April 2005 Prez Sez......
SAM Nine News - 4/10/05
Sheesh, I hate putting a date at the top of this. It'll just
give John Kennedy, our esteemed webmeister (Now Webmaster
is Tommy Gray), yet another reason to nag me to write an
update in about a week or so. I think he just wants me to
write something so he can put his rude comments in. But, to
get him off my back for now, I'll hunt-and-peck some
sentences here, then email 'em to him to occupy his time.
Not that he needs his time occupied, since he's biting off a
sizeable project for himself. Whilst looking through one of
the old issues of Model Builder, he discovered an Old Timer
that he simply MUST build. So he says. Ok, most of us have
had that same bug bite us, so what's the problem? The ship
he wants to scratch-build is the SNOW WHITE!
In case you've never seen it, it's a big, beautiful
aircraft, one of a group called “streamliners” done in the
late Thirties. Big and beautiful, yes, but it stayed a
one-of-a-kind for quite a few years because building it
aren't the easiest thing one can do. First, it has an oval,
planked fuselage. And there's a LOT of fuselage to plank on
this airplane. Second, the wing-to-fuselage joining looks
more than a little intimidating. Third, those large,
beautiful wings are elliptical, most all the way from root
to tip. Whole lot of different-sized ribs to cut! Whole
lotta cutting gonna be going on there. And need I
mention that the ellipse is undercambered as well?
Ok, to put this into perspective, John has just finished the
test flights of his first scratch-built model. Let me
re-phrase that, ...his first scratch-built model. Now, the
½A Texaco size Powerhouse DOES fly well, and yes, it looks
nice, and he's getting used to flying it smoothly, but there
was quite a bit of, oh, let's say, .....guidance, involved
on someone's part (ahem). To leap from a 48”, 18oz,
.049-powered airplane to a seven foot span (I think it's 7
ft), elliptical-winged (read: tip-stalling) heavyweight,
with a horse of an engine in the nose, is a BIG jump.
But,....far be it from me to utter discouraging words. Eees
not my job.
Some good news regarding membership in the chapter. In an
email to Jason Cunningham, up in Eldorado, Ark, I'd
mentioned the formation of SAM 9. He apparently spread the
word a bit and I got a note from a guy about 110 miles east
of here, in Rayville, La, Mr.Wendell Henry. He's been a
voice in the wilderness, not knowing where there were any
others around who had an affection for the old timers. Turns
out we even have similar tastes in the engines lurking
around our workshops, and the various aircraft cluttering
them up! Ah, great minds run in the same paths.
Speaking of that, the workshop and tastes, I mean, maybe I
should put in here some stuff about my interests, since the
object of all this is to communicate. I've tattled on John
and his development, so I suppose it's time I confessed my
sins.
One of my main areas of interest in the old timers is the
1/2A Texaco Class and 1/2A Texaco Scale, though I also have
a Playboy Cabin suitable for Class A with an older Enya .19
in its nose, and a Playboy Jr. still in kit form. Five or
six other O.T. "short kits" (from Klarich Kustom) are also
stacked in my workshop, desperately waving their little
arms, trying to get my attention. There's a Quaker Flash, a
Dallaire Sportster, a 1/2A Lanzo Record Breaker, a Fokker
D-VIII, and a couple of other full-size O.T.s.
As far as flyable at present, I have a Kerswap, a Cleveland
Viking, an MG-2 in the test-flying stage to replace the one
JOHN LOST FOR ME IN FT WORTH!! There's a good
story behind all that, and I promise to pass it along next
issue. There's a racy-looking Banshee on the workbench,
three-quarters built, and all these are for the 1/2A Texaco
class. But there's also a non-SAM, scale biplane from the
late 1940's, the Currie Wot, that is really close to its
maiden flight. It has a TT.10 in its nose and is set up for
three-channel, slow and easy flying.
Next time I'll put in a few explanations of some of the
pictures on the photo page. We're getting closer and closer
to actually having this website organized, and all systems
working!
If there're any of you out there in the northwest Louisiana,
east Texas, or southwest Arkansas area, PLEASE get in touch
with us so we can get the chapter building up.
--- Patrick Leray