CL flying at Joe Nall
by Bob Hunt
I'm taking a break from presenting technical information about Stunt model construction to write about an event that is not specifically CL Stunt oriented, but one which may prove crucial to the long-term health of the event and CL flying in general. The event is the Joe Nall fly-in that is held each year at Pat Hartness's Triple Tree Aerodrome in Woodruff, South Carolina.
In the past, the Joe Nall event has primarily been an RC affair. Last year, because of the efforts of Pat Hartness, Bob Shaw, and Mark Weiss, CL was officially added to the fly-in. Pat and Bob flew CL models in their youth and still enjoy that mode of flying.
Mark had the idea to add CL flying to the Joe Nall, but he didn't know Pat or Bob. Mark called Pat and suggested adding CL. He also volunteered to run the CL portion should it be instituted.
Pat loved the idea and gave Mark the go-ahead to come to the 2012 fly-in and set up a teaching program. Pat installed three outstanding grass CL circles that were funded by his close friend, Bob Shaw.
The 2012 affair was a tremendous success. Mark, along with his small volunteer crew, taught more than 250 people to fly CL using the excellent Stevens AeroModel Ring Rat trainer. And, the word spread.
For this year's event, Pat and Bob vastly improved the already-great facilities, bringing in several hundred cubic yards of fill dirt to allow terracing and leveling of the circles and sowing what can only be characterized as "putting-green-like" grass. (The word is that they will be further enhanced for next year.)
Mark assembled a larger group of volunteers for 2013 and expanded the scope of the training program by adding intermediate and advanced trainers to accommodate those who had progressed from the beginner models.
This year, Mark Weiss and his crew taught more than 600 people to fly CL using the Ring Rat models!
My involvement came about courtesy of a call from Mark. I offered to do whatever was necessary to help promote this event.
I am the editor of Stunt News, the Precision Aerobatics Model Pilots Association (PAMPA) newsletter, and I suggested that Mark provide an update for each issue leading up to this year's affair.
The interest generated by Mark's updates resulted in more-experienced fliers showing up to sport fly at Joe Nall, and volunteering to help with the training duties as well.
Mark took on the task of building the Ring Rat primary trainers. Stevens AeroModel donated several kits of this proficient, electric-powered, Profile model. They proved to be great-flying machines that were capable of basic aerobatic maneuvers, and were also amazingly rugged.
Many were damaged during the training flights, but, with some Bob Smith-donated CA glue and a few minutes of work by the volunteers, they were back in service. This year Mark Weiss and his crew taught more than 600 people to fly CL using the Ring Rat models!
In our discussions, Mark outlined the need for an intermediate trainer and I volunteered to design such a model and assembled a crew to build five of them for use at the 2013 Joe Nall.
I drew up what I thought was a logical trainer design and showed it to my friend, Dean Pappas. Dean suggested deepening the fuselage to make it look similar to a Sukhoi aerobatic airplane. I did that and came up with what we called the Joe Nall (JN) Cadet.
I decided to take a page from Phil Cartier's book of design and make these models using foam-core wings that have 1/8 x 1/2-inch full-span basswood spars that are recessed into the surface of the cores on top and bottom.
After the wing cores were assembled around balsa root ribs, the LEs and TEs of the wings were reinforced by applying .2 carbon mat, supplied by Aerospace Composite Products, using a water-thinned Titebond glue. The wings are strong and rigid and required no sheeting.
Phil, who owns and operates The Corehouse, donated some of his Super Light Covering that is designed to go on over foam, but we ran short on time and decided to leave the raw foam exposed. These are electric-powered models and the foam didn't get exposed to burned fuel residue. I plan to write an article about the methods I used to build the JN Cadets, and plans will soon be available.
The crew that came to my rescue to get the JN Cadets completed in time consisted of Will DeMauro, Rich Giacobone, Tom Hampshire, Frank Imbriaco, Mark Weiss, and Buddy Wieder. I owe them a lot.
A number of hobby companies donated materials and merchandise for use in the construction, finishing, and operation of the JN Cadets. Thanks go to Aerospace Composite Products for the carbon mat; APC for a supply of the company's molded propellers; Castle Creations for several ESCs; The Corehouse for covering; Horizon Hobby for motors, ESCs, and timers; Will Hubin for timers; Sullivan Products for lines, clips, and handles; ThunderPower RC for batteries; and Big D (Mike Scott) for handles. My good friend, Warren Walker, supplied outstanding, custom-bent aluminum landing gear, and I want to thank Warren as well.
Another level of training model was supplied by Tom Morris. Tom built five of his E-Cavalier Profile Stunt models to be used by the more-experienced fliers at Joe Nall. These electric-powered Profile models are soundly engineered and fly well. The E-Cavalier kits are available directly from Tom.
There will be expanded coverage of the Joe Nall in this and other modeling magazines, but I want all CL fliers to know just how significant the CL program was and how many people and companies were involved with making it a success. Thanks to AMA Districts IV and V for financial help and to AMA Headquarters for its support.
In addition to the previously mentioned companies, many others helped to make the venture successful. Thanks to Bob Smith Industries, Brodak Manufacturing, Byron Originals, Hitec, the Metroliners CL Club, Robin's View Productions, Sonic-Tronics, and S&W Fuel. There were many individual financial donations, and everyone involved is appreciative of those.
A special thank-you goes to Bob Shaw for funding the "I flew CL at Joe Nall" badges that were given out to the younger fledgling pilots. Mark had a number of special green hats made up for all those who volunteered to be instructor pilots.
That group consisted of Ken Armish, Joe Adamusko, Dale Barry, Derek Barry, Will Davis, Craig Gunder, Tom Hampshire, Bob Hunt, Frank Imbriaco, Bruce Jennings, Wayne Robinson, Howard Shenton, Tom Smeltzer, Mark Weiss, and Dave Wentzell. Again, they instructed more than 600 new CL pilots in the span of one week. That's significant!
Please consider coming to the Joe Nall fly-in next year and volunteering to help out in the training program. You just might get a free hat!
SOURCES:
Triple Tree Aerodrome www.tripletreeaerodrome.com
PAMPA www.control-line.org
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
