Tami, Katelynn, and I packed up our gear and headed off to Airventure this year.

Another year has come and the Airventure season is upon us.  Since my building has suffered all year, I thought what I needed for that extra "kick in the you know what" was to go to Airventure this year.  I figured that it would be a good stimulus to get back into building.

We were going to drive and stay at a motel like we have done in years past.  As I got to thinking about our previous Airventure experiences, I thought that it would be fun to stay on the grounds and camp at Scholler.  I was given direction by Tami that if we were going to camp this year "WE WEREN'T PACKING LIGHT".  After further explanation, I learned that to mean we would be packing big air mattresses, big tent, lounge chairs, grills, shade canopies, etc.  Well, all that junk (I mean camping gear) was not going to fit in either of our cars.  We decided to rent a minivan which turned out to be a GREAT IDEA.

When we went to pickup the minivan, we were pleasantly surprised to see that it had a flip down LCD screen and a 6 DVD player in it.  Tami took to do her crafts and watching movies on our 10 hr drive up to OSH.

While I didn't get to use the DVD player and watch movies, I did get to use my Garmin 396 and geek out on XM Weather and XM Radio.  I think that reclining in the rear seats and watching a movie was still a better deal.

After what felt like a LONG drive, we are getting close to OSH.  If I just flew the Cherokee, this would have only taken 4 hours instead of 10.  Or better yet, get my RV done and be there in 2 hours.

Getting Close.....

Finally, our arrival at Camp Scholler was met with a line to get into the camp.  This was our first time to Scholler.  They really had the in processing thing figured out.  It only took us 20 minutes or so to get processed into the camp.  They keep it simple by charging you for the whole week and then they refund the difference if you should leave early.

This guy in front of me had the right idea.  If you are going camping to Scholler, take bicycles or some other mode of transportation.  It is a long walk to the field.  EAA has set up a bicycle area right at the gates so you could ride from your campsite right up to the gates of the airshow.  This would have saved a ton of walking.  Not to mention going to get ice, water, and taking a shower.

Camp Scholler is HUGE.  You just drive around until find an open patch of grass and setup.  I thought that I wouldn't have enough room for our larger tent, canopy, and minivan.  As it turned out, our campsite was relatively no thrills compared to the size of other camp sites.

I caught Tami off guard with her hands full washing some dishes after din-din.... 

Tami made me buy some lounge chairs for the trip.  Those turned out to be a great camping investment.

 Tami made quick use of a cell phone.  While I wanted to look at airplanes, she wanted to shop....  She was calling her friend Jan to see what size shirts the kids wore.

Somebody had a sense of humor.....

Mike Stewarts Super 8.  I like his paint scheme...

Dan always seemed to draw several people who wanted to stop and chat since he is more or less an icon in the RV-7 builder ranks.

Here is a rear shot of Mike Stewarts 'Super 8'.  Several RV's were getting ready to head out for some formation flying over OSH.

Of course, everyone knows this airplane....

I liked the paint detail on this RV-8.  I love the looks of painted props.

Their paint scheme is normally one that I would pick, but it was sure a nice paint job.  You can see the mirror on the ground under the wing showing the back sides of the cards painted on the wing bottom.

They had a ton of detail in their paint...  It was fun to look at.

Although not pictured, they had the back of the cards painted on the bottom of the wing....

Here is some shots of the RV formation flight.  They looked really good!!!!!

It is amazing of how big OshKosh is and how many people are there.

One of our laps around the field, we stopped over to Van's tent and caught Van out talking about their newest airplane, the RV-12.  It was hard to get in there as the RV-12 drew a pretty good crowd.

I didn't take to many pictures of RV's, but I liked this guys paint job.

I also like this "Holy Cowl" and am considering it for my -7.

This B-1B Lancer Bomber was impressive to look at.  It came in while we were out at the campground and it did a high performance climb after its low pass.  Man, that climb out was impressive for such a big aircraft.

The crowd for the Monday night Beach Boys concert started gathering early in the afternoon.

Getting close to show time, the clouds rolled in and it looked like we were going to get wet.

