The Hangar Inn Restaurant right alongside the Stunt-a-Thun pits at Thun Field in Puyallup provides lots of spectators, who get to see the flying and the planes in the pits, close-up. Flying Lines photo.
By John Thompson
The annual pilgrimage to Puyallup, Wash., for the Northwest Skyraiders' Stunt-a-Thun precision aerobatics meet always brings the model fliers close together with the full-scale variety of airplanes, and it brings aviation enthusiasts who like to have their Sunday breakfast at the airport in close touch with the model airplanes lined up just outside the restaurant.
The 2006 version of the contest was flown in excellent stunt weather (see photo at right of Bob Smiley flying against a gorgeous cloudscape), with enough overcast to keep the sun from baking the competitors, very little wind, and pleasant temperatures. Full-scale airplanes coming and going added interest for everyone.
This year's contest also was honored by the presence of Dee Rice of Houston, Texas, designer of the famous Oriental series of airplanes. There were six Orientals on the field in various configurations. Using planes loaned by Pat Johnston, Dee also got a chance to show off his flying skills in P-40 and precision aerobatics.
There were a number of new planes in attendance, along with a lot of the old standbys. Among the stars of the new arrivals were Randy Powell's Dangerous and Keith Varley's Oriental Plus. Both proved to be still in the shakedown stages, but they were mighty nice to look at. Pete Peterson's Sultan and Mike Haverly's Oriental Plus were among the other very nice new planes for 2006, shown off at Stunt-a-Thun.
The Skyraiders crew of Chris Gomez, Steve Helmick, Ron Canaan, Dave Gardner and several others did a great job putting on a first-class contest. Very nice prizes were awarded, including the traditional Skyraiders chairs for first place. Among other prizes were dinners at the Hangar Inn and dope products supplied by Spencer Aviation.
See below for more photos of the contest.
Here are the results. Northwest standings points in parentheses.
OLD-TIME STUNT (4 entries) 1. Pete Peterson, Tacoma, Wash., 297.5 (4) -- Jamison, Zoot Fox .35 Stunt 2. Bob Smiley, Kingston, Wash., 287.5 (3) -- Ringmaster, O.S. .25 FP 3. Bob Emmett, Sequim, Wash., 280.25 (2) -- Barnstormer, Fox. .35 Stunt 4. Rich McConnell, Seattle, Wash., 237.5 (1) -- Barnstormer, O.S. .40 FP Judges: Dan Rutherford, Gary Letsinger
Rod Claus commutes to contests in style. That's his Smoothie parked under the Cessna he uses to travel the short distance from Kent, Wash., to the Pierce County Airport for the Stunt-a-Thun. Flying Lines photo.
CLASSIC STUNT (9 entries) 1. Pat Johnston, Boise, Idaho, 552.5 (9) -- Rabe Bearcat, SSW Magnum .53 2. Randy Powell, Port Orchard, Wash., 538 (8) -- Wooley Cora, P.A. .40 Merlin 3. Bruce Hunt, Salem, Ore., 528.5 (7) -- Shark 45, T&L SuperTigre .60bb 4. Mike Haverly, Auburn, Wash., 513.5 (6) -- Profile Oriental, O.S. LA 40 5. Dan Rutherford, Bothell, Wash., 505 -- Flite Streak, O.S. .20 FP 6. Keith Varley, Vancouver, B.C., 495 -- Oriental, Magnum XLS .36 with blocked boost port 7. Bob Smiley, 488.5 -- Profile Oriental, Brodak .40 8. Rich McConnell, 466.5 -- Veco Tomahawk, Fox .15bb 9. Rod Claus, Kent, Wash., 438 -- Smoothie, O.S. .35 FP with blocked boost port Judges: Dave Gardner, Steve Helmick
Randy Powell's classic Cobra, powered by a PA .40 Merlin, looked great on the ground and in the air. Flying Lines photo.
