Florida Jets 2003
A great show for the pilots.
by Bob
Violett
Page 1
of 2
Thanks to the organizational efforts of F.T.E. and fairly
good cooperation from the weather man, Florida Jets '03 was another very
successful event. It has become known as an event worth traveling to and a
welcomed escape from that horrible cold wet stuff up north and abroad.
If you missed the
show, we hope that the following photo gallery will be
enjoyable.
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| Nick Smith and Geoff White were part of the
U.K. contingent that love to come to Florida to fly jets. Greg Murphy and Jason
Somes were assisting on Nick's last Bandit flight of the event. |
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The best looking and most flown BobCats and
Bandits at any event belong to the Kramers and Pischner gang.
Here, Vern and Larry
Kramer join Natalee (daughter) and Francis Pischner for
a photo opt. |
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| Alan Henry's F-4E was almost ready for flight.
Still needs a few rigging details completed. David Shulman will accomplish the
trim flights soon. |
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| Serious manufacturers in the industry send a
flying rep. When Kent Nogy is at a jet meet, you can count on him
for JR assistance, parts and friendly advice on programming and installation
techniques. |
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JetCat's flying reps are Jason Somes, Rob
Janiger, and Matt Carroll. Bob Wilcox (Mr. JetCat USA), Horst Lenerz and Markus
Zipperer (JetCat Germany) manned the trade booth to show the products and
answer questions from the many enthusiasts who came to Florida Jets to
investigate what turbine to buy.
JetCat exhibited their latest entry into the smaller
engine class - the P-70. Check back for more info soon.
Jason exercised the
P-120 powered BobCat in his usual style dozens of times, while Matt
demonstrated what a great combination the P-160 and Phantom make. |
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| Fabulous pilot Fabio Trento drove this Pegasus
powered "Hun" with impressive piloting skills. Gastao Zanirato heads up their
very enthusiastic team from Brazil. The Thunderbird scheme is artfully done
with BVM Metal-Kote and color tints for the burner section. |
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| Practice makes perfect, so Mitch Weiss was
working on his Top Gun flight routine at Florida Jets '03. This camo F-100D is
extremely detailed. Come see how it places at Top
Gun '03. |
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| Jon Stotz exercised his JetCat P-80
powered BobCat throughout the weekend. Jon hails from Rockford, MI and has been
assisted by Tim Redelman for the first few flights. |
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| Larry Depass flew his RAM 750
powered BobCat with the assistance of Tim Redelman. |
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| Airbrush artwork and House of Kolor paints
adorn Rod Snyder's Bandit and BobCat. Rod traveled through some nasty weather
from Tennessee to enjoy flying his jets in the Florida sun. |
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| Now this guy (Ray Blair) is serious about
Phantoms and shows no favor to airshow teams of the Navy and Air Force. He
likes them both! These AMT Pegasus powered Phantoms are beautifully crafted
examples of both and they flew multiple times at Florida Jets '03. |
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| Isn't this a sharp looking Super Bandit? And
it really screams with JetCat P-120 power in the very competent hands of Scott
Marr from Dallas, Texas. |
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|
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| The NASCAR theme has been strikingly applied
to this Bandit by Robert Vess (center) with a lot of assistance by Anthony
Wiencek and Keith Horton. Robert is the aero design engineer for the very
successful Dodge Racing team. In flight, against any sky background, the
flourescent orange is dominant. |
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Sabres/Furys at FL Jets
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John Christensen's multi color striped F-86
was so properly done that it was awarded the "Best Jet pre 1960" trophy.
Painted with automotive silver and detailed with ProMark badges and
nomenclature, it truely is a superb model with a T-500 for
thrust.
|
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How about this gorgeous Fury in Sea Blue
livery? Frank Tiano got so busy with the chores of preparing the event that he
didn't quite get his model ready to fly. Thanks Frank for putting the rest of
us first!
Detailed with
ProMark's 3D panels and markings, this T-500 powered beauty should be flying
soon. |
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| Another of Scott's squadron of BVM Jets at the
event is this BVM Metal-Koted F-86. We forgot to ask him which one he likes the
best. |
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| Tony Masiello confers with Tom Dodgen (left)
prior to the first time trim flight on his brand new Skyblazer Sabre. Tony went
on to fly his P-80 powered F-86 multiple times at the '03 event. Tony has
entered his model in the BVM/FTE Sabre
building contest. |
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The BVM factory Sabre, Beautious Butch II
featured the dash-40 extended wing (63" span), the
EZ-DROP external stores release
mechanism and a new Metal-Kote finish with ProMark's 3D panels and
markings.
Its JetCat P-80
thruster is turned down to 16lbs - about the maximum we want to see in these
17-18lb models.
We
keep learning about this Metal-Kote material. Some say this is our best result
yet, we will pass on the latest tecniques in these pages soon.
Bv flew "Butch" five
times during the event, one time when the crosswind was kicking up, just to
demo that its new landing gear and mounting system can handle it - didn't even
touch the "skidz". |
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| Tim Redelman flew a primered Sabre with JetCat
power many times. It will appear soon with a yet-to-be seen orange and green
scheme (click for Sabre paint
schemes) - should be very impressive and visible. |
| Sorry, no
photo's |
| Dean Wichmann had an almost ready-to-fly
Golden Hawks Sabre that should be seen on the northwestern circuit
soon. |
| Sorry, no
photo's |
Jerry Caudle's Sea Blue Fury was on display in
his ProMark showroom trailer to display the many techniques for scale detailing
that his products allow.
Jerry
spent a lot of time with several new jet jockies showing them how his
techniques can improve their model's appearance. Skin detailing and markings
erase the "toy look". |
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| A view of the BVM pit area. |
Click here to view page 2 of Florida Jets 2003
coverage.
There
were nine (9) examples of the 2002 BVM Sabre jet kits present. Some, almost
ready to fly and five that did take to the skies propelled by a variety of
powerplants.