Michigan CL Championships, Saturday

Well,

We had beautiful weather but attendance was down, 6 entries each in Classic and OTS. Had a weener roast at my place after and flew a little in the back yard, even got some of the neighborhood kids on the handle with my Skyray.

A few shots of the guys, more later of some of the action.

The first one is Contest Central with the ever helpfull Dick Kirk when it looked like no one was going to show. The second is of the Saturday winners, results later. The third is of some of the guys in my shop, left to right: Jay Dunkin, Andy Tomasch, Phil Spillman, John Paris and Pat Rowan.

More tomorrow after we finish up and I get the flying shots, for now I hear my pillow calling.

Randy,
The weenie-roast and flying at your house was outstanding. Was good to see you get a pattern in finally.....lol You were outstanding with the neighbor kids on the Skyray 35. The best was that they came around and wanted to fly.

The contest was great. It was too bad that the attendance was a little low, but a great deal of fun was had. Michael was focused on showing his trophy to his mother when we got home and is just about ready to start building the Skyray 35 that Dick Kirk donated to the beginners.

Looking forward to some more pics from the contest.

Hi Randy, Thanks for an ever so fine weekend of flying, fun and hospitality! Pat Rowan and truly enjoyed ourselves and appreciate the weeinie roast which you two hosted in your back yard! Thanks very much for this!

John, I haven't flown a combat plane like yours in more years than I'd like to admit! But.... thanks for the confidence extended to me in letting me fly your plane! It was a blast! Too bad that Pat passed up your offer to test it out! He would have enjoyed it as well!

When I returned home this evening I told my wife, after showning her my prizes, that I had gone to church this morning, she was amazed! With this message I'd like to thank Will Hinton for his efforts and inspiring messages this Sunday morning. Sincerely,

Randy, sorry to see that attendance was down. I still had a great time as usual in Detroit.See you next year.
Thanks
Wayne Buran

Hey Randy, I hope I dont come off as sounding bitter, but, who knew about the contest? I would have loved to have made it down there for that, I even had the day off of work (a rare Saturday occurance). I live up here in Oscoda, and no place in Michigan is to far for me to drive for an event like this. I'm sorry I missed it. If you did post a message, or must be a member of an organization to attend, then my bad, but I saw zero about it here. Maybe next year place a notice on this auspicious forum, and more people could plan on attending. I may be able to get my brother to make it next year too. I'm glad you had good weather for it, Heck maybe next year we could have it here at my place.......................Greg

Greg He did it's in the contest section, upcoming events.
Ed

Thanks guys for all the nice comments, I really enjoyed it myself though I was all in by the time I got home. My wife had a good time too. I'll get a follow up posted tonight, I tried last night and all I could do was stare at the monitor.

Greg,

I'm sorry you missed it too, but I need to make a comment here so forgive me if I sound a little less then aplogetic. A CD is always berated is some way for his lack of doing something someone thought he should do, be it notification, dates of the meet, etc. Many times this is do to the error made by the person complaining. If you'll go over to the "Upcoming Events" forum you will find a notice for this meet that was posted in MARCH, it was also moved up a couple times to make sure plenty got the chance to see it. There are over 300 views on it so its not obscure. This meet was sanctioned way back and Model Aviation has had a listing in the contest calender for the maximum time possible. Please, take advantage of all the resourses. It would be impossible for me to post it everywhere, so I choose SSW as the main clearinghouse it has become. Watch here next year and the notice will appear.

Randy and the rest of you guys, I hope I covered myself earlier when I said "my bad" about me missing the notice. I apperently am SSW illiterate. I dont think I have ever been to the mentioned forum of this site. I am just really disappointed that I missed a local event, thats all. see. You posted it, I didnt see it, thats the way it goes. Of all the times I sit here and go over the topics on the main forum, I never thought to go to another forum. Besides, I would not have been any competion for you guys anyway, I just flew my ARF Nobler for the first time today, and it flys better than anything else I have ever flown in my life. So, I'll just see you guys around this forum until we meet in person........

Hi Greg,

I didn't mean to be nasty, I just have to speak to the point sometimes. As a CD you have no idea of some of the stuff that comes your way and after a while you get kind of defensive. Most, and I do mean most by a vast margin, of the guys are fantastic, I'm sure you're really one of them and I look forward to meeting you next year if you can make it.

Later,

>>
>A few shots of the guys, more later of some of the action.
>
Hi Guys,

I'll get some more photos up just as soon as I can. And I've burned *all* of my raw photos to a CD, which I'll mail to Randy today.

The back yard flying was nothing short of fantastic. Have a hot dog and then go fire it up and fly. Then back to the dinner table. Tell me how to make it any better?! And the training session with the Skyray 35 and the local kids was a blast. I saw every emotion on their faces except fear. Some good raw material there. Keep at them Randy! And although dad goes to the circle center with Michael, I couldn't help but notice that Michael is doing the flying, once dad recovers from my *awful* launch (worst in years, sorry John)! And save some fuel for me and Suzanne--the Skyray is the perfect trainer for both of us! Hopefully in my case it's just a matter of knocking off the rust. Actually, I have two gallons of fresh Powermaster 5/29 GMA all castor. Should keep the old Fox fed for a while .

