matchlessaero

2004 Little Rock SMALL Memories

2004 SMALL is now over, and I am just now starting to recover......

While I usually take boatloads of pictures, I did not manage to get many at the event this year like I usually do. Good news is that I had little time to take pictures because I was flying the whole time!!!!!

Some particular memories-

Anytime DickeyBird flew, it was a treat. His equipment ran flawlessly. Perfect starts and every flight was an attention getter!

I finally got to meet Larry Driskill and sit and talk with him. What a great guy! I also got the opportunity to get stick time on his new combat planes. Holy makeral they are incredible. The pictures he has posted really do not do them justice. You just have to see them in the air! Fast and the tightest turning radius I have ever seen (really fun for me to fly because they were on Mode 2 instead of Mode 1).

Shook hands and talked briefly with Tom at Buzzard Bluff. He gives good sage advice.

Spoke several times with Randy Randolph, the Bradley brothers, and a few others whose stuff I have read and admired for years. All were gratious and truly enjoyable to talk with.

Pitted with 2fast4u, Gordo, Swany and Razorback58 and had a great time hangin' with them. Too bad 2fast had to leave early on Saturday : )........

Had a great time flying and talking with Bob Selman and Gary Jones. While they are primarily focused on electric stuff, the stuff they are working on will come to affect us in the Half-A area very soon. You think servos are small now, I am here to tell you that there are much smaller ones coming.

In all, I put in somewhere between 40-50 flights and only 15-20 were with my own aircraft. I got a big smile on my face after everything I flew.

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

Lucky B@st.....

You guys need to stop having these fun flies so far away from me!

AJC

DICKEYBIRD

Yup, what a great event it was. In the words of buddy Brian Pate "Anybody that don't like this is a S.O.B.!"

Larry Driskill was great fun, has some GREAT running 1/2A stuff....those VA's are da' bomb!![X(] I wish someone would have snapped a pic of me on Sat. flying one of Larry's back-up ukie LiteHawks with a howlin' VA on the nose. Fortunately, I remembered how to do continuous Fig. 8's so I could get my head re-oriented. The look of stark terror on my face must have been hilarious! Kathy & I had a very enjoyable catfish dinner with Larry & his wife Pat Fri. night. Good people!

I'm back at work & slammed so the pics will be posted pretty slow but I'll post the few that I got. Hopefully others that were taking pics will post their's here as time goes on.

#1 - No caption needed here! Maybe a teeny little ohh ***** on the part of the pilot....the Super Chippy said "No sweat, we gonna just climb right outta here!"

#2 - Not 1/2A but it shows off the meticulous craftmanship of our own Tom@BuzzardBluff. A scaled-down 1936 Flying Aces stick, sliced ribs, Solite covering....it's just screaming for a detuned big-propped PeeWee up front!

#3 - Is this cool or what! A fanfold Convair Pogo Stick by Ed Couch....electric of course but I can see a nice Tee Dee up front doing a good job....hafta get one of them ProBros to translate back to the hover after I do a VTO & fly around though.

#4 - Planarian by Ed Couch - Scaled up from the 1987 indoor Bostonian rubber model by Barnaby Wainfan. Electric powered and flew GREAT!

More later.....

ptulmer

My Feedback: (5)

!@#$%^& THAT'S IT!!! I'm driving up next year!

DICKEYBIRD

....few more pics:

#1 - Floyd Harp and his scaled down "Scoots" with Steve Adams exhaust throttle equipped Tee Dee .010. He built 2 of the cute little buggers and gave 1 to Andy Newton. They flew great and Flord & Andy had a ball with 'em. I saw more .010 powered planes this year than ever!

#2 - Closer view of the Scoots.

#3 - Our own resident carnivore Digger holding his Dig Mig 21 with the flesh-eating Big Mig on the front. At least he's refined his technique now so that this year, the blood-letting was imposed upon an innocent assistant.

jboy381-RCU

sweet guys,
thanks for the pics...it's the next best thing to being there...

i thought that little rock was in sept, oct???well looks like i'll have to make plans now for next year

john

DICKEYBIRD

#1 - Jeremy leads the Matchless Aero All Guys Chorus in a rousing rendition of "Shall We Gather At The Chipmunk" Dunno why the guy on the far right ain't singin'....maybe a Norvelite spy or something.

#2 - Larry watchin' Jeremy do some of that piloting stuff....

#3 -....like hovering the Mix 18....

#4 - ....and knife-edging the Mix 18 on mode 2 - AND HE FLIES MODE 1!!

Larry Driskill

S.M.A.L.L. was a new modeling experience for me. Although I have been entering AMA events for many years, they have all been CL contests. I can't recall ever attending any RC contests, except for going over and watching Pylon at the Nats.

While I have been logging a good deal of RC time this spring, I have not flown with more than three planes up and other two have mostly been my CL flying buddies.

So, to find myself flying RC at a well attended event with a hundred plus pilots registered and a couple of hundred folks on site was a real hoot.

DB took me under wing and supervised my first flight or two and explained the drill to me. That was after he let me fly his "John Deere" powered plane. He was flying and said, "Here fly this. " I replied, "No I should probably tear up my own stuff." "Here fly this, " he repeated, "I will be able to help if need be." So I took it and flew around a moment or two before telling him, "I have never flown anyone else's RC plane." I wished I could have seen his face to judge whether or not that drained the color from it.

Great fun and the attrition rate was right too. I took eight planes, four each of CL and RC, and flew all the RC and two of the CL. I managed to burn two quarts of fuel about 1 ounce at a time and bring all eight 'Hawks home.

