Conference vmszoo::rc

I guess nobody decided to make the long trip. 

Here is a short report of the 1992 Weak Signals show. It sorta rambles on
but oh well...

We (a friend and his 2 sons) left my house in Akron around 7:30am for the 
trip to Toledo. This is about 2 1/2 hours away. We got there about 10 or so. 
No problem with the parking. In fact we parked in the Toledo Edison building's
public garage across from the convention center and it was only half full.
A lot of parking in downtown Toledo.

The 1992 show was held at Seagate Center in Toledo Ohio. This is a convention
center jointly owned by the city and the University of Toledo. It was a great
improvement of the the old site (Toledo Sports Arena). There was a lot more
room (25,000 sq ft more) and the whole exhibition area was carpeted ( a little
easier on tired feet than concrete). They actually had 'real' food at the 
concessions. I tried to buy a bag of potato chips for something to munch on.
They said that they were sorry but they could serve roast beef sandwiches 
(real roast beast not Arby/Roy Rogers type), fruit salad, brownies, etc. 
including real seat down diners - but no junk food.  

Now for the show.... All I can say is that from 10:30 to about 1:00 it was
toooo crowded. Even with the extra space. You could see very little because
of the people. It reminded me much of the Dayton HamVention on a Saturday
morning - but thats another story.

After the crowd thinned a bit we started looking at some of the displays.
Displays of note. Balsa USA had there new 1/4 scale Flybaby on display.
This year they had most of their kits on hand for purchase but unlike last
year there were no discounts. They had a .40-.60 size P-51 Mustang displayed
that will be announced soon. It looked good. I stopped at the Dynaflite display
an like some of the noters at the WRAM show bought a $15.00 Skeeter. Looks like
a nice kit... It also looks a lot like Dave Walter's Predator. 

I talked with Bill Nothrop (of "Model Builder" fame) for a while. He has 
completely separated from "Model Builder" and has started his own company
called NASCO. NASCO sells Bill Northrops plans and the plans of a few selected
old timers and some plans from old "American Modeler". 

We ran into Denis Crooks at the Pacer booth selling the virtues of 
Zap-whatever. We talked for a while. He was giving free bottles of 
Zap-Whatever to whomever gave him a bottle of a competitor's CYA.

Stopped at Scale Plans and Photos and talked to Doc and Ann Pepino. Picked up
a set of photos for my DHC-2 Beaver. They are of Beaver with a chocolate and
cream color sceme with a red maple leaf on the cowl containing the name Olivia.
Get it ... Olivia DeHavilland.

Checked in with Bob Holman (Bob Holman Plans) to see what was new. More WWI 
plans and new European Plans Catalogs. Got RC Model Worlds 92 catalog.

Collected this months model magazines from each publisher. Dick Kidd was
passing them out at RCM's booth. "Model Builder" was giving away a 'free'
T-shirt if you subscribed for a year. A transmitter case (plastic w/foam)
if you subscribed for 2 years. I don't think they are doing too well.

Got a good look at Roy Viallancourt's (Vially Aviation) Stinson L-5. Nice 
plane. I was tempted to buy the plans, but I have way to many projects already.

Bought a Cowl from Fiberglas Specialties for my 1/3 scale flybaby. Got a 
30% discount on it by buying it at the show.

As I was walking past the AMA booth, Miss Ohio grabs hold of my arm and asked,
"if I would like her to stick it to me"? Sounded good to me at the time. So
she did. I got an AMA sticker stuck on my shirt saying 'AMA forever' or 
some such nonsense. A VERY attractive young lady....

The static displays were outa' sight like normal. A few caught my eye.
A 1/3 scale piper tri-pacer (I could have stuck one of my kids in it!),
a DH Mosquito. There was one an AT-6. I have never seen so much detail in
a flying model. I'm sure one of magazines will have pictures of this one.

Proctor had a display... All of their kits were hanging uncovered in and
around their booth. The Albatros DVa was on the table in front. What a work
of art. I talked to Mark Henige (I believe he is the owner or one of the owners)
about a order I made a year ago with them. I have a set of plans for the DVa
on a standing order. I seems that Ralph Beck, the guy who drew up the plans 
for the  Albatros and their Jenny, has never given them permission to sell 
the plans other than with the kits or to owners of the kits. So I may never 
see them. I asked about their next major kit, A Fokker DVII, he said that 
it is going very slow because Ralph Beck, who is also doing these plans, has 
been sick for a while.

I stopped by the Byron's booth. I wanted a catalog. They were cheaper here
over mailordering one. I got a little hot - waiting for someone to take my
3 bucks. All of the folks behind the counter all seemed to busy with talking
with each other or to full of importance to take my money. I came back later
and still had to wait. I finally yelled 'Hey You!' and one person decided to
see what I wanted. BTW the 'Striking Back' show will be held next year some
place in Idaho near one of the bigger cities. Look for announcments soon.