Special thanks to our hostess, Jan, who set us a nice picnic and grilled hot dogs for all.

Watch this space...

Andy,
Your launch was great. We had two practice launches from Patrick earlier that day that prepared us for just about anything. Two launches for one flight should provide clues to how much practice I got in with Michael. In all seriousness, any launch is a good one and beats sitting on the ground looking at the airplane and lines.

Was cool seeing your airplane fly. It is one of the few CG 1/2a models that I have never seen fly. I noticed that your glide ratio was about as good as Michael's Sterling Mustang. One nice thing about Michael's is there is hardly any flip-over without the landing gear.

Looking forward to doing it again next year.

I sure enjoyed seeing all those attending again. It was two ideal days for fun. It was soooo strange to be wishing for "a bit of a breeze" on Sunday.

I suggested to Randy the we consider adding a profile stunt event next year Saturday. We do have an extra circle.

Anyway, what do you all think of that? yea or nay?

THe ones I have flown have been non-skill class events--it gives everyone an opportunity to fly against everyone else with the same judges--I had fun.

I look forward to seeing Andy's pix.

Congrats to all of the trophy winners.

And to Randy and the support guys from Signal Seekers: great job! Smoothly run event--thanks.

Guys,

Here are some photos from the Michigan Control Line Championships 2004. These were taken Saturday August 14, 2004.

Here are some quick captions for the photos. Please chime in with more information, since I can't name all the builders and/or pilots.

1) Bob McDonald's Ares. Awesome finish, and gorgeous in flight.

2) John Paris' Oriental. Nice subtle paint scheme, very classy.

3) El Diablo. A personal favorite.

4) Ted Snow's Humongous. Very cool in flight.

5) Jamison Special nicely turned out.

6) Another nifty Oriental. These look so nice in flight...

7) Smoothie, with Bob Palmer's autograph on the wing.

8) Bob McDonald's razor back P-47. Impressive!

9) Viking, also nicely done.

10) Bob McDonald starts his Ares.

11) Curt Nixon fires up his piped ship for a practice flight
Saturday.

12) An Oriental upright...

13) ...And Inverted!

14) Randy Ryan corrupting one of the neighbor kids in his back yard!

15) The final standings posted on Saturday

This is *your* bulletin board guys, so tell us more about your airplanes and/or flying experiences this past weekend.

Enjoy!

More Stunt Wars over Detroit.

1- Jamison by Jim Morway.
2- Mike Paris 2nd, Joe Peters 1st Beginner PA.
3- Wayne Buran 3rd Interm. PA.
4- Bob McDonald 1st Expert PA.
5- Joe Peters & Banshie OS LA .40.
6- John Paris 2nd Expert PA.

Looks like you guys had a great time. Sorry I couldn't make it as I am in Jersey sitting out the rain. Never fails to impress me seeing Johnny's grin with another trophy. Will Mikey getting into flying we all better watch out. There is always next year with a new plane.

Jay

Well,

Andy pretty much covered the rest of it. You'll have to wait for SN for the full results and writeup. Thanks again to all who came, you guys make it worth while.

>Looks like you guys had a great time. Sorry I couldn't make
>it as I am in Jersey sitting out the rain. Never fails to
>impress me seeing Johnny's grin with another trophy. Will
>Mikey getting into flying we all better watch out. There is
>always next year with a new plane.
>
>Jay
>
>
>
>
>Treat each day as if it were your last, because one day, it
>will be.

Jay,
You know what I always say-"Smile-we are having fun". Got to practice what I preach. Too bad you couldn't make it this year, but there will be another next year. Enjoy the rain and see you when you get back.

More info. on photos in post #10 by Swordsman "Andy".

#3- El Diablo is Phil Spillman's.

#4- Humongous is Dick Kirk's.

#5- Jamison is Patrick Rowan's.

#6- Oriental by Dave Keats.

#7- Smoothie is Phil Spillmans.

#9- Viking is John Paris's.

#10- Bob McDonalds Ares being held by Patrick Rowan.

#12&13- Oriental by Dave Keats.

Did Keats bring his rabbits, or just the airplane????

Guys,

Here are a few more photos from last Saturday:

1) John and Michael ready to fly Michael's Sterling Mustang.

2) Oriental in flight.

3) John Paris saying something important while holding his Oriental.

4) Another Oriental, ready to launch.

Andy,
Everybody knows that I never say anything important, so it must have been something else. Don't really recall what was going on there except that I was walking out for a flight-probably 1st round of Expert (had short loaded my tank for judging and have the rest of the fuel in the syringe-not a common thing for me to do). I would have to say that the highlight of the contest was getting my son in the mix for beginner (he flew a Super Clown) and having my daughter launch for us. With some luck and a little work, they will both be in the center of the circle....

John

Pic #4 is District 3 rep Phil Spillman getting ready to launch Patrick Rowan's Oriental.