Just as on this forum, everyone treated everyone else with respect and it was just a great flying weekend. The North Little Rock Sky Tigers certainly know how to run such an event. I hope the atmosphere I saw this year is one that can be preserved and that is representative of other S.M.A.L.L. events.

Photos:
1. The average age was brought down by this three year old who pulled his plane around for a hour. His dad says he understands the controls and can fly it around at altitude.

2. Matchless flew his 'monk a bunch of times. The wx and wind was such that you could fly even the lightest stuff all day Friday and Saturday.

3. This isn't quite half of what the Dickiebird brought. He tended to fly the twin around inverted in a very un-scale-like manner.

4. Digger's Mig was movin' by a little quick for my Kodak, but it is here somewhere.

DICKEYBIRD

#1 - Gary Jones' Mix 18 - 3 mm Depron, homemade 7 gram brushless motor, 18" span, 84 sq. in.

#2 - Mix 18 motor

#3 - Falcon 1.7 gram (!!) servos

#4 - The crowd at about 10:00 on Fri. - It grew even more on Sat.!

Lynn S

Nice pictures!!! ..wish I had been there.

That was a huge crowd!

Gordo-ProBro

This was my only SMALL and it was very eye opening. I don't have anything smaller than a .25 so I slipped in under the wire! I went mainly to be with the Bros, and to experience a new thing. Man were those guys eclectic!!! I've never been to ANYTHING with so many types, sizes, etc of planes. The mix of glow and electric was cool. There were lots of "normal" planes but then there were "things" that wern't meant to fly!

We really had a great time over all, the indoor was the best!!! Matchless had the coolest 3D profile in history for a solid 3 hours of flying before he Knife-edged through my hovering prop! (see pic #1)

ProBro Paul Swany maidened his newest electric Taco and caught the imagination of the TV reporter that was filming the SMALL. (see pic #2)

Of everything I saw these multi-engine planes (see pic #3 & #4) were the BOMB!! I can promise you that American Airlines jet looked just like the real thing flying! And very scale landing too.

DICKEYBIRD

One thing we gotta work on next time is a breakfast joint that opens earlier. Larry & I opened the place up at the Country Inn at 6:30 and bs'd 'til 8:00 or so both mornings. Every time we'd try to leave, somebody else would show up and start a whole new conversation! Missed some of the best flying time! (But the conversations were EXCELLENT!)

Tom @ Buzzard Bluff

Yup, that's the problem, there just isn't eniough time to get in all the looking, learning and conversations with the artists who show up with their art.
If anyone is interested I wrote a review of Small Steps for the stick & tissue crowd on the Small Flying Arts forum. It can be found at: ( hope this will work) <http://www.smallflyingarts.com/cgi-b...63331;start=0>
I referenced this thread for pics so maybe we'll have visitors who find something to hold their attention on this site too. Tom

phuffstatler

My Feedback: (20)

I REALLY hated missing this one, but work has RUINED my personal life this spring... But, I do like to eat, so I guess work won...

Looks like a great time for all!

Tom, thanks for the Flying Arts site, I'm glad to be it's newest member!

phil in austin

Tom @ Buzzard Bluff

Glad you liked it. It's another great bunch, much like this site in 'feel'. Tom

Digger-RCU

It was great fun like everyone said.

Watching Larry fly his 1/2a control line planes was a real hoot. They screamed, and were faster than lighting. Larry, thanks for getting the pic of the Mig in flight.

I didnt take very many pictures, but here is one of the P=39's that Louis Rankin and I brought.

They were great flyers, and looked good together.


Randy (Digger) Birt

lwr_

Digger, when did you take that picture? Must have been when I was not looking. I am really flattered that you placed mine in the foreground.

For those who do not know, Digger and I have a friendly competition with each other at the SMALL every year. This year we chose the old "Global P-39". I bought the kits off of ebay.

Even though I ragged Digger about his P-39 all weekend. I actually thought he built an awesome model. Those retracts were really cool (except for the mouse chewed wheels).

Next year we are going to build an old "Airtronics" kit called the "Warlock". It is a little pattern/pylon model that is really cute. Digger and I are already picking at each other models and we have not even started construction yet.

Jeremy, I loved your little "Chipmunk" and still think you were robbed. Lets get togther and get ready for the C/L stunt meet in Paducah.

To the Sky Tigers, thanks again for a wonderful SMALL. Out of all the events I go to each year I enjoy your's the most. My apologies to "HD" for me being so difficult over the radios.

See you all again next year.

Thomas B

My Feedback: (4)

SMALL Steps 2004 was fantastic, as always.

I did bring sone 1/2A models, but was always busy doing electric and never got around to opening my new quart of fuel.....next year!

I'd love to see someone convert the Multiplex Sonic Liner to twin Cox motors, or even Norvels. It would be great! Here is my electric one at SMALL:

Gordo-ProBro

That is one fantastic picture. Well done.

Thomas B

My Feedback: (4)

Thanks. I was flying and cannot take credit for the picture and should have credited it. My good freind Richard Ng produced that one, as well as tons of others at SMALL. He is a fantastic photographer!

For more SMALL coverage and pictures, both electric and glow, visit that "other" great on line R/C site... and look in events.

2fast4u

My Feedback: (5)

So what's the www. address??????? post a link. PLEASE.

I want to see the GIANT MD-80 or DC-9. That thing looked real in the air. Too cool.

DICKEYBIRD

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=14 Scroll down....there's 2 threads about S.M.A.L.L. Just don't be expecting any Cox or Norvel coverage. It's that slimer thing you know.

2fast4u

My Feedback: (5)

YEP!!! Some really great pictures there. The C-130 and the DC-9 were something else. Thanks for the link DB.