Q-talk 68 - Mar/Apr 1998 - index

MAR/APR 1998
ISSUE NUMBER 68

QUICKIE BUILDERS ASSOCIATION

"SUN 'N FUN meets EL NINO"

by Tom Moore

Well they really didn't meet, but El Nino kept the door closed for a lot of folks trying to come down from the north and from the west. The turn out of Q planes was about the lowest I've seen. Only four planes made it in. Surprisingly, two of those planes made it all the way from Texas. Bob Malechek and I worked our way through some weather we don't want to see again anytime soon. It took us a whole day and I mean ten hours just to get to the Florida border. We stopped there and made our way into Lakeland the following day. Larry Koutz was the only other out-of-stater to show up. He came in from Valdosta, GA. Dick Pratt's plane rounded out the foursome. He had his plane flown in by Bud Rodgers.

I don't know if anyone is keeping track of which planes have been making appearance at the three major shows (Sun 'N Fun, Oshkosh and Ottawa) but Larry Koutz is working his way to the number one spot. The only person who still might be ahead of him is Paul Fisher. It would be interesting to see the number of appearances on these two planes. Both guys have given their time unselfishly to the group and we are very lucky to have both of them around.

Speaking of being unselfish, Jim Masal is still holding two forums (Sunday and Tuesday) at Sun 'N Fun every year. Even though the plane turn out was low there was still a strong turnout of builders looking to get together and talk Q planes. For some unknown reason Jim gets his forums scheduled for the crack of dawn (9:00 a.m.) and the people still show up.

 

SUN 100 AIR RACE

Both Bob Malechek and I ran our planes in the 14th Annual Sun 100 Air Race. The race was held on Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. - too early, but nice and cool. It's good to report that I took first place and Bob took second in our class. I've written up some additional info on the race later on in the newsletter.

 

HOT DOG ROAST

Well the first Annual SUN 'N FUN QBA HOT DOG ROAST was a pretty good success. Rain showers looked like they were going to swamp things for a while, but the skies finally cleared. I wish I had a picture of Dave Richardson holding an umbrella over the charcoal grill to keep the rain out. A big thanks has to go out to Dave and Susie for hosting this for the rest of us. Everybody got there fill of hot dogs, corn and drink and when I left there were still groups of guys standing around talking airplanes. That's what the roast was all about. We plan to do it again next year so try and be there.

Well, that pretty much wraps up Sun 'N Fun for 1998.

 

Now for the bad news. I guess you can call this a state of the union message for the newsletter. The newsletter is dying. It is starving to death and there are no signs that anything is going to change. Normally at this time of year when all of the renewals are coming in I should have a whole stack of articles that I can put together to make six newsletters for the year. Well, I haven't received more than two or three articles. All I'm seeing are thin envelopes with a check in them. And to be truthful this is the worst year for renewals that I've seen. So we are caught in a CATCH 22. We don't have as many people subscribing and we still need to get information to publish six issues.

At this point I can probably finish out the year with the info I now have and by filling in the rest with my own articles. I'm sure this notice will spur some response from a few people, which will help for the short term. You need to be aware that this newsletter is for YOU. If you don't support it, it will go away.

What can you do to help? Think of a list of things you could write about. Don't worry about your writing skills; I'll fix it up if it needs it. What are you working on? There must be something you have done that is of interest. What neat little tool have you found that would help out another builder? What modification have you made that others may want to copy? What problems have you resolved? Make a list of articles you could do and then do one. Make some notes, have your wife help you write it. Put a roll of film in the camera and shoot the whole roll. Shoot from different angles and from different distances.

Whatever you write about or send information in on, try to send in pictures - lots of pictures. I won't use them all, but give me some flexibility in getting your story told. Pictures help a lot in some cases. Some articles don't need pictures. But like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. If you need to have them back, tell me, I will send them back.

I'm willing to put the newsletter together for YOU, but I can't do it without your support. It just won't happen without your support. And if you don't, this will be the last year of the newsletter.

 

Other Articles In This Issue

SUN 100 AIR RACE - by Tom Moore
TWO MORE FIRST FLIGHTS - by Gene Bowen & Brian Cain
TASKEM DIGITAL TACHOMETER - by Gene Cash
BITS AND PIECES - by Tom Moore
QUICKPIX - by Tom Moore
QBA HOT DOG ROAST - by Tom Moore
CLASSIFIEDS - by Tom Moore

 


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