My friend's son's nylon duffle bag sprung a leak. One of the seams started
to fray and it opened up. He started losing all kind of stuff and the tear
got bigger. We went to the Zap booth again. Dennis Crook's wife helped us
glue it up with the plastic ZAP (whatever it is called). Very nice person -
never did get her name.

We saw a demo of Ultracoat-plus at the Goldberg booth. This is normal Ultracoat
with a small amount of tack. This is supposed to let you position the covering
better before you apply heat. They showed how well it will work as trim. I
think I will try some. I like Ultracoat anyway.

Also their (I'm sure I won't remember half) Lanier, JR Propo, Robbe, Hobby 
Dynamics, Futaba, Airtronics, Dave Platt, DGA, Royal, Coverite, Hobby Shack,
Hobby Lobby, R/C Review, Dave Shattelroe, Wendall Hostettler, Fiberglass 
Masters, Sport Flyers Assoc., IMAA ( I renewed my dues and yacked here for 
a while), B&B, Polk Hobbies, Macs Mufflers/Pipes, Tru-Turn Spinners, Du-Bro,
Hayes, Gator Products, Jomar, Ohio Super-sport, SIG, Innovative Model 
Products  and many more. I didn't get a copy of the displayer list.

I'm sure I missed a lot in the display area just because of the size. Last year
I made about 5 passes through the display area. This year I could only make 2.
Too much to see and not enough time.

The swap shop was upstairs ( or I should say up the escalators) from the main
hall. It was the normal collection of stuff that you see at a swap shop. I
did notice there were a lot of BIG gliders and a number of Byron kits 
partially put together and a large amount of normal junk.  I was also VERY hot
in this area. 

We left to go home about 4:30. 

Overall impression... I liked it. 
There were very few Show only discount deals.
There were a lot of big name folks and unlike last year almost everybody
that manufactures R/C Stuff was there.

Plans for next year.. I think we will leave friday morning, spend the day, 
get a room for the night and go back on saturday. There was too much to see 
in one day. 

><<< Note 1417.1 by AKRON::RATASKI "Tom Rataski - Digital Services Consultant EOD" >>>
>                      -< Review of the 1992 Toledo Show >-

Great review Tom - next best thing to being there.

>I talked with Bill Nothrop (of "Model Builder" fame) for a while. He has 
>completely separated from "Model Builder" and has started his own company
>called NASCO. NASCO sells Bill Northrops plans and the plans of a few selected
>old timers and some plans from old "American Modeler". 

Don't know the story here but I'm letting my Model Builder subscription expire.
It used to be my favorite magazine.  I really like Bill Northrop but don't
see where he can make much money with his very limited plan service.

>Stopped at Scale Plans and Photos and talked to Doc and Ann Pepino. Picked up
>a set of photos for my DHC-2 Beaver. They are of Beaver with a chocolate and
>cream color sceme with a red maple leaf on the cowl containing the name Olivia.
>Get it ... Olivia DeHavilland.

Sounds real neat - send us some pictures after you get it painted - or better
yet - run a video on it and that way we could add it to the monthly DECRCM
videos.  I'm sure Eric would be happy to receive some input.

>Got a good look at Roy Viallancourt's (Vially Aviation) Stinson L-5. Nice 
>plane. I was tempted to buy the plans, but I have way to many projects already.

I love that plane - my only concern is the landing gear - don't look like
it could take my landings!

>As I was walking past the AMA booth, Miss Ohio grabs hold of my arm and asked,
>"if I would like her to stick it to me"? Sounded good to me at the time. So
>she did. I got an AMA sticker stuck on my shirt saying 'AMA forever' or 
>some such nonsense. A VERY attractive young lady....

I suppose my dues paid for that - oh well - since they now have competition
I guess it's fair to advertise.

>got bigger. We went to the Zap booth again. Dennis Crook's wife helped us
>glue it up with the plastic ZAP (whatever it is called). Very nice person -
>never did get her name.

Linda I believe.  She does everywhere with him and is always his caller.
Sorry to see that they went out of the Calendar business.  I have the
model calendar from Model Airplane News - but it's just not the same.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

Well, even though the title says ".. next weekend" and the show is really
2 weeks away (Apr 2,3,4) I figured I'd ask my normal question early...

		Is anybody planning on attending?

I will be going up on Saturday morning and coming back later in the day 
(even though I planned on leaving Friday and spending a day and a half 
there - I was outvoted by my wife). There will also be another guy from
our office going with me. Toledo is only 2 1/2 - 3 hrs from here.

Like always, I'll enter a report when I get back. (It will give me an 
excuse to be slighlty more active since I have been a reader only by batch
etracts for the last 6 months or so  - I have spent most of my time 
at a customer's site.)

-TomR-

For all of you that have been waiting for the trip report from this years
Toledo exposition... Wellllll... There isn't one.

