And yet ANOTHER Swap Meet. Me and Vince head to Columbia, Illinois 4-2-17

So me and my flying bud, Vince, head up to Columbia, Illinois for probably the last Swap Meet 'till this Fall (yeah, I know, but I WANT to mean it).  The pick'ns were a bit sparse, but I STILL returned shy a few bucks, and with some cool stuff.

The guys at last year's S.M.A.L.L. Fly-In were just having too much fun with their Skycopters, so after a little mumbling and groaning, I bought this one.  Totally complete (their bubbles tend to go missing over the decades), and apparently parked for a LONG time, it's droopy blades ought to take a little straightening, with little else.  The only difference between this one and the two that I owned back in '75 is the exhaust guard.





Got myself what may be a life time supply of small fuel tubing for five bucks.



A gnarled-fin, metal backplate Black Widow and a choke collar Medallion .09.



And, keeping my pledge (totally by accident---but still) to Tony that I would return to S.M.A.L.L. 2017 packing a Rascal, I got this little guy, it's .074 Norvel, and three servos installed.  The active Norvel thread going on now is gonna be a big help in checking out this engine on the test stand.







Gonna have to do some work on it though, as the owner adapted it to nitro power without closing up the firewall.  This gaping hole will (and has) act like a castor oil pipeline running to the plane's delicate innards.  So, with the engine pulled, gonna work a ply plate in there somehow, and also take a peek at the fuel tank installation.



So, the S.M.A.L.L. fleet continues to expand.

Vince got himself a Goldberg 'Gentle Lady' sailplane with a Babe Bee stuck on it's nose, and an older radio installed.  Probably use the servos (Royal brand), but may put in some new stuff too.

There was a scattering of the typical crippled birds and spent gear, mixed with the radio accessory folks...but nothing else jumped out at me.  My Breezy Hill bud, Billy scored a flyable Ringmaster, but had spirited it away before I got to see it.  I'll have photos of it in action shortly.

So, not a bad day all-told.







This little Piet wasn't for sale, the owner said he was gonna hang it in his hobby room, so I was naturally harassing him to fly it.