GrantK

My Feedback: (15)

How would you feel if you knew that people were wondering if you had died yet?

OLD

Electriceddie

Exactly.........

Just my point......

David Eichstedt

My Feedback: (17)

OK, we can put an end to this. Posted TODAY, November 17, 2006, this photo taken today at the ARIZONA JET RALLY. Col Thacker is alive and kicking!

See the following thread: [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5008889/tm.htm]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5008889/tm.htm[/link]

Smokin Cap

My Feedback: (49)

I can personally attest that Col. Thacker is far from dead, as I fly with him almost every weekend. He flys regularly at the Joint Military R/C Flyers club at Camp Pendelton Ca. www.jmrcflyers.com of which im the club Pres. I will tell ya all something else......he is still sharp as a tack and can out fly alot of our "younger members" even at the age of 89.

SDCrashmaster

What a bunch of noobs. Friggin idgiots.
Al those who lined up on the confirmation train should be embarrassed and ashamed.

The Col. rules. Even if he does occasionally carry a parasol

ramjet73

I was doing a google search and came across the discussion concernig the demise of Col. Bob Thacker. I will keep you in the loop concerning Col. Thacker as I am in constant contact with his daughter who went to Frankfurt High School with me.

Thanks,

Ramjet73

1Eye

My Feedback: (2)

Yep, the Colonel is still one competent if not bad@^^ RC jet pilot and you're well-advised to address him as Colonel also ... [8D]

Mike

eoselon

He was at Top Gun this weekend.

aeroscale

Have known the Colonel for many years, chatted with him this past weekend at Top Gun. The content of this thread, and others, should tell you something about the grain of salt to be taken with some of the posted "information". While these forums can be sources of a lot of good information, they can also contain posts that are questionable, unverified and, frequently, misleading. Reader beware!
AEROSCALE

Mustang1971

My Feedback: (30)

Hello all-

Just to confirm the Colonel is alive and well. He attended a BBQ at my house last weekend during Top Gun in Lakeland, FL. Incredible experience having a legend around. He is the real deal.

Thanks-
Sean

scalebirdman

My Feedback: (6)

Who ever see's the Colonel next, please off my apolgies for putting him in his grave ahead of his time. As for the rest of you; fill in the blanks. ____ ___

George Miller

My Feedback: (1)

I wonder just how many of you modelers out there really realize how special of a person Col. Bob Thacker really is !!!

I first met the Colonel at the 1984 Nats where we were fellow competitors.

I know him well and talked to him on the phone today. He had just returned from a Jet Fly. And he is 90 !!!

We traveled together for many years to many Fan Flys. Stayed together in the VIP quarters at the nearest AF bases.

I owned the business of Custom R/C Aircraft and he flew almost exclusively my Jets and even flew some of my own Jets that I brought to the Fan Flys. I even built some Jets for him being he was promoting my products. Having him fly my jets was even better for my business than me flying them.

He still flys one of my YF-22 and just lost my F-4 Phantom model at Mesa last year. Ties never die.

Most modelers who know about Col. Bob Thacker know of his exploits with the P-82 that he flew. How many of you know that there was a squadron of B-17 that flew into the middle of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Yes, he was the squadron leader. Sometime you should be luck enough to hear that story.

He was and probably still is a chief contributor to model magazines and a major authority on all forms of R/C aircraft.

I have met and worked with some of the biggest names in this field: Larry Wolfe, TomCook, Norm Goyer, Bob Violette, Dave Platt, and so on.

I also worked in the movie industry for 16 years and met and worked with some of the biggest names there too. All the big names you can think of.

"COLONEL BOB THACKER IS THE GREATEST AND MOST INTERESTING PERSON I HAVE EVER MET"

George Miller

Smokin Cap

My Feedback: (49)

Here is a video I did of the Col. last year. Filmed at the JMRC Camp Pendelton Ca. Circa 2006

http://media.putfile.com/The-legend-himself

drifter

My Feedback: (53)

George,
Thanks for sharing a bit of your friendship with Col. Thacker. Amazing what you learn about people who you thought you were familiar with.
Sorry to hear about the loss of the Phantom. Do you recognize this one? ( It's one of yours). It currently lives in my basement.

George Miller

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Drifter,

Isn't that amazing. I just got on this forum today to respond to the people interested in Col. Bob Thacker. What a surprise to get a responce from the man who has my very favorite F-4 I ever built. Ya know I was never going to sell this perticular F-4. My son wanted me to save it for prosperity. But after a while after selling the business and all my other personal aircraft, we decided it was just too big to store and I let it go. Wonderful to see that it still exist.

Way to go Drifter !!!

I noticed that the weapons are not on it anymore. what happened to them?

George Miller

mugenkidd

My Feedback: (94)

George does this look familiar??? I owned this one for about a year then sold it... someone told me you had built it for a movie or something?

drifter

My Feedback: (53)

The weapons were removed to prevent damage from hanger rash. They are still mountable.

regards,

George Miller

My Feedback: (1)

Yes it does. However it was not built by me. It was built in my shop, but by one of my employees named Dennis Coats. He was a very good modeler, employee, and a interesting person. We both did two tours of duty in Vietnam, he was a Green Baret in the Army and I was Force Recon in the Marines. We both had survived in units where many had not.

