HELLO, DOLLY! At the 2004 AMA
Homecoming in Muncie, Indiana, I spent
some time speaking to Dolly Wischer, a
devoted AMA supporter.
At past gatherings, as at the
Homecoming, Dolly always attends with a
supply of stuffed bears that she herself cuts
and sews. Dolly drives to Muncie from
Wisconsin by herself as her husband Bob—
one of the most prolific scale builders and
competitors in aeromodeling—found his
place in Heaven leaving Dolly a widow.
While Bob was alive, she always
accompanied him helping him with his
modeling activities.
Dolly brings with her a supply of the
stuffed bears, sells them at model
gatherings, and donates the income to AMA.
She is a genuine AMA supporter.
During my conversation with Dolly, she
hinted that it is becoming difficult to get the
fur materials. If you have an excess or worn
out fur coat or pieces of fur for which you
have no further use, please consider
donating them to Dolly for this worthwhile
project. To do so, contact Jay Mealy at
AMA Headquarters, E-mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: (765) 287-
1256, ext. 270. Jay will make arrangements
for the donation.
I am often asked about the use of geotextile
fabric, the woven product by Amoco and its
application for use as the base in
constructing a field runway. I know of no
better way to acknowledge the method but
by an actual successful experience.
I learned that the Blount County
Modeler’s Association (BCMA) of
Knoxville, Tennesee, used the material in
building its runway. Paul McAdams, the
club president, outlined the experience
which you will find informative.
The photos display views during the
application and additional photos can be
seen on the club’s Web site: www.bcmarc.
com.
“BCMA flies from a runway built on
reclaimed land at the Alcoa City/Blount
County landfill in eastern Tennessee.
Because our field is on a landfill dome of
clay, we have not had much success in
getting a grass runway to grow.
“As a club, we were trying to decide the
best course of action: sodding the entire
runway or have a blacktop runway put down.
The blacktop was cost prohibitive and there
was always the possibility that the sod would
die.
“One of the club member mentioned a
club in South Florida that had used a wovenmaterial
mat that came in rolls and was laid
down with five-inch staples. This idea seems
to be the best fit for our club. We might have
to move to another part of the landfill within
the next five years and we could always take
the mat up and move it with us.
“Two club members were instrumental in
getting our runway project off the ground.
Craig Teffeteller and Bill Webb did the leg
work. They found another club in South
Florida that had put a mat down, and from
there Craig found a dealer in Nashville,
Tennessee—Midwest Construction Products,
Tel.: (615) 227-5422—that could supply us
with the material at a reasonable cost.
“The material, made by Amoco, is a
woven product used in road construction as
an underlayment. There are different grades
of the product and we recommend that any
club thinking of using this should purchase
the best grade that it can afford.
“We purchased four rolls. One roll of
Amoco 2006 was for our taxiways. This roll
was 12.5- x 360-feet and cost $320. The
other three were Amoco 2019 and come in
15- x 300-feet rolls costing $550 apiece. We
purchased 8,000 staples in boxes of 1,000 at
a cost of $35 each. The total cost of the
project was $2,370.
“The taxiways were laid down in 25-foot
lengths and the main runway was then laid
down over the end of the taxiways. We laid
down the first roll of the runway down so
that one edge overlapped the taxiways and
then we stapled the three outside edges with
6- x 1-inch staples driven into the clay. The
second roll was placed overlapping the first
roll’s inside seam by four inches and then
stapled. We did the same with the third roll.
“Our ground preparation was to shave
the grass as close as possible with a
lawnmower. In all, it took approximately
three days in the course of a week with 15
people to install the entire runway system.
Because we were attempting to drive the
staples into hard-packed clay we had to get
quite a bit of water down to soften the
ground first. We used rubber mallets to
pound the staples in.
There is no need to stretch the material
because once it is down it will shrink in
the sun. These two pictures were taken 24
hours apart.
“When using this product, consider that
because it is a woven material, is will tear
from propeller cuts or if a lawnmower is
driven over it with the blade engaged. The
only other concern is with turbine jets
because they will burn holes in the
material.”
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/11
Page Numbers: 147