16th Annual

September 27- October 3, 2004
by Bob Violett

BVM has been there for all 16 events!
Our hobby and related businesses have seen a lot of changes during this time and many of the advancements have been debuted at this most prestigious event.
Turbine power has dominated for the last few years and now the predominance of ARF or almost ARF jet kits indicates the future.
For those modelers who still take pride in actually building and painting there jets, BVM will sponsor some new awards next year that encourages this aspect of our sport.

Photo Gallery
Thanks to Gordon Dickens for contributing some of these photos.
Dustin Buescher and his dad Richard enjoy this sport as a team effort. Watch for some hot KingCat flying by Dustin on an upcoming SKS Video of Superman '04.
   
   
Monica and David Ribbe always have a good time at Superman. This year David flew an early BVM F-16 and a BobCat.
   
   

BVM is very proud to welcome Ad Clark Jr. from Edwards Air Force Base, California to our in-the-field Representatives. Son of Ad Clark from Kalispell, Montana (also a BVM Rep), he is a great jet model builder, pilot and all around nice guy. A real asset to BVM and our customers.
Ad posed here with BV's original F-100D, now in its 5th season of service at Superman.
   
   

David Reid, Vernon Montgomery, Rick Yelverton and Dennis Lott are also known as the Mississippi Gang. The junior members (and super pilots) were napping at photo time. The camera man will try to schedule a photo around that next time.
   
   

The highlight of the BVM presence at Superman '04 was the official introduction of the F-86F scale competition jet.
We were honored to win two very attractive trophies for the "Best Scale" and "Pilots Choice" awards.
Powered by a JetCat P-120, we believe that it will be a very hard-to-beat entry in any scale contest. Some of the world's greatest scale modelers are already working on the first kits.
Its flight envelope is "just right" to please the judges and its scale outline will be hard to challenge. More on this later.


   
   

Robert Vess and Jamie Snipes traveled from North Carolina to enjoy the event with their beautifully painted KingCats. We forgot to count the number of KingCats at Superman '04, but we know that they probably outnumbered any other single design. KingCat's are making all of us better pilots.
   
   
The perennial winner of the Best Twin Powered Jet is Jack Diaz. Two JetCat P-120's have kept this BVM Rafale in the air over Metropolis for several years now.
   
   
BVM was contracted by a group at NASA Langley Research Center to build this F-100F for a flight test project. The paint scheme was improvised by BV with guidance from NASA for enhanced visibility.
   
   
This BVM T-33 sports an Artic Scheme with Metal-Kote paint that beautifully reflects the bright sun. Tom Dodgen's very smooth flying technique perfectly matches the "T" Bird's flight profile. Next year's event might feature more time for these competition scale jets allowing them to fly in less congested skies.
   
   
Wayne McKosker got assistance from BVM Rep Bill Harris operating his KingCat. The model is almost a year old now with many sorties to its credit.
   
   
The JR Bandit was built, painted and flown by Kent Nogy, BVM Rep from Paso Robles, California. Also a JR Rep, Kent is extremely helpful with JR parts and programming questions at many jet events.
   
   
Mike Pascoe, a Georgia Jets member, knows a lot about model painting. His KingCat is evidence.
   
   
Dan Avilla's Artic Scheme F-100D is simply gorgeous when backlit by the sun in a clear blue sky. He flew it many times during the week long event and during "Scale Hour" on Saturday. This is one of the most visible scale schemes that can be applied to the Hun. Dan and Skeet Hunt made the trek from Victorville, California.
 
   
Also debuted at Superman '04 was the first production BobCat Composite ARF.
Paul Lott spent the week before the show at BVM getting it ready and then did a fabulous job driving it dozens of times, even passing around the transmitter during the show.
This is one of the four paint schemes available (click here for more BobCat Composite info).
   
   
The Kramer/Pischner group from Naples, Florida were busy demonstrating the new AMT USA electric auto start on this "400" powered KingCat. Kramers won the Best Sport Jet award for this beautifully painted model.
   
   
James Moody of the Georgia Jets group logged many flights on his P-120 powered KingCat. James uses the Duralite Batteries so he doesn't have to charge between flights.
   
   
Craig Gottschang of the Georgia Jets group truly enjoys his F-4 Phantom. The scale wing tanks significantly improve visibility.
   
   
Patrick Frost has quite a nice stable of BVM Jets. He flew this F-80 multiple times at Superman '04.
   
   
This KingCat is powered by the awesome JetCat P-200 that is now available. John Redman limited the thrust to 40lbs and that still seemed too much, but it sure gave credibility to the structural integrity of this BVM ARF.
The model has been flying for a year as originally produced, but just to be sure, the boom reinforcement kit was applied at the show (click for details on the KingCat boom reinforcement).
   
   
The BVM pit area in front of the products display tent was very busy. Our mission was to log as many flights on our many demo models as possible. 'Hope many of you enjoyed the show.