Topeka Contest results ?

Sorry, don't have them. It was breezy and very turbulent but a great outing and great folks.
I do know Marvin Denny won advanced, yours truly was second(survival counts!), Doc Holiday was third. In intermediate, Joe Gilbert won it and Mike Finnigan(both with ARF Noblers) was second and the illustrious Mr. Clean was third.
Looked like there were a swarm of people flying basic flight and beginner on the grass circle but don't recall the results.
Marvin Denny came up with a very nice second flight with his Senior 29 powered by a Fox 19 to win old time over about a dozen or more entrants.
An interesting feature of this contest was that the three ARF Nobler fliers got 5 appearance points. In this situation, it was insignificant as all got the same number of points and all competed in intemediate. I guess I remain somewhat mixed and uninvolved in this and do see both sides of the question. Still, I would have not been happy had I been beaten by less than 5 points by an ARF entrant.
Anyone got more complete results?

I got 13 points I believe on my Brodak Mustang, a true gift if there ever was one. Got burbled out of the pattern a couple times on my 2nd flight, the verticle 8 and hourglass were looking good up to the point the plane took off on it's own. Oh well, thats how the wind blows, I took home a full plane and a 3rd.

Mr Balloon Bust King, that's me for all you non-Isky folks, also took 2nd in Balloon bust flying in the 30 mph+ winds Saturday and I won the sudden stoppage award in Scale race. As far as my Racing piloting goes, I make a good pitman. I don't need a safety line that I can easily miss, I need a safety wall that I'd trip over. Nobody hurt, but the lost prop thanks to hitting a flight box cost me big time. Had I flown correctly, I'd be looking at a 2nd place finish. Oh well, my bad.

I didn't fly Foxberg thanks to being down on the combat circle running heats then switching over to balloon bust. Jeff Johnson won 75 mph combat, Tom took 2nd and Dan 3rd. Last names will come to me after a bit, but's it's 3 and I'm not up yet. Wish Topclass had a webpage.

Saturday, as posted, had rather strong winds and the meal afterwards although good, was a little gritty thanks to a softball field to the south of the picnic area trying to move to a location about 100 yards to the North of the picnic area. Sunday was a wind from the West day which gave us rotars off of the west and north teeline. Wind direction changed 180 degrees many times during flights whenever a thermal comes by and just made it hell. Topeka is a good field when the wind is from the South, but the trees are making it bad for every other direction anymore.

My carpooler almost placed in scale race, I managed to flood his Norvel on one pit and missed out on placement by 12 hundreths of a second. He took 3rd in Foxberg though and I thought he had 3rd ni Beginner on Sunday, but the scoreboard changed and he didn't place at all. It was fun and I spent too much time thinking on it taking off of pavement, watching my Stang speed up, tail rise, then lift off and climb for the first lap. flying off a rough grass field at home my Stang generally jumps to 5-10 feet depending on the bumps, I need to find some pavement to fly off of here in KC. Really amazing the gear hasn't torn out of the Stang yet. Landings show the constant technique of slowing down to a hover and touching down. that doesn't go over so well on a paved circle where I should touch down with a little steam going and roll to a stop. Nothing practice wouldn't fix. Joe is lucky I've spent the last month building slope racers and painting the family room. With a little practice I'd probably become a dangerous thing. Really, probably have a line come loose and take out a couple competitors. Score good in PAMPA, forgetaboutit.

Actually, I've seriously considered moving up next year depending on practice. If I get any, it's time. Biggest complaints about my flying this time was bottoms, they were too high. Had I flown the same time last month, that would have been no problem as I actually had them quite a bit closer to the 5 foot level, but my timing was off this month. Then again, with 2 PAMPA flights logged for a little over a month, and both of them scored, I didn't do too bad.\

Wha wha wha, somebody call the Whambulance. It was a good contest and lots of fun though we missed our Texas crew. You all better show up next year, Balloon Bust just wasn't the same.

Clean, your balloon bust is the grreatest. We've incorporated it here is Big D June 19th. I used to prevail in this event, but now with all the technology- I mean- Dave Ek has developed a twin rotor Osprey. It doesn't just bust balloons, it mauls them and then eats the sticks that hold them up! The plywood rotors weren't enough so he's developing lead/lag carbon fibre rotors. A guy with a prop installed backwards doesn't stand a chance. Everyone is going to gyros- it's worse than the tuned-pipe debate was. I'm thinking of flying Carrier only, just to get away from all the gimmickery. Sure miss the good ol' days...Sigh.....dale g

Gimme a Shoestring and a Fox 35 any day. I don't have to win to have a good time murdering balloons.

I had never actually tried balloon bust before Topeka feeling it more of a novice event but I found I was terribly ineffective with a borrowed ringmaster going fast and balloons laying on the ground in a high wind. It's definitly more difficult than it looks in those conditions, especially breaking the last balloon first.