I came down with a case of the crud on friday and couldn't even get out of
bed on on Saturday... This really didn't make me very happy at all.  

Guess there will always be next year. In the mean time I will have to be happy
with the reviews in the magazines.

-TomR-

Time for my yearly query....

Anybody going to the Toledo Weak Signals Exposion April 8,9,10?

I am planning on going this year (hope I won't be sick like I was 
last year!) on saturday the 9th.

I will try and put a review here after the show.

-TomR-

I was hoping to have a booth down there this year but i didn't make 
the short list. Rapids Radio is a customer of mine and will be showing 
Quickees. if you think of it, say hi for me.

    As a matter of fact...
    
    Yes, I'll be there too!
    
    I am the team manager (and a pilot) for a recently formed show team
    called the "Top Guns RC Show Team."  We will have a new Sukhoi SU-29 on
    display in the Quadrotech Booth (one of our sponsors).  Look for booth
    279 in Aisle J.  We may be working the booth, so look us up.  
    
    We will also be wandering around Friday and Saturday, so look for three
    guys wearing pink shirts with a large green Top Guns logo on the back. 
    Stop us a say "Hello."
    
    Hope to see anybody and everybody there!
    
    Chris
    
    
    

Perhaps you'd like to let us know how your painting went and any 
things you learned or found to work well?

    Jim,
    
    The plane is coming along, but is not done yet.  We are shooting the
    first color coat (white) tonight and tomorrow night.  Again on Friday
    if needed.  Saturday we will add the striping.  That leaves just a few
    days for some small things.  The plane will be ready sans radio gear.
    
    This is the first time I have used automotive grade paint products.  I
    have and continue to learn a lot about painting.  
    
    I tried your suggestion of thinning out light filler and filling the
    glass weave.  I still had a million little pin holes though.  I'm sure
    it was me and not your method.  What I have learned the most about is
    filling those little holes.  I used to use spot putty for just that,
    very small spots.  I found by accident that you can quickly and
    effectively fill a large area.  I took a 5 inch wide plastic body putty
    applicator and VERY QUICKLY applied a thin coat of spot putty.  You
    have to work fast because it starts to set up in say... 5 seconds. 
    This works great.  The best time to do this is after you sand out your
    first primer coat.  The results so far have been good.  We'll see when
    the color goes on tonight.
    
    Chris
    

1994 Toldeo trip report....

We (a friend, his son and son's friend) left Akron about 7:30 am for the 125
mile trip to Toledo. It threatened rain all 2+ hours. Again this year, parking 
was easy to find.

Seagate Center (Toledo's Convention Center) was already packed when we finally
got there. Typically mob of R/Cers all trying to see and talk to everyone all
at once. We decided to start at the BACK and work to the FRONT since it seemed
everyone started at the FRONT. This turned out to be a good choice since the
back of the hall was relatively light with traffic. 

I really can't say I saw anything really NEW. There was just a lot. I must be
really getting burned out on this stuff, since nothing really excites me any
more.

I talked with Bob Holman (Bob Holman plans) about his latest offerings, Nick 
Ziroli ( I bought a set of Fokker DR-I plans), Wendell Hostetler (more giant 
scale plans). I was going to buy a Phaeton 90 from Balsa USA but decided to 
pick it up later - of course they were sold out later. You would think I would
learn - this is happened to me twice before. I hedged on buying a FOX Eagle 74
ringed for a future project and never did make it back to buy it. I did stop
at the IMAA booth and renew my membership. 

American Small Business Computers had a good deal on ModelCAD. The $100 price 
never tempted me, but for $49 I bought a copy.  There alos seemed to be about
5 other PC/computer based companies withprograms to do design/airfoils.

I spent a long time looking at a lot of things trying to figure out what I
really wanted/needed, and came up with gridlock  - Hardly bought anything.

The  swap shop was its normal mad house of people picking over junk/goodstuff.
It was also VERY warm in upstairs area where they had it.

By 3:00 the place had cleared out enough to be able to walk around easily.
We spent time looking at the display planes since we could now get close enough
to see.

Left at 3:30 for the drive home and arrived about 6:30.  A long day.

I couldn't remember what booth Chris said he would be at. I did look for folks
with pink t-shirts though and didn't see any.


-TomR-

    Tom, sorry we missed you.  
    
    We spent time on and off working the Quadrotech booth in Aisle J.  We
    only wore the pink team shirts on Friday.  I bet you were there on
    Saturday.  
    
    Anyway, we had a great time and sloidified our relationship with that
    sponsor.
    
    

Yeah... We were there on Saturday.

One of these days I would like to come in on a friday and leave on a saturday.
I'm sure it will be when I am old(er) and grey(er).

Sorry I missed you... maybe next year. Also, maybe Jim will ne able to
make make it and I can re-introduce myself to him (met him at a DECRCM meeting
a couple of years ago when I was in the area for training).

-TomR-