Do you Display your "Special" Planes ?

[PJ Rowland]

A few years ago - I was over at a fellow flyers house - Whom has won several Nationals Championships and he had his model Hanging on the Wall - It looks a little tattered and a little worse for wear after 15 or so years hanging up there - I have no doubt. - He also had a number of really special trophies in a nice display cabinet. - Now this was along time ago and I always thought that was good - to preserve your OWN history.

I know ( Becasue I saw it! ) that Les Macdonals - World Champs Stiletto Is inside the Museum - in a glass case for all to see - I also think thats pretty special for Les to have donated that. If it was me - perhaps this is a little selfish but perhaps I would have kept it, and made a wall for myself and Hung it up so I could remember the times when I was the best in the world.. A: Im not world Champion (duh!) and B: I think its fantastic that you can go and see that Stiletto perfectly as it was - Hats off to Mr Macdonald for that choice.

You can look at Billy's Tapes of the Man and the museum and see all those famous designs, and how they changed the face of stunt Ares, Junar, USA1 - and I cant help but think its a pitty they are in storage. Nothing against Billy, Its a personal choice - perhaps Room is an issue for alot of people ( myself included Some under the house.. some in storage.. ect!) If I had the success of Billy, and all those designs, Id love to have them displayed in a Man-Cave or on the wall for inspiration. Billy seems a nice quiet humble guy so NOT displaying them... that probably suits him. ( I dont know him on any personal level, having only briefly met him once )

There are SO many aircraft that I think to myself : What are the owners doing - The real Famous designs :
Paul Walkers 1992 Impact W/C
Bob Gieseke's 74 Nobler
Bob Hunts 78 Genesis
Billys P47 I assume he still flies
Dave's Thundergazer - Should be retired and hung up due to it being unfair to others whom try to compete against it  

What about those that Are not World Champs winners ?
I can think of a few others that are Nats Winners..
What about any of Pauls 10 Nats winners? : Does he have a favorite ? Are any on display? What about the B-17 ?

What about some of the Earlier designs ?
Jim Casales ? Ted Fanchers ? - What / Where are they now ?


You dont even need to have won anything - Perhaps you have a model that your especially proud of ?

I would have liked to have kept ( I had planned on it ) keeping my model from the 1st World Champs I attended - As history will test to I lost that ship a few months after I got back testing a new engine and having the wings fail. ( Partly due to the model being damaged in transit due to the box not being built strong enough. )

I have been very proud of my achievement of building - and competing a 4 Engined Stunter Like the B17. So I set out to develop ,test and build The Lancaster. I get asked every now and then to fly it, or even " Where do you store it? " and I have only take it out on a few occasions after I " retired" it. The retirement occured once I won a Top level Expert Stunt event. This was done a few months after the Nats. I have a few goals with it, to be competitive, to fly it at the Nats, to do well, and not make a fool of myself. * Or to demean the B17, or downplay the complexity or acheivement of Pauls.
I felt that other than an oversight in the tip span the model was a success. - An acheivement that I', very proud of, but not prepared to repeat in a hurry.

It also meant alot to Dad who love's his World War history - and loves looking at the Bomber. So once It was retired we decided to hang it up on the wall, Not to gloat but to be proud, and to reflect on when we are all old and Grey. I had made a very nice " sports Memorabilla wall plaque with photos that were professionally taken at the Nats in 2006. It was all about remembering a time when I did something special.

I have a few trophies that mean something to me - 20 Yr Acheivement award, my 1st Junior Trophy, State Champs wins, A Signed Bob Palmer trophy that he presented me for Winning a classic Stunt event. - I have several others, but Im not a Trophy Hunter. I like to display things that mean something to me.


It reminds me of something that Brett Buck said - When he won the Nationals, he realised as he was pulling out that only a handful of people outside of the event will know or care what he did - But personally / internally - a goal was acheived. ( im paraphrasing not quoting.. )

Id love to know if anyone else has similar Displays ? or area's where they display their acheivements ?

