Gremlin Castle

My Feedback: (14)

Dale, I really missed seeing everyone this year. Unfortunately, health issues for Sherry and I precluded us making the trip.

I was looking at the shirt collection the other day and thought to my self that not only am I missing a great bunch of folks and the flying, I am also creating a gap in my shirt collection.

Glad that you all had a wonderful time and I look forward to next year.

Ross

Tom @ Buzzard Bluff

Yup-"-and the truth is not in them"!

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

Only the way and the light? Hey Tom .... We missed ya.

Tee Bee

I would have loved a t-shirt of the event but I guess they didn't have any made this year. I spent this evening cleaning up my modeling stuff, packing it all back into the right cubby holes and reminiscing about the weekend. Good stuff.

LittleRock

Check out RCGROUPSElectric Flight Events for many photos of the happenings this past weekend.
Don't mess up and miss next year.

Steve Staples

daleflysrc

My Feedback: (26)

Why thats Ole Floyd Harp from White Oak Texas !!

daleflysrc

My Feedback: (26)

Hey Ross Take care of the Mrs. and we will see both of you next year !! Still remember the Stuart Little flying car and the Twin Mustang !! Next year SMALL will be a whopping 20 !! Yep 20 years old !! Hard to beleive. Hope to see ya at B Bs Bomber feild B-17 gathering in the fall !! Keep in touch Dale

av8rsodt

My Feedback: (23)

Ok, my energy level is to the point where I can type a little. What a great SMALLthis year... the largest glow turnout Ihave seen yet (attended 2005, 2008 and of course this year).

We encountered rain (very strong at times) all the way from NC to AR... until 5 miles out from Little Rock where it miraculously cleared out. Weather could not have been better and Saturday evening was surreal - all kinds of small planes flying around at one time.

It was great to be able and share the SMALL experiencewith Nathan, my 8 year old. This was his first "big" trip w/ Dad and did not know what to expect. At the very beginning (arriving at the field) Ijust let him go and wander around. He made more friends, had great conversations, flew more planes and overall had a blast. He actually cried when we pulled into our driveway last night because it finally hit that our trip was over. I thank everyone who made our trip special and full of great memories. Nathan and I will be talking about it for weeks. Thanks to Charlie, Floyd, Patsy, Eddie, Milton, Kevin, Eric, Joe, Steveand many others who took the time w/ Nathan in flying, conversation and teasing.

Meeting Tee Bee (Troy) and his son Nick was another highlight. Hard to describe an event like SMALLwithout actually being there, but Troy and his son exemplified it: lots of smiles, constant flying and many conversations about planes, history, etc.

Another highlight for me was having Milton show up on Saturday. As he mentioned, we talked for a good long time on 1/2A's: models and engines. He is a larger influence for many modelers that Ibelieve he thinks. I love his models, in particular the Twin Lizzie II. Not a problem Milton for flying her and the others... Iunderstand. Maybe next year we can fly both of our TLII's in formation

Eric Clutton was gracious enough to run my PAW .19 and get it tuned in. Incredible to watch "Doctor Diesel" at work. Nathan could not stop talking about his parakeet name Willy - a very well behaved bird.

I will post some pics tomorrow... running out of time tonight. As always, incredible models to see up close and watch fly.

Tom @ Buzzard Bluff - we missed you this year. Get better so we can see you next year.

HFenn - missed you as well, but realize you had an important event to attend. Hopefully you can make it next year.

I am working on Rainedav for next year. He was planning to attend until the last minute when a tooth was not behaving and needed to get fixed.

Brian

Answers to Tee Bee's questions:
1. Unknown gentleman: Floyd out of Texas... great modeler, and I love his .010 powered Scoots. His other half makes a mean batch of cookies - Patsy. The leftovers she gave Nathan and Idid not make it to Atlanta on the way home
2. Steve's loopy looking model - "Ringer" from plans in about 10 years ago. Flew great with an MP Jett .061. I will post pics of the tail mechanism tomorrow.

