District IX
Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming
I visited the Bismarck Aircraft Modelers field in Bismarck, North Dakota, last spring for the club’s Big Thaw event. I was impressed by its new field surface of sign material. Club President Bruce Pennington provided some details.
“We had a Petromat runway for quite a few years and it had its pros and cons, so when it was time for a replacement, we did some investigating. A local billboard sign company gave us one of its old vinyl signs. This is thick material. We put this over the rattiest part of the runway for a while and, from this test, decided to go with sign material to replace the entire 400-foot surface.
“We purchased three rolls of new sign material for roughly $500 per roll. We trenched the entire perimeter of the runway approximately 6 inches deep. The new material went right down over the two old layers. We stretched the edges down into the trench then put in pins at roughly 45° toward the runway. When the whole surface was down, we backfilled the trench.
“We’ve been delighted with this new, smooth surface. This material is UV coated, so we expect a long life. This spring, we’ll roll it to keep the bumps to a minimum. If you are interested in information, send us a message through the Bismarck Aircraft Modelers’ Facebook page.”
Here’s a story about finally finding the right home. One of my modeling mentors, Larry Scott, decided it was time to hang up his X-Acto knives, and I volunteered to try to find homes for his lifetime of Scale projects. He had a lot of stuff—some built, some half-built, and some still in boxes.
I took a couple of his old Scale kits to an event at Love Air in Fort Collins, Colorado. With no bites during the day, I packed everything and headed home. A few miles down the road, I got a call, and I will let Larry Inness finish the story.
“I’ve enjoyed building for more than 40 years, so when a friend of mine from Grand Island, Mike Harms, called me on his way back from an event and said that Jim Tiller had a couple of old kits, I was interested.
“I called Jim immediately and we made arrangements to meet a few weeks later when he would be in Omaha, Nebraska. I purchased two kits, an Ikon N’West Ryan PT-22 and a Giant Royal Corsair. I came home and immediately opened the plans for the Ryan. I’ve built several Corsairs, but the Ryan was new to me. The 1/4-scale Ryan was kitted in 1992 and purchased by Larry in 1996.
“I have never built a Ryan, let alone an Ikon N’West product. The instructions were straightforward and the plans well done. This was an enjoyable build. As I built the fuselage, I decided to install servos in the rear of the airplane, 3D style. A 90-inch wingspan is always easier to transport as a three-piece assembly, so I engineered that. I kept Jim up-to-date on the progress with email pictures and progress reports.
“Everything was in the kit except the landing gear. After Jim had torn his entire shop apart looking for the wire gear with no results, I found a Ryan ARF kit with landing gear and called the company. It had exactly what I needed. It arrived a few days later and, with a few adjustments, I was able to finish as planned. I covered the airplane with MonoKote. I plan to install a DLE-35 engine with Hitec servos. I’m sure it will be easy to balance and a great flier. This is an attractive model and will be on my website at www.linness.com.”