P-40 STUNT (7 entries) 1. Bob Smiley, 526 (7) -- Profile Oriental, Brodak .40 2. Pat Johnston, 523 (6) -- GeeBee QED, O.S. .35 FP 3. Bruce Hunt, 521 (5) -- Profile Cardinal, Dixon O.S. .40FP 4. Mike Haverly, 510.5 (4) -- Profile Oriental, O.S. LA 40 5. Dan Rutherford, 504.5 -- Flite Streak, O.S. 20 FP 6. John Thompson, Eugene, Ore., 488 -- P-40 ARF, O.S. .40 FP 7. Rich McConnell, 384 -- Modified Prowler, Thunder Tiger GP.40 Judges: Dave Gardner, Steve Helmick
BEGINNER PRECISION AEROBATICS (2 entries) 1. Michael Fitzgerald, Kennewick, Wash., 220 (2) -- Oriental 2. David Miller, Pasco, Wash.,158 (1) -- Tutor Too, O.S. LA .46 Judges: Dan Rutherford, Joan Cox
INTERMEDIATE PRECISION AEROBATICS (1 entry) 1. Rod Claus, 425.5 (1) -- Smoothie, O.S. .35 FP Judges: Dan Rutherford, Joan Cox
ADVANCED PRECISION AEROBATICS (4 entries) 1. Mike Haverly, 514.5 (4) -- Oriental Plus, RO-Jett .40 BSRE/pipe 2. John Thompson 494.5 (3) -- Vector .40, O.S. LA .40 3. Rich McConnell, 490.5 (2) -- Modified Prowler, Thunder Tiger .40GP 4. Dave Gardner, Renton, Wash., 463.5 (1) -- Re Run (modified Trivial Pursuit), Double Star .60 lite RE/muffler Judges: Dan Rutherford, Joan Cox
Dan Rutherford brought his Impact out of its semi-retirement. Looked and sounded excellent, powered by that growling four-stroke. Flying Lines photo.
EXPERT PRECISION AEROBATCS (9 entries) 1. Howard Rush, Bellevue, Wash., 573 (13.5) -- Impact, O.S. .40VF/pipe 2. Chris Cox, Delta, B.C., 570 (12) -- Saturn, O.S. .40VF/pipe 3. Pat Johnston, 553.5 (10.5) -- Mustang, Stalker .61RE/muffler 4. Pete Peterson, 551 (9) -- Sultan, RO-Jett .65 BSRE/pipe 5. Bruce Hunt, 549 -- Shark 45, T&L SuperTigre .60bb 6. Dee Rice, Houston, Texas, 548 -- Mustang, SSW Magnum .53 7. Dan Rutherford, 540 -- Impact, Saito .56 four-stroke 8. Randy Powell, 520 -- Cobra, PA .40 Merlin/muffler 9. Keith Varley, 481 -- Oriental Plus, RO-Jett .40/pipe Judges: Dave Gardner, Steve Helmick
Dee Rice of Houston, Texas, designer of the Oriental, was honored guest at the Stunt-a-Thun. That's Dee kneeling with Mike Haverly's Oriental. Back row, from left, Mike Fitzgerald with a Brodak Oriental ARF, Haverly with his profile Oriental and Oriental Plus, and Keith Varley with Oriental and Oriental Plus. Flying Lines photo.
Thun Field (Pierce County Airport) in Puyallup, Wash., is a great place for a contest, surrounded by full-scale aircraft. Left photo shows a skydiving group's DC-3 in the background as Mike Potter's MO1 comes by. The carrier deck was open for carrier practice during the Stunt-a-Thun. Every contest depends on workers who give up their flying time to make it happen for others. There were several at the Stunt-a-Thun, and the hardest-workin' guy may have been Chris Gomez of the Skyraiders, shown in right photo handing over the first-prize Skyraiders chair to Pete Peterson, Old-Time stunt winner. Flying Lines photos.
Pat Johnston's planes always have a little extra panache! This is his P-40 stunt plane, a profile GeeBee (Pat's design, of course), powered by an O.S. .35 FP. Flies great, of course. Flying Lines photo.
Results of this contest were included in the Northwest Competition Standings.
By Dan Rutherford
This site has been a little cramped in the past, this offset by the pleasant ambiance of our flying area being an integral part of a regional airport.
Thanks to Chris Gomez and Steve Helmick this year we enjoyed all the positives, none of the negatives. The primary circle had plenty of room, the usual easy access, plus nearly half the circle was just perfect for landing and take-off maneuvers, to the point where some of us elected to begin our flights from down wind when conditions would easily have allowed the otherwise preferred up-wind position.
