Sm Tall alk I
t’s hard to believe that SMALL 2012 is already behind us! Where has the first half of the year gone? I’ve sorta’ lost count over the years, but I think this is
the 15th or 16th Little Rock SMALL Fly-In that I’ve attended, but I can say without reservation that it was by far among the very best yet. The attendance was down a little from previous years, but in spite of that, the people who were there were pri- marily the “regular crowd”, and as always were willing to share lots of great ideas and show us some of their latest modeling endeavors. I also got a special treat on Thursday morning: I rolled into Wrightsville, AR around 9:30, had no more than got out of the truck and said “Hi” to the troops already there when Steve Staples grabbed me by the arm and said, “Come on, you’re going to fly some U-Control.” Next thing you know, there’s a handle in my hand, the .049 is screaming and I’m chasing that goofy little Round-To-It around the circle determined not to hit the ground or fall down dizzy at least till the noise went away! Three flights later here I am, dizzy as a
loon, wearing a big stupid grin that nothing short of plastic surgery could remove, and having the time of my life. But after all, it had been nearly 30 years since I had a han- dle in my hand, and had almost forgotten just how much fun those simple carefree days of modeling really were. And that’s what makes SMALL so special. It’s just a great group of like minded folks who never bothered to change with the times and have never lost their passion for the simple things in life. So, whether it was watching some pretty
cool and unusual R/C models going through their paces, freeflight models drifting out of sight on some killer lift, watching the U/C Stunt guys doing things with airplanes that I couldn’t do on a bet, or searching for mod- el rockets hiding in the tall grass, it was def-
by pat tritle You can reach Pat Tritle at 10313 Snowheights NE, Albuquerque, NM 87112 or via e-mail at
patscustommodels@aol.com
PHOTO: GLENN ASHE
Glenn Ashe trimmed his 60-inch span DC-6 in the very striking Blue Angels color scheme. The trim on Glenn’s model is a mix of Ultracote Lite, Ultraspan, and vinyl trim from Callie Graphics.
initely a red letter weekend, and I am al- ready looking forward to doing it again next year.
From the attic It’s been awhile since we’ve seen an old
photo from years past, but this month Bill Bosco sent a pair of photos taken in Sep- tember of 1959—that’s 53 years ago folks— of the 12-inch span Comet Fokker D-VII. I’ll let Bill tell us how it all started: “The Fokker D-VII in the pictures is a 12-
inch wing span Comet kit. I preferred Comet kits over Guillow’s because the plans were easier to understand. As a kid, I was fasci- nated with WWI airplanes, and the Fokker D-VII was my favorite. I covered this one with the yellow domestic tissue that came in the kit. I remember laying down on the side-
walk in our back yard to snap those pictures. I used our family Brownie Hawkeye camera to accomplish the task.” And that was the beginning of a lifetime
of modeling that I’ll bet many of us can re- late to along with those old 10-cent kits, and the sore thumbs we got from pushing straight pins into the wood and the Ambroid glue tube to clear those pesky clogs. A lot was learned over the years about reading and understanding plans and the basics of aerodynamics that made these models fly. Great stuff, and always nice to see where it all began for a life-long modeler.
Back to the present The troops have been busy building some
really nice things this month, so let’s get started sharing their efforts.
PHOTOS: JOHN PAKIZ
John Pakiz designed and built his 14-gram Bostonian (at left) for a club contest that never actually happened, but no matter, John definitely has a winner in this one. A lot of thought went into John’s Bostonian design (above) that was influenced in large part by a couple of Steve Wittman designs, and even at 17 grams is a terrific outdoor flyer.
42 SEPTEMBER 2012
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