S.M.A.L.L. Fly-In 2018

Summer S.M.A.L.L. 2018 info from the A.M.A. Event Calendar...she's rolling around boys!!!!!

5/31/2018 - 6/3/2018 -- Mayflower, AR (C) S.M.A.L.L.. Site: Club Field. Stephen Staples CD PH: 501.993.7970 Email: dbstv2222@yahoo.com. Visit: arskytigers.com. Sanction#18/965. New location - New Club & Alumni encouraged to reunite to fly toy airplanes. Still no competition, minimal common sense required. Sponsor: ARKANSAS SKY TIGERS

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?3015997-SMALL-2018-May-31-June-3-2018-%28Thr-Sun%29-Mayflower-Arkansas#post38958780

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?3015954-SMALL-2018-May-31-June-3-2018-%28Thr-Sun%29-Mayflower-Arkansas#post38958319

Thanks for sharing, Kim. I've always wanted to see such an event. There's one advantage to Arkansas, not as much wind as Clovis. Used to fly with a club out of North Little Rock back in the late 1970's. They flew at an open field easement around some huge petroleum storage tanks near I-40 east of Little Rock. Would also fly at Little Rock Air Force Base. Then, there was never any problems of encroachment because of potential hazards with such a large amount of petroleum, field was huge, certainly never ran out of flying space. Flying rudder only back then was a true blast, especially with Ace pulse proportional and sequential quick blip throttle.

GallopingGhostler wrote:Thanks for sharing, Kim. I've always wanted to see such an event. There's one advantage to Arkansas, not as much wind as Clovis. Used to fly with a club out of North Little Rock back in the late 1970's. They flew at an open field easement around some huge petroleum storage tanks near I-40 east of Little Rock. Would also fly at Little Rock Air Force Base. Then, there was never any problems of encroachment because of potential hazards with such a large amount of petroleum, field was huge, certainly never ran out of flying space. Flying rudder only back then was a true blast, especially with Ace pulse proportional and sequential quick blip throttle.

Well, there's TWO of them happening this year George! It'd be great if you could cruise up for one of them. Good Times Guaranteed !!!!

And the S.M.A.L.L. Prep continues.

While rummaging around for the pylon to fly the Traveling Engine, I came across this battered veteran of the 2M B.O.T.'s early forays into aerial photography with it's Walmart returnable cameras.  

A well-worn Black Widow that has remained unchanged (and mostly un-fiddled-with) since the days of "One Flight--One Photo", it'll get to make some nostalgic flights at Mayflower, along with it's workhorse Tee Dee sibling.







Considering the set-up's 'Fred Flintstone' level of technology, we still managed to pull off several nice images on film.

What kind of glow plug are you using and what kind of adapter head in the B/W?

ticomareado wrote:What kind of glow plug are you using and what kind of adapter head in the B/W?

I got the adapter from my local hobby store in the late 1990's. Don't know it's brand...it was in a plain plastic bag with some other stuff, and was probably used. The plug is a Fox Long that, with it's gasket, comes out flush inside the chamber head.

These were the days before Bernie and Matt, and I was constantly hearing about eventually not being able to get glowheads for my engines, so the adapter made good sense, and the Black Widow always ran good enough with it to launch my planes.

I remember those days , nothing wrong with thim pics . But i got to know how do you get the camera to take pics. from the ground , call me stupid and old but i dont get it > Duh ~!

getback wrote:I remember those days , nothing wrong with thim pics . But i got to know how do you get the camera to take pics. from the ground , call me stupid and old but i dont get it > Duh ~!

The film camera just had a servo taped to it's top, punching down on it's shutter button, controlled by the un-used throttle channel. With the camera aimed down the leading edge of the wing, it's pretty easy to orientate it.

For a while. I tried a small digital camera (almost too heavy for the B.W. to boost). Rather than add the additional weight of an actuating servo, I'd set the camera for a 20 second delay (it's max), then push the button right before chucking the plane. This didn't work well as I had a hard time getting the B.O.T. positioned when the camera took the photo...I got a lot of pictures of the sky and partial photos of the yard.



Then tried it with a servo, but it still didn't work due to the pause the camera needed to focus.



I now just capture video frames from my GoPros, which, weirdly enough, are higher definition than those from the still camera.

Just for fun, you ought to try the following with the old widow:

Mount it on test block, remove NV and force feed a little fuel through spray bar hole to clear fuel passages, reinsert NV, fill tank with fuel and let soak for about 15 to 30 minutes, and then try to fire it up w/o doing any disassembly/cleaning at all.

ticomareado wrote:Just for fun, you ought to try the following with the old widow:

Mount it on test block, remove NV and force feed a little fuel through spray bar hole to clear fuel passages, reinsert NV, fill tank with fuel and let soak for about 15 to 30 minutes, and then try to fire it up w/o doing any disassembly/cleaning at all.