In addition we had a secondary circle on grass; it was used for OTS, Beginner PA, some informal CL Carrier flying, lots of practice flights. While not something added by the organizers, by chance there was a DC-3 parked just to the south of this circle. How far to the south? Well, if one was flying on 70s it seemed prudent to move 10 feet toward the hangars in order to avoid the clash of model right wing tip to DC-3 right wing tip!
Factor in almost literally flying out of the backs of our cars, the parking is that close to the circle. The Hangar Inn immediately next to the action. And helping to sponsor the contest. Spencer Aircraft--a supplier to both full-size owners and to modelers--is also so close one can't believe it. And they help to sponsor the contest as well, plus seeing most of us streaming in and out buying nitrate and butyrate dope, SuperFil (the killer fillet material and the spelling is correct), all manner of Kewl Stuff.
All sorts of interesting aircraft coming and going all day, one of which contained Rod Claus and his Smoothie. Mike Fitzgerald even recognized the original Barracuda home built gassing up. A P-51 made a fly-by. Okay, it turned out to be a scaled home built, but it was still kewl.
In short, in many ways this is an ideal site. In my view, Steve and Chris have worked around all the (minor) shortcomings of the past, massaging the site and this contest into a highlight of each season. Well done in all ways! Many thanks...
As to weather, we had some, as PTG once wrote in a contest report. A very light sprinkle early Saturday morning, the rest of the weekend was nearly perfect for flying CL Stunt. The overcast meant very little flying into the sun, temperatures were moderate, the wind could be much more accurately referred to as (slightly shifting) breezes.
We even had a Texan who thought the conditions were ideal. No blazing heat...
Saturday:
I was intending to meet Steve Helmick and Chris Gomez for breakfast at the airport restaurant (Hangar Inn) which is literally within feet of our pit area, within 100 feet of the flying circle. Instead it was Dave Gardner, Keith Varley and Pat Johnston who provided the seat at a four-up table. Good move. Pat was so excited to be in the presence of greatness--and two of the weekend's judges--that he snagged the bill...
OTS was up first, and as has been the case over the past couple years entries are trending down; we had five entries this time around. I kinda think P.40 has taken over as the secondary or tertiary event for many contestants. Still, it is known that OTS has its adherents. I suspect they best be supporting contests which feature OTS or see the event wither away, as it is clear to me our two-day contests are ideally suited to three events. Not four.
As for myself, I elected to judge OTS this time around, along with one of our nicest people, Gary Letsinger. He was there in a support role, just as he is so often. And I am in semi-retirement from OTS. At the 2005 VGMC contest I was finally able to best Chris Cox in this event. Better than that, he was actually flying his own model, not one of mine for a change. Yes, for years he had been beating me with my own equipment, the stuff of legend here in the NW.
I figure it might be best to go out on top, especially with Pete Peterson having moved to this area, winning OTS at the NW Regionals this year, following it up with a convincing win at this year's Stuntathon.
(Pete was fretting about flying in Expert PA, the salient concern being to not finish in last place. See results below.)
Not being judged was Keith Varley, during a practice flight suffering through slack lines and the resultant Whomp! which sometimes follows. I happened to be watching, and from my perspective all seemed to be under control, this being a relative term. Keith seemed to be thinking the same thing, as in, "It'll hit the end of the lines before it crashes, why be hasty about back-pedaling?" At least he got an answer to that question.
With OTS wrapped up I went to the Hated Honda and pulled out my Cheater Streaker, having spent a fair portion of the weekend previous getting it tuned up. No, I mean really tuned, which mostly meant fixing all the weird stuff I did to it trying to get in some flights during the NW Regionals. I was (finally) ready for the boys...
Less the removable landing gear. Which turned out to have fallen off the back of my bench while packing that morning.
Fortunately I had The World's Most Labor Intensive ARF Flite Streak (TWMLIARFFS) with me, but only to have spare stuff. The model was most recently flown by Derek Moran at the VGMC contest last August; I suppose it has been a year or so since I flew the thing.
In a mild panic and with the help of Pete, I moved the tank up and then back down (don't ask), one lead out went forward, 1/2 ounce of lead was added to the tail, Spencer Aircraft loaned me enough juice to pull out a small warp, lead out spacing at the (Ted) handle was maxed out. It never did come together 100%, but ya do what ya can with what ya got...