Here is a photo of it taking off at the Texas Fan Fly sometime in the ninetys

mugenkidd

My Feedback: (94)

Great picture George!! Thanks for sharing... I've always had a ton of respect for you just from your RC history and great kits that you made... now there's even more knowing that you survived the jungles in Vietnam...with the Marines no less... my little brother is a Marine too...
You are awsome George really glad I got to "talk" with you... even if it is just on the internet.


Michael Deloney

buckarooo

My Feedback: (7)

hello george!

Wow what a surprise to find you here. I have searched many times for you or info about your kits. I have 2 of your F4's in my basement one of wich is about half done for the byron unit. My ex destroyed the top rear part of the fuse (she's long gone) one day and that motivated me to buy the newer kit with the one pc. fuse. I also decided to modify the new kit to take the hurricane fan unit. While on a vacation I pre arranged a meeting with Steve Korney at his house, boy was that cool. that guy had more toys than you could imagine, a drag car in the garage along with his machine shop and jet models and DF stuff all over the house. I left with the complete unit consisting of the rossi 90 and milled down head with an 8 blade rotor for the 6"fan. Well as you know that was a long time ago. Life got real crazy for many years and Those F4's have been just sitting there waiting for me.

My son now wants to finish the one for the byron unit so we will have to figure out how to build up the missing fuse. part. As for the newer kit I have to fabricate some internal ducting for the hurricane unit. Do you know of anyone who flew the phantom with a tractor and internal ducting? I am going to bet its going to go like smoke. I always loved the F4 and thought you had one of the best kits out there. I well remember Col. thacker's F4 and was amazed to hear it flew so long. As a matter of fact I was following this thread on him on the hopes of a mention of your F4. BTW I am glad to see he's so spry at his age. What a guy.

You had great designs George. I am following two different threads on your A-10 built from plans with JHH/OS46 DF power. I would love to build that plane too. I remember the great articles written about your builds for hollywood. If anyone remembers the movie "always" with richard dryfuss they used Georges giant scale PBY and A-20 for filming and they were just awesome (good movie too).

Well this will be some motivation for me to finish those F4's. besides the internal ducting I need to find a solution for the main gear to tuck up in the wing tight enough to have the gear doors close tight. I can mold the bump in the top of the wing since I am going to do a B version but I still need a very thin offset strut that no one seems to make anymore in that scale. Does anyone have any ideas about the ducting or the gear? How important is it to get the ducting area ruled to the fan? With the 6" unit I dont think the inlet size is quite right. Any info would be very welcome. I hope ya all dont think Im nuts building DF's but I dont think I can buck-up for the turbines just yet and this plane flies great even with the Bryon it was good. Besides I am hard head, I'm still flying my single sticks!

Wow great to talk to you again George. Any plans to make kits again maybe with your son? Any info on my F4 conversion is also greatly appricated.

Take care,
Dean

George Miller

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Doug,

Boy if you have one of my F-4 kits that had the rear top section seperate, you have a real antique there. Only the first few kits were that way.

No I will not be making a return. My son is a contractor and builds houses. I always told myself that I wanted to be able to retire at 55. I sold the business 10 years ago and I don't do any work for ILM anymoe either. I don't need a job. I am full time retired, have my health, nice home in the country, my hobby, and I love it.

I know Steve Korney very well. I have been at his home on different occasions and have attended many Fan Flys with him there. I have seen his fan units in action. He also made or makes a impeller as a replacement for the Byron impeller. He was always trying to get me to use it instead of the Byron impeller.

I am more than willing to answer your questions and feel the answers will help you a lot. But I need to know more.

Do you have a complete Byron unit with pipe and all? Is any of this stuff still available?

Does Steve still make the replacement impeller for the Byron units?

Do you have still have the split exhaust ducting?

Have you made any alterations to the fuselage construction already?

I do not understand the problem you are having with the gear? We used Spring Air retracts, attached the doors to the wire legs, and Robart Scale wheels with their rubber inserts. I built scale detail to the wire if the aircraft was going to be used for competition. The doors always fit flat against the wing.

Well that is about it. Great to hear from you. Get back to me and I will give you what help I can.

George Miller

By the way, those were B-26 invaders, not B-20's

George Miller

My Feedback: (1)

Sorry about the name thing Dean. I can't remember my own half the time.

bassfisher

My Feedback: (21)

George, my wife hates it, but sometimes I put in the Always DVD just to see the models. I still have the MAN with the article in it about the planes and the shoot. Makes my day to actually send a message to the man!

buckarooo

My Feedback: (7)

Hi George,

Good to hear back from you. And I am really glad to hear you are enjoying your retirement so much. I think ours was the last generation that had a real chance to go blaze some trails and retire young enough to have the time to enjoy our old age. I am 50 now and have always wanted to bail at 55 too but I can tell ya it aint going to happen for me. I am also self employed and in construction for over 25 years and here in New York state we are just big cash cows feeding the system. If you can manage to keep 10% of all sales in your pocket you are doing good. Now my motivation is to keep the business sound enough to pass it on to my boy and let him run with it.

