...Well, SMALLsters, this isn't an April Fool's prank. After two full years of dormancy, SMALLnet's back. Most of you received a heads-up notification from Bill Lee last week, and your many enthusiastic responses to that news amazed me.

....I had to let SMALLnet lapse for such a long time mainly because of over-medication. A minor heart attack I had about 8 years ago caused my cardiologist to prescribe a heavy regime of drugs for me -- Beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, and about six more. Those turned me into an energyless zombie that needed 14 to 16 hours sleep every dagnab day.

Those of you who get Model Aviation magazine will have noticed that I was able to keep up my Engine Shop column. But that's all the creative effort I was able to manage -- for almost two years ! After 14 hours of sleep, plus the time needed for my household chores, grocery shopping, cooking & eating meals -- there wasn't anything left for other activities.

But last November I discontinued ALL my drugs. Since then I've lost almost 50 pounds; regained my old energy; and am getting "back in the groove" once again.

....A major part of that "getting back in the groove" has been the completion of a book that I started work on years ago.

No, it's not about model airplanes -- though those are mentioned in it a few times; and in one chapter I've described in detail the miraculous way in which our radio control systems work...

Anyway, that book's in print now. It's entitled "The Jigsaw Puzzle -- or -- God Has a Sense of Humor". If any of you SMALLsters would like to know more about this, e-mail me & I'll send you further information.

( Do you remember the "secret code" method I used to prevent on-line pirates from stealing e-mail addresses from SMALLnet ? If not, I use "(at)" in place of "@", and ":" instead of the "dot" preceding "com" or "net". )

OK, here's my e-mail address: <  > ...

Editor's note: The e-mail addresses on the website archive are encoded to prevent the on-line spam vermin from getting them. They are invisible, just as Joe's "secret code". So don't worry about including an e-mail address if you want. Bill

....This year's annual SMALL event at Little Rock is on Memorial Day weekend: May 30, 31, and June 1. The meet will be held at the same field near Wrightsville, Arkansas as it was in 2006 and 2007.

For SMALLsters who've been to some of the early Little Rock meets, the Wrightsville field is in the general area of the Punkin Patch where we had such great fun. The new location also resembles the Punkin Patch in another way. The activities there have been as informal as they were at P-P.

This year's meet has a new CD. Ron Stanfield has turned over the reins to Dale Womack.

....Speaking of Little Rock, I passed through there again last October, and stayed over a couple of days with Steve Staples. We went out flying free flight one day at a local sod farm. The planes were $5 and $6 Harbor Freight e-powered foamies -- and their performance amazed me.

After a little tweaking, Steve put up two of the Rogallo-wing "hang gliders" high enough to catch thermals. One of these little critters almost went OOS ! Steve also flew a mini-biplane and a somewhat tired cabin monoplane. Everything flew well -- and Steve had to chase the biplane a half-mile...

I almost gave up modeling after seeing Steve's workshop. It's the absolute epitome of neat arrangement, unobstructed access ( the ceiling is 12 feet high ! ), and ideal lighting. But I continue "making do" with my own cluttered shop, wherein I usually need to edge sideways to move between the machinery and workbenches... (Gotta get organized one of these days..!)

....I'm giving up an old modeling standby: Ambroid glue. It's just not the same any more ! The last three tubes of Ambroid I bought (different times; different places) all had the consistency of clear dope. I couldn't lay an open tube down on its side without the glue pouring out.

Also, the stuff's not even very sticky. The last couple of balsa joints I glued with Ambroid needed to be re-done TWICE before the parts adhered.

On the other hand, I'm not enthusiastic about the new "super strength" glues: Gorilla Glue and Sumo Glue. I've tried them both. They're strong, all right ! But they both expand and foam as they cure, and the surplus glue that oozes out so copiously from the joints is hard to clean up -- and even harder to sand away after it cures.

Titebond II is about the best of the modern adhesives for my own modeling work. (Titebond III turns very dark as it cures, and is tough to sand...)

....We've lost another SMALLster. Roy Clough died a couple of years ago. I sent onions to his funeral... Why ? Here's the story.

Roy loved Vidalia onions. He ate them like apples -- but in New Hampshire he often found it difficult to obtain the genuine Vidalias from Georgia. Roy told me that his local markets sold "sweet onions" that were advertised as being equivalent to Vidalias.

"Not at all," groused Roy. Since I live only a hundred miles or so from Vidalia country, I volunteered to send Roy a big box of Vidalias each year when the new crop was harvested.

I did that for several years. However, the last time I selected a couple of dozen softball-sized Vidalias to send to Roy, I suddenly realized that I hadn't heard from him for a while.

I e-mailed Roy -- and got a fast reply from his daughter. She told me that Roy had just died. ( He'd had various health problems; went into the hospital for a checkup -- and then learned he had terminal lung cancer. His daughter said her Dad just gave up after that news...)

I asked her, "What about the onions?" She replied that if I could send them Express Mail, they'd be passed around at Roy's funeral, as a much more appropriate tribute to his offbeat nature than flowers would be.

I did that, and heard later from Roy's daughter that everyone had enjoyed the unexpected, unconventional treat...

....On the same trip West that I visited Steve Staples, I also stopped a few days in Albuquerque. As usual, I stayed with my "twin brother" Dave Thornburg. Dave's out of modeling now; has been for three years. But he's still interested in "what's happening" and we spent hours talking about this & that.

While in Albuquerque I also visited Pat Tritle. His place is FILLED with exquisite flying scale models, nearly all of 'em e-powered. Seemed like every room in his home had a squadron of model planes hanging from the ceiling...

....Earlier in this Posting I mentioned my engine column in Model Aviation. Well, in the last couple of months I've been testing some HUGE "model engines". I mean brutes of 1.80 cubic inches and upward. Those things are dangerous !

Starting one is akin to starting a power lawnmower by setting it on its side and "flipping" the cutter. ( APC props are sharper than the blades of most power lawnmowers, too...)

Anyway, foozling with those "Giant Scale" power plants reminded me yet again of how much I prefer small-size engines. Especially diesels ! PAW's are SO SIMPLE; so adaptable; and have so few things to go wrong. Why the heck would anyone want to fly with a huge, expensive, dangerous, and COMPLICATED 4-stroker or "gas engine", when he could have twice the fun at one third the expense with a sweet-running little PAW ?

Can't understand it... [JW]