Fall Follies

[Randy Powell]

OK, so who is planning to attend the Salem, Oregon Fall Follies?

I'm hoping to be there (depending on some dental work), but it's looking good right now.

[Mark Scarborough]

Well that would be a ME and Pat.

[Joejust]

I can't make it this year. Had a reliable Clown and a new NWSR plane ready to go. I even flew some practice flights in B-PA.  Strange year! I will have missed all NW contests in 08. First time since 98 that I didn't make at least one contest.

Joe Just

[Steve Helmick]

You just don't have your priorities right, Joe... 

I should be there sometime Friday morning or noonish, depending on what the weather/circle is like in Redmond...Oregon. And assuming I don't drown, fishin' on the John Day River on Thursday. The truck is about loaded, if I can just find room for some clothes! Oh, two airplanes are already in there. The "Profile Centennial" and the Olympic. Neither is sorted out, with new tank and control ratio on the PC and new CG on the Oly. No clue as to fuel load needed on either, but maybe I can work it out. Danged weather and flu bug... 

I'll say "HOWDY!" to Nils for all y'all....      Steve

[Randy Powell]

Well, at least there will be 4 of us. Maybe we can trade off judging.

[Mark Scarborough]

guess I better bring extra fuel and batteries, lol looks like lots of time to practice then eh?

[dirty dan]

I'll be there. Better, Rick Cochrun will be there as well. During the McMinnville contest I suggested that when we got home he ought to fly my current Impact, the one with the sweet, sweet running RO-Jett 61. He instantly accepted.

About 30 minutes later I retracted the offer, saying that it might be a better deal for both of us if he simply borrowed an earlier Impact of mine, one which has been sitting idle for quite a long time. And one which used to be fitted with a Saito 56, Rick already having bought from me the complete power train, including tank, Pat Johnston-produced manifold, etc. So it was a simple matter to bolt it all back together and go flying.

Which Rick has been doing, following religiously the only rule in the whole deal: "Use it as if it were your own model."

This rule has resulted in probably the only Impact on the planet with a huge shark mouth on the front end. But as it is my rule, no complaints.

Possibly even better, Rick will be bringing his son Ricky, who has of late been flying the (repaired) Dirtmobile #1, a piece which has not seen action outside of the Arlington flying site for at least a couple years.

We're looking forward to a great time, especially as Kristen Hunt is even as I write this thought to be warming the lava lamp in "my" downstairs bedroom.

Dan
   

[Peter Ferguson]

I'm working fri, but I  plan on driving down Sat.
I'm making repairs to Strega #4 after my disaster Sunday. I didn't notice that my inboard wheel was locked up before I used my stooge to launch. It got airborne but without my input. The asphalt was hard on it. Funny how those things happen just before a contest.

[Howard Rush]

I'll be there, I reckon.  I might stop by Chehalis or McMinnville along the way to try to get my dog working.  If PW wants to go, we can take the Miata so he can stand up.

[Randy Powell]

Well, due to an unforseen problem, I may not make it after all. I hope to at least zoom down on Sunday, but it's not looking good right now. Sigh... 

[Peter Ferguson]

If the Miata has a sunroof Paul wouldn't have to leave the car, you could drive him into the circle!

[FLOYD CARTER]

Well, I've spent the past week in the Sacramento Valley.  Weather in the mid-80s and dead calm winds.  So, if I can get my body to again accept Oregon lousy weather, I'll arrive Salem on Sunday, wrapped in heavy parka.

Floyd

[Randy Powell]

No Fall Follies for me as it turns out. Drats! Had something come up and I've got to stick around, mores the pity.

Have fun guys.

[Steve Helmick]

Randy, Rodney, Pete Ferguson, Pete Peterson, John Leidle, Leo Mehl, Scott Riese, Keith Varley, Joe Y., and Chris Cox all were no-shows. Gerald Schamp showed and flew Friday (during "Practise Day"). Dave Royer showed Sunday, planned to only rub elbows, but was forced into judging Expert PA with me. That was fun, as we got to see a good battle between The Electric Meany and the current Brazillion (sic) Champion. Meany won by the usual 10 points or so, but the judges were somewhat surprised. Both flew really sharp second round flights. I'm still working on a JCT poem.

I flew for Jerry Eichten in NW Sport Race (Fox .35 stunt racers), and it was kinda fun, after a scary start...slack lines on takeoff, ate the prop, but no other damage. Added tipweight between heats, but some serious whipping on takeoffs and landings made it work somewhat for the first round. We ended up 3rd out of 3 teams, so we did pretty good! I also entered "Sportsman Profile Stunt" and Intermediate PA (with the Twister/"Profile Centennial") and placed 3rd in both, with reasonable scores, around 450 without appearance points. I've changed the trim setup quite a lot, and it's a lot better since The Stevenson Memorial Roundup.  And at least I didn't get beat by a friggin' electric...

I did go fishing on the John Day River in Central Oregon (near the 'towns' of Service Creek & Spray). Lovely country! Yup, caught some smallmouth bass. Had a front (with snow!) coming in, so didn't fish as long as desired, didn't launch the pontoon boat or kyak. Tough fishing from shore. Circle hooks and Senko clones worked for me. No fish were killed during the filming of this epic.

