had 4 of them on airplanes this year. His Trimotor is getting close to being ready to fly and is looking great. He had his Top Flite Elder there with a radial on the nose ready for a flight attempt. Alas, the grass runway, heavy radio gear and onboard glow batteries were too much of a burden for the little radial to get airborne. It sure ran and sounded great while taxiing out and making takeoff attempts though! Joe Wagner was there taking pictures of the attempts. After hearing the one radial scream, I can’t imagine what 3 of them will sound like.[X(]
The last 2 pics are of Alan Porter and his beautiful little Spad. It has printed tissue covering he did on his PC printer that replicates the camo, the insignias, the weathering and everything, all in one shot. Very clever indeed. It had Cox reedy power the 1st time I saw it fly a while back but has now been converted to electric. Alan sorta sighs and says it sure flies nice & easy now with electric power.
This was one of the few (if not the only) times he found time to fly due to his commitment to Frank Fanelli of Flying Models to photograph the event and write the article for the magazine. Frank was supposed to attend this year but had to withdraw at the last minute and Alan agreed to do it one more time. Alan has done a fantastic job for 3 years in a row and if you ever get the chance, give him a big THANK YOU! for sacrificing his enjoyment of the event to do the article.
My eyes are glazing over; been up since 5 AM this morning. I have a lot more pictures and thoughts left to post but they’ll have to wait ‘til later this week. I gotta go get some shuteye!
06-13-2006, 09:20 PM
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RE: The 2006 Little Rock S.M.A.L.L.
....continued
Pat Tritle was there with his usual fleet of immaculate models. His DC-6 is a work of art. Ultra lightweight rubber band model type structure covered with Solite and Callie Graphics. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see it fly. If you ask me, I think it’d be much more interesting with four Tee Dee .010’s or .020’s though.
I snapped a pic of this jet with an electric pusher setup. Sorry, didn’t get the fellow’s name or the model info. It flew great but I couldn’t help thinking how nice it’d be with one of C/P’s Foras or Driskill’s VA’s wailing away on the back. Now THAT would be cool!
Sat. morning a contingent of free flighters showed up and set up camp across the runway. They flew all kinds of neat planes but I liked the simple stuff like the catapult gliders and the rubber powered little guys.
I wish I knew how to pick good air like these guys do. The fellow pictured with the glider lit a foot long length of DT fuse, waited ‘til a good bubble of air came along, stuck the fuse in its holder and clipped off the excess. He stretched the rubber ‘til I thought it would break and let ‘er rip. He said I’d never get a picture with him and the plane in the same frame but I lucked out and nailed it the 1st time! When he let ‘er go, that thing was GONE man…right now![X(]
One of the Luddite Free Flight Team flew what I think was an FAI F1C model. It sounded to me like a screaming 2.5cc (.15) engine hauling a high aspect ratio model straight up and accelerating until the engine shut off after 5 sec. or so. It then rolled out into a beautiful, flat glide and cruised around in lift before the DT popped and she floated back down to earth within spittin’ distance of the tents. Awesome! No pic unfortunately, other than the one burned into my memory.
Alan Worley showed up Fri. with a fabulous little electric scale model of a Mini-Max ultralight that was built by a fellow whose name unfortunately escapes me. It was an absolutely jewel-like work of art. Man, the patience these scale builders have.
The Bradley brothers, Paul and Ralph were there with their neat planes. I particularly liked Paul’s Randy Randolph Neighvion converted to electric power. It has printed tissue covering doped over white film (Solite, I think) and really looks great. His scaled down Taurus is also a great one along with the electrified Guillows Hellcat. These fellows are real craftsmen.
Last pic shows Jeremy flying Gary Jones’ 4 channel Depron Mustang equipped with Plantraco electronics. Gary was telling me the tiny little 900 mhz transmitter can now be interfaced via a magic gizmo to a Hitec transmitter so that you have the tiny little 900 mhz gear along with the programmable features of a computer transmitter. Cool stuff indeed. Too bad my hobby budget is empty.
Pat Tritle was there with his usual fleet of immaculate models. His DC-6 is a work of art. Ultra lightweight rubber band model type structure covered with Solite and Callie Graphics. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see it fly. If you ask me, I think it’d be much more interesting with four Tee Dee .010’s or .020’s though.
I snapped a pic of this jet with an electric pusher setup. Sorry, didn’t get the fellow’s name or the model info. It flew great but I couldn’t help thinking how nice it’d be with one of C/P’s Foras or Driskill’s VA’s wailing away on the back. Now THAT would be cool!
Sat. morning a contingent of free flighters showed up and set up camp across the runway. They flew all kinds of neat planes but I liked the simple stuff like the catapult gliders and the rubber powered little guys.
I wish I knew how to pick good air like these guys do. The fellow pictured with the glider lit a foot long length of DT fuse, waited ‘til a good bubble of air came along, stuck the fuse in its holder and clipped off the excess. He stretched the rubber ‘til I thought it would break and let ‘er rip. He said I’d never get a picture with him and the plane in the same frame but I lucked out and nailed it the 1st time! When he let ‘er go, that thing was GONE man…right now![X(]
One of the Luddite Free Flight Team flew what I think was an FAI F1C model. It sounded to me like a screaming 2.5cc (.15) engine hauling a high aspect ratio model straight up and accelerating until the engine shut off after 5 sec. or so. It then rolled out into a beautiful, flat glide and cruised around in lift before the DT popped and she floated back down to earth within spittin’ distance of the tents. Awesome! No pic unfortunately, other than the one burned into my memory.