I was gonna kill 'em in P.40. Or maybe not. Bob Smiley has the hardest time cutting himself a break. He spent a good bit of the morning telling us how he is working out in order to go on an extended camping trip with his church and a bunch of youngsters. And that the increased strength has had an effect on his timing when flying. Uh, to the negative...
I kinda snorted when he told me this, laughed out loud when in the afternoon he turned in a 526 in P.40. No appearance points, remember. Uh, Bob, tell us about that muscle tone/muscle memory/timing thing again, please?! And congratulations on the score, although when you were not in attendance Sunday morning for the second round of P.40 it looked for a bit as if Mr. Rice had your number with an unfamiliar model. I'm thinking that with one practice flight and then flying in the first round...well, that's nothing more than conjecture so, again, congratulations.
In Classic I did a Bozo, attempting to just pull TWMLIARFFS out, plopping it down and firing it up for an official untested. You know, the way I have thought Derek and others should fly it. I figured an attempt could be called if things weren't at least close, in effect wasting the time of the judges and my fellow competitors, all because I stupidly didn't bring a complete model.
Fired up the motor, it seemed to needle just fine. About halfway to the handle it started to go a little lean. By the time I had the handle within my grasp it went seriously lean...and then just quit. To the great amusement of judges Steve Helmick and Dave Gardner.
The glow plug had been spit out of the engine, landing at their feet.
Hmmm, seems I had changed plugs in all the 20FPs, neglecting to tighten the one in this engine. It was funny. But scratch one attempt.
The second attempt during the first round was not very good, leading to above mentioned thrash--assistance by Pete--in getting things dialed.
Of the flying in Classic I didn't actually get to see much of it. Well, I did see Randy Powell's fabulous rendition of the Cobra fly during the second round. As Howard Rush might have said, "That thing is really tootin' along." Indeed. How Randy got this model to fly in the 4.2-second range is not known.
John Thompson had borrowed a P-40 for P.40, this piece coming from Dr. Spark. Oh, man, I don't know the story behind the power plant, an O.S. 40FP, but here is a clue: When 2.5 ounces of fuel delivers a full AMA pattern from a 40, something is amiss. But John had a good time with the model, didn't even prang it.
We ended the day with plenty of practice flying for PA on Sunday. Chris and Joan Cox pulled in, Chris promptly showing us how it's done.
Speaking of "how it's done," I had an experience which was notable only for not being notable at all. Less the presence of interested and aviation-minded spectators inside the restaurant and on the deck.
It was my turn to fly, I turned around to see Joan preparing to hold and launch the model. I gave it not a second thought. Dragon Lady clearly knows what she is doing around airborne devices, whether CL models or the RV-7 she and Chris are building, Joan about 11 hours into getting her license to fly their creation.
It was only after the flight that I wondered what those spectating must have thought.
Probably something a lot different than Dave Gardner's mental gymnastics as Joan and I conspired to put a head fake on him the next day during Advanced PA. Dave looked over to Judging Central in order to signal the beginning of his flight. What he saw was Joan sitting on my lap, both of us with pen, clipboard and score sheet at the ready...
Still with Dave, he had a "new" model with him and flew it two or three times Saturday evening. It was originally from Gerald Schamp's shop, painted in lemon yellow and called Lemon Drop. It then went to the Great White North with Bruce Perry for a period of time, coming back to Gerald. The model was completely stripped of paint, refinished to Gerald's typically high level and is now called Re Run.
Dave has it now and with some kind of rear-exhaust (muffled) 60 installed he and Pat Johnston prepped it and got it in the air. Most impressive. Dave was comfortable with the model almost immediately, although it did have puhlenty of turn. During the first flight about every third maneuver I would mutter to Pat, "Gee, I'm not sure that would be my maneuver of choice during the first flight on a new-to-me model/engine combination."
Not to worry, although we quickly discovered a half ounce of lead bolted to the tail and promptly removed it. Still, the model flew flat to the lines, it didn't bang the tip, seemed to turn equally inside and outside. What a terrific piece of work...
The day ended with Pete Peterson and me agreeing to meet at 7:30 in the morning for breakfast. "You're sure? We meet at 7:30. Right?" "C'mon, Pete! Who do you think you're talking to, Howard Rush?!"