Tee Bee

Thanks, Brian. Floyd offered to send me a set of plans hereworked to make the Scoots an .010-sized plane. I'd like to throw another plane or two together for the tiny TDs for the next SMALL. I think it would be fun to get several TD .010s in the air simultaneously. I've also been looking at some of my .049 junk this evening and contemplating the idea of throttling one of them.

Thomas B

My Feedback: (4)

Richard Ng and others are posting tons of great SMALL Steps pics here at that "other site"...

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...=996481&page=5

Could not have had more fun and really enjoyed seeing the folks from RC Universe....Milton,
Brian (av8rsodt) and his son (really enjoyed seeing his son fly free flight and have fun there) and many others.

I was priviledged to be ablefly a lot of great models that were not mine...Keith Spark's B-58, Steve Staples award winning desiel powered Taube and lots of others.

I was able to get 6 madien flights in, the day before and before and after official SMALL hours...the Dumas (Veco) Dakota conversion,Cox Sportavia conversion, RBC Spitfire Mk I, DH-88 Comet Black Magic and Windrider BD-5J: all went very well. My Efite Sea Fury had a servo fail and short out on it's first flight late Sunday morning, causing the radio toquit, but the model made a decent power off forcedlanding on it's own, with only minor dings to repair.

I really enjoyed seeing the smile on Joe Wagners face when he watched the little DakotaR/C conversioncavort in that absolutely perfect Saturday evening air, late in the day.

Riochard Ng and I figured out that we logged about 40 hours at the flying field on Thursday through Sunday at 1PM, when we left!

One of the best SMALLs ever in Little Rock!

daleflysrc

My Feedback: (26)

Getting a lot of e-mails on SMALL !! So many that I had to start deleting a buch ofold junkin my mailbox. I am on dial up and it really sucks !! also i have a small kb sized mail box. I did notice though that all of the ones in the last 3 or 4 weeks who wnted directions to the feild !! Never showed up !! One older gentleman from St. Louis I even mailed a flyer to because he didnt have a computer !! He had called me one on the Thursday nite, a week B4 SMALL and i mailled it out the Friday a week B4 the event !! Also I know of several who flew and didnt register !! So just think of this with 73 registered pilots and at least 4 or 5 who flew and didnt reg. and those who wanted directions, yet didnt come. well that would have put us at about 88 to 90 pilots !! Dale Womack SMALL 09 CD

Tee Bee

$20 well spent, Dale! My son is now hooked on the hobby, wants to join AMA, and return with me next year with some planes of his own.

texflyer

My Feedback: (3)

Troy,

The plan for "Skoots" is on the way to you. Let me know if you get it.

Floyd

Tee Bee

Woohoo! Thanks, Floyd. I'll try to get it built and bring it to next year's event. I'd love for us to try to get a handful of TD .010s in the air at the same time.

DICKEYBIRD

I saw 3 Pee Wee .020's (helicopters) up at the same time. 5 or 6 Tee Dee .010's should be a piece o' cake!

Thomas B

My Feedback: (4)

I would actually be up for a TD .010 mass launch next year, if we get a group together.... I have a .010 runner an a black tank one new in the box, as well.

av8rsodt

My Feedback: (23)

Finally have some time to post pics. Idid get quite a bit of flying in for not bringing any planes myself: TB's Pong, Milton's .010 Littlest Stik, SteveS's Shaboom, etc. Having 4 kids under the age of 8 really soak up all my extra time (& energy).

Here are some closer pics of Steve's "Ringer". It has full control, i.e. the tail moves up/down and right/left. Very smooth when flying under power, somewhat different when the engine dies.

av8rsodt

My Feedback: (23)

Here is Steve Staples "Shaboom" .010 glider designed by the late Scott Christensen. The other plane is a Skampy built by Tom Anderson (Tom @ Buzzards Bluff) that was painted by Steve.

