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Sun & Fun Impressions

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scottly

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Went to the big show on Wednesday. Spent some time in the skill learning area/tents. Lots of volunteers trying to point some eager builders in the right direction on such things as fabric covering, gas welding, wood working, ect.


I took awalk from end to endon the flight line. Big area full of "homebuilts" that had all kinds of recylced beer cans and flying fiberglass swimming pools. No Biplanes....until you get to a small corner called "Aerobatic" or some such thing. There you had a whopping 6 or seven planes to look at, one of them Yellowbird. Then you cross over the taxiways and you see warbirds and then "classic" planes, from '67 on back.


Lots of old Stearmans and such...those were the only Biplanes.


Nobody seems to be building what we are building, and if they are, they sure aren't bringing them to the show. So sad....I guess kits are the way to go nowadays.




I was at the Steen tent. There was a young man (about 20ish) who works for Steen. He seemed to think it was amazing/amazingly stupid that I am building a plane from scratch. "Most people start out that way", says he, "then they call us when they fail and they buy the parts and jigs".


Guess I haven't failed yet. He did state that he thoughtit was neat to meet , "...guys like that..." that can build the whole thing withoutkit parts.
He told me to make sure I called him for my brackets and such because he was sure that, "...most people can't make that kinda stuff in their garage".


Ok son, I'll be sure to do that....yea, uh-huh.




Anyway, the show was good, the people were great, and our sport is alive and well...just seems to be headed into a different direction then I thought.






Don't forget to say a little prayer for the poor fella from the Blue Angels who gave his life yesterday....

 

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