(Pete was fretting about flying in Expert PA, the salient concern being to not finish in last place. See results above.)
Sunday:
I was ten minutes late. See above.
I sat down. Pete said, "Dirt, meet Dee Rice."
You meet the best of people at NW Skyraider's contests, that's just a fact. Dee and I hit it off right away, mainly because he claims--with a straight face--to enjoy the Bad Boy Stunt column in Stunt News. Gee, he seems like a highly credible guy, but one has to wonder about his literary tastes.
Figuring Dee would not have access to equipment, but might want to fly, a bit later I offered the use of TWMLIARFFS. "Oh, I couldn't do that! They'd kick me out of the brotherhood!"
While you may not have heard, Dee and Pat Johnston have formed the "Brotherhood of the Ring," this centering on use of, promotion of, the ubiquitous Ringmaster. Pat even has a special set of plans which details how to build this design with current techniques and to a very light weight.
Besides, Dee was more than covered when it came to equipment...and flying abilities, as it turned out. Pat had one of his fabulous P-51s for Dee to fly in Expert PA. And as the second round of P.40 had been held over to Sunday morning, Dee also entered that event, flying Pat's GeeBee profile. To a very strong third place...
Hey, it's okay to drop in at one of our contests, all are welcome. But Good Lord, at least have the courtesy of doing a whack job maneuver once in awhile! First round of PA, Pat went in thinking he had the hammer of appearance points over Dee. Wrong. Even in the second round Pat had to work at it, pulling out a small margin of victory.
Great stuff. I loan out stupid ARFs and get an inordinate amount of credit for so doing. Pat loans out a very high-caliber piece of PA equipment and we just smile, mainly in order to hide blatant envy. Huge kudos to Pat for his faith in and generosity to a friend, to Dee for flying Pat's model as if he stole it.
In Beginner PA we quite quickly dispatched Mike Fitzgerald to Intermediate PA. While I had never met Mike, he pretty clearly knows what he is doing. But I don't, as he specifically asked for a critique on his 8s, and there was no way I could remember tips to give him. So I began on a rant that started out with this hobby delivering way too much advice, after which I gave him a lot of advice. Okay, let's be fair, our discussions centered on shapes, trim, shapes, not compounding one error with yet another. And shapes.
Mike is the perfect candidate for my monster treatise on the Universal Stunt Machine, but I forgot to mention it. That's okay. As noted above, he clearly knows what he is doing.
Sidebar: Mike, with the contest winding down, I overheard you mentioning that my Impact is powered by a Saito 56, my sense of the comment being that might not be enough motor. Trim, my man, trim...!
As the lone entrant in Intermediate PA, Rod Claus flew with the Advanced crowd. Neatly eliminating himself from any further participation in Int. with a 425. Rod is flying an ARF, no appearance points. But he flies with authority, showed his efforts to be much improved. And he had a great time, a beaming smile throughout the weekend, a nice wing wave as he left for home.
We were light on entries in Advanced PA as an interesting number have moved to the Expert class. This trend looks to continue as Mike Haverly was clearly the leader of the pack, his flying notably improved over the efforts of last year. And it had to be more than flying his Oriental Plus with Dee's signature now affixed to the left wing panel...
Also coming on strong was John Thompson, he and the model more comfortable than ever in the past. John is on a trimming mission and seeing the rewards of these efforts. I can remember a few easily corrected errors in his pattern, once these are ironed out we'll be looking at a new flyer in Expert.
Rich McConnell was, as always, flying really well. As I tell people, Rich can fly very well, it's just his equipment that sometimes lets him down. This was less of a factor this contest, but during the second round Rich pulled a terrific triangle the first time around, the motor went off-tune for the second lap through. Man, my pen was poised to lay a "34," maybe even a "35" on him. Alas...
Following Saturday evening test flights on Re Run, Dave knew that Intermediate was not in the cards, that we would thump him soundly. Not being a fool, he entered Advanced. Yes, finishing in last place, but with what had to have been a very satisfying score, considering how new he is to the model, the lack of appearance points. As I was judging, every maneuver was analyzed and it just won't take a lot of effort to see another point or two coming from each maneuver, that's just a fact.
One has to wonder if Mr. Schamp has more spare PA models to pass around.