As for my 2 kits yes the first one does go way back. It was built as per plan to be powered with the rossi 90 ala byron version meaning the R90 came with a huge head to handle the heat of the pusher set up. I have 2 complete byron fan sets with pipes to fit the R90. It was that motor that I sent to Steve Korney who's mods included machining the head down to fit in his 6" Hurricane unit (tractor), a Picco carb and fit to an 8 blade Hurricane rotor. That was the setup he used to beat Violet with his sport jet. As far as I can remember he was the only one to ever do that and his set up was half the cost of the BVM viojet.

So I have everything I need power system wise to Finnish both kits except the motor to replace the R90 for the Byron unit. I will have to find a 90 size with the big heat sink head for that, duno maybe a hard find these days I'll see. The hurricane unit is complete with a Mac pipe but its not bi-fibrucated. My plan was to change the bukheads as needed and to move the hurricane unit forward enough for the pipes exhaust to clear the fiberglass exit ducting, or find a bi-fib. pipe tuned for the R90. I will have to make some inlet ducting for the tractor set-up and thats where I have some questions. As you know The intakes on the F4 are scale, but a bit to large to properly area rule them to a 6" fan unit. My thoughts were to just go with it anyway hoping performance would still exceed the Byron set up. Other mods I would like to make include mounting the hurricane inverted and making the hatch on the bottom of the fuse. My thinking there is to avoid a hatch on top where you can see it and being able to make it much larger on the bottom. Any one have any thoughts on running the R90 inverted?

As far as other parts for both kits I have them all except for the missing top/rear fuse. part. There I thought I will have to do something built up to replace it. At least I have the new one pc. fuse there to help me with the outlines. I will also change the elevator ny-rod to a direct setup with a rear mounted servo and hatch. I should have been more clear about the main gear setup. You are correct about the spring-airs and music wire struts fitting just fine but my hope was to use some functioning oleo's and thats where the profiles become too fat. If you remember Robart used to make some 1/10th F4 gear that had an extremely thin offset strut where the wheel assembly really tucked up there tight, alas I should have bought them when I could because they are long gone now. ( Dave Platt's scarfolgy rule)

Well I am really going to enjoy finishing these F4's. I love building and I love F4's. My boy has learned modeling well and our plan is to finish these babies and do some father son formation flying! Its to bad about the current state of modeling with ARF's at one end and mega-buck composites at the other and very little in between. Your products were always spot on even back then.

George do you ever make it to Toledo? I would love to have a beer with you some day. Any one who's ever talked to you knows you were a bit of a rebel and ran Custom R/C the same way. I guess I'm that way too. Maybe a couple of kindred spirits.

Well take care. Any one please feel free to chime in with any thoughts on these builds. I am rearranging the shop as I speak to get these babies going again and I'm really digin it.

C-ya's later

Dean

George Miller

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks Bassfisher, nice words

"Always" is one of my favorite movies too. the story is quite enjoyable and well done.

Steven Speilberg is quite a aircraft buff himself. And this movie was made off of one of his favorite movies "A man called Joe" He had great expetations for "Always" and I feel he was some what dissapointed in the reception it got from the academy. He even got Audry Hepburn out of retirement to have a roll in it (We are talking very, very, very special lady here. One of a kind.) and didn't list her in the opening credits for the shock effect it would have when you saw her in the movie. Steven knows how to make movies. And he is a master at getting your attention with the opening scenes.

A great deal of this movie required the model aircraft. there was so much that just couldn't be done any other way. There is something about putting an aircraft in the air and setting it on fire, or blowing it up that real pilots in real aircraft get very upset about. I don't understand it, but that is how it is. Why they won't even fly down into forest fires and bang into burning trees or dead stick fly them through trees on final. Much less, land them in lakes. Go figure !!! And of course dropping borate from one plane on another plane, "not today". And the Division of Forestry was very closed minded on filming in forest fires too. Somethig about fire changing direstions, wind, heat, and a whole lot of stuff like that.

So we put a lot of work into that movie. And I "Always" say we. Yes I was the one who designed, engineered, and manufactured, these 1/5 scale model aircraft. But I had a whole team of employees who worked their hearts out too. In the building and on location.

The person who I felt the sorryest for on location was the pilot of the Ultralite. It was a two place craft with the addition of a very heavy movie camers attached and was very much underpowered and way to overweight for it's wing loading. It had to be flown with great care and was very unmanuverable. On top of that, he is flying in the air with giant scale model aircraft that are faster than him, pulling up right beside him, and being flown by someone he doesn't know who is on the ground. Very scarry stuff.

Oh the stories of my movie work go on and on. But I won't bore you all with it here.

George Miller