Screaming Eagles
R/C Club
Plainfield, IN

A Toledo Tale…   by Scott Black

I attended my first Toledo Show in 1976 when I was 16 and living near Buffalo, New York.  At that time, I was a member of the “R/C Aircrafters of Western New York,” AMA Club #925.  I went with four other guys in a van and we had a great time.  These are the same guys that kept me taken care of with spare parts and help to keep flying.  My summer jobs didn’t always cover my crashing expenses that’s for sure. 

 Since that time, I’ve always wanted to enter a plane in the Toledo Show.  It was one of those “Life’s To Do List” things for me.  With the Indy 400 design I recently completed after 10 years of tweaking, I figured I finally had a plane that was unique enough to enter without appearing completely silly.  So, I decided this was my year to try.  I didn’t really think I’d win anything, but I knew that if I didn’t at least enter, I definitely wouldn’t have a chance.  So, I figured I’d give it a shot.

 The problem with entering any model in the Toledo Show is that you have to have it there no later than 12 noon on Saturday and it can’t be taken off the table until 4 pm on Sunday.  That’s a full weekend at Toledo, no getting around it.  It meant getting home late Sunday.  Fortunately, my son, Kyle wanted to go with me so we wound up having a great weekend together and some of that hard to find “quality time” that is so important for parents and kids.  A special time for me.

Anyway, I entered my Indy 400 design in the “Sport Monoplane” category.  I was up against 11 other planes in that category, and at 3 pm on Sunday, they announced that I’d won 3^rd Place!  Again, I didn’t really think that I had much chance, because there were some gorgeous planes there.  But, they told me afterwards that they “loved seeing a cool new sport plane” and they were impressed that it was a new design, and not just built from a kit or plans.  

When they called my name, Kyle and I went up on stage where they presented me with the prize for 3^rd Place, a new Airtronics VG 400 R/C system.  Then, I got to kiss Miss Ohio who was acting as “Miss Weak Signals” for the show.  No, Kyle wouldn’t kiss her!  The funniest part was when I got home, my daughter Elise was downright angry that I “kissed anyone but Mommy!”  Funny stuff.  And no, Miss Ohio didn’t ask me for my phone number…

On Saturday night, rather than go to the auction, we went to an indoor Micro R/C Fly-in at one of the nearby junior high school gymnasiums.  What a blast!  That was my first introduction to micro R/C.  Man, I was really impressed.  They had about 30 planes there and all the magazines were there shooting pictures for future issues.  It was from 7 until 11 pm and only a $3.00 donation at the door.  Can’t wait to go again.

As a side note, Kyle and I also went up to the Cabela’s store in Dundee, Michigan on Sunday morning.  If you have any interest in outdoors stuff, Cabela’s is heaven-on-earth, literally.  Cabela’s is 225,000 square feet of fishing, hunting, boating, hiking, and camping.  It’s an amazing place.  www.Cabelas.com if you want to check them out.  Only 25 minutes north of Toledo on Hwy 23.

Following are a few interesting pictures that I took at the show.  I also entered my Cal Smith designed 1948 Sportwagon in the “Old Timer” class since I was already entering.  It does not cost anything to enter, so I didn’t have anything to lose.  Unfortunately, it didn’t place.  A lot of people liked it and were taking pictures of it, but from a judging standpoint, the Monokote covering versus traditional silk and dope along with a modern O.S. .20 four stroke instead of a vintage engine probably hurt my chances.  I don’t mind.  It was fun just to see it there.

Can you say BIG CUB!  I think they said this was a 66% scale version of a Piper J-3 Cub.  It was really amazing. 

Kerry Muncie was there displaying is awesome new helicopter design.  Hopefully he came home with a lot of orders and interest for all of his hard work.  Of course my son, couldn’t keep his hands off all the simulators there!