INSTEAD OF THE 2016 WRAM SHOW

[Frank Imbriaco]

I'll be silking a scratch built Voodoo for the September 2016  Vintage Combat Festival .

I used to get really stoked for the WRAM SHOW back in the 70s, 80s and 90s. We'd see all the major manufacturers and distributors, get radios, wood, kits , engines, etc. at rock bottom prices free of  sales tax .  Buy fuel by the case from Powermaster. Reconnect with old friends. Have lunch  off premises  at the local eateries with the boys.  The swap shop was packed to the walls. Watch Deiter Schulter  give demos in the parking lot with primitive helicopters. The static display took up two rooms.
I last attended in 2014(  in the  new location) and by all appearances, the multi-rotor just drop in battery crowd had already taken over.
 I imagine 2016 will be a  multi-rotor & FPV convention. Sigh.

Toledo is likely heading there, too.
 

[peabody]

Years ago....mayhaps a decade?.......John Brodak exhibited there.....I did all the groundwork and was there with John and Buzz for every hour the show was open.
The WRAM boys made a point of making me PROMISE that Brodak would not display or promote control line! That in spite of the fact that they had submarines, boats and little cars, etc.....
The AMA held a "membership meeting" there as well....I voiced my concern that the venue actually EXCLUDED a portion of the Academy membership. The restrictions were eased the next year.....
I was contacted by several to stir some participation in the 2015 event.......several attended to mixed reviews....
The current location is, in theory, MUCH better for most.....easy access to the Parkway, Turnpike, Route 80, etc......

I'll be curious for a post-event report.

Have fun!

[john_sabini]

I think we need to keep up the pressure.  They are coming around for sure at the WRAM.  We also have Eric Williams our District 2 VP that is very active with the control line community.  He has done a lot in the last 2-3 years talking to the WRAM's.  He said it is happening but just takes time for these guys to warm up a little more.  Years ago it may have been different.  But I think we need each other.  We need to get Brodak back and make a statement!!!  I would love to see that!!!  We have to work together!!  I spoke with some of you about this and I know it is changing.  Lets make it happen faster.  I was there Thursday to drop off and there were already some CL planes there in the Static Show!!!!!!!!!!

[Phil Spillman]

Hay Frank, I still have some left over, maybe used once or twice, Original VooDoo leading edge stock I held on to after all these years thinking I just may get down to building another VooDoo and perhaps cover the wing with an old scarf from the 5 and 10! By the by do 5 and 10's exist anywhere anymore? As I recall those flowered scarves cost .59 and one could get 3 wing panels out of one, four if you put the selvage going the wrong way on the fourth! Naturally doped finish; build 5 at a time use all of them up next Sunday, come home and rebuild everyone in time for next weekend at Johnsville NAS! Boy did you ever dredge up old memories!

  Phil Spillman

ps What ever happened to Butcher Bill and Harold Brown and Don Schulman? 

[Frank Imbriaco]

Hi Phil :
Get hopping on the Voodoo and come to the Vintage Combat Festival at GSCB next September. If the article in the current Model Aviation about the last  doesn't get you stoked, well...
Lucky you are to have a formed l.e. . Mine took umpteen hours to carve and sand to shape out of a 1"x1" by 38" block. We cut the square block out of a big chunk that Hunt had. Then home I went to carve/sand. Ugh !

Unfortunately, " Butcher Bill " Staubach pasted away  some 20 years ago, Harold"Slippery" Brown is m.i.a.( nobody knows his whereabouts) and Don Shulman lives in Florida and flies R/C only.

Take care,
Frank

[Ara Dedekian]

Frank

           I'll be building a free flight Albatross DVa for the Flying Aces Club Nats this summer.

           But your 'back in the day' description of the show, and reasons for going, are spot on. I'm too old and too far away to go any more, it was a day trip when I lived in the Boston area. Having lunch across the street and meeting up with old friends and visiting with the personalities of the modeling world was as much a draw for me as seeing the manufacturers. I contacted Walter Musciano and met up with him there one year. I'm still using stuff I got at the swap shop. The scale models were spectacular. And those were the days when, one by one, all the big guns of the manufacturering world began dropping out. First Sig, then Lanier, Jack Stafford, Davis Diesel etc. Despite that, there was still an excitement about going.

           BUT, who's to say the quad guys aren't going to the show to share the same experiences. Maybe it's just me, but I can't begrudge these folks because they're interested in something other than what I like to do. I see the 'modelers' at the hobby shop as enthused and knowledgable about the ARF 'kits' as we all were about the Sterling, Top Flight, Sig C/L kits. It's a change in 'modeling' that isn't going away.

           The real change is that Bob Hunt won't go anymore!!?? One of the highlights for me was always meeting up and chatting with Bob about C/L stuff at the AMA booth. At least we can still do that on this forum!

Ara

           

[Frank Imbriaco]

Ara:
Thanks for taking time to reply. I would suggest that the multi-rotor guys have their own show. Wishful thinking on my part, eh?.
AMA is in love with them because the manufacturers take out nice glossy full page ads.
Its not modeling. They are toys. Drop in battery and go. Not a hobby/sport in any sense of the word meaning...
I don't mind when someone calls my stuff toys - they are in a sense.
We build and fly- that's a hobby/sport and that's where the difference lies.

Changing demographics. Manufacturers see us as too old to matter much longer.
Frank

[Ara Dedekian]

Frank

           I'll be building a free flight Albatross DVa for the Flying Aces Club Nats this summer.


Ara

           

[Frank Imbriaco]

Ara :

Beautiful workmanship. Fantastic detail. Are the lower wing , stab and elevator silk or paper ?

Frank

[Ara Dedekian]

      Frank

           Thanks!

           The entire plane is covered in Esaki tissue. Silk and dope would be too heavy. The lozenge patterns live on the free flight forums and are printed onto the tissue via your computer and printer. Works a lot easier than it sounds.

      Ara