I was able to get a fairly long flight on the Shaboom - that .010 really hauls it up there.

Also a picture ofall the Cox items that were flown in the mornings.... .020 Skycopters, flying saucers, .049 Helicopters, etc.

av8rsodt

My Feedback: (23)

Here are some more pics of TomB flying Steve's 10-HI. He found the plans in the December 1970 issue of American Aircraft Modeler (Designed by H.A. Johnson). It originally was free flight, but Park and the other guys convinced Steve to make it R/C. It has elevons and a Dickeybird .049 TD that ran great. Tom made several cool low passes.

The other picture is of my son Nathan getting flying / trimming lessons from Joe W. and Kevin W. Ithink Nathan is hooked... he flew free flight, control line, electric outdoor and electric indoor models.

av8rsodt

My Feedback: (23)

I enjoyed, as did Dickeybird and Skaliwag, meeting Tee Bee (Troy) and his son Nick. Nick put up a number of flights and did great. Here are a few shots of the planes they brought along with some "action" shots.

I did not get a count, but Tee Bee seemed to always be flying something during SMALL(except when the BBQ was served).

av8rsodt

My Feedback: (23)

This year was a high point for glow / diesel turnout... there were a ton there from .010 up to .06 diesel.I brought my PAW .19 diesel that had not been run for about 1.5 years (bought it off of Joe Wagner) and had the chance to watch Doctor Diesel in action, Eric Clutton. I enjoyed watching him tune / run the engine while Nathan enjoyed Eric's bird Willie.

Steve Staples (incredible what he comes up with each year) built this Taube from an old FF plan and powered it with a PAW .06. It just purred as it flew by and of course very little fuel residue to clean up. Charlie of Manzano Laser had a great time flying it around the patch.

Eric brought along a diesel powered Lancaster.

Steve Adams has been working on his full size Eindecker, but brought along this little guy thathe also brought to SMALL 2008.

av8rsodt

My Feedback: (23)

Of course Pat Tritle, Keith Sparks, ThomasB, Richard Ng and others bring some cool electric planes:

Sparky's B-58 Hustler powered by twin electric pushers (seen in photo with Keith working on B-58)

ThomasB's and Richard's F-35's

Pat Tritle's newest Cub

av8rsodt

My Feedback: (23)

Ispoke with ChrisS for awhile regarding the models he brought/ designed for a business he is starting. Great looking models that fly well and build easily.

av8rsodt

My Feedback: (23)

A few more electric models that looked great....

Paul Bradley (editor for Model Aviation) brought some of his smaller electric vintage pattern planes. These are, or will, be kitted by BJMR. Ispent quite a bit of time talking with Paul, a great guy that is down to earth and really enjoys model aviation.

Bob Selman brought a ton of the smaller electric models that he used both for indoor at the gym Friday night and outside at the field.

PaulW (of Model Airplane News "Fantrainer" fame) brought his latest design... a foam BD-5 pusher using his own shaft extension design in combination with a Bob Selman motor / gearbox.

av8rsodt

My Feedback: (23)

It is hard to describe in a few words the atmosphere at SMALL and why it is so special. Yes, it is made up of unique and creative model aircraft, but Ithink more of the "special" comes from the modelers. Ihave begun to build some great relationships over the three SMALL's Ihave attended. Everyone has a passion for flying smaller models, helping others and definitely the gift of relaxing / talking about airplanes.

I spent a great deal of time watching my son Nathan interact with others (could have done it all day) and fly Eddi'es electric Decathalon (thanks Eddie!). He is still talking about it.

As Dickeybird mentioned, we spent a long time catching up on all sorts of things. I am always impressed with his models and absolutely love the Twin Lizzie II.

My summary would be - enjoy the times you have with others, people are not around forever. Relationships are one of the most, if not the most, fulfilling and enjoyable aspects of life.