I know I know it’s been a week since the show but these are my observations. So let me indulge.
Full disclosure, I drove three days from Wa State. Arrived Friday before the show and set up at Camp Scholler. Couldn’t have been a nicer group of campers surrounding me. A Canadian group out of Ontario that know each other through their shared volunteerism at a local museum restoring a B-25 and Lancaster.
The second night two more campers would join in the fray. Dan and his son Aaron. As the evening grew dark and they established their small camp, I joined them for conversation.
Dan began to tell me about his father who was a prolific builder back in the 80s. He had built 2 RV6s, one for himself and the other for his sister. He also built a Thorp as well as an amphibious plane. Dan didn't know anything about the whereabouts of the RVs except that the owner of his dads plane had it registered under an LLC. He showed me pictures of his dad with the slider open and his fists in the air I can only presume was after his first flight.
We continued to talk RVs into the progressively cooler Wisconsin night before heading to bed.
The following morning before heading out, Arron his son noticed that the N# for his Dads plane had touched down on the field. I told him while I was walking the flight line I would keep an eye out for it. (more later)
The RVs on the field were numerous. The fit and finish on many was spectacular to say the least. I was predominantly interested in tip up canopy finishes and intersection fairings.
Of course many canopies are covered for the shows duration so I would walk and walk until I saw a plane arrive or a cover was off temporarily.
First of many introductions was Carlos (Pazmanyflyer) who was very kind to answer some questions I had. I huge shoutout to Tom Savrda for allowing me to crawl all around and under his beautiful award winner. His son flew in, in his last years award winner and were kind enough to remove his cover and show me the canopy fit. We exchanged numbers and he offered for me to call him with any questions.
I was also all over Randal Rettler’s RV9. The fit and finish on this plane was incredible. My only regret was not meeting him. In my opinion he won the canopy fit and finish award. He overlapped the sides with a skirt that aligned with the forward skin and integrating with the targa top it was a complete masterpiece.
I experienced numerous forums, composite classes all week, fabric covering, Taming the tail dragger with Bud Davidson, Registering your new homebuilt with the FAA ( bought the kit from EAA) as well as others.
Purchased a ton of goodies. New Crows from Dan the Man, Tosten stick grips, Airtex ELT, Earthex 680, Gtr-205x radio, and purchased landing lights from Paul. I already had the Essentials package and he just went in the trailer and pulled out packages and completely hooked me up. Asked me to send a few items back to Blake and we were all good.
Great VAF advertisers!
Some highlights:
The Vans dinner was enjoyable experiencing it with my table mates. Food was delicious but short on information as it was discussed earlier at a Vans forum. Missed a Garmin Watch by 1 number in the raffle. I would do it again.
The VAF social that Dan organizes was a lot of fun. Had some beers and some good conversation and met many VAF’ers. Thank you Dan for putting this on and thanks to the Sponsors.
So lets get back to Dan and Aaron. I was no help in locating their Dads plane but they walked the field of RVs and finally located it. The same color just a little worse for wear. The owner was no-where to be found so they left a little note on the prop asking the owner to get in touch with them.
Well you can imagine their excitement when the owner reached out the following day. They met him at the plane and it was raining hard that morning so they all hunkered up in the owners tent and talked for 2 hours. Dan shared the pictures of his dad with the plane and filled in some gaps as Dan had helped his father build the plane some 40 plus years ago when he was just a kid.
Dan and Aaron mentioned that they would be interested in acquiring their fathers plane if it were ever for sale. They were offered a first right of refusal. I was so excited for them and exchanged numbers with them to follow up on their story.
I’ll leave you with two quick stories.
I walked a total of 150,000 steps for the duration of the show. One tired night I asked the security guard at a station the quickest way to Camp Scholler. He pointed to the woods and said just head that a way.
As I entered the woods I heard music playing and came upon the Hartzell party. The timing was ideal as I was hungry…hahah I went up to the bar and asked for a beer and she pointed me to the Gazebo where I received my own commemorative Hartzell glass. They offered pulled pork, brisket, rolls, salad and fine entertainment with the Flying Musicians Assoc. Thank you.
Finally.
While standing at the ACS counter picking up my radio from purchasing earlier in the day. A guy and his wife were standing to my left and I offered up that my wallet was getting thinner by the day. He proceeded to tell me that last year he called his wife to know their credit limit and he dropped 168k at the same spot we were standing.
Now honestly I don’t know if I was more impressed with the dollar figure or his credit limit…..
Another awesome Oshkosh. Thank you to everyone that answered all my build questions on fit and finish and to the countless others whom I did not meet that allowed me to absorb your beautiful handcrafted RVs. I have hundreds of pictures to sort through.
See you all on the flight line next year.