And I did go visit Nils Norling...he said to say "Hay" to all his CL Stunt buds, and thanks for thinking of him. His foot looks pretty worse for wear, confined to a Lazy Boy (or wheel chair, or bed), with a vacuum pump hooked to a hose into the top of his foot, to drain excess fluids (like the stuff I had leaking from the side of my head last month, after my surgery). He's mad as hell about the dippy chick driving with the cell phone inserted in her ear, so y'all know not to do that, and to make sure your family doesn't. Driving is serious business...

Speaking of which...I'm kinda glad we didn't have a bigger turnout, because I got started home at just about 4pm, and was home around 7:30 after a non-stop trip. Had a great 5 days off work!!!!!  Steve

[Leo Mehl]

Randy, Rodney, Pete Ferguson, Pete Peterson, John Leidle, Leo Mehl, Scott Riese, Keith Varley, Joe Y., and Chris Cox all were no-shows. Gerald Schamp showed and flew Friday (during "Practise Day"). Dave Royer showed Sunday, planned to only rub elbows, but was forced into judging Expert PA with me. That was fun, as we got to see a good battle between The Electric Meany and the current Brazillion (sic) Champion. Meany won by the usual 10 points or so, but the judges were somewhat surprised. Both flew really sharp second round flights. I'm still working on a JCT poem.

I flew for Jerry Eichten in NW Sport Race (Fox .35 stunt racers), and it was kinda fun, after a scary start...slack lines on takeoff, ate the prop, but no other damage. Added tipweight between heats, but some serious whipping on takeoffs and landings made it work somewhat for the first round. We ended up 3rd out of 3 teams, so we did pretty good! I also entered "Sportsman Profile Stunt" and Intermediate PA (with the Twister/"Profile Centennial") and placed 3rd in both, with reasonable scores, around 450 without appearance points. I've changed the trim setup quite a lot, and it's a lot better since The Stevenson Memorial Roundup.  And at least I didn't get beat by a friggin' electric...

I did go fishing on the John Day River in Central Oregon (near the 'towns' of Service Creek & Spray). Lovely country! Yup, caught some smallmouth bass. Had a front (with snow!) coming in, so didn't fish as long as desired, didn't launch the pontoon boat or kyak. Tough fishing from shore. Circle hooks and Senko clones worked for me. No fish were killed during the filming of this epic.

And I did go visit Nils Norling...he said to say "Hay" to all his CL Stunt buds, and thanks for thinking of him. His foot looks pretty worse for wear, confined to a Lazy Boy (or wheel chair, or bed), with a vacuum pump hooked to a hose into the top of his foot, to drain excess fluids (like the stuff I had leaking from the side of my head last month, after my surgery). He's mad as hell about the dippy chick driving with the cell phone inserted in her ear, so y'all know not to do that, and to make sure your family doesn't. Driving is serious business...

Speaking of which...I'm kinda glad we didn't have a bigger turnout, because I got started home at just about 4pm, and was home around 7:30 after a non-stop trip. Had a great 5 days off work!!!!!  Steve

Well I didn't make it so it was probably pretty quite around the Salem circle this year. I missed the flyers and I like to herass a whole bunch of them on fly day. Oh well I will getcha all next year. My eysight has been in the toilet for about a month now so I havn't been much fun. Usually like to give steve a bunch of Pu Pu over his 24 and 23 point squares but he somehow gota better score than I did at the last contest. Isn there  someway we can fix that. Have a good winter Leo

[Steve Helmick]

Leo...they hire better judges for the Fall Fallies...?

Actually...I changed the control ratio on the 45.5 oz. "Profile Centennial" (now more flap than elevator) & changed the tank (a 4 oz. Hayes unit). The control change made such a dramatic difference in the way it flew, I had to reduce handle spacing 9/16", to 2.5". No, I don't understand why less elevator = more response. It wanted to do really small round loops, and I couldn't abide that. But it also doesn't stall anymore on hard corners. All this (and very little practise) has resulted in much better tricks, better takeoff, and better landing. One landing (I thought) was really spectacular (tho the Judges didn't seem to like it)...rolling into the wind with the tail up, the plane pretty much stopped before the taillwheel settled.  It still needs a bit of handle tweeking, but it was pretty decent.

We had a fun time at Fallies...three straight days (including a lot of testing on Friday). Some practised, but I mostly tested, because the "PC" first got a Sullivan tank, that leaked like a sieve, and completely wasted a trip to Gig Habba a couple of weeks before. I also played with the Olympic, without any satisfaction. Maybe I can get it working this winter. It seems to have the opposite problem to the "PC"...too light (43.5 oz) for the control ratio...too much flap movement. Looks like maybe a turn of down trim might also help. I'll get it trimmed out ok, if I don't crash it first. Both these planes have one (evil) thing in common...3" bellcranks! Seriously, don't even think about using a 3" BC in anything but a sport model. I'm considering cutting into the Oly and extending the flap horn (BC to Flap pushrod) a bunch, and maybe lower the elev. pushrod at the flap horn. While I was weighing planes, I put the Skyray 35 (.25LA) on...31.65oz. Too heavy! It needs an all-balsa wing, mostly. 

Sorry your blinkers    are acting up. Vitamins and exercise improved my eyesight almost 50%. Don't know which one, but neither will hurt you much. One does hurt more than the other, though. I haven't been in the gym since July 3...I got sick July 4 and ended up in the hospital for 4 days, followed by a month of recovery and then the skin cancer surgery and a month of recovery...and then the flu. I'm actually looking forward to getting back to the gym. Steve