I might design and build a "balloon bust special" myself. I see it as being very rugged, large and slow, very stable, swinging a big prop. Sorta like a big trainer and with a tall, stout, gear that will hopefully bounce it back up in the air saving the prop on a miscalculated balloon attack. Maybe a foamie, maybe spruce leading edge and spars, thin 1/8" ribs, basswood fuse or balsa/ply laminate, triple tough front end, lite ply or glassed tail surfaces, lots of power, a three line, throttled approach might be helpful also.

Anybody got any local rules on engine size, throttles, rotary winged craft, biplanes, etc.?

Trust me Jim, just get one of those old Goldberg Shoestrings with the baseball bat of a leading edge, cover it with SIG Koverall and glass the nose like you would any Goodyear racer. You will have your balloon bust monster. Oh and get one of those rubber, white nylon props.

Gyro's are just a fad, regardless that Jim has been flying that one of his for 28 years or whatever, it's older than Todd I think.

Doesn't anyone post pictures anymore?

Doesn't anyone post pictures anymore?
Got a new digital camera which works pretty well but I didn't take it to Topeka as I can never get any photos down close to the 50 KB or MB or whatever limit.

ArcSoft PhotoImpression4 Came with my Canon A60 digital camera. You go to edit, then resize and change the normal 640 pixel to around 550 and then it will go onto SSW. That's the easy part.(Took me 6 months!) The hard part is to put down the airplanes and pick up the camera. That's why we have Elwyn, thank Goodness! Best regards, dale gleason

Thanks Dale:
This is a Kodak system which changed all the photo editing ability of the computer when I downloaded it. I have gone into the system a little further and moved the picture quality down and will try to post a photo under another thread.

Still o joy on posting photos.
The Kodak "Easy Share" system says something about "your photos are being compressed and transmitted as a zip file" when I e mail them and it takes forever to send them.
Anyway, I tried to post on SSW forum as both JEPG and Zip files and no luck even after de compressing or max compressing images.

From Dale G.,

"Clean, your balloon bust is the grreatest. We've incorporated it here is Big D June 19th. I used to prevail in this event, but now with all the technology- I mean- Dave Ek has developed a twin rotor Osprey. It doesn't just bust balloons, it mauls them and then eats the sticks that hold them up! The plywood rotors weren't enough so he's developing lead/lag carbon fibre rotors. A guy with a prop installed backwards doesn't stand a chance.

Everyone is going to gyros- it's worse than the tuned-pipe debate was. I'm thinking of flying Carrier only, just to get away from all the gimmickery. Sure miss the good ol' days...Sigh.....dale g

Dale,

Might not be an improvement there. We have a fellow here in the NW who flies his gyro in Carrier. He even stomped and acted indignant when being refused entry into Profile a couple times, jumped through all the hoops in getting it approved for competition.

The good news is that once allowed to use his gyro in Profile Carrier he quit doing so. And it was really slow.

I'd seen a gyro sitting around the USS Fogerty at a few of our earlier contests. It was a "prop" to stir up things. Got a lot of questions asked like "..what is the wing area?..".But this balloon buster of Col. Ek's flies fine even if the rotors don't rotate. But they do rotate most of the time and with a span of four feet, he never misses! He has had more fun/enjoyment from this C/L model than I have had in the last half dozen or so. It's a great example of the way I remember all the Jim Walker gadgets- wierd things that flew. Best regards,

>Doesn't anyone post pictures anymore?
I couldn't make it to Topeka but here's a shot of Jim Lee's autogyro in action at the Gluedobber Contest last year.

Everyone is
>going to gyros- it's worse than the tuned-pipe debate was.
>I'm thinking of flying Carrier only, just to get away from
>all the gimmickery. Sure miss the good ol'
>days...Sigh.....dale g

What I am waiting for, is the dedicated Balloon Bust Motor, after seeing Elwins engine stalled In OKC. There is enough engine building talent available now, Who is up to the challenge? Henry? Randy? Jett? or do we need to go offshore?

I haven't flown that Ringmaster since the OKC contest. I think there's still some bits of balloon wedged in between the thrust washer and crankcase!

>What I am waiting for, is the dedicated Balloon Bust Motor

What about a Supertigre 60 swinging a 14-4 or so flexible prop pulling a 4 lb mostly ply, basswood, and aluminum trainer type airplane? Even the most stubborn balloon would have little chance.

The thing that bothers me I suppose in all this is that balloon bust is an event most beginners will enter with whatever airplane the have though they may not have the confidence to try stunt or combat. If they start seeing carbon fiber rotary wing contraptions or road warrior conventional airplanes in the pit, will they still throw their money on the table?

Well, seeings how the entry fee in Topeka is just a club donation, I hope so. When I had my contest here in KC, there wasn't a fee.

Really, we've been worrying the whirly bird issue to death, but Jim's is still the only one I've seen so far. Granted he's good with it, but it has a lot to do with the pilot, probably more than you're giving credit for. I think Jim ties balloons up in his backyard when nobodies looking.

I know I do.