Cheers
Arnie
Full disclosure, I drove three days from Wa State. Arrived Friday before the show and set up at Camp Scholler. Couldn’t have been a nicer group of campers surrounding me. A Canadian group out of Ontario that know each other through their shared volunteerism at a local museum restoring a B-25 and Lancaster.
The second night two more campers would join in the fray. Dan and his son Aaron. As the evening grew dark and they established their small camp, I joined them for conversation.
Dan began to tell me about his father who was a prolific builder back in the 80s. He had built 2 RV6s, one for himself and the other for his sister. He also built a Thorp as well as an amphibious plane. Dan didn't know anything about the whereabouts of the RVs except that the owner of his dads plane had it registered under an LLC. He showed me pictures of his dad with the slider open and his fists in the air I can only presume was after his first flight.
We continued to talk RVs into the progressively cooler Wisconsin night before heading to bed.
The following morning before heading out, Arron his son noticed that the N# for his Dads plane had touched down on the field. I told him while I was walking the flight line I would keep an eye out for it. (more later)
The RVs on the field were numerous. The fit and finish on many was spectacular to say the least. I was predominantly interested in tip up canopy finishes and intersection fairings.
Of course many canopies are covered for the shows duration so I would walk and walk until I saw a plane arrive or a cover was off temporarily.
First of many introductions was Carlos (Pazmanyflyer) who was very kind to answer some questions I had. I huge shoutout to Tom Savrda for allowing me to crawl all around and under his beautiful award winner. His son flew in, in his last years award winner and were kind enough to remove his cover and show me the canopy fit. We exchanged numbers and he offered for me to call him with any questions.
I was also all over Randal Rettler’s RV9. The fit and finish on this plane was incredible. My only regret was not meeting him. In my opinion he won the canopy fit and finish award. He overlapped the sides with a skirt that aligned with the forward skin and integrating with the targa top it was a complete masterpiece.
I experienced numerous forums, composite classes all week, fabric covering, Taming the tail dragger with Bud Davidson, Registering your new homebuilt with the FAA ( bought the kit from EAA) as well as others.
Purchased a ton of goodies. New Crows from Dan the Man, Tosten stick grips, Airtex ELT, Earthex 680, Gtr-205x radio, and purchased landing lights from Paul. I already had the Essentials package and he just went in the trailer and pulled out packages and completely hooked me up. Asked me to send a few items back to Blake and we were all good.
Great VAF advertisers!
Some highlights:
The Vans dinner was enjoyable experiencing it with my table mates. Food was delicious but short on information as it was discussed earlier at a Vans forum. Missed a Garmin Watch by 1 number in the raffle. I would do it again.
The VAF social that Dan organizes was a lot of fun. Had some beers and some good conversation and met many VAF’ers. Thank you Dan for putting this on and thanks to the Sponsors.
So lets get back to Dan and Aaron. I was no help in locating their Dads plane but they walked the field of RVs and finally located it. The same color just a little worse for wear. The owner was no-where to be found so they left a little note on the prop asking the owner to get in touch with them.
Well you can imagine their excitement when the owner reached out the following day. They met him at the plane and it was raining hard that morning so they all hunkered up in the owners tent and talked for 2 hours. Dan shared the pictures of his dad with the plane and filled in some gaps as Dan had helped his father build the plane some 40 plus years ago when he was just a kid.
Dan and Aaron mentioned that they would be interested in acquiring their fathers plane if it were ever for sale. They were offered a first right of refusal. I was so excited for them and exchanged numbers with them to follow up on their story.
I’ll leave you with two quick stories.
I walked a total of 150,000 steps for the duration of the show. One tired night I asked the security guard at a station the quickest way to Camp Scholler. He pointed to the woods and said just head that a way.
As I entered the woods I heard music playing and came upon the Hartzell party. The timing was ideal as I was hungry…hahah I went up to the bar and asked for a beer and she pointed me to the Gazebo where I received my own commemorative Hartzell glass. They offered pulled pork, brisket, rolls, salad and fine entertainment with the Flying Musicians Assoc. Thank you.
Finally.
While standing at the ACS counter picking up my radio from purchasing earlier in the day. A guy and his wife were standing to my left and I offered up that my wallet was getting thinner by the day. He proceeded to tell me that last year he called his wife to know their credit limit and he dropped 168k at the same spot we were standing.
Now honestly I don’t know if I was more impressed with the dollar figure or his credit limit…..
Another awesome Oshkosh. Thank you to everyone that answered all my build questions on fit and finish and to the countless others whom I did not meet that allowed me to absorb your beautiful handcrafted RVs. I have hundreds of pictures to sort through.
See you all on the flight line next year.
Cheers
Arnie