As the concert neared, the crowd just kept growing and growing.  You can see the front coming through.  Like I said, I thought we were going to be in a down pour....

The Ford Motor Company sponsored the Beach Boys Concert and prior to the concert, the Ford Girls came out and got the crowd started by shooting T-Shirts into the crowd with air cannons.  Those cannons were really neat....  I put a link below if you have a need for using an air cannon...

http://www.aircannonsinc.com/

Those cannons could shoot T-Shirts darn near to the back of the crowd.

They look like they are having fun.....

More T-Shirts....

Then the Beach Boys came out and started the concert.  It really is only 2 of the original Beach Boys and the rest of the band is new, unknowns (with the exception of John Stamos).  You may recall John Stamos used to be on Full House.

We were a ways from the stands, but there were people behind us for quite a ways too.

It was still really loud from this distance.

Even the little kids enjoyed the concert....

Tami kept wanting me to get close ups of John....  The Beach Boys sure made fun of him and his Full House residual checks. 

John had all kinds of help playing the drums.

Overall, the Beach Boys put on a pretty good show.  It rained on us a little, which allowed us to get pretty close and most of the fair weather concert goers left.  The Beach Boys played on so we stayed and took in the show.

Everyday, a parachute team jumped over the field and flew the flag down to the ground while an airplane circled and made smoke rings. 

This was a wing walker show.  I got a bunch of pictures on this too, but with the overcast skies, they just don't show like I was hoping....  I though that this was pretty neat on take-off.  If you are the guy out on the wing, I bet you want to be hanging on about this time.....

A warbird fly over.  The RV's looked just as good in their fly overs....

It is hard to convey the noise of all these airplanes flying over.

This was the start of an afterburner takeoff by an F-16.  LOUD, LOUD, LOUD.....

This was a warbird tribute of yesterday and today's warbirds.

The Blue Angels #7 was on hand and did a little flying (which I never really got to see)...

I decided that I was just going to shoot pictures as fast as my camera would fire them off.  Below are just a couple of the best pictures that I got of Jim LeRoy's air show performance.

This was neat....  When he come in, he put on the brakes, threw some power to the plane, picked up the tail, spun around and turned on the SMOKE.....

While Jim LeRoy was out doing his show, the Blue Angel #7 was giving Harrison Ford a flight in the F-18.  The thing that was impressive about this was that I was standing very near the Blue Angel Jet when they were starting up to go out.  The heat that came off the jet from where I was standing was just incredible.  That and the smell of jet fuel.  It reminding me of kerosene...  Impressive to be so close to so much airpower.

Han Solo is in the rear seat...  I bet that was one heck of a ride.

I guess that is one of the perks of being famous.

I wasn't standing right next to the jet, but I was pretty close.

This makes yet another famous person I have seen this week.

Harrison Ford ware fairly surrounded by EAA staff and military personnel.  He did stop for just a minute to let us mere common folks take a picture or two.  Tami was all wound up because the airshow on this day was awesome and she had decided to go back to campsite and do some crafting.  She missed out on a really good show.

On our last day, our evening was reserved for the RV barbecue that Bob Collins puts on every year.  We got all showered up and was getting ready for going to the barbecue when it just started pouring.  We retreated to the minivan and popped in a movie.  It didn't look like it was going to pass anytime soon, but within a half hour or so, the skies cleared (see picts below) and we went to the barbecue.

It was standing room only at the barbecue.  Bob did an outstanding job of feeding and watering everyone.  Bob did a great write up of the barbecue.  See the link below.
http://home.comcast.net/~bcollinsrv7a/eaa/gallery/2006.html

Between food and beer runs, Bob had a moment to have a short chat to the group.  He is quite the entertainer.  I wished that I would have had more time to talk with him and the other RV builders that were there.

This is an RV builder I have been e-mailing since I started building.  While e-mailing other builders is common place these days, meeting one of them that is from half way around the world is not.  This is Brian Degenhardt and he is from Australia.  He and his wife took month vacation and flew over to the states.  They were quite the couple and very entertaining.  Tami and Jane spent their time making fun of us guys while Brian and I exchanged building stories and drank what ever beer Bob had in the coolers.