Alan Worley showed up Fri. with a fabulous little electric scale model of a Mini-Max ultralight that was built by a fellow whose name unfortunately escapes me. It was an absolutely jewel-like work of art. Man, the patience these scale builders have.
The Bradley brothers, Paul and Ralph were there with their neat planes. I particularly liked Paul’s Randy Randolph Neighvion converted to electric power. It has printed tissue covering doped over white film (Solite, I think) and really looks great. His scaled down Taurus is also a great one along with the electrified Guillows Hellcat. These fellows are real craftsmen.
Last pic shows Jeremy flying Gary Jones’ 4 channel Depron Mustang equipped with Plantraco electronics. Gary was telling me the tiny little 900 mhz transmitter can now be interfaced via a magic gizmo to a Hitec transmitter so that you have the tiny little 900 mhz gear along with the programmable features of a computer transmitter. Cool stuff indeed. Too bad my hobby budget is empty.
06-13-2006, 09:35 PM
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RE: The 2006 Little Rock S.M.A.L.L.
Here’s some pics of Gary Jones’ 4 channel Depron Mustang and Bob Selman’s 3 channel Mustang. These things flew fantastic and I REALLY want one bad. You can fly one of these anywhere. The radio and motor equipment do knock a dent in the ‘ol wallet though.
One of these days I’ll get big feller Gary to show me how he gets those big hands of his to finesse the radio gear into these things. He must’ve been a brain surgeon in a past life!
One of these days I’ll get big feller Gary to show me how he gets those big hands of his to finesse the radio gear into these things. He must’ve been a brain surgeon in a past life!
06-14-2006, 08:38 PM
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RE: The 2006 Little Rock S.M.A.L.L.
….and then there was the indoor event held in the Wrightsville city gym. A nice site with lots of flying going on.
I was so busy watching the flying and lusting after many of the little jewel-like planes I didn’t get pics of everybody’s planes. Here’s a few that stood out though.
The 1st 2 pics show some neat little Depron planes that had Plantraco radio gear I think. This size of model appeals to me because they seem perfect for late afternoon backyard flying.
Then there’s Jeremy’s (MatchlessAero’s) Depron pattern style model. I forgot it’s name unfortunately. Note the clever use of c/fiber geodesic braces to stiffen the fuselage and the landing gear setup. Very strong but very light. Jeremy’s really working on smoothing out his flying style and it shows! It’s VERY hard to do complex aerobatic sequences in such a small site and make the elements all flow together at a pace that’s pleasing to the eye. He does precisely that and makes it look SO easy. I hate him. Just KIDDING Jeremy, you are now officially my hero.
Next pics show Jeremy’s sorta-scale Depron Pietenpol with Plantraco gear. Now that’s my kinda plane…very nice performance in a nostalgic, scale-like package.
Now for the real hard-core stuff. Henry Pasquet is obviously from another planet. No normal human being can build that small & light. Absolutely incredible to see his planes in person. They fly around effortlessly and look very happy in flight. I tried to get some flight shots but couldn’t find the plane in the viewfinder.
One last shot that I forgot: check out the ribs on this Herr Cub. I think it’s their rubber powered Cub. Is that laser cutting cool or what!
Well that about wraps it up fellers. Hope to see some of you at Dr. Diesel’s Tullahoma S.M.A.L.L. event in late September!
I was so busy watching the flying and lusting after many of the little jewel-like planes I didn’t get pics of everybody’s planes. Here’s a few that stood out though.
The 1st 2 pics show some neat little Depron planes that had Plantraco radio gear I think. This size of model appeals to me because they seem perfect for late afternoon backyard flying.
Then there’s Jeremy’s (MatchlessAero’s) Depron pattern style model. I forgot it’s name unfortunately. Note the clever use of c/fiber geodesic braces to stiffen the fuselage and the landing gear setup. Very strong but very light. Jeremy’s really working on smoothing out his flying style and it shows! It’s VERY hard to do complex aerobatic sequences in such a small site and make the elements all flow together at a pace that’s pleasing to the eye. He does precisely that and makes it look SO easy. I hate him. Just KIDDING Jeremy, you are now officially my hero.
Next pics show Jeremy’s sorta-scale Depron Pietenpol with Plantraco gear. Now that’s my kinda plane…very nice performance in a nostalgic, scale-like package.
Now for the real hard-core stuff. Henry Pasquet is obviously from another planet. No normal human being can build that small & light. Absolutely incredible to see his planes in person. They fly around effortlessly and look very happy in flight. I tried to get some flight shots but couldn’t find the plane in the viewfinder.
One last shot that I forgot: check out the ribs on this Herr Cub. I think it’s their rubber powered Cub. Is that laser cutting cool or what!
Well that about wraps it up fellers. Hope to see some of you at Dr. Diesel’s Tullahoma S.M.A.L.L. event in late September!