Tip O' the Hat: Second round of Advanced, not having much time on the motor, Dave had set it a little bit off-song. With Dave at the handle, Pat Johnston signaled for permission, tweaked the needle for what was easily Dave's best engine run of the weekend. Personal note to Dave: For the rest of 2006, you start it, let Pat needle it. Forget the previous run, leave the tach in the pits, don't go by the exhaust note. Just let Pat come up with the setting...!
As I was judging Advanced I had a great idea, albeit one which would be difficult implement. The idea: Judge two, fly one.
In practice this would mean judging the flights of two Advanced fliers, immediately flying an official in Expert. Okay, can't be done, at least not with any regularity.
But the message is that there is no better way to actually "see" all of the maneuvers from the perspective of the judges than to actually be in the judging position and having your nosed rubbed into analyzing said maneuvers by the responsibility of awarding scores.
Remember that the next time you are asked to judge CL Stunt, I know that I will. Point of fact, I see this as such an intriguing opportunity that I must wonder why it is that we sometimes have challenges in coming up with enough judges when the potential benefits would seem to dictate that we are over-subscribed when it comes to the availability of judges.
Expert PA was the typical NW knife fight, this time with Howard Rush and Chris Cox at the pointy end of the results, a really interesting group of wannabes following in close formation.
Worthy of note is that both Howard and Chris were using that Oldie-but-Goodie 40VF setup. I'm not saying we should all switch to, or back to, the 40VF, but there certainly is something intriguing about this engine. And do note, puhleeze, that these guys have years of experience with their engines, to the point where that factor alone is the more salient of considerations. When prepping for a flight, during the flight itself, there simply are no mysteries as to what is going to happen.
Finally, I view this version of Stuntathon as easily the best in a series. Steve, Chris and the NW Skyraiders have tamped down the few negatives this site had in the early years, delivering to us yet another must-attend contest.
And Rush finally walked away with one of the coveted NW Skyraiders camp chairs. Not a trashy give-away, these are the most comfortable collapsible camp chairs around, plus they give one's pit area a bit of zootness as everybody in this area wants one of these chairs.
Old Time Stunt Notable Moment: Pete's OTS win at the NW Regionals was certainly no fluke, plus he is adapting nicely to flying at near sea level, having come from flying at 5,000 feet. And of course...(Pete was fretting about flying in Expert PA, the salient concern not being to finish in last place.) See results below.)
Classic Stunt Notable Moment: Randy laying claim to The World's Fastest Cobra. A mere 4.2 seconds per lap.
P.40 Notable Moment: One must wonder what kind of score Bob would have posted if not held back by the results of strenuous physical activities...
Beginner PA Notable Moment: From David Miller to Mike, "I told you this would be the first and last time you would be entered in Beginner PA!" True enough, Mike is new to the contest scene, but he did all the maneuvers and will now be in Intermediate PA...
Intermediate PA Notable Moment: Rod has improved. Quite a lot. Now he gets to take on the Advanced PA guys. He is more than up to the challenge...
Advanced PA Notable Moment: While not remarked upon to any great extent, it was with great glee that Steve Helmick and Da Dirt witnessed Mr. Gardner pull into the reverse wingover almost exactly cross wind, nearly 90 degrees removed from up wind. With a barely audible chuckle Dave was awarded pattern points. Of course. (Yes, it's a bit of an inside joke. Sorry.)
Expert PA Notable Moment: Actually, there were several, one of which was...Pete was fretting about flying in Expert PA, the salient concern being to not finish in last place. See results above.
More NMs: Pat just squeaked by Dee, even with the advantage of appearance points. Or was Dee holding back, merely to avoid embarrassing a friend?
My still-new Impact flies well, although muscle memory--Jeez, look at that thing turn! And why is it 12 feet high? Oh, that's right, it turns!--geared to Pukey Profiles continues to be a concern.
Randy got his Cobra slowed down, but his "real" PA model frustrated him early in the morning with fuel-feed issues.
Finally, the next time Pete Peterson frets about being competitive in the NW, we will laugh and chortle to no end. Welcome to the NW, my friend! Thanks for the roll of MonoKote. Thanks for the near-instant loan of your clip-on sunglasses. Thanks for helping with the ARF. Thanks for introducing me to Dee Rice. No thanks to flying against you in OTS.
Dan
This page was upated June 22, 2006