Cool Idea !!! May give it a shot in the morning!

Got to love 'Eleventh Hour Projects' !!!  After a rather embarrassing debut at the 2015 S.M.A.L.L., my Ken Willard Pool Boy, "The Eyes of the Fleet" got stuck back in a dark corner to hide it's shame.

During it's shot at Glory in 2015, the old biplane flew around, hanging tail-down by it's screaming .010.  After a couple impacts and punctures to it's silkspan, it was tucked away.

I had a moment of inspiration this morning, decided to tape some lead to it's nose, tried it again, and was rewarded with a reasonable flight around the yard!  SO....as we always harp at newbies in our hobby---CHECK THE C.G. BEFORE YOU FLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I had been consumed with adding shims to change the top wing's incidence, when all the plane needed was lead in it's snout!

Following the flight, I decided to remove the Scotch tape repairs and dope on some patches.  Excluding any new crisis, The Eyes of The Fleet will shortly be patrolling the skies at Mayflower.

Glad you got that sorted out Kim , sometimes its easy to overlook the obvious ! Looking forward to some footage

Can't you just move battery pack forward instead of adding nose weight? If not, why not put a keychain camera on an extension dowel mounted to nose?

ticomareado wrote:Can't you just move battery pack forward instead of adding nose weight? If not, why not put a keychain camera on an extension dowel mounted to nose?

Got the battery jammed all the way up the nose...though it is a 'stick pack'...may try a square pack. Thought about the camera on the nose, and that may happen, but I DO want to be able to fly it without also. I just wanted to get some relaxing flights like back in it's hey day.

And...it begins....

Got to the Sky Tiger's Field late Wednesday afternoon, being treated to some great hospitality, including a spot for my van and camper!

Had a slightly windy day today, but got it some flights anyway. There'll be more photos in the morning.



Troy launches his Minnie Mambo.



The 2M B.O.T. high over Sky Tiger Field.





Fairly sure this is not an RC, but at S.M.A.L.L., who knows?

Well,   it looks like you can walk the flight line without getting stuck in the mud this year! Waiting for more pictures and tall tails!

Kim wrote:Troy launches his Minnie Mambo.

Looks like you're really having fun there, Kim, but of particular interest to me was this familiar photo, caught my eye immediately.

Back in the late 1970's, early 1980's, I flew my Minnie Mambo a lot on Ace Pulse with KRD sequential throttle controlling a Cox .049 R/C Bee. It was truly a blast to fly, and the Minnie with it's short coupled stabilizer to wing made it an aerobatic joy. The Cox was definitely the right power for it, certainly not underpowered.

Wished I could join you folks, may be one of these days.

GallopingGhostler wrote:

Kim wrote:Troy launches his Minnie Mambo.

Wished I could join you folks, may be one of these days.

Man, hope you do!  This IS a fun event!!  The heat has been giving a lot of trouble, but I'm still getting in there among them.

Troy and I had the Minnies playing tag yesterday







His Minnie Mambo suffered some radio problems and made a 'hard arrival' that took it out of the flying this time around, but it had pretty light damage, and he'll have it going again pretty quickly.

 
Our little 'choke tube throttles' worked really well, and I'm particularly happy with mine because Little Traveler is still packing it's 4-ounce cross-country tank.  Bernie's 'Red Scorpion' still starts and idles nicely with this set up.





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I'm quite certain that the owner of the B-36 isn't a nitro purist. I assume it was electric?

Cool Stuff !! looks like you boys are having a Great time , enjoy seeing the models

Ken Cook wrote:         I'm quite certain that the owner of the B-36 isn't a nitro purist. I assume it was electric?

Kim, in the last two pictures of the B-36 and Pilot, did he reach out and grab it Mid-air? Looks like he did, from my view!  Probably a safer way to land that large aircraft rather than the rough green field. Edit: looks like he dropped the pods off the underside of the wings?
Cool pictures. Looks like tons o fun !

Ken, yeah, he is probably not a Cox fanatic. But I’ll give him ton’s of credit for building something that takes 6 engines running in sync and having it fly successfully! I someday may become a Tesla convert, but I’ve got too many nitro engines to do it now.

A real challenge for a REAL man:

A smooth three minute flight with the B-36 powered by six completely stock first version flip started OK Cub .049s. Only modern tech allowed other than R/C gear would be a modern photo-electric tach. Two human engine starting assistants allowed.

ticomareado wrote:A real challenge for a REAL man:

A smooth three minute flight with the B-36 powered by six completely stock first version flip started OK Cub .049s. Only modern tech allowed other than R/C gear would be a modern photo-electric tach. Two human engine starting assistants allowed.

I love OK Cubs, but it's never going to happen