This is how the Lancaster is displayed in the 2nd Lounge. - Its mostly unused and people read in there.  





The reason for the Hat ; Thats the EXACT hat I wore during the official Nats flight, in the middle photo - its a bit hard to tell.

[Clancy Arnold]

PJ
You have the right to be proud of that model!  It is BEAUTIFUL!
Clancy

[John Stiles]

Way cool, outstanding model! Thanks for the pics!

[Jerry Leuty]

That is great for your 'man cave'. In some dens there are trophy heads that someone shot and had stuffed. Pretty common place. But to display your trophies and plane together is very neat. Too bad more people have never picked up this wonderful hobby to really appreciate what you have done.

[Randy Powell]

I store mine in a rack in the rafters of my shop. They are pretty dusty, but I could pull one down, clean it up and fly right now. Weirdly, my wife suggested I pick one, clean it up, polish it and bring it in to mount on a wall. That was an odd moment.

[Paul Taylor]

Weirdly, my wife suggested I pick one, clean it up, polish it and bring it in to mount on a wall. That was an odd moment.

Yea that would be weird if my wife said that too. She is not real keen on my hobby.

One day I will have a man cave and put my mounted fish on the wall along with my planes. But they do not look 1/2 as good at PJ's.

Great looking Plane!

[Randy Ryan]

I store mine in a rack in the rafters of my shop. They are pretty dusty, but I could pull one down, clean it up and fly right now. Weirdly, my wife suggested I pick one, clean it up, polish it and bring it in to mount on a wall. That was an odd moment.

I'd like to do that, but have no wall space. We live in a very small house we bought after the last of our 6 children went off to live his life. I do however display my "special" trophies, like my 1990 Nats Wakefield Champ, the medal I won the day I was told it was time to move out of Advanced into Expert, my very first trophy from 1968 and a few others that have a special value or memory attached. I have a few small rubber models on display only for nostalgia, they are not special in any other way. Of course scattered on my office walls are also aviation photos, art, and a 1942 Aircraft Recognition Poster and a pair of beat up binoculars again, for the effect. The room is so small, even if I were to strip one wall to make room, a full sized stunter would be overwhelming. I still hope someday to have some small glass showcase so I can display some of my favorite engines I've collected, built or restored, but even that much space is prohibitive. If you have the room, go for it. I sometimes go into my office late at night when I'm restless and I just look over my "stuff" like being in a museum, before long I'm back in Lawrenceville Ill, or Dayton Oh, or Aurora Colorado, or Muncie In, or any one of hundreds of little flying sites enjoying a day with friends doing what I enjoy so much. They say trophies are worthless, and in a material sense the certainly are. But for me, they can take me back to wonderful times I cherish. I could go back without them, but the visual part of seeing them instantly opens pictures in my memory of those times, snapshots that only exist in my mind. Its all good, its a blessing.

[W.D. Roland]

25-30 years ago had the nicer R/C Scale models hung up in the living room, den and dining room.
The kids and I thought it was cool. Wife had them moved to shop as soon as it was finished.

NOW. when the office is finished guess where the nicer C/L stunters will live.


P.J. Like what you have done with the Lancaster.

Years+ ago a retired Formula 1 driver had his car hung on a wall in his living room. Now thats cool.

David
Hanging by a thread...

[Mark Scarborough]

I store mine in a rack in the rafters of my shop. They are pretty dusty, but I could pull one down, clean it up and fly right now. Weirdly, my wife suggested I pick one, clean it up, polish it and bring it in to mount on a wall. That was an odd moment.

