The Big Show
Hey folks! It’s been way too long since I gave a briefing. Some reasons for that include - busy. But that is not a good enough reason. I am glad to say that ScaleBirds is quite alive and we are still kicking! We pushed hard and made it to Oshkosh AirVenture 2026 with our corner booth location across from Van’s Aircraft. I will fill you in on Oshkosh and our booth. I will catch you up on our current efforts and plans in a week or two.
Our plan for Oshkosh was to fly the P-36 and display it in the booth along with some bomber project parts and a Verner 9S engine on display. The skies had a different plan. It wasn’t the weather, it was the Canadian wild fire smoke. It was IFR and Special VFR for a week before I had to take the flight. It was still IFR the day we left. I heard that it was also smoked-out at Oshkosh’s Whitman airport where they had to close the field several times and everybody crammed to fly in before the show start. I’m glad I didn’t have to deal with that after a long trip to get there. I remember it being so hazy you could not see the end of the runway at all. We also dealt with it for quite a bit of our drive across NY, PA and Ohio on I-90. Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin were pretty good traveling until we got near Oshkosh and back into the smoke. Sunday prior was our setup day and from the booth you could just barely see the trees at the Theater in the Woods and nothing beyond. The smell was awful too. It didn’t smell like campfire. It smelled like burning peat moss. Glad it cleared out well on Monday. I was actually amazed at how many aircraft made it in. Don’t know how they did it.
We displayed the P-40 Warhawk fuselage mockup/test mule/display on our corner instead of the P-36. I was surprised at how many people we had come through the booth despite not having a real airplane there. We were definitely getting attention. Our LiteFighter display included a set of parts from the Beta tail and aft fuselage kit. Actual parts right off the shelf. We cleco’d the aft fuselage together so you can see how it is almost ready to assemble. We did not deburr or file anything. We also showed completed horizontal and vertical stablizers that were flush riveted. We had several of our Beta builders and team members stop in and look at the parts. Andre brought his parts with his builders log to show how easy it is. He is a first-time builder and jumped at the chance to get a P-36 Hawk replica.
For the bomber project, we brought one of the two elevators and displayed it without fabric covering. We will do all the fabric work at one time. We still have to make the rudder and ailerons before we have all the fabric covered parts. This elevator was well received and people marveled at its size. “This is just an elevator??” We also brought a display we created from the fuselage waist gunner position we made as a structural sample and fixture test. After making this sample for validating our fixturing, tooling and build procedures, we looked at it and said - that would make a great display if we add the 50 Cal gun! Scott got busy and found a 3D printable model of the M2 Browning at full scale that someone posted on grab-cad. It was created for a full-size Torpedo Boat display and was not the same hardware as what would be in a B-17 gunner position. Scott remodeled it and created the mounting bracketry so it could swivel and look right. The differences being mostly the barrel shape and length and the swivel bracket mounting parts. Everyone passing by our booth saw the gunner station and ALL the kids wanted to aim the gun and get the experience. Many adults did too. It was a real eye catcher and gave a good feeling for the size of the fuselage. This aircraft will be amazing!
We showed off a new Verner 9S radial aircraft engine - right out of the box. We had our display stand and made a mounting frame to show it better. We did ok and sold two engines at the show. That was pretty good for us. We talked with many Verner Motor owners and potential owners about their installations and options. It was a really good show for Verner.
We left Oshkosh with some success, some great meetings/networking and worn-out from a long week. The trip back was interesting from the start. The weather turned terrible and big storms were going to chase us out of EAA grounds that Sunday night. We packed up and hit the road, but only made it to Fon du Lac. We couldn’t keep going. Shot! We got up fairly early Monday morning and hit the highway South to the Chicago bypass. We were just in front of a big storm. That was the same storm that formed the tornado that hit Neenah, WI that morning. The severe storm followed us all the way around Chicago and across the top of Indiana. By Ohio it was just rain and we dealt with it on and off till NY. That’s when my wife found a good deal on the Del Lago hotel and indian casino West of Syracuse, NY. It was a $300/night normally but discounted to $104 because there were no performers that night. Fancy room and very nice digs! We were glad to walk around the casino and exercise our legs for a bit before crashing for the night. We had breakfast down the road in Waterloo, NY at Connies Diner. It was so 1950’s and very friendly. Great food too! Easy ride the rest of the way home to CT. Then we started to hear about the tornado in Neenah. Dang.