Brian has a web site for his business and his toys at:
http://www.daytonasigns.com.au/daytona_003.htm

Overall, I had a blast at Airventure this year.  Our decision to camp is what made the trip.  We met several people "after the show".  We had camping neighbors who had built an RV-8, another neighbor who had never been to Airventure and was working on his pilots license (thanks for the pict Doug), and yet another neighbor who had been coming to Airventure every year since he was a kid.

By the end of our three days at OSH, we had been rained on everyday, baked in the sun by day, and woke up wet every night (as our tent leaked and it rained every night).  It was GREAT>>>  That is what gave this trip character.  We survived Camp Scholler and have met many new friends.  I want to go again next year, but I have given my word to my wife that we would take a vacation that would not revolve around airplanes.  We'll see.  Maybe next year, I will just fly the cherokee up by myself and camp next to the plane.

I was fortunate enough to talk Tami into attending Airventure again for two days.  Two days was not enough time to wade through tools, equipment, and probe vendors for information on their products.  However, two days was better than not going at all.

The two days we were there were kind of crappy weather wise.  We had to dive under tents on more than one occasion to stay dry.  That kind of stunk as it made it real hard to look into airplanes as they were closed up and most had canopy covers on so you couldn't even look inside.  Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of pictures this year.

Advice to the married builder set on taking his wife to the air show.  Your wife probably won't be real thrilled to attend an air show.  That was Tami's story again this year.  She tolerates attending the air show as I usually agree to go up to her folks for a couple of days after the show.  She had the added bonus this year as she found out that the EAA has a "crafting tent" set up for those people who are not all that interested in looking at airplane engines.  Tami found 1/2 day sessions on each day we were there for making baskets.  This made the whole experience a whole lot more pleasant for me to.

She enjoyed the basket activities so much, she was considering to volunteer to teach some activities next year if I decide to attend more than 2 days.  Woohoo, it sounds like she is open to the idea of spending more time at Osh next year.

After I dropped Tami off at the crafting tent, I was walking past the Honda forums and Van's was putting on their presentation.  I stopped for a few minutes to listen to Van talk about the RV's.  They didn't ever talk about the -7's during this lecture.  Van's had a pretty good complement of people filling the chairs.

I spent some time watching the flight line.  It is just amazing the planes that come into and out of Osh.  I managed to catch this RV-8 taxiing in.

Right behind him was this Harmon Rocket.  COOL!!!  An RV on steroids...

Right next to where I was watching the flight line,  I took a gander of this Lancair IV.  What a beautiful plane.  I REALLY like the Lancairs, but they were out of my price range and way out in excess of my flying skill level.

The builder had a little write up on the plane "Illusion".  It is hard to read on this picture, but he spent 11,000 hours completing this Lancair IV.  2,000 hours were spent on block sanding alone.  Holy crap!!!!  That is alot of sanding.  He spend another 3,000 hours working on modifications to the airframe and customization.  He has a lot more drive than I do for building a plane!!!

This Lancair was out behind the Lancair tent.  That is one heck of a set of pipes on this turboprop. 

While I was out walking the flight line, this F-16 came down the runway and then did an afterburner takeoff.  Oh my god, my ears still ring a week later.  It was very cool.  I got into the wrong line of work.  They actually pay those guys to do this.

I later got a close-up look of another F-16.  What particularly caught my attention this time around was how thin and small the wings were.  It is phenomenal when you think of the weight they have to lift and the G-loads they can handle.

More low approaches over the flight line.

Then there was the afternoon air show.  Masters of Disaster, I believe.  What an overload of aerial chaos.  It was great...  They also have a jet powered semi that throws flame-farts.  Quite a display, but if you had to listen to it all week, you might be slightly annoyed at the sheer noise this show produces.

Let the aerial chaos continue...

Counting airplanes 1, 2, 3.....  screw that, there is just lot of airplanes.

A C-5 Galaxy transport.  An absolutely huge aircraft.  They said that it was actually bigger than the Airbus Beluga that was at the show last year.

More military aircraft...