Randy, my significant other allows me to hang my planes in the living room, bedroom, and her scrapbooking room. I also build in the living room. Of course she also moved in after I lived there so its kinda "my house" then again, there is the saga of the orange oriental that is now HER airplane,, complete with snipped off leadouts. She didnt even want me to take it to the mall show to display, she was worried something would happen to it! In my living room now,, her Oriental, my Avenger, a Sig Magnum, my Electrajet, and one of your High aspect ratio planes. In the bedroom, my Martian butterfly P-40 Q ( complete with the broken off nose) she wont let me throw that one away either,, in her craft room, my 109 stunter sits on the spare bed half sanded. Oh yeah, the bedroom also contains all my kits and stuff in the corner . In the living room are a bunch of my plaques and trophies,
You could say I got it good,, yeah, ,I do

[W.D. Roland]

Mark
Warning: Never say 'I Do' in a Church or similar setting.
This will cause some sort of weird change in significant other.....I am an Expert in this

 

David
Now lives in shop

[PJ Rowland]

Aeromodelling is part of my / our lives - When preparing for a large contest ( like the upcoming Nats ) Everyone in the house knows about it - is talking about it, modelling magazines everywhere, We will put on dvd's of Past Nats flyoff's instead of watching the news... everyone gets into it before it starts. - So it makes sense.

I've got plenty of trophies over the journey some are in the garage, some in the guest room, but only the ones that meant alot are on display under the bomber..

Anyone else??

[Clint Ormosen]

*sniff*   I'm not allowed to have those smelly things in the house.

[john e. holliday]

When I was single and still living with my Mother and Neice, she had me keep my Nobler in the living room.  The rest of the planes stayed in my bed room.   When I got married, that meant all planes will be kept in the basement or model building room.  Had to give up model building room when second child came along.  Now I have my shop in the back yard. 

[PJ Rowland]

HAHA reminds me of a story I heard.

" Years ago my wife said - Its either me or the planes....... I hope she's doing ok now. "

 

[Ted Fancher]

P.J.

The 1982 US Walker Cup winner and winner of the first ever Nats Concours elegance (the Intimidation) has been hanging on the ceiling of the J&B Hobby Shop in San Carlos, California since roughly 1983.  The 1986 winner (the Excitation V) has been hanging from the ceiling of my garage since the early 1990s (except while doing service with local expert Paul Pomposo locally for a couple of years).  The 1985 and 2000 winner (first as the Red White and Blue "Great Expectations" and second, after refinishing, as the "pond scum Purple" Final Edition) met its demise testing out Brett's first RoJett .61 when yours truly had a brain fart and flew it into the concrete at our Mission College flying site.   The original (built in 1991) Trivial Pursuit is as close as I can come to a "serious" stunter nowadays and it is hanging from the garage ceiling with a big question mark about the condition of the tank.

There are several OTS/classic stunters of various degrees of success hanging on my office/den wall as I type.  My Ares and All American built for the the very first VSC in L.A.; my Stuntwagon with an at the time NIB Fox .59; the Chief which was very good with the original small case Johnson "S" and overpowered with the McGas .40 currently rusting away in the nose; my 1976 "Moby Dick" which finished in the top 15 at the Nats that year and my Tucker Special which placed fairly high at VSC for several different years starting at VSC 11.  Also on the ceiling of the garage/shop is my Ruffy which has flown well at a couple of VSCs and is the only airplane I've got that can be taken to the field and expected to start and fly reasonably well.


Ooops, almost forgot.  My DicK Mathis designed Chizler is also hanging from the garage ceiling with the orange SIG Ply covering splitting and in need of repair.  Ditto (re the covering) with the original Doctor and the Stunt Wagon, by the way.

Finally, the only picture I have with the Walker Cup is with the 1982 winner, the Intimidation.  It hangs above my desk,  framed, along with the very nice certificat from the AMA commemorating the win.  Everything after that has just been gravy.

Ted

[Steve Hines]

That is art and should be on the wall.

My brother and I are building a model of a Sig cadet, it was the first RC model that we built it the 80's. All that is left of that plain is the rudder, so we are putting it on there and telling people that we just repaired the one that crashed. Dont know how much it will fly just nice to have it around.

[Mark Scarborough]

Mark
Warning: Never say 'I Do' in a Church or similar setting.
This will cause some sort of weird change in significant other.....I am an Expert in this

 

David
Now lives in shop

LOL, oh I am also,, been there done that, bought the tshirt,, more than once,, now we both agree, we dont need a piece of paper to make our relationship real,, that is ,, as long as she doesnt decide to claim any more of my airplanes for permenant display!! Still shake my head about the Oriental, its LIGHT like right around 40 oz,, and straight,,, sigh, but it keeps her happy hanging above her computer,,

[PJ Rowland]

Great Stories Ted Thanks for that - Photos' would be great - Grab the digital camera and show us the history lesson.

I did have a chuckle when you were talkign about all the models hanging up in the garage..... Safe place 

I think anything that gets hung up for longer than 12 months would be hard to fly again.

Reaching the pinnacle of winning the walker cup is all you need a photo of - the rest IS gravy - Well done.

[W.D. Roland]

I think anything that gets hung up for longer than 12 months would be hard to fly again. 

Why how come?
I have 4 flyable that hung since around 1980 and one of these was given away, hung up and not flown until I rescued it last spring and used to learned the beginner pattern with. Bellcrank worn out and will be replaced so more flying for it.

[PJ Rowland]

Depends on how you define - Flyable..

For my if I hang a model up - it means I will no longer fly it -

Remove tank
Remove engine
Would not have the exact set of lines saved.
Tip weight may have been removed.

Over time the dust gets in and can affect the surface make it fragile.

Sure Ive got models from 1995 that I could fly if I had to.. I was making a generalization - I couldnt pull it down, fuel it up and away I go like pulling out an old set of golf clubs.

[Clint Ormosen]

The 1982 US Walker Cup winner and winner of the first ever Nats Concours elegance (the Intimidation) has been hanging on the ceiling of the J&B Hobby Shop in San Carlos, California since roughly 1983.  The 1985 and 2000 winner (first as the Red White and Blue "Great Expectations" and second, after refinishing, as the "pond scum Purple" Final Edition) met its demise testing out Brett's first RoJett .61 when yours truly had a brain fart and flew it into the concrete at our Mission College flying site.  

Ted

Ted, isn't it J&M Hobbies and the 1995 and 2000 winner?

Boy, I don't let you get away with anything, do I?

[Randy Powell]

Most of the ones in the shop (think 8 planes total) are in various stages of disrepair. Two are ready to go (the current weapons of choice). One has a broken tail that if fixed and the controls repaired could be a very competitive classic plane again. Another has a broken tail wheel mount that I have threatened to fix a couple of time. The other 4 need various things. One has a iron on patch over a hole but could be flown with a couple hours work. It's a good flier, too. One needs the finish stripped off and to be redone (hey, any of you have a plane with a 23oz finish?), One needs the stabilizer replaced to fix a hunting problem (I think, that's why it's still sitting there waiting) but could be flown in an hour if I so chose. The last is a test bed plane and looks like a patchwork quilt.

That's really the issue for me. I have 2 good planes, two that need love and could be good planes again, the rest are probably not worth the amount of work it would take to make them good planes and will likely at some point become parts donors or given away to someone that wants to take the time to fix the issues.

Sigh, I need a storage shed.

[W.D. Roland]

Mark
I suggested we remove the paper work from our relationship so we could get along as good as the "old days"
and WOW!!! You would have thought I asked for a divorce or something!
Well I do have papers on cars and other such and just don't feel right when I don't so understanding her need for papers proving ownership .........


P.J.
Gotta say that those 4 airplanes did need rehauling before flying again. Although there is a 5th that that has not been touched and was just recently parked when the controls stiffened up---frayed leadout in the guide area, one strand left!!

The dust is not the problem here when stored in barns and out buildings the Dirt daubers(like wasp) build mud houses inside the wings and stuff. Push rod exits make good front doors for them. Heavy stuff!

David

[Randy Powell]

Mark, like many, has reasons for his, uh, viewpoint. He has my support.    

[Les McDonald]

Here's a little corner of my World!

                              Les McDonald

[Randy Powell]

Gee Les, the Stiletto looks ready to fly right now.   

[Russ Danneman]

yes all  fresh built plane ( unrun & before crash of course) on dining room table  until  . well she won't let us eat in there so..........