The P-51's are my favorite to look at and watch and I got the opportunity to see 2 taxi in.  Do you think this guy is doing the "happy dance" in the cockpit (I would be if I had the means to own/fly one)???  Nah, he was trying to tell the ground personnel where he wanted to go.

This guy came in right behind the other P-51.  I can't hardly imagine how expensive it is to own/fly one of these things.  I bet you don't do it on an hourly wage.

P-51's coming and going....  The EAA staff was trying to keep this taxiway clear of people, but can you believe that I saw people trying to dart out in front of these planes.  I saw the staff on more than one occasion chase people back behind the fences.  I'll bet the over the nose visibility isn't real great on these.

Yeehew, another Harmon Rocket.  I would sure like to catch a ride in one of these!!!  Hey, this one had a for sale sign in the window.  I think the guy was asking $135,000.  I wonder if he would take Visa or Mastercard???

Tami liked the paint job on this plane.  I am not big into flames, but for some reason Tami really liked them on this particular plane. 

I liked the airbrushing on the rudder.  I would like to do some type of airbrushing on the paint for the plane, but I don't have the talent to do this well.  Tami is pretty talented at drawing and painting (wood things).  I am trying to get her interested in learning to airbrush so I can have a fancy paint job.  She likes the planes with the nice airbrush paint jobs too, so maybe I will be able to talk her into learning to do this.

The other thing that was nice about this plane (and others) was that he glassed in all of his fiberglass tips.  They looked really good.  We had walked past numerous planes that just riveted the fiberglass tips on.  They looked cheap.  Hey that is how Cessna does it....  Even Tami made comments about that cosmetic difference.

SMILE if you are a Harmon Rocket!!!  While we were taking a rest on one of the park benches, Tami pointed out that the front cowling looks like the plane is "smiling".  Wouldn't you if you were a Rocket???

Last, but not least, I ran across this lone RV-7A....  Almost like it got lost when parking.  Hey Roberta, the RV's are at the other end of the airfield.  This RV belongs to Roberta Hegy.  Didn't see them, but I was able to pick out this RV from some distance.

Believe it or not, while walking around in the exhibition hangars, Tami and I ran into Kevin Faris.  Kevin is a local builder here out of Plattsmouth.  He is hoping to have his -7 done by the fall of 2005.  Anyway, we got to talking about good finds at the show and he had found some Tefzel wire dies for the automatic wire strippers.  So among other things, we walked over where I rummaged through the vendors stock.  The dies for Tefzel wire are mil-spec dies and have unique serial numbers stamped into both dies.  i.e.: 4285 for the die in the picture below.

I got two sets of dies.  One is for 10-14 AWG wire and the other is 16-22 AWG wire.  The vendor only had a couple of sets of each size.  Some were rusted out, but I was able to find one set of each that were in great condition.  Once set was still even sealed in the "green" dipped coating.  I got both sets of dies for $16.

The tefzel dies are slightly different than your generic automatic strip tool dies.  The edge of the die is not very sharp so as not to nick or cut strands of wire when stripping the insulation.  Instead of cutting the insulation off, it appears to just "pinch" it off.   Your standard electrical dies for the automatic strip tool at Home Depot, Radio Shack, etc, are sharp.  They cut through the insulation (and can also cut through the wire strands).  Cutting even a couple of strands on 16 AWG wire can be a big deal.  At work, cutting even a single strand requires us to redo the connection.

Aeroelectric Bob has a web page that talks about the benefits of this type of die for the automatic strippers.  It wasn't until I got back from OshKosh that I even found this.  I am glad Kevin hooked me up with these dies.  I have never seen them before.  I was surprised to see what Aeroelectric Bob had to say about cost for these so-called tefzel strippers and dies.  Somewhere in the neighborhood of $140-160.  I already had the strippers and I spent $16 on the dies.  Cha-ching$$$$

If you think that it is acceptable to use your run of the mill pliers, strippers, or crimpers to do electrical work on an aircraft, you should read the August 2004 issue of Sport Aviation.  Page 52 has an article on "Wired for Disaster".  Makes me stop and think and I do electrical work for a living